Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 21 Aunt Mei, Uncle Dong

After watching Aunt Mei leave, Zhong Fa closed the door.

With trembling hands, he pulled a homemade cigarette from the cigarette pack in his pocket and put it in his mouth.

Crack! Crack! Crack!
The match was lit, and the cigarette in his mouth was lit.

Hiss~ Whoosh~
Zhong Fa leaned against the door, slowly slid down, and sat on the floor.

After finishing one cigarette, another one begins.

After finishing the only two cigarettes he had rolled the night before, Zhong Fa's face went from deathly pale to sallow.

Zhong Fa stared blankly at the memorial tablet on the altar opposite for more than ten minutes before finally standing up and walking over.

He took out three incense sticks, lit them, and placed them in the incense burner.

Zhong Fa leaned on the altar with one hand and looked at the memorial tablet.

“Master, if you had taught me all your skills back then, I wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“However… Master, you are right about one thing.”

Zhong Fa smiled.

"I am indeed a genius."

“Master, you will see my masterpiece in a few days.”

Zhong Fa turned and walked into the bedroom, entering the underground secret room.

When he came out again, he had a new cigarette in his mouth and his cigarette case was full.

After checking on Li Shirui's condition in the side room, Zhong Fa called Li Shirui's grandfather.

"Come here."

Li Weiguo arrived half an hour later.

"Master Zhong, what's wrong?"

Zhong Fa pointed to Li Shirui in the coffin and said, "She has been properly prayed for, send her back."

Li Weiguo nodded.

“I’ll call the people at Tianmen Funeral Home right now and have them send Xiao Lei over as well.”

"No need, it's over."

Zhong Fa's words surprised Li Weiguo.

"It's over? Master, you mean..."

"No need for a ritual to help them pass on; I've already taken care of everything."

Li Weiguo was puzzled. Zhong Faming had clearly stated that he would take the two children out of the funeral home in turns, so why did it end after only taking Xiao Rui out?
Looking at Zhong Fa's stern face, Li Weiguo ultimately didn't dare to ask any more questions.

After leaving 20,000 yuan on the table, Li Weiguo followed the hearse from Tianmen Funeral Home and left the Yin-Yang Duan shop.

Zhong Fa watched the car with "Tianmen Funeral Home" written on it drive away, then turned around and closed the shop.

When Zhong Fa reappeared, he had already arrived at the Fushou Funeral Center in the north of the city.

Du Rui looked at Zhong Fa with a delighted expression.

Zhong usually comes here at night, except for the first time when the other party came during the day.

This unusual behavior must mean something's wrong.

Yesterday, when Zhong Fa took the ashes from him, he said that something was going to happen at the Tianmen Funeral Home!

Could it be that it really happened?

"Master Zhong, please sit down!"

Du Rui poured tea for Zhong Fa and was about to ask him a question when Zhong Fa spoke first.

"I need something."

"Hmm? Master Zhong, please speak."

"Virgin blood".

Du Rui was stunned for a moment.

"Master Zhong, what do you mean by 'virgin blood'?"

"Blood from boys under the age of 12."

"what?"

Du Rui was startled by Zhong Fa's words, but he immediately said, "Master Zhong, I can get you ashes, but I don't have any blood here!"

Zhong Fa stubbed out the remaining cigarette and took out another one from the cigarette box.

The cigarette box, which was originally full, is now half empty.

chap!
Zhong Fa lit a cigarette with a match, and sat on the sofa smoking without saying a word.

Du Rui, standing to the side, stared at the smoke that wasn't rising but sinking instead, with a somewhat grim expression.

After a long silence, Du Rui finally spoke up: "Master Zhong, I can only get some that isn't very fresh, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to get any."

Within seven days.

After saying that, Zhong got up and left.

Du Rui did not stop him, nor did he even ask about the Tianmen Funeral Home.

Only after seeing Zhong Fa walk out of the gate did he pick up his phone and make a call to inquire about some information.

Upon hearing that everything was proceeding as usual at Tianmen Funeral Home, Du Rui slammed his phone on the table!

"I knew it!"

Du Rui paced around the office twice with his hands behind his back, muttering to himself, "So many demands, but not a single thing done. Do they really think I'm easy to bully, wanting whatever I want?"

Du Rui's face darkened. He picked up his phone and found a number. But in the end, he didn't dial it.

Zhong Fa is difficult to deal with, but aren't the others just as troublesome?
"Hmph, this is the last time!"

……

On the first floor of a building in Xingfu Residential Area, west of Tianmen County.

dong dong!

Zhong knocked on the door.

Half a minute later, footsteps came from behind the door.

click!
The security door was opened a crack, revealing a slightly cloudy eye.

Only after they recognized Zhong Fa outside the door were the doors fully opened.

Aunt Mei came out of the door, holding one of Chung Fat's hands with both of hers, her expression a mixture of sorrow and joy.

"Ah Fa, you're here. Come in quickly."

Zhong Fa went inside.

The curtains in the room were drawn tightly, and only the lights were on.

"Aunt Mei, it seems you've taken good care of Uncle Dong."

Aunt Mei twitched the corners of her mouth and smiled.

“It was all done according to your instructions. I was afraid of making any mistakes, so I didn’t dare to act on my own… Ah Fa, please sit down, I’ll make you some tea.”

“Aunt Mei, you did the right thing. This concerns Uncle Dong, so we can’t act recklessly. We don’t need the tea. Please take me to see Uncle Dong.”

Aunt Mei stopped turning around, her dull eyes looking towards a certain spot in the room.

"Okay, I'll show you your Uncle Dong."

Aunt Mei moved her feet toward the master bedroom, but finally stopped in front of the master bathroom door.

Turning around, Aunt Mei opened the door to the master bedroom's bathroom.

The master bathroom has a very basic layout, with a vanity, mirror, toilet, shower, and bathtub.

Zhong Fa walked past Aunt Mei and went inside, arriving at the bathtub.

Looking at the damp black soil covering the bathtub, Zhong Fa nodded.

His gaze shifted, landing on one end of the bathtub.

There, a head with bluish-black skin emerged from the soil.

It's like someone taking a bath in a bathtub.

The only difference is that normal people use water, but he used soil.

"Uncle Dong, I'm here."

Zhong Fa lit a cigarette and took a puff.

Those half-open eyes were now filled with satisfaction.

Uncle Dong's body had not decomposed at all, even though he had been dead for more than a month. This was naturally thanks to him.

The soil in this bathtub is not just soil; it also contains medicinal herbs such as lemongrass, galangal, agastache rugosa, Sichuan pepper, cinnamon, musk, and realgar, which are used for preservation.

Meanwhile, for the past month, he had Aunt Mei splash crow blood into the bathtub every day to slowly gather yin energy.

Although the amount of yin energy was small and not as effective as the Yin-gathering talisman, the amount of yin energy contained in Uncle Dong's corpse after such a long period of exposure was not small.

However, with the suppression talisman, Uncle Dong will not turn into a zombie, nor will he nurture a vengeful ghost.

Turning around, Zhong Fa asked Aunt Mei, "Aunt Mei, is Uncle Dong's bed ready?"

Aunt Mei, who was holding onto the door with one hand, shifted her lingering gaze from Uncle Dong, who had his eyes closed.

"Okay, I had it moved in and installed a few nights ago. It's made of cypress."

Zhong Fa nodded.

Cypress wood is considered yang in nature, and being evergreen with vigorous vitality, it can suppress yin energy. When used to make coffins, it can isolate yang energy.

"In that case, let's find Uncle Dong a different place to sleep."

With a cigarette dangling from his mouth, Zhong Fa reached out and cleared the soil from the bathtub to the side, revealing Uncle Dong's entire body. He then lifted Uncle Dong out of the bathtub in his arms.

Feeling the stiffness and coldness of Uncle Dong's body, Zhong Fa smiled, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

Carrying Uncle Dong all the way to the second bedroom, Zhong Fa saw the coffin that occupied most of the second bedroom space.

The coffin was not placed on the ground, but rather placed on four long benches.

This is Uncle Dong's bed!

After placing Uncle Dong in the coffin, Zhong Fa took the spirit-suppressing talisman from Uncle Dong's chest and then took out a mask made of copper coins strung together with red thread from his bag and put it on Uncle Dong's face.

"Aunt Mei, could you help me put the lid on?"

Aunt Mei nodded, and the two of them worked hard to close the coffin lid.

"Aunt Mei, is there still crow blood? Remember to open the coffin lid between 11 pm and 1 am every night and pour the blood down the coffin wall. Do this for the next seven days. Whether Uncle Dong can be resurrected depends on these seven days."

"And don't take off that mask, and don't let the coffin touch the ground either."

Aunt Mei stammered, "Ah Fa, is your Uncle Dong really coming back?"

Zhong Fa placed his hands on Aunt Mei's shoulders, looked into her eyes, and said, "Aunt Mei, don't you believe me?"

Aunt Mei's lifeless eyes met Chung Fat's eyes, and she seemed to see Chung Fat as a child, riding on Uncle Tung's shoulders and laughing.

"I believe you, Afa."

……

(End of this chapter)