Chapter 25: Digging Graves and Stealing Bone Marrow

  Finding the giant snail in the cave is too uncertain, because it's about finding not taking. Maybe I'll find it in a day, or maybe I won't find it even after a month. So I want to go steal the bone marrow first, because the dead are buried there, no need to search like for the giant snail, just dig and take directly.

  That's why Ye Fei Jiu told me the method of making deworming medicine for three days, because I'm not sure when I can find the giant snail in the cave, maybe by then we're no longer in Feng Huang.

  Bone marrow is also particular about freshness, a pig that has been killed can be eaten for two days, but after three days it can only be thrown away. After a person dies, they need to do several days of Buddhist rituals, by the time they are buried, their internal organs have already started to rot, fortunately what I want is bone marrow, as long as I cut off one of the deceased's leg bones, that's enough.

  This is a very immoral and disgusting thing, but in order to save lives, I don't care about that much, living people are more important than dead ones.

  Yè Féi jī dé zhī wǒ jīn wǎn yào qù wā fén guì sǐ rén de tuǐ gǔ, dāng chǎng jiù ǒu tù le qǐlai, shuō shénme jīn wǎn yě bú huì hé wǒ qù. Qíshí wǒ cónglái méi shuō yào tā qù ā! Zhè shì yī jiàn wēixiǎn de shìqing, yàoshì bèi sǐ zhě jiā zǔ zhuā dào, nà dé dāng chǎng bǎ wǒ bō pí bù kě. Zhè yòu búshì qù gǎn jí pān jiē, tā yě bāng bù liǎo shénme máng, guānjiàn shíkè táo páo yě shì lèi zhuàng.

  In the afternoon, Ye Fei returned to her grandmother's house, and I followed my uncle to town to prepare tools. We bought a pickaxe for digging ditches, a sharp short knife for cutting open leg meat, and a saw for cutting bones. I also bought a leather whip, which was used to deal with venomous snakes that might come out at any time to harass me. With this whip, one lash would be enough to break the snake's spine.

  Digging graves and sawing bones are not difficult, it's just that opening the coffin is a hassle. In our hometown, we need to nail three nails, but I don't know how many nails are needed here. Thinking about it, a 15-centimeter-long nail being nailed into the wood, one person wants to pull it out, it's indeed a difficult task. However, I once followed Zhang Shenniang to pick up bones, and when she opened the coffin, she would always sing "Jade Emperor Grandfather, Queen Mother Nainai, yesterday left, today returned, earth door open yeah earth door open."

  When she sings, I always can't help but sneak a smile. According to Zhang Shenniang, this is to tell the person in the coffin that it's time to move house and let him open the door himself. Although the dead won't push open the coffin lid themselves, reciting this makes it much easier to open, just like some dead people who die with unfinished business make the coffin very heavy, but after reciting something, it becomes lighter.

  After the tools were ready, it was already late afternoon. My uncle took me to a mountain foot far away from the village and pointed to a new grave not far away, telling me that this was the one who had just been buried at noon. My uncle said that the dead person in the grave died of drinking too much wine, only twenty years old this year, may have died with great resentment, and told me to be careful.

  After telling me these things, my uncle asked me to come to his house in two days to get three more medicinal herbs, and then he instructed me on some other matters before returning home. I had to wait until midnight to take action, because at that time there would be no one around, and doing this kind of thing wasn't afraid of ghosts, but rather afraid of being discovered by the living.

  There were still several hours until night, so I found a bush to throw the tools inside and hide them, then went up the mountain to find a smooth big stone to sleep on. The stone was smooth on all sides like a wall, even if there were snakes coming it would be hard for them to climb up, plus with Tongtong on watch, so I could also have a good night's sleep.

  It was past midnight when Tongtong woke me up. Under the moonlight, I saw a dozen or so snakes gathered at the foot of the stone, desperately trying to climb up, but no matter how hard they tried, it was all in vain.

  I asked Tóng Tóng what to do, as I didn't have a whip on me. Tóng Tóng told me that the more snakes I kill, the deeper the snake mark on my forehead becomes, and the deeper the mark, the easier it is to attract snakes. At this point, I can attract snakes within a hundred meters, and after killing even more, who knows, maybe I'll be able to attract snakes from a kilometer away, or ten kilometers. By then, there's no need to do anything else, just fight snakes every day, the more you fight, the more there are, in an endless cycle until I get bitten to death.

  Tongtong wanted to remind me that this snake couldn't be killed, otherwise it would harm both the snake and myself. But how could we do that? Tongtong said she couldn't kill it but that didn't mean she couldn't. She said so and then crawled out of my pocket, jumped onto a rock, grabbed the biggest snake's tail with her hand over her head and swung it in circles like a helicopter.

  The child swung it a few times, and the snake's internal organs were thrown out of its mouth, flying over my head, making me feel extremely nauseous. Next, the remaining dozen or so snakes were caught by the child, who grasped their tails and slammed them against the stone with great force, causing the stone to crackle and pop, and each snake was beaten until its skin split open and its flesh burst forth.

  After the snakes were dealt with by Tongtong, I jumped down from the stone and took advantage of the moonlight to retrieve my tools from the grass. I then came to the grave that was buried at noon.

  The soul flag fluttered in the moonlight, like a white-robed ghost floating in mid-air with its teeth bared and claws outstretched. With one slash of my sword, I cut it off.

  Digging graves is my strong point, facing the tomb and saying that I came to borrow something today and will definitely return it another day. After finishing speaking, I took up the hoe and started digging. I dug for half an hour before revealing the coffin lid and taking a rest. Then I continued digging for another half an hour, exposing more than half of the coffin.

  This is a red coffin, I don't know if it's because of the young and childless added to the horizontal death, all I know is that black coffins represent peaceful sleep, and red ones should be for warding off evil. A bright red coffin like one that had been splattered with blood under the moonlight was terrifying, I'm not afraid of corpses or ghosts, but this coffin still makes me feel uncomfortable all over.

  I dug out the coffin and was about to open it. I inserted the tip of my hoe into the seam of the coffin and used all my strength to pry it, but there was no reaction at all. This coffin seemed to be cast in steel. Next, I found a stick of incense that had not been burned on the grave, lit it, and held it while singing a segment like Zhang Sheng's " Jade Emperor grandfather, Queen Mother grandmother, left yesterday, returned today, open the earth gate, open the earth gate."

  While singing I couldn't help but laugh, it wasn't until the third time that I stopped laughing, then I went to pry open the coffin lid again, and this finally worked, this is truly amazing.

  Non-stop prying and levering, after more than ten minutes of effort, the last nail was finally pried open with a shovel. With one final heave, I stood at the foot of the coffin and pushed it open.

  As soon as the coffin lid was opened, I smelled a strong smell of wine. I reckon this guy had drunk enough, and because of that, there wasn't even a hint of corpse stench. Speaking of corpse stench, it's similar to the smell you get when you kill a chicken, throw it under the bed, close all doors and windows, and leave it for ten days. Friends who like strong flavors can give it a try.

  I called Tóng Tóng out and had her stand guard outside while I jumped into the coffin, holding a sharp

  A sharp little knife had cut open the corpse's trousers and exposed its legs.

  Then, following the leg, a long and deep cut was made, and the dead person didn't have much fresh blood left. Cut after cut, anyway, all this flesh would turn into mud and water, completely no need to worry about how rough the movements were, or how ugly the cuts looked, it wasn't like they were performing surgery.

  My hands rose and fell with the knife, the flesh was cut open, and finally the entire thigh of the corpse was stripped bare, exposing the bone. My hands were covered in filth, it was nauseating. I picked up the saw and began to saw, soon cutting through one side. I simply lifted the leg out of the coffin to continue sawing, because as I worked, I kept feeling like the dead person was staring at me.

  I put the sawed-off leg on a nearby tree stump and started sawing again. As I was sawing, the wind suddenly picked up. Although it wasn't strong, it was extremely cold, chilling me to the bone.

  Tongtong walked up to me and said, "Jiaohe Gege, this is a yin wind. Every night at midnight, it blows for a while, and the ghosts find it very comfortable. For humans, it might cause a cold. The person in the coffin died with great resentment, and after death, they would still be dissected by you, Jiaohe Gege. When the yin wind blows, there's a possibility of resurrection. Tongtong told me to hurry up and saw quickly so we can leave."

  When I heard Tongtong say that, I didn't want to cause any more trouble, so I picked up the hoe and struck the half-sawn leg bone with force, breaking it off. I threw the remaining calf part back into the coffin, thanked the corpse, and said it was a free donation, and if I had the chance, I would repay the debt of gratitude that saved my life.

  I had just finished speaking and was about to cover the coffin, when the corpse inside suddenly sat up with a jolt, giving me such a fright that I raised my hoe ready to strike.

  Tong Tong stopped me, telling me that the corpse had no malice, he was just reluctant to part with his family. Now he is talking to Tong Tong about how much he misses them. But I couldn't hear anything, I only saw the corpse sit up and then there was no further movement.

  Tongtong told me that the person in the coffin had an unfulfilled wish, and he felt that I could help him, so he was willing to use his leg bone as a trade-off, hoping that I could help him fulfill his wish.

  After Tóng Tóng finished speaking, I put down the hoe that I had held above my head and asked Tóng Tóng what his wishes were.

  He had gone to a wedding two days ago, got drunk and returned home only to die suddenly. His death was too sudden, his mother is mentally challenged and his father is crippled, so he couldn't bear the thought of dying so young. What worries him most is that he has a younger sister in sixth grade who relies on him for support and education, now that he's dead, she can't go to school anymore and his parents might starve to death, so he can't rest in peace.

  I asked Tiantian how I could help the man, and Tiantian said that the man had dug up an ancient bronze bell in the past. He felt it was a very old antique, but he didn't know where to sell it, so he hid it away until he had the chance to sell it in the future. Now that he's dead, no one else knows about the hidden bronze bell, and he hopes I can help him sell it, then use the money to pay for his parents' medical treatment and his sister's education.

  I asked Tiantian, but she didn't tell me where the antique bell was hidden! Tiantian said that person told her. I thought for a moment, if this bell is really an antique, then there's no need to find a place to sell it, I'll be its buyer. Something from a long time ago, like an ancient bronze dagger, might just be another treasure, so I agreed to his request on the spot.

  I said in front of the coffin, telling the dead person to rest assured that I would definitely do it for him! As soon as I finished speaking, I saw the corpse lying down immediately.

  I immediately covered the coffin lid, then hurriedly filled in the soil. Back and forth, I was busy for three or four hours before finally getting this leg bone. I threw down my tools, picked up the bone, and left.

  I went straight to Ye Fei Jiu's house, and by the time it was getting light outside, I finally returned home. In order not to disturb Ye Fei Jiu and her grandmother from sleeping, I sat at the gate until after 7 o'clock before knocking on the door.

  The door was opened by Ye Fei Chou's grandmother, who had just gotten out of bed and saw the bone in my hand. She asked me what it was, and I told her it was a human bone, one of the medicinal guides for deworming medicine. Ye Fei Chou's grandmother nodded and quickly found some herbs to boil a pot of purple water, telling me to put the bone in to preserve it.

  Then she helped me boil water for a bath and wash away the dirt on my body. While making breakfast, I chatted with Ye Fei's grandmother about the giant snail in the cave.