Chapter 22: Singing a Dirge for the Departed Spirits

  The horse-drawn carriage was moving along the road, with the awnings on both sides of the road fluttering in the wind. There were shops selling meat, wine, and restaurants, as well as a grandma's place. At that time, I was attracted by the fragrance and remembered these things. The horse-drawn carriage continued to move forward, stopping at the entrance of a house. It was a very large courtyard, with a white flower tied with white cloth at the entrance. On both sides of the wall were written the words "When big things happen, please forgive us for not informing you in time, and we apologize for not considering everything thoroughly."

  At home, some people were wearing mourning clothes, while others only wore a mourning hat. Those who wore mourning clothes were close relatives of the deceased, while those who wore hats were more distant. When we arrived at the door, we couldn't enter directly and instead struck the ritual instruments at the entrance. We couldn't enter the house until the son of the deceased came out to greet us and presented the eight characters of the deceased's birthdate. Only then could we go in.

  After a while, someone came out crying. This person gave us a big fright as soon as they appeared. They had a terrifying appearance: large eyes, a large mouth, a large nose, a pair of wind-catching ears, and a black lacquered face with a full beard. They looked just like Meng Zhang Fei. They were wearing hemp clothes and a mourning hat, with the hem of their garment trailing on the ground. In their hand was a willow branch, which they raised above their head as they slowly bowed to us, then presented the age of the deceased.

  The master took the paper and looked at it, then let us beat the Buddhist instruments and walk directly to the soul shed of the deceased. This is a large courtyard with a soul shed in the courtyard, and inside the soul shed there is a coffin. In front of the coffin, some people are either kneeling or sitting, but there aren't many crying sounds. Zhang Rentu must be lying in the coffin. The black coffin looks a bit gloomy, but we're used to doing this kind of thing, so we're not very scared.

  Arriving at the spiritual shed, Master asked us to beat the ritual instruments. He started beating the wooden fish and sang in a very suppressed tone: "A sigh of impermanence, illness entwines my body, sleeping deeply on the bed as the months pass by, all medicines are ineffective, seeking divine help but to no avail, not even three souls can escape, who knows the star of tribulation, coincidentally leaning against a southern window, dreaming of a past life, children crying out to heaven, unable to wake up.

  Sudden sighs and worries, the judge of the underworld holds the book, the ghost is sent by the land office, chasing and calling without stopping, all property is abandoned, everything is over, suddenly letting go and returning to the road of death, but taking the body with the earth mound.

  Three sighs of impermanence, how desolate and anxious. In vain, the mind is busy day and night. Tears of blood flow from the eyes, children's pain pierces the heart. Gold and silver cannot be taken away, empty-handed one meets King Yan. In life, a thousand wicked deeds are committed, after death, it is hard to escape solitary retribution.

  The four sorrows are swift as the wind, a family's wealth is ultimately empty. The ox head and horse face summon you to the underworld, where rich and poor, old and young all go without a trace. No matter how many plans you make, when your time is up, there's no escape.

  The five elements are in a state of turmoil, swift as an arrow, blood and water overflowing the heavens, what can be done? Rows of knives, guns, and swords, arrows and spears lined up, copper snakes coiling to devour, iron dogs coming and going to drag, a thousand kinds of suffering with no rest, how can one escape in front of the mirror platform...

  This is the "Ten Laments of Impermanence" sung by our Huoju Dao group, Master struck the wooden fish while singing and dancing. After we finished this session, Zhang Rentu's son invited us to have a meal. When we arrived at the table, the dishes were already prepared. Zhang Rentu's son accompanied us for dinner. While eating, my master asked Zhang Rentu's son: "Why did your father pass away? I remember he was quite robust, and just a few days ago, he was still performing surgery with his own hands."

  Zhang Ren's son sighed and said: "Master Dao is not satisfied with you, my father's death is strange and unparalleled. Yesterday morning, my father was fine, I had something to do outside, when I came back, I found that my father was not at home. In fact, these days my father said that he had killed too many people, lost his yin virtue, and often used wine to drown his sorrows. I thought he went out drinking again, so I didn't take it to heart. This morning, someone told me that my father was lying in the execution ground, I went to see him and found that my father had no breath left. I could only buy a coffin to bury my father's body. Master Dao, you also know that my father is a red ticket holder, he killed many people, some of whom deserved to die, while others did not deserve to die. I suspect that my father was strangled by ghosts."

  Everyone here was stunned, the executioner said that he wasn't afraid of those ghosts because his body had a murderous aura and ordinary ghosts didn't dare to approach him. The master asked: "Were you strangled to death by a ghost? Do you have any evidence?"

  Zhang Ren's son said: "Yes, when my father died, I asked the county coroner to examine him. The coroner said that the wound on my father's neck was not caused by human force, and there were no other external injuries on his body. The coroner secretly told me that he had been dealing with corpses all day and was an expert in autopsy, but he said that my father's injury was not caused by human force. He asked me to hurry up and take him home for burial to prevent accidents. I asked the coroner how my father died, and he only said one sentence: 'There are too many vengeful spirits at the place where your father died.' After finishing speaking, he left. Also, my father's body was not stiff, and it was similar to a living person's body. This situation can only have one possibility, that is, being strangled to death by an evil spirit."

  Zhang Ren's son finished speaking, with a sad expression on his face. My master said, "Alright, let's go take a look after we've eaten."

  After we finished eating, Zhang Ren's son led us to the mourning hall. The coffin in the mourning hall was open and could not be covered before the funeral. In the past, when covering the coffin, leather straps were used to tie the bottom and top of the coffin together. Three horizontal straps and two vertical straps were tied. The wooden boards were long horizontally and short vertically, which is where the phrase "three long and two short" comes from. Later, coffin nails were used, and at the time of the funeral, the coffin lid had to be nailed on. Seven nails were required for nailing, commonly known as "descendant nails", which are said to make descendants prosperous. When nailing, relatives shouted together to the deceased to avoid being nailed, then scattered five-colored grains on the coffin lid, and the grand funeral was complete.

  The coffin lid in the mourning hall was placed to one side, and we looked inside. All that could be seen was a person lying there wearing funeral clothes with a yellow paper covering their face, making it impossible to see their features or the wound on Zhang Rentou's neck. Zhang Rentou's son said to Master Dao, "Master, I'll lift the yellow paper so you can take a look at my father's wound."

  He was about to remove the yellow paper with his hands when the master said, "Wait, the dead cannot come into contact with the living, and the corpse being buried cannot be handled carelessly."

  Zhang Ren's son said: "Master Dao, why can't we just be casual?"

  The master said, "Although the deceased is dead, at this time, there is still a last breath left in his chest that has not come out. Especially for those who were strangled to death, this breath is even more fierce. At this time, if the corpse borrows human energy, it will be a fake resurrection."

  Zhang Ren's son said: "What can be done? Wouldn't that mean the scars on his neck won't be visible?"

  The master said: "This is not difficult, you boldly take my cinnabar pen and yellow paper."

  I hastily took over the cinnabar brush and yellow paper, Master picked up the pen, mouth chanting incantations, wrote a shock coffin symbol, then said to me: "You dare to put this symbol on the coffin, this symbol is specialized in coffin suppression, with this symbol can be worry-free."

  I listened to the master say this, and quickly took out the tomb-quelling charm, sticking it on the head of the coffin. The master walked in front of the coffin, reciting a few lines. A red paper with four corners was placed flat, with the deceased's name written in the center; In front of the spirit, there were various offerings, but none saw the deceased tasting them. Two lamps were placed in front of the deceased, one dim and one bright; One lamp illuminated the road to heaven, while the other shattered the gates of hell. The sun and moon are like two boats, rising in the east and setting in the west...

  Master was reciting a scripture to comfort the spirit of the dead, so that it wouldn't be afraid. After Master finished reciting, he told us not to get too close, then stretched out his hand and used two fingers to gently lift up the yellow paper covering the coffin. When Master lifted up the yellow paper, we couldn't help but take a deep breath, and saw that inside the coffin was an extremely ugly and frightening face. I had seen Zhang Rentu, the executioner, before, and the face in the coffin looked just like his, only now it looked even more terrifying than when he was alive. The entire face was like pig liver, with a dark purple-red color, and the eyes were tightly closed. When we looked at the neck, the whole neck had turned black. No wonder Ah-jiu said that the wound on the neck wasn't made by human hands - even I, an outsider, could tell that it wasn't something that could be done by a person.

  Just then, a strange gust of wind suddenly arose, as if it had come from nowhere. The whirlwind picked up the leaves on the ground and sent them swirling everywhere. Suddenly, a piece of chicken feather was blown into the air, spinning around in circles before landing squarely on Zhang Rentu's nose, right in the groove between his nostrils. I seemed to see the feather quivering gently. At this point, my master stared at the feather, his face first surprised and then increasingly ugly. I didn't know why he looked like that.