Chapter Thirty-Five: Out of Mourning

  Originally, they let Wang Liang go, and those police officers felt a sense of relief in their hearts. But unexpectedly, Wang Liang suddenly put the knife to his own neck and coldly scanned those police officers: "If you make any sudden moves, I'll stab this kid's neck with the knife. Whether you believe it or not is your business. However, in the end, don't make a move, put down your guns, and then handcuff yourselves. What, can't you understand what I'm saying?"

  "Hahaha——" Li Hongjun suddenly burst out laughing, shaking his head and surprisingly walked out from among the three of them, swaggering towards me: "Interesting, let's go, I'll follow you to see how things have been arranged."

  Seeing that Li Hongjun was no longer a threat to the three police officers, the rest of the police officers were about to make a move, but at this time Wang Liang suddenly shouted: "Didn't you hear me telling you not to move?"

  Everyone's body stiffened, and they couldn't help but look at Wang Liang. The female police officer was furious: "Wang Liang, what's wrong with you? Put down the knife quickly!"

  Wang Liang, however, was unmoved, and merely pressed the knife against his own neck, drawing blood. Poor Deputy Director Wang seemed to be the only one who was extremely unlucky. But Wang Liang's actions made those police officers dare not act rashly, it was clear that Wang Liang was not joking around. Who dared take this risk? What exactly was going on here?

  As we were talking, Li Hongjun had already walked to my side, looking at me with a strange smile, while I was embarrassed and scratched my head: "Let's go, let's take a look at the grave site I've chosen for you."

  Li Hongjun nodded and followed me without saying a word. The police officers, although unwilling, had no choice but to let us go, as Wang Liang's situation at the time made them dare not move rashly. They could only watch as Li Hongjun and I left. At that time, I didn't know that I was also on their minds, and if I had known, I wouldn't have said anything more. But regret is useless now.

  Although I left, Yang Xiufeng did not leave and was still holding Huang Daxian standing there. However, no one noticed a weak girl, and the eyes of those police officers were only on Wang Liang. If it were Li Hongjun who took him hostage, there might be a chance to shoot Li Hongjun dead, but since Wang Liang was taking himself hostage, shooting would not work. Wanting to save Wang Liang would be even more difficult. At this time, Wang Liang obviously had problems, and who dared to take the risk.

  Later events I'm not very clear, I just led Li Hongjun all the way to the tomb, and the two of us walked quickly, and it only took an hour to arrive. Seeing this tomb, Li Hongjun actually smiled: "Relying on the mountain and water, embracing left and right, what a good double dragon spitting pearl formation, kid, you've spent a lot of effort, didn't expect you had such skills."

  "Now that I've promised you, I'll naturally do a good job, so you can rest assured." He raised an eyebrow and let out a sigh of relief. Who knew that I was forced to rush into this, actually, I'm also quite clueless about choosing a burial site, the one who truly understands is my second uncle, I just know a bit on the surface.

  Li Hongjun seems to be very knowledgeable about Feng Shui and Yin Zhai, just by taking a glance, he knew it was good, and even used a willow branch to draw the direction of digging the grave, which was more accurate than my use of the compass. This shocked me greatly and made me even more curious about Li Hongjun's background, but I knew that this person was definitely not simple, and for some reason, I had a vague sense of worry, feeling like something might happen.

  After returning from the tomb, Li Hongjun's face was always filled with a thoughtful expression, and I didn't know what he was thinking about. However, his words were more frequent than mine, constantly probing my background in a roundabout way. Although I told him the truth, Li Hongjun seemed not to believe me very much. My second uncle understood some things, but it was clear that he hadn't reached that level yet. He didn't press for an answer, and instead continued to chat with me cheerfully.

  When we returned to the village, unexpectedly, Huang Dasen forced those police officers to go to the Ling Pavilion and sit down. Although they were all unwilling, they had no choice but to comply. The onlookers didn't understand what was going on either. Until now, those police officers still haven't come up with a way to deal with Wang Liang. Seeing me and Li Hongjun return, these police officers became tense again.

  It was just me and Li Hongjun who didn't even glance at those police officers, but after seeing the scale of this funeral, Li Hongjun couldn't help but sigh: "You've really gone to a lot of trouble, I haven't seen such an orderly funeral in years. If I die, it'll be a glorious death, but didn't you spend a lot of money? I'm afraid the money I gave wasn't enough. Alright, just take care of everything, when my daughter arrives, she'll reimburse you, and we won't let you lose out."

  Seeing Li Hongjun happy, I also smiled and swallowed a mouthful of saliva, hesitantly saying: "If you think it's okay, then let's start the mourning ritual, but shouldn't you be lying down?"

  Li Hongjun was taken aback, but didn't say anything. Whose family doesn't have a dead person lying there when mourning? However, this feeling is still quite strange. At this time, Li Hongqi made a gesture with his eyes, and Li Hongqi had already prepared, immediately bringing up a set of mourning clothes. Seeing this scene, Li Hongjun let out a bitter laugh, and his face was somewhat tearful. Although he had been prepared, when the moment really arrived, his heart didn't feel right. Still, he took the mourning clothes from him: "I'll wear it myself."

  He said, turning into the inner room, and in just a moment, he was dressed in his mourning clothes and walked out. To be honest, this scene looked strange to me, but I took a deep breath, turned my head to look at Fat Dog: "Let's begin."

  As Li Hongjun lay in the coffin, mournful music suddenly started playing, and the atmosphere became somewhat sorrowful. The filial sons and grandsons who had long been prepared began to cry, but no one cared whether he was dead or alive, as long as they could make money from it.

  All these are part of the initial funeral, following the old rules. In the past, medical and health institutions were not well developed, there were pharmacies but no hospitals, and patients usually died at home. For normal deaths of the elderly, it was best to avoid dying on the kang (a traditional Chinese bed). The initial funeral is for handling matters before death. The human body has four parts: when a patient's life is in danger, first, they need to be bathed and dressed, commonly known as "wearing clothes". The bathing and dressing before death are actually for the patient to make their last appearance neat. If the deceased was male, it was usually handled by his sons or daughters. Bathing and dressing generally included washing the face, combing hair, washing hands, washing feet, wiping the body, trimming nails, and brushing hair, then putting on "clothes for sending off the elderly". If a patient suddenly died without having time to bathe and dress before dying on the kang, commonly known as "leaving with nothing on", the deceased's relatives would regret it for the rest of their lives.

  The custom of moving the bed is to avoid people dying on their original kang. Therefore, after bathing and changing clothes, they are moved to a spirit bed set up in the main room or a temporary shed. The spirit bed has rules and cannot be set up randomly. If the deceased is old and has many children and grandchildren, the spirit bed can be higher, using two long benches arranged parallel to each other, with a door board placed on top; if the deceased is young and childless, the spirit bed must be lower, and the door board can be propped up with earth blocks. The spirit bed is covered with a quilt for sending off the elderly, and a pillow for sending off the elderly is placed on it. Then, the eldest son holds the head, the second son holds the feet, and other people assist on both sides to lift the patient onto the spirit bed. The position of the head is determined by the direction of the house or the geomancy, with the head facing east and the feet facing west, or the head facing high and the feet facing low. After moving to the spirit bed, relatives guard day and night, never leaving for a moment, to help them pass through their final moments, which is called "seeing off" for the deceased, and "supporting the funeral" for those who are about to die. When an elderly person is about to take their last breath, their children and relatives standing beside them must cry out loudly: "Father (mother), don't go! Don't abandon us!" until they pass away, which is called "calling back the soul".

  After the old man stopped breathing, he was made to lie on his back, with a cotton pad under his chin, and copper coins wrapped in red paper were stuffed into the deceased's mouth, commonly known as "supporting the mouth", to show that he had silver in his mouth when he left. Later generations prospered. Then, the hair of the son or grandson was cut off, mixed with flour to form a ball, inserted with a stick, and stuffed into the hands of the deceased, which is called "hitting dog cake" and "hitting dog stick". It is said that humans have three souls and six spirits, after death, the six spirits disperse, but the three souls do not disperse. One soul guards the corpse, two souls are reincarnated, and three souls go to the Western Heaven to worship Buddha. The road to the Western Heaven is long and winding, with many vicious dogs blocking the way, so it's necessary to use a stick to drive them away or use cakes to stuff their mouths. Because the cake has hair, it will block the dog's throat, making it unable to exert its power. Under the funeral bed, a bright bean oil lamp must be placed, commonly known as "corpse lamp", to prevent dogs and cats from entering the mourning hall. A bowl of half-cooked rice, with crushed cookies sprinkled on top, commonly known as "inverted head rice", was used to press down on the chest of the deceased to prevent him from becoming a zombie.

  As for the last step of reporting the death, it can be omitted. After all, Li Hongjun is not a local person and has no relatives here. At this time, the initial mourning is over, everything that needs to be done has been done, and the lamp under the coffin has also been lit. Naturally, the second procedure begins. Of course, many of these have been prepared in advance. After the initial mourning, it should be the funeral rites, from the end of the initial mourning to the burial, which belongs to the stage of stopping the spirit, commonly known as "stopping the spirit". Large families open the coffin during this stage and stop the spirit for three days, five days, seven days or even a hundred days. Ordinary families only stop the spirit for three days. This stage includes entering the coffin, dressing in mourning clothes, breaking off mourning, condoling, reporting to the temple, writing the epitaph, etc.

  "Relatives and friends come to pay their respects——” With my shout, the village's elderly men who had been arranged in advance began to enter one after another, bowing towards the mourning hall, accompanied by the sound of filial sons and grandsons crying. It was a bit moving, although Li Hongjun lying there looked somewhat strange.

  To be honest, this scene was just a farce in the eyes of many police officers. Although some were holding their breath, no one believed that Li Hongjun would really commit suicide at this point. Everyone had a strange feeling, as if things were getting more and more bizarre.

  At this time, it is indeed a lot less trouble, such as dressing the body, reporting to the temple, mourning and so on. This is also an unavoidable thing. In fact, I wish Li Hongjun would commit suicide now, but Li Hongjun lying in the coffin doesn't know what he's thinking about, always seeming to be watching a play, just not speaking, don't know what it feels like to attend one's own funeral, at least I think it's quite strange.

  The scene was chaotic, and everyone who came to mourn would receive 50 yuan. It's really true that money can make ghosts grind mills. The wailing, mourning, and chanting sounds echoed throughout the village, but the villagers seemed quite happy. I didn't notice anything, just staring at the coffin all the time.