Chapter 1: Drunkenness

  In the past, there was a saying circulating among the common people. It went like this: "The executioner's knife is visible to the coffin maker, the paper cutter's skill is seen by the second-generation artisan." I suppose you've also figured it out - these four sentences are actually talking about four different occupations. So what do these four sentences mean? Let's break them down one by one.

  This is the first sentence, the executioner's knife. It refers to the ghost head knife used by the executioner to behead people. In ancient times, there was a saying that if a knife had killed hundreds of people, it would be a great evil. If this family had been executioners for generations, the knife passed down in their home would be extraordinary, and was widely regarded as an ominous and evil instrument! Ancient people were very fond of it, believing that this knife could ward off evil spirits and bring peace to the house. Some Taoist practitioners even believed that this knife could exorcise ghosts and demons, and was a rare and precious magical tool.

  The second sentence, the eyes of the coroner can see. It refers to the coroner's pair of eyes, and it is said that if a family has a long history of coroners, then every few generations, there will be people with yin-yang eyes who appear in this family. These people not only can examine corpses and determine causes of death but also communicate with the vengeful spirits of the dead. What's more, it is said that many unsolved bizarre cases in Chinese history were solved by them through soul-seeking and interrogation.

  The third sentence, the craftsmanship of paper people. Whether the paper people and horses are good or not depends on the level of craftsmanship. According to folklore, if a paper maker's skills reach a certain level, then the paper people and horses he makes will come alive when no one is around. If the owner of the house has recently passed away, they can use the paper people and horses to return their spirit, settle unfinished business, and be considered a folk wonder!

  This is the fourth sentence, the needle and thread of the second skin craftsman. Let's talk about this second skin craftsman, which is actually a branch of tailors and leather craftsmen. Since ancient times, Chinese people have had the saying "whole head and whole body", believing that after death, if the corpse is not intact, it will be difficult to enter reincarnation, and even if reincarnated, there will be congenital disabilities left behind. Therefore, the profession of second skin craftsman emerged, initially they were ordinary tailors and leather craftsmen, whoever had a newly deceased person with broken arms, legs or head would pay them a lot of money to go and sew them up, in order to achieve whole body burial. This kind of thing is quick to make money, so a group of people who specialize in sewing corpses for money appeared. In the folk, it was also said that their needle and thread could not only repair the corpse's body but also use fake hands and legs to replace the lost parts of the deceased, making the dead person's soul intact as before, which is really amazing.

  Of course, all of the above are just rumors and no one has ever seen them. Some people even lump these four professions together because they are all making a living from the dead, earning "dead men's money", and because they are all lowly occupations that fall under the category of "five elements eight trigrams nine flows". As a result, some busybodies gave them a collective name: the Four Small Yin Gates.

  This old saying is well said, money is in the hands of slaves and servants, and art is in the hands of professionals. In the past, these four small gates were a loud signboard, just like today's brand name. Once the name is shouted out, one must be looked up to by others. However, these four small gates are not something that anyone can call themselves. This must be an ancestral craft, at least passed down through four generations of great-great-grandsons, in order to be called a person from the four small gates.

  Unfortunately, my ancestors were among the four minor executioners. To boast a bit, we have been beheading people for nine generations! From the late Ming Dynasty to the fall of the Qing government, it can be said that we are the gold medalists among the gold medalists! If I want to talk about this, I should start with my ancestor Wang Chongchuan, the first generation executioner.

  In the past, no one wanted to be an executioner. Firstly, it was a job that involved harming people and taking lives, which was considered to be extremely inhumane and immoral. Secondly, it was a profession that dealt with death and the underworld, which made people shun them. Therefore, the earliest executioners were all appointed by the government, who forced them to take on this role. If they refused, they would be put to death themselves. There was no other choice; someone had to do this job out of the 360 professions in the world. You wouldn't do it, he wouldn't do it, is that realistic? No! They were coerced into taking on this profession that harmed their moral character. It wasn't until later, when poor families couldn't afford food, that they voluntarily took up this occupation for survival, and that's how the tradition of masters teaching apprentices to behead people began.

  My ancestors were originally blacksmiths, relying on repairing pots and pans, making some daily-use knives, axes and other items to make a living. Although life was hard, it was also down-to-earth. However, during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a severe drought, no harvest, and the court added those unbearable taxes that made people's lives impossible! This led to public outrage and uprisings everywhere! People from all over the country who were struggling to survive rose up in revolt, among whom the most famous was Li Zicheng, the Shun King.

  The weak and incompetent imperial court, seeing the situation becoming increasingly precarious, tightened its control over salt and iron. Salt, a necessity of life, without which people would have no energy. From ancient times to the present, it has been a government monopoly, and now is no exception. In ancient times, if you were caught selling private salt, it was a crime punishable by beheading.

  This iron is even more unnecessary, without iron you have no military power. Without a good weapon in hand, are you going to rebel with a wooden stick? Of course, it's not absolute, since ancient times officials and bandits colluded, these things are endless!

  Let's not mention other things, but the moment the iron control policy was introduced, it brought suffering to those who made a living from iron. The blacksmiths were the first to be affected. In those days, if you wanted to buy some salt or a piece of iron, you had to register at the government office. From the bottom up, everyone had to show respect and pay their dues before they could go to the designated place to make a purchase, and the prices were exorbitant. It wasn't that the imperial court set high prices, but rather those greedy officials added their own markups. Layer by layer, these additions piled up until it reached the common people's hands, at which point the prices became outrageous!

  So at that time, many blacksmiths gave up their ancestral craftsmanship and turned to other professions. Wang Chongchuan was no exception. Seeing that the ironwork couldn't be done anymore, he started a business of slaughtering pigs and selling meat, and thus got a nickname: Wang Er Tuo.

  In the autumn of Chongzhen 12, on this day, Wang Chongchuan's business was surprisingly good. A newly slaughtered large pig was sold out in less than half a day. He then closed his stall early and went to a wine shop to drink heavily. Wang Chongchuan had no hobbies in his life, except for the liquor, which he regarded as his lifeblood. After drinking excessively, he was full of food and wine. Calculating the time, he estimated that it was about right, so he got up, settled the bill, hugged a large wine jar, and staggered towards the entrance of the vegetable market.

  Today is the day of execution, that is, the day of beheading. At that time, people were bored and eager to see a lively scene, so they all wanted to go and watch. When Wang Chongchuan arrived at Caishi Mouth, it was already crowded with three layers inside and three layers outside. Looking at the dense crowd in front of him, he suddenly felt annoyed in his heart, and holding the wine jar, he squeezed into the crowd. The people around saw that he was a drunkard, covered in grease, and they all made way for him with disgust, so Wang Chongchuan stumbled to the front of the platform.

  The scene was already set, a prisoner was kneeling on the ground with his hands tied behind his back, an official sat on the platform, surrounded by seven or eight bailiffs. Suddenly, a copper gong sounded, and a loud voice shouted from the platform: "The time has come, the execution will be carried out immediately!" As soon as the words fell, a strong man wearing a large red robe and a large red hat walked forward. A special officer handed him a large bowl of wine, which he drank in a few gulps, then smashed the bowl to pieces with a flick of his wrist. He approached the prisoner, raised the ghost-headed knife in his chest, ready to strike.

  The common people were so frightened that they closed their eyes and didn't dare to look again, the children were even more scared and hid in the adults' arms. However, after waiting for a long time, there was no movement on the scene. Feeling puzzled, they secretly took a peek, only to see that man, with his hands raised high holding the ghost-headed knife, but he himself didn't move at all, as if he were a wooden or clay sculpture.

  The executioner was extremely displeased and hastily ordered someone to go and ask. A bailiff, running over, patted the shoulder of the man in red and scolded: "Old Wan, why haven't you started yet? Do you want to be beaten?" As soon as he finished speaking, this man in red fell backwards! Everyone was frightened by this, and the bailiff hastily went forward to check, only to see that the executioner had already died with seven orifices bleeding.

  During the execution, the executioner suddenly died on the spot, and this was a big mess! The scene immediately became chaotic, with everyone discussing it. Some said: "Look, this is what happens when you do too many evil things, you get punished." Others said: "This is the vengeful spirit coming to stir up trouble in the execution ground." In short, there were all sorts of theories, and it was a complete mess. The officer in charge was so scared that he rushed back onto the platform, urinating in his pants, and reported what had happened. After listening, the presiding official was also frightened, thinking to himself: "On this sunny day, could it really be that there are ghosts causing trouble? What can we do?"

  At this moment, a loud laughter suddenly came from the execution ground. The crowd looked around and saw a drunkard covered in oil stains, sitting on the ground with a wine jar in his arms, laughing wildly. The execution officer was furious and ordered someone to take him down. After bringing this person up to the platform, the execution officer glared at Wang Chongchuan and asked: "You scoundrel, why are you causing trouble in the law court?"

  But then Wang Chongchuan suddenly acted as if nothing was wrong, sitting on the executioner's platform like a lump of mud, sticking out his tongue and saying: "I... I came to watch the beheading! You say this guy who got beheaded isn't dead, but the one doing the beheading has already farted... Hehe, you think that's not funny?" After finishing speaking, he held his belly and burst into loud laughter.

  The official's face turned bright red with anger. In a fit of rage, he grabbed the wooden ruler and was about to hit Wang Chongchuan. But then he had an idea. He slowly put down the ruler and sneered at Wang Chongchuan, saying: "In my opinion, you're just a coward! You must have been so scared that you almost wet your pants, so you laughed loudly to muster up courage!" After finishing speaking, he burst out laughing along with the nearby constables.

  Upon hearing this, Wang Chongchuan was enraged. He stomped his feet and jumped up from the ground, pointing at the execution officer's nose and shouting: "Who says I'm a coward! Let alone watching... watching an execution, even if it were me personally... personally beheading someone, I wouldn't be afraid!"

  That official looked at Wang Chongchuan with disdain, shaking his head repeatedly and sneering: "Alright, you have a donkey but you won't blow the camel. If you really have this skill, go and show it to me, I really want to see if you have any guts!" Wang Chongchuan heard these words, turned around and left without saying another word. The surrounding bailiffs wanted to stop him, but the execution official smiled and waved his hand at them.

  Wang Chongchuan came down to the ground, circled around the prisoner on the ground a few times. Then he picked up the wine jug on the ground and took several big gulps, grabbed the ghost head knife of the executioner Old Wan, stuck out his tongue and said to the prisoner: "Big brother, I said you're afraid... Afraid of what? Your head will be chopped off with just a small scar left. After it's done, Wang Chongchuan will treat you to a drink!" As soon as he finished speaking, the knife had already come down.

  Only to see the prisoner's body suddenly fell forward, a blood arrow shot out from the beheaded neck, and people didn't even have time to cry out before the corpse split into two pieces! Looking at Wang Chongchuan, after one knife cut, he was very pleased to look around on the platform, grinning with his big mouth, laughing loudly.

  After laughing for a long time, he finally picked up his own large wine jug and walked several meters away. He stretched out his hand to pick up the human head on the ground. Seeing him say to that head: "You're dead, you're really dead, it's a good thing you died early and can be reborn soon! I said, what are you still frowning about? Come on, let's go drink with me!" After finishing speaking, he carried the head and swaggered away.

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