Some people just like to be arrogant, and those who are arrogant can only be dealt with by unreasonable people. What are scoundrels most afraid of? Scoundrels are most afraid of hooligans! Fatso is not a hooligan, because hooligans occasionally still talk about reason, but Fatso has done things like murder and arson, and you rural women cant even deal with him?

  As expected, this time theyre all honest, all of them are obediently honest! My aunt who was just about to fight to the death is now covering her face and running back home, my cousin who was just about to kill me is also hiding in a corner not making a sound. To get to the bottom of this matter, we need evidence, I have both human and physical evidence that can prove I have nothing to do with these two dead people, if you insist on pinning this on me, then Im not someone who can be easily bullied.

  After the commotion, I directly invited the old lady out and cleared my throat: "Since ancient times, we have emphasized the importance of heaven, earth, ruler, parent, and teacher. Parents are the masters of the house. Its a common saying that white-haired people send off black-haired people, but there is also our aunt in this family. Although my cousin has passed away, a country cannot be without a king for a day, and a family cannot be without a master for a day. She has the highest seniority, having lost her son and endured the pain of losing him to take care of the aftermath. This matter will be decided by our old lady, whatever she says goes!"

  The onlookers were also familiar with the family, and the old lady was usually a devout Buddhist who had suffered for most of her life and never managed the household. As soon as someone suggested letting her take charge, others objected: "Let her be in charge? Ask her if she has even half a cent in her pocket! Buying vegetables, inviting guests, incense sticks - nothing is free. Managing the household is one thing, but you also need to have some financial resources."

  "Exactly!" The second elder on the side also echoed in agreement.

  I didnt even look at him, and said to the people outside: "Alright, Ill pay for this on behalf of the old lady. Nobody leaves today, its the first month of the lunar year and nobody wants to be jinxed. This way, whoever helps with the funeral will get a pack of cigarettes, two bottles of wine, an extra pair of Liberation shoes, and a towel."

  "Really?!"

  I bowed my head and said a few words to the fat boy, he ran out quickly, and soon brought back the owner of the villages small grocery store. I took out a handful of money from my pocket and handed it over, saying: "Really, cash on delivery, go to the village heads small grocery store and let the boss deliver the goods to this courtyard, one by one, finish the work and get paid here!"

  In those days, most families who had a funeral would just offer a pack of cigarettes, and if they were more polite, they would add a towel. My price was already ten times that of an ordinary family, and in those materially scarce years, I believe such conditions were attractive enough!

  As expected, people soon started to go to the person in charge to sign up: buying vegetables, washing vegetables, kitchen staff, grave diggers, pallbearers, funeral invitation senders, and errand runners. A long list of names was posted on the wall at the gate, no one remembers whose house they should visit for New Years greetings today, who cares, its just a pound of white sugar, whats the comparison?

  This kid is hot, Cha Wenbin just opened a list, and someone went to prepare what needed to be prepared, and bought back what needed to be bought. There were also many miscellaneous things. I and Pangzi also received the task, he was in charge of hitting the gong, and I was in charge of beating that copper cymbal, which is a thing that makes a huge noise with just one "slap".

  In the afternoon, I felt quite listless. I dismantled the door panel of the main gate and placed the corpse on it from the bed. Underneath the door panel was a long bench. There is a subtlety to this: after a person dies, they are not immediately put into a coffin, but rather have to wait for a day, until they "see red".

  This refers to the practice of not putting a person in a coffin until after the sun has risen and set again on the second day, before which the body is placed on a door plank, with "door" referring to passing from one gate to another, meaning entering the gates of the underworld.

  Cha Wenbin changed into a new robe, and it was clear that it wasnt his, probably left behind by his master. It was very loose-fitting. Unlike the golden yellow satin robes with eight trigrams embroidered on them in movies, this was just a simple long gown, ash grey in color, without any eight trigram patterns on the back, but there was a flower petal resembling a lotus on the chest area, though it looked quite old.

  Every half hour, he would circumambulate the corpse three times from right to left, reciting scriptures. Each time he reached the head of the corpse, he would pause, shake the bell above the corpses head, and then use his hand to drip a drop of water onto the corpses yintang position, which is called "fixing the spirit" to prevent fake corpses. The water used was rootless water, that is, rainwater collected in utensils without touching the ground.

  At four oclock in the afternoon, the butler killed a rooster and had a bowl of half-coagulated rooster blood sent in. Cha Wenbin started drawing talismans with his brush dipped in the red rooster blood; Id seen him use cinnabar before, but it was the first time I saw him use chicken blood. However, he didnt burn or stick this talisman anywhere, instead folding it into a piece about the size of a bean curd and stuffing it into the corpses chest.

  In such a situation, doing things is very serious, I want to ask, but never had the chance.

  After finishing, Zha Wenbin went to the next room to rest. The two of us were temporarily liberated. For dinner, we had tofu, which is a Chinese tradition. This funeral wine is also called "tofu rice", probably because its related to the white color of tofu.

  After finishing dinner, it was around 6 or 7 oclock. The women were asked by the person in charge to finish their work and go home early. The children were also taken away by the elderly people. They knew very well what would happen tonight when they saw the Taoist priest, which meant that there would be a big show tonight.

  My uncle has been dead for three days, according to the rules, he should have been buried today, so Zhang Wenbin asked the workers to work overnight to finish the grave, and it must be sent to the mountain before midnight tonight.

  It was the first time for the surrounding villages to hold a funeral at night. Generally, funerals are held in the early morning. Who would hold a funeral at night? Youd have to ask Zhang Wenbin!

  Zha Wenbin leaned on the armchair and said to me, "This man died unjustly. At night, he will be called a stolen coffin, making him think he is still at home and hasnt left."

  "Whats he talking about? Hes already dead, isnt he?"

  He said carelessly: "I didnt go out, my soul is still here, I stayed at home all afternoon and just sat in front of Pangzi."

  Fattys two legs kicked out and he jumped up shouting: "Old Zhang, dont scare me, what nonsense are you talking about here."

  "I didnt see anything either," I said: "Dont listen to him, Cha Ye is just teasing you."

  "You cant see it." Cha Wenbins words were unexpected: "Your heavenly eye is closed, I dont know why, but its slowly closing. The ghostly spirits of the daytime are very weak under the influence of yang energy, and at night you might still be able to see them."

  I subconsciously touched my eyelids, whats going on here? "Is that good or bad? Why did it close?"

  "Haha." Zhang Wenbin rarely smiled, then stared at me, making me feel a bit embarrassed.

  "Whats going on?" I asked.

  "Alright, Im asking you, have you gone out and had an affair with a woman?"

  I stared and asked: "Is this related too?"

  Cha Wenbin nodded and said, "Thats it. Youve combined yin and yang before, so this heavenly eye will slowly close. This heavenly eye was originally something that everyone has when theyre born, so infants can see those things too, and are easily frightened. But as people grow older, the heavenly eye closes, you... belong to a special case, probably still treating you like an infant. Now that youve become a man, naturally the heavenly eye will be withdrawn, perhaps its a good thing for you."

  After Wen Bin left, Fatso immediately asked me: "Damn it, when did you do that?"

  I: "Once in Dongguan I got drunk..."

  At 7 oclock in the evening, the gate of the courtyard was closed, and those who stayed were familiar faces, mainly family members and relatives, as well as the four men responsible for carrying the coffin, also known as the Four Great Golden Arhats.

  The coffin was freshly painted, dark red in color and still reeking of paint. Originally it had been intended for the old lady, but now it seemed that her son would be the first to use it.

  The body had been carried into the room and his brothers and sisters wiped it clean, changed into a suit of mourning clothes, put on mourning shoes, and tied the legs tightly with hemp rope. This is because after death, the muscles relax, if not tied tightly, the dirty things in the anus will flow out.

  At a little past eight, Cha Wenbin looked at the time and signaled for the coffin to be put in place. Underneath it was not a quilt but the suit of clothes he had worn when he was alive, and inside that suit there was also a talisman.

  When a person is placed in a coffin, it is called encoffining. Cha Wenbin took a wooden comb and combed his hair three times from front to back, then put seven pieces of cake by his pillow, took seven copper coins, stuffed three into his mouth, and two into each hand.

  He took another new wick, made of seven strands of white thread twisted together, and placed it in the oil bowl to light up. This was his lighting lamp on the road to the Yellow Spring. He then took a handful of mixed grains and circled them around the wick before putting them into the coffin as well. Next came a pair of bowls and chopsticks, a towel, a stack of paper money pressed against the back of his head, and another stack placed on his face.

  At this time, Cha Wenbin shouted: "Relatives of those born in the year of the dog and snake, please withdraw. The rest come to take a last look at their ancestors!"

  "Ula" another burst of womens wailing began, and I retreated to one side with Fatso. I looked at my big aunt again, who had returned, her face seemingly still smeared with tears. She was the most vicious in her crying, and every word that came out of her mouth was a curse: "Which damned ghost cursed you to death? You must take him away, dont let him off...

  Chubby chuckled and said: "Im talking about you, Little Xia Ye."

  "Get out of here! If youve got guts, take me away! Ill still collect him even if I go down!"

  "Bang", and before I knew what was happening, I fell to the ground with a thud. A perfectly good stool had suddenly fallen apart...