I looked at the old hero suspiciously and asked, "Do you know me for a long time?" ”

He smiled and said, "I heard your name mentioned last year, and it was also my request for you to come to Quyang." ”

As soon as I heard this, I was even more puzzled, last year, I only entered the coffin bearer, not to mention fame, I'm afraid that few people even know the name, and how can the old hero in Quyang know my name?

I was about to speak, when the old hero stopped and said, "I want to ask you a question, I wonder if you can answer it seriously?" ”

I nodded and said, "You ask." ”

"What is a coffin bearer, and how is a qualified coffin bearer?" The old hero coughed a few times, and his breath weakened a little.

I stepped forward to support him, thought for a while, and said: "Your old problem is too extensive, Xiao Jiu can only say his understanding of the coffin bearer, the coffin bearer is the corpse collector, in the eyes of many people, our coffin bearer's profession is very low, not understood by the world, in my opinion, our coffin bearer is very sacred, sending people into the earth for peace, is a great good." As for the qualified coffin bearer, should be proficient in the five skills and funeral customs, as large as the funeral customs of all parts of the country, as small as the funeral customs of various nationalities, dare not say that it is exhaustive, at least know how to respect the customs of various places, know how to cherish the customs left by the ancestors, even if the society is developed, the funeral customs of the country can not change, this is the faith, is the spiritual pillar, even if the whole society is advocating innovation, only the funeral customs can not be innovated, must be based on the gourd to draw the scoop, proficient in the five arts, and can be conservative, that is, a qualified coffin bearer! ”

When the old hero heard me say this, a smile appeared on his face, he nodded, and asked, "Do you think you are a qualified coffin bearer?" ”

I shook my head and said, "No! "It's not that I'm modest, but to tell the truth, as far as the coffin bearer is concerned, he needs to know a lot of things, and more importantly, the coffin bearer himself needs a kind of luck, a kind of luck that can suppress the resentment of the dead, only in this way can every funeral be carried out peacefully, and every coffin can be carried up the mountain and buried safely.

And I don't have this kind of luck, and I'm not proficient in the five arts, at most I'm a coffin bearer who has just entered the industry.

After listening, the old hero nodded with satisfaction, beckoned to the old lady beside me, and whispered a few words in her ear, which I didn't hear very clearly. However, when I heard the first sentence of the old hero, he said: "Xiao Jiu, this child deserves to be..."

After the old hero had said about seven or eight sentences, he motioned for the lady to stand aside, and it is worth mentioning that after the old lady stood beside me, she would look at me from time to time, and there was a hint of kindness in her eyes.

"Xiao Jiu, do a good job!" When the old hero said this to me, he stopped at me, meaning to let me go away.

I bent down towards the old hero and retreated to Jiang Ye's side, and the nine sons of the Lu family immediately surrounded the old hero's bed tightly.

Originally, I wanted to ask Jiang Ye what was going on with all this, but seeing that his face was a little wrong, I didn't ask, so I stood next to him and silently looked at the nine sons of the Lu family in front of me.

The atmosphere in the room was very depressing, and after about ten minutes, the nine sons of the Lu family knelt on the ground and began to cry, I know that the old hero has died.

After crying for about three minutes, the old lady walked up to me and said, "Xiao Jiu, my lord said before his death, you pretend to be wrapped, and others can't be trusted." (Wrapping: It is the name of Quyang, and it is called wearing a shroud in Hengyang.) ）

When it comes to wrapping, Quyang's customs are somewhat in line with our side, Quyang is particularly particular about shrouds, no matter what season the deceased died in, shrouds are all cotton, taboo to use leather goods, and sweaters can not be worn.

It is said that if the deceased wears a leather coat, sweater, leather shoes or leather shoes after death, he will be reincarnated as an animal in the next life.

Buttons can not be installed on the shroud, because the buttons are called buttons, which are homophonic with twists, which will be detrimental to the development and fortune of children.

Of course, Quyang is very big, this is just a custom, in some places, there is a custom of wrapping before the death of the immortal, this is done, on the one hand, because the body is stiff and difficult to wear after death, on the other hand, it is out of popular belief, the folk believe that the life jacket did not wear in time to choke, is 'naked walking' depending on the descendants of the great unfilial piety. (Note: The funeral customs are different in various places, in order to facilitate reading, every place, the customs will use local professional terms, such as wearing a shroud in Quyang called wrapping, the following text will use this narrative technique, please do not substitute the funeral customs of your hometown into this article, Xiao Jiu once again emphasized that China is a big country, there are many nationalities, there are ten miles of different customs. ）

It's a bit far, let's get down to business.

Hearing the old lady say this, I didn't answer her directly, but turned my head and glanced at Jiang Ye, throwing a puzzled look at him.

Jiang Ye nodded and did not speak.

I came to my senses, agreed to the old lady's request, and began to dress up for the old hero. I first asked the son of the Lu family to find a pair of shoes worn by the old hero before his death, and his attitude towards me was not very friendly, so he asked me why I was looking for shoes?

I told him that there is a custom of calling souls here in Quyang.

He seemed to have some understanding of Quyang's customs, said a good word lightly, and left.

After a while, he found a pair of straw sandals, saying that the old hero loved to wear straw sandals during his lifetime, and I didn't ask anything more, so I called the others out, leaving the Lu family and son.

After those people left, I was left with the Lu family and my son, and I looked around the room and saw a wooden ladder on the left, about the same length as the height of the house.

I was happy in my heart, I was really sad that there was no ladder to call the soul, I didn't expect that there was a ladder in the old hero's room. So, I asked the son of the Lu family to make three strokes towards the ladder, burned some yellow paper, and then asked him to take the old hero's left shoe (the deceased was a woman, take another shoe), and climb the wooden ladder.

The Lu family was fatter, and it took a lot of effort to climb a wooden ladder, and it took seven or eight minutes to climb to the top of the wooden ladder.

"What's next?" The son of the Lu family stood on the wooden ladder and asked me.

"Take a few taps on the roof and shout, 'Father, come back and put on your shoes.'" I said to him.

He nodded his head and agreed, and as I instructed, he slapped his straw sandals on the roof a few times, and shouted three more times, 'Father, come back and put on your shoes.'

These three are claimed to be called souls, and they are also to determine whether the deceased is immortal, if not, there will be abnormal phenomena in the room.

While he was shouting this, I looked at the old hero, and saw the old hero lying peacefully on the bed, without the slightest abnormal reaction.

I feel a little lost in my heart, to be honest, I really hope that these three voices can call the soul of the old hero back, but this is just hope, the reality is cruel.

"Come down!" I shouted to the son of the Lu family, and then came to the old hero's bed, first made three gestures to him, then rolled the old hero's eyelids, and probed him to breathe.