The second master, in addition to the master, is another person who taught me the craft, surnamed Zhang, not tall, and a little hunchbacked. Everyone calls him Zhang Tuozi. It is the only one in our village and several surrounding villages who has a relatively good skill to eat the food of the underworld. His inheritance is very miscellaneous, both to help people see the feng shui of the yang house and to help people find the grave points, and sometimes to help people see the day of the burial has been lined up by relatives and friends. In short, whoever has a white happy event in ten miles and eight villages will find him as soon as possible.

Of course, the second master also has another craft, that is, painting dark makeup.

Wearing makeup is the saying of the older generation on our side, and it is only a part-time job in our place, because there are really not many people in the countryside who pay attention to this, and it is not enough to support themselves. Generally, people who die of illness, old age, and accidental death, as long as their facial features are not distorted and their limbs are sound, there are few people who need to paint makeup, but there is an exception, that is, suicide death.

There is only one saying circulating in our side that people who die by suicide, the moment their souls leave the body, they will be frightened when they see their remains, so that they will not be able to enter the ghost path, and their ghosts will not disperse after death, that is, the general resentment of suicide that everyone knows is heavier, and it is more ferocious than the spirit left in the yang world.

Therefore, when the first seven souls of a person who died by suicide, if he sees his body as it was at first sight, he will be frightened again, and when this fright hits a certain level, he will directly float back. If you do the ritual before the first seven and then cover the coffin, there is no problem, and you don't even need to go into the ground. But if the coffin is buried after the first seven, once the spirit sees the appearance of death, it will float away. It is useless to do any more rituals and rituals than to exceed, unless you find someone like us to send them away.

Of course, there are not many such cases, generally speaking, after a person dies, he will choose the date and time of burial, generally within five days, choose the day and time, very learned. The main basis is the heavenly and terrestrial branches, and then look at the time of the throat, that is, the time of death, and finally according to the birth date of those immediate family members in the family. Finally, the time of burial is finalized. In addition to these, there are some taboos. I won't go into detail here.

In rural areas, there are three most common ways to commit suicide: first, drinking pesticides, and second: hanging. Third: Jumping into the river. The houses in the countryside are relatively low, so there are almost no suicides by jumping off buildings.

The body left behind by each type of suicide is also very different, so it is also difficult to deal with the makeup. I won't mention any more about that here.

Now there is a profession in the city, called the mortuary, also called the funeral master, and now many colleges and universities also offer such majors. They specialize in the work of making up the body, compared to our hometown, the mortuary is more professional, and the makeup technology and equipment are more perfect, and they can often restore the body to the appearance before death. And some are even more energetic than they were before they were alive. I have great admiration and respect for this profession. They can make the body very clean and tidy, they can make people walk cleanly. Their profession is noble.

Okay, so much, let's get to the point,

There is no doubt that this incident happened when the second master was painting makeup.

One early morning in the summer vacation of the first year of high school, I was in the temple.., I already knew the second master at that time. When I was doing morning class in Master's classroom, the Second Master came to visit out of the blue, and he had a good relationship with Master, and the two brothers would get together every once in a while to drink a few bowls of rice wine. After chatting for most of the day, I saw that the second master was coming. I also hurriedly got up to say hello, it was also time to prepare for breakfast, I knew their habit, picked up a large Coke bottle and prepared to pour wine.

The second master said, it's good to make half a bottle and a bowl for one person, and one person below has to live.

Master said, "Points?"

The second master said: All of them, this time I have to paint dark makeup

At that time, I had relatively little contact with the second master, and he only taught me some things about the feng shui of the yin house, as for some things about the funeral, I had never been to the second master at all.

I'm a very curious person, and this curiosity makes me particularly interested in everything.

Since the summer vacation of the third year of junior high school, I have really met the spirit gods, and my curiosity has become even heavier. Especially the painting makeup that the second master said. I've never seen it...

Coincidentally, although the second master painted dark makeup less, he also painted at least forty or fifty times. There have been three times when there has been a problem, and one of them happened to be met by me! Is it really fate?

By the time they finished breakfast, it was already close to noon, and the second master and I went down the mountain, and on the way, the second master told me about this incident while walking.

In fact, it can be summed up in a few sentences: the person who passed away was an old woman in her fifties, hanged. In addition to choosing the day and time, opening the grave point, you also need to paint dark makeup. I was in a hurry. I said, "Second Master, what do you use to paint your makeup?" Brushes? What material is used for those blush eyebrows and whatever.

The second master said: This time it is relatively simple, and there is no need to make up for the facial features. Mainly with lead powder. Why do you ask so much. Don't you know when the time comes?

At that time, I was young, and I didn't dare to be naughty for fear of being beaten. The second master is a person who doesn't talk to me much after drinking, maybe he's afraid of leaking something. So I didn't dig into the bottom of it anymore.

The victim's house was not far away, and when he arrived at the victim's house, all afternoon, after the second master opened the acupoint, he was making a figure eight arrangement, and found out those relatives and friends who needed to avoid the funeral because of the inconsistency of the eight characters. I also learned a lot during this period, the second master is usually more serious, but he teaches things unambiguously, his thinking is clear, and he is simple and easy to understand... When he was done, he threw me a bunch of keys and told me to go home and get him something to paint his makeup. I asked the second master when he was going to apply the makeup. He said to paint at night.

I said why not paint during the day and be so horrible at night.

Instead, he persuaded me with a very good reason, he said: During the day, I was drinking and chatting with your master in the morning, and in the afternoon, I opened the cave and lined up the eight characters while everyone was together, where is there still time to paint?

I'm speechless.

At seven or eight o'clock, it was already dark.

The second master picked me up and walked to the hall of the victim, dressed up like any other funeral service. On the right is Shouki, which is placed on three benches. In the middle are two long tables of eight immortals. Put some incense burners and rice, as well as fruit and meat and other tributes. The things of the Taoist priest have not yet been introduced. The only difference is that the body is not in the coffin, but on a door panel on the left. Cover with a thick black quilt. A white towel is placed on the head.

There were originally two night watchmen in the house, and the second master told them that you should go and rest for a while, and we will paint the makeup, and call you after the painting.

After the two people went out, because the second master wanted to teach while drawing. So he just closed the door. Open the box. Start making preparations. Tone up some colors, and moisturize the pen. I was a dumbfounder at the time. Seeing that the second master was making those preparations, I folded my hands together, bowed to the body three times, and then directly lifted the towel covering the body.

The moment I opened it, I was taken aback even though I was mentally prepared.

The corpse's face was pale, as if it had a hint of ruddy, perhaps because of congestion, maybe it was from the light. The mouth is wide open and the tongue is leaking out a little. And the eyes are bulging, and the lips are purple but not black. It was a horror with twisted facial features, and I felt a little numb when I saw it. After taking a look, I immediately closed it again, and said vigorously, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

The second master said: Let you move blindly. Deserve! Go and get me a basin of boiling water.

I hurriedly rushed out, the expression just now kept coming to my mind, I was more afraid of this expression than the spirit god, of course, I was still young at that time.

When she came back from the hot water, the second master said to take off the towel on her face, and then soak it in the hot water for a while, and then apply it to her eyes. Help her close her eyes,

He was already busy with all those preparations as he spoke. Stand next to me and start directing me.

Because of the fright just now, I hesitated to say Second Master, why don't you come?

He said, "How?" Are you scared? What kind of strength do you still have to learn from us?.

I'm the one who can't stand the agitation of the law. I gritted my teeth, squinted my eyes slightly, and took off the towel from the corpse's face again, quickly shifted my gaze, dropped the towel in a wooden basin filled with hot water, and began to stir. Then the towel was twisted slightly, then folded into strips and applied to the eyes of the deceased. The towel is hot, hot and cold, so that with a gentle flick it can make the body close its eyes.

After about a minute, the second master looked at me and was shivering. Having said that, I'll do it.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but luckily he didn't let me go and show the dead man. I quickly stood aside, and the second master took away the towel and swept it over the deceased's eyes with his hand, just like in the TV series. Pretty much hand gestures. However, the second master swept very slowly, and the sweep was still chanting mantras on the side. Although the mantra was pronounced in the vernacular dialect, I still couldn't understand it, but it was normal.

When the second master opened the towel, he handed it to me. Then I went ahead and wet the towel.

The next step is to keep the body shut.

You also have to use a towel first, then pinch the philtrum with your right hand, support your chin with your left hand, and slowly close your mouth. All this was originally done by the second master, and it was also a relatively simple procedure. But at this time. Something happened that shocked me and the second master. When he pressed his mouth shut with his hands. The corpse's eyes slowly opened. It's different from the TV that opens suddenly, the reality is that when the mouth is slowly closed, the eyes slowly open along with the synchronization, and the eyes seem to be slightly turning, which is not obvious.

I can see this very clearly, but I was shocked, I can't really cheat the corpse again, right?

I hurriedly pulled the second master and said, you won't cheat the corpse, right?

The second master settled down and said: If there is a problem, go first, and then pull me out of the hall without looking back.....<