Chapter 1 Funeral

The night is so silent.

But in the spring, the silence also has a hint of restlessness and invisibility in it, the growth of plants, the arching of insects in the soil, especially in the mountains and forests, and the wonderful feeling of vitality in the bright moonlight.

It's all so serene and sweet!

However, at this moment, a gunshot tore the tranquility of this paradise from mid-air, and everything in the night was awakened.

In the dense forest, frightened birds chirped in panic and rushed into the night sky, and large black shadows obscured the moonlight, making a small village on the edge of the valley look like a shadow of fangs and claws.

And with the sound of this ominous gunshot, the lights of each house were lit up one after another. The lights were like ill-intentioned eyes, flickering and gloomy staring at the dark mountain forest.

"Ngawang and his father have returned to heaven, right?" The village chief's wife also got up when she saw the village chief getting up and getting dressed.

The village chief sighed and did not speak.

In their place, when the old man was dying, his children were waiting by the side, and the old man was so angry that he fired a gun to report the funeral, so now the whole village will know that someone has died.

After the village chief's wife got dressed, she ran down from the wooden building, hurriedly went to the fire pit in the back hall to shovel out a handful of fire ashes, turned on the lights and doors in the front hall, and sprinkled a line in front of the door, "Yu new ghost, new ghost don't enter the door!" She sang in a low key, but in the shadow of the moon it looked eerie, like a conjuring voice from that world.

Somehow, a gust of wind blew up, blowing away the ashes that had just been sprinkled on the ground.

The village chief's wife was frightened, and threw the shovel in her hand on the ground, and she didn't dare to shout, but just stood there, looking at the open space outside the door.

In the bright moonlight, something seemed to shake in the woods opposite, followed by a faint sound that sounded like weeping and praying. The animals in captivity under the wooden building screamed uneasily and hit the fence a few times as if they had been stimulated by something. The village chief's wife only felt that something flashed in the bushes, and then suddenly disappeared.

"Frog Daddy!" She shouted without looking back, but her body did not move.

"What are you yelling about!" The village chief came down from the wooden building and cursed in a low voice, "Go and call the frog cub and go with me to Ngawang's house to have a look." ”

At this time, everyone in the village will be busy, and of course he needs to help more as the village head.

"The new ghost—" she shuddered and said again.

"Take the ashes!" The village chief said impatiently, but when he approached, he saw an unconnected mark by the door, like a snake twisting.

"What's going on?"

"The wind - the yin wind has blown away!" The village chief's wife still looked out the door, "There are strange things in the forest outside!" ”

The village chief 'stool' in his heart, but he still scolded in his mouth, "What a yin wind, it's the night wind, talk nonsense, beware of the cow god punishing you, go and sprinkle it again!" ”

When the village chief's wife heard this, she finally moved her body and ran back to the fire pit in the back hall.

The village chief looked outside, and the woods had calmed down, except for the rustle of leaves in the breeze.

"Don't come back, the village has nothing to do with you!" He muttered to himself, "How unwilling and useless you are, who told you to be blind in the first place!" ”

There was no answer outside the door, but there was a sound of footsteps behind him, and the village chief's wife ran over and sprinkled a line again, the fire ash was twice as large as just now, and the ghost line was thick, and even the humming tune was recited twice.

She looked nervously for a while, and was relieved to see that there was no surprise that the line of fire was fine.

"Go and call the frog cub, the young man is so sleepy, he won't wake up like this!" The village chief reprimanded.

"What did Ngawang do for that cursed thing!" When the village chief's wife saw her man by her side, she became emboldened.

"It's not to help that rabbit cub, it's to help—alas," the village chief sighed again, "and if he goes, the gods will bless him with reincarnation." Such a good person, I hope that in the next life, I don't have such a debt of children! ”

"Ngawang's dead cub and his brothers, as well as their wives, have suffered retribution!" The village chief's wife scolded hatefully and went upstairs to the wing room to call her son.

When he and his son arrived, there was no one to help the village chief, not even the Ngawang brothers, only a light that led the village chief to the small shed next to the pigsty.

There was nothing in the hut except for the emaciated body of an old man resting quietly on a broken wooden plank made of bricks, and a bundle of rotten grass was piled on the ground.

According to their rules here, they should cover their faces with white paper immediately after the people go, but now there is none, only the sound of quarrels came from the wooden building, to the effect that it was the cost of the funeral. It can be seen that as soon as the old people close their eyes, they don't even care about customs, and they are discussing the question of who suffers.

But the old man did not close his eyes, and on his gray face, a pair of godless eyes were wide open, and his mouth was slightly open, revealing a coin and a few grains of rice inside.

The village chief stepped forward and said, "Go! Go and go, so that you don't suffer in the world! Let's go, brother, I'm incompetent, I can't control your disobedient sons. Close your eyes! He shed a few tears, stroked the old man's eyelids, and when he raised his hand again, the old man's eyes were closed, but his mouth was still open.

The village chief was sad again, and took a straw hat hanging from the rotten wooden door panel and put it on the deceased's face.

At this time, the helpers came one after another, and the three brothers Ngawang, Amu, and Ashui also came down from the upper floor, pretending to be sad, but everyone in the village knew their faces, but for the sake of the old man, they came to help.

When the three of them were young, their mother went, and it was their father who pulled them up with hard work, married them a daughter-in-law, and squeezed his own bones for the happiness of the three of them. But when they grew up and their fathers were too old to work, there was no one to support the elderly. They live in a new wooden building, but the old man has no roof to shelter from the wind and rain!

The people in the village didn't care, and the village chief repeatedly persuaded them, but these three brothers were not tiger wolves, and no one dared to provoke them, or they promised to be good on the surface, but secretly they were more ruthless to the old man, which made the old man's life even more difficult.

They are a village in a remote mountainous area, and they don't know how to defend their rights by law or anything, but after the villagers reported to the county, the county sent someone to say a few words, and the eldest Ngawang stayed with the old man, and the other two brothers gave them some food.

The houses in their village are all two-story dry-stilt wooden buildings surrounded by mountains and rivers, with people living on the top and livestock on the bottom. As a result, Ngawang built a simple wooden shed for the old man next to the livestock pen and did not let the old man go upstairs at all. Amu and Ah Shui are even more excessive, the food is always not delivered on time every day, and it is the people in the village who secretly help them, so that the old man does not starve to death.

They are a village in the mountains, they are still poor, and the electricity has only been connected for a short time, and no one is rich, so when the old man is seriously ill, he can only wait for death like this.

Death, for the elderly, may be a relief!

Under the command of the village chief, the villagers washed and disinfected the deceased's body with pomelo leaves boiled water, combed their hair and changed their clothes. The three disobedient men were busy taking out the coins and grains of rice from the old man's mouth, putting them into earthen pots, and carefully putting them away.

This is also their custom here, when the deceased go, put these things in his mouth, and then take them out and hide them, which means to leave a treasury of gold and silver for his descendants.

They don't support the elderly, but they still expect the elderly to leave them a good future!

After a night of tossing, I finally settled down, and the next thing is to handle the aftermath according to the rules.

At the strong request of the villagers and generous gifts, Ngawang was finally willing to move the old man's body to the main hall. According to the custom, the old man is placed on a straw mat, his head is facing the shrine, and his hands and feet are tightly tied with a cloth, and a white cloth is covered. Set up incense tables on the head and feet, and sacrifice a cooked chicken, a bowl of glutinous rice and a pair of chopsticks.

The Ngawang family had no relatives, and the three brothers were very impatient, so it was only half a day before the village chief instructed everyone to carry the body into the coffin. In the coffin, the old man's relics and shoes should be put in, but everyone found that the old man's clothes were only the tattered clothes and hats in front of the church, and the village chief had to take his own set of brand new clothes and put them inside.

"Remember to keep the incense lamp out and burn incense. Stay by the corpse, eat vegetarian, and do not wear shoes, sit on stools, or move water. Don't let cats and dogs pass over the corpses, it will alarm Daddy. The village chief instructed uneasily.

"Got it." Ngawang responded, and said as if remembering something, "The matter of the undead - the three of us are in financial difficulties, so it is better to bury them first, and then discuss them slowly!" ”

"I can't afford to invite Wu Gong and Dao Gong, so it's okay to ask for a ban." The village chief tried to coordinate.

"It's the same to wait until tomorrow when I am buried." Ngawang replied insincerely, "I'll ask the village chief for more help tomorrow!" ”

The village chief had no choice but to agree, thinking in his heart that these three brothers were not human, and they were not willing to keep more than one day, and there was no hope for the excess. But even if Ngawang regretted it afterwards, it would be the same for him to ask the people in the village to scrape together some money to hire a yaban.

At night, when the vigil was held, because people from the same village came to help, the three brothers had to accompany them. Because they had a very bad reputation in the village, the night watchmen did not talk to them, but sat quietly on the ground. In the middle of the night, Ngawang, who was on the guard, suddenly heard a terrible cat meow.

He stood up and startled the villagers who had been silent.

"What's wrong with you?" One asked.

"There's a cat meowing, get away!" Ngawang's face turned white. I heard that cats and dogs passed under the coffin to kill their bodies. He knows whether he is good to his father or not, and people who are unfortunate will always be frightened.

"Where are the cats?" Another said, "You must be sitting and falling asleep!" Which of you heard? ”

Seeing that everyone else shook their heads, Ngawang breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that maybe he was too nervous. But before his ass touched the ground, another cat meow startled him to his feet.

"There really is a cat meow! Didn't you hear? As he spoke, he ran over in a panic and closed the door.

"We really didn't hear it!" A person was a little impatient when he saw the strange behavior of the god Ngawang.

Seeing that others were ignoring him, Ngawang didn't say anything more, anyway, the door was closed, and he felt safe, so he sat down in a daze. But after a minute of silence, the cat's meow sounded again, and this time it felt like it was in his own ears, and he jumped up in fright!

"What are you doing, Ngawang, do you want to learn how to dance the ghost face shell dance?"

"There are cats! There are cats! Ngawang was frightened, "The cat has come in!" He spun around like a headless fly, anxious to find the cat, and the others were forced to hide. But he stumbled under his own feet, and was falling beside the coffin, and his eyes were full of his father's face.

The old man slowly opened his eyes and smiled at him, but the smile was not love or sadness, but an indescribable horror!

"Come and accompany Daddy too!" The old man moved his lips and said to Ngawang.

"It's a corpse! It's a corpse! He fell backwards in horror and was caught by a man.

The man usually couldn't get used to him, but then he grabbed him and came to the coffin again, Ngawang struggled, but his whole body was frightened, how could he break free, and he was pulled to the coffin again.

"Look at it yourself, a person as gentle as my father will only be bullied by people who have no conscience, how can he harm his children!"

Forced, Ngawang looked inside. I saw that the old man was still lying quietly, and there was no movement!

"So, don't do things that hurt your conscience, otherwise you won't be so afraid." The man snorted coldly.

Ngawang didn't speak, because he had nothing to say, and only decided that he must go out for the funeral the next day so that he would be safe!

Note: "Ya Ban", commonly known as the forbidden woman, that is, the witch. They claim to be stand-ins for gods and ghosts, who can communicate the two worlds of yin and yang, and can tell good fortune and evil, ask ghosts, and dance gods to exorcise ghosts and cure diseases.

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