Liu Ruxiang came to the front of the row of old graves and walked around twice.
I also took a look, and by simple counting, there were twelve tombs in total, and they all seemed to be quite old. Some of the tombs have collapsed slightly, and no one has repaired them. They are overgrown with weeds, and some small trees have grown on the tombs. This is not a good sign. The coffins will be rotten by the roots of the trees.
I watched Liu Ruxiang open her big wooden box and take out a pair of chopsticks. Then she went to the tombs and inserted a pair of chopsticks into each tomb.
Twelve pairs of chopsticks were inserted into the twelve tombs. This scene looked particularly strange under the gloomy moonlight.
Liu Ruxiang then lit candles beside these tombs and placed a dustpan beside them. Then she placed chickens, fish, meat and three animals inside to set up external Dharma altars.
Liu Ruxiang put on a red master's robe and a red military mask on her face, then lit incense and rang a bell in her hand.
"Ding-dang-dang-dang——"
"Ding-dang-dang-dang——"
Liu Ruxiang asked me to stand next to her, and then sang Shigong's scriptures in a low voice.
The cold wind gusted, and the grass and trees were swaying in all directions. Suddenly, the candles lit beside the twelve tombs all began to sway.
The candlelight just now was extremely calm, and there was no wind in this deserted place. We didn't know that such a situation would suddenly occur.
I stared at the swaying candles, and beads of sweat gradually appeared on my palms.
My back felt cold, as if something was blowing cool air on my back.
Soon, the dark wind became stronger and stronger, and suddenly a gust of wind blew over the candles, and the candles were quickly blown out.
Twelve candles were all extinguished.
A sneer appeared on Liu Ruxiang's face.
I stood on the edge and watched, trembling in my heart.
If you stay in such a gloomy place for a long time, you will feel goosebumps all over your body, and you will feel more and more panicked. It was even scarier than in Mojiacun before.
Liu Ruxiang asked me to calm down and opened the pocket I was carrying.
Seeing that the time had come, Liu Ruxiang bent down and grabbed a handful of rice from my pocket.
I saw clearly at this time that it was uncooked rice. According to Liu Ruxiang, it was uncooked rice for ghosts to eat.
Although I have been exposed to this kind of thing before, I am still a little scared now.
Liu Ruxiang softly chanted Master's scriptures and threw the rice in her hand towards the position where the chopsticks were inserted.
The chopsticks are inserted straight up.
In a normal family, if you dare to do this, you will definitely be beaten and scolded by the family members.
I remember when I was a child, one time I didn't eat well, so I stuck my chopsticks upright on my rice bowl as a joke, and my amiable grandma showed a rare look of anger on her face.
I was immediately slapped, and my grandma slowly told me: when eating for others, the chopsticks need to be placed flat, either on the table or on top of the bowl.
But remember not to stick it vertically, because you would only put your chopsticks in this way if you are feeding the dead. If you meet a particular family, even if you stick your chopsticks diagonally in the rice, it is not allowed.
Liu Ruxiang piled the uncooked rice on the base of the chopsticks, then pressed it with her hands to form a roughly round shape.
This is done for each of the twelve tombs. After they are all finished, they look extremely weird from a distance.
Seeing that she was almost done, Liu Ruxiang started singing Master's scriptures again. Then she held the rice with raw rice in one hand and the Dharma seal in the other. While singing, she walked towards the creek not far away.
I followed the master, holding the small shovel she asked me to prepare, and soon arrived at the creek.
"Wen Shan, start digging from here. You dig twelve small graves."
"This small tomb doesn't need to be big, it just needs to be the size of a basin."
I looked at the white rice that Liu Ruxiang was scattering all the way, and I seemed to understand the meaning of this spell.
I did as Master said and made small graves one after another on the ground.
Twelve small mounds of soil the size of washbasins appeared on the edge of the stream, almost clinging to the stream. During the high water season in summer, it even became the channel of the stream itself.
I dug the graves, and Liu Ruxiang then sang Master's scriptures, and then asked me to light a lot of incense and stick it in front of the graves one by one.
At the end, Liu Ruxiang said something very strange.
The general meaning is that he is a descendant of the He family. Today, he chose a good and precious place to move his grave again. He asked his ancestors to follow him and bless his descendants again.
After saying this, I saw the incense that had been lit began to burn quickly, emitting dots of firelight in the dark night.
I looked very puzzled, and Liu Ruxiang actually sneered and said: "That mayor, their family name is He, you understand what I mean, let's help their ancestors change their graves for free."
I thought Liu Ruxiang had finished her religious rituals, but who would have thought that she would actually return to the location of the twelve ancestral tombs.
"Master, are we going to dig up their family's old grave?"
Liu Ruxiang smiled lightly: "We don't do such immoral things."
She continued to explain: "After a person dies, some of the three souls and seven souls will return to the underworld, and some will stay in the tombs of the human world to protect future generations in life after life.
Even the fortunes of future generations are related to their ancestors. This is why we have to go home to worship our ancestors during the Hungry Ghost Festival and Qingming Festival. "
Liu Ruxiang's movements did not stop. He changed some things on the altar, then removed the rice that had been piled on the tomb, then sang the Master's scriptures again and scattered the rice on it again.
But this time, Liu Ruxiang pulled out the chopsticks.
On the ground next to the tomb, as soon as the chopsticks were pulled out, very deep holes appeared.
Liu Ruxiang continued to explain to me: "This place is not only the graves of the He family, but also the tombs of other families. Some of them are in disrepair or damaged. In this case, the tombs cannot hold the souls. The souls of our ancestors naturally became lonely ghosts."
"Let's find a home for these lonely ghosts." Liu Ruxiang packed up the gift box, and then we came back to the creek where we were just now.
"In two days, there will be a heavy rain. Although it is not the flood season now and the water here will not rise particularly high, it will be enough to flood these small tombs as big as basins."
While Liu Ruxiang was talking, I thought about what would happen when it rains two days later.
After the He family's ancestral graves were washed away, there were twelve more lonely ghosts in the world.
