The most popular urban image of Liucheng in recent years is snail noodles.
This smelly and fragrant food has been recognized by the majority of netizens, and they have even invented various weird ways to eat it, such as milk snail noodles, beer snail noodles, stinky tofu snail noodles...
Next is the Chopped Pepper Fish Head Mini that has been modified with body stickers all over the street.
However, before that, Liucheng was most famous for the coffins produced here.
Liucheng's coffins are famous for their outstanding quality, tight wood, toughness and lightness, no infestation of insects and ants, and a long history.
Therefore, there has always been a folk saying of "die in Liucheng".
Many people travel to Liucheng. In addition to eating local snail noodles, they also buy a small coffin pendant at the handicraft shop.
It means getting promoted and getting rich.
Ordinarily, when someone dies, they are buried in a thin coffin or even wrapped in a straw mat and buried directly.
However, wealthy families don’t do that.
A grand funeral is a must. In addition to beating gongs and drums, wearing hemp and mourning, the most important thing is to find a good Feng Shui location and a high-quality coffin that can preserve the body well.
Before cremation was implemented, the ancients had strict requirements for the integrity of the body and tried to preserve the body of the deceased.
Therefore, there are strict requirements for the airtightness of the coffin in order to prevent insect and ant corrosion.
They believe that in this way, the ancestors can continue to protect the descendants of the family while they are underground.
Real Liucheng coffins are usually made of oil sand cedar. This kind of wood grows on dense forests and deep mountain cliffs. It does not take a hundred years to become a timber. When it enters the water, it sinks; when it enters the soil, it does not decay. Its fragrance is like catalpa and its color is like bronze.
In modern times, pine and cypress are often used, which means evergreen. Those with money can use catalpa and nanmu.
After the coffin is made, it is brushed several times with cooked tung oil or raw lacquer. It is of high quality and beautiful style. The top, bottom, left, and right pieces are completely made of one piece of wood in one go, without the need to piece them together.
Historically, after a major general died in the early Republic of China, his family spent 2,000 oceans, equivalent to 2 million today, to prepare a coffin for him that was the most expensive in the history of Liucheng. It weighs more than a thousand kilograms, and the head and tail are engraved with reliefs of two dragons playing with beads and five prisoners holding longevity.
It was a sensation.
Of course, life and death are important matters for human beings, and it is understandable that we should treat them with caution.
But if the burial is not done well, it will not be a small problem.
…
Liucheng is rich in coffins, so coffin shops are naturally indispensable.
After entering the new era, due to the promotion of cremation by the Daxia government, fewer people now bought coffins, and many coffin shops began to switch to selling other funeral supplies.
In many places in the countryside, burial customs are still retained.
Therefore, although the number of coffin shops has dropped sharply, they still exist.
It's just that most of today's coffin shops are located in the suburbs.
After all, modern people are quite taboo about this kind of thing. If you open it in a city, surrounded by residential areas, you will often get complaints from the residents, and the store owners will be annoyed when you come and go. Simply drive to the outskirts of the city near the national highway. If you want to buy a coffin, it is also convenient to come from the city.
Tan Huihuang, 56, runs a coffin shop inherited from his father.
Be both a craftsman and a boss.
The coffin shop belongs to the funeral industry and inevitably has to deal with people from all walks of life, so there are many taboos.
Tan Huihuang always adheres to the rules passed down by his father.
For example, closing before dark, not selling to customers who cannot tell their origins, picking up coffins by yourself, etc.
You have to believe that something must have happened to have these rules.
Just as a funeral home does not allow its employees to be alone at night, they must regularly confirm whether their companions are themselves.
In addition, there are three rules in the coffin industry. In these three situations, the coffin maker will not be willing to open the coffin.
First, don’t fight the evil ones;
Second, children should not be beaten;
The third is Bu Da who died unexpectedly on the wedding day.
Because coffin makers, like ordinary carpenters, are all worshipers of Luban. In their view, evil people will go to hell after they have done evil in this life. Building coffins for evil people is helping evil and will damage their moral character.
It’s easy to get angry when a child dies, so I won’t beat him.
Death in a newlywed is a serious disaster and should not be punished.
If the family members of these people want to buy a coffin, they can only buy a ready-made one in a hurry, and they have to pay an additional sum of money to the coffin maker, which is commonly known as a happy occasion.
…
On this day, a customer came to Tan Huihuang's store.
It was a big brother who looked a few years older than him, named Huang Ying. He said that the old mother at home was old and was not in good health recently. She was afraid of an accident and wanted to prepare a coffin in advance.
As soon as he heard that the other party was from the nearby Pochao Village, Tan Huihuang agreed.
Huang Ying chose cypress wood and requested that it be engraved with a hundred-year-old picture and painted with red paint, because his mother was already eighty and three years old, so she was considered to have lived a long life.
Tan Huihuang wrote down various data, the other party paid the deposit, and he started working.
This situation requires urgent work.
Because the custom here in Liucheng is to make the coffin as much as possible while the person is still alive. It is not an auspicious task to put a coffin for the dead.
But even if it is expedited, it will still take four or five days to complete.
Fortunately, this time it went smoothly.
After he finished the coffin on the fifth day, he notified Huang Ying to pick it up.
Huang Ying brought two juniors here this time. The four of them worked together to lift the coffin onto the tricycle, paid the balance, and left in a hurry.
After watching them leave, Tan Huihuang sighed slightly, shook his head and walked back into the house.
In fact, in this business, we have long been used to things like separation and death.
Everyone has a share in life and death, sooner or later you don’t need to rush them.
…
It's a coincidence.
Just when Huang Ying took the coffin home, the old mother couldn't hold it any longer.
The whole family burst into tears. Those who should go to announce the funeral, those who should help change the shroud, and those who should do the funeral ceremony...
The coffin that had just been brought back was placed in the middle of the mourning hall.
The old man who had changed into his shroud was picked up by his eldest son Huang Ying and his younger brother Huang Jun and put into the coffin. Then put the incense card, light the evergreen lamp, scatter a layer of coins and copper coins on both sides, and stuff some paper money into your hands.
The ever-burning lamp cannot be extinguished until the burial.
Relatives in other places have notified them to come back as soon as possible, but it will take time. There is definitely no way to bury him today.
But in this kind of weather, the body can't be parked for long.
what to do?
Huang Ying said: "Go to Longshan and invite that Master Gao to come!"
That Master Gao from Longshan was named Gao Jingliang. He had a unique skill called "frozen mourning and sealing the smell".
Also called corpse sealing.
That is to say, if someone dies in the scorching heat of midsummer, Taoist priests can do this without any refrigeration equipment, and they can stop it in the funeral hall for ten and a half days without rotting or smelling.
This is a hard skill and cannot be faked.
The specific operation is to put a bowl of water upside down on the lid of the coffin so that neither the water nor the bowl can fall down.
There is no principle to explain, and asking is just a trick.
Nowadays, few people know how to use this spell. He was lucky enough to see the teacher from Longshan perform the spell, and he was astonished at that time.
Teacher Gao Jingliang was quickly invited over.
When entering the door, he nodded slightly to Huang Ying and others, and then stepped forward to take a look at the old lady lying peacefully in the coffin.
He turned around and asked: "How many days will it be closed?"
After whispering to each other, the Huang family said, "Including today, it will be three days."
"good!"
Gao Jingliang's words are concise and concise.
The length of time is different and the requirements are also different. Three days would be fine, he just needs to do it again on the third day.
It's not impossible to seal it for ten or eight days, but he has to come back every two days to re-perform the technique to prevent accidents.
This is the trouble with this corpse-sealing method.
Without further ado, start now.
…
Set up a case first.
Three animals, offerings of fruits, tea and wine, incense candles, paper money and other items are displayed, and then they start chanting sutras to "invite saints", inviting gods from all walks of life and ancestors of all generations.
Gao Jingliang put on his master's uniform, stood in front of the case and read scriptures in a low voice.
"Carry the true fragrance again, and sincerely invite the saints from the vast heavenly capital, the kings of the underworld, the dragon palace of the surging water country, the fierce and powerful Yang Yuan Zhenzai, the three realms and four palaces, and the hundreds of millions of white people who are here. Please come to the saints to prove the merits of the alliance. …”
Although Keyi is different from Zhengyi, it can still be seen that it has a strong Zhengyi style.
Afterwards, the divination cup was thrown to ask for divination.
If the hexagrams are in line with what the Xiao family wants, then it is approved and you can "transform wealth."
Add tea and wine on the incense table, burn incense, and turn paper money into rewards to the gods and ancestors of the past dynasties.
Then the most critical step is to create "holy water"!
It is also called "purifying water", that is, holding the water bowl with three fingers of the right hand, drawing the talisman on the burning incense smoke on the table, first doing the "Da Du Guan Jue", reciting the "Snow Mountain Mantra", and then doing the "Second Patriarch Jue" "According to the hour, take the snow air from the five directions of southeast, northwest, and center, and blow seven mouths of it into the water each time.
"Disciple raises his eyes and looks at the five mountains. The snow gate opens on the back of Wuyin Mountain. The Holy Mother of Snow Mountain, the Great Buddha, and the boy from Snow Mountain come down the mountain..."
While reciting the mantra, raise your hands to form a formula, move your steps to form a gang, and blow the water in the bowl three times.
After all the scriptures are recited, twenty-four talismans are drawn on the coffin surface in four directions according to the order of the twelve hours.
This is called "exposing the old and embracing the new".
It is to expel the filthy gas hidden in the corpse's internal organs and introduce fresh gas.
Then recite the mantra and perform the formula.
This process is the most tedious. It has to be read back and forth. It is extremely lengthy, but you need to be patient. At the same time, a neat piece of fresh pork must be hung above the corpse.
This is called "sacred rotten meat".
The bowl of holy water blessed with magic power was placed into the coffin under the watchful eyes of the Huang family.
It was really hanging upside down on the coffin lid, a bowl full of water, but not a drop fell!
Seeing this scene, the Huang family subconsciously took a breath of cold air.
It was really cold. The moment the water bowl was put on it, a cold breath spread out around the coffin.
Extremely miraculous!
Some young people who have received higher education are even more wide-eyed, feeling that their outlook on life has been strongly impacted.
If it weren't for the wrong occasion, I would really want to go up and take a closer look at how it's done.
Gao Jingliang ordered: "Be careful. No one is allowed to touch these two things. They will be buried in three days. I will come back then."
At that time, the meat and water will have to be disposed of before it is over.
After hearing this, the Huang family nodded quickly.
After sending the teacher away, arrange for people to stand by the coffin to prevent accidents.
…
Mrs. Huang was a good person during her lifetime, and the Huang family was prosperous, so a large number of people came to pay their respects.
These three days have been very difficult for the Huang family. On the one hand, they have to bear the pain of bereavement, and on the other hand, they have to receive guests and maintain order.
It wasn't until the morning of the third day that Gao Jingliang arrived as promised.
After letting the Huang family take one last look at the old lady, they recited incantations and cast spells to remove the sacred carrion and holy water. The water was poured outside the door, and the meat was thrown far away into the bamboo forest.
Then a big tied rooster was put in as a companion and the coffin lid was closed.
However, he was not nailed immediately. He had to wait until the time of burial before being nailed with seven-star nails.
The seven-star nails are often referred to as coffin nails, also called offspring nails, which symbolize the prosperity of descendants.
Gao Jingliang was not in charge of the burial, so he didn't go.
Old Mrs. Huang was buried next to the reservoir in front of Pochao Village. Sitting on the mountain and watching the water, in the words of a Feng Shui master, it is a good treasure place.
There are several excavators working not far away. They are digging for something, as if they are building something here.
Greenhouse? Or a tin house?
The Huang family didn't care. After filling the grave with soil, they burned some more paper money and put two firecrackers on it, and it was over.
Huang Ying, whose hair was already gray, knelt in front of the grave and burst into tears.
If we want to see each other again in the future, we can only come to see this lonely grave.
…
Next to the construction site.
Li Dongming, who was digging with an excavator, saw someone carrying a coffin for a funeral on the mountain next to him. He frowned and quickly lowered his eyelids: "Bah, bad luck!"
I heard that the boss is planning to build a large-scale chicken farm here, the kind that raises free-range chickens in the mountains. The outermost part is surrounded by iron mesh. He is planning to build a brand of free-range chickens in the mountains and forests. It is said that people in big cities now like this kind of chicken. It can only be sold for a few hundred yuan!
"Tsk tsk tsk, it's so easy for people in the city to make money."
It's different in rural areas. The same free-range chickens only cost a few yuan a pound. When they are cheap, they even cost twenty or thirty yuan a piece.
Li Dongming was bored and engaged in mechanical operations, completely unaware that as he and his colleagues continued to dig, the terrain of the entire mountain had undergone some mysterious changes.
Feng shui is a very mysterious thing. Just changing the terrain slightly can have completely different effects.
On the third day after the old lady of the Huang family was buried, a strange thing happened.
Mrs. Huang's grave was dug up and the coffin lid was lifted aside. The body in the coffin disappeared, leaving only the mummy of a chicken.
When the Huang family heard the news, they were immediately furious. Everyone was filled with indignation and threatened to break all the bones of the person who dug the grave and stole the body.
The police were called, but when people from the Public Security Bureau came to take a look, they came to a strange conclusion:
"This grave... seems to have been dug from the inside out..."
What did you say? !
Everyone present was stunned for a moment, and then a cool air shot up from the soles of their feet to the sky. Even in the hot summer, even under the scorching sun, they couldn't stop the chill in their hearts.
Fake corpse?
…
The truth is worse than they thought.
Go back a few hours.
At 4 o'clock in the morning that day, the sudden alarm sound immediately attracted the attention of the staff on duty at the Liucheng Civil Affairs Bureau Command Center.
See the signal clearly, and your subconscious mind will be excited.
It's weird!
"Report! A strange signal has been detected, number 0772079, energy level B, and is being located... The target is located in Pochao Village, Liujiang District, please nearby comrades who are responsible for the mystery to rush to the location to take care of it!"
It’s really cool to come on a mission in the middle of the night!
The controllers on duty looked at each other and saw the helplessness in each other's eyes.
Fortunately, it's only B grade.
So a B-level trickster and a C-level trickster were named, and they were arranged to set off to solve the problem.
However, when two comrades from the Civil Affairs Bureau rushed to the target location, they saw a scene that shocked them.
Although it was not dark at the moment, the visibility was still not low. In the dim light, a short figure wearing a shroud with white hair all over his body could be seen squatting in the corner.
The other party was startled to realize that someone was approaching, and the moment she turned back suddenly, the trickster could clearly see her movements.
Shining a strong flashlight on the man, he saw that the man was holding a dog and chewing food. His fanged mouth was covered with blood.
"Zombie?!"
Such a word suddenly popped into the minds of the two conspirators.
(It’s the little author’s birthday after 12 o’clock. It’s already 30 and nothing has been accomplished... I’m so cheeky, please give me a monthly pass. I’ll have it later.)
(End of chapter)
