After Yun Kong slipped into the darkness, there was no sound for a long time, and no one was willing to see what happened.
Everyone glanced at the small table from time to time to see if Zi Gushen had written anything else after writing these two inexplicable words.
The old man named You He kept wandering among the people, observing their expressions.
"Mr. You!" Yun Kong's voice came from behind the wooden frame, "Please bring the fire in and have a look."
"Is there a fire?" You He asked the family members guarding the ancestral hall.
"There are oil lamps."
The family member took the oil lamp, lit it, and handed it to You He.
You He thanked him and got behind the wooden frame where the coffin was placed.
With the faint light coming from behind the wooden frame, everyone could vaguely see two figures moving and heard whispers.
Soon, the figure stopped shaking, and You He's hunchback was exposed to the wooden frame, and he slowly walked out backwards, which aroused everyone's curiosity and couldn't help but take a few steps closer to watch.
You He stretched his hands forward, carrying a brown, dry thing, and the other end was carried by Yun Kong. Both of them were covered with cobwebs and coughing, and the dry yellow thing was also covered with thick dust and dust. Spider webs, dust falling all the way.
The two people carried the thing to the front of the spiritual throne, and everyone couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's a dead person!"
The corpse was naked, with wrinkled and dry yellow flesh, and a head of dull black hair.
"I'm afraid this mummy is a woman," Yun Kong sighed, "Who can use a piece of cloth to cover it? The girl will be shy."
The mummy was kneeling on the ground with its back to the sky, one arm stretched forward, and the other arm bent so that its face rested on it, as if it was bent down in pain before death, trying to catch something.
Mrs. Liu quickly took some pieces of white cloth and handed them to Yun Kong. Those cloths were originally used to wrap the spiritual tablet.
When something like this suddenly happened, everyone was left in a state of confusion, and no one mentioned the need to worship ancestors and transfer spirits.
The hunchbacked old man broke the deadlock: "I need a few things, old man."
He cut his hands behind his back and staggered to Mrs. Liu.
"Huh?" Mrs. Liu swallowed, "What does the old gentleman need?"
"I want charcoal ash. It must be made from charcoal, not wood. It doesn't matter how much or how little, okay?"
"Okay, there's a stove in the kitchen."
"Also, I want two medicines: ephedra and licorice, and a few seasonings: onions, peppers, salt, white plums, and a bottle each of vinegar, wine, and grains. Have you written them down?"
Mrs. Liu was stunned for a moment, then looked back at the maids who were following her. Two maids came forward to greet her: "Please tell me again, sir."
You He repeated it once, and the two maids took note of it, excused themselves, and hurried home.
The family members guarding the ancestral hall made a joke: "It sounds like the vegetables, meat, and condiments are all ready."
As soon as he finished speaking, the brush on the side table flicked and made a sound on the side table, which scared the family member into silence.
You He asked the family member: "The government office is not far away. It's only a few steps away, right?"
"Yes," the family member pointed outside, "but the parent officer has long since escaped and the door has been sealed."
"It doesn't matter," You He turned around and said to Yun Kong, "I'll go there and you can stay on guard."
"know."
You He clasped his hands behind his back again, inserted his short green bamboo pole into his belt, and walked slowly towards the government office.
Watching You He walk away, Liu Kuan, the eldest son of Liu, lowered his head and muttered: "It sounds like a prescription. The licorice is sweet and neutral, and the ephedra is bitter... It's a bit like the medicine used to relieve "external" disease, but it requires Will onions, peppers, and salt be too medicinal...?"
Liu Kuan was lost in his own thoughts like a nerd. Yun Kong heard his muttering and smiled slightly.
The family members guarding the ancestral hall came over and asked Yun Kong with a frown: "Who is that old Mr. You?"
Yun Kong looked at You He's retreating back and replied kindly, "He's an old man from the capital."
※※※
The incense that Mrs. Liu burned to worship Zigu was only as long as a knuckle.
The two maids each carried a basket of things and walked over breathlessly.
Not long after, You He also swung over leisurely, holding a roll of paper in his hand.
He glanced at the basket on the ground and without saying much, he pointed to Yun Kong at the small table beside the door of the ancestral hall. Yun Kong sat down obediently like a disciple, sharpening his ink and picking up his pen, waiting for instructions.
You He was calm and relaxed. Although he was a hunchbacked old man, he had an aura that impressed everyone. Everyone could not help but hold their breath and watch You He's every move.
You He bowed to the coffin, turned around, knelt down next to the mummy, lifted the cloth, and began to report loudly: "In the Liu family's ancestral hall, behind the wooden frame where the coffin is placed, a mummy was found. When he found it, his back was turned to the sky, his legs were bent and he was on his knees. Lean forward, bend your left hand on the pillow, stretch your right hand forward, head facing south, there are no clothes or other objects around the body, and the body is carried by a crane and Taoist Yunkong to a bright place at the door of the ancestral hall for easy inspection."
You He was reading while Yun Kong was writing down notes. You He saw that Yun Kong had almost finished writing before continuing to check.
He turned the body over slightly. It was completely dry and very light. You He only turned it over halfway, looked at it up and down for a while, and then put it back in its original state: "The body is that of a woman. Because it is so dry and wrinkled that the injuries cannot be identified, it is now in a casket." corpse."
"What is a corpse?" someone whispered.
I saw You He first spreading charcoal ash on the ground, then spreading a layer of cloth, moistening the cloth with water, and then placing the mummy on the cloth. Then he spread a layer of cloth on the mummy, sprinkled charcoal ash, watered it, and A wet cloth is placed against the corpse's skin, especially the face, to allow the charcoal water to soak into the mummy.
After doing this, You He put his hands behind his back and walked around, occasionally glancing at Yun Kong's notes.
The family members guarding the ancestral hall couldn't hold back and asked curiously: "Mr. You, why did you do this?"
"Make the mummy soft." The answer was simple and clear.
Liu Zi shuddered immediately after hearing this.
"Wait a minute," Liu Kuan, the eldest son of the Liu family, spoke, "This is the Liu family's ancestral hall. The purpose of our visit is to transfer spirits. Old sir, you have disturbed my family's business."
You He glanced over with sharp eyes, his eyes seemed to be able to see through people: "Someone died here, and he died in front of your ancestors. Don't you want to get to the bottom of it?"
"Now the Jin soldiers are about to kill us. We don't even have time to escape, so who cares?" Liu Kuan said, "Besides, the government has also escaped, and no one cares who is dead."
"Really?" You He looked up at Tianshi, squatted down, lifted the cloth, and whispered: "She is indeed a beautiful girl..."
As he spoke, he turned the corpse's face: "Look, do you recognize it?"
Mrs. Liu exclaimed and hurriedly covered her mouth.
Liu Kuan's eyes widened and he stared at the corpse in disbelief.
The face of the female corpse has softened, and her skin color is still leathery brown. The pink-white skin and slightly rosy cheeks before birth can no longer be seen, but her appearance is clearly distinguishable, and her beauty before birth is vaguely visible. .
No one has mentioned the name of the female corpse for a long time, but everyone remembers it.
"Is it Ah Shuang?" Mrs. Liu said softly.
She and Liu Kuan looked at the second son Liu Zi in unison.
Liu Zi's clothes were soaked with cold sweat, his hands were shaking, and he looked at his mother's eyes at a loss: "How could it be Ah Shuang? How could it be Ah Shuang?"
The three people were astonished and looked at You He with questioning eyes.
You He pouted habitually, as if he was chewing something. This was a common action for elderly people with missing teeth.
He slowly covered the body again and took out the roll of paper he took from the government office: "I just broke into the government office and found these from the file shelf."
As he spoke, he spread out the yellowed paper, and the fine dust raised slightly on the paper made him cough a few times. He handed the roll of paper to Yun Kong, took a bottle of vinegar from the basket, and walked to the ancestral hall. We went to the hut and brought a small stove for heating.
You He placed the vinegar bottle on a small stove to heat it, and occasionally touched the bottle to see if it was hot enough.
Everyone glanced at the paper next to Yun Kong's hand uneasily, as if there was some terrible secret sealed on the yellowed paper.
You He picked up the heated vinegar, dipped a cloth in the vinegar, and carefully applied it all over the female body.
They watched You He work quietly, no one dared to speak.
You He also lowered his head and said nothing, diligently smearing the body, washing away the dust, spider silk, sediment and other dirt on the skin, then taking out the onions, peppers, salt, white plums, glutinous rice and other things in the basket, and grinding them together Mix it into mud, beat it repeatedly, and pat it into a piece of cake.
He stuck the piece of "cake" to the outer wall of the stove to heat it, then laid paper on the body, and then put the heated cake on top. He heated the cake, spread the paper, and buried the body over and over again. By the time he was done, it was already I was sweating profusely, my energy was a little weak, and my breathing was a little breathless.
