The wind on the plain blew the fluttering hell money into the air. The sounds of the suona and gongs never ceased as the funeral procession slowly made its way towards the pre - determined gravesite.
"Wu wu wu—" Qi Wen cried heartily. Worried that he wouldn't be able to shed tears, he occasionally rubbed onion juice under his eyelids.
Ye Wanmian beside him wasn't idle either. However, compared to Qi Wen, her crying was not as dedicated. From time to time, she rolled her eyes, looking at the black coffin beside her and the several strong men carrying it. Her gaze swept across their feet.
A funeral procession was supposed to be carried out in one go. The procession didn't stop to rest on the way to avoid the coffin from touching the ground.
When the carriers got tired, another group of men would step forward to take over.
By the time they reached this place from the town, it was already the second batch of carriers.
Suddenly, a strange sound echoed from all around, "Ao wu—"
This howl sounded like that of a wolf, but it was followed by a series of barks. It should be that the wild dogs nearby had been startled.
In the wilderness in the middle of the night, only this funeral procession was moving forward. The sounds of the suona, gongs, and crying had disturbed the slumber of all things. Along the way, the strange calls of birds could be heard from time to time. Therefore, this sound similar to a wolf - howl wasn't too out of place. Neither Mr. Chen, the wealthy landowner in the front, nor Taoist Yuanqi even frowned.
On the contrary, if it had been quiet all the way without even these ordinary sounds, that would truly have been a cause for vigilance.
Hearing this howl, Ye Wanmian, who was in the crowd, finally let go of her hanging heart.
This was the signal she had set with Dahuang. Hearing this howl, she knew that Dahuang had caught up.
She looked at the coffin beside her again, then calmly shifted her gaze and focused on observing the surrounding terrain, memorizing the route and the topography by heart.
It took one and a half hours for the funeral procession to reach its destination.
The gravesite was located on a gentle slope on the western back - hill of Dongli Town. The grave pit had already been prepared, and there were several guards from the Chen Mansion standing guard there.
Seeing the funeral procession, the leader stepped forward to greet Mr. Chen and led the procession towards the grave pit.
The subsequent process went very smoothly, with almost no unexpected incidents.
Taoist Yuanqi danced and chanted around the grave pit for quite a while. The sounds of the suona and gongs on - site were deafening, and the professional mourners cried even more vigorously.
Finally, at the command of "Lower the coffin", the black coffin was carefully lowered into the pit by several strong men.
Next came the burial.
Ye Wanmian pretended to cry while quietly watching this scene.
The torches illuminated the surroundings as bright as day. The black coffin being gradually buried by the yellow soil looked pitch - black, like a gaping monster.
The pit gradually closed up, finally forming a small mound. Strangely enough, there was no tombstone.
However, there was a folk saying that for a child who died before reaching adulthood, a tombstone couldn't be erected within a year. They had to wait until the next year.
After all this was done, someone immediately stepped forward with a chicken coop, grabbed a rooster from the coop on - site, slit its throat, and handed it to Taoist Yuanqi. Taoist Yuanqi held the bleeding rooster and drew talismans around the mound.
The entire funeral process hadn't been able to scare Ye Wanmian, but seeing this scene, her eyelids twitched, goosebumps rose on her body, and she felt an inexplicable sense of unease in her heart.
After Taoist Yuanqi stepped back, the servants stepped forward to set up sacrificial items such as incense burners. Mr. Chen lit the incense, but instead of offering sacrifices, he just stuck the incense into the burner. Then he said, "Daoist, do the divination."
Taoist Yuanqi took out his tortoise shell and divination coins, mumbled something, and then three divination coins dropped out and came to rest on the ground.
All three coins showed the yin side.
Taoist Yuanqi's lips twitched imperceptibly. He turned around and gave Mr. Chen a meaningful look, saying, "It's done."
Mr. Chen nodded in satisfaction and bowed with folded hands, "Thank you, Daoist."
Not far from the gravesite, on a high - ground, Xiao Jingcheng, who had been quietly lurking in the dark, suddenly held his breath. It was as if someone had tightly grabbed his neck. He arched his body painfully.
Curly, who was crouching beside him, noticed something was wrong. He anxiously moved closer, whimpering and nudging him with his nose.
The yellow dog, which had been fine just now, was now gasping for air with its mouth wide open. Its eyes bulged slightly, looking on the verge of death.
Inside the yellow dog's body, the yellow light ball, which had been quietly staying in the background, also sensed something was wrong. It circled around the purple light ball in the shape of a human figure inside the body, extremely anxious.
Although very slowly, the purple light ball now seemed to be gradually fading.
The control of the physical body had always been in the hands of the purple light ball. The feeling of impending death spurred the yellow light ball to muster a fierce determination. It wrapped around the faintly disappearing purple light ball, trying to seize control of the body.
...
Not far away, after the burial was successfully completed, Mr. Chen ordered the departure, leaving a few people to continue guarding the site.
The professional mourners no longer needed to cry. Ye Wanmian and Qi Wen returned to normal and mingled in the procession walking down the mountain.
Ye Wanmian felt an inexplicable sense of unease in her heart. The farther she got from the mound, the stronger this unease became. Her palms were sweating, and she kept turning her head to look behind.
However, this wasn't a good time to leave the funeral procession. She had to suppress her inner unease for the time being, lower her eyelashes, and continue walking.
A carriage had stopped at the foot of the mountain at some point. After getting off the mountain, Mr. Chen and Taoist Yuanqi boarded the carriage and returned to the town first. The rest of the people had to walk back on foot just like they had come.
Perhaps they had been scared by Taoist Yuanqi's act of drawing talismans with chicken blood on - site. On the way back, no one spoke. It was so quiet that only their breathing could be heard.
Qi Wen felt inexplicably spooked. As he walked, he got closer and closer to Ye Wanmian.
Their shoulders bumped into each other. Ye Wanmian looked at Qi Wen. Qi Wen's face was pale, looking frightened. Ye Wanmian took out two candies from the small cloth bag on her body and stuffed them into his hands, pointing at her throat to signal him to moisten it.
However, this silence didn't last long. After getting off the mountain and moving away from the newly - built gravesite, everyone got bolder. Someone said:
"Steward Chen, we've been busy all the way. Can we stop and take a break so that everyone can have a drink of water? My throat is hoarse from crying."
"Yeah, can you pay us the money for mourning in advance? It's the middle of the night. After getting paid, we can go back to our own homes when we reach the town."
The others echoed. So Ye Wanmian also spoke up.
Steward Chen said, "Don't be impatient. There's a relatively gentle and safe area ahead. We'll rest there and pay everyone their wages by the way."
Everyone said okay.
A moment later, the procession reached the open area that Steward Chen had mentioned. Most people were tired and sat on the ground to drink water and eat. Steward Chen carried a cloth bag and called everyone forward to get paid.
Everyone immediately got excited and lined up to receive their copper coins one by one. Holding the warm 200 copper coins, Qi Wen beamed with joy. He suddenly felt that all the hard work tonight was worth it.
Steward Chen didn't give everyone much time to rest. After a while, he urged them to leave.
Suddenly, Ye Wanmian pressed her stomach and grabbed Qi Wen, who was about to get up and follow. She lowered her voice and said, "Oh no, nature calls. I have a stomachache and need to go to the toilet. Will you accompany me?"