Wenbin arrived at Wang's house, opened the door, Mr He has got up and was washing in the yard. Mr He saw Wenbin Zha back, did not have time to wipe mouth toothpaste and was going to kneel to Wenbin.
Wenbin Zha stopped him and said, "what are you doing? "
Mr He had already burst into tears, Wenbin helped him sit down.
"Wenbin, I met my wife last night, as you say so, I met her in my dream, she told me to take care of myself, also let me tell you, everything is destiny."
"Destiny? I do not believe this; I just want to see if the bejesus can hurt one's life carelessly." Wenbin Zha bite his teeth, tightly frown and his fist mercilessly hit on the stone Pan, blood scattered along the grain of the stone.
Do not know whether Wenbin used excessive magic or was too sad last night, he even fainted.
Mr He quickly woke up Xin Wang, let him help carry into the room. Wenbin Zha since the death of his daughter almost did not sleep a full sleep. This time, he had been suffering from a high fever and had been sleeping for a whole day and night. On the same night that he had fallen asleep, another person died in the Wangzhuang village…
It is not strange that an individual died. For the people in the village, the death of an elderly person is a comedy funeral. Who passed away? It is in a family just diagonally opposite Wang's house. It is an old lady who has died and she is over the eighties. She was taking a bath in the bathroom but did not come out for a long time, her daughter-in-law went in to see, found the old lady lying in a bucket half of the head have sunk into the water.
Her daughter-in-law usually has a loud voice. When she saw this scene, she cried out, "AH! " And half of the village was startled. This old lady was healthy, although she was in her 80s, she can still work in the fields. So she passed away, her relatives, of course, heartbroken, they think she did not die too long, sent to call the village "barefoot doctor" (Refers to the "doctor" without a medical license in rural China) came over. The doctor looked, declared the old lady is dead, estimated that the reason was she bathed for a too long time, the water temperature was too high, so blood pressure went up. No one noticed when she had a stroke, then she went underwater and drowned…
Her son was called Laohan Zhang. Although he was over 60, he was really filial piety. The Old Lady had passed away, and he felt very sorry for his mother. He announced on the spot that he was going to hold a big funeral. He knew that there was a Taoist priest living in the house opposite, immediately took a drink and a cigarette ready to invite the Taoist priest. Before he stepped into the door, he was stopped by Xin Wang, said that Wenbin has been slept for a whole day, and he cannot wake up Wenbin, maybe he is too tired, and let him has a good rest first.
Laohan Zhang had no choice and went to look for the coroner in the village. He did a small encoffin for the old lady where the shroud is changed. Then, he took half of his gate and put it on two benches, the old lady's body was parked in his house.
On the first day of a person's death, the old lady's seniority was high, of course, many people came to see her. Staying up late was quite hurtful, the first half of the night was fine, the second half of the night, of course, was more difficult. At that time, the cremation campaign had just started, the old lady was not allowed to do it this way, she said when she died, she had to lie in the big coffin. Because she thinks if she was burned, she didn't know how to go to the underworld to find her old man (her husband).
Laohan Zhang firstly does not want to obey his mother's request and was also an honest peasant. People who were responsible for cremation popularization came here often, saying that private burials were illegal, and he might even have to take legal action, so he was struggling, did not know what to do.
The coroner provided him with an idea. It was to set up a cenotaph for the old lady. In ancient times, when a general died in a battle, his body was often buried on the spot. In order to make his burial more dignified, his relatives at homemade arrangements for some of the clothes he was wearing, to be buried in a coffin, preferably with a dummy made of straw, with the date of birth and Eight Characters of the deceased written on it.
This is a good idea, but there is one thing after death soul will leave from the body, but what it still miss is the original body. If he wants to make a cenotaph, there must be a condition, which is to attract the soul.
How does this work? After a person dies, the soul may not be taken away immediately, and some may stay at home for several days before being picked up by the Imp of the underworld. At this time, they need to let the soul recognize the dummy made of straw as its own body and attach it.
The soul who is taken away immediately on the spot must wait until "the first seven" when the soul comes back and tell the soul that its body is here, this pile of straw with clothes on, it is your body.
Chinese not only care about "Fallen leaves return to their roots" (When a person gets old, they need to return to the place where they first grew up), they also care about being buried well. So as long as it's in a cemetery, where the coffin is positioned, under the coffin is certainly not marble or concrete, it's definitely clay, and it's better to have loess.
This work of attracting souls, the coroner is naturally unable to do, who will do it, everyone must have guessed——the Taoist priest Wenbin Zha, as this is his profession.
But Wenbin Zha didn't wake up until the next evening. He was so confused that he could barely find water to wash his face in the kitchen. He could only hear the "popping, popping and popping" of three firecrackers sounds outside. What did the three firecrackers represent, Eh, there is someone in the family died. People in the village who come to help have to eat, before they eat have to put these three firecrackers, which is also one of the local customs.
Wenbin did Not have time to put down the washing cloth and rushed out of the yard, it was at the opposite with the Elegiac Tie and wreaths placed, people coming and going to serve food and the wine. The young and old men and women, the cry sound of men and women mixed with the shouts of the bowl touching, and the laughter of women and single men. Wenbin Zha frowned and hurried over. Before he could go in, he saw Mr He was sitting at a table, recording something. He took a closer look, it turned out that Mr He had been asked to work as an accountant. When there is a person who died in the countryside, others had to contribute money to express their sympathy. Mr He was a scholar, everyone knew that. although his father-in-law had just died and his wife had died, everyone still respected him and pleased him to be the accountant.
Just at the moment Wenbin Zha went in, they were still loudly playing the drinking game, and the people who were teasing were suddenly silent. Tonight, the call back the soul of the dead could all rely on this Taoist priest. But the Taoist priest came in with a gloomy face and looked worried. This weird atmosphere, when Taoist Priest went into the door, time seems to stand still.
The first to get up was Mr He, he quickly ran to pull Wenbin Zha out of the yard, inside immediately began to get lively. Did not know who shouted loudly "drink", the lively scene before Wenbin went in appeared again.
Mr He pulled out Wenbin Zha, hurriedly asked him how his body, Wenbin Zha shook his head express that there is no big problem. Mr He told him in short about this thing and called Lanhan Zhang out to meet Wenbin.
Laohan Zhang knew Wenbin came, wiped away his tears, squeeze out an unsightly smile, beseeching Wenbin Zha to do the dharma to attract the soul. Wenbin Zha thought for a moment, nod and agreed.
Lanhan Zhang is very thankful, hurriedly asked Wenbin to sit inside and was pouring wine, and was delivering cigarettes. Which were all refused by Wenbin, he only had one request, provide him with a bowl of plain porridge.
After dinner, women and children tidied up the tables and chairs, most of them were sent home by their own men. As to attract the soul, normal people cannot be present, in case someone is unlucky, the soul did not lead to this straw dummy, but on the body of others, it is big trouble.
As usual, Wenbin Zha cited the rules that people who recoil in the Animal Sign with the dead should not stay at the scene. The rest of the people also better not stand in the house either. At least a road is made clear in the front gate. In addition, the rooster's blood, lime, incense paper, candles and sticky rice are all put on the desk.
This desk is different from before. What is different? There are two desks, each with a bowl of upside-down rice and tributes, lit with candles and incense. The only difference is that one desk is placed in front of the door plank where the body lies, the other was placed in front of the coffin where the straw dummy was placed.
The memorial tablet in front of the two desks was different, one was painted and placed in front of the door plank, the other was unpainted and placed in front of the coffin. The sleeping lamp was lit under the door plank and was not lit under the coffin.
Wenbin Zha motioned to all the others to stand outside. When he was ready to start, he felt that everything was black. He shook his head, didn't know if he was really too tired recently or what. After a while, he stood up and set up the square copper ink box and inkstone, dipped in cinnabar and drawing the soul attracting array on the ground. The soul attracting array requires a pen tip from beginning to end cannot leave the ground, if cinnabar is running out, also can only down the penholder from top to bottom.
People stood outside saw this clearly, all admiring this Taoist Priest. Laohan Zhang looked at this scene, felt a little elated and thought he got a professional man this time, nobody would say anything bad.
The soul attracting array must draw from the door plank where the dead body lied and the last stroke must fell under the coffin, without leaving any drag. Even Mr He who loves of calligraphy also praised. While painting, Wenbin Zha read some word, naturally, people do not understand what he said. They can only see when the last stroke was done, the sweat in the forehead of Wenbin Zha just as the large soybean and drop down, it looks very laborious.
This soul attracting array was originated in Miao-nationality region. At first, this dharma was an essential condition for making a cenotaph. Later, it was used by some evil spirits to induce spirits to practice their evil magic. All the elixirs and implements that were cultivated by this technique were extremely vicious, has always been disgraced by people in the righteous path. So that this dharma was nearly lost, Wenbin Zha also learnt it from the books left by his master. Today, it is the first time he applies it. He didn't know what the pros and cons are, just feel exhausted when the single piece of drawing is finished.