When Jian Yumei waited at the exit of the cave on the wilderness, anticipating news from his father, he heard his father's loud cry, which startled him. In his memory, his father rarely encountered such situations in the tomb.
Surely something is amiss! Jian Yumei thought.
There was no time for further contemplation. He hastily tied one end of the long rope to the nearest large tree, firmly securing it to a branch. Then he hurried back to the cave entrance, throwing down the fixed end of the rope and sliding down it himself.
He knew his father must be in trouble, and now he had to rescue him. Over the years, Jian Yumei knew he couldn't leave his father's side. Their bond was his entire familial love and devotion.
But as he descended, nearing the bottom of the tomb, a pair of large hands grabbed him. Looking up, Jian Yumei saw someone sliding down his own rope behind him, reaching out to catch him.
"Let me go! Whoever you are, I must rescue someone!" Jian Yumei exclaimed.
"You cannot save him now, hurry back up!" the person said, pulling Jian Yumei upward. He was dangling headfirst, his legs clamping the rope, his hands gripping Jian Yumei, using his legs as adeptly as his hands to swiftly ascend. Jian Yumei struggled, but to no avail.
The man quickly pulled Jian Yumei up.
At that moment, there was a rumble from below, as if everything had closed in. The man hurriedly led Jian Yumei away from the cave entrance.
Then, the wind started to pick up again, clouds rapidly gathered in the sky, followed by lightning and thunder, and then a torrential downpour ensued!
In the raging wind, Jian Yumei shouted for his father, but the mysterious man covered his mouth.
"Don't yell. It's too late now. If you attract the villagers at this hour, you won't be able to escape!" the man said.
"But I know them, they know we're not bad people!" Jian Yumei protested.
"If they find you here, you might not be able to leave! Try me if you don't believe!" the man retorted.
At this moment, Jian Yumei's tears blurred his vision, and he became disoriented.
When he tried to go back to the cave entrance, he felt a blow to his acupoint on his back. He immediately fainted.
When Jian Yumei woke from his stupor, the torrential rain had ceased.
"Father, Father!" he cried out, realizing he was still on the scene, but it was already dawn. Jian Yumei noticed that the terrain had changed. There were no longer the protruding parts of yesterday; the whole area was now flat. After yesterday's torrential rain, there was no trace left, including the deep hole he and his father had dug.
"Father!" Jian Yumei shouted loudly, pounding the ground. He wished he could hear his father's voice from below. But there was only silence, as dead as can be!
Jian Yumei sobbed uncontrollably; everything happened too suddenly, and he had no time to process it.
Just like when his mother passed away years ago, it was so sudden. That year, his father was away on business, and the family didn't know what his father's business was. They only knew he was out doing business. Every time his father returned, he brought back a lot of silver coins, earned from his business, his father said.
His mother was perfectly fine the evening before, but by the next morning, she lay dead in her room, her face showing a horrified expression, as if she had seen something terrifying before she died.
Jian Yumei suddenly remembered last night when he heard his mother's terrified voice from her room: "Who are you?" Then Jian Yumei heard a woman's laughter, followed by his mother's scream.
But when he got up to go outside his mother's room and shouted, "Mom, Mom, open the door! What's wrong, Mom!" his mother's voice came again, "Mei'er, I just had a nightmare, everything's fine, you go back to sleep!" He went back to his room with doubts, because it was midnight, and he wasn't very awake.
When he saw his mother's tragic death the next morning, Jian Yumei remembered that the voice later on shouldn't have been his mother's voice. It was just mimicking his mother's voice, so stiff and unnatural; definitely not his mother's voice.
But everything was too late. Who was that laughing woman? Jian Yumei had been wondering about this question all along.
Later, when it was time for the funeral, his father didn't make it back.
At that time, his mother had died with a string of pearl necklace. This necklace had a strange function: it emitted a soft blue light at night. It was something his father brought back from outside. Since his mother put on this necklace, she could walk into any dark room at night without needing a lamp.
His mother cherished this pearl necklace and always wore it with her, until she passed away.
When his mother's coffin was walking on the street, on the way to the cemetery, a monk appeared on the roadside.
He had a benevolent and dignified appearance.
"Namo Amitabha!" He came to the crowd and found Jian Yumei. "Are you a filial son?" the monk asked.
"Yes, Master, what advice do you have?" Jian Yumei said.
"Disciple, there is a strong resentment in your mother's coffin. Can you open it and let me take a look? Because if this resentment is not dispelled, your mother will not rest in peace. Besides hindering her reincarnation, it will also affect you and your father!" the monk said.
Jian Yumei was only thirteen at the time, but he understood the monk's meaning.
"Can you follow us to the grave site, it would be more convenient to open the coffin there. This is the street; it might disturb the villagers!" Jian Yumei said.
"Alright, that's what I intended!" the monk said.
When the master followed Jian Yumei to the mountainside, it was a traditional cemetery, with green hills behind, surrounded by forests, a peaceful resting place.
This was the place his uncle helped find, and his uncle also helped with the funeral arrangements.
When they arrived at the grave site, guided by a geomancer, workers had already dug the grave for his mother. Everyone lowered his mother's coffin into it. Then, according to tradition, they were about to perform the dressing ceremony.
The workers opened the coffin lid, revealing his mother lying inside. Although she had been through some preparations, her face still looked restless. There was a sense of fear on her face, as if she had seen something terrifying!
Tears welled up in Jian Yumei's eyes again.
The master sighed, then descended into the grave and carefully examined the items in his mother's coffin. His eyes fixed on the string of pearl necklace.
"Where did this necklace come from? Do you know, disciple?" the master said.
"I don't know. It was a friend who gave it to my father, and my father gave it to my mother!" Jian Yumei didn't want
to lie, but at this moment, he felt the matter was more serious, and he was afraid of affecting his father's safety, so he concealed some things.
The master didn't dwell on Jian Yumei's words.
His hand just reached out lightly, and before Jian Yumei could see clearly, the necklace automatically moved from his mother's neck to the master's hand.
"A grievance spanning a thousand years, still entangled!" The master sighed as he looked at the necklace.
"Master, I don't quite understand your words!" Jian Yumei said.
The people on the scene were all confused, including Jian Yumei's uncle, who also looked at the master, hoping the master could solve the puzzle.
"This necklace is attached to a millennium-old spirit, a woman. Your mother, a woman of the Han Dynasty a thousand years ago. This woman was a palace maid. She died because of your mother. So a thousand years later, she was placed in this necklace to retaliate against your mother! It's just strange, this string of pearl necklace clearly belongs to the palace, so why did it end up with your father!" the master said.
"How can the master judge that this is something from the Han Dynasty palace?" Jian Yumei