Chapter 151 Anchor Mao Mao (3): The Weird Custom of Paper Figures in Coffin
This is the first time I have seen this kind of place where paper people and horses are made. They are densely piled up in the yard. Some are semi-finished products, some are finished and are hanging to dry, and some are discarded and thrown aside.
The lights were dim, and the paper men and paper horses stood gloomily on one side, looking as if they had arrived at the gloomy Palace of Hell. I couldn't help but feel numbness in my back and a cold feeling all over.
"Are you the only one here?" Gu Wei asked while looking at the things inside.
"Everyone in the family is gone, and I am the only old man left. I don't have much income, so I can only earn some living expenses by making this thing." The old man said.
"How many people still live in Hexin Village now?" I looked at the old man and asked.
"There are no people here anymore. Most of the people have moved away before. The remaining people either don't want to leave or the demolition has not been negotiated. In short, this place is now a deserted village, with some people living in a mess. Everyone is here."
Yes. If you want me to ask how many people live there, who dares to say? I don’t know." The old man shook his head and said.
"Then did you see a short girl today with a mobile phone in her hand? That's her." I found Maomao's photo on the mobile phone and showed it to the old man.
The old man squinted his eyes and looked at them for a long time before saying, "I'm not sure either. People nowadays are all the same. They seem to have seen them before, but they don't seem to have seen them before."
"This house is quite big. Are all the things you used to make paper figures inside?" Gu Wei looked at the two rooms in front and then walked over.
"I live in the east room, and the west one is for work. I said there is no one you are looking for here, so you can leave." The old man saw Gu Wei walking towards the front room, and was a little nervous. He walked over and stopped him.
in front of us.
"I'm a police officer." Gu Wei showed his police officer ID card.
"Police, what's wrong with the police? I don't have the person you're looking for here!" the old man murmured.
"Let's take a look and then talk." Gu Wei said and walked forward.
"No, you can't go inside." Unexpectedly, the old man still refused to let him go and insisted on refusing.
The old man's behavior made Gu Wei and I a little suspicious. Is there any hidden secret inside?
"I'm sorry, I have to go in and take a look. Please don't stop me." Gu Wei also felt confused and directly opened the door and walked in. I followed him and walked in quickly.
There is a coffin room in the room, with four coffins in it. Each coffin is covered with dense yellow or white paper money, and next to each coffin, there is a red bowl with a burning stick inserted in it.
Apart from that, there was nothing else in the room, but it was filled with an indescribable smell of decay.
"Did you make this coffin too?" Gu Wei asked.
"No, this is useful. I always need these things. Sometimes a customer wants me to make something on site, so there must be a coffin. The old man touched his chin and said.
It was obvious that the old man was lying. I could see it all.
"Open it and take a look." Gu Wei pointed at one of the coffins and said.
"It can't be opened. It's already installed. Look at the packaging on the outside. If you open it, I have to do it all over again." The old man said.
"If you don't open it, I'm here." Gu Wei ignored the old man and tore off a few pieces of paper money on the coffin, then pushed the coffin lid hard. Maybe the coffin lid was tight and he couldn't push it open by himself.
So I walked over and helped push it forward, and the lid of the coffin slowly opened.
There was a person lying inside, covered with a layer of white cloth, so he couldn't see clearly.
"Why is there someone?" I asked in shock.
"You can't open it. There are rules here. Don't mess around." The old man rushed over and directly stopped Gu Wei and me. No matter how hard we pulled, we couldn't open it.
"Please cooperate with our work, can you?" Gu Wei said and winked at me, then he grabbed the old man's arm, pulled him away from the coffin, and I took the opportunity to remove the layer of white cloth.
, I was shocked when I saw under the white cloth, there was a paper man lying there.
Gu Wei was also stunned when he saw the paper man in the coffin.
"You, you are serious, what should I do?" The old man hurriedly went over and covered the paper man with the white cloth again.
"Uncle, why are there paper figures here?" I asked in a low voice.
"I told you, this is the custom here, but you don't listen. Someone else let me live here to survive the calamity. If something happens to me because of your troubles, how can I do this in the future?" the old man said sadly.
"What about overcoming the tribulation? Master, this is all superstition." Gu Wei also felt that he was a little hasty, so he took out a cigarette and handed it to the old man.
"What do you young people know? If this is superstition, why do people still make paper people and horses, play music at funerals, visit graves during the Qingming Festival, and avoid darkness during the Ghost Festival?" the old man said after taking the cigarette.
"This is tradition, and everyone is abiding by tradition by doing this. If people can avoid some problems by overcoming disasters, then if everyone does this, wouldn't everyone in the world be safe from disasters?" I said.
"I won't tell you anymore. If you want to find someone, hurry up and find someone. Tonight is not a good day. If a living person is put into a coffin, I'm afraid he won't be able to go back. Since you don't believe in me, old man, you just have to be careful.
Go find it. By the way, there is an intersection not far ahead, and there are some people living there. They all come from other places, and they don’t know what they do. Anyway, they are not good people." The old man waved his hand and said.
"Uncle, what's the explanation behind this paper man being put in the coffin?" I couldn't help but be a little curious when I saw this scene in the coffin.
"What we say here is that everyone has their own calamity, especially those with relatively low luck. If they are not careful, their souls will be taken away by evil forces. So in order to avoid problems, they will find
A person uses a paper man to replace himself in the coffin, so that the evil spirits come over and think that his soul has been taken away, so he will leave. This statement is also to protect some people who are in poor health and prone to accidents." The old man explained.
"I think I've heard this saying before, but this is the first time I've seen it." I said.
"Some things are all similar, but many people don't understand them," the old man continued.
At this time, my phone rang again, and a message came from Maomao, "I'm at No. 26 Hexin Village, are you here?"
"Is No. 26 Hexin Village in front?" I looked at the old man and asked.
"In front, right near those people. If the person you are looking for is in the hands of those people, it will probably be in trouble," the old man said.
"What do you mean?" I was stunned.
The old man didn't speak any more. He hunched over and slowly closed the coffin lid.
"Let's go, let's go there quickly." Gu Wei urged me.
"Okay." I turned around and followed Gu Wei out quickly...