After Old Mo finished telling his story, he took the tea handed over by Fatty Sun and drank it in one gulp. Fatty Sun was still looking at Old Mo with a smile, but the next second, he suddenly turned to look at Ximen Lian and said:
"Sir, I'm not blaming you. A few people here have talked too much about their own affairs. Can you tell me too?"
After listening to Fatty Sun's words, Ximen Lian looked a little embarrassed. He glanced at Lao Mo and Xiong Wanyi, who was blushing from drinking, and said, "I'd better stop talking. Anyone who has entered the polling bureau has a lot of experience.
Almost." At this time, Fatty Sun was a little drunk. He blushed and waved his hands. When he was about to speak, he was already feeling drunk. He took a deep breath to suppress the rising feeling of alcohol.
Seeing that Fatty Sun didn't dare to open his mouth to speak at the moment, I continued what he said and said to Ximen Lian: "It's still a little different. Senior officials, I've always been curious about how many people in the polling bureau can read their mouths.
You are the only one who can read lips, right? It seems that you have also received professional training. You were either a national security officer or a field officer in that special department before, right?"
After I said this, Ximen Lian, who was almost drunk, turned even redder. Lao Mo, who knew his details, also smiled slightly, poured a cup of tea for Ximen Lian, and said: "Master, please don't be polite.
If you are all eating in the same horse spoon, Sun Bureau and Lazi will know your details sooner or later. Tell it, there is no shame in it."
At this time, Ximen Lian was a little nervous. After he drank half a cup of wine, he said: "What... I... I used to do makeup for others." His answer was beyond my expectation. Mr. Ximen
The person added: "To be more specific, people put makeup on dead people. Before I joined the polling bureau, I was a makeup artist who put makeup on dead people in a funeral parlor."
Although the answer Ximen Lian gave was different from what I guessed, I still didn’t understand why he was so pretentious even if he was a dead makeup artist. Only after Ximen Lian told the reason why he joined the polling bureau did I understand why.
He had such an embarrassed expression before, and he really didn't show his face much when a high-ranking official entered the polling bureau.
Ximen Lian’s previous job was called a funeral makeup artist. A few years ago, this funeral makeup artist was still a disgusting industry, but I don’t know when it became popular. At that time, Ximen Lian still stood out from a large group of competitors and earned his salary.
This works.
The incident happened in the second year after Ximen Lian became a funeral makeup artist. One night at nearly midnight, Ximen Lian had just fallen asleep when he was awakened by a ringing phone. With half-open eyes, he picked up the phone and was about to curse.
After hearing the voice on the phone, he swallowed back the curse words that had reached the bottom of his throat. The person speaking on the other end of the phone was Ximen Lian's immediate boss, Director Xia Renxia of the local funeral home.
Director Xia notified Ximen Lian on the phone and asked him to rush back to the funeral parlor immediately to work overtime. Ximen's face turned green at that time. Although he had not been in this business for a long time, he also knew some of the rules of the funeral parlor and had never heard of them.
Who would dare to go back to the funeral parlor to work overtime in the middle of the night? He kept coughing into the phone, pretending that he was not feeling well, and asked the director to find another makeup artist.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he said this, the curator over there became angry: "Do you think I haven't looked for it? Ximen, I still don't like your half-hearted skills. If those two bastards hadn't turned off the phone
, I’m too lazy to find you, a second-hand knife.” I don’t know who leaked the news about overtime work. When the curator called the other two old makeup artists, both of them turned off their mobile phones, and the landline at home kept ringing.
The line was busy. Director Xia had no choice but to call Ximen Lian.
Director Xia told the reason for working overtime on the phone. The mother of a local business tycoon passed away in the hospital in the afternoon. This tycoon was known to be superstitious. Now that his old mother is gone, he is even more confused about whether he should believe it or not.
I believed everyone who believed it. I invited a famous local dignitary to come and hold a grand ceremony.
The money of this big shot was spent, and things went smoothly at first, until he got stuck when checking the almanac for burial. Except for tomorrow, it was not suitable for burial for two consecutive days, and it was not suitable for everything in the following days.
, it was already past the first seven days until the day of burial.
Big men are superstitious to begin with, and they don't dare to be careless about this matter. After discussing it with the great friend, he finally made the decision to be cremated tomorrow morning and then go directly to the cemetery for burial. Fortunately, he had already made preparations for his old mother's funeral.
, the cemetery and the like had already been arranged, so that we wouldn’t be in a hurry when the incident came. In this way, in the evening, the big shot found the funeral director.
Naturally, Director Xia did not dare to neglect, and got busy at that time. After everything was arranged, he thought of finding a funeral makeup artist to do makeup for the elderly. Unexpectedly, after making a phone call, he only contacted a makeup artist named Ximen Lian.
division.
Now, in order to keep his job, Ximen Lian had no choice but to reluctantly walk out of the house. It was almost midnight, and the street was deserted. Ximen Lian raised his hand and stopped a taxi.
After getting in the car, he said casually: "Master, go to the funeral parlor and drive slowly, I'm not in a hurry."
"Where are you going? Say it again..." After hearing the destination, the taxi driver's scalp felt numb and he secretly glanced at Ximen Lian in the rearview mirror. Ximen officials were born with a sickly skin.
The paleness made his lips appear unusually bright red.
Ximen Lian really thought that the driver didn't hear clearly, so he added another sentence: "The funeral parlor... is the old crematorium on Babao Road." When he heard the address of the destination again, the driver almost burst into tears. He trembled.
Shuddering, he started the car and drove out in a twist and turn. Along the way, the taxi driver did not dare to look at Ximen Chain anymore. He drove to a position one hundred and eighty meters in front of the funeral home. The taxi suddenly stopped burning.
No matter how hard the driver turns the key, the car just won't start.
Ximen Lian, who was sitting in the back, thought that he should have been lying on the warm bed by this time, and now he had to go back to the funeral parlor to put makeup on the dead person in the biting wind. The more Ximen Lian thought about it, his face became worse and worse.
If it's not good, the driver in front will have trouble starting the engine.
Finally, the driver suddenly shouted: "There's a ghost!" At the same time, he opened the door and ran out. This voice also frightened Ximen Lian, and he jumped out of the car in a hurry.
I had the courage to look around, but I didn't find anything unusual.
At this time, the driver had disappeared. Fortunately, he was already within the scope of the funeral home. Ximen Lian did not dare to stay there for a long time. He jogged all the way into the funeral home. At this time, the funeral home was brightly lit, and almost everything inside and outside the courtyard could be seen.
All the lighting fixtures lit up.
Ximen Lian ran all the way to his workshop and saw an **10-year-old woman lying alone on his workbench.
Director Xia has been waiting in the makeup artist's studio for a long time. Although Ximen Lian is not the makeup artist he has chosen in his heart, he is the one he has chosen now. Director Xia is also afraid that Ximen Lian will not do his job well, so he gave the order
After a few words, he personally stayed in the workroom and watched Ximen Lian put makeup on the deceased.
The old lady just passed away in the afternoon. Her death appearance was not ugly and did not require too much makeup. Ximen Lian also showed his superb skills. After finishing the painting, the old lady seemed to be asleep, lying peacefully on the workbench.
Above. There was just a small episode in the middle. Because the deceased was too old, there were too many wrinkles at the corners of the mouth, which made the mouth look a bit deflated. The mouth needed to be filled with special fillers to make the mouth of the deceased appear full.
When Ximen Lian put stuffing in the deceased's mouth, and when he opened the old lady's mouth, Ximen Lian's eyes lit up. It seemed that this trip was not in vain. He saw that the deceased's mouth was full of dentures, and the dentures were placed there.
The year is different. Except for the upper and lower rows of front teeth, which are white porcelain teeth, the upper and lower molars on the left and right sides are all large yellow gold teeth. Even if these gold teeth are hollow, they are at least nearly two taels in size.
Heavy.
In the past, when encountering such gold items, gold teeth and the like were left to the make-up artist, and jewelry and the like were obtained from the crematorium industry. Director Xia also knew this very well, and turned a blind eye and treated it as such.
I don’t know, I’ve never cared about it. It’s just that Director Xia was standing guard tonight. Ximen Lian didn’t know what he meant. After looking up at his own director, he coughed weirdly.
Director Xia snorted, and just when Ximen Lian thought it was because the leader was not letting him do it and was warning him, Director Xia suddenly said: "I'll go out and smoke a cigarette, and you can do it slowly by yourself." While speaking,
Curator Xia had already taken out the cigarette case in a pretentious manner, and said before going out: "Put on your makeup beautifully, if there is anything wrong, I will throw you into the cremator."
Ximen Lian seemed not to understand the meaning of Director Xia's words. He responded with nonsense in his mouth: "Look at it, I promise that the painting will be beautiful. In addition to not moving, no matter how you look at it, it will be beautiful."
Like a living person." Director Xia ignored him and left the funeral dressing room on his own.
Director Xia walked forward, and Ximen Lian pried out more than ten gold teeth from the old lady's mouth. He didn't hold back, he just threw the gold teeth into his pocket and continued to put on makeup for the old lady. No.
I don’t know whether it was because he had never come to a funeral parlor to apply make-up to a deceased person in the middle of the night, and he was still not used to it. After getting the gold teeth, Ximen Lian suddenly felt uneasy. When he looked at the deceased again, his eyes blurred and he lay there.
The old lady on the dressing table didn't know when she got up, but her brows wrinkled.
Ximen Lian's heart was beating wildly. He calmed down and looked at the deceased again. At this time, the old lady's brows had relaxed, and she was still lying on the dressing table very peacefully. She was dazzled just now, and her eyebrows were
It didn't move. Ximen Lian stabilized himself. Although he was scared at the moment, he still speeded up his hands and arranged the last appearance of the deceased.
After finishing applying make-up to the deceased, Ximen Lian called Director Xia back from outside the door. Director Xia looked over it carefully and found no problems before he invited the big shot family in the VIP room to pay their respects to the remains.
Needless to say, the family members cried bitterly again. After the crying, the big man took out an envelope and handed it to Ximen Lian as a reward for sorting out his old mother's remains. The official Ximen looked serious and polite.
After saying this, he took the envelope. He had done a lot of work of prying out gold teeth, but this was the first time that a living person paid him for his hard work.
After working for a long time, it was already dark outside. Relatives and friends of the big shot had arrived at the funeral parlor one after another. After a while, the farewell ceremony of the deceased was about to begin in the farewell hall. Because the ceremony was so big, Xia Pavilion
Chang temporarily pulled Ximen Lian out to help.
The director of the local Civil Affairs Bureau personally presided over the farewell ceremony for the body. When the director announced the start of the farewell ceremony for the body of the old lady xxx, the audience immediately burst into tears. Ximen Lian could see this scene almost every day, and he watched with boredom.
These relatives and friends gathered in a circle to say their final farewells to the old lady xxx.
Suddenly, a chill came from the back of Ximen Lian's head, and then he shivered involuntarily. It was early autumn, and the temperature difference between morning and evening was large. Ximen Lian didn't think much about it, and was about to go back and add some clothes. He turned towards
Just after walking a few steps from the exit, he felt that someone among the family members of the important man was looking at him.
Ximen Lian met the man's gaze and looked over. After just one glance, his feet went weak and his left foot tripped his right foot. Ximen Lian fell to the ground with a thump. Fortunately, there was a funeral parlor beside him.
A colleague immediately helped Ximen Lian up without attracting the attention of everyone in the farewell hall.
The colleague helped Ximen Lian to the corner and said, "Ximen, are you okay? I heard that you arrived last night and haven't had anything to eat, right? Are you hungry and suffering from hypoglycemia?" At this time, Ximen Lian had a serious look on his face.
Everyone looked at the farewell hall in horror, not hearing what their colleagues were saying at all.
When Ximen Lian turned around just now, he saw a **10-year-old old lady looking at him. He found that Ximen Lian had noticed her, and the old lady opened her mouth in an exaggerated way and smiled at Ximen Lian. The distance between the two of them was not that big.
From too far away, Ximen Lian could clearly see that except for the two front rows of front teeth, the innermost part of her mouth was dark and filled with rotten flesh, as if her teeth had just been pulled out.