That night, the villagers of Liucun held a simple funeral ceremony for Uncle Liu, Lao Zhangtou and Xiao Zhangrui.
According to their rules, those who died naturally must keep their bodies and put them in coffins for burial. Those who died tragically must be wrapped in straw mats and put a willow branch on their straw mats.
, and then took it to the east of the village for burial.
According to regulations, the bodies of Uncle Liu and others will be sent for burial in two days.
Since Lao Zhangtou and Xiao Zhang Rui were originally dependent on each other and had no other relatives in the world, the villagers in Liu Village regarded them as members of Uncle Liu's family. They were wrapped in straw mats and sent to the village together.
East side...
The butcher told me that the custom here is that the relatives of the deceased are responsible for removing the corpse.
But Uncle Liu was alone, and Old Zhang Tou and Xiao Zhang Rui were an old and young couple who depended on each other for life. At present, the three of them could not find any relatives who could pull the corpse.
Death is a taboo thing for everyone.
So let alone other people who were not related by blood, just when the villagers were hesitating about who to pick up the body, I took the initiative to stand up.
The villagers looked at me and looked at each other for a while. Finally, the butcher spoke for me, and then the villagers reluctantly agreed.
…………
Two days later, I was wearing black clothes, which the butcher's daughter found for me while rummaging through the cabinets.
She said this was a new set of clothes she bought for her ex-husband. She hadn’t had time to wear them yet, but they were from a brand name and cost dozens of yuan, which was a bargain for me.
I glanced at the faded name tag on the clothes, shook my head, and didn't say that the clothes were at my place, and I could buy one and get one free for ten yuan.
After I put on my clothes, before I left the house, the butcher's daughter stopped me.
"Here, put it in your pocket. It can ward off evil spirits." The butcher's daughter handed me a small willow branch and said.
I asked: "Is this picked from the old willow tree behind the village?"
The butcher's daughter said, "How do you know?"
"Is that tree magical?"
"I can't tell if it's magical or not. I heard the old people in the village say that a long time ago, Willow Village was named after this tree..." the butcher's daughter replied.
I raised my eyebrows, feeling a little more curious about the old willow tree.
After a few seconds, I looked again at the butcher's daughter who had been treating my injuries for the past two days, and asked, "By the way, what's your name?"
After I finished speaking, the butcher's daughter put her hands on her hips and said, "I want to tell you my name, too? Call me sister!"
"Okay, pretend I didn't ask, I'm leaving."
I turned around and left, not caring about the butcher's daughter behind me who was cursing like a lion roaring from the east of the river...
I quickly came to the place where the corpses of Uncle Liu and others were placed. I looked up and saw that there were many villagers coming, but there were only six people including me who were really going to take the corpses to the mountain to the east of the village.
"You're here," the butcher said to me.
I nodded and my eyes stayed on the bodies of Uncle Zhang and others.
The body had been there for two days, and it had a bit more odor. Of course, the smell might be disgusting to the villagers, but for me, it was something I was used to.
After all, I am not a little cremator for nothing.
"They know the place. They will take you there later. I will introduce you to someone first."
As he spoke, the butcher took me aside, then pointed at a man next to him who was about the same age with a stubble on his face and smelled of alcohol, and said, "Do you know who he is?"
After the butcher finished speaking, the bearded man also looked up at me, opened his mouth, and I felt a strong smell of garlic, which almost made me faint.
"Alcoholic." I touched my nose. The man in front of me looked extremely slovenly, but when I looked at his eyes, there was a glint that was hard to detect.
This kind of person, if he is not a master, must be a cross-eyed person...
The butcher looked at me in surprise and said, "Yes, he is the drunkard I am looking for."
I nodded and spoke to the bearded man proactively: "Hello, Senior Drunkard, it was Uncle Quan who asked me to come here..."
"I heard from the butcher, boy, is Old Man Quan really working as a corpse cremator now?" The drunkard put his arm around my shoulders in a friendly manner, and leaned in front of me with a big mouth.
I couldn't help but frown. Damn it, this drunkard had eaten so many garlics. The smell of garlic in his mouth was like poisonous gas.
"Uncle Quan has been working as a cremator, and I work with him." I said.
"Oh? Is that old man really looking away?"
The drunkard didn't believe it, but at this time, someone behind him already asked the butcher: "Uncle Tian, is it almost time?"
The butcher looked at me and said, "It's time to get on the road."
My heart moved, and I quickly understood what the butcher meant.
The butcher came over, patted my shoulder, pondered for a moment, and suddenly whispered to me: "Little guy, do you still remember the corpse pit I took you to last time?"
I nodded.
The butcher continued: "Remember what I said to you, if your heart is strong, you will be invincible..."
After the butcher finished speaking, he quickly took out the small dagger I used before and put it in another pocket.
"Give it back to you, maybe you will use it tonight..." the butcher whispered again and walked away.
I looked at the butcher and was confused for a moment!
Looking at the drunkard on the side, he patted him with a smile and said nothing.
I asked, why is there something strange about what the butcher said?
I touched the dagger in my pocket, looked up at the sky, and found that it was noon, and it was quite a long time before dark...
"It's ready, ready to go!"
The butcher shouted, "Should I go over quickly? According to the previous arrangement, the straw mat wrapping Uncle Liu's corpses was tied with a rope, and then hung up with a wooden stick with a thick wrist!"
In this way, as a corpse cremator, I temporarily played the role of a coffin bearer.
But compared to that boy Xue Chen, what I carried today did not have a coffin, just a pure corpse...
"It's time, let's go!" The butcher waved to me, took the three willow branches handed by the people on the side, and inserted them on the straw mat wrapping the bodies of Old Zhangtou, Uncle Liu, and Little Zhang Rui respectively.
Once the willow branches are planted, it means it is ready to go.
I glanced at the other five people beside me, followed their example, put the wooden stick on my shoulders, held it steady with my hands, and walked forward step by step.
The villagers just arrived at the village gate and never followed.
I looked back behind me and saw the butcher with a solemn face, while the drunkard on the side smiled and waved to me...
According to Liucun's funeral customs, those who died tragically and remained silent can only be buried on the hill to the east of the village, and the body cannot be contained in a coffin, but can only be wrapped in a simple quilt and straw mat.
It is said that the origin of this funeral custom was originally to encourage the descendants and relatives of those who died tragically and did not close their eyes, to always remember their tragically deceased relatives, and to encourage them to find the real murderer and take revenge as soon as possible...
Uncle Liu and Lao Zhangtou have no descendants or relatives, so I feel that I must do it to find the real murderer and take revenge!
What makes me hesitate is that once I find Han Yun, will I be able to directly avenge Uncle Liu and the others?
…………
A simple straw mat wrapping and a simple burial ceremony. Compared with the grand funeral processions I have seen before, there are only six people including Lao Zhangtou and me carrying their bodies on the road.
Along the way, the other five people carrying the corpse ignored me. They were talking about Uncle Liu's good deeds during his lifetime. Whenever I looked at them, they immediately became serious.
I was speechless all the way, but when I saw Xiao Zhang Rui's body several times, I felt a knot in my heart.
To the east of Liu Village, the hill dedicated to burying corpses is not very far away, but the mountain road is too difficult to walk, and the corpses must be carried carefully.
So before I knew it, I had walked for two hours.
The sun rises and sets quickly in this mountain. By the time we reached the hill to the east of the village, which is dedicated to burying corpses, the sun had already set to the west.
"Hurry up and return to the village before dark." Several young men discussed for a while, then put the body away and quickly found a place to dig a hole.
I took out the wooden tombstone that I had prepared earlier and placed on the straw mat. On it were written the names of Uncle Liu, Old Zhangtou and Little Zhang Rui...
"Okay, let's put Uncle Liu and the others down together." Several young men greeted each other and their partners over there.
Several people agreed, and soon, three corpses wrapped in straw mats and sheets were put into the dug pit.
"Uncle Liu, have a good journey!" Several young men bowed to the corpse that had been put into the pit, and then covered the pit with soil...
I stood aside and gently wiped the wooden tombstone in my hand a few times, and just when I was about to insert the tombstone in front of the pit where the body was placed, suddenly, a cry of terror suddenly sounded!
"Look, there's blood coming out of the pit..."
[Author's digression]: Here comes the second update!