Chapter 11 Chapter 10 Keeping Spirits (Part 2)

Just like in ancient times, the bride had to sit in a bridal sedan chair, and the New Year's money was distributed during the Chinese New Year. Keeping the spirit is an indispensable custom for the Chinese. It is a kind of commemoration of the living to the dead relatives. In ancient times, living people believed that although their relatives died, their souls still remained in the world, and they did not go to the underworld, and their souls were very attached to their living relatives.He didn't want to go to the underworld alone, so he would go back to his original home to take a look before going to the underworld.

Fearing that the soul might get lost on the way home, the living would light a lamp and place it next to the body of the dead.The living people were afraid that the light would go out and the dead relatives would not be able to find their home, so they sat all night in the room where the dead body was kept, making sure that the guiding light was always burning. However, with the increase of the population and the problem of insufficient housing, the original vigil activities at home are limited. Therefore, the way of vigil has also changed. At present, there are mainly two kinds of vigil at home and vigil at funeral parlors.

Family vigil is to vacate a room at home and arrange it according to the requirements of the mourning hall. Relatives, friends and children are waiting in the mourning hall day and night to receive relatives and friends who come to mourn.To keep a vigil at home, it is necessary to arrange a vigilante, prepare midnight snacks and emergency medicines, and pay attention to the safety of electricity, gas, and candles. It is more troublesome to set up a vigil at home, and it has to be dismantled and tidied up afterwards.It is even more difficult for urban residents with ample housing and education to make room for mourning halls.Nowadays, there is already a service item of wake in the funeral parlor, which can hold a memorial service or keep a wake.There are all kinds of common utensils in the wake hall, which saves many tedious things for the bereaved family.

Of course, most rural areas still retain the most traditional local folk customs and funeral customs.For example, Liluo Village is like this. According to Li Nuoyi, the funeral ceremony here has never changed, and it seems that if there is any change, it will bring disaster to the village. However, with the passage of time, more and more new things have been introduced into the village, and the wealthy villagers have come into contact with technology, and they feel more and more that superstitious customs are a troublesome burden, especially the younger generation. , caring more about oneself, unwilling to bear the inconvenience caused by customs.

Funeral customs have always been a major taboo in Liluo Village.If it weren't for the yin and yang in the village and the older generations of the Li family and the Hu family, I am afraid that the funeral in Liluo Village would have become another simple version. Now the older generation is almost dead, and the oldest of the two big families in the village is only fifty years old. The Fox family is almost dead and has no authority in the village.And the Li family has always been looking for money, and all their thoughts are spent on fighting for power. The funeral customs passed down from the predecessors will be completely cut off from this generation!Perhaps Mr. Li's funeral will be the last ancient custom in Liluo Village.

The old man's peach house is very old, with only a layer of white dust on the surface.On the opposite side hangs a long red plaque of "Heaven, Earth, Monarchs, Parents and Teachers", which is a sacrificial offering to ancestors.On the parallel line of the word "Jun", hangs the only high-tech in the house, a wall clock. The clock steadily pointed to exactly eleven o'clock. The mahjong players under the plaque were in the midst of a fierce battle, Li Li played a big card and piled up the cards in front of her, "I want to go to the toilet." "Didn't you hear Yin Yang mentioned that there is a toilet inside."

Li Yuan was in a bad mood because of the loss, and his tone was very foul. Li Li frowned, with a frightened expression on her face, "The old man just died inside, foul smell. I won't go in to have a pee." "Did you treat the old man badly before you were alive, for fear that he would curse you?" Li Jia sneered. "Tch, who in this room was nice to him in his lifetime. Everyone is the same, and you must be the one who dies first if you are to be cursed." Li Li snorted without giving in: "Don't worry, I'll go to the bathroom." "Yinyang said that the door of the peach house can only be opened at seven o'clock tomorrow morning."

Li Yuan hesitated. "You really listen to those superstitious words? You're still a college student." Li Li laughed at her cousin, "If you're afraid, hide in the corner of the room, bite your fingers and cry, my mother, I'm not afraid of ghosts and gods. I'm not afraid of revenge from old things!" The Li family suddenly said: "Li Yuan, are you Isn't there something hidden from us?" "It's just a meaningless legend in the village." Li Yuan said, "Didn't you also mention that the Fox family has almost died from the direct lineage to the collateral lineage? It has been rumored in the village that someone may have opened the door of the mourning hall during the night watch and extinguished the soul lamp, so The ghost of Mr. Hu, who couldn't find his way home, cursed the entire Hu family, causing their entire family to be destroyed."

"Are you afraid of this?" Li Li snorted, "Idiot, you believe such nonsense rumors, what are you doing outside! Never mind, I can't hold it anymore, my mother wants to go out to pee!" Saying that, she was ready Open the door with the key in the lock. Just when her hand touched the key, I, who had been silent all the time, said, "Don't go out." "What are you, why do you dare to stop me?" Li Li turned to look at me in surprise, with an ugly expression. "I am a thing, you are not a thing, I really dare not compare with you." I shrugged my shoulders, "But if you want to go out this door, you must get my consent."

"There is no law, this is in our house! It's polite not to tell you to leave." Perhaps Li Li was really in a hurry, she cursed and prepared to open the door again. I walked up quickly and grabbed her arm, "Don't open." After listening to what Li Jia and Li Yuan said, and summarizing what happened in the recent period, I always feel that the things hidden inside are not simple. In the dark, there may be thousands of pairs of eyes staring at every move of everyone in Liluo Village. move. The ghost revenge of the old man of the Fox family seems to be nonsense, I don't really believe it, but the Fox family is almost dead, this is a real thing.However, an unexplainable phenomenon did happen to Li Nuoyi, which made people cautious.

Since the whole Liluo Village has said that the death of the Hu family is related to the failure to observe the funeral taboo, then I have to be on guard.After all, I have encountered so many strange incidents, if I don't know how to be cautious, I don't know how many times I will die. "Let go, damn it, you dare to act wild in our Li family. You are just a little boy who relies on women for soft food, and you dare to touch me." Li Li wanted to grab and bite me fiercely, but I easily dodged it. I still held her tightly, and pulled her back to the door of the inner room on the right side of the coffin. "If you want to defecate, it's better to invite you in. People who can't even abide by the rules of their own family have no right to lose their temper at me." I snorted coldly, pushed her into the inner door, and then let go. Li Li was so angry that her stomach was going to explode, she looked at me with a dark face, her eyes were full of hatred.She didn't pee, but turned to look at the people on the mahjong table. "My good brother and good brother, don't you feel heartbroken at all when you see me being bullied? The Li family's face has been humiliated by you. There are so many people. If you have a bit of backbone, let me beat this arrogant one to death." Little boy." Li Jia didn't hum.Li Yuan glanced at his elder brother, his expression became strange.He thought about his elder brother who loves face the most, and hates Li Nuoyi to the bone, but now he has given up attacking the guy who is obviously in the same league as that bitch. Could it be that the little boy is weird?So he also became cautious and did not go along with his second sister. Interpersonal relationships are originally a complicated thing, especially when it comes to rich second generations who are not on the same front and have entangled interests.The grandchildren of the Li family, because Li Nuoyi occupies the main position of the company, the conflict is not obvious for the time being, so they can sit together and play mahjong harmoniously, but the interaction between them only stops here, and we need to talk about it a step further Mutual aid is absolutely nonsense. Li Li was also very aware of this, and she began to instigate her boyfriend, "Bastard, seeing me being bullied, what are you doing there? Don't you often brag that you are a tenth degree black belt in karate?" Tenth black belt in karate part?As soon as I heard it, I burst into sweat, and even Li Nuoyi, who had been silent all this time, laughed out loud, "Isn't there only nine dans in karate?" Tenth degree black belt." I scratched my head, "Maybe your cousin's boyfriend is a ruthless character who hides his secrets and beats all the invincible Japanese hands in secret." The sarcasm implied in our tone didn't seem to affect Li Li's boyfriend at all. He patted his girlfriend's shoulder with a proud face, "Don't worry, leave it to me. It's just a matter of lifting a little boy." As he spoke, he walked towards me. As he walked, he made a weird kung fu posture and kicked at me. This fight is very heroic. Although I am a layman in terms of kung fu, I have learned some fighting skills from Yang Junfei and Lin Zhiyan after all.Facing his flying legs, I didn't even bother to dodge for a while. I grabbed his ankle and lifted him, and he fell to the ground upside down. The boy was so painful that tears were about to flow out. He cried out in pain and shook his fists in anger.Sure enough, he is a model of never giving up and never giving up. He knows that he has no chance of winning, but he doesn't want to lose face in front of his mean girlfriend. I don't know how many times he was knocked to the ground, this guy stood up again.I finally couldn't bear it any longer, and kicked his stomach, causing him to fall to the ground hugging his stomach. At this moment, Li Nuoyi suddenly shouted: "Li Li, what do you want to do?" My heart trembled, and I screamed inwardly.Sure enough, looking back, Li Li had already opened the door of Tao House with the key, she stood proudly at the door, and threw the key into the yard. "Idiot, I didn't expect you to win. My purpose is to open the door. This is a good trick to divert the tiger away from the mountain." "Little white face, didn't you forbid me to come out? Tsk, isn't my old lady standing outside the door now? You have the guts to take me back." I frowned tightly, ignored that savage woman, walked up to Li Nuoyi, and whispered: "If there is something wrong, we will run away immediately." The open peach house door looks like a black hole. Although the light of a large wattage incandescent lamp shines into the courtyard outside, it feels like a cold heart.The paper figurines and wreaths in the courtyard are quietly placed not far away, reflecting a terrifying and strange color. Perhaps it was because of the rumors from the Fox family that Li Jia and Li Yuan were a little nervous when they saw the door open. "Yin and Yang are really talking nonsense, there will be disasters if you open the door. My mother, I am fine now!" Seeing that no one paid attention to her, Li Li said annoyedly: "It's boring, forget it, I'm going outside to use the bathroom. " After finishing speaking, without even looking at the boyfriend who was lying on the ground and foaming at the mouth, he took out his mobile phone and turned on the lighting function, and his figure slowly disappeared into the area outside the yard that could not be illuminated by incandescent lamps. "It does look like nothing happened." Li Nuoyi looked around and confirmed. Mr. Li's body lay quietly in the old and terrifying coffin, and nothing changed in the mourning hall. Li Jia and the others immediately felt relieved, "Play cards, play cards, don't wait for that stinky bitch. We were shocked and cursed him for falling into the cesspit." I always feel that things are not that simple, but from the development of the current situation, I can't see why.If the taboos at the funeral in Liluo Village were really just a custom, then why did the members of the Fox family die one after another?And how to explain the strange things that happened to Li Nuoyi?Still feeling uneasy in my heart, I walked to the door of the peach house and prepared to close the door.At this moment, an inexplicable wind suddenly blew in. The wind was very gloomy. It not only blew the incense wax dust in front of the coffin all over the room, but also blew old Mr. Li's face covering into the air. Falling to the Eight Immortals Table. The falling face covering scared the mahjong players. While cursing, Li Nuoyi suddenly yelled: "A Ye, look at the soul lamp!" I looked down.I saw that the soul-inducing lamp placed under the coffin was blown out by the gust of wind!Everyone in the room was stunned and didn't react at this time, but I was calmer.In a hurry, he found a candle and put it in front of the wick of the oil lamp.Although all the customs about the soul-inducing lamp are mentioned, it must not be extinguished during the funeral, and in the customs of Liluo Village, this is the most important point, but it shouldn't be a big problem to ignite it immediately. As Americans like to follow the five-second rule, I deluded myself thinking. Although Li Yuan and Li Jia had heard rumors about the cause of the death of the Fox family, as modern people, everyone's habitual thinking was still more scientific, and gods and ghosts were too vague to be believed.So they were less nervous than me and Li Nuoyi.Although I also don't believe in ghosts and gods, there is a mysterious force in Liluo Village that affects the life and death of the local people, which is certain. "Why hasn't it been lit yet?" Li Nuoyi is very filial. Since her parents died, the only relative who still cares about her is her grandfather.She didn't want Grandpa's soul to not be able to rest in peace even after death. A layer of cold sweat gradually covered my forehead, "It's strange, why doesn't it ignite." The wick was soaked with sesame oil, and it should have been ignited at one point, but no matter how close the hot flame on the candle was to the wick, the cotton wick of the Soul Lamp could not be ignited.Li Nuoyi also tried impatiently, but it still didn't light up. This is so queer! "A boy is a boy, he can't even light a wick." Li Yuan walked over uncomfortably, he was very uncomfortable looking at the unburned wick.Pulling out a candle, he pushed me away and lit it himself. I silently left the vicinity of the coffin following his push and push.For some reason, when the candle in his hand was brought close to the wick, the oil lamp lit up immediately. "It seems that the soul lamp also recognizes people, not our Li family, it will not burn." Li Yuanda looked at Li Nuoyi meaningfully, his face full of complacency. Li Nuoyi and I looked at each other, what he said was a bit weird, did he know something inside?Seeing Li Yuan's tone and expression, which seemed to be sure to drive Li Nuoyi out of the company after the funeral, I didn't know why he was so confident. But deep down in my heart, there was a faint sense of uneasiness. But the soul lamp was relit after all. Everyone, including me, didn't take this matter to heart.I think there should be no problem with ignition. Even if there is a soul in the world, and the soul is really lost, then believing for a while is not enough to make it angry. Unexpectedly, everyone was wrong, terribly wrong, the curse that Liluo Village was about to move, began to climb up from the deep underground. "Hey!" I rubbed my eyes suddenly.Just now, the cold and stiff corpse of old man Li seemed to have moved slightly, but the next second it was completely quiet again. That movement seemed to be just an illusion. Is it really hallucination?I hope it's just like the illusion of seeing the soul-inducing light turn green half an hour ago, it's just my sensory error. Li Li walked in the Li family compound, looked back, and saw that the old man's old house was far away, and the light of the incandescent lamp in the distance seemed to be a product of another world in the darkness. The Li family built a few years ago covers an area of ​​more than 200 mu. Of course, it occupies a saline-alkali field that cannot be planted with fences. If you want to understand, the nearest place is the house of the third uncle's house in the south. Everyone in Li's family is at odds with each other. This is an open secret in Liluo Village, but the last layer of window paper has not been pierced.Naturally, she didn't want to go to the third uncle's house to find anger, forget it, there was no one around anyway, so she just found a woods to urinate a little. She got into the nearby woods, took off her pants and finished urinating, then stood up in a very unsightly manner, and looked around. In fact, she is not very familiar with the new Li family mansion. The outside world is wonderful, and money can buy everything. If the old man hadn't died, Li Li would not want to come back at all. "The Li family is a role model for Liluo Village, and outsiders should not be disappointed." This is what my father said when he wanted to go home to attend the funeral by himself. She is not stupid, and getting the support of the villagers in this village is equivalent to owning more shares in the company. Without shares, there is no money, and without money, everything is lost.She didn't want to live the poor life of the past, so she had to obediently go back to the courtyard of this ghost village far away from the outside world without street lights.The battery of the phone was almost dead, and the function of the flashlight was slightly weaker. Li Li raised her head to look at the sky. She hated the village where she was born, and even the starry night above Liluo Village. "Forget it, it's all out anyway, let's just go home and sleep." Li Li said to herself, the funeral was very boring, and the pretty face next to Li Nuoyi made people itch with hatred.I don't know where my cousin found such a handsome bastard. After I went out, I have adopted one. I must not let that dead woman gain the upper hand!Her home was on the south side of the mansion, and she had to walk across the main road to go back. Li Li, who had been spoiled and raised for many years, hadn't walked such a long distance in a long time, and she was cursing all the way. After walking for an unknown amount of time, a figure appeared not far away. It was a woman, and under the bright starlight, one could vaguely see that she was wearing green trousers and a red jacket, and she was dressed very rustically. "Who is this woman, why have I never seen it before?" To be honest, walking on the dark road alone is indeed a bit palpitating.Li Li felt that having someone to accompany her was not a bad thing, so she quickened her pace and wanted to chase after her without thinking too much. The strange thing is that the woman walked unhurriedly, and should not be fast, but she almost started to trot, but the straight-line distance between them did not seem to decrease. "Hey, the woman in front, wait for me." She cried out in displeasure. The rustic woman really stopped and stood there motionless, seemingly waiting for her. This woman is considered good, but her clothes are a bit rustic, so I will find a few unwanted clothes and throw them to her some other day, as a reward.Li Li is very satisfied, she feels that her self-esteem has been satisfied. As the distance approached, many details of the woman came into view.That attire was very eye-catching, and it always gave her a familiar feeling, maybe she had seen it somewhere before. Li Li couldn't think of it and simply threw away her doubts.She looked at the woman standing quietly, but she could only see the back.The woman wore braids that were as black as the night, almost blending into the night. The woman had a good figure, but her underwear was very thin. Just like, just like it was painted directly. Li Li suddenly felt a chill all over her body, and a creepy feeling came up. She finally knew what was wrong. The woman in green trousers and red jacket not far from her was simply a paper puppet placed in the old man's yard. But how can the paper pierced man walk?She clearly saw it walking on the road, so could it be that the woman was just dressed like a paper-made man?Is it completely self-indulgent?Or, someone is messing with her!If someone really tried to trick her and wanted to embarrass herself, this kind of thing must not be allowed to happen to the other party. Although Li Li felt that something was wrong, she still had rational thinking.She suppressed the fear and took a few steps forward, trying to see the woman more than ten meters away. At this moment, the woman suddenly turned her head.The flashlight of the mobile phone shone right on the woman's face. Damn!All the facial features of that face were painted in ink, although the painting was wonderful and lifelike.However, due to the cold dew at night, the ink on the eyes, eyebrows and nose has smudged, forming a little black spot. The dark spots made the woman's face extremely hideous and terrifying. Paper piercer!It really is a paper stick man!Not far away, Li Li could clearly see the word "two" written on the paper pierced into the face.That is the mark marked by Yin and Yang in order not to confuse the offerings. The mark "two" means that it was sent by my own family. The paper pricked figure in front of her was actually bought by her family. What's going on, what's going on!Li Li was so frightened that her whole body trembled. Before her confused head could figure out the situation, the paper pierced man had already moved.There was no wind around, but the paper pricked man was still slowly moving towards her staggeringly. Is it really an old ghost who came to beg for his life?I haven't enjoyed enough, I don't want to die yet!Li Li turned around and fled in the direction she came from.