Chapter 137 Chapter 20: The Forbidden Tomb

When I heard the old woman threatening me, I didn't take it seriously, turned around and left.These days, scammers specifically threaten you, and then cheat money to help you eliminate disasters. This is not the first time I have encountered it.Back at Liao Yu Tea House, I didn't mention this matter to them. Another night later, Mu Qingxiang, Li Xiaobei, and I set off for Tianmen, Hubei. Tianmen was called Jingling in ancient times, and was renamed Tianmen in 1726 AD. Counting from the establishment of Jingling County in Qin Dynasty, Tianmen has a history of more than 2,000 years as a county.At the same time, Tianmen City is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese in China.Overseas Chinese from Tianmen began to go abroad at the end of the 18th century, and went through several stages including the period of going north (Europe), going south (Southeast Asia) and the period of new immigrants.At that time, my grandfather saw that many people had emigrated, so he simply went to Nanyang with his companions, and this is how we are today.

When I got off the bus with Mu Qingxiang and Li Xiaobei, for a split second, I felt like crying.He can no longer set foot on this land where my grandfather lived. Now that I am back, is he, who has always wanted to return to his roots, looking at me in the sky?After my father and I immigrated back to China, we only visited Tianmen once when we were young, less than a year after returning from Malaysia.My father said that he wanted to worship the ancestors, so he took me around Tianmen, pretended to worship in front of the dilapidated ancestral house, and then returned to Wuhan by car.The place my father took me to was called the Graveyard, and it was not in the urban area.Graveyard is a village located in the northwest of the city. I don’t remember how far it is, but I only know that it’s a long drive there.

The name of the tomb ban is very strange, and it has a history when you hear it.It is said that during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a tomb where the county magistrate surnamed Yang was buried. In order to prevent people from robbing the tomb and avoiding cattle and horses from being trampled on, evergreen trees were planted around the tomb, and a hut was built, and special personnel were hired to guard it all year round.Due to the strict regulations, the cemetery is well protected.In addition, it is located on the side of the main road, and the grave guards also sell tea and food, and the income is considerable.The local people also built houses here to do business, and soon formed a small street, hence the name "Grave Ban", which is still in use today.

I'm not sure if the ancestral house is still there. After all, the place is in ruins, and it may have been converted into a public toilet long ago.Li Xiaobei’s mouth was open, he told me not to worry, it will take 18 years for that kind of crappy place to be built.This is not over yet, Li Xiaobei also questioned whether I had found the wrong place, maybe the ancestral house my father found back then belonged to another family.I could hear smoke coming out of my orifices, and just about to argue, Li Xiaobei took out a wine bottle and drank a few sips.The cabin was stuffy, and after the smell of alcohol came out, the mixed smell made people sick.

I glanced at Mu Qingxiang, she was always looking out the window, she must be more excited than me, because this trip is to find her "home".I really want to ask Mu Qingxiang, if we find her this time, what will happen to her, whether she will stay there or leave with us.But, Mu Qingxiang is dumb, she might be too lazy to answer when I asked, and then I would be embarrassed.Glancing at Mu Qingxiang, I pondered for a long time, but I never asked this question. After sitting in a daze for an unknown amount of time, the car finally stopped. I couldn't wait to squeeze out of the car and keep a distance from Li Xiaobei, who was full of alcohol.This person drank all the way, how Mu Qingxiang got mixed up with this kind of person is really puzzling.I wanted to spend the night in the village, but Li Xiaobei uttered wild words and proposed to spend the night in the wild forest.Mu Qingxiang doesn't like to disturb others, and she doesn't like to go to crowded places, so she naturally agrees with Li Xiaobei's proposal.

In fact, I don't want to stay in the grave for too long, I just find the ancestral house and pay my respects, and just leave as soon as possible.Every time I think of the word cemetery forbidden, I always feel flustered. I don't know if it's an unlucky name, or I don't want to come here at all.At that time, Fenjin Old Street was still in the shape of a "one", with a total length of only 200 meters, and there were only a few small buildings from a distance.When I got off the car, it was already evening. If I didn't enter the village, I would have to spend the night in the woods.

I vaguely remember that my father took me to the Fozi Mountain Forest Farm nearby. The forest farm was only built in 1962, so the people who used to live there had already moved away.I thought that was fine, since it was near the forest farm, there were not many people living there, and I didn't want to be seen.Li Xiaobei drank vigorously and rushed to the front. Several times, I yelled that he was going in the wrong direction, so come back quickly. There is Tianmen Mountain in Tianmen, which is the remnant of Dahong Mountain, and this forest farm is also within its range.The Tianmen Mountains stretch for more than 20 miles, with dense bamboo and trees in the mountains, clear water and yellow sand below the mountains, and overlooking the huge shadow of the abrupt mountains, there is a feeling of swallowing mountains and rivers.Even in winter, the mountains are still dotted with green, which is completely different from the withered yellow in the city.When it was getting dark, I finally found gray bricks in the grass, and a few uncollapsed houses hidden in the dense wild forest.

"Here it is!" I exclaimed excitedly. Li Xiaobei had already gone a long way, and when he heard what I said, he came back and said, "This is it? It's not far from the village. I don't think there are many of these old houses, at most ten." At some point, Mu Qingxiang walked into the old house with tall grass, I hurriedly followed, and made a path with broken branches.Counting carefully, there are actually only eight gray brick houses here, five of which have collapsed in half, and the remaining three are barely supporting.I have long forgotten which house my father worshiped. Fortunately, there are only eight houses here, so it is not difficult to find any.Soon, I found a few burning red candles in front of a half-collapsed house.

The people who used to live here have long since left, and the only ones who came back to pay homage may be the Lu family.The half-down old house is a tile-roofed house, no different from an ordinary village house, even smaller.In fact, Lin Tu said that the Lu family had a disgraceful past, and it seemed useless for me to find the ancestral house. It would be more straightforward to ask my uncle.But I was afraid that my eldest uncle would know that my little cousin was dead, so I never dared to contact him, and only sent a letter to Malaysia. The surface of the red candle was stained with yellow mud, the wax had peeled off in several places, and the color was also a little whitish. It must have been burned many years ago.After tearing off a few batches of sharp weeds, I walked in with certainty, but was stunned as soon as I entered.Li Xiaobei and Mu Qingxiang followed behind. When they walked in, they were secretly surprised just like me.

There is a large area in the old house that is very dry, even no weeds grow, and it feels a little warm when you walk in.There is only one room in the old house that can still shelter from the wind and rain. There is a small grave bag there. If you don't look carefully, you will think it is a mound.Although my childhood memory is a little fuzzy, I'm pretty sure there wasn't a mound of dirt in the house before.This is undoubtedly a tomb, because white candles are inserted in front of the mound, and there are some unmelted khaki paper money.Li Xiaobei said loudly: "Isn't this a tomb? How could there be a tomb in your Lu family's ancestral house? Could it be that you have a deep hatred with someone and deliberately buried a dead pig here?"

I know that Li Xiaobei is straightforward and doesn't know how to turn corners, so I didn't care about it, I just said: "It's getting dark now, I'm going to settle down here tonight." Li Xiaobei said cheerfully: "That's good, anyway, I can't walk anymore, so you can carry me on your back if you go." Mu Qingxiang, whose eyes were as clear as autumn water, looked at me and asked, "Do you want to dig up the grave and see who is lying inside?" I smiled wryly and said: "It seems that I can't hide anything from you. I have this plan, but digging someone's grave will kill off children and grandchildren." Li Xiaobei may have drunk too much, he is not afraid of the sky and the earth at this moment, he took off his coat and pulled out a knife to plan other people's nests.I winked at Mu Qingxiang, meaning how do you find this kind of person as a helper, you are not afraid of getting into trouble with drinking.I wanted Mu Qingxiang to tell Li Xiaobei to stop, but she didn't stop her at all, instead she handed Li Xiaobei a wider knife.I looked at everything that happened in front of me dumbfounded. Although I also wanted to dig my grave, I had to be a little more reserved. Mu Qingxiang looked at me strangely, and asked: "Since you also want to dig it up and have a look, why waste your time, why not dig it with Li Xiaobei now." I understand that it doesn't make sense to reason with Mu Qingxiang, but what she said is also right, there is no one around, so who should I pretend to be.The people in the grave deserve to be unlucky, who told you not to bury it elsewhere, but in my ancestral house.I said to myself, big brothers and sisters in the grave, don't blame me for destroying the grave with my hands, blame the person who buried you for intentionally harming you.We brought several knives with us, sharp, thin, thick, and wide.However, I thought it was too slow to dig a grave with a knife, so I simply used two hands to dig up the loess. Li Xiaobei saw that Mu Qingxiang had to squat down to dig the grave, so he thoughtfully said: "Qingxiang, I don't need your help here. It's cold in the mountains at night, so go outside and find some dry firewood to keep warm." Mu Qingxiang didn't evade, said yes, and then walked out of the old house.Although this place is not deep in the mountains and old forests, few people come in. There are no tigers and leopards, and there will be wolves.I worriedly asked Mu Qingxiang to be more careful, I wondered if she could hear me, but she didn't answer me, only the rustling sound came back through the grass.I stared at Li Xiaobei who was squatting opposite, feeling uncomfortable in my heart, but I couldn't tell what was wrong with me.I thought to myself, could this be the rumored jealousy, but Li Xiaobei already has a wife, and his wife is also pregnant, why am I so petty.What's more, Mu Qingxiang and I are just friends, I have no right to interfere with her affairs, it's really mediocre. Li Xiaobei suddenly raised his head and asked, "Do you like Qingxiang?" I immediately blushed: "You... Who are you listening to, it's nothing!" Li Xiaobei said with a smile: "I am someone who has been here, don't deny it in a hurry, you have to say what you have to say sooner or later, maybe you will regret it for the rest of your life!" My mind was blank, and I hurriedly changed the subject: "Dig quickly, find some water to wash your hands after digging, because I'm afraid that nothing is buried in the soil, and I won't be able to dig a hundred meters..." Before we finished speaking, the tip of our knife touched a red-lacquered wooden box, which made us all quiet, and dug the red-lacquered wooden box out of the loess in one breath.The red-lacquered wooden box is actually a coffin, but it is much smaller than the coffin. Judging from the paint leather, it seems that it has been buried in the soil for less than a year.When I actually dug up the coffin, I felt scared. After all, we are not tomb robbers, and we can't understand such scary things.Although I have seen dead bodies many times, and I have also seen highly decomposed corpses in fairy caves, but I subconsciously resist this kind of thing. As soon as the red coffin was dug out, there was a stench in the loess, but Li Xiaobei had nothing to do, and he was about to pry the coffin open with a knife.Before I could stop it, the lid of the coffin was half opened by Li Xiaobei, his hands and feet were faster than Avalokitesvara.With a premonition, I hurriedly got up and backed away, and sure enough, it didn't take long for Li Xiaobei to lift the lid of the coffin. A stench erupted from the coffin. I covered my mouth and nose and almost retreated outside the house, but was immediately attracted back by the sight inside the coffin.I watched intently, and gradually let go of the hands that were covering me. For a moment, I felt dizzy, as if I was the only one left in the world. Frightened, I murmured to the coffin, "This...this...how is this possible!"