Yellow River Craftsman

Chapter 187 Strange Talk Under the Lamp: Huang Pizi ([-])

On the way back, Zhao Sanlang died before half the distance.

When he left, there was still a weird smile on the corner of his mouth.

At this time, Zhao Sanlang was already skinny, with sunken cheeks, as if there was only a piece of skin left on his body, the essence in his body was absorbed by the yellow skin essence, his skin was like dry and cracked old tree bark, and his death was a bit horrific.

Since it was summer, the corpse decomposed quickly, and within two days, the corpse was already smelly.

Mr. Zhao entrusted someone to buy a coffin, packed Zhao Sanlang's body properly, and walked to Zhaojiazhuang weeping all the way.

Back home, Mrs. Zhao fainted on the spot when she heard the news of her youngest son's death.

In the following time, Zhaojiazhuang was full of gloom and mist, as if there was a cloud of dark clouds hanging over his head.

The servants were busy preparing for Zhao Sanlang's funeral.

A white lantern with two black inscriptions written on it was hung at the gate of Zhaojiazhuang, and the curtain was drawn up in the main hall to form a mourning hall.There is a black wooden coffin in the center of the mourning hall, and the body of Zhao Sanlang is contained in the coffin.There was a brazier in front of the coffin. Mr. and Mrs. Zhao, as well as everyone from the Zhao family, old and young, knelt in a row in front of the coffin, burning Zhao Sanlang's clothes while he was alive, and weeping and crying. whimper whimper cry.

Mr. Zhao was angry and impatient, and he had to rush back day and night, and he was so angry that he fell ill within two days.

When the dark scene fell, Mr. Zhao drank a bowl of soup and medicine, went back to the house and lay down.

Mrs. Zhao and several maidservants remained on the mourning hall.

Mrs. Zhao called a servant who followed Mr. Zhao to Huangpiziling, and inquired about the cause of Zhao Sanlang's death.

The servant told Mrs. Zhao all the weird things that happened in Huangpiziling in detail. Mrs. Zhao and the maidservants were dumbfounded, and they couldn't believe that such a strange thing happened in the world, let alone their own. The son died after being sucked dry by the yellow skin essence.

White candle tears rolled down one by one, and the night wind blew by, the candle flame flickered, reflecting the mourning hall in desolation and panic.Those curtains rustled under the blowing of the night wind, and the ashes of paper money burned in the brazier flew up and scattered in all directions in the mourning hall.The two big locust trees outside the mourning hall swayed their branches and leaves, casting strange mottled shadows on the pale white ground.

It was already late at night, Mrs. Zhao and the servant girls who stayed behind to watch the spirit couldn't bear it any longer, and began to doze off with their heads propped up.

In a daze, Mrs. Zhao faintly heard a strange voice.

At first she thought there were mice coming in to eat the joss sticks, but she didn't pay much attention.

After a while, the more she listened, the more she felt that something was wrong, and she turned to look at the coffin behind her.

I saw a pair of dark green eyes on the coffin, staring at her coldly.

Mrs. Zhao was startled suddenly, and she was so frightened that she was scared out of her wits. When she came back to her senses, she realized that there was a yellow leather child of even size lying on top of the coffin.Huang Pizi lay motionless on the coffin lid, staring straight at Mrs. Zhao with a pair of dark green eyes, which seemed to reveal a wave of resentment.

Why did the weasel suddenly come to the house?

Mrs. Zhao was slightly startled, and couldn't figure out the key point for a while. Seeing the yellow leather lying on her son's coffin, she stretched out her hand to coax the yellow leather away.

The yellow-skinned child jumped out of the coffin creakingly, landed on the ground, and disappeared in a flash.

Thinking of Huang Pizi's resentful eyes just now, Mrs. Zhao couldn't help shivering.

San Lang was killed by Huang Pizi before his death, and now Huang Pizi appeared in the mourning hall for no reason. I am afraid that all this is not as simple as a coincidence.

After finally surviving until dawn, Mrs. Zhao summoned all the servants and maids to the mourning hall, and gave everyone a strange task to find Huang Pizi in Zhaojiazhuang.

Mr. Zhao heard the news and asked Mrs. Zhao what happened. Mrs. Zhao told Mr. Zhao about seeing Huang Pizi last night, but Mr. Zhao remained silent.For some reason, at this moment he actually remembered what Monk Di Shi said before leaving, and felt uneasy.

The servants dug Zhaojiazhuang three feet into the ground, and the maids also searched all the corners of the cabinets, but no one found the trace of the yellow leather. Everyone guessed that the yellow leather from last night might have escaped long ago.However, some maids also said in private that Mrs. Zhao may be dazzled because she was too nervous about the death of the third young master, so she had hallucinations, and everything she saw looked like yellow leather!But Mrs. Zhao firmly believed that she did see a yellow leather child lying on the top of Zhao Sanlang's coffin last night, and stared at her sleeping for so long, so she would never remember it wrong.

Mr. Zhao probably also realized the importance of the situation, and directly issued an iron order to his servants. Anyone who saw Huang Pizi in Zhaojiazhuang would be beaten to death!

Strange to say, there was no sign of Huang Pizi all day, but during the midnight vigil, the yellow leather child appeared on the lid of Zhao Sanlang's coffin again.This time, it was also when Mrs. Zhao was dozing off, when she heard the sound and opened her eyes, she saw the yellow-skinned child staring at her with green eyes.When Mrs. Zhao woke up the servant to chase and beat the yellow leather child, the yellow leather child disappeared again.

For three consecutive days, Huang Pizi appeared on the coffin lid on time like a regular alarm clock.

Mrs. Zhao was flustered and felt more and more that something was wrong, so she suggested to Mr. Zhao to bury Sanlang's body as soon as possible.

Zhao Sanlang died on the way, and the seven-day deadline for stopping the dead had already passed.

But because Mr. Zhao was reluctant to dig a hole to bury his son, after returning home, he still wanted to stay at home for seven days and give Saburo a complete funeral.

Now that he heard such a strange thing, Mr. Zhao also hesitated a little, so he agreed to his wife's request and asked his servant to go down to prepare. He planned to carry out the funeral at dawn the next day, and carried the coffin to the back mountain for burial.

In the early morning of the next day, it was still daylight, and the people in Zhaojiazhuang were already busy. All the servants and maidservants were dressed in white mourning clothes, with black cotton gauze tied around their wrists. They all had sad faces, and the atmosphere in Zhaojiazhuang was very dignified.

Mr. Zhao selected eight strong servants to carry the coffin. The eight servants tied the coffin to two logs with thick hemp ropes, and then divided them into left and right sides. Lift up the coffin.

As soon as the coffin was lifted, the eight servants felt that something was wrong. It was strange, why did the coffin become so light?
The eight of them thought the coffin was heavy at first, but they didn't expect the coffin to be light when it was lifted up. It seemed that there was no corpse in the coffin.

One of the servants who took the lead deliberately checked the coffin lid, and found that the coffin lid was firmly nailed, and there was no sign of prying it off.The servant who took the lead felt relieved, and greeted the brothers to carry the coffin all the way to the back mountain.

Before the hazy morning mist cleared, a funeral procession of nearly a hundred people left the gate of Zhaojiazhuang.

These nearly one hundred people were all dressed in white mourning clothes, and some even wore white pointed hats, like ghost soldiers who came out of hell.If anyone bumped into this group of people early in the morning, they probably thought they had hit a ghost.

In front is a mourning band, some playing suona, some blowing trumpets, and some shaking copper bells.The people behind threw paper money into the sky as they walked, and when the wind blew, those paper money flew all over the mountain, and scattered all over the ground.

With the support of the maids, Mr. Zhao and Mrs. Zhao stumbled forward with a sad expression.The Zhao family brothers followed closely behind with some other relatives and friends, sobbing all the way to the back mountain.

There is a hillside in the back mountain that belongs to the Zhao family, which is regarded as the ancestral tomb of the Zhao family, where all the ancestors of the Zhao family are buried.

When they came to Zhaojiapo, they lit joss sticks and sprinkled paper money. A group of people paid homage to the ancestors of the Zhao family, and then Mr. Zhao directed Jia Ding to dig the soil.

When it was time to burrow into the soil, the pit was almost dug.

"Sanlang, rest in peace!" Mr. Zhao touched the lid of the coffin, looking at the cold black coffin reluctantly, and couldn't help crying.

At this moment, a strange sound came from inside the coffin.

Mr. Zhao was so sad that he didn't hear it, but the lead servant in charge of carrying the coffin heard it. He asked Mr. Zhao in surprise, "Master, did you hear anything?"

Mr. Zhao stopped crying, put his ears up and listened carefully for a while, his expression changed drastically, he took two steps back, and pointed at the coffin with some horror: "The coffin... There is movement inside the coffin..."

The early morning mist hadn't dissipated yet, and there seemed to be a gust of wind blowing on Zhaojiapo. Although there were hundreds of people present, everyone felt hairy in their hearts and chills in their backs.

There was a dead silence on Zhaojiapo, no one spoke, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the coffin.

The voice in the coffin became clearer and clearer. Although it was subtle, everyone felt sharp, like... like the sound of claws scratching something?
The hearts of all the people present jumped, could it be that they cheated on the corpse?

In the eyes of the ancients, cheating on corpses is a very ominous thing. Mr. Zhao's face was livid and he didn't say a word.

Some people began to discuss in a low voice: "The yellow skin is a psychic thing. I heard that there is a yellow skin lying on Saburo's coffin every night. Is it caused by the yellow skin?"

"Master, what... what should we do?" Mrs. Zhao's face was pale, and the panic in her heart was even worse.

"Open the coffin!" After a long silence, Mr. Zhao made a heavy decision.

what? !

The servants below looked at Mr. Zhao with puzzled faces.

The ancients paid attention to the safety of burial. Usually, the coffin will not be opened after the house is buried in the coffin. Doing so means disrespecting the deceased, which is a taboo in funeral customs.

"Master, this doesn't seem right?" Mrs. Zhao said worriedly.

Mr. Zhao yelled at the servants: "Are you all deaf? I tell you to open the coffin! Sanlang is my son, even if the corpse is fraudulent, he is still my son! I want to see what is in the coffin eccentric!"

(End of this chapter)