Centuries of Folk Secrets: Notes of the Bone Collector

Chapter 1 Introduction See if you have bone scars on your back
Wa Township is located in Kanto.

Wa Town does not produce tiles, but the terrain is arched, like tiles, hence the name.

Wa town is not big or small, but there are more than a thousand families living there.Due to the remoteness of the location, many people who fled, escaped disaster, and begged for food settled their homes here.There were wastelands everywhere in Kanto in those days. As long as you were willing to endure hardships and put in the effort, it would not be a problem to open up wasteland and farm for a living.As a result, every family can find a job for those who open up wasteland, those who cultivate land, and those who do business.

On this day, the streets were crowded and bustling, and a restaurant was surrounded with three floors inside and three floors outside.These people didn't line up because the restaurant was full, nor did they want to go to the restaurant to drink, but came here specifically to watch the excitement.Because a rare thing happened in this restaurant, that is, there was a dark coffin in front of the door.

This coffin is made of pine wood, and there are traces of insect bites and ants all around the coffin. Not only have there been bumps and pits, but also black holes the size of palms have been exposed in some places, especially the coffin. The bottom was covered with thick mud, and a damp and rotten smell could be smelled from a distance.Obviously, the coffin had just been dug out of the grave.

On this coffin lay a living person on its side.This person was in his 20s, with mouse eyes and deer head, short and thin body, no hair on his head, but was covered with blue and purple patches of tinea.He held a folding fan in his hand, and while fanning himself to enjoy the cool air, he closed his eyes and hummed a little tune, and even shouted twice when he was happy, which made the onlookers burst into laughter.

"Man, you are deliberately trying to destroy my business! Hurry up and take this dead man's coffin away! You don't think it's bad luck!" At this time, a man in his forties pointed at the man lying on the coffin He yelled loudly, this person is the owner of this restaurant - Shopkeeper Ge.

The scarlet lying on the coffin opened his eyes, chuckled, and said, "Master Ge, I don't have a room, I don't have a row of land, and I'm a bachelor with no relatives, why should I be afraid of bad luck?"

"You, you are such a rascal, rascal!" Shopkeeper Ge gasped for a long breath, then pointed at the restaurant clerk beside him and shouted, "Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and take this dead man's coffin away!"

When the guys heard this, they looked at each other in shock.Since ancient times, this dead man's coffin has been an extremely unlucky object. I would like to walk around it when I see it on weekdays. Now letting them carry it is like killing them, so shopkeeper Ge yelled several times, but he didn't A fellow dared to carry the coffin.

At this time, a young woman suddenly squeezed out of the crowd.The woman was dressed in black, with a black veil on her face, only her eyes were exposed, she was holding a black package in her hand, and she was carrying a thin, black-skinned baby boy behind her.Look, this baby boy is about one year old, also wrapped in black cloth, with a pair of small eyes closed tightly, sleeping soundly.

The woman in black went straight to the side of the man, looked carefully at the coffin placed on the ground, then looked at the man again, and said coldly: "Where did you dig this coffin? Dare to lie on the coffin, could it be that you are tired of living?"

Lametou tilted his head to look at the woman in black, he chuckled, and said, "Eating sunflower seeds can actually produce a bedbug. Where did you come from, you little bitch? I don't even ask about the name of Mr. Laitou. How dare you come here to meddle in Mr. Toad's business!"

"It's really abominable to dare to use your tongue when your life is at stake!" The woman in black shook her head and sighed again.

"You little bitch actually cursed me to be short-lived!" Scarlet stood up, rolled up his sleeves, and walked towards the woman in black angrily.

The woman in black didn't dodge, and said in a cold voice: "You dare to lie in such an evil coffin, do you think you are looking for death?"

"This is my ancestor's coffin. I dug it out from my ancestral grave one spade at a time. How did it become a coffin of evil bones?" Leper said with his eyes wide open.

"If the evil bones in this evil coffin were your ancestors, would you still be alive today?" the woman in black snorted coldly.

Seeing that the black-clothed woman disturbed his good affairs, he couldn't help becoming a little annoyed, and quickly scolded: "You little girl is full of nonsense, and you don't even dare to show your face. Mr. Tou wants to see it today. What kind of face is hidden behind the cloth!"

Seeing that the scarlet head stretched out his hand, the woman in black neither blocked nor evaded, but let the scarlet head remove the covering over her face.Scarlet Tou didn't expect to get it so easily, so he couldn't help being a little surprised.But before he had time to be proud, he saw the face of the woman in black, and then stepped back several times, pointing at the woman in black and shouting in a trembling voice: "Are you a human or a ghost?"

After being yelled by Scarlet, the crowd watching the scene all turned their attention to the woman in black.I saw that the face of the woman in black was covered with uneven scars. At first glance, it looked like it was made up of dozens of pieces of incomplete human skin. Some of the scars were deeper, and the scar skin had turned into the flesh. , like a grimace, people will tremble involuntarily after a glance.

"Of course I'm a human being, but you're the one who stepped into the coffin with one foot!" the woman in black said coldly as she hung up the covering over her face.

The scarlet head said in a panic, "I'm living a good life, why did I end up with one foot in the coffin?"

The woman in black pointed to the coffin and said, "Since ancient times, there have been evil bones coming out of evil coffins. This coffin hangs dead from the top, surrounded by darkness. It is a very obvious evil coffin. You dare to move even this kind of evil coffin , still lying on it, isn’t it courting death? The bones in a normal coffin are either black or white, and there is no difference in color, but the bones in this coffin are green. If you don’t believe it, you can open the coffin and have a look.”

Seeing that what the woman in black said didn't look like a lie, the scarlet head couldn't help being startled, and quickly turned around to open the coffin.The top of the coffin had long been rotten with damp, and it cracked into several pieces with a little force.The scarlet head didn't care too much, and quickly looked into the coffin, only to see a dark green corpse lying in the coffin.The appearance of this corpse is extremely hideous, there is still a layer of paste-like bone dregs remaining between the bones, and some white soft-bodied corpse insects are crawling among the bones.These corpse insects were exposed to the sunlight shot into the coffin, and some crawled to the four corners of the coffin, some simply got into the gaps in the bones, and some crawled out directly along the coffin, and fell to the ground one by one.

Mantou had never seen such a corpse before, so he sat down on the ground in fright.The expression on his face was extremely complicated, a little scared and a little panicked, his mouth opened and closed, but he couldn't say a word.

"Look at your back, is there a bone mark on it?" The woman in black said with a sigh.

The scarlet head didn't dare to delay, so he quickly took off his shirt. It didn't matter what he saw, he was almost scared to pee his pants, and at some point, a dark green mark appeared on his back and the sides of his arms.This kind of mark can neither be wiped off nor picked out, as if it grows in the flesh, it can't be removed no matter what.

"The villain has blind eyes and offended the girl. The villain should die! The villain is a bastard! I hope the girl will not be as knowledgeable as the villain, and save the life of the villain!" What he said was true, he quickly knelt down in front of her, crying and saying.

The woman in black said coldly: "Let me ask you, where did you dig this coffin?"

The scarlet head clasped his hands together, and said honestly: "The villain dare not lie anymore, this coffin did not come from my ancestral grave. Last night, when I passed by the mass grave, I saw that most of this coffin was exposed from the soil, so I dug it out. Since there is no rice to cook at home, I wanted to use this coffin to extort some silver taels from shopkeeper Ge, but I never thought what kind of evil coffin it is! Otherwise, I would not dare to touch it even if you lend me two guts .”

The woman in black couldn't help frowning, and said angrily: "You dare to move the deserted coffin in the cemetery, you are really impatient! To tell you the truth, the ghost bone marks on your body are because you don't respect the bones in this coffin, so you don't respect the bones in this coffin. It was printed on it. When this ghost bone mark spreads to your throat, it will be your time of death!"

Hearing this, Scarlet was so frightened that he trembled all over, so he had to beg again and again: "Girl is so kind and virtuous, you must find a way to save me! I will never dare again! I will be a good man in the future, and I will never dare to get up again." What evil intentions. If what I say is not true, I am willing to be struck by lightning."

"Ah!" The woman in black sighed, and then said, "You mix white vinegar with warm water, add furnace ashes and dried phoenix grass, and soak your whole body for two hours every morning and evening. Soak for ten days in a row, and you will be able to relieve the pain." The imprint of the bone scar."

"Thank you for your advice, miss, I've made a note of it." Scarlet head kowtowed to the woman in black, got up and was about to run home.

"Wait a minute! You first send this coffin back to the mass grave. You have to find a wet puddle and dig five meters deep before you can bury this coffin. After the burial, you need to pour the blood of the black-feathered and black-clawed cock In the mud of the burial coffin. Do you hear me clearly?" The woman in black stopped the mangy head, pointed to the coffin and confessed.

"The villain understands! The villain will do it right away!" Laidou nodded repeatedly, and then prepared to ask someone to carry the coffin.

Just at this time, the baby boy on the back of the woman in black woke up and cried loudly.The woman in black didn't say much, she took off her straps, picked up the baby boy and squeezed out of the crowd.Looking at the back of the woman in black, the crowd of onlookers talked a lot, but no one could tell the origin of the woman.

Afterwards, the woman in black stayed in Wazhen.Only then did people know that her name was Yan Qiniang, she was a widow, and a craftsman who made a living by collecting bones.She dealt with rotting bones and corpses all day long. Although she was seeking a living in the yang world, she did a dark business. She mostly stayed in the house during the day to eat and sleep, and at night she would shuttle among the burial mounds and graveyards.

In the eyes of the villagers, bone making is a dirty business, if someone's child dares to enter this business, his father will definitely be pissed off.Although this is a dirty job and an unpopular job, most people really can't do it.Because bone-stretching is a craft with many tricks, the emphasis is on first-hand, second-hand, courage, four-knowledge, five-rule, and six-flexibility.If you can't do these six points, then you can't hit the door at all (the jarring jargon means to take the lead).In the business of pulling bones, the bar is the standard.As long as you take over the work from the owner, you have to fight against the door, and the owner will give you money if the job is done beautifully.If you don't have the strength to fight the door, but you want to fight someone else, that's okay, it's nothing more than taking a small life.

The so-called one eye refers to eyesight.As long as the Bone Collector raises his eyes, he can immediately judge the depth of the coffin in the burial tomb, and the age of the coffin's burial can be immediately judged from the earthy smell of the burial tomb.Based on the above judgments, the bone collector can know the degree of decay of the bones in the coffin, and thus analyze the degree of danger of the bones.If it is not too dangerous, the bone master can take over the job; if it is more dangerous, the bone master will just pat his ass and leave.

Second-hand refers to the kung fu of hands and feet-this is not fist kung fu, but light hands and feet.Since he has been dealing with dead people's rotting bones all the year round, it is required that the bone master's hands must be flexible and light, so that there will be no troubles when crunching people's bones.If the strike is not serious, it will definitely break the rotting bones of the dead.As for the kung fu on the feet, the word "quick" is emphasized, and this "quick" means to run away by rubbing oil on the soles of the feet.If something unexpected happens, then of course you will run away as fast as you can.

Three Guts, as the name suggests, refers to the Guts of the Bone Collector.Digging graves and prying coffins all day to play with the dead, if you are not brave enough, you will be scared to death by the dead sooner or later.You know, the rotting bones of the dead in the coffins of this burial are different, and the rotting bones of the dead in the new coffin and the old coffin are even more different. There are also cases where all the flesh and blood are rotten or none of the flesh and bones are rotten, depending on the age of burial, environment, feng shui, funerary objects, and coffin materials.But one thing is for sure, no matter what kind of dead man's rotting bones it is, it won't look good.

Four understandings refer to knowing the way and knowing the way.The so-called action is the business of restraining bones.Don't think it's not a good job to play with dead people's carrion bones, but there are many taboos in it.For example, male bone masters are not allowed to loose bones, and female bone masters are not allowed to stack bones.For another example, children's carrion bones should be picked from the foot bones, men's carrion bones should be picked from the skull, and women's carrion bones should be picked from the pubic bones. The order must not be wrong.As for the way, it is about the way of the bones-concave tombs must not go deep, and convex tombs cannot be dug down.

The five rules refer to the rules.Although the Bone Collector has the ability to dig graves and pry coffins, he can't do anything foolish. It doesn't matter if it's a burial mound or a cemetery, regardless of whether it's a rich man's grave or a poor man's grave, as long as there is no entrustment from the relatives of the owner of the tomb, he is not allowed to break the ground.Such activities as digging graves and looting graves to distribute wealth from dead people are even more unacceptable.Even if there is an entrustment from the relatives of the owner of the tomb, the coffin can only be smashed to collect the bones, and one should not be greedy for any funerary objects in the coffin.In the process of collecting the bones, the dead souls of the funeral must be respected. Generally, before the bones are collected, incense and prostration are required to show that there is no disturbing heart.

Six flexible, it means that the brain of the bone master must be flexible.There are many people who have heard of the bone collecting business, but few know it, so the bone collecting master will not worry about food and clothing all his life.Because there are more meat and fewer wolves, there will always be people who come to entrust the bone master to do things.In this case, the bone collector's mind must be brightened, and he can't rush up desperately when he sees money.The skill of being able to squeeze bones is true, but not all bones from graves can be squeezed.As the saying goes, to tighten the bones and tighten the bones, life and death are two different paths, and this is the truth.Therefore, bone collectors should be good at picking jobs, and choose jobs that are not too troublesome as the first choice. As for jobs with a high risk factor, no matter how much money you pay, you can't take them.

Wa town is adjacent to many villages, so Yan Qiniang takes her boys to find jobs all day long. Although she can't make a lot of money, it is enough for the two girls to survive.Over time, Yan Qiniang made a name for herself in the dozens of miles of villages around Wa town.Everyone called her "Ghost Face Qiniang" or "Yan Luo Qiniang". Not only would she be invited to hold bones, but she would also be invited to preside over some funerals.

(End of this chapter)