Chapter 9
Chapter 9
“Where’s your hometown? Why don’t I come with you? I can lend a hand with whatever needs to be done,” Yun Jianyue offered.
“That would bring you nothing but bad luck. You should enjoy your vacation, Senior. I’ll treat you to a meal once school starts.” Zhou Benxin was from the north and a stickler for such customs.
The deceased might have been his own grandmother, but to Yun Jianyue, she was a stranger. Getting involved in a stranger’s funeral without good reason was considered extremely inauspicious.
Yun Jianyue thought, I’m only doing this to enter the next dungeon. What bad intentions could I possibly have?
“But you’ll be on your own. What if you can’t handle your grandmother’s funeral arrangements? Besides, you already owe me one meal. One more won’t make a difference.” Yun Jianyue spoke with such righteous conviction that she seemed like a saint incarnate.
Zhou Benxin considered it for a long moment before finally nodding. “Then I’ll have to trouble you, Senior. Let me grab a few things, and we’ll leave right away.”
When she saw Zhou Benxin heading back to his room, Yun Jianyue could no longer contain her curiosity. “What’s behind that door?”
Zhou Benxin turned around and casually pulled it open. “Nothing much. It’s just the deity my family worships.”
Behind the door was a tiny alcove, less than two square meters in size. The moment it opened, the heavy scent of incense ash washed over her.
A small altar stood against the wall. At its highest point sat two pieces of pitch-black wood, one on either side. It was impossible to tell what kind of wood they were, but they gave off an inexplicably cold and sinister air.
Clearly, these two pieces of black wood were what Zhou Benxin’s family worshipped.
“What kind of deity is this supposed to be?” Yun Jianyue frowned.
She knew little about gods and ghosts, but even she knew that when ordinary families invited a deity into their home for worship, they enshrined a consecrated statue of that deity.
What kind of god had no statue, only two ugly chunks of black wood?
Zhou Benxin scratched his head. “I don’t know either. They’ve been worshipped in our house for as long as I can remember. And it isn’t just my family. Everyone in our home village worships this deity. They call it the Twin God. A lot of people from the village who moved to the city, like my family did, also set aside a small alcove in their homes to worship the Twin God. It’s mainly the older generation who do it, though. My sister and I have never even offered incense.”
Yun Jianyue had never heard of any Twin God. Her gaze shifted back to the altar.
A pair of dark red candles burned upon it, their flames flickering with a faint reddish glow. The red light Yun Jianyue had seen earlier had clearly come from these candles.
But how could such feeble candlelight have produced that dazzling, explosive burst of red?
In the end, Yun Jianyue said nothing to Zhou Benxin about the red light and kept the matter to herself.
Zhou Benxin’s hometown was two hundred kilometers from Jibei City, only a few hours’ drive from the city proper.
Since they were traveling in Zhou Benxin’s car, Yun Jianyue never found an opportunity to discuss the two pieces of wood with Lu Changxue.
By the time they reached Xianyin Village, dusk had already begun to settle.
An enormous old locust tree stood at the entrance to Xianyin Village. It looked weather-beaten, its trunk darkened by the passage of countless years. When the evening wind swept through its dense canopy, the leaves rustled like a mass of snakes slithering through the grass.
Several elderly villagers sat beneath the tree. Silent and expressionless, they watched Zhou Benxin’s car pass through the village entrance with stagnant, lifeless eyes.
As Zhou Benxin drove toward his family’s old house, they occasionally passed groups of three or five villagers carrying shoulder poles. With numb expressions, they trudged toward the old locust tree at the village entrance.
Bamboo baskets hung from either end of their poles. Each basket was covered with bright red cloth, concealing whatever lay inside.
Zhou Benxin’s old family home stood at the far end of Xianyin Village, near the foot of the mountain. As he parked outside the courtyard, two men emerged from the old residence.
One of the two men was older, around seventy, while the other looked younger, perhaps fifty or so.
“Xiao Xinzi, where are your parents?” The middle-aged man frowned deeply when he saw Zhou Benxin and Yun Jianyue get out of the car.
“Second Uncle, my parents are still overseas and can’t make it back. I’m the only one here to handle Grandma’s funeral arrangements,” Zhou Benxin explained apologetically.
Second Uncle Zhou turned to Yun Jianyue, his tone unfriendly. “Is this your girlfriend?”
“No, she’s my senior from college. She came to help me.” Zhou Benxin stepped forward slightly, shielding Yun Jianyue behind him.
The older man gave a cold snort. “What senior? Something important is happening in the village tonight. Outsiders aren’t allowed in. Tell her to get lost!”
Zhou Benxin’s expression immediately darkened. He respected these two because they were his elders, but that didn’t give them the right to insult a friend he’d brought home for no reason.
Inside the jade pendant, Lu Changxue flew into a rage. What kind of attitude was that? Telling someone to get lost the moment they opened their mouths? Just wait until she jumped out and scared these two nasty old men to death!
Just as Lu Changxue was about to leap out of the jade pendant, Yun Jianyue pressed a hand against it.
Putting her well-practiced talent for acting sweet and obedient in front of elders to full use, she flashed them a charming smile. “Oh, Uncle, Grandpa, Benxin was only joking with you. I really am his girlfriend. Why else would he bring me along to handle his grandmother’s funeral arrangements?”
Second Uncle Zhou and Fifth Elder Zhou exchanged doubtful looks. They clearly didn’t believe her.
Just as Fifth Elder Zhou was about to say something, Second Uncle Zhou suddenly leaned over and whispered a few words in his ear.
“Fine. Since you’re Benxin’s girlfriend, you can stay. But I’m warning you both: don’t wander around tonight. Stay inside the house. Something important is happening in the village tonight, and you’ll have to prepare your grandmother’s body yourselves.” After delivering his warning, Fifth Elder Zhou left with Second Uncle Zhou.
Coincidentally, the two of them were also heading toward the large locust tree at the village entrance.
Once they were out of earshot, Zhou Benxin gave Yun Jianyue an apologetic smile. “I’m really sorry, Senior…”
“It’s fine. Let’s go in and see your grandmother first,” Yun Jianyue said.
Zhou Benxin’s family home was an old tile-roofed house surrounded by a courtyard whose ground was still bare earth, just as it had been in the old days.
They crossed the courtyard and entered the house. The two men had already cleared out the main room. The most striking thing inside was the altar table, which was identical to the one in Zhou Benxin’s house in the city. Two red candles burned on top of it, with two pieces of black wood enshrined between them.
The door to Grandma Zhou’s room stood wide open, and her body lay peacefully on the bed.
The moment Zhou Benxin saw Grandma Zhou’s body, the grief he had suppressed throughout the journey burst free. He rushed over in a few strides and dropped to his knees beside the bed. The burly man sobbed so hard he could barely breathe.
Yun Jianyue waited until his sobs subsided, then gently patted his shoulder. “Find a clean set of clothes. I’ll change her into them.”
On the way there, Zhou Benxin had explained the local funeral customs to Yun Jianyue.
After an elderly person passed away, the family first cleaned the body and changed it into fresh clothes. The coffin would then remain at home for three days, and on the fourth day, the funeral procession would carry it out for burial so the deceased could rest in peace.
No one who died in this village was cremated. In the past, many officials had come to persuade the villagers to comply. They had even detained numerous family members who refused to follow national policy, but nothing worked.
Whenever anyone tried to enforce a cremation, the family would threaten to kill themselves.