Chapter 200
Chapter 200
The next morning, when I woke up, the sky remained dark and overcast. The raging wind and rain had not stopped.
Standing at the second-floor window of the coffin shop, I could see nothing outside but a hazy world veiled in rain.
Raindrops the size of soybeans struck the glass with sharp, rapid taps.
Yuan Fei’s voice came from behind me.
“This is going to be trouble. That python demon’s flood-dragon ascension last night only destroyed some vegetable plots and orchards around Longduo Mountain. Those losses were still manageable.”
“But this storm has been raging for an entire day without the slightest sign of stopping. The damage from the natural disaster and the displacement of ordinary people will be the government’s biggest headache, won’t it?”
I sighed softly.
“You’re right, Uncle Yuan. Who knows how much farmland this storm will wash away or how many people’s homes it will destroy? I’m starting to worry about my village. But the rain is so heavy that all the long-distance coaches and buses must have stopped running. There’s no way for me to get home.”
Everyone in town was trying to save themselves now.
Even the steamed-bun shop across the street had flooded. Uncle Zhang, the owner, was working with his wife and son, using large plastic basins to scoop water out of the shop and dump it into the street. How could they possibly have time to make meat buns?
It looked like we would have to trouble Wang Hu for noodles again this morning.
Back then, cell phones were unheard of, and even landlines had not reached every household. Old Cao’s coffin shop, for instance, did not have one.
Perhaps he had never seen much use for it.
As a result, I did not receive the homeroom teacher’s call informing each student that school was canceled that day.
Braving the downpour, I waded through knee-deep water in the streets until I reached Lianghe Bridge.
When I looked ahead, I discovered that the little road connecting the town to Lianghe District Middle School had been completely submerged by the swollen floodwaters.
A vast expanse of water stretched before me.
The flood had divided the town and school at Lianghe Bridge. More accurately, Lianghe District Middle School had become an isolated island cut off from the rest of town!
I gave a helpless, bitter laugh and muttered to myself.
“There’s definitely no way to attend school. I guess we’re being forced to take a vacation. I wonder if the boarding students living in the dormitories still have classes?”
Lianghe District Middle School drew students from dozens of miles around, and most of them boarded at the school, living in the dormitories from Monday through Friday.
Only students from Lianghe Town, or those like me who stayed with relatives or family friends in town, commuted from home each day.
There was no need to worry about anyone at the school itself.
Lianghe District Middle School occupied the highest ground in the entire town. From the corridors of its classroom buildings, one could practically look down over all of Lianghe Town.
The only problem was that the road from the school gate to Lianghe Bridge lay very low. Whenever the river flooded, the water submerged that stretch of road.
“Fine. If I can’t go to school, I’ll behave myself and stay at the coffin shop. I wonder how Yao Nan, Wang Dachun, Zeng Jin, and the others are doing?”
Muttering inwardly, I turned and headed back.
…
The torrential rain continued for three full days and nights before finally stopping.
During that time, I heard that the Chuan River north of town had become terrifying beyond description.
Viewed from a higher mountaintop, it resembled a boundless ocean.
The floodwaters reached all the way to the road pass north of town!
Fortunately, they finally stopped there.
If the water had crossed that road pass, it would have poured downhill and followed the highway straight into Lianghe Town.
The entire town would have become a vast flooded wasteland!
No one knew how many ordinary people would have died.
It might have appeared to be luck, but I knew some unseen manifestation of Heaven’s will might have been at work.
Over the past year and a half, I had carefully studied the feng shui structure of Lianghe Town and its surroundings. To my surprise, it was extraordinarily favorable–almost excessively so.
Despite being only a small town, Lianghe possessed feng shui conditions capable of supporting a major city!
Of course, possessing such a feng shui structure was one thing. Actually developing into a major city was another. Nothing was absolutely guaranteed; favorable feng shui merely increased the likelihood.
Still, thanks to its exceptional feng shui, this small town had produced many prominent figures and great families renowned throughout Sichuan, Chongqing, and even the entire southwest over the course of its history.
I had also discovered that although Lianghe Town stood near the turbulent, fast-flowing Chuan River, a great river carrying an immense volume of water, and two tributaries wound directly through the town from south to north, the area showed no sign of excessive yin-water damp miasma.
Generally speaking, towns and cities near great rivers benefited from lively, flowing feng shui energy. This attracted people and commerce, bringing economic prosperity.
But proximity to water also made yin-water damp miasma more likely to accumulate. That often caused floods or left the climate so cold and damp that residents easily developed rheumatic illnesses.
Lianghe Town had neither problem!
To this day, I still could not understand why.
What kind of feng shui structure had formed nearby and neutralized the unfavorable elements that should have plagued Lianghe Town?
That was also why I believed that even if Lianghe Town suffered an extremely severe flood, the entire town would not be submerged and swept away in a catastrophic disaster.
Why?
According to feng shui, a place without yin-water damp miasma was very unlikely to be destroyed by flooding. It was not an absolute guarantee, but the probability was at least ninety-nine percent.
Therefore, when I heard that the Chuan River had risen until it was level with the road pass north of town and then stopped, I suspected Lianghe Town’s feng shui truly was exceptional.
The storm ended, and the floodwaters gradually receded.
But some troublesome matters arrived in their wake.
On the second evening after the rain stopped, I returned to the coffin shop after evening study hall and saw Big Bull, Ergou, and their other two companions inside, discussing something with Old Cao.
“Brother Big Bull, you’re here! Does another family need us to carry a coffin tonight? Let’s go!”
I casually placed my schoolbag inside a nearby coffin while greeting them with a smile.
Big Bull gave me a bitter smile.
“Young Mr. Wu, we’re not carrying a coffin in anyone’s funeral this time. We may have to move a very dangerous coffin! The client asked me to take a look, and my legs almost went weak the moment I saw it. So I came to consult Coffin-Bearer Cao about whether it can even be carried.”
“What?!”
I stared at him in surprise, finding it almost unbelievable.
Big Bull was a famous coffin carrier in Lianghe Town and several neighboring towns. Not only was he immensely strong, but his bazi was exceptionally hard, and his yang fire burned especially bright.
When a bereaved family was poor, could not afford the full fee, or wanted a simple funeral, they often hired only Big Bull and his three companions. The four of them could handle the job without a coffin bearer like Old Cao.
Coffin carriers and coffin bearers were not the same.
The former possessed greater physical strength and focused primarily on brute force and the act of carrying the coffin itself.
The latter possessed broader, more comprehensive knowledge and focused on rules, taboos, and other such matters.
Big Bull and his companions certainly were nowhere near Old Cao’s level, but the mere sight of a coffin should not have frightened them so badly that their legs weakened and they could not even tell whether it was safe to carry.
Just how sinister was that coffin?
Intensely curious, I asked in confusion, “Brother Big Bull, is there a zombie inside it?”
At the word “zombie,” the expressions of all four men, including Big Bull, Ergou, and Flat-Top, changed. Fear showed in their eyes.
Old Cao gave me a bitter smile.
“Xiao Wu, you little jinx! We haven’t even determined what’s inside that coffin, so don’t start spouting nonsense. If you happen to guess correctly, dealing with it will be incredibly troublesome. We might lose half our lives in the process.”
Seeing how grave and serious he was, I sobered as well and stopped joking.
Instead, I earnestly asked Big Bull and the others what exactly had happened.
Big Bull answered, “Young Mr. Wu, we all know you’re a genius among practitioners. Your progress over the past year and a half has been beyond belief. You started out knowing almost nothing, but now you’ve left people like us far behind.”
“When I came to discuss this with Coffin-Bearer Cao, he said we still needed to inspect the actual site. But he wanted to wait for you to get back from school so we could all go together.”
“That’s right,” Old Cao agreed beside him.
“The coffin’s origins are strange and suspicious. I’m worried that I might overlook something if I go alone. Having you there to lend a hand will make things safer.”
So that was it.
“I understand. Shall we go inspect the client’s home now? You can explain everything on the way. How does that sound?”
I was dying to know what kind of coffin could terrify all four of Big Bull’s men and even put Old Cao on such high alert.
“All right, Young Mr. Wu. Let’s go together.”
Big Bull and his three companions led Old Cao and me out of the coffin shop and headed northwest through Lianghe Town.
Along the way, Big Bull used the journey to recount the entire sequence of events from beginning to end.
…