Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Yuan Fei suggested, “Should we reopen the coffin and examine the corpse?”
The instant he spoke, he realized his mistake. Ashamed, he rubbed his hands. “This is my fault. I’ve worked in this profession for twenty years, yet still misjudged her. I saw no problem during the wake or when choosing the grave.”
Wiping away sweat, Big Bull comforted him. The four bearers had also inspected Miss Duan and noticed nothing. Mr. Yuan alone was not to blame.
Old Cao smoked his pipe and slowly blew rings.
Without Boss Duan’s permission, none of the Duans dared leave.
Most depended on him for a living. In effect, he was like the patriarch of an old clan…
I walked to Old Cao and signaled with my eyes.
He understood instantly.
Together, we moved to a corner beside the fields, away from the crowd.
“What is it, Xiao Wu? Have you noticed something?”
After the recent turmoil, he seemed closer to me. Before, that had been because of Master; now he apparently considered me promising in my own right.
I whispered, “While you and Big Bull carried the coffin, I stood beside Mr. Yuan and watched our surroundings. After you forced Miss Duan’s coffin up, it suddenly grew heavy and stopped when you reached the final three young men in the funeral line.”
“What?”
Old Cao’s expression changed.
“Are you certain?”
I had doubted seeing the corpse open its eyes. The hall was dark, and I glimpsed her through a crack for half a second.
This time, I had seen clearly!
I nodded firmly. “I’m certain. The moment the coffin grew heavier and sank, those three men looked terrified. So…”
“You suspect Miss Duan didn’t drown accidentally. She was murdered, and those three may be involved?”
Old Cao took a deep pull on his pipe.
After thinking, he beckoned Yuan Fei and Big Bull over and told them what I had observed.
Yuan Fei’s expression shifted repeatedly. “If she died violently rather than accidentally, resentment would flourish. Then she cannot enter the Golden Phoenix Spreading Its Wings site. Its golden-phoenix energy would clash with her baleful force, ruining the Duan family and perhaps ending their bloodline!”
He shuddered.
Though he could deal with yin entities, he could never oppose a local magnate like Boss Duan. While Boss Duan needed him, he remained respectful. But if they fell out, the man’s influence could get him killed ten times over!
So a corpse’s manner of death could reverse the auspicious and ominous qualities of the Golden Phoenix Spreading Its Wings feng shui site.
I had not known that.
I had read The Classic of Dwellings and The Book of Burial only once, swallowing their contents without digesting them.
Forget reciting them backward as Master demanded. Remembering thirty to fifty percent already required an extraordinary memory.
Old Cao patted Yuan Fei’s shoulder. “Xiao Wu has found something suspicious, but nothing is proven. Let’s decide what to do.”
I looked back at Boss Duan. He stared grief-stricken at the coffin. His sorrow was clearly genuine; he truly loved his youngest daughter.
Duan Meng’s death could not involve him…
“Perhaps Miss Duan first refused to leave both because her resentment remained unresolved and because she knew Mr. Yuan had chosen wrongly. Burial there would bring disaster upon her father.”
Master had said that after death, people were no longer who they had been in life. My friend Wang Fei, after becoming a vicious water revenant, had killed even his own parents.
But Miss Duan had not yet reached the fiend stage.
She was at most barely a vicious corpse!
Of course, if she–or rather, it–truly began becoming a corpse fiend, everything was over. Even her father, Boss Duan, would probably die.
I habitually observed the surrounding people, clustered in small groups and whispering.
After a minute or two, Old Cao, Yuan Fei, and Big Bull finished conferring.
We returned together.
The coffin had quieted, and black energy no longer seeped through its seams. Yet it radiated inexplicable oppression. We all knew this was probably the calm before the storm!
Old Cao told Boss Duan the coffin could not be moved tonight. It must remain until daylight, when they would find another solution.
Even a corpse fiend had to lie obediently still during the day, never mind a vicious corpse. It would be nothing but an unmoving dead body.
“Boss Duan, send everyone back to Duan Family Manor. I’ll choose a few people to keep watch with us. Your daughter is already a vicious corpse. Even if we don’t move her, something may happen tonight.”
“Should I remain?”
“No. You’re no longer young and have just lost your beloved daughter. Go rest. We’re only thirty meters from the manor gate. If we need help, we’ll call.”
“Then thank you, Master Cao, Mr. Yuan, Brother Big Bull, and Young Brother Wu.”
Boss Duan truly looked close to collapse. Years of hard work may have damaged his health, and tonight had brought one shock after another.
After thanking us repeatedly, he had his men bring several red envelopes and personally distributed one to each of us.
This was additional gratitude, separate from the agreed fee. Once his daughter was buried, he would double the promised bonus!
I felt mine.
Good heavens!
It was thick.
At least a thousand yuan!
Nearly half a year’s income for my family.
I never imagined business involving the dead could be so profitable.
Of course, Boss Duan’s wealth was the main reason. Ordinary clients could never pay this much.
Old Cao and Yuan Fei exchanged glances, then walked with Big Bull to the three young men who had stood at the end of the male line.
Yuan Fei spoke mysteriously. “Brothers, your full foreheads and square jaws show abundant yang energy and good fortune. Stay and watch the coffin with us tonight.”
Old Cao nodded. “Mr. Yuan is right. They are the most suitable.”
“What?!”
The three men jumped and waved frantically.
“No, no! We’re weak and poor. We have no good fortune.”
“Right! We barely eat because Uncle Duan supports us.”
“Sir, we’re truly unsuitable. Choose someone else to watch the coffin!”
Such a violent reaction meant either Miss Duan’s death involved them, or they were cowards beyond belief.
“Hmph!” Boss Duan’s voice went cold. “Duan Ren, you three brothers say you depend on me to eat, yet refuse to watch my daughter’s coffin? Then perhaps you no longer need that food–or a place in Lianghe Town.”
He treated us politely, but before ordinary people his authority emerged.
He ordered the three to obey Master Cao and Mr. Yuan without question.
His words revealed their names as Duan Ren, Duan Yi, and Duan Tianbao. They were distant Duan relatives, nearly beyond the traditional five degrees of mourning.
Originally rural villagers with little education or skill, they had obtained jobs in Lianghe Town only after their elders begged Boss Duan.
The others followed Boss Duan back to Duan Family Manor to rest.
We and the three brothers remained with the vicious corpse.
Yuan Fei lit torches around the area, brightening it enough to ease our fear.
On the ground before the coffin’s head, he placed seven large bowls in the pattern of the Big Dipper.
He filled them with kerosene and a little cinnabar, added drops of his blood, and rolled seven talismans into wicks.
When lit, seven flames burned on the ground like the Big Dipper descended from heaven.
Yuan Fei looked exhausted. The work had consumed tremendous energy.
I recognized the Seven-Star Fiend-Suppression Formation, one of the most basic yet profound methods of the esoteric arts.
Basic, because it was simple.
Profound, because its power differed enormously depending on its user.
The scene could be called: watching a vicious corpse by night, with seven stars suppressing its baleful force!
Old Cao smiled in praise. “Good methods, Mr. Yuan. You’ve worked hard. If we don’t force the coffin onward and defy the corpse’s wishes, nothing else should happen tonight.”
The instant he finished, Miss Duan’s coffin sounded with a bang.
Then a woman began to weep…