1 silver dollar
This year's summer seems to have arrived much earlier than in previous years. It's only mid-April, and it's almost as hot as June.
Erzhuzi took a peek at Shopkeeper Luo and saw that he was lying on a bamboo chair drinking tea with a big belly, very comfortable. Erzhuzi could only feel envious. A young man like him could only squat in front of the store and couldn't block the facade. If you want to go into the inner hall to enjoy the cool air, it's like an old cat smelling salted fish – don't even think about it!
This Luo Ji coffin shop is the only business in the town, and there are only two people in the shop, Luo Ji and Er Zhuzi. Three years ago, Erzhuzi fled here. If shopkeeper Luo hadn't taken him in as his assistant, he might have the bones to play the drums now.
Seeing that there were no customers, Erzhuzi ran quickly to the backyard, took a ladle of cold water from the well and poured it down. Then he hurried to the door of the store and saw a man walking towards him.
Seeing that the man was wearing a long gown, Erzhu quickly welcomed him through the door. Shopkeeper Luo also put the cattail leaf fan aside and asked, "May I ask where your distinguished guest is from and what can I do for you?"
"I'm from Ye Mansion." The man said arrogantly.
"It turns out it's the master of the Ye Mansion. How dare you let go of the ghosts in the house ? Zhuzhu will serve tea soon." Shopkeeper Luo was very happy. The Ye Mansion is a prominent local family and is very generous.
The man opened the lid of the cup and sniffed it for a few times, and his expression finally relaxed.
Shopkeeper Luo lowered his head and asked, "May I ask which immortal in the house is traveling?"
"She is a girl from our house, but she was very favored by the second lady during her lifetime, so I came to choose a good coffin for her."
Shopkeeper Luo nodded and said, "Don't worry, we have high-quality coffins in the backyard, and the price is reasonable."
"Yes." The man nodded and added, "But shopkeeper Luo still needs to do something before this deal can be finalized."
"Please tell me, I will help you if we can do it."
"It's not a big deal. This girl is from Shidun Village in Nanshan. People want to return to their roots after death, so the second lady hopes to transport her back to her hometown for burial. But we can't spare anyone, so we want to borrow someone from Shopkeeper Luo."
How could such a big Ye Mansion not have enough manpower to spare? But since everyone was a servant, there was no reason to help a maid in the funeral. Shopkeeper Luo naturally understood this. He looked at Erzhuzi and said, "This is no problem. Let me transport it."
"He… looks quite honest." The man looked Erzhu up and down.
Shopkeeper Luo said with a smile: "This young man is hard-working and honest. He has worked in my store for more than three years. He knows all about burial matters. You can rest assured if you let him handle this matter."
The man asked Erzhu: "What is your name? Who else is there at home? Have you escorted the coffin?"
Erzhuzi quickly replied: "To tell you what, the younger one is called Erzhuzi. My parents died and they fled here. I am very strong, so escorting the coffin is not a problem."
"In that case, okay, that's it. It's a two-day journey to Shidun Village. Buy some dry food, and then buy some clean clothes. Don't embarrass our Ye family. Do the rest by yourself. Keep it." The man nodded with some satisfaction, took out something and threw it to him. Erzhuzi hurriedly took it in his hand. Oh my god, it turned out to be a silver dollar!
Shopkeeper Luo shouted: "This is a reward from the master, why don't you thank me quickly!"
The man waved his hand lazily: "No, just let me take care of this. You go and get ready first, and you'll be on your way in half an hour. Shopkeeper Luo, follow me to the backyard to choose a coffin. The weather won't hold you back." ”
2Escape from drowning
Erzhu left the town. We walked until Youshi , feeling hot and tired, and our whole body was washed with sweat several times.
Finally, we reached a forest, and a small stream appeared in front of us. Erzhuzi was overjoyed, fixed the cart, and rushed to the stream.
After drinking a lot of sweet stream water, Erzhu still felt that it was not enough. Seeing that there was no one around, he took off his clothes and jumped in, and started swimming like a fish.
When the sun set in the west and the sky turned black, the two pillars swam towards the shore. When he was almost swimming to the shore, he suddenly felt a tightness under his feet, as if something was wrapped around his ankle. He raised his head to maintain his balance, but felt that the things on his feet were getting tighter and tighter, as if they were pulling him under the water.
Erzhuzi was a little panicked. He heard that people who drowned in the water had to catch people as scapegoats if they wanted to be reincarnated. His movements were also messed up. In addition, after being tired for most of the day, I lost strength after just a few flops. Then my feet went numb, my whole body shook a few times, and then I sank into the water.
At that moment, Erzhu saw a woman in white standing calmly on the shore through the rippling water.
"Save me…" Erzhu shouted. The cold water poured into his mouth violently, draining away the last breath he was holding.
Fortunately, the woman in white seemed to hear Erzhu's call for help. She leaned down and put her hand into the water. Er Zhuzhu squeezed out the last bit of strength to grab her hand, struggled to climb to the shore, and fell down on the grass.
After resting for a long time, Erzhuzi finally regained his composure and remembered to thank his savior. But when he raised his head to look for the woman, he found that there was no one around. What surprised him even more was that the cart that was originally fixed in the distance appeared on the shore at some time, and the coffin on the cart actually fell into the stream.
Before he had time to think about how the cart arrived at the stream, Erzhu immediately ran over and held the coffin in place. If something goes wrong, not only will Shopkeeper Luo have trouble explaining it, but the Ye family is not a vegetarian. When leaving the town, Erzhuzi heard from some idle people that this girl was actually attracted by the Ye family master, and the second wife was jealous to the point of death.
A gust of mountain wind blew, Erzhu sneezed, quickly put on his clothes, pulled up the cart and left. Before setting off, he asked the travelers that after passing through the woods there was a village called Wujiacun, where he planned to rest for the night.
As I walked, a series of "tick, tick, tick" sounds suddenly sounded behind me, which was extremely clear in this silent forest. Erzhuzi's scalp was numb when he heard it. Could it be… Could it be that the water ghost has been following me? He took a long breath, quickened his pace, and started to jog.
After running for a while, he slowed down his pace and took a breath, but he was shocked to find that the "tick" sound was still following him.
Erzhuzi's heart was beating wildly, and he suddenly looked back.
Strange, nothing. But the sound of water continued. He followed the sound and found that the coffin was dripping. Erzhu's expression changed greatly. There was a small hole at the bottom of the coffin. This was where ghosts could enter and exit when they were reincarnated. If water got in, the inside would be soaked like this…
Erzhu took out the paper money and lime for the incense burner from the bag, lit three sticks of incense, bowed three times to the coffin, and said in his mouth: "Don't be surprised if there is anything wrong, this is for the girl's good." After saying this, he quickly opened the coffin lid.
When the lid of the coffin was opened, Erzhuzi's heart skipped a beat – lying inside was a woman in white clothes. She was extremely beautiful. If her complexion hadn't been so pale, Erzhuzhu would have thought she was still alive.
Er Zhuzhu felt that his face was hot. At this age, he is very energetic, and he has also peeked at the kiln ladies in Jinque Lane on weekdays. The woman in front of me is much prettier than those kiln sisters.
Er Zhuzhu came to his senses, slapped himself in shame, apologized repeatedly, and put his head into the coffin to inspect it carefully.
There was nothing wrong with the coffin, but Erzhu found that the woman's left hand was wet, as if she had just been fished out of the water. He took a breath of cold air, could it be that the woman in white who saved him was this… Erzhu trembled in fear. But when he looked at that beautiful face again, he felt inexplicably at peace again.
"Anyway, she finally saved me, otherwise I would have drowned." Thinking of this, Erzhuzi felt a trace of gratitude in her heart. She calmly wiped her hands dry, sprinkled lime on the soaked area, and then covered it. On the coffin lid, he scattered paper money all over the sky and said: "Thank you very much for saving my life, girl. I hope she will be reincarnated as soon as possible. Please take care of her along the way and reach Shidun Village smoothly."
At this moment, a faint sigh suddenly came. Erzhu's whole body trembled and he kowtowed three times.
3 nights in Wujiacun
In less than an hour, Erzhuzi finally saw Wujiacun. Anyway, he borrowed a shabby woodshed from an old man who lived alone and parked the coffin in it.
Er Zhuzi was tired for a day, and fell asleep as soon as he lay down. At night, he heard a small sound, like a mouse gnawing on something. Erzhu turned over and sat up. Don't let the mice eat the coffin.
He lit the candle and examined it carefully. Nothing was found. I wanted to continue sleeping, but after being so startled, my sleepiness faded a lot, and that beautiful face couldn't help but appear in my mind. Erzhuzi put his hand on the coffin lid unconsciously. "I…I just want to see if there are any rats or insects in there, just take a look." He opened the coffin lid with a drum in his heart.
That beautiful face was still so peaceful, and a unique fragrance filled the whole room. Erzhuzi has never smelled such a wonderful smell. I heard people say that beautiful women always have an innate body fragrance. This smell made Er Zhuzhu think about it, and he unconsciously stretched out his hand to touch her face. His fingertips traced the silky smooth skin, and he felt a strange elasticity.
Erzhuzi suddenly woke up from his hallucination and quickly retracted his hand, but accidentally splashed a few drops of candle tears into the coffin. He hurriedly put his head in, trying to wipe it off, but in his panic, his head hit the horizontal board, his eyesight was dazzled, and he fainted…
I don't know how long it took, but Erzhuzi was shocked when he opened his eyes. It turned out that he had slept like this last night with the woman in the coffin face to face. Daylight squeezed in through the crack in the door, and Erzhu could just see the fine down on her face.
4 wedding and burial
There was no talking all the way, and by the time we arrived at Shidun Village, it was already dusk that day.
Because the Ye Mansion sent someone to deliver the letter, the woman's family had already set up the mourning hall and was waiting for the coffin to arrive. Erzhuzhu then found out that the woman's name was Xiaolan. After handing over the errands with Xiaolan's family, Erzhuzi was about to leave. Xiaolan's family said it was getting late and they wanted to keep him overnight. Erzhuzi couldn't refuse the hospitality, and found that the chicken and wine were already on the table, so he half-heartedly stayed.
Xiaolan's two old uncles were accompanying her, and they were complimented and toasted during the dinner. He drank until Erzhu was drowsy. When he woke up from his sleep, he found that he was already sleeping on the bed, and the sound of fasting could be heard vaguely in his ears. Erzhu got out of bed, dragged his steps out of the door, and walked towards the mourning hall.
He didn't know why, but he always wanted to see Xiaolan again. He was leaving tomorrow, and even if he only took a look at her, he would feel at ease. In the open space at the entrance of the mourning hall, several dull-looking women kept adding paper money to the fire, and there was also a monk-like guy who closed his eyes and recited scriptures.
Erzhu quietly slipped into the mourning hall, carefully opened the coffin lid, and looked at the woman lying in the coffin dreamily. The vague fragrance of her body spreads, as intoxicating as mellow wine.
Erzhu caressed her face, and there was a strange feeling – she was not dead, just asleep.
Erzhuzi suddenly had a crazy idea. He wanted to lie next to her and hug her, even if it was just for a moment! The thought filled his head. Reason, shame, and worries were all left behind for a moment. He looked outside, then carefully climbed into the coffin, and then closed the coffin lid…
What a wonderful feeling! Er Zhuzhu buried his head in Xiaolan's neck, sniffing greedily. But at this moment, there was a sudden heavy sound in his ears, and then there were knocking sounds from the front, back, left and right at the same time. A bad thought suddenly flashed in Erzhu's mind, and he quickly pushed the coffin lid, but it didn't move at all.
He vaguely heard someone talking outside and hurriedly shouted: "No, I'm still inside!"
"Hey, we know you're in there. Your son-in-law is quite impatient. He got into my daughter's bed before I invited you. But this is good, it saves us a lot of effort." Erzhu heard clearly, It was Xiaolan's uncle who spoke.
"You, what on earth do you want to do? Let me out!"
"Boy, have you ever heard of weddings and burials? You carried your wife all the way back, do you think that the marriage will be over after just a meal of wine? You have also seen the appearance of our daughter, she is worthy of you. All of this is I want to thank the second lady of the Ye family for the generous gift." Uncle Xiao Lan's voice came in from outside, and then he said in a loud voice, "Thank you for the generous gift of the second lady of the Ye family!"
Then countless voices responded: "Thank you, Madam Ye, for your generous gift!"
Erzhu struggled desperately, but found that his hands and feet seemed to be tied by something. He was shocked to find that Xiaolan's slender and white hands were tightly clasped on his wrist! Her originally quiet and peaceful face suddenly had a satisfied smile…
5 ending
"Master, did everything go smoothly?" Shopkeeper Luo put the freshly brewed tea in front of the man with a smile on his face.
"Well, the Second Madam is very satisfied." The man nodded, with a pitiful expression on his face, "Oh, this girl Xiaolan has a hard life. Let her have a companion on the road to hell, and she will feel more at ease when she walks. What happened?"
"The master is right. The second lady has the heart of a Bodhisattva. But…it's a pity, that's a good boy, and he's quick at work. I've raised him for three years." Shopkeeper Luo wiped his tears seriously.
The man sneered and slapped the table hard: "Stop being pretentious, this is yours. Can't you buy a life if you have money these days?"
Shopkeeper Luo was pleasantly surprised to see a row of silver coins lying flat on the table, shining coldly in the sun…