Just now at 2 pm, Beishan public cemetery, this is the funeral concentration camp of Ye Ren Tun, burying all the people who have passed away in Ye Ren Tun in the past hundred years, with hundreds of large and small tombs, densely packed, various paper money and flower circles can be seen everywhere. This is the most common rural tomb, all kinds of them, good ones are built with cement, poor ones are just a mound of yellow earth covered with weeds.

  "Look, this is my wifes grave. She died many years ago. Two years ago, I built a double tomb, planning to move her remains there after I pass away. We were so poor back then that we couldnt even afford a coffin, and had to use a grass mat instead. I feel guilty towards our childs mother. Today, lets consider it as moving her into a new home. As a party member, I dont believe in superstitions, so lets just do it today while youre all here. Help me dig up the remains and put them in this coffin, then well move it to the new tomb."

  Cha Wenbin looked up and glanced around the surroundings, the sky was a bit gloomy, but there was no sign of rain, the coffin was brand new, we had just carried it out from Old Miaos house, he had knocked on the coffin twice, one for himself and one for his old partner who had been waiting for him in the yellow soil for many years.

  "Lets set up a shed, but what I said is true, its still better to cremate."

  Lao Ye Miao said: "Cremation has always been what the organization educates us to do, if its really like you said, then lets just light a fire and get it over with, so she wont suffer."

  "Today is still a good day, Ive checked the almanac, its suitable for burial." Zhang Wenbin comforted Miao Lao Die, although he was an old revolutionary, after all, this was his first wife.

  Following the rules, Cha Wenbin first lit incense and let Miao Lan and her husband pay their respects. Crying out loud was a must, roughly meaning that its been so long since his mother had been here alone, its the younger generation being unfilial, today they came to relocate her grave and all that.

  A table of offerings was set up, three cups of wine were poured, and Cha Wenbin shouted in a loud voice: "The auspicious time has arrived, the old friend breaks ground."

  I and Fatso are outsiders, this kind of work cant be let the deceaseds family members participate in, so we two became laborers. Fortunately, it was just yellow soil, with a hoe and an iron shovel, it was quite efficient. A shed was set up right above the grave, covered with a plastic sheet on top, as long as the sun didnt shine directly, there was no problem.

  The earth was not deep, and after digging more than a meter, it had already reached the bottom. The mat had long since rotted into pieces, mixed with yellow mud, emitting a suffocating smell.

  "Are you going to get up?" I tried to hold my breath while talking to Zha Wenbin, because taking a single breath would be disastrous.

  He had actually gotten used to the smell and had already guessed what he was about to face. The stench from a corpse buried for decades could only mean one thing: at least it hadnt rotted completely!

  "Get up, tie with a straw rope, after getting up, dont touch the ground, and dont tear the mat."

  I and Pàngzi laid out the canvas, slowly moving that mud-covered corpse onto it, then tying it up with rope and placing it on a thick wooden pole for each of us to lift at one end. As I squatted down, my body felt like it was lifting something other than a corpse in that moment, because the weight was indescribable. The creaking sound between the ropes and the wooden pole, the shouting from Pàngzi and me as we exerted ourselves, and the pain embedded in our shoulder blades.

  "Its no use..." I sat paralyzed in the pit, my face red and sweaty. Fatso didnt look much better than me, his face covered in mud as he said: "Two more people would be too heavy, old man, dont blame me for speaking straight, but Madame was quite plump before she passed away, wasnt she?"

  Miao Lao exclaimed in surprise: "Not fat, not big, how come you two cant even move this?"

  The fat man said in an ill-tempered tone: "Why dont you give it a try?"

  Zha Wenbin and Pangzi drank to: "Dont talk nonsense! This is a person inside who doesnt want to leave, this is called a thousand-pound weight, proving that the corpse really hasnt rotted. If you see moonlight again with blood, it will definitely become a zombie." He drew a talisman on the ground with yellow paper and handed it to Miao Lan, saying: "Laner, burn it for your mother, just say that you and your father are here to move into a new house, dont mind."

  Miao Lan took the talisman, held her big belly and knelt down crying: "Mother, let you suffer here, your grandson is in my belly, if you dont respond, Ill bring him with me to kneel here." After that, she cried and threw the talisman into the pit.

  Its strange to say that Japan is windless, but the ashes of the incense burner flew high into the air. Zhang Wenbin looked at it and said, "Lets start again, there should be no problem."

  As he said, this time I and the fatty easily lifted the body onto the shore, after three to five minutes everything was done, and the rest was left to Cha Wenbin.

  Cha Wenbin was preparing to shroud the remains, at this time the family members should avoid it, lest they see it as unbearable. When he cut open that roll of broken mat with scissors, I really thought I saw a ghost, fortunately it was daytime.

  Inside was indeed a female corpse, mixed with a lot of yellow mud. The muscles under the mud were still tender and could be seen clearly. Miao Lans mother had passed away at a young age, only in her early twenties. When Cha Wenbin swept away the dust on her face, I saw that her cheekbones were severely sunken, and her mouth was pursed into an "O" shape.

  Cha Wenbin used cotton balls to block her ears and nose, and covered the corpses eyes with two black cloths. When I saw her fingernails, my heart trembled - they had grown so long that they were almost curled.

  After death, fingernails and hair continue to grow until the corpse is completely rotten. The length of this corpses fingernails has something to do with its well-preserved body, but neither is it a well-sealed large tomb nor a desert where the sun shines every day, so why would a corpse wrapped in a broken mat be so lifelike? I took a look and found that she looked 70% like Miao Lan, except for her pale face with a hint of purple.

  He gave me a hint to call Miao Lao Die over to take a look, and when Miao Lao Die turned around and took a look at himself, he couldnt believe it either. He was stunned, but after all, this was his own wife, and in the end, he couldnt help but shed tears too.

  He said he never thought it would be like this, and finally agreed that we set his wife on fire. We chopped some dry wood and put it in the pit, laid the body on top, poured some kerosene, lit a match, and soon black smoke began to rise.

  That was the first time I saw Zha Wenbin performing a super-degree ritual: with his eyes closed, he muttered to himself, and led the Miao Lan family in circling around the burning corpse. He circled three times to the left, paused for a moment, then threw a handful of yellow earth into the fire; he circled three times to the right, paused again, and threw another handful of yellow earth into the fire, repeating this process until the flames were extinguished.

  All thats left is to pick up the bones, this thing doesnt burn as cleanly as a crematorium, peoples bones are basically all still there, picking them up one by one and rearranging them in the coffin according to their original position, then covering it with the coffin lid just before dark. We hastily sent the person off into the new grave and buried him, and when we came down the mountain again, the moon was already hanging in the sky.

  On the way back to Tunzi, Old Miao didnt say a word. We young people overturned his understanding, and I estimate he wont be able to sleep tonight. One of the three people in the village office, a woman, has woken up, while the other two are still sleeping soundly. Dr. Niu is inside keeping watch for us. When we arrived, Fatso wanted to go in and interrogate them, but unexpectedly, the one who woke up didnt say a word.

  Shes a woman, we naturally cant, the fat guy said she woke up and that man surnamed Qian must have also woken up. This little kid gets angry and starts messing around, randomly pulling out a feather from the duster and uses it to tickle the sole of that mans foot. Sure enough, in less than five seconds, an "ah yo" sound came from him, looks like he was indeed faking it.

  "Want a chat?" Fatso swung his palm and slapped the man surnamed Qian in the face, "Should I call you Old Man Qian or Leader Qian?"

  That person wasnt stupid either, knowing he had been caught and it was pointless to resist anymore. He smiled obsequiously at the fatty and said: "Call Old Qian, Old Qian..."

  "Old Qian?" The fatty swung another slap and said: "Is it from Beijing or Sichuan?"

  That man covered his face and nodded repeatedly: "Sichuan, Sichuan..."

  "Oh, its Sichuan!" The fat guy slapped the man so hard that half of his face immediately swelled up. After a loud smack, he shouted: "So youre cheating me? Cheating me is an insult to my dignity! I should be beaten for being wrong?"

  "No, no, its time to fight, its time to fight..."

  I asked: "What did you come here for?"

  "Survey... survey and mapping"

  "Damn it! If you pretend to be old again, Ill shoot you with a gun. Is there anyone who has a gun? Or is it Belgian imports? Let me tell you, within three hundred miles of this place, theres not a single living soul, if you bury him here, only ghosts will know!" The fat man raised his hand to hit again, and Zha Wenbin grabbed his hand and said: "Where did you put the person in the village?"

  "That person shook his head and said: A person? What person? I dont know!"

  The fatty picked up a stool from the ground and made a gesture as if he was about to smash it down, saying: "You dare to pretend again, Ill beat you to death!"

  "I really dont know! Its a misunderstanding! We came here secretly, how dare we look for local people, we actually came to rob the tomb..."

  "Two days ago, a hunter was killed by you guys, and theres also a dog. " Zhang Wenbin looked calm at that moment, he took a stool and sat beside him: "We have no grudges or grievances, as long as you tell us where the person is, you and these few people can leave safely, one of you has been poisoned by corpse poison, if its not cured, your whole body will rot within seven days."

  That man then said with a straight face: "I really dont know, can I say if I did?"

  "Lets go, no need to say anything, Old Zhang, lets take him out and find a hole to bury him!" After finishing speaking, the fatty grabbed the back of the mans neck and directly dragged him down from the bed. The fatty took him alive out of the village office, regardless of how the man struggled and shouted for help...