When withdrawing, my father saw two people lying on the opposite side and asked: "What's going on?"

  At first, no one dared to speak up, who wasn't afraid of being beaten? This scene was definitely a case of "the bird that sticks its head out gets shot". My dad turned around and pointed at me, saying: "What did you do?"

  I spread my hands and said, "You really think highly of me, do I have that kind of ability?" I turned around and pointed at the second fool who was standing alone in the corner, appreciating the scenery with his eyes closed: "He did it."

  "Alone?" My dad was somewhat skeptical.

  He nodded and answered his questions, and he immediately looked very happy and said: "Good job, great fight! Then he hugged Lao Li, the village chief of Shang'an Village, and said: "This person was injured after all, it's our fault. Hurry up and send him to the hospital, get treated if needed, spend money if needed. But you see, we in Hong Village are not unreasonable. How about this, I still have two dollars in my pocket, you take it and lead them to the hospital." He really took out two dollars from his pocket and stuffed it into Lao Li's hand. Lao Li repeatedly refused: "I dare not take it, I dare not take it. This matter was their fault first, that little brother educated them very well. How could I, as a village chief, not manage this well? So, the medical expenses will be borne by our village."

  "My dad's mouth suddenly opened and he said: 'How can we be so shameless?'"

  Old Li continued: "Also, our village will take care of the funeral arrangements for the Wang family. I'll send someone to make the arrangements right away."

  "This matter doesn't need to trouble you, the people in your village have dishonest hearts and the paper money they burn is likely to be received by no one. We'll take care of this matter from now on, this girl was originally dead in our Hong Village anyway. And there's another thing, Old Li, later on it would be best if you go with me to the police station, we'll transfer this girl's household registration to our Hong Village and from then on, the Pi family will be considered part of Hong Village." My father raised his voice a few notches as he said: "From now on, whoever dares to bully the Pi family again will have to get through us in Hong Village!"

  "Good……” The group of old men from Hong Village followed suit and let out a loud roar, causing the group of mice from An Village to lower their heads in fear. In less than half a day, the Ping family's courtyard was filled with people, some building sheds, others washing vegetables, and some going up the mountain to make tombs. All the necessities, including oil, salt, firewood, and rice, were brought by each household voluntarily, without even using a pair of chopsticks from the Ping family. From then on, Hong Village established this rule: whoever had a red or white event would have to bring their own supplies.

  Lao Biao is a honest man, last year when he went to Jiangsu, he encountered a blizzard on the road and his feet were frostbitten. Since then, this family has been maintained by Biao Xiao. Now that Biao Xiao is gone, Biao Fei cries even more bitterly, who can say that these two sisters are not unfortunate?

  Guo Xiao has been dead for over a decade, and by rights should have been buried long ago. However, Cha Wenbin thinks that since the first three days have passed, Guo Xiao's return home marks a new beginning, so they decide to hold another three-day funeral. The men go to cut down wood in the afternoon, and the carpenter works through the night in the courtyard to build the coffin, while others apply varnish to the finished parts. With many hands, everything goes smoothly.

  Because the corpse had already been severely deformed, Zha Wenbin originally intended to put it in a coffin as is, but Consort Ping refused. She pulled on Zha Wenbin's sleeve and wept, saying: "My sister never got to wear a decent set of clothes her whole life, I won't let her leave like this, still so miserable. I'll wash her body myself."

  At that time, the funeral tradition of the rich had five tops and three bottoms made of silk, with cotton inside. Poor families could not afford it, but they would still wear a cheaper shroud. The only thing was that the clothes the deceased wore when they were alive could not be buried with them, but had to be collected and burned on the side of the road.

  At that time, the conditions were generally not good. Fortunately, Zhebei has always been a silk-producing area since ancient times. The Hangjiahu Plain, especially the Huzhou area, is famous for its silk. So I rushed to the county town overnight to buy clothes and also bought several new clothes for Er Dai. Cha Wenbin stayed on the scene, and he was the protagonist at night.

  First, the coffin maker was instructed that this coffin was particular about the material, and the number of boards was extremely particular. The coffins of ordinary families generally use cedar as the main material, but the disadvantage of cedar is that it is not easy to prevent insects and is prone to rot. Therefore, the coffin used by Biao Xiao was made of camphor tree, which has a natural insect-repelling effect, and the wood is hard, making it an excellent material for coffins.

  The coffin was made of the finest materials, and Wen Bin had instructed the craftsmen to use the highest standards in its construction. The coffin required ten pieces of wood: three for the bottom, three for the lid, two for each side, and two for the head and foot. This was known as the "Three Clears on Top" and the "Three Halls Below", with the "Four Great Diamond Kings" guarding the body. Inside the coffin, except for the base, everything was painted with deep red lacquer. The wood pieces were not nailed together, but instead connected using mortise and tenon joints, with seams so fine that a knife blade couldn't be inserted. This level of craftsmanship was unmatched in all of western Zhejiang, and could only be compared to that of Xu Lu's workshop.

  With a coffin, you can light the lamp. A person doesn't enter the coffin but the coffin cannot be missing! With a coffin and no lamp, that's a dark coffin. Two oil lamps, one in front and one behind, the front shines on the road to the Yellow Spring, the back illuminates the return path. Cha Wenbin specially added more sesame oil for Pang Xiaodu, and also lengthened the wick of the lamp, making it shine brightly.

  A large table was moved in, on which were two candles, a pair of incense burners, a set of bowls and chopsticks, each with a bowl of uncooked rice. On top of the rice were two raw eggs, and on top of the eggs were copper coins, one for each egg. This is called "filial piety money". After the person has passed away, this money must be kept by each child, and they dare not lose it their whole lives. Of course, this money was naturally left to Wang Fei.

  In front of the coffin, there was a large iron pot. The paper money was burned inside. Since Guan Xiao had not yet married or had children, Qu Wenbin handed over the task to a group of children who followed the adults to help out. Each child received several pieces of candy and after finishing the candy, they went in to continue burning the paper money. After burning it, they got more candy, repeating this process, making the big fire burn brightly, not losing face at all, very lively!

  By around six or seven, Wang's wife, with the help of a few brave women, carried Wang's body into the house to bathe. The water for bathing had to be fetched from the river, and she was to be dressed up, which is called "small mourning". There were rules for dressing her hair, with an old woman directing from the side: three strokes in front, three strokes behind, while reciting: "Counting three sheng." This was to tell Wang that it's time to go, to leave quickly and not linger, and to reincarnate soon to be a good person.

  According to what was said later, when they were sent in to bathe and the quilt was lifted, several people couldn't bear it on the spot. It was a miserable sight, where could you still see human form? But like this, Princess Ping gently wiped her sister's body with a cloth, wiping away the thick layer of corpse wax on her body. She said: "My sister loves cleanliness, but our family didn't have the conditions to dress her up." Then she borrowed rouge lipstick, eyebrow pencil and fragrant powder from outside and forcibly drew out a human appearance for her sister again.

  She bathed for more than two hours, until I returned from the county town. Five silk tops, three skirts, two pairs of shoes, two pairs of socks, and even a face basin, toothbrush, and towel - everything was fully prepared, just like other girls' families use them, I bought double portions of everything. All the things were placed in a bamboo basket, inside which there was an incense table, next to the incense burner was an oil bowl with seven wicks, all of which needed to be lit up, we called it the Seven Star Lamp.

  After washing the bath, a bamboo woven quilt was sent in by an old woman. Wang Fei cried and changed clothes for her sister. At this time, Wang Fei found the problem. Originally, there was a black hole under her sister's armpit, which was as thick as a thumb. This guy scared her so much that she rushed out of the house without knowing who to find. She grabbed Cha Wenbin and said: "My sister, my sister, my sister is not okay!"

  Zha Wenbin thought he was being robbed and immediately picked up the thing beside him and shouted: "Let everyone in the house go out."

  "No," Consort Ping hurriedly said, not knowing how to say it, and simply gestured with her hands: "There's a hole here on my sister!"

  At that time, people who were a bit sensitive realized that something was wrong. The position of the left armpit is close to the heart, how could there be a hole here? Was the corpse of Wang Xiao gnawed by something? But it was a female corpse, and Cha Wenbin, being a man, felt embarrassed to go in and take a look. Unexpectedly, Wang Fei pulled him into the house, and Cha Wenbin followed with a stiff upper lip. Fortunately, Wang Xiao's clothes were almost intact.

  "Look!"

  Cha Wenbin crouched down to take a look and indeed, the hole was clearly made by an external force. So, it seemed that Wang Xiao's death wasn't an accident after all?

  If it wasn't an accident, then this can't be buried, we have to get to the bottom of what happened. Chan Wenbin immediately came out and found me saying: "There's a problem with the body, you should go to the police station again tomorrow and ask them to redo the autopsy, I reckon they're just messing around because they don't like this corpse."

  At this time, the second silly goods didn't know where they came from again. I haven't seen him since I returned from the county. He quietly lifted the curtain and entered Wang Xiao's house. As soon as I saw him enter, he followed Zhang Wenbin into the house. The goods were squatting on the ground, looking at Wang Xiao's wound. His eyebrows kept blinking, his expression was very serious.

  "Any discovery?" I asked.

  But he stood up and didn't look at me, instead saying directly to Cha Wenbin: "The corpse poison, this girl was pierced by a fingernail into her heart chamber, you can't find them, that village is strange."

  I didn't like hearing him say that either: "Which village do you think is strange? You're given food and drink, saved from death, and yet you still pick and choose?"

  He didn't respond to me at all and continued to say to Zha Wenbin: "The aura of death is very heavy, many more people will have to die this year."

  Zha Wenbin was startled when he heard this, and he knew that Ye Qiu was not a person who spoke randomly. As long as he opened his mouth, there must be a reason, so he asked: "What else do you know?"

  Ye Qiu simply replied indifferently: "My intuition tells me that someone else will die in this room tonight."