My 1995 Small Farm.

When Chen Ling rode his blue horse back to Chenwangzhuang, the sun was already setting in the west.

The village was even more lively than in the morning. The area around Donggang was surrounded by layers of people, and the noise of the crowd could be heard from a great distance.

The aroma of boiled corn and beef soup wafted through the air from the roadside food stalls, creating a scene reminiscent of a temple fair.

"Fugui is back!"

"Uncle Fugui, we've dug up some good stuff in Donggang again!"

Several teenagers saw him and excitedly surrounded him, chattering about the latest news.

Chen Ling dismounted and handed the reins to Rui Rui, who was running over: "Slow down, what did you dig up this time?"

"A coffin! A huge coffin!"

Liu Ni'er's eyes lit up: "It's not the kind that's buried in a tomb, it's buried directly in the ground, and it's huge!"

Xi Zi added, "When the excavator scooped down, it revealed a large, dark patch. At first, we thought it was a rock, but when the survey team took a closer look, it turned out to be a coffin lid! There were even patterns on it!"

Chen Ling became interested upon hearing this: "Let's go take a look."

He dismounted and followed the children toward Donggang.

The villagers we met along the way all had excited and curious expressions on their faces, passing on information to each other.

"I heard that the coffin was shiny black, and when it was dug out, the surrounding soil was dry!"

"It's weird, isn't it? After being buried for so many years, the soil around the coffin looks like it was just turned over, it hasn't hardened at all."

"Everyone stared at it for a long time, saying that this coffin was unusual..."

Chen Ling quickened his pace.

By the time he arrived, the Donggang construction site had changed completely.

Experts were still busy at the entrance of the "ancient tomb" where the blue brick archway had been exposed.

But everyone's attention was drawn to the new discovery on the other side of the construction site.

It was about fifty meters away from the ancient tomb.

At the foot of a slightly higher earthen slope.

After the construction team dug through the topsoil, a huge black coffin was revealed.

The coffin is about 2.5 meters long and 1.2 meters wide, and is entirely black.

It gleamed with a faint glow in the setting sun.

Most remarkably, the soil within a two-meter radius of the coffin is loose and almost sandy.

It stands in stark contrast to the surrounding compacted loess.

It's like someone recently dug a pit here to bury a coffin, and then hurriedly filled it in.

However, the lacquer on the surface of the coffin was mottled and old, and the carved patterns were blurred, clearly indicating that it had been through a long period of time.

Several experts from different provinces were carefully clearing away the loose soil around the coffin.

"Fugui, another strange thing has happened."

"Come and take a look..."

"This is a strange situation, and no one is sure what to do."

When Wang Laishun saw Chen Ling arrive, he quickly squeezed through and said.

"Look at this, just this lonely coffin, no burial chamber, no tomb passage, it's just buried directly in the ground!"

"What's strange is that the soil around the coffin seemed to have been pushed aside by something, leaving a gap about a fist's width between it and the coffin wall!"

"Look at the coffin itself, it's completely black. After all these years, the wooden coffin hasn't rotted at all. It looks brand new and is very sturdy!"

"Isn't that weird?"

Chen Ling walked to the edge of the pit and looked down.

In the center of the pit, there is indeed a clear gap between the coffin and the pit wall.

It is of uniform width, about the width of a fist.

The soil receded neatly, as if the coffin itself possessed some kind of repulsive force, pushing the surrounding soil away.

"How many years has this coffin been buried?" Chen Ling asked a bespectacled expert next to him.

The expert was also puzzled: "Judging from the soil stratification and the shape of the coffin, it should be from the mid-Qing Dynasty, more than two hundred years ago."

"But... we've never seen this kind of burial method before."

"There was no burial chamber, no coffin, just a coffin placed directly into the ground. Moreover, the surrounding soil was clearly pushed open by external force, creating gaps. This is unreasonable."

Another older expert squatted by the pit, gently touched the surface of the coffin with his hand, and then sniffed it: "This lacquer... is extraordinary."

"Paint?" Chen Ling also looked closely.

The black color on the surface of the coffin is not simply black paint.

Under sunlight, if you look closely, you can vaguely see extremely fine textures.

It's as if the wood grain itself is magnified or solidified by the paint layer.

It creates a peculiar texture.

“Go and invite Fourth Grandfather,” Chen Ling suddenly said to Zhao Dahai.

"Fourth Grandfather?" Zhao Dahai was taken aback.

"Yes, Fourth Grandfather Chen Gannian. He was born before the founding of the People's Republic of China. He knows the ins and outs of many old sayings and customs in the village. He might know something about the things happening here."

A short while later, Zhao Dahai arrived, supporting an elderly man with white hair and beard, but who was in good spirits.

He was Chen Gannian, one of the most senior elders in Chenwangzhuang.

I used to be very confused and would get this kind of illness from time to time.

After Chen Ling secretly gave him some spirit honey, he hasn't done it again in the past two years.

I'm almost ninety this year, but my legs and feet are getting more and more agile.

They can herd sheep and go up the mountain.

My mind is much clearer than before.

As soon as Fourth Grandfather arrived at the edge of the pit, he squinted and looked down, and his expression changed.

“Chaiqi…” he murmured.

"Fourth Grandfather, what did you say?" Wang Laishun asked hurriedly.

Fourth Grandfather didn't answer, but gestured for Zhao Dahai to help him down into the pit.

Several experts wanted to stop him, but seeing Chen Ling nod, they made way for him.

The old man shakily descended to the bottom of the pit, squatted beside the coffin, and stretched out his withered hand to gently stroke the surface of the coffin.

"No mistake... it's lacquer."

Fourth Grandfather raised his head, looked at Chen Ling and said, "I saw this once when I was young. It was the lacquer that the landlord used for his funeral."

"Fourth Grandfather, what is firewood lacquer?" Chen Ling asked, squatting by the pit.

Fourth Grandfather stood up, dusted off his hands, and slowly said:
"That's a long story. The lacquer we usually talk about is raw lacquer that is cut from lacquer trees and brushed onto wood to prevent insects and moths and to resist corrosion."

“But ‘Chai lacquer’ is different; it’s not brushed on, it’s ‘fed’ in.”

"Huh? Feed it in?"

Everyone was stunned.

"Correct."

My great-uncle pointed to the coffin and said, "The type of wood doesn't matter when making this kind of coffin. The main thing is the lacquer, which is made with a special formula. It mainly consists of raw lacquer, tung oil, cinnabar, realgar, and a few other medicinal herbs, but I can't remember them all."

"Mix it into a paste and brush it back and forth on the coffin, you have to brush it many times."

"It takes a long time. They say it will take forty-nine days, but I estimate it will take no less than three months."

"Three months later, the paint was applied, and it permeated the wood inside and out."

"The coffin became impermeable to water and kept away from insects and ants, and it did not decay even after being buried in the ground for hundreds of years."

Grandpa pointed to the gaps around the coffin as he spoke: "See these gaps? These are the gaps created by the lacquer in the wood after the coffin was buried, which slowly pushed the soil away." "It wasn't just a day or two, it was over many years, little by little."

"As for why? Because after the paint and wood are completely fused together, they will produce a kind of 'qi'. It's hard to describe what it is, but it just prevents other things from sticking on."

"The soil wasn't good, and neither was the moisture. That's why the coffin was preserved so well."

Everyone was stunned.

A middle-aged expert from the province couldn't help but ask, "Sir, what is the scientific basis for this 'firewood lacquer' you mentioned? We've never heard of this 'repulsive force' phenomenon before."

Chen Gannian chuckled, revealing his gums with only a few teeth left: "Science? This old man doesn't understand science. These are just sayings passed down from the older generation of craftsmen. Whether they're true or not, I've never personally witnessed the painting process."

“But in the past, some wealthy families would go to great lengths to find this kind of lacquer when burying their ancestors, saying that it could prevent the body from decaying and also keep the coffin from touching the ground.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Ling exclaimed in shock: "Holy crap, the corpse isn't decaying???"

That's a bit scary.

To put it simply, it's just a type of paint.

Is it really that powerful?
It gave him the feeling of being in the world of Ghost Blows Out the Light.

Seeing Chen Ling's reaction, Fourth Grandfather chuckled:
“Fugui, don’t be too surprised. I only heard about the ‘undying corpse’ from the older generation. I’ve never seen a coffin opened to examine a body to see if it’s true.”

"However, I have indeed seen this 'lacquerware' coffin several times."

"Especially in our village, the Chen family, the big landlords at the time, were the most extravagant."

“I was only eleven or twelve years old at the time. I worked as a day laborer for my parents’ family, and I was also a tenant farmer.”

"The year the landlord's father passed away, the spectacle was... wow..."

Grandpa exclaimed with admiration, "It took three months just to paint the coffin. We hired a lacquerer from the Central Plains province. He ate and lived here with us, and I heard he was paid in silver dollars a day!"

"One silver dollar a day?"

Liu Ni'er's eyes widened: "Wouldn't that be ninety silver dollars for three months? My grandma said that back then, three silver dollars could buy an acre of good land!"

"you do not say."

Fourth Grandfather nodded: "That's why this 'firewood lacquer' is very precious and not something ordinary people can afford. I was young then and curious, so I secretly went to the backyard to take a look."

"The coffin was placed in a makeshift shed, and several lacquerers were dressed in coarse cloth, their hands and faces covered in lacquer, making them look black."

"They have a rule for doing work: they can't see women, they can't eat meat, and they even have to speak softly."

"Why?" Xizi couldn't help but ask.

"As the old saying goes, lacquerware has a spirit, but if it gets tainted by women's scent or meat, it will lose its power."

My great-uncle explained, "They don't use brushes to paint; they use specially made wads of linen, dip them in paint, and 'feed' it onto the coffin."

"He was really 'feeding' the paint, muttering incantations as he painted, like he was chanting a mantra."

An expert couldn't help but interject: "Grandpa, do you remember what they were saying?"

Fourth Grandfather shook his head: "I can't remember. They were all words I couldn't understand, just a buzzing sound. But the way he did it, you could tell it was an old-fashioned craft, something special."

He continued, "After the coffin is brushed once, it needs to be dried for three days. It cannot be exposed to the sun and can only be dried in the shade."

"Then do it a second time, a third time..."

"I peeked three or four times like that, but then the supervisor found out and kicked me twice, and then I wasn't allowed to go anymore."

Liu Ni'er's eyes widened as she listened, and she couldn't help but interject:
"Fourth Great-Grandfather, are those landlords like local emperors? They travel in sedan chairs, have a whole bunch of servants, and can beat people up at will?"

"It's not that exaggerated."

Fourth Grandfather waved his hand and said, "The landlords in our village usually wear coarse cloth clothes, and they are more diligent in checking the crops than the farmhands."

"His family had two servants, but they were both orphans whom no one wanted. The landlord treated them like his own sons and later even helped them get married."

"If we're talking about tyranny, those are the warlords and bureaucrats from other places. Most of our local wealthy landowners live off a few acres of land and know how hard farming is, so they tend to be more considerate of their fellow villagers."

"Take our village landlord for example. When the irrigation canal was being built, he voluntarily gave up two acres of his good land and even paid for the craftsmen. Otherwise, how could our fields have a harvest in a drought year?"

Xizi scratched his head: "Then why are all the landlords on TV so bad?"

"What's shown on TV is for people to watch; it's about telling a story."

Chen Ling explained with a smile, "Bad people exist everywhere, and good people exist regardless of wealth. We can't condemn them all."

Fourth Grandfather nodded: "Fugui's words make sense."

"Old man, something's not right. Why is this coffin made of paulownia wood?" an expert asked, puzzled.

Indeed, someone else just went down into the burial pit to inspect the coffin.

The raw material for the coffin was discovered.

It is widely known and considered by the public to be the worst wood for making coffins.

This type of wood is light and 'bubbly'.

If made into a coffin and buried in the ground, it will rot most easily.

It used to be used by poor people.

It's not up to standard.

"Yes, why is it paulownia wood? Paulownia wood coffins rot the most easily, this doesn't make sense, this coffin is at least two hundred years old..."

An older expert then expressed his doubts.

Grandpa smiled upon hearing this: "That's what makes cypress wood so amazing. What people often say now is that in the past, wealthy families and landlords liked to use cypress wood for their coffins. Cypress wood is sturdy and strong, and when it's coated with lacquer, it attracts insects."

"They assumed all of them were made of cypress wood, but that's not actually the case..."

"Some people also use paulownia wood. Paulownia wood looks light and soft, but it looks completely different when coated with wood lacquer."

"Of all the woods, only paulownia wood can be thoroughly absorbed by lacquer, and can absorb all the lacquer."

The old man's words startled everyone.

The experts asked with a hint of realization, "Old man, are you saying that paulownia wood easily absorbs this kind of lacquer, and absorbs it quite thoroughly? Once paulownia wood and lacquer are combined, after being fed with the lacquer, it becomes different? It turns from waste into good wood."

"Yes, it has become a good coffin, it won't deteriorate for a thousand years."

Chen Gannian said with a smile.

"A thousand years?"

"real or fake?"

Those around gasped in shock.

Even Chen Ling was skeptical, as this was beyond his comprehension.

I was thinking, "Where did this come from?"

He had the illusion that he was being assaulted in a scene from the Ghost Blows Out the Light series.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I said a thousand years, but a few hundred years will definitely be fine. Isn’t this a living example right before our eyes?”

Chen Gannian pointed to the grave pit and said.

Turning to Chen Ling, he asked, "Do you remember your great-grandfather?"

"Huh? Who?"

Chen Ling looked completely bewildered.

“Forget it, you probably don’t remember. I’ll just tell you one thing. They used paulownia wood in Donggang, but they didn’t build a tomb chamber. They just buried it in the ground. It’s from the Qing Dynasty. Fugui, do you know what kind of tomb this is?” Chen Gannian asked him.

Chen Ling immediately understood what was going on: "Fourth Grandfather, are you saying this is a Taoist priest's tomb?"

There used to be a Taoist temple in Donggang, where many Taoist priests lived.

Although the name of the Taoist temple has changed time and time again, and batches of people have left and come back, the temple itself has remained largely unchanged.

"That's right, let them dig it up. There must be quite a few more graves like this in the Donggang area..."

Chen Gannian said, "Let's dig them all out together, so we don't keep attracting so many tomb raiders to come and search for them."

He then added, "But Donggang isn't just a Taoist tomb; we might even unearth the ancestors of the Chen and Wang families."

Hearing this, Chen Ling regained his composure.

Grandpa wasn't telling a suspenseful story like those in "Ghost Blows Out the Light," but rather the history of their Chenwangzhuang village. (End of Chapter)