Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 14 Master Zhong

"Li Liang, this is Master Zhong Fazhong."

Li Liang's father introduced him to Li Liang.

Li Liang frowned, not understanding why his father had brought this Master Zhong here.

Before he could ask, a hoarse voice rang out.

"Mr. Li, your child harbors resentment after his death, and you need to resolve that resentment!"

With just one sentence, Li Liang's emotions, which had just been soothed by Chen Miao, became irritable again.

Li Liang didn't look at Zhong Fa, but instead looked at his father.

"dad?"

Li Weiguo patted Li Liang on the shoulder and whispered, "Liang, Master Zhong is very capable. Let him help Xiao Lei and Xiao Rui pass on peacefully, so that they can... so that they can leave in peace."

Hearing his father say this, Li Liang became even more agitated, but he still managed to restrain himself.

He turned to look at Zhong Fa.

"How much does it cost?"

Zhong Fa smiled.

"Two hundred yuan, just let me buy some incense, candles, and paper money."

Li Liang was taken aback. He had thought it was some kind of swindler, but what could be so swindling about two hundred yuan?
He glanced at his father.

He knew that the old man was actually even more heartbroken than he was, after all, his two granddaughters were very close to their grandfather.

Since the old man likes it, let's do it. It'll be good to divert his attention.

Just as Li Liang took out two hundred yuan from his wallet and placed it on the table, Zhong Fa spoke again.

“Mr. Li, your children are twins. After drowning, their resentment is intertwined with each other. If we want to perform a ritual, we must separate them and perform a separate ceremony to release their resentment. Otherwise, you and your wife will not have peace.”

Li Liang, who had been holding back, could no longer bear it. He pointed at Zhong Fa and shouted, "What do you mean? Are you saying that my child died and is now a vengeful ghost seeking revenge?!"

"Get out! Get out of here!"

Li Liang stepped forward to pull Zhong Fa away, but was stopped by Li Weiguo.

"Liang, don't worry."

Seeing his son's ferocious expression, Li Weiguo hugged him and said to Zhong Fa, "Master Zhong, please go back first, and I'll talk to my son properly."

Zhong Fa smiled, turned around and left Li Liang's house.

After Zhong Fa left, Li Liang finally calmed down.

“Liang, Master Zhong is a capable man. Calm down first, and we’ll talk to him again tomorrow…”

"Screw chatting! If he dares to come again, I'll beat him to a pulp!"

With that, Li Liang grabbed the two hundred yuan from the table and turned to go back to his room.

Li Weiguo hesitated, then slumped onto the sofa, tears streaming down his face.

……

Night falls in the old town area north of Tianmen County.

In a deep alley of the pedestrian street, a shop with a small wooden sign that reads "Break Yin and Yang" is lit up.

Inside the room, Zhong Fa held three incense sticks to his forehead, bowed three times to a shrine with a memorial tablet on the altar, and then inserted the incense into the incense burner.

Looking at the words "Memorial Tablet of Master Zhong Wuyou" on the memorial tablet, Zhong Fa murmured, "Master, I am like this because of you."

After saying that, Zhong Fa walked in through the door next to the offering table.

Upon entering the bedroom and lifting the bed board, Zhong Fa opened the entrance to the underground secret room.

Climbing down the ladder, Zhong Fa put the lid on.

The lifting rod on the bed board was activated, and the bed slowly lowered back to its original position.

Snapped!
The secret room was illuminated.

The underground chamber was not large, only about ten square meters. Inside, there was also an offering table, but instead of offerings, there was a half-meter-high jar on the table. In front of the jar was an incense burner, half a bundle of incense sticks, and a small knife.

Opposite the offering table is a shelf.

On the shelf were some wooden boxes and several small white porcelain jars about the size of an adult's fist. On the wall next to the shelf, there were also several bundles of tobacco leaves.

After the bell was rang, he didn't go to the altar, but instead went to the shelf and opened a small white porcelain jar and a wooden box.

After tearing a piece of tobacco from the tobacco leaves on the wall next to him, Zhong Fa then pinched some tobacco shreds from one of the boxes and sprinkled them on the edge of the tobacco leaves.

He then took out a small spoon from the box, scooped out a spoonful of white powder from the open white porcelain jar, and sprinkled it into the tobacco.

Putting down the spoon, Zhong Fa carefully rolled up the tobacco leaves.

As he rolled it up, he stuck out his tongue and ran it along the edge twice, smearing some saliva on it.

And so, an artificial cigarette appeared in Zhong Fa's hand.

After putting the cigarette in his mouth, Zhong Fa took out a box of matches from his pocket.

chap!
The match lit, igniting one end of the cigarette. Hiss!
After taking a sip, Zhong Fa closed his eyes, slightly raised his head, and looked relaxed.

Thick smoke billowed from his half-open mouth, but instead of rising, it dripped down the corners of his mouth towards the ground.

The smoke dissipated completely as it approached the ground.

Two minutes later, the cigarette in Zhong Fa's hand burned to the end.

After rubbing the cigarette butt out the sparks with his thumb and forefinger, he casually tossed the remaining cigarette butt into the trash can in the corner.

The bucket was already half-filled with cigarette butts.

When he turned around, Zhong Fa's half-open eyes were now fully open, and his face was flushed!
He strode to the offering table, took out four incense sticks from the bundle, lit them, and inserted them into the incense burner, but did not perform any rituals.

He shifted his gaze, picked up the handle of a small knife with his right hand, and gripped the blade with his left.

After slowly pulling out the knife, Zhong Fa reached out and peeled off the two crossed yellow talismans from the jar.

Then, he stretched his left hand, which was clenched, over the jar.

One drop of blood after another dripped from beneath his fist into the jar.

After dripping for more than ten seconds, Zhong Fa finally withdrew his left hand, grabbed a handful of incense ash, and smeared it on the cut on his palm.

"Go."

After the bell rang, the smoke above the incense sticks seemed to be disturbed for a moment by the departure of something.

But soon, things returned to normal.

……

early morning.

Li Liang suddenly woke up.

This has been his usual sleeping pattern these past few days.

After staring blankly at the faint light outside the window for a while, he got out of bed and went to the living room to pour himself a glass of water.

Li Liang, who was sitting on the sofa drinking water with his head tilted back, couldn't help but shed two lines of tears.

The suppressed sobbing continued for several minutes in the living room before stopping.

Wiping away his tears and snot, Li Liang got up and walked towards the bedroom.

He stopped a second before entering the room.

Looking down, a plush rabbit doll appeared at my feet.

Picking up the doll, Li Liang looked towards his daughters' room and walked over with heavy steps.

He stood in front of the door for a long time, but he couldn't reach out and turn the doorknob.

After bending down to place the rabbit doll at the door, Li Liang returned to his room.

Lying in bed, Li Liang curled up and closed his eyes.

But less than half a minute later, Li Liang suddenly opened his eyes!
He sat bolt upright in bed, looking toward the door.

Why is that bunny doll at the door?
After his daughter passed away, he never went to her room, let alone casually threw her favorite bunny doll on the floor.

Is it Dad?

Li Liang frowned, feeling somewhat irritated as he thought of Master Zhong from earlier that day.

Unable to fall asleep, Li Liang got out of bed.

He planned to wait in the living room until his father woke up so he could have a good talk with him!

But as soon as his foot touched the ground, he felt something step on it.

Bow your head, lift your foot.

A smiling bunny doll lying on its back at his feet!

Li Liang was taken aback.

This bunny doll belongs to the younger sister; the older sister's is a kitten.

Therefore, it's impossible for two identical rabbit dolls to be in the same house.

So how did this get to his bedside?
For some reason, Li Liang thought of Master Zhong.

After a moment of shock, anger rose within him.

So what if it's a ghost!
That's my daughter!
Li Liang bent down and grabbed the rabbit doll; he wanted to take it to his daughter's room.

He wants to see his daughter!
He didn't believe his daughter would harm him!
Snapped!
A small, bluish hand reached out from under the bed and grabbed Li Liang's right hand, which was still holding the doll, before he could retract it.

The biting cold instantly spread throughout Li Liang's entire body.

Li Liang collapsed to the ground uncontrollably.

In the last second before losing consciousness, he looked at a pair of eerie green eyes under the bed.

……

(End of this chapter)