Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 8 Extra: Old Wang's Resentment
The oppressive feeling dissipated as I left the funeral home.

Glancing at the sky, Chen Miao realized there was still some time before nightfall and hurried back to his office.

Sitting at the table, Chen Miao calmed himself down for a while.

He had done similar things before. When presiding over memorial services, some families had certain rules and customs, and Chen Miao would arrange them according to the requirements and then follow the procedures.

Perhaps it was because this time we were dealing with a real ghost that the feeling was so different from before.

After calming down, Chen Miao opened the book.

The first page he saw was the one with the author information.

The current status column has changed.

The phrase "being haunted by resentment" has changed from "seven days" to "six days".

This relieved Chen Miao slightly; in this way, his efforts had not been in vain.

Turning the page again, the book reached the "Bonus Chapters" section.

Chapter 1 - Side Story - Old Wang's Resentment

"After I did Qian Xiaomei's makeup, I had some profound insights—insights about the world!"

"Perhaps there really are things beyond my understanding that I don't know about."

"With the principle of not showing favoritism, I'm also prepared to do something for Lao Wang."

"Although I worked with Lao Wang, I didn't know what he liked. After thinking about it, I decided to pay my respects to Lao Wang as a way of sending him off."

"Although I'm not well-off, the things I prepared for Lao Wang are rather simple, but they are very thoughtful and considerate."

"After the ceremony, I left the cold storage."

"That night, I had a dream."

"I found myself in a small, cold space. I felt like I was experiencing sleep paralysis; I could only look but couldn't move."

"I don't know how much time passed in the dream. When I woke up, I found that I had caught a cold and felt a little weak."

"I initially thought the dream was just a coincidence, but I kept having the same dream for the next few days!"

"Every time I wake up from a dream, my health deteriorates a little more."

"Fortunately, the dream only lasted for six days and then it stopped, but my body was in a terrible state during those six days."

Suddenly, I remembered the time I paid respects to Old Wang six days ago.

"Maybe this is Old Wang complaining that I didn't treat him to a good meal."

That concludes the content.

Looking at the last sentence, Chen Miao thought of the four incense sticks.

If we use those four incense sticks, will it really be able to clear away the remaining six days?

If there were only one or two days left, that would be fine. Chen Miao could manage to go two days without sleep, but he couldn't manage any longer.

However, this incident also revealed something to Chen Miao.

Some folk tales in reality are indeed useful.

As for why the peach wood sword and peach wood talisman he bought before were useless, Chen Miao felt it was related to their "quality" and the types of things that happened!

The peach wood sword and peach wood talisman that Chen Miao bought before either did not meet the corresponding quality or were not peach wood at all!
Chen Miao had seen peach wood available for exchange in the exchange list, which meant that peach wood was useful, but the prerequisite should be "century-old peach wood"!
The "Centennial Peach Wood" item in the exchange list requires a full two coins of merit to exchange!
Chen Miao cannot redeem it now.

Besides quality, Lao Wang and Qian Xiaomei's situations are also different.

Old Wang's resentment wasn't actually fatal; Chen Miao could avoid death as long as he stayed up all night. But for Qian Xiaomei, encountering him meant certain death.

Based on this, Qian Xiaomei's ferocity should be greater than Lao Wang's.

Another thing Chen Miao learned from the incense ash at the Old Mother's Shrine was that only by addressing the root cause can a problem be solved; otherwise, it might have the opposite effect.

He glanced at the time.

If you want to perform a ritual to the ghosts after 5 PM, you should either choose 11 PM or wait until tomorrow afternoon.

Chen Miao felt it was best to resolve this matter as soon as possible.

After closing the book, Chen Miao got up to prepare the things he would need for the evening.

……

At 8 p.m., Chen Miao was already in the cold storage.

Arriving so early was partly to fulfill my promise to my uncle to guard the cold storage, and partly to prevent others from accidentally entering.

Chen Miao didn't know if someone bumped into Lao Wang and something else might happen, but he had to prevent that from happening.

After all, resentment now clings to Chen Miao.

If Old Wang really gets angry, Chen Miao will be the first to suffer.

Time passed little by little.

As it approached 11 o'clock, Chen Miao locked the cold storage door from the inside and then put his phone on silent.

The rest shouldn't be disturbed. After everything was ready, Chen Miao washed his hands before starting!
The supplies that had been provided to Lao Wang were still there, and Chen Miao didn't touch them. Instead, he brought over a new table and placed it in front of the stool.

The reason it's a table is because there are quite a lot of offerings this time.

This time, Chen Miao brought spring water bought from an outside store. He often saw this brand of spring water on TV, and its advertisements claimed that it was sourced directly from nature.

If the advertisements are true, then the water from the mountains is naturally better than tap water.

Besides water, Chen Miao also took some paper money and gold and silver paper ingots from Sister Li.

In addition to apples, three bananas and three oranges were added to the fruit selection.

Chen Miao replaced the plain white rice with multigrain rice, which he specially asked the canteen chef to make. It was made by steaming a mixture of rice, millet, red beans, mung beans, and black beans. Chen Miao paid fifty yuan for the preparation of each bowl of rice.

Five-grain rice is offered to hungry ghosts. Old Wang must have died hungry, so this is perfect.

All of this was done to please Old Wang.

Of course, these are just embellishments; the most important thing is still those four incense sticks!

After opening the book and taking out the incense sticks, Chen Miao began to follow the procedure.

Hold the incense stick in your left hand, light it, and offer it as a gift.

The smoke from the four sticks of sandalwood incense sticks is straight and rises no more than ten centimeters before beginning to spiral.

Chen Miao paused for a moment, then looked away.

After bowing twice, Chen Miao burned paper money and gold ingots in a circle on the ground.

After doing all this, Chen Miao began to wait again.

Twenty minutes later, the incense burned out, and Chen Miao lowered his head and quietly left the cold storage.

No looking back, no saying goodbye!
After coming out, Chen Miao opened the author information section of "Notes on Becoming a God in the Mundane World".

Current Status: Haunted by resentment (one day)

When Chen Miao saw that the resentment had not subsided, his heart skipped a beat.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was only one day left.

It's only one day, thankfully, I can just hang in there and it will pass.

Turning to the "Extra Chapter," the earlier parts remain unchanged, but the part about the worship ceremony has changed.

"..."

"Although I was short of money, I still prepared a sumptuous meal for Lao Wang and did my best to show him proper etiquette."

"When the incense sticks were lit, the smoke formed a spiral above the incense burner, which was quite miraculous."

"After the ceremony, I kept watch in the cold storage and slept there for the night."

"That night, I had a dream."

"I found myself in a small, cold space. I felt like I was experiencing sleep paralysis; I could only look but couldn't move."

"I don't know how much time passed in the dream. When I woke up, I found that I had caught a cold and felt a little weak."

"After that, nothing else happened."

"Thinking back to the scene of seeing Lao Wang off last night, perhaps, Lao Wang came to see me."

So, as long as we get through tonight, everything will be over.

After closing the book, Chen Miao took a sip of strong tea and began researching folk customs on his computer.

Two years after graduation, he had forgotten a lot of what his teachers had taught him.

Now, he needs to rediscover that knowledge.

Time flies by.

As dawn broke, Chen Miao looked away from the screen.

He opened the book and looked at the extra chapters.

"..."

"Although I was short of money, I still prepared a sumptuous meal for Lao Wang and did my best to show him proper etiquette."

"When the incense sticks were lit, the smoke formed a spiral above the incense burner, which was quite miraculous."

"When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out, leaving only a wisp of smoke."

I couldn't sleep that night.

"Something seems to belong to me in the dark, and I've gained another coin."

[Chapter 1, Extra Chapter: Old Wang's Resentment, Completed. Gained Yin Virtue (one coin), Old Wang's Memory Fragment, and the "Six Secrets of Subduing Truth".]

……

(End of this chapter)