Merchant of the Underworld

He An made sense when he heard it. It happened to be a holiday these days, and my wife took our son to travel abroad to collect stories. I immediately called the law firm and asked for a few days off, and took me straight to my hometown.

He An's hometown is hundreds of kilometers away in the countryside. I followed him on a long-distance bus ride for a whole day and climbed the mountain road for a while before arriving in the evening.

The village is very remote, with wooden houses, alleys and fences, and many places still retain their extremely ancient appearance.

As soon as I entered the village, I heard an extremely strange suona sound from a distance. After taking a few steps closer, I finally heard clearly that it was the mournful music played when a person dies!

"It seems like there are dead people in the village." I said.

"Yes." He An nodded: "The customs of the villagers are still very old. Once someone dies, they have to play for a total of twenty-eight days before and after the burial."

We walked a few dozen meters along the country road and saw a white cloth shed set up in a small courtyard from a distance.

He An's body trembled violently and he walked over quickly.

"What's wrong?" I saw something was wrong with his expression and asked hurriedly.

"this is my house……"

He An told me on the road that there were only elderly parents at home, and now their family actually set up a memorial shed. Naturally, they were extremely frightened and ran over quickly.

"He An is back?" An aunt who was walking in holding burning paper saw He An saying hello.

"Well, Aunt Zhang, this is..." He An's expression changed.

"Xiao An, why are you back?" Before the aunt could say anything, another old man over sixty years old walked out of the courtyard. Although his hair was mostly gray, his eyes were strong, and although his expression was very sad, Very depressed, but not like ordinary villagers.

"Dad, my mother..." He An quickly walked up to meet her, his steps staggering a little.

"Ahem! What are you thinking about? Your mother and I are both fine. It was Xiaoju who passed away. I kept calling you but didn't get through."

"Xiao Ju?" He An's heart was relieved, but he was still extremely sad and confused: "What's wrong with Xiao Ju? Wasn't she fine when I came back a few months ago?"

"Hey, who knows." He's father sighed and said, "Suddenly he got a strange illness. The villagers rushed to the hospital, but when they arrived at the hospital, everyone was cold and there was no health at all. There is no way to save him. No, he is brought back again. Alas, this kid Xiaoju..."

He An trembled, and walked directly into the memorial shed without even bothering to talk to me.

The funeral shed was very large, with several long strings of firecrackers hanging inside, and the entire place was filled with the unpleasant smell of burning paper. Hanging on the black and white photo in the middle is a girl with two big braids and a smile on her face. It can be seen that she was very beautiful and pleasant during her lifetime.

Many villagers squatted and burned paper spontaneously, and there were even a few old ladies who burst into tears.

He An burned a few knives of paper in front of the funeral, and finally felt relieved after seeing his mother again. However, his expression was particularly sad. He stretched out his hand to wipe away his tears and turned to introduce me: "Xiaoju is an orphan in the village. She has been unable to speak since she was a child. As early as when she was a teenager, her mother disappeared and her father was sentenced to prison." He was sentenced to death, so he was adopted by my father. After all these years, just like my biological sister, I never expected to come back..."

I patted his shoulder and said nothing.

Originally, I went back to my hometown with him just to see if the ancestors of the He family had left anything behind. Is there any ghost hiding there to protect them, but they didn't expect to catch up with a funeral.

He An cried bitterly for a while before the funeral, and then he suppressed his grief and introduced me to his father.

The old man is also a lawyer, but now he is older and doesn't like city life very much, so he has been living in the country.

Mother He who was standing aside heard that I was the famous Master Zhang Jiulin. She immediately grabbed my hand and begged: "Master Zhang, please quickly see what kind of disease Xiaoju has!"

Hearing what she said, He An and I were a little confused.

People are dead and even doctors can't do anything, so what else can I see.

Unexpectedly, after knowing my identity, Father He also tried his best to say: "Sorry to trouble you, this child's illness is indeed a bit weird."

Father He said that before Xiao Ju died, her whole body was red and hot, and several small snakes came out of her mouth and nose, and she fell unconscious immediately. He suspected that he might have been possessed by something evil. Although Xiaoju has passed away now, the evil has not been eradicated and may still harm other people.

Both of them were originally intellectuals and did not believe in ghosts and gods at all. However, over the years, the various adventures that happened to them one after another made them believe that there are real ghosts and gods in the world. They did not dare to tell other villagers the details of Xiaoju's strange illness for fear of causing panic.

So I wanted to ask me to see what happened.

After hearing what he said, I also felt that this matter was a bit strange!

The whole body feels hot, and snakes come out of the nose and mouth. This is a typical voodoo technique. Could it be that there is an evil cultivator in the village using voodoo to harm people?

Immediately, I decided to take a closer look.

In order not to disturb the other villagers, He An took me to the room to rest first, saying that he would wait until after everyone left in the middle of the night to open the coffin.

But not long after I rested in the room, I suddenly heard a burst of exclamations from outside, and then there seemed to be a large group of people running around, and the whole village became restless.

"What's going on?" I walked out of the door in shock.

"Fake corpse, fake corpse!" Countless villagers shouted loudly and ran in all directions. The copper basins for burning paper and the soul-calling flags on the spiritual shed were knocked all over the ground, and people were turned upside down and turned into a mess.

At this moment, He An also hurriedly ran towards me: "Master Zhang, I was just looking for you."

"What's wrong?" I asked, pointing to the memorial shed.

"I don't know what happened, but suddenly there was a knocking sound in the coffin. At first, I thought I heard it wrongly and that it was coming from somewhere else, but the sound got louder and louder, and it became more and more wrong. We When I looked closer, I saw that it was coming from the coffin! Xiaoju, Xiaoju was knocking on the coffin inside!"

"Go and have a look!" As soon as I heard this, I hurried forward to greet him.

The people in the memorial shed had long since dispersed, leaving only a mess on the ground.

Boom, boom, boom!

The sound of knocking on the coffin was louder and louder, like a war drum, and looked extremely eerie in the night sky.

"Xiaoju, what's wrong with you, don't scare Mom..." Mother He collapsed on the ground, shouting in shock.

Dad He stood beside her and stared at the coffin in great horror.

Dong dong, dong dong dong...

The sound became louder and louder, causing the thick wooden coffin to shake from side to side.