ghost craftsman

Chapter 8 Three Taboos
Seeing this, I asked nervously, "Brother, what are you doing?"

He smiled slightly, glanced at the nail of my right index finger, and said softly, "There is a pine tree in Gengxin in the southwest, you go and chop it down."

I hummed without hesitation, and walked in that direction. Frankly speaking, I was a little afraid of my senior brother at that time, and I didn't dare to disobey my senior brother's wishes. I did what he said.

When I came to Southwest Gengxin, there was a pine tree as before. This pine tree was not big, about the same size as the first pine tree. What made me extremely depressed was that I had just raised an ax to cut it down, and my senior brother was behind. He said directly, "Chuanzi, are you showing me your softness?"

My face turned red, I raised my ax and chopped down vigorously, my brother came over, slapped my waist, and said in a soft voice: "Cut down a tree with a waist and a horse, and swing your arms vigorously."

I didn't speak, I raised my ax and struck down again.

In this way, the whole morning was spent under the scolding of the senior brother, and about nine pine trees were cut down. According to the senior brother's intention, I should chop off the branches of those pine trees, but after cutting down those few trees, my whole body I was almost exhausted, sitting on the ground and gasping for breath, my brother shook his head, took the ax from my hand, chopped off the branches, and talked about how he learned art when he was with the master, and how young people today lazy.

It has to be said that the whole movement of the senior brother splitting the branches is like flowing clouds and flowing water. Every movement is done in one go, without any redundant movements. It can even be said that watching the senior brother chop the branches is simply a visual enjoyment.

After chopping those branches, it was almost noon, the senior brother sat down beside me, handed me another cigarette, and asked me if I smoked, I wanted to say no, but seeing the expression on the senior brother's face, I immediately took it Smoke, light it, take a deep breath, choke to death, tears are about to come out, then I heard my brother say softly: "Smoke is a good thing, you have to learn, in the future you will come to help people to work, smoke can make you and your boss One step closer to the relationship.”

I groaned, didn't speak, and smoked with my head depressed.

After a cigarette, I couldn't hold back the doubts in my heart, so I asked my senior brother, "Senior brother, what kind of coffin is Wei Dezhen going to fight? Why do you keep rejecting her?"

The senior brother glanced at me, let out a wry smile, stared at me for a while, and said slowly, "Chuanzi, since the master asked you to learn art with me, I can't let you come in vain. Naturally, I want to teach you some skills. And this tree cutting is only the first step, the second step is to teach you how to recognize the coffin, how to open the coffin, and what kind of person to open the coffin."

I grunted and looked at my brother curiously, when I heard him say: "First of all, you have to remember that there are three taboos for us ghost craftsmen to open coffins, one is that the coffins of wicked people cannot be opened, the other is that children's coffins cannot be opened The third is that the coffins of newlyweds should not be beaten, especially the third type of coffins, they must not be beaten, once they are hit, it will break one's lifespan, and even cause some fatal disasters."

Speaking of this, the senior brother paused, looked up into the village, and continued: "And the coffin that Wei Dezhen requested is similar to the third type of coffin. The man in her family died on the wedding day."

As soon as I heard it, I immediately felt that something was wrong. I remember Wei Dezhen said that she always dreamed of her man talking to her child, and listening to the tone of the senior brother, Wei Dezhen just married her man and died. How did the child come about?

I asked this question out, the senior brother took a deep puff of cigarette, and said in a low voice: "The parents of the two of them did not approve of this marriage, and the two of them eloped and became pregnant six times. For some reason, those six The child died in the womb before it was born, and the parents of the two people saw that they felt sorry for them, so they agreed to their marriage, who would have thought that the man would die suddenly when the two were holding a banquet."

"How did you die?" I breathed hard and asked quickly.

The senior brother sighed and didn’t speak, just smoked with his head sullen. After about three or four minutes, the senior brother stood up and said to me, “Take these trees back and make that kind of coffin in the afternoon. Just watch from the side, don’t touch it.”

I wanted to ask the reason, but when I saw the solemn expression on my brother's face, I didn't dare to ask, so I followed my brother back to the village carrying those tree poles.

When we returned to the village, the brother first threw those tree poles into the pond, saying that before making the coffin, the branches should be given some water, and then asked Wei Dezhen to cook us a lunch. There was nothing worth talking about, but the brother There are special requirements for the lunch dishes, saying that no lard, no vinegar, no soy sauce should be put in the lunch dishes. In his words, putting these things will affect his coffin.

Therefore, when we saw our Chinese food, my senior brother and I were stunned. We saw that Wei Dezhen staggered and brought two bowls of white rice porridge in front of us, and said, "According to your request, no lard, no pork fat, no rice porridge." Vinegar, no soy sauce, by the way, I’ll get you some dried radish later.”

Originally, I was doing physical work in the morning, and I was already very hungry, but when I saw this Chinese food, I was speechless, so let’s forget it. Since the senior brother didn’t dare to lose his temper with Wei Dezhen, he said to me: “What are you in a daze for? Hurry up and eat!"

The grievance in my heart, I provoked someone, I didn't say anything, I just drank white rice porridge with a sullen head.

After the lunch, the senior brother first fished out the pine trees in the pond, and then set up two long wooden benches in the main house of the village, saying that it was time to start the coffin. I wanted to help, but the senior brother repeatedly He greeted me and said that he was hitting that kind of coffin. I can't help, and if I help, it will kill me.

In desperation, I had no choice but to stand by and watch my brother peel off the pine trees and split them into coffin boards one by one. My brother’s hands seemed to have magical powers. It only took him an hour to split all nine pine trees into pieces. The coffin board looked about four centimeters thick, about two meters seven in length, and 28 centimeters in width. I asked my brother why it was split like this.

He explained to me that the general coffin is made of five drums and three circles. The upper cover is the sky, the lower bottom is the ground, and the two sides are bangs. It is three to seven points, and the senior brother wants to hit that kind of coffin, he can't follow this ratio, saying that he wants to hit the effect of five sides.

As soon as I heard it, I was immediately puzzled. Generally, coffins have six sides: top, bottom, left, right, front and back, and five sides. There is something wrong with this, so I asked my brother why.

While smoothing the pine wood, he explained: "As long as you put your mind on it, there is nothing that cannot be made of wood. Remember, there is a heart that knows everything."

After saying this, he stopped what he was doing and glanced at me meaningfully.

I understand what he means, he is blaming me for putting my mind on studying, I am really drunk, the general elders hope that their descendants will study hard, but when it comes to senior brothers, it is a mistake to focus on studying.

I didn't dare to speak, so I let out an oh.

As soon as I finished speaking, I caught a glimpse from the corner of my eye that the piece of pine wood in my senior brother's hand actually... actually seeps out a dark red liquid. The liquid has an indescribable strangeness, and the speed of seeping out is extremely fast. In less than a moment, the whole The pine planks had turned blood-colored.

(End of this chapter)