Mantra

Chapter 3

I know that people who drink cold beer in the cold wind have to go to the toilet non-stop, especially Wang Hou.Although this kid has a capacity for alcohol, he has a lot of kidney problems.As soon as he drinks cold beer, it is equivalent to starting the "laundry" mode, and the urine will definitely continue to flow.

So when we were in the army, we nicknamed him "Washing Machine"!
And what I'm waiting for is the empty position of the toilet on his body.

Sure enough, after Wang Hou drank five or six glasses of wine, the boy couldn't hold back immediately. He stood up abruptly, apologized to his three friends, and hurried to the toilet.

As soon as I saw Wang Hou leave his seat, I immediately knew the time had come.

So, I drank two sips of white wine, bumped up my courage, and quickly took the sauced duck I prepared in advance, and walked towards the three "hackers".

When I got to the table, I immediately put down the dishes in my hand.Not even daring to look at their faces, they just lowered their heads while retreating towards the toilet.

Before I turned around, I glanced at the trouser legs of the three people. The bottom of their trouser legs was empty. They all had no feet!

But even so, I still pretended to be calm and said: "Three brothers, take it easy! I am the only one in the restaurant today, so don't be too slow. The dishes are all on the pot. Let me go first toilet, and entertain everyone."

As I spoke, I didn't care what the expressions of the three were, and I immediately got into the toilet room, and at the same time locked the doorknob from the inside.

In the toilet, I saw Wang Hou singing "High Mountain and Flowing Water".

This kid was quite happy. He sang while running water, completely unaware that he had stepped into the coffin with one foot.

"Stop singing!" I lowered my voice and said to Wang Hou, "Three of your friends almost killed you! Do you know that?"

"Old Tian, ​​what nonsense are you talking about!" Wang Hou didn't seem to hear the sense of crisis in my words, he refuted me and said: "My friends are also brothers who play urine mud together, and now they are business partners. They What's wrong with me, last week, we were doing business together in a sports car."

I waved my hand, motioned him to lower his voice, and said, "Brother, how about it. Let me tell you something, after you listen, you will know how close you are to death, okay?"

Wang Hou looked at my serious attitude, and couldn't help but become more serious. He nodded his head, which was regarded as his agreement.

I stuck out my fingers and asked one by one: "Do you know the origin of the eight dishes they ordered for you?"

"Isn't it just eight meat dishes! What's the background?" Wang Hou replied casually.

I put my mouth next to Wang Hou's ear, and told him word by word: "These eight dishes together are called 'Coffin Head Banquet'. In the old society, they were specially given to people who were about to die. "

"What? Food for dying people?!" Wang Hou's eyes suddenly widened after hearing my words.

Afterwards, I briefly told him the knowledge in the "eight dishes".

Speaking of which, I was told by the old squad leader about the knowledge in the coffin banquet.

In the second year of my culinary studies, the old squad leader told me that a cook is easy to talk about in the army, but once he gets to the place, he has to understand the "rules" of red, white, happy and mourning in the chef's profession.Otherwise, if you serve the wrong dish, you will be beaten.

Of course, the rules he told me were not complicated, that is, folk taboos such as "dog meat can't be served at the banquet, and pregnant women can't eat rabbit meat".These things, just listen to it a few times.

And the "coffin head banquet" I mentioned is the darkest and deadliest of these taboos.

When talking about this, the old squad leader also specifically emphasized that unless you want to curse a person to death, otherwise, don't let these eight dishes get together.

At the beginning, the old squad leader told me that in ancient times, the eight dishes "roast goose, sauced duck, roast chicken, rice wine white meat, braised pork knuckle, beef tongue, steamed carp and small rapeseed" were called "coffin head banquet", which were specially given to beheaded. The death row prisoner who was "on a red business trip" prepared the menu.

Because in ancient my country, there has always been a tradition of letting condemned prisoners eat enough to go on the road.Although the productivity was not high at that time, as long as the conditions allowed, we would try our best to satisfy the appetites of the condemned prisoners and make them a full dead ghost.

The reason for doing this, in superstitious terms, is to give them the strength to go on the road, so that they can reincarnate earlier, and by the way, they will have less resentment, and will not come back to trouble the executioner.

The last meal of the condemned prisoner is called "coffin head meal" or "decapitation meal".

At first, there were many kinds of "decapitated rice", but at the end of the Song Dynasty, the dishes and content of the decapitated rice were fixed by Song Ci, a famous forensic scientist in our country, and it was used until the period of the Republic of China.

According to the regulations at the time, if the prisoner had no special request, the menu would definitely choose one of the seven meat dishes in the "Coffin Head Banquet", and then the last vegetarian dish "small rapeseed" was served with three bowls of rice or noodles. To death row.

Because of this, the old squad leader told me that because these eight dishes are so famous, over the past 1000 years, I don’t know how many ghosts have been sent away.So much so that they have become some kind of symbols, and even become the most terrifying specialties in the cook, which can be regarded as the golden rule in the chef world, which cannot be violated.

A cook who is a little bit more particular knows that these eight dishes cannot all be collided together, otherwise, the coffin head dish will become a coffin head feast!Guests who eat the coffin head banquet will be haunted by Yin Qi, and they will run into ghosts and evil spirits.

Back then, after listening to the taboos taught by the old squad leader, I said something extra: "What would happen if these eight dishes happened to be paired together?"

The old squad leader was taken aback for a moment, and then told me: "If these eight dishes were not intentional, they would definitely not be able to come together. Because the cooks of each faction know the taboos among them. However, once they get together by chance, According to superstition, there is only one explanation. The people who ordered the food are the dead ghosts of the first seven, and they came back to seduce their souls."

At first, I didn't take it seriously when I learned this, but what I didn't expect was that after just over two years, I encountered this kind of coffin meal for the first time.

After my reminder, Wang Hou seemed to realize the strangeness of this.

But I didn't have time for Wang Hou to realize it by himself, so I told Wang Hou directly: "Wang Hou, think about it, on this big night, they don't sit or get married, why are they wearing such neat suits? Besides, I just saw Your three friends seem to have no feet! You and I are locals, according to our old superstitions. What looks like a person but has no feet! You know it in your heart!"

"Ghost! Ghost!" Wang Hou stammered, his eyes slowly filled with fear and doubt.

I nodded.To be honest, I also hope that this is a prank by his friends, but unfortunately, it is true.

Afterwards, he signaled Wang Hou not to panic, and asked him to try hard to recall the recent whereabouts of his three partners.

From this, I want to determine the purpose of these ghosts, as well as their real body.

Wang Hou thought about it and told me that the last time he met his friend was seven days ago.

At that time, the transportation team founded by the four of them took over a business.A batch of chemical raw materials will be transported from our county to Tianjin.This is a big bill. To be on the safe side, the four of them originally had to go with the car.Unexpectedly, Wang Hou's father had a sudden heart attack. In desperation, Wang Hou had no choice but to let the remaining three brothers set off with the car.

But what he didn't expect was that his partner disappeared as soon as he set off.For seven days, I couldn't even get through the phone, as if the world had evaporated.

Wang Hou was very depressed about their disappearance for a while. He was worried that they would run away with the balance of money, and also worried about their personal safety. He even called the police.

However, just this evening, three of his friends called suddenly, saying that the truck had an accident on the road and was delayed for several days.Fortunately, the problem is not big, the three of them have just delivered the goods and returned home, and they will be able to bring back the final payment tonight.They also asked Wang Hou to have dinner together and report on the business situation by the way.

Just like that, Wang Hou came to my restaurant by accident and had the "Coffin Head Banquet".

After listening to Wang Hou's words, I was stunned.

Immediately afterwards, I grabbed Wang Hou's body and shouted at him:
"Wang Hou! Wang Hou! Are you stupid! Don't you think about it? From our county to Tianjin, the round trip is only a day's journey! How could they not come back after seven days of driving! There is only one explanation, your friend They died on the way! Today is the first seven days, and those who come back to drink with you are their souls!"

My words, like a thunderbolt, woke up Wang Hou who was deeply in trouble.

"I remember everything! They're already dead! It's really a ghost, what are they looking for me for? I, I don't owe them anything!" Wang Hou was a little overwhelmed by this sudden stimulation.He stretched out his big hand, pressed my shoulder, and asked in a rambling manner.

But just when Wang Hou wanted to continue shouting, the light in our toilet suddenly flickered a few times.

Immediately afterwards, I saw, behind Wang Hou, a bloody hand with bones leaking, quietly drooping on his shoulder.

I was stunned.

(End of this chapter)