Unexpectedly, a lot of people really came, led by Cha Wenbin. Those people were from the village below, and they had all sorts of tools in their hands: clubs, hoes, forks. It wasn't until later that I found out that the nest below had been blown up long ago!

  Tonight, the three brothers of Gao Cheng held a memorial service for him, and many people came to their home. Those who helped out before, the pallbearers, relatives and all, added up to about three or four tables. When they were halfway through dinner, someone discovered that Gao Cheng's daughter was nowhere to be found, namely my classmate Gao Cai Feng.

  The dinner on the seventh day has its own rules. Ordinary families have half of their dinner around six o'clock, and in rural areas, it's a bit earlier, usually at five o'clock. If there's a banquet or something, they'll even start at four o'clock. But the seventh day is different, the seventh day's dinner needs to be eaten twice. The first one is the banquet, the Gao family started their dinner at four o'clock, and after several tables of people finished eating, the guests dispersed around five o'clock. Those who stayed behind to keep watch were all family members, that is, relatives within the five mourning dresses. These people added up to two tables, and they still had things to do, after finishing eating, they also needed to prepare for the next dinner at night.

  The second dinner is usually served around 11 o'clock at night, and everything must be eaten before 12 o'clock. They are the ones who accompany the deceased. The wine and dishes on the empty table are left for the master of the house tonight. In general, in rural areas, it is said that on the seventh day after a person's death, they will come back to take a look, so as not to feel that there are still unfulfilled wishes after death and cry out in the underworld, accompanied by a dark messenger who comes together with them. This is called "Huihun Night" or "Return of the Soul".

  The custom of the Night of Returning Souls is that after finishing dinner, relatives must extinguish all lights and fires, and it's best if they all hide in one room. In the past, rural houses had skylights, which were openings on the roof covered with translucent tiles, so people would remove those tiles and use a bamboo pole or ladder to create a bridge for the returning spirits to enter the house. Why? Because the front door has a Door God, who won't allow unclean things to enter the house.

  Generally, three sets of bowls and chopsticks are prepared on the table, one placed at the top of the stove, and two on either side. The two on the sides are for the yin soul to enjoy. As for the dishes, there are usually three meat and three vegetarian options. The eggs must be half-cooked, and the rice must be slightly undercooked, turned upside down in a bowl, which is called "reversed head rice". Liquor is also necessary; if it's a more formal setting, a large pig's head will be placed in the middle of the table, with incense sticks inserted into it, providing the only light source in the entire room.

  The return of the soul is a matter of time, which requires someone to calculate. How many layers of hell you enter, how much time it takes to come back, and how long you can stay after returning, all have their own rules. The only requirement is that when the soul returns, there must be no one in the middle hall, family members cannot go out, they can hide in a side room but absolutely cannot be in the house where the deceased lived before. They cannot laugh or talk, and cannot use the toilet. In short, they have to keep their mouths shut and squat until the time is up before they can turn on the lights and open the doors. Otherwise, something may go wrong at any time during this period.

  Gao Cai Feng disappeared during the second meal, at around 11 o'clock. The family had set up two tables, and as per custom, before eating this meal, the deceased's children had to kneel down to thank their relatives, and also offer incense to pay respects to their late father. It was supposed to be a meal, but in fact it was a ritual, and the most important person in this ritual was nowhere to be found, so what could they do?

  At that time, someone said that the child might have gone up the mountain to find her father. In fact, Gao Cai Feng and her father had a good relationship, so everyone thought it was possible that she went up the mountain to look for him. The place where Gao Cheng was buried is not far from home, just in a tea garden behind their house, about a 10-minute walk.

  At that time, four or five relatives went there with flashlights. From a distance, they saw something unusual in front of Gao Cheng's tomb. It seemed like someone was lying there. These people ran over to take a look and found that about 10 meters away from Gao Cheng's tomb on the small path, Gao Cai Feng was lying there. They reached out with their hands and felt that she was still alive, nothing serious, probably just fainted.

  Everyone thought of sending the person back first, and this time was about to arrive. The seven or eight people let him carry it on his back. At this time, her second uncle raised his hand and swept it with an electric broom, but didn't scare him to death. It was just a loud shout.

  "Oh no, it's all over! Look, it's blown up!"

  What's going on? The tomb of Gao Cheng exploded! There are quilts and clothes everywhere, as well as funeral objects. The tomb was temporarily built with cement and hadn't dried yet, it was just a circular package with a tombstone in front. The tombstone also fell down, the tomb collapsed from the top, it looked like someone had blown it up with explosives, it's a complete mess.

  At that time, there were many people. If there were fewer people, it would have ended up like Gao Cai Feng's case. Several people discussed and plucked up the courage to sneak over and take a look. The coffin lid was overturned, and inside was empty.

  There are only two possibilities for such a result: one is that the tomb was stolen by someone, and the other is that it's a case of false burial!

  Gao Cheng was just a peasant, with little money, and the burial objects were all cheap plastic trinkets bought from small shops. He didn't have any enemies, so it's unlikely that his grave would be robbed. Besides, if someone really did rob his grave, in rural areas this is considered a big deal, and no one would dare to touch that unlucky thing. It's said that when they returned home after going down the mountain, everyone's legs were weak, and his second uncle even wet his pants. This isn't embarrassing, I also could have ended up like that.

  The whole Gao family was in a mess, and as soon as they heard the news, they were all shocked. How could the corpse just disappear into thin air? They had to think of something. Could it be that the dead person could really crawl out by himself? Just then, Cha Wenbin arrived, and he was the one who had said not to bury him that day. He had said all sorts of good and bad things, but no one believed him, and he almost got beaten up. Now that he had arrived, those people went to ask him questions, and finally, someone had come.

  He didn't come to the Gao's house in the middle of the night to have a midnight snack, and when he saw the situation, his chaotic heart secretly exclaimed: "Something is wrong, I'm probably too late."

  To put it simply, Cha Wenbin took a look at Gao Cai Feng and found that the woman had a very obvious black bruise on her neck, which nobody had noticed before.

  Hurry up and save him, put the person on the bed and lie down. Try to breathe again, heartbeat is still there, flip through the eyelids, pupils are fine. Zhen Wenbin took a look at the pinch marks and actually had no bottom line in his heart. With such a large force, why didn't you crush the person's throat? How can this person still be alive?

  That woman is crying, Gao Cheng's wife, Gao Cai Feng's mother, kneeling on the ground and wailing. The two old women can't take it anymore. That woman is furious and scolding, saying all sorts of things like "You're an old evil spirit" and "Are you going to take our daughter away too?" No matter who tries to persuade her, she won't listen. At this time, Cha Wenbin walked over and slapped the woman's mouth twice, stunning everyone into silence. The whole scene was frozen in shock. This kid, what are you doing?!

  "If he hadn't shown mercy, I reckon your family would be holding another funeral tonight. He remembered that this is his daughter and loosened his grip halfway through. Hurry up, don't make a scene here! Leave two people to watch the house, everyone else go out and find someone. Harassing your own daughter is a sin, but harming someone from another family is unbearable!"

  Cha Wenbin's words made it clear that Gao Cheng had indeed faked his own death. According to reason, if someone fakes their own death, they should be disowned by the six emotions, but he actually let Gao Cai Feng go, which means that at least for now, Gao Cheng may not have fully taken shape. Cha Wenbin decided that tonight, he must find him.

  Corpses all have a smell, the stench of death, which to others may be an odor so foul it's similar to the smell of rotting pork. If they're lost, then there's no smell. A Taoist's sensitivity to smells is far beyond that of ordinary people, especially when it comes to the smell of death. Cha Wenbin can sniff out Gao Cheng's breath, and he also has a compass; with these two things combined, tracking down a freshly deceased corpse isn't difficult. He chased after me all the way here, where I sat stupidly, as if my soul had been lost. Cha Wenbin quickly grabbed a small bottle and held it under my nose for me to sniff.

  The flavor was a bit like wasabi, I couldn't help but let out a big sneeze. Good grief, in an instant my whole body was refreshed. Seeing that he had arrived, at the time I really almost cried, what kind of thing was this that made me go to the temple, I hated him so much I wanted to drag him to the ground and beat him up.

  "Are you kidding me? You asked me to go die, and you're doing great with a large army, having a blast. I'm telling you, damn it, tonight I almost got buried in that broken temple."

  Cha Wenbin had never seen me in such a state before, and he was anxious too. He didn't know what had happened, so he hastily asked: "Did you run into Gao Cheng? Where is he?"

  I pointed my hand and said, "And inside, there's even a dog in my house. I'm telling you, Cha Wenbin, this matter isn't over between us! If it weren't for that dog, I reckon they would have wiped me out. What the hell? Tomorrow I'll set fire to everything and be done with it!" I was so angry, seeing him come made all the grievances in my belly pour out at once.

  Zha Wenbin pulled open my shoulder and took a look, calling out to the Gao family to come and see. Everyone gasped in shock.

  "What's with the mark on Cai Feng's neck?!"

  As soon as this was said, I saw those people lower their heads, whose life is not life, who says he's not afraid of death? This is just a relative can't be pulled out, they see me still holding the gun in my hand and they're all like this, what about their primitive things?

  No, someone has already come forward to say that he is a distant relative of the Gao family. The man looks like a member of the underworld, tall and big, with a tuft of hair on his head, wearing a leather jacket. He walked up to Cha Wenbin and said: "Little Cha, I think it's better to report this to the police. The police station is familiar to me, they're all my brothers. Why don't we let them come and investigate tomorrow? It's getting late, and you've been busy for a whole night. Anyway, he didn't hurt anyone and hid in the temple. Why don't we just withdraw?"