Siheyuan: I am the Smart Pillar

There were no houses around the coffin shop, which was very desolate. There were two tall locust trees behind the house. Although He Yuzhu didn't know much about Feng Shui, he knew that any normal family would not plant locust trees in front of or behind their houses. The Chinese character "槐" has a "木" (wood) and a "鬼" (ghost) next to it, which means it is a tree that gathers a lot of Yin energy.

Yi Jianjun knocked on the door of the coffin shop, which was very old. He Yuzhu felt a little eerie, glanced at Yan Fugui and said, "Uncle, don't you think this place is a little weird?" Yan Fugui also felt a little creepy, but looked at He Yuzhu and said, "Don't scare yourself, go in and buy a coffin."

After a few breaths, an old voice came from the coffin shop. An old man opened the door from inside the house. The old man looked to be in his 60s, with a somewhat weathered face. But he looked very energetic, with a pipe in his arms. He opened the door, looked at He Yuzhu and the others, and said, "You are here to buy coffins."

He Yuzhu sighed in his heart, thinking that this old man really couldn't talk. But he still grinned and nodded. The old man introduced himself, his name was Qu Ping. Old man Qu led a group of people into the yard, pointed at the coffins in the yard and said, "Look, pick whichever one you like and take it away."

Yan Fugui told him about Yi Zhonghai's father. Old Man Qu thought for a moment, pointed at the black lacquered coffin at the foot of the wall and said, "That old man must have been retaliated against, so he can't rest in peace even after his death. The one in the corner, that coffin is made of poplar wood. It has just been painted with tung oil. What do you think of it?"

He Yuzhu naturally had no objection. If Yan Fugui hadn't brought him to Yijiazhuang to help Yi Zhonghai, he wouldn't even have the chance to say a word to Yi Zhonghai. Old Man Qu stretched out three fingers, and Yan Fugui immediately took out three big unity notes. Old Man Qu looked at the money in his hand, and a smile appeared on his face.

He Yuzhu and his group followed the two apprentices carrying the coffin to the cemetery. It was very strange. When they just passed a canyon, the clear sky became lifeless. There was fog around, which almost scared He Yuzhu out of his wits. He was almost 20 years old, and this was the first time he had seen such a situation.

Yan Fugui's old face also showed a cautious look, smacking his lips and saying, "How can there be fog in such a place? Jianjun, have you seen such a situation?" Yi Jianjun was stunned and said that he had not seen such a situation either. But the older generation once said that sometimes there was fog in their Yijia Village.

Xiaowu, the apprentice who was carrying the coffin, said, "This seems a bit evil. How could the fog rise for no reason? We all grew up in Yijiazhuang. We have never seen such a situation before." Yi Xiaoliu, who was standing next to him, also thought it made sense and felt a little scared.

Suddenly, a wedding procession carrying a sedan chair appeared in the fog ahead. Yan Fugui's face suddenly changed, and he shouted to Yi Xiaowu and Yi Xiaoliu, "Hurry up and make way, then turn your heads away and don't look at them." The two apprentices were stunned at first, and they were also frightened by the current scene. They could only listen to the old man Yan Fugui, after all, the old man had more experience.

The bumping sound of the sedan chair and the beating of suona and gongs and drums rang in the ears of He Yuzhu and his party. The wedding procession seemed to have not seen He Yuzhu and his party. He Yuzhu subconsciously glanced at the sedan chair and saw a pale bride sitting in it. The veil on her head was not covered, and she just stared at He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu thought he was a very brave person, but even a brave person would be scared when encountering such a thing. His legs almost went weak and he sat on the ground. After taking a look at the bride, he quickly turned his head away. He Yuzhu naturally knew that they had encountered something unclean today. He swallowed his saliva and tried to keep himself calm.

The sedan chair disappeared in the thick fog after about five minutes of walking. Seeing the wedding procession leave, Yan Fugui breathed a sigh of relief. With trembling hands, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out a cigarette and slowly lit it for himself. He took a long puff of the cigarette, greedily inhaled the exhaled air, and said with lingering fear, "Isn't this a ghost marrying a wife? We are so unlucky, how could we encounter such a thing."

He Yuzhu was stunned and said, "Uncle, what are you talking about?" Yan Fugui squatted on the side of the road smoking a cigarette, watching the fog around him slowly dissipate. Then he sighed with lingering fear, yawned and said, "A ghost marrying a wife, literally means that a dead person marries a wife."

Yi Jianjun frowned and said, "Uncle Yan, how can a man who has become a ghost get married?" Yan Fugui smiled bitterly and said, "Why not? I've experienced this before." Hearing this, the four men, including Yi Xiaowu and Yi Xiaoliu, looked at Yan Fugui curiously.

Yan Fugui smiled and said, "That happened about ten years ago. It happened in my hometown. My hometown is a very remote place. Although we are relatively poor there, there is still a very powerful landlord in our village. That landlord is not a good person. He is very disdainful of the neighbors around him. He is especially strict with us tenants."

The landlord and his wife had only one precious son, and no other children. I don't know if the landlord and his wife had done a lot of evil, but when the child was 14 years old, the landlord's son got sick and died. The landlord was in great pain, and thinking that his child was 14 years old and still had no wife, he thought of arranging a ghost marriage for his child.

He Yuzhu was very surprised. The term "ghost marriage" has been frequently used in the 5000 years of Chinese history. He thought it was just what scholars said, but he didn't expect it to be true. Yan Fugui coughed and said, "We were very young at that time. In order to hold a wedding for her son, the landlady changed her stingy ways. She invited everyone in our village to have dinner at her house. You know that in the old society, it was very good to have a full stomach. As for bad luck, it is worthless in front of an empty stomach."

I and a few friends from the village followed the adults to the banquet. We ate very late that night. We reluctantly left the landlord's house only after the host drove us away. We were dazed because we had drunk a lot of wine. We also passed a very narrow valley and saw a team of people knocking and beating to escort the bride.

The wedding procession I saw at that time was much larger than the one we saw tonight, and there were also many people. When we went home and told our elders about what we saw, they told us that this was called a ghost marrying a wife.