"You've learned bad things from the second egg's brat!" Aunt scolded me, with an unutterable charm, making me hurriedly leave the scene and head straight for the peach orchard at the foot of the mountain. The old man at the peach orchard, whom I call Grandpa Seven, was as close to my third granduncle as brothers. There were eight people of this generation in their family, the third granduncle being the third eldest, having the best and the worst fortune due to his education at a private school. And because he never married, this was his place.
This Grandpa Seven had a good relationship with my grandpa when he was alive. When he saw me, he smiled and said, "Xiaofan, come and cut some peach wood. Your grandpa was a good man in his lifetime. Why did he cause so much trouble even after he died? Cut casually. Even if you don't come, I was planning to bring some over for you. Use the peach wood branch to give your grandpa a good whipping to calm him down!"
"Grandpa Seven, I guess I need to cut several trees. My grandpa caused a stir because he encroached on someone else's land. As for the peach wood, I'm not using it to whip him, but to deal with someone else," I said.
"What did you say? Your grandpa encroaching on someone else's land? Isn't he buried in the ancestral grave?" Grandpa Seven asked, wide-eyed.
"Yes, under my grandpa's coffin, a red coffin was dug up. It's very strange. I'm cutting peach wood at the direction of a yin-yang master to deal with the creature inside that red coffin. The master said that once we deal with the creature, my grandpa can rest peacefully and reincarnate," I explained.
"No way, no way. Since our ancestors moved here, how long has it been? This place used to be deserted, with no one around. How could there be a buried person? And if it's a member of the Lin family, how could the third granduncle not know?" Grandpa Seven pondered.
I was also quite puzzled because I also found the appearance of the red coffin today to be incredible. It emerged too abruptly. There isn't even a trace of legend here. However, I couldn't explain it clearly to Grandpa Seven. I just said, "Maybe that coffin has existed here since our first generation ancestors moved here. This is so mysterious. Grandpa Seven, go fetch me an axe. I need to cut trees quickly. It wouldn't be good if the sun sets."
"How is this possible? How could someone from another family be inside the ancestral grave?" Grandpa Seven murmured as he went to fetch the axe from his shed.
I also pondered the question Grandpa Seven had just raised. It was truly strange. Before our Lin family's ancestors moved here, there were no people here at all. Could it be that there were people living here before, and because of a haunting, everyone died or moved away?
Unconsciously, my thoughts were gradually becoming entangled in the plot I had read in a novel before. But while this possibility wasn't non-existent, it was small. Hundreds of years ago, China was sparsely populated, and when our Lin family's ancestors moved here, there was no evidence of human habitation here, only a wasteland and a lake.
Perhaps the only possible explanation was that a Daoist from Mount Longhu, after subduing a demon, chose the feng shui of this place to suppress this coffin here. And because of our carelessness, we happened to bury my grandpa's coffin on top of this red ghostly coffin.
I didn't have much time to dwell on this. In fact, getting hung up on this had no significance at all. The most important thing now was to deal with this coffin. With Grandpa Seven's help, I cut down two peach trees and made a simple support with nails. I lay on it to test it, feeling quite sturdy. Then I asked Grandpa Seven to help me carry it to the ancestral hall.
By the time the two of us arrived at the ancestral hall, my father had already returned home because this matter occupied the entire village. It was all because of my grandpa. It was unnecessary for the villagers to express their thanks, but at least the men and women who came to help today had to have dinner at my house as a matter of etiquette, so my father had returned early to make arrangements.
The aunts and sisters-in-law also went home to wash up. That coffin was indeed not light, and everyone had sweated profusely under the heat of the day.
In a blink of an eye, there were only a few of us left in the ancestral hall.
Xu Lin placed a charm on the ceiling beam, then tied it to the beam with a rope. Below the rope hung an oil lamp.
"The focal point of this Yin-scattering formation is this oil lamp. Burning a celestial lamp with peach wood on top repels any Yin malice. The current formation traps this entity without much harm, meaning it can't escape and will gradually drain it. Little brother, one thing you must remember: within the next forty-nine days, this oil lamp must never be extinguished. Once it goes out, don't come looking for me again. Even if you do, I won't be able to help."
Naturally, I nodded. As for the cost of burning the lamp for forty-nine days, that was just a small matter.
With this matter settled, we withdrew our help and found a new place to reinter my grandfather.
The next day at ten-thirty, determined by Xu Lin, Grandfather was buried on time. The rumors of my grandfather's haunting on the seventh day finally quieted down among the villagers.