Grave Moving Brigade - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Moving the Grave

Out of nowhere, a chill rushed up from Chen Ling’s heels to the top of his head. He quickly reached out to grab the contractor’s hand, eager to borrow the other party’s body temperature to block the coldness that was seeping into his heart.

The contractor clenched his hand and pulled the young man up with force.

Chen Ling dusted himself off, told the contractor to clean up the excess dirt around the tomb as soon as possible. He suppressed the sudden sense of strangeness in his heart, and quickly went down the mountain.

The contractor took the cigarette handed over by the worker next to him, bit it, pointed at the back of the young man walking down the mountain, and joked: “Look at how anxiously Mr. Chen is walking. It’s like he’s in a hurry to be reincarnated.”

The worker looked over and saw that indeed the young man had his back straight and his long legs moved forward without stopping, giving people the weird feeling that he was pretending to be calm but was actually in a hurry to escape.

The sudden chill that swept over Chen Ling not only did not dissipate, but became more and more intense.

The contractor’s words were like a spell, repeating over and over in his mind and he couldn’t calm down.

As if admonishing himself, he slapped his face hard, warning himself not to let his imagination run wild. That ancestor of the Jiang family, even if he didn’t reincarnate, his life span combined should be at least 100 or 200 years. There’s no point in making a fuss with a young man like him who is in charge of relocating graves.

But when he thought about it carefully, the recent strange phenomena did start only after he went to see the lonely grave with Mrs. Jiang.

Chen Ling clasped his hands together and bowed to the air: “Mr. Jiang Yu, if I have offended you in any way, can you please forgive me this time for my hard work in helping you decorate your new home? I promise to clean your tombstone, remove the weeds, and offer fresh fruits every day in the future.”

After he made the generous offer, there was still only silence in the air, with no response. But Chen Ling’s anxious heart calmed down, and he buried his head in reviewing the operation procedures of relocating the graves, then picked up his backpack and left the room.

As soon as he walked out of the yard, he heard rustling footsteps outside the house, accompanied by chattering voices.

When he walked around to the side of the house, he saw seven or eight people gathered in a circle, looking at something.

Surrounded in the centre is a small sapling, with short and slender branches weakly stretched out and two leaves on top that had not yet unfolded.

The leaves were light in colour, tending towards fluorescent green, and they looked so tender that they could touch one’s heart.

Someone among the onlookers shouted, “See! I told you I wasn’t seeing things! There are really little tree buds growing!”

“No.” Another person spoke up.

“Why is it wrong? You said I saw it wrong before, but now there are seven or eight pairs of eyes staring at it. It can’t be that there is something wrong with our eyes!”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I saw this little bit of green when I was riding my motorcycle to the next village a few days ago. I thought I was seeing things…” A dark-skinned strong man scratched his head and said, “I’m afraid this seedling has been growing for several days.”

The dead atmosphere of Yuhe Mountain was broken by a weak sapling.

Is this the turning point that his Master had mentioned?

As new life grew next to his house, Chen Ling’s mood naturally became happy, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

Before anyone noticed, he quietly withdrew from the discussion circle. As he was turning around, a hand suddenly appeared on his shoulder.

The fingernails on that hand were slightly long and painted with blood-red nail polish. The fingers were slender and white, with exaggeratedly protruding blue blood vessels distributed on the back of the skinny hand.

There are three fires in a person’s body, one on each shoulder and then another on the head. Chen Ling, who had a strong yin energy, especially avoided being suddenly patted on the shoulder. He put away the hand and looked at the woman in front of him who was dressed brightly and had long black hair.

The woman was very beautiful, with red lips and black hair. Her long hair fell naturally on both sides of her cheeks, and her facial features were delicate and small.

She smiled and asked softly, “What happened? I was just taking care of the kids in the house when I heard a commotion outside, so I came over to see what was going on.”

As he spoke, his dark eyes moved curiously towards the few villagers who were still commenting on the saplings.

The other party spoke gently, so Chen Ling suppressed his displeasure and said in an equally friendly tone: “Everyone is surprised and very happy that a small sapling has grown in the barren land.”

The woman’s eyes flashed, and she walked past the young man and squeezed in with the group of people.

Chen Ling smiled and shook his head. When he looked away, he accidentally discovered two bruises hidden under the woman’s short sleeves. The bruises were very short, and there were two thin scabbed scars nearby.

The mark looked neither like it was caused by impact nor by scratching.

Chen Ling was not a person who liked to meddle in other people’s business. Without thinking too much, he pulled up his backpack and left.

From Yuhe Mountain to the city, and then to Jiang’s house, they took the main roads. Chen Ling thought the traffic would be extremely congested, but unexpectedly, it was surprisingly smooth. He didn’t even encounter a few red lights.

Mrs. Jiang had been waiting at the gate of the community for a long time. When she saw a green taxi parked on the side of the road, she hurried forward and took the initiative to open the back door for the person inside.

Chen Ling greeted: “Mrs. Jiang.”

Mrs. Jiang nodded. She didn’t want to exchange pleasantries and went straight to the point. “I’ve had people put the things you asked for in the living room. Every member of our Jiang family, whether from the direct bloodline or the branch, is already waiting in the yard. Do you want to go directly to the ancestral grave, or do you have to first explain some precautions to everyone?”

Chen Ling: “Everyone just needs to keep their mouths shut and not talk any nonsense, there is nothing else to pay attention to.”

Thinking of an important thing, he asked, “I’d Mr. Jiang also here?”

“Yes, yes. Doesn’t the relocation of the grave require the presence of the eldest son and grandson? My husband was discharged from the hospital early in the morning, but he is not in good spirits. He can only move around in a wheelchair.” Mrs. Jiang spoke with reservation. Jiang Shengxing’s mental state was not only not good, but was on the verge of collapse. His skin was sallow, his eye bags were dark blue, and his lips were dry and chapped. No matter how much water he drank or how he wiped with a cotton swab, it didn’t help.

There were more than eighty people in the Jiang family, and they drove more than twenty cars. At the end was an extra-long business car, which contained a coffin custom-made for the ancestor.

The coffin is made of the finest golden nanmu wood, which could be placed underground for thousands of years without rotting. In ancient times, it was an imperial-level specification.

The traffic was neatly arranged and they drove in an orderly manner to the woods beside the scenic road.

The forest was just as dead silent as it had been the last time Chen Ling came here. Apart from the trees, there seemed to be no other living things in it.

In fact, the Jiang family would go to the woods to worship their ancestor every Qingming Festival, but when they visited before, the woods were not so desolate. Not to say that it was very lively, but at least it didn’t feel gloomy and depressing as soon as they entered.

Although no one said it, they were all worried.

Jiang Shengxing was pushed by his wife and looked at the lonely grave from a distance. He nervously grasped the armrests on both sides of the wheelchair. The fear in his heart extended infinitely, tightly wrapping his internal organs. His breathing, which had become heavier due to illness, was suppressed to the extreme at this time. He was afraid that he would do something wrong and offend the ancestor again.

Chen Ling walked beside Jiang Shengxing. When they were almost at the ancestral grave, he suddenly turned around and asked, “Where’s the chicken?”

Some people thought that the young man, who did not have any kind of image of an expert, was putting on a show and could not help but sneer. Then they struggled to speak as if someone had covered their mouth.

Pretending to be unaware of this little episode, Chen Ling turned back and saw a skinny boy stumbling towards him carrying a big rooster.

The big rooster’s legs were tied with red ropes, its wings curled up in grievance. With its eyes wide open, it looked unconvinced.

When it met Chen Ling’s eyes, it crowed twice and turned its head to the other side in anger.

Chen Ling threw the big rooster into Jiang Shengxing’s arms: “When a rooster crows it releases its yang energy. It is pure yang and lacks yin. Hold it tight and don’t let it run away. If you encounter any yin objects blocking the way, it can help you clear the way.”

Jiang Shengxing had two impressions of Chen Ling: one, he was too young; two, he had no background.

He didn’t even want to mention the two damn swindlers who had been invited before. The three experts from before, their demeanour, the tone of their voice, coupled with the high-end silk clothes, and the yellow talismans with magic seals that they could easily take out…everything that they did made people feel at ease no matter how they looked at them.

Although the guy in front of him was wearing a solemn white shirt, his face still looked quite young.

From the hair to the tips of his shoes, he exuded the air of a naive student!

If his wife had not said that nothing unusual had happened when she had taken the young man to visit the grave that day, he would probably not have agreed to entrust such an important matter to such a young man.

Is it really true that you can’t judge a book by its cover?

Jiang Shengxing had no idea what was going on. He looked at the rooster in his arms sickly, and felt even more miserable. Who could have thought that he, the head of the Jiang family, would have to carry around a rooster one day!

They walked all the way to the grave safely. Jiang Shengxing’s heart, which was gripped by fear, became lively again. He was surprised and excited. His arms holding the big rooster tightened and trembled slightly.

He turned his head to look at the young man walking on his right, feeling ashamed for his previous distrust and a little unbelievable. His expression became more serious, and the moment the young man stopped, he restrained his expression with unearned respect.

Chen Ling looked at Mrs. Jiang and said, “Let them bring the things up.”

There were quite a few things listed on the note that needed to be purchased, all necessary for setting up the altar. Mrs. Jiang personally walked around to the end of the crowd and led two younger members of the side branch to move the things out.

Chen Ling took out three incense sticks and handed them to Jiang Shengxing, “Explain to the ancestor why the graves need to be moved, and then ask him to continue to bless the Jiang family.”

A well-buried grave could gather Qi, which is beneficial to the descendants who are connected to the meridians. But if the soul of the ancestor is still lying in it, that is absolutely impossible, as it has long been reincarnated. At present, these are just formalities to show the gratitude and respect of the descendants for the ancestors’ blessing on themselves.

Jiang Shengxing did as the young man asked, but in the end, due to his mobility problems, his son burned the incense and paper on his behalf.

After completing this task, it was Chen Ling’s turn to go to the altar. Before he started, he took out his mobile phone from his pocket and asked Jiang Shengxing’s daughter-in-law to help him record his operation process.

Mrs. Jiang was curious: “What is this for…?”

Chen Ling was a little shy but still answered honestly, “It’s for handing in my homework.”