Grave Moving Brigade - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – The Dead Infant

Mrs. Jiang gathered her scattered hair and said to the young man with a smile, “If possible, Mr. Chen, please help us prepare the tombstone for our ancestors. I heard that the size of the tombstone is supposed to be very particular. We don’t have a good understanding of this.”

Tombstones are actually included in the business scope, and Chen Ling agreed without hesitation.

After seeing off the Jiang family, Chen Ling ran back to the small courtyard under the scorching sun. In the courtyard, Zhao Xunchang seemed to be in a very bad mood. He stretched out his hand to pinch the arm of his little apprentice and pulled the person who had just passed by back in front of him.

“Tell me, how come you were the one holding clothes of the Jiang family’s ancestors!”

His master’s expression was more serious than ever before. Chen Ling did not dare to be perfunctory and quickly explained the situation in detail.

“You said the clothes flew onto your head by themselves?” This was the first time Zhao Xunchang had heard of such a thing. He looked surprised and astonished, and he wished he could go back in time so that he could be there and experience it all himself.

Chen Ling said helplessly: “The clothes flew into my hands, I definitely couldn’t give them to others out of rules.”

Zhao Xunchang planned to discuss his situation with his fellow disciples. He gave his apprentice a bowl of evil-removing talismanic water and returned to his room to make a video call.

Chen Ling stuck out his tongue in pain and ran to the kitchen with a bitter face to get an iced cola. No matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t drink the talisman water that smelled of cigarette ash as happy water!

The cool, sweet liquid flowed down his throat. After a few sips, the taste of the talisman water finally left his mouth

Chen Ling felt like he was reborn. He put the can down and breathed a sigh of satisfaction. Just as he was about to ask his master if he wanted a can as well, a female voice was heard outside the courtyard gate.

“Hello, is anyone there?”

Chen Ling turned around, walked out with the empty can, threw it into the small trash can beside the gate, and opened the door.

A haggard-looking woman was standing outside the door. Her hair was roughly tied at the back. Her clothes didn’t fit her well and she was wearing a pair of army green rubber shoes.

Chen Ling recognized her as one of the few residents in the village, Zhang Xiaoxia.

“Sister Zhang.” He greeted her with a smile.

Zhang Xiaoxia nodded with a forced smile. She nervously grabbed the corner of her clothes and rubbed them back and forth. She asked stiffly, “I heard that you are going to build a cemetery on the mountain… I want to ask about the price.”

Chen Ling never expected that the second business would come so soon, so he quickly invited the person in.

Because she was nervous, Zhang Xiaoxia didn’t say a word after entering the living room and sitting down. She put her legs together, grabbed her knees with both hands, and looked at the young man who was pouring water for her almost pleadingly.

“Chen…” After a long while, she stammered, “Chen Ling, can I call you that?”

“Of course.” Chen Ling smiled at him with a soothing tone.

Zhang Xiaoxia felt a little relieved. She held the warm water cup with both hands in gratitude. Then she remembered something. Her eyes dimmed and she stammered, “I don’t have much money, only a little more than 20,000 yuan…” She looked at the person opposite her humbly, “I want to buy a tomb for a child. It doesn’t need to be too big. If it’s too expensive, I can pay the balance in instalments slowly.”

“Sister Zhang, from what you said, you want to move the child’s grave?” Zhang Xiaoxia gave birth to a boy about half a year ago, but unfortunately he died young. The child was only three months old and was buried in a wasteland not far from the village.

Chen Ling remembered that the day he and his master arrived at Yuhe Mountain, the child had been buried less than a month ago, and Zhang Xiaoxia cried for her poor child all day long, day and night.

There were two nights when Chen Ling was awakened by the mournful crying.

Tears rolled down Zhang Xiaoxia’s eyes. “I actually don’t want to do that. But my Xiaobao’s grave was dug up at some point. I went to see him this morning and found that the soil was removed, the coffin was overturned on the ground, and the body was lying next to it, without even a cover…”

When Zhang Xiaoxia thought of that scene, she felt angry and sad.

Chen Ling asked: “Is Xiaobao’s body damaged?”

When she heard the word “body”, the wound in Zhang Xiaoxia’s heart was touched. She grabbed her hands that were on her knees suddenly and cried loudly, her voice was heartbreaking and heartbreaking.

Zhao Xunchang had just put down the phone when he heard a sound coming from the direction of the living room. He walked over with his pet parrot, and when he saw Zhang Xiaoxia’s sallow face, his brows frowned.

“Master.” Chen Ling looked up and called out, moving to the side.

Zhao Xunchang sat down next to his young apprentice and asked in a low voice, “What happened?”

Chen Ling shook his head, took out a piece of tissue from the tissue box and handed it to Zhang Xiaoxia.

The tissue was wet with tears and was tightly grasped in Zhang Xiaoxia’s hand. After an unknown amount of time, the woman’s crying gradually stopped.

Zhang Xiaoxia took a deep breath and said with a wry smile, “I’m sorry to have embarrassed you.” She tried to adjust her mood and continued, “Mr. Zhao, since you and Mr. Chen are going to build a cemetery here, you must know some Yin-Yang magic, right? Even if you don’t, you must know someone who knows this.”

Starting a cemetery is not like opening a park. It’s not like just having to plant some trees and grass. Without the essential skills, no one would dare to get involved in the unlucky business related to the dead?

Zhao Xunchang took a sip of tea and said, “I know a little bit.”

“That’s great, that’s great.” Zhang Xiaoxia murmured excitedly, and then looked at the two of them expectantly, “If it’s convenient, can you please come to my house to see our Xiaobao first?”

Zhao Xunchang had recently been accompanying his young apprentice to practise in seclusion again, and he was almost bored. Upon hearing this, he immediately grabbed his young apprentice’s arm and stood up: “Okay.”

Zhang Xiaoxia’s home is in the northwest, very far away from other residents in the village. Surprisingly, a large villa was built next to her home at some point.

From a distance, Chen Ling saw a slim woman lying on the metal railing of the rooftop terrace.

Zhao Xunchang raised his hand and patted his little apprentice on the back of his head, “What are you looking at?!”

Chen Ling whispered, “How come I didn’t know there were small villas in the village.”

Zhang Xiaoxia also saw the woman and suddenly stopped. She clenched her hands into fists, her nails digging into her palms, and her whole body appeared tense and hateful.

“That building was just completed two days ago. I heard it was a steel structure assembled villa, and it was completed in less than ten days.” Zhang Xiaoxia took a deep breath, restraining her surging emotions, and continued, “The person living inside is a lady surnamed Gao. I heard she is in poor health and came here to recuperate.”

Chen Ling: “…”

‘Why don’t you go to a mountain villa or a sanatorium to recuperate? Why choose to come to this wilderness instead?’

The woman lying on the railing pulled her sun hat, with her slender arms on her waist. When she saw something, she suddenly stood up straight and looked in the direction of the three people with her side profile.

A light flashed in Chen Ling’s mind. This was the strange woman who had patted his shoulder before!

“Master, I have seen her.” Chen Ling said to Zhao Xunchang.

Zhao Xunchang narrowed his eyes and did not follow up with Chen Ling’s statement. Instead, he said, “Let’s go to Zhang Xiaoxia’s house first.”

Zhang Xiaoxia’s mother-in-law had always been in poor health, and she was exhausted by the death of her grandson. She died within a few days. Zhang Xiaoxia had planned to clean up the house and go to the city to find her husband, but now Xiaobao’s grave was suddenly destroyed and the house was in a mess. She had no time to clean up, and many things were scattered in the yard, leaving no place to step.

Embarrassedly pushing aside the things blocking the way, she led the two people in, poured two glasses of water, then got up and went to the inner room, and took out a swaddling cloth.

The child was clearly dead, but she treated him as if he were alive, and her movements in holding him horizontally were as gentle as water, for fear of disturbing the baby.

She carefully placed the swaddling clothes on the sofa and opened it, revealing her son sleeping peacefully with his eyes closed.

Surprisingly, the corpse had not decayed. Its face was pale and its lips were black. There was a little dirt from the cemetery on its cheeks. There were several strange dark purple marks on its arms and legs, as if they had been pinched hard by someone.

This is why Zhang Xiaoxia was heartbroken.

The child she had given birth to suffered from illness during his lifetime and still could not find peace after his death.

It is not a good sign for a child to die without decaying. Chen Ling was puzzled but could not bear to look at it any longer. He felt that in the next second, the child would open his eyes and cry out in pain.

Zhao Xunchang asked: “Have you called the police?”

Zhang Xiaoxia was stunned for a moment, wiped her tears and nodded, choking up and saying, “I reported it, but there is no surveillance in the village and nothing can be found. The police took my statement and left, and then told me that Mr. Chen was going to build a cemetery in Yuhe Mountain, and asked me to ask if I could rebury the child in the cemetery. They said that there would be people watching over the child, and it would be safer than burying him in a wasteland.”

Zhao Xunchang turned his head and looked at his apprentice, “What did you see?”

Chen Ling’s cheeks flushed slightly, and he felt that he was a little too inexperienced. He shook his head honestly: “Not yet…”

Zhang Xiaoxia carefully wrapped the baby back in the swaddling clothes and held the baby in her arms again. “I know it’s a luxury to find the people who dug the grave, so right now, I just hope you two can help me appease the soul of the child and rebury him.”

“Did you know that your child’s soul did not leave his body after his death?” Zhao Xunchang suddenly spoke.

Chen Ling was surprised and looked at body again. He finally understood why he always felt that the dead baby would cry. It was because there was a strong smell of corpse and yin on the body.

Such a situation that only occurs when the soul lingers in the body.

Babies who have just died in infancy are most curious and attached to the world of the living. It is very likely that they will linger on after death and stay attached to their own corpses for a long time. As their resentment becomes more serious, they will turn into baby ghosts, full of evil spirits.

The evil energy nourishes the carrier of the baby ghost, preventing the corpse from decaying for a long time.

Chen Ling took out the Sanqing Bell from his pocket. Although the bell did not ring, it was vibrating slightly. This meant that it sensed evil, but could not sense the evil spirit that could hurt people.

It means that Xiaobao’s soul is missing.