Chapter 158: Symptoms of Apparent Death

Apparent death, also known as feigned death. In the miscellaneous arts of the jianghu, there is also the technique of feigned death. It is said that during the previous dynasty, the Emperor issued an imperial decree inviting the Daoist Ge Hongwen of the Songyun Temple on Mount Henglu to enter the court as a National Master. That enlightened true cultivator was inconvenient to refuse explicitly, so he feigned death in front of his own temple gate.

At that time, it was the height of summer, and Ge Hongwen's body stank and was covered in flies in an instant. The Emperor's envoy saw this and believed it, so he stopped pestering Ge Hongwen.

However, later someone saw Ge Hongwen in Linzhou. At this time, the new Emperor heard about this and felt that this person really had true talent and learning, so he imitated the late Emperor and invited him to enter the court again. This time, Ge Hongwen repeated his old trick and died again.

Since then, the previous dynasty collapsed, and Ge Hongwen's name faded into the world. No one knew whether he was still alive.

Only Xu Qing, who had performed funeral rites for Ge Hongwen's registered disciple, the cheap "godfather" of Fourth Master Li, the old physician Yang Chunfu, knew that this person was still alive and had a very deep cultivation base.

Looking at the Zhang family young lady who had no breathing and whose pulse had not beaten, Xu Qing didn't think she would use the technique of feigned death.

There are many strange things in the world. Some people's bodies are cold when they die, but when it comes to the funeral, there is a knocking sound in the coffin. This kind is either a corpse scam or "apparent death."

Apparent death is similar to shock. The human body may trigger a certain string and enter a dormant state. At this time, if someone opens the coffin, the person will wake up.

But there are many people who, because of fear, refuse to lift the coffin and still bury the person; there are also those who wake up after being buried.

Such things have not been rare since ancient times. When moving spirits and changing coffins, people found that there were scratch marks and dried blood everywhere on the coffin lid.

Encountering such things, not only does the deceased suffer, but the living also feel uneasy.

If you follow the funeral rules, you stop the corpse for seven days in cold weather, and stop the corpse in a cool place in hot weather. It is reasonable to bury it after two or three days when the body has changed a little.

But the fear is not following the rules, burying the person without stopping the corpse for a day, or burning it with a fire.

Some are even more tragic, burning into a fire person during the cremation, but the deceased wakes up halfway. Even if you want to save them, it is difficult to save them alive, and they will only suffer in vain.

Xu Qing was originally going to move the spirit for the funeral today, but he didn't expect to encounter such a low-probability event.

He had been running a funeral shop for so long, and this kind of thing was the first time he had encountered it.

Beside the grave pit, the foster mother and the chef watched Xu Qing's brows wrinkle and relax from time to time, not knowing what was going on.

Xu Qing looked at the "corpse" of the Zhang family young lady and began to ponder in his heart.

According to common sense, apparent death and shock should be treated with emergency measures, such as artificial respiration.

But who would know this at this time? Even if he asked the foster mother below to help, could that action be done standardly?

It was even more impossible for Xu Qing to go into battle himself. A zombie, what kind of breath would he pass?

If he passed a mouthful of Yin energy, even if it were a lively person, wouldn't they have to die on the spot?

If he didn't do it well, he would be regarded as a psychopathic lecher by the foster mother and the chef, and taken to the official to be tried.

Fortunately, Xu Qing knew enough things. When he performed funeral rites for Ge Hongwen's disciple, Fourth Master Li's cheap "godfather," the old physician Yang Chunfu, he had obtained a medical needle technique of human grade, called "Jia-Yi Acupuncture Method," and three Spirit Pills that could be used for emergencies.

The Jia-Yi Acupuncture Method is a wonderful technique for medical practitioners to treat diseases and save people. This set of acupuncture methods includes stimulation therapy for shock and apparent death.

Even if the acupuncture method didn't work, Xu Qing had the Spirit Pill as a backup plan.

The Spirit Pill can cure a hundred diseases and solve a hundred poisons. If fed to a person who is dying, dying of old age, or dying of illness, it can continue a breath, which can be used to explain the funeral, or recover from a serious illness!

A master who knows the technique of feigned death taught a disciple who knows how to treat the symptoms of apparent death. This is also a coincidence.

Saving people is like fighting a fire. After confirming the treatment plan, Xu Qing didn't hesitate. He saw his wrist flip, and three silver needles were taken out by him from the Mountain and River Map.

Taking the heart, philtrum, and sole of the foot, three acupuncture points, Xu Qing applied needles through the clothes. For the Yongquan point on the sole of the foot, he took off the powder-bottomed soap shoes and applied needles through the burial socks.

Zhang's foster mother and the chef watched Xu Qing perform needle therapy on the corpse, and their hearts were full of doubts. The two looked at each other. The chef asked, but only saw Xu Qing frown and shake his head, as if the physician in the medical hall had encountered a difficult disease.

About three or five breaths, Xu Qing suddenly relaxed his brows and smiled.

The foster mother and the chef didn't understand, until the woman wearing burial clothes in the coffin suddenly gasped and sat up panting violently, the two realized.

My God! The young lady has scammed the corpse!

The chef was so scared that his legs went soft, and the foster mother was so scared that her lips trembled. The two supported each other's wrists. If they hadn't watched Zhang Wan grow up since she was a child, the two would have been paralyzed on the ground long ago.

Xu Qing asked the foster mother to come over to help and serve Zhang Wan, but she was a woman, and seeing the dead body rise, she was terrified in her heart, so how could she be willing to take half a step forward?

Xu Qing said to her: "You are half her mother, and she is half your daughter. Could she harm you?"

Finally, Xu Qing added: "The Zhang family young lady has the symptoms of apparent death, just sleeping. Now that she has woken up, she only needs to be well-nourished to recover as before."

In the coffin, the Zhang family young lady looked at the white-faced youth beside her and the foster mother standing at the edge of the grave pit, and she was also surprised in her heart.

Didn't she hit the wall and seek death? What kind of place is this...

Hearing Xu Qing's explanation, and seeing the blood scab on Zhang Wan's forehead and her weak and pale face, the pity in the foster mother's heart overwhelmed the fear. The two, who had a mother-daughter relationship, hadn't had time to confide in each other before they hugged and cried into a ball.

Xu Qing frowned. The Zhang family young lady had just experienced a life-and-death pass, and her body was weak, so she couldn't afford great sadness and joy.

It was not easy to persuade the two to get out of the grave pit, and Xu Qing asked the foster mother to borrow the gravekeeper's stove to boil soup for Zhang Wan to drink.

During this time, the old man watching the grave came back and saw Zhang Wan sitting on his own kang, and the old man was stunned.

He had been watching the grave for so many years, and he had seen everything, but he had really encountered the resurrection of the dead for the first time.

This life was really not lived in vain!

The Zhang chef saw that Zhang Wan had really come back to life, so he wanted to go back to the Zhang mansion to report the news.

Zhang Wan stopped him upon hearing this.

"People say that the wind and rain in the world are like knives, and only the old eaves of the home are warm, which can make people lick their wounds. But I feel that the words spoken by the family are even more hurtful than knives and swords. If I go back, I'm afraid I won't be able to live for a moment..."

The foster mother and the chef looked at each other. Only Xu Qing looked at the two and said: "Zhiyuan is filial and righteous. The reason he hasn't appeared these days is that he went to the capital to appeal for his father. Zhiyuan should have told Zhang young lady about this, but I don't know whose slander the Zhang family heard, saying that Zhiyuan was lingering in gambling dens, specializing in whoring and gambling, and also saying that County Magistrate Zhang had recruited a prodigal son-in-law."

"What kind of character Zhiyuan has, others may not know, but Zhang young lady is married to him and shares the same bed, so she should know Zhiyuan better than others."

"Slander is like a knife. Now if Zhang young lady goes back to the Zhang mansion, I'm afraid she will be slandered by those with ulterior motives. Instead of that, it's better to clear things up for the time being, rest her body, and wait for Zhiyuan to come back before making plans."

Hearing Xu Qing's words, Zhang Wan was grateful and shed tears again.

For many days, the family only listened to the words of her sister and brother-in-law, and no one was willing to listen to her words. She didn't expect that her husband's friend would be a reasonable person.

Beside her, Zhang's foster mother said indignantly: "Except for the eldest brother-in-law and the eldest sister, who else could spread these words in the mansion? It's just a pity that the foster mother didn't see the faces of these two people earlier, but let you suffer so many grievances."

The foster mother's husband, the Zhang chef, hesitated: "If the young lady doesn't return to the Zhang mansion, she will always need a place to stay. She can't stay in this graveyard..."

Zhang Wan smiled forcedly: "These don't count for much. I'll just find a temple or nunnery to live in. I can eat vegetarian food and chant scriptures on weekdays, and pray for my husband's disaster relief."

Hearing the words "temple or nunnery," Xu Qing instantly thought of the immoral nuns in the Fertility Temple.

"Zhang young lady, a temple or nunnery is not a home after all. If there is no acquaintance to entrust, I'm afraid it won't be very comprehensive. If Zhang young lady is not afraid of hardship and fatigue, she can go to Zhiyuan's home. It just so happens that Zhiyuan's mother is also there. You two can rely on each other as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 159 =====