Chapter 306

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Wang Dashan originally had no intention of going, but later he thought, since he had nothing to do staying at home anyway, he might as well go help with the grave relocation, improve his feng shui a bit, and perhaps his business would get better and better in the future, so he agreed to go.

Wang Erhai didn't care whether he went or not; Wang Changgen called him, so he went.

What was surprising was that Wang Xiaohua actually agreed as well, and also went along to dig up the grave.

The reason he wanted to go was entirely driven by curiosity; he wanted to understand the custom of bone collection and grave relocation, and also wanted to see what human bones actually looked like.

It was not out of reverence for feng shui, nor out of longing for his grandfather.

His grandfather had passed away before he was born; he had never even met him once, so naturally there could be no feelings.

The Geography Master took out a compass from the toolbox, fiddled with it to calculate, and said eleven o'clock this morning was a good time to set off; additionally, he calculated the zodiac clashes, and the result was that those born in the Year of the Ox and the Year of the Snake needed to avoid it.

Fortunately, the three brothers were none of them born in the Year of the Rat or Snake; the three brothers, one was born in the Year of the Horse, one in the Year of the Goat, one in the Year of the Rooster; additionally, Wang Changgen was born in the Year of the Rat and Tiger, Wang Zhangtian in the Year of the Rat.

Wang Zhangtian's son Wang Yaohua happened to be born in the Year of the Snake, but he had not returned.

After finishing breakfast, the group busied themselves and killed another big rooster.

The chicken killed yesterday hadn't even been finished eating, and today they killed another one.

Today's chicken was for the grave-sweeping, it was different.

When killing the chicken, the chicken blood needed to be sprinkled on some yellow paper, to make blood paper.

Using blood paper for grave-sweeping is one of the customs here.

In a blink it reached eleven o'clock; the Wang family men, carrying hoes, iron shovels, machetes, straw mats, black umbrellas, a small bucket of tea oil, offerings, and a newly bought golden urn, among other things, set off to dig the grave.

Li Xiulan and Zhao Lifen, the two women, stayed at home to make the noon meal.

So that when they returned, they could eat steaming hot lunch.

Around eleven-thirty, they arrived in front of the old man's grave mound.

The Geography Master circled the grave mound, muttering incantations and performing rites.

After the rites were done, they could begin breaking ground.

The Geography Master said, breaking ground has rules; it must be done by the eldest son digging the first spade of earth.

So he had Wang Zhangtian take the iron shovel and dig the first spade of earth.

After Wang Zhangtian dug the first spade of earth, Wang Changgen and his three sons went together to help dig the grave.

Very quickly, the large grave mound was dug flat, revealing the lid of the old golden urn, a large porcelain bowl inverted on top.

The golden urn is the vessel used here to hold the deceased's bones; it is a earth-yellow porcelain jar knee-high and the size of a small water bucket; the mouth of the golden urn is very small, a single bowl can cover it; the body of the golden urn has two small "ears" for convenient carrying.

Once the golden urn's lid is dug out, there is no need to continue digging downward.

One only needs to open the large porcelain bowl inverted on top of the golden urn, and bone collection can begin.

Bone collection is performed by the Geography Master.

This kind of thing must be done by a professional; ordinary people can't do it; if an ordinary person reaches into the golden urn to take bones, they will certainly feel repulsed in their heart; additionally, if the technique is not proper, the bones might be crushed, and that would be very inauspicious.

The Geography Master has many years of experience.

He put on gloves, spread a straw mat beside him, and had Wang Dashan help hold an umbrella over his head to avoid direct sunlight hitting the golden urn, then began reaching in to collect the bones.

The moment his hand reached in, the Geography Master's old face couldn't help but freeze in shock.

"Ruined."

These two words suddenly popped out of his mouth.

This made Wang Changgen and Wang Zhangtian immediately tense up.

"What's wrong, Master?"

Wang Changgen hurriedly asked.

"Pestilence evil has invaded; I said, this land's feng shui isn't bad, why is your fortune so poor? Turns out it's pestilence evil causing trouble."

The Geography Master grabbed a handful of something from inside the golden urn.

It was shockingly a white ant nest.

On top were dense masses of white ants crawling chaotically.

Wang Changgen and Zhangtian both immediately wore faces full of surprise.

"The golden urn's lid hasn't even been opened, how did these white ants burrow in?"

"Probably the golden urn's body cracked; this golden urn isn't buried deep, plus its own quality wasn't great, years of wind, rain, and sun, thermal expansion and contraction, over time it cracked; as long as there's a tiny gap, white ants can burrow in."

Before the Geography Master could speak, Wang Xiaohua at the side explained the reason from a scientific angle.

However, Wang Changgen and Wang Zhangtian both did not believe his words.

Wang Changgen even rebuked:

"Did I tell you to speak? Shut your mouth, listen to what the Master says."

The Geography Master, however, said:

"I can't make a definitive judgment right now; let's first collect all the golden bones, then assess the situation."

Wang Changgen and Wang Zhangtian nodded repeatedly.

"Then Master, please hurry and proceed!"

The Geography Master reached into the golden urn again, carefully extracting a complete skull.

The skull had a white ant nest attached to it; white ants crawled in and out of the skull's two eye sockets, looking somewhat eerie, somewhat terrifying.

This time not only were Wang Changgen and Wang Zhangtian surprised, even Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai wore faces full of astonishment.

This is too eerie!

The Geography Master also wore a heavy expression, muttering:

"I've been in this line of work for so many years, and this is the first time I've seen such a situation. It really is a plague of evil spirits invading. These Baiji aren't just gnawing on these bones—they're also eating away at the feng shui of your two families. Fortunately, it was discovered early. If it had been delayed another year or so, the bones would have been gnawed away completely, and by then you would have suffered great calamity."

Then he continued collecting bones.

Every bone pulled out had more or less some Baiji clinging to it.

It wasn't until past noon that all the bones were finally dug out.

Many bones had been hollowed out by the Baiji.

The Geography Master used a small knife to scrape off the Baiji Chaosu attached to them, then wiped them clean with tea oil, placing the cleaned bones one by one in order on a straw mat to air-dry in the shade.

After drying for over an hour, they were nearly dry, so the bones were placed one by one in order into the newly brought Golden Urn.

Once these procedures were done, the bone collection was complete.

The Golden Urn was carried to a cool, shaded place out of the wind to be set down, and after a few days, on October 4th, it would be carried to the pre-selected Feng Shui Treasure Land for burial.

On the way back, Wang Zhanggen muttered to himself:

"I told you, how did I inexplicably burn your car? It really is feng shui causing trouble! When I suddenly had a cerebral infarction before, that was definitely feng shui causing trouble too!"

Wang Dashan said nothing, but deep down he somewhat agreed with his father's words.

In the first half of the year, everything went wrong for him—breaking up with his girlfriend was one thing, and his company nearly went bankrupt. Perhaps this was feng shui causing trouble.

After all, he was so capable; as a salesperson before starting his company he did so well, but after starting the company he couldn't close a single deal. If it wasn't feng shui causing trouble, he couldn't find any other reason.

In the second half of the year his company had just started to improve a little, but now, driving home for the holiday, his own father inexplicably burned his car. Some things happen without reason, as if an invisible hand were controlling them.

And that invisible hand was feng shui.

Sometimes, some things, you just can't explain them; if you don't believe in feng shui, that won't do either.

……