Chapter 4 Two Shorts and One Long

  After lighting the incense...

  "Wencai, you go to the front of the grave and light a few sticks of plum blossom incense, I'll go around to the other graves and burn some incense." Qiu Shui said casually.

  Qiu Shui began to burn incense in front of each grave, thinking that the three people from today were absolutely abnormal, especially Wang Li. At the moment when the coffin was opened, Qiu Shui discovered a strange aura emanating from Wang Li's body, which was not the kind of aura emitted by a normal martial artist. Master and Qiu Sheng also returned to take a look, seemingly discovering something and becoming cautious around those three people. Although Qiu Sheng hadn't mastered the Taoist arts, his physical skills were in no way inferior to Qiu Shui's, which was why Ninth Uncle had asked Qiu Shui to stay behind. After all, those three people were living beings, and if there was really something wrong with them, the Taoist arts would be of little use against a robust martial artist full of vital energy.

  As he was thinking, he lit incense for each grave. When he reached the last one, Qiū Shuǐ saw the six words "Tomb of Dǒng Shì Xiǎo Yù" on the tombstone, along with a black and white photo of a smiling girl with a pure face. If this photo weren't on the tombstone, it would be even better.

  "Thank you." Just after finishing his incense prayer, Autumn Water turned around to look for Wen Cai. Before he could take two steps, a soft and weak female voice came from behind him.

  Qiu Shui heard and immediately turned around, only to find that there was no one around, surrounded by tombs everywhere. Although it was daytime, the atmosphere was gloomy and eerie, especially after hearing someone speak just now. If it were Wen Cai, she would have been startled.

  When Qiu Shui looked at the tombstone of Dong Shi Xiao Yu in front of him, there was a strand of yin energy surrounding it. He understood that this Xiao Yu was not the grave of the female ghost in the movie, and it seemed that the voice just now was the voice of this female ghost.

  In the original work, this female ghost wasn't it because Qiū Shēng gave her incense sticks that she later wanted to repay Qiū Shēng. Later she was chased away by Jiǔ Shū. In the original work, she is a pitiful female ghost.

  "Yin and yang are separated, the paths of humans and ghosts are different. Since you've already passed away, why not go reincarnate?" Qiu Shui sighed and said with a hint of sadness, recalling the pitiful life of this female ghost from the original story.

  After finishing speaking, there was no response, Qiū Shuǐ thought, probably left already.

  "Autumn water! Autumn water!" Suddenly, Wen Cai hurriedly ran over, still shouting loudly, with a stick of incense in his hand.

  "What's wrong, speak slowly." Qiu Shui said with some surprise as she saw Wen Cai in a fluster.

  "Autumn water, look, how can it be like this?" Wen Cai stretched out his hand with the incense and asked doubtfully.

  When Qiū Shuǐ saw the incense in Wén Cái's hand, she was startled and quickly took it over to look at it. The incense had been burned into two short ones and one long one. Suddenly, she remembered that there was indeed such a scene in the original work. How hateful, she had actually forgotten this detail.

  "Go, quickly return to the Yi Manor." Chūshuǐ thought that the events in the original work were happening one by one, but those three bodyguards of Lǎo Yé didn't exist in the original work. Moreover, looking at those three people's robust vitality, they would absolutely have no problem dealing with a newly turned zombie Lǎo Tàiyé. Thinking about it, when they opened the coffin today, Lǎo Tàiyé's corpse hadn't rotted for twenty years, which was already suspicious even for an ordinary person, but those three people didn't show any surprise in their eyes, only greed, staring at the corpse with greed, absolutely not right.

  Qiu Shui and Wen Cai returned to the righteous village after sunset.

  "Master! Master!" Wenchai hastily ran into the righteous hall and shouted loudly.

  "What's all the shouting about? Did you see a ghost?" came Nine Uncle's impatient voice from the mortuary.

  "Master, look." Wentian hastily handed the incense over to Ninth Uncle.

  Jiǔ shū kàn dào shǒu zhōng de xiāng hòu, yǎn tóng suō le yī xià, biǎo qíng dōu biàn de níng zhòng qǐ lái.

  Translation:

  The ninth uncle's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the incense in his hand, and his expression became solemn.

  "Ah, people fear three long and two short, incense fears two short and one long, yet it's burnt to this state!" He put down the incense and sighed, "With such incense in our home, someone is bound to die."

  "Is it at Old Master Ren's house?"

  "Is it really like this!" Ninth Uncle glared at Wen Cai and said after hearing his words.

  "It's none of my business, I don't care." Wen Cai looked like she didn't have a heart or lungs, and casually went to grab the offerings on the incense table to eat.

  "Will something happen to Lao Ye's daughter?" Qiu Sheng asked Jiū Shū after hearing. Wen Cai, who overheard the conversation, waved his hand impatiently and said, "Anyway, those with the surname Ren will be in trouble... Ah, Tingting!" After finishing speaking, he suddenly realized that his heartthrob was from the Ren family.

  Qiu Sheng sneered, "Isn't it said that one shouldn't interfere in others' affairs and everyone has their own fate?" Wen Cai, who was also present, didn't mind and said to Qiu Sheng, "Hey, you can't say that. If we can save the person's life, then getting married won't be a problem." After finishing speaking, Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai hastily ran to Master's side and said, "Master, think of a solution."

  "I had already made up my mind about this, otherwise I would have brought the coffin back." said Ninth Uncle, looking at the coffin with a solemn expression.

  "Is there something wrong with this coffin?" Wenchai hastily said.

  "The coffin is fine, it's the corpse that's the problem." said Ninth Uncle as he walked and pondered.

  Wencai and Qiusheng heard this and also felt that something was not right, muttering to each other: "Yes, it's been twenty years, and yet it hasn't rotted away." After saying this, they suddenly thought of something and hastily came to the head of the coffin, using their combined strength to push open the coffin lid.

  "Wow! We're rich!" The two exclaimed in surprise at what they saw inside the coffin.

  Qiu Shui and Jiu Shu heard the two people's conversation, and hurriedly ran to the coffin. Suddenly, they saw that the skin on Ren Lao Taizai's face in the coffin was all wrinkled, and his hands had black fingernails that were exceptionally sharp and long.

  "Cover it up quickly!" Ninth Uncle and Qiushui said in unison.

  Jiǔ shū kàn dào guān cái gài shàng hòu, duì zhe wén cái qiū shēng shuō: "zhǔn bèi zhǐ bǐ mò jiàn."

  English Translation:

  The ninth uncle looked at the coffin lid and said to Wen Caiqiu: "Prepare paper, pen, ink, knife, and sword."

  "What." Akio asked in unison with Bunji's astonished voice. Aki, who was standing next to them, shook her head and said, "Yellow paper, red pen, black ink, kitchen knife, wooden sword."

  Jiushu set up the altar, Autumn killed a chicken, poured the chicken blood into a bowl and placed it on the table. Jiushu inserted two fingers into the bowl filled with glutinous rice, brought out a grain of glutinous rice on his fingertips, held it over the candle flame, the glutinous rice was ignited instantly, then threw the burning glutinous rice into the chicken blood, poured ink into the bowl and stirred with two fingers. Then covered the bowl with the Bagua mirror, poured the liquid in the bowl into the inkstone.

  After the ceremony, Ninth Uncle handed over the inkstone to Wen Cai and Autumn Sheng, letting them tap on the coffin. However, Autumn Water said worriedly beside him, "Master, I think it's not just this corpse that has a problem, but also the person!"

  "Who has a problem?" Wen Cai suddenly interjected beside Qiu Shui.

  Jiu Shu glared at Wen Cai and lit the incense on the candle, saying: "The corpse in the coffin is about to become a zombie, and the person is one of the three people who have been coming to our Rensheng An's house for the past few days."

  Wencai heard the ninth uncle's words and asked with some doubts: "How can a corpse become a zombie?"

  Jiu Shu said with a hateful tone, "The corpse became a zombie because it had an extra breath." Qiu Sheng heard this and asked doubtfully, "An extra breath? What do you mean?"

  "A person, before dying, gets angry, choked with rage, and after death, there will be a breath stuck in the throat." Today, Ninth Uncle also helped his two apprentices to sweep away their ignorance.

  "What's wrong with those three people who often come to our charity house these days?" asked Wencai, as a good student.

  Only to see autumn water face color gloomy said: "Today those three strange dress people in opening coffin, eyes actually revealed greedy and fear, from this it can be seen that they know what is lying in the coffin, but those three people as Ren Lao Ye's bodyguards, actually pretending to know nothing, really not normal! And after the coffin was opened, Wang Li's body had an unnatural aura!"

  Ninth Uncle nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad, observed carefully enough." Then he turned his head and said fiercely to Wen Caiqiu: "You two also give me some face, don't spend all day not doing your job properly, otherwise that day you won't even know how to die."

  "Today, Wang Li from the Ren family is emitting an aura that even I don't understand what it is, but it gives people a feeling of being stared at by a pack of wolves and tigers. Alright, Autumn Water and Wen Cai, you two be careful around those three people. In short, be cautious." Ninth Uncle said seriously to Wen Cai and Autumn Water. The two saw the master's serious expression and knew that things were not simple, changing their usual tone, they replied solemnly: "Understood, Master."

  Jiushu saw that everything was fine and said to Qiushui, "Qiushui, you see them two people have already nailed the coffin, remember to nail it up."

  "Don't worry, Master." Qiu Shui replied with a serious face.

  "Ah, you three, only you can make me feel at ease." Ninth Uncle said with satisfaction, then turned to Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng: "You two, usually don't have anything better to do, learn some skills, don't mess up at critical moments."

  "Got it, Master." Chusheng Wenchang reluctantly replied with a mouthful of discontent.

  "Alas!" Ninth Uncle sighed and shook his head as he walked away.

  Qiu Shui saw Jiu Shu walk away and turned to see Wen Cai Qiu Sheng playing the inkstone on the coffin. He remembered that in the original book, it was only after falling to the bottom of the coffin that the zombie escaped. He thought to himself, "You two should hurry up and play, you know that when a zombie comes out, the first person it looks for is its own relatives. If you don't want Miss Ren to become a zombie, then stop complaining." The two people were shocked after hearing this and quickly buried their heads in work.

  "The autumn water has all been played." After playing, Qiu Sheng's eyes rolled around and looked at Qiu Shui, saying that the tone was twisted and awkward, just like a little girl.

  As soon as Qiu Shui saw the two eyeballs of Qiu Sheng, he knew that this kid had some evil thoughts again. Wen Cai didn't have such evil intentions. "If you have something to say, just say it, don't play any tricks on me." Qiu Shui didn't have time to play with him, and as soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly remembered that the two people at the bottom of the coffin hadn't been shot yet. He was almost distracted by this kid and forgot about it, which was a matter of life and death, and absolutely couldn't be taken lightly.

  "You two can't be so careless, the coffin's bottom hasn't been nailed yet. If this thing really gets out, it won't just be one or two people who die." Qiu Shui said seriously to the two of them.

  Wencai and Qiusheng were shocked by this, and they quickly went to tap the bottom of the coffin. Although these two people are usually serious, when it comes to important matters, they can also distinguish between what is important and what is not.

  "Autumn water, Miss Ren's family, don't you have any thoughts?" Autumn water said while playing the instrument, her eyes still slanting towards Autumn water. Wen Cai reacted immediately after hearing this, his eyes tightly staring at Autumn water, wanting to know the answer.

  Qiu Shui heard the two people's conversation and was both angry and amused. It seemed that these two were really concerned about Miss Ren's family. Facing the two, she said helplessly: "You two can rest assured, before I learn all of Master's skills, I haven't thought about getting married."

  The two of them felt as if they had put down a stone in their hearts, and their faces immediately became joyful and energetic as they struggled against the coffin.