In addition, there was a dark green water tank not too far away, which could fit three to four people at a glance.
Just now, Zhu Qimei had told Su Hong that this wife of Jiang Youcai had fainted while he was being fed with pigs in the pig shed, then rolled his eyes and died. The state of death was quite tragic, to be bitten by a few pigs of his own family. If not for the fact that they found out earlier, the entire corpse would have been eaten by the pigs.
Su Hong felt that it was strange. How could she die just because she fainted? What was the cause of death?
After walking into the crowd, Zheng Weide quietly said to Su Hong, this Jiang Youcai could be considered to have some relationship with him a few years ago, and would not be going out with him in the recent years, as his family had a lot of weird things to do, and was extremely eccentric.
Actually, it was not only Jiang Youcai's family, but the other people in the village also felt that there was something strange about them. None of them seemed very happy, and they were all in low spirits. One face after another appeared sickly, especially for the elderly, who were basically as thin as a twig, ready to fall at any moment.
Su Hong had also observed some of the small details. It was just that a lot of people in the village seemed to have problems with their fingernails, always picking at something, even using their nails to scratch the trees or walls. Just listening to this sound made them feel uncomfortable.
Including Zhu Qimei, she would often scratch her skin with the fingers of her hands as if scratching an itch, maybe she didn't even realize it herself.
Besides, the village stinks worse than it did yesterday. Su Hong was sure that this corpse had nothing to do with it.
When everyone had arrived, the burial ceremony officially began.
First of all, all of Jiang Youcai's family members were kneeling on the ground. A person was crying, and the leader cried for around 15 minutes. Immediately after, an old man went over to the corpse's side and used a dialect to talk. Su Hong did not understand, but he knew that this kind of words did not have much content. At the same time, another old man ordered someone to clean the water tank.
Not long after, all the preparations were completed. Everyone in the family bade farewell to Jiang Youcai's wife, crying their hearts out.
Then, the two strong men lifted up the corpses and slowly put them into the water vat. The two old men each took a bag of solution and slowly poured it into the vat. Su Hong could see clearly that the potion was of a deep red color. He was curious about the composition of the potion, how could the potion shrink a person's body through dissolution or corruption.
At this moment, the crowd surged, but they didn't leave the stage. Zheng Gaang told Su Hong that it would take around an hour before the corpse would be soaked, so he did not run away anymore.
Su Hong obediently sat on the rock to rest.
An hour later, the two old men looked into the vat, nodded to each other, and had the vat rinsed with clear water. Only when all the water was gone did they allow the body to be carried.
Su Hong instantly saw a pitch black charcoal-like corpse being carried out of the water vat. Its size was indeed much smaller than before, becoming a cadaver with a body like a child. The corpse was still dripping either oil or water, but it was quickly filled with a white bag.
This scene made Su Hong feel a wave of disgust.
Zheng Gaang patted Su Hong's shoulder, and laughed: "How is it, you're not used to it?"
Su Hong nodded.
Immediately, Su Hong remembered something. It was about Zheng Huiling. She was confused. Zheng Huiling was considered an upright and upright person in the village. She also died in the village, but why did she get cremated and not get her corpse soaked?
He decided to find an opportunity to ask.
The next ceremony was to seal the cadaver into a tree trunk.
At this moment, almost everyone's gaze turned towards a large ginkgo tree not far away. Su Hong finally noticed that there was a black cloth stuck to the trunk of the tree.
He saw that someone had lifted the black cloth and revealed a round hole in the tree trunk. It seemed as if it had been cut open. Afterwards, another person swiftly placed the cadaver into the hole in the tree, filling it up with straw.
In the end, that person used a nail to nail down the four corners of the black cloth. The entire ceremony had been completed.
Su Hong took a deep breath.
At the same time, Su Miao's condition at Zheng Wang De's house became more and more serious, her fever approaching 40 degrees.
"Miao, don't you feel uncomfortable?" Su Qin asked with concern.
Su Miao nodded.
Su Qin realized that Su Miao's mental state was really bad, and his father was not by his side. She began to be afraid.
If something were to happen to Su Miao, how would she explain this to her father and her dead mother?
After thinking about it, she decided to bring Su Miao to find her father, her maternal grandfather and the others.
There must be a doctor in the village, but she didn't know him.
Therefore, Su Qin put on a big cotton-padded jacket for Su Miao, carried her on her back, and pushed the door open.
It was frighteningly dark outside, especially since the roofs of every house in the village were made of black tiles. Su Qin had never experienced such a scene before, and her heart couldn't help but pound.
The problem now was that she only knew what ritual her father was going to attend with her grandparents, but she didn't know where it was, so she had to look around the village.
Su Miao, who was carried on her back, had already fallen asleep.
After searching for a while, she discovered something. Why was the village so empty? Everyone had disappeared. Could it be that everyone had gone to attend some sort of ceremony?
She guessed that was right.
Su Miao wasn't young after all, and had a little weight. Therefore, not long after she walked, Su Qin was already extremely exhausted, and there weren't any people around who could ask questions. At this moment, she discovered that there seemed to be a stone bridge in front of them.
Why did it seem so? It was because the fog tonight was so thick that it was difficult to see clearly. The stone bridge was just barely visible in the fog. Not only that, there were also sounds coming from the bridge. It sounded like footsteps.
Su Qin thought that there might be people, but for some reason, she felt afraid and retracted her foot.
The footsteps grew further and further away.
She gathered up her courage and slowly approached the bridge.
Finally, she clearly saw that it was a stone bridge, and there were people on it, more than one. In front of her was a row of children walking in a neat line towards the other end of the stone bridge, led by a disheveled adult with a peculiar posture.
However, what surprised Su Qin the most was that all of these children were wearing birthday clothes. She could tell that the birthday clothes belonged to that shop, and they were the exact same size as the children's clothes.
She also saw a river under the bridge, part of it frozen. On the other side of the river, there was an even thicker fog, as well as numerous towering trees.
The scene of the night mist, the stone bridge, the river, and the strange people walking in a row was extremely strange.
Su Qin even had an association with them, as if the strange person and the children in front of him were not living people, but corpses that were rushing to the underworld without even looking back.
Su Qin watched as they walked to the other side of the river, not even daring to breathe.
Her mind was blank.
When she could no longer see the backs of those people, she heaved a sigh of relief. She subconsciously turned her head to look at Su Miao and discovered that she was still sleeping.
Whether those people were human or ghosts, she decided, she didn't want to think too much about it.
She carried Su Miao on her back and set off once again.
After circling around a pitch-black hillside, she finally saw a few people up ahead, whispering to each other. This scene made her feel a lot more at ease because it was obvious that those people were all alive.
After some questioning, she found out what kind of burial ceremony was going on in the village. She didn't know what was going on, so she immediately ran towards the location.
After successfully arriving at Jiang Youcai's house, Su Miao just happened to be awake, and said that she wanted to walk by herself, but she had already dispersed, other than the light of Jiang Youcai's house, who was not far away.
Su Miao didn't know what had happened, and asked his sister what she was doing. Su Qin replied and said that she was going to look for her father.
Su Qin casually touched Su Miao's forehead and felt that it was still very hot.
While still in a daze, Su Qin heard some strange noises behind her. The sounds were light, if not for the fact that this place was terrifyingly quiet, she would never have heard it.
She turned her head slowly.
The experience just now had made her a little tense.
"Elder sister, what are you looking at?" Su Miao did not understand and turned her head together with Su Qin.
The two of them saw a large ginkgo tree behind them.
The tree was about the height of a ginkgo tree, but there was a square piece of black cloth pinned to the trunk.
Su Qin had a rather shallow understanding of Flower Snake Village, so she naturally did not know that all the ginkgo trees in the village that were nailed to black cloth were all package cadaver s.
Su Miao excitedly went in front of the tree and touched the black cloth. Because of the height of the black cloth, Su Miao was able to reach it by tiptoeing.
"Miao, don't touch it carelessly." Su Qin quickly pulled Su Miao's hand away, although she did not know what this black cloth was used for.
She always felt that this tree was a little strange, different from the other ginkgo trees.
"Sis, let's play after taking off the cloth?" Su Miao suggested.
"No, this could be done on purpose. Look, there are still nails on top."
"Why up?"
"I don't know."
Just as Su Qin was about to leave, suddenly, she heard the strange sound again. She heard it very clearly this time, because the strange sound was coming from inside the gingko tree!
"Crack crack crack …" "Crack, crack, crack …"
The sound was especially soft.
Su Qin held Su Miao tightly. After listening to it for a while, she felt that someone was using their nails to scratch the tree trunk.
"What is that sound?" Su Miao asked her sister softly.
Su Qin shook her head.
The sound soon stopped.
After a while, the sound came again.
Su Qin realized that the sounds were intermittent. She was more and more sure that the source of the sounds was from inside the tree trunk, so she guessed that it was probably from some small animals.
There was a trace of fear, but she wanted to find out what was going on, so she went back to the tree and tried to fiddle with the black cloth.
Su Miao stood to the side and watched quietly.
Su Qin lifted the black cloth slightly and touched a ball of straw with her fingers.
So it was a ball of straw. she thought.
However, the problem was, how could there be a sound coming from a pile of straw?
She did not think too much and directly stuck two fingers into the straw, trying to find out what was inside the tree trunk.
In the end, even after half a day, it was still just a bunch of straw.
She decided to go deeper.
She put her whole hand in the straw and fiddled with it.