Chapter 3 The Man Who Came Out of the Coffin

  "Good... like... it's really... a zombie! Otherwise, where did the sun go? Run quickly! Zombies will eat people!" Someone shouted in extreme horror.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!" "Rustle rustle pop!" "Clang!" "Ding dong!"

  The people who came to the funeral were shouting, and they casually threw down the iron hoes, rakes, shovels and other things in their hands, and slipped away like a gust of wind! At this moment, I can only regret that my parents gave birth to two fewer legs.

  "I won't leave! Even if he's a zombie, he's still my Ah Diao..." Ah Diao's mother, Zhang Yueying, struggled free from the Item family members who were trying to drag him away, and knelt by the grave, wailing uncontrollably.

  Only three large, pale-faced men with cold sweats standing by the grave, like autumn leaves trembling in the wind.

  Because their mothers didn't run away, they also don't dare to run around by themselves.

  However!

  One by one, their eyes shone brightly as they stared blankly at the thick coffin in the deep pit.

  The three were not only Ah-Dai's servants but also his childhood playmates. Although Ah-Dai was a bit foolish, the fathers of the three had always been under the protection and kindness of Ah-Dai's father, and after Ah-Dai's father passed away, they really pitied him.

  So they have been desperately maintaining Xiao A's stupidity, making him less loved by his clansmen and some famous public sons who are ridiculed and bullied.

  For this, I've also been beaten up by others, what can you do? As a lowly servant, how dare I argue with the young masters of those wealthy families? Just practice being beaten well - just hug your head, protect your face, and don't let them ruin your looks.

  At this moment!

  In their hearts, they were all jumping up and down, muttering to themselves, seeking the blessings of the gods in the temple, asking them not to swallow those idiots whole, for old times' sake.

  "Tanzi, help the old man down to take a look, my poor Ah-Dai! Died and still can't rest in peace, and now you want him to become a zombie, heavens! My Item family hasn't done anything wrong...... Waaahhh..." Ah-Dai's mother Zhang Yueying wailed sorrowfully.

  This tomb is relatively deep, with a depth of about 6 meters. In order to facilitate the placement of coffins, a dirt staircase was specially repaired to reach the bottom of the tomb pit. After the coffin is placed, sacrifices are made and then filled to the brim and compacted.

  "Madam, it's better if I and the wardrobe, jars, and three others go down to take a look... You don't have to go down. It's messy and not easy to walk below." The sturdy and robust jar, plucking up its courage, spoke in a trembling voice.

  "Alright! Be careful." Zhang looked at the messy grave pit below and thought that it was indeed inconvenient for a woman like herself to go down, so she nodded reluctantly and reminded him.

  The three of them, the vat, the cabinet and the jar, also had to pluck up their courage, trembling with fear, slowly dragging their feet, one step at a time, down into the bottom of the grave.

  I felt a chill run down my spine, cold and piercing, a wave of icy air pouring straight into my neck...

  Three people's collars were all wet, with pea-sized sweat beads rolling down their faces. In fact, there was nothing mysterious about it; the three of them were just psychologically affected.

  With great difficulty, he finally reached the edge of the coffin and stretched out his hand, which was trembling as it touched the surface of the coffin lid.

  "Help! Save me!"

  Xiang Qiushui was also just in time to recharge and make a fresh effort, because the previous bout of crazy shouting, playing, and kicking had indeed left him exhausted.

  "Ah! Tanzi Ge! It seems... it seems the coffin is really moving!" Guizi "hissed" and retreated behind Tanzi, pulling on his collar.

  "Tanzi brother, I also feel... it's arrived." The jar was also severely deformed and stuck together.

  "What's there to be afraid of? Even if our heads were chopped off, it would only leave a bowl-sized scar! I think Young Master won't eat... ours." Actually, Tuanzi was also scared, his legs were trembling with fear, but he was the oldest among the three and usually boasted about how brave he was.

  At this moment, he was also forced to go up the Liangshan Mountain. The main reason is that the hostess is watching them. If he shows a fearful look, I estimate that the cabinet and jar will immediately scatter... He can't lead the way and leave the hostess behind, right?

  "Save me!" Xiang Qiushui shouted again with all his might.

  "Eh! It seems like it's Young Master calling for help!" Tanzi cried out in terror.

  "Hmm! It seems like... we've also heard it." The cupboard and jar chimed in casually.

  The three of them plucked up their courage and approached the coffin, and finally they were able to see clearly under Zhang's urging.

  They brought over iron tools and steel crowbars, "screeching" open the thick coffin, and pulled out Xiang Qiu Shui, who had already turned blue in the face, with a long flow of nosebleeds, exhausted, and with a bird's nest on his head...

  The first thing that caught my eye was a pale and delicate face with tears streaming down, her eyes swollen from crying.

  "Is this really Ah-Dai's mother, Zhang Yueying? She still looks quite elegant, but her spirit is too weak. Alas! The pity of all parents in the world! I lost my parents at a young age and didn't get to enjoy their love in my past life, now I have a mother who loves me, it wasn't in vain that I 'crossed over' into this life." Xiang Qiushui thought with a tinge of sadness in her heart.

  "Ah, stupid! My poor son!" Madam Zhang rushed up and tightly hugged the wretched Xiang Qiushui, crying to the point of a dark and cloudy sky, without daylight.

  Xiang Qiushui didn't struggle, just letting Zhang Shi tightly hug her, thinking of her deceased parents and being separated from Yu Yan Yurong by the heavens, she also accompanied Zhang Shi in sorrow.

  "Mother! Ah-Dai isn't... dead, he just fell asleep. Let's... go back!" Xiang Qiushui said softly.

  At this time, the 'solar eclipse' had passed, and the bright sun shone obliquely, already nearing afternoon.

  The escaped members of the Xiang clan saw that there was no movement and the people in the hall were still calling them, so they plucked up their courage and returned one by one.

  Everyone surrounded Xiang Qiushui, staring unblinkingly. The bolder ones even went forward to touch and feel for a while. After making sure that Xiang Qiushui hadn't undergone 'mutation' and become a zombie, everyone put down their uneasy hearts.

  "Sister-in-law! It's truly worth celebrating that Ah-Dai didn't die! This is the sixth brother being blessed by heaven! Heaven blesses our Xiang family..." A middle-aged man with a kind yet slightly stern face congratulated.

  "Older brother! Ah-Dai is fine now, let's burn these messy things for good luck." Hu Zi La Jiao's second uncle, Xiang Huai Kui, shouted in his usual hoarse voice.

  "Alright! Alright! Burn them all down, Tian Wang and the Xiang family!" Great Uncle Xiang Huairan ordered, stroking his chin whiskers.

  After finishing all these things, a group of people set off in a mighty procession back to the Item Family's large compound.

  Xiang Qiushui lay comfortably in the carriage padded with several layers of cotton quilts, while his mother, Zhang Shi, worried that he had been suffocated in the coffin earlier. To let him rest more, she quietly sat beside him, anxiously gazing at her foolish son, wondering what was on his mind.

  Xiang Qiushui, however, was utilizing this precious rest time to diligently merge Ah Dai's memories. In fact, Ah Dai wasn't stupid; he had simply been shocked by the thunder and suffered from a condition similar to modern-day 'autism'.

  If it were in modern times, he could have gone to see a psychologist or doctor for treatment. Ancient people didn't know what psychological treatment was and wouldn't have known how to patiently guide him. So later on, he rarely spoke at all, his personality became weak and timid, and he became self-abasing and introverted.

  His body is also extremely weak, with a height of over 1.7 meters, like a thin bamboo pole, which falls down in the wind. So he rarely goes out and basically stays at home, knowing little about the situation here.

  He usually sat quietly beside his father reading and writing, and his father also tried to teach him, but he was always taciturn, with a wooden expression on his face. Later, he lost heart and stopped teaching him, letting him play with those books as toys.

  In Ah Diao's consciousness, he is still relatively familiar with his own family. Some elders in the clan call him by name, and he often hears others calling him, so he knows, but he basically doesn't make a sound.

  Sometimes under the pressure of his parents, he would make a few calls, anyway, people in the clan all knew that he was a fool, so no one bothered to argue with him about it.

  After his father's death in the war, there was no pillar to support this family. He often suffered from humiliation by relatives or rich families of different surnames, which made his introversion and inferiority complex even more severe.

  Apart from his own sister Xiang Jinglian, younger brother Xiang Jie, and the four sons of the tenant farmer - Tanzi, Guizi, Guangzi and Xiangzi - basically no one else played with him. He lived a solitary life within this small circle...

  "What bad luck! How did I 'cross over' into a fool's body. If only I could have possessed a prince's body, that would be perfect! However, fortunately, I still crossed over into a young man's body. If I had become a woman after crossing over, it would be even more miserable. Even if I returned to Huaxia and saw Yan Yu again, what could I do? Would I have to undergo plastic surgery and sex reassignment... For now, the most important thing is to figure out this place and understand its situation. Otherwise! If I were to suddenly go blind, how would I survive?" Xiang Qiushui's agitated heart finally calmed down after a long time.

  "Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!"

  The horse-drawn carriage rattled along a narrow, bumpy dirt road, much worse than the unpaved village roads of modern China.

  This place is full of steep and towering mountains that pierce the clouds. The dense ancient trees reach for the sky, with trunks as high as hundreds of meters, and dozens of people holding hands can barely encircle them. It's a bit like the Greater Khingan Mountains in modern China or the primeval forests of Africa.

  Just like the natural scenery depicted in Jurassic Park, the sky is a brilliant blue, the air is fresh and clean, without a single thread of pollution, extremely pure...

  "Alas! I don't know if I can return to Huaxia again. Yan Yu! No matter how difficult it is, Autumn Water brother will think of a way to return to your side, you hang in there! Strive to break through to the 'Pre-Heavenly' stage, that way your lifespan will be at least 200 years, with these long 200 years, I will come back... Wait for me..." Xiang Autumn Water's heart began to feel restless again.

  It wasn't until half a watch later that they arrived at the Item family's large compound.

  Although Ah-Dai's memory already had a somewhat vague impression of this large courtyard, under the support of Tanzi, Xiang Qiushui, who had just gotten off the horse carriage, suddenly saw this majestic, desolate and ancient Xiang family courtyard, and couldn't help but be stunned on the spot, blankly scanning it from all angles.

  Wow!

  A large mansion with a square layout. The length and width are nearly 200 meters, and the height is about ten or so meters, with a total of five floors from top to bottom. The lower two floors are made of huge yellowish-brown stone slabs, on which are ancient green bricks covered in moss, and emerald-green glazed tiles that are home to lichens and other types of plants, likely a building structure combining brick, stone, and wood.

  In front of the gate there were two huge stone lions, with ferocious faces, as if they wanted to devour people.

  Flying eaves and corners, strange beasts crouched on the four corner eaves, just like the guardian gods of this house, majestic and powerful...