Chapter 47

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Original Title: 挖坟挖出鬼

Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 47

They searched around the hotel with flashlights until the early hours of the morning before going back to bed. A-Yan still didn’t give up but was dragged back by Yin Zhou. For safety, the little Daoist priest put talismans on the doors and windows. Lin Yan was afraid of Xiao Yu would be unable to bear the ghost-suppressing charm and insisted on not putting them up. He sat on the edge of the bed with his slippers and looked over them, unable to figure out why.

“From now on, don’t go anywhere alone, even in your dreams.” Xiao Yu said thoughtfully, “Remember what you said.”

“What I said?”

Xiao Yu stared out the window at the outline of the rolling hills and said softly: “Don’t stray too far from me, no matter what. Trust me.”

The rotten face in the nightmare flashed across his mind. Lin Yan couldn’t help shuddering. He glanced at Xiao Yu quickly and nodded.

The wind blew even harder, like blowing a sharp and loud whistle. Lin Yan lay on the bed and recalled the dream he had experienced from the beginning. A sudden detail made him grow cold. Did he really never leave the house? The fright made him move towards Xiao Yu’s side. Xiao Yu took advantage of the situation and hugged his waist. He said lightly: “Go to sleep. We’ll find out tomorrow when we take a trip along the road.”

The night was silent, each with a heavy heart.

The next day was actually rare good weather. The sky was blue, the clouds were very white, and the poplar trees on the roadside were blown by the wind, making a rustling sound.

The small restaurant on the first floor of the hotel set up a breakfast stall and was already open for business. The girl moved quickly, scooping doughnuts out of the pot. Lin Yan asked her about the traffic conditions nearby. There was only one bus in town but it didn’t go in the direction of the tomb. The mountain road was difficult to travel. After breakfast, they intercepted an ox cart on the side of the road and sat in the carriage to drive to the ancient tomb.

The dew in the morning hadn’t dried yet. The empty mountains were still. The cuckoo’s cry rang out. The morning fog was drifting in the sun, like a softly hanging mantle of milky white yarn. Persimmon and pine trees loomed in the mist, and the air was slightly cool.

“It’s a nice place.” Yin Zhou praised. “It wouldn’t be a waste of time to have a few days of relaxation.”

The driver, wearing a white cloth jacket, said loudly while driving the ox: “You children really are so playful. We’re known for our good view here, but unfortunately, the place is a bit off.”

“The road isn’t very flat, sit tight.” As soon as he finished speaking, the ox cart drove through a big pit. The three of them weren’t mentally prepared and almost fell. Yin Zhou covered his ass, and the driver laughed heartily.

A-Yan had been staring into the distance in a daze. At this time, he also let out a rare smile. Lin Yan took out a bottle of mineral water and handed it to him, consoling him: “Don’t worry. Now that your master has appeared, at least we can be sure that what he’s doing is related to us. Sooner or later we’ll run into each other again.

The little Daoist held his schoolbag tightly: "I-I’m afraid something has happened to Master…”

Lin Yan shook his head: “Don’t listen to A-Zhou trying to scare us. Although we stayed on the second floor last night, the roof isn’t high up. There are connected bungalows all around. It’s easy to climb up.”

“Let’s worry about ourselves for now.”

A-Yan heard the weariness in his words and didn’t say anything.

The ox cart squeaked slowly and turned onto a gravel-paved dirt road. The road was narrow and bumpy. The branches on the date palm trees on both sides of the road were hanging very low. From time to time, they had to bend over to avoid them. The stone bridges and brick houses disappeared. There are green hills and heavy greenery everywhere. The mountains were surrounded by a natural echo field, and the birdsong was extraordinarily clear and melodious.

The driver put his straw hat on his head and hummed an unknown tune leisurely in a high-pitched and desolate voice.

The ancient tomb was much easier to find than expected. The cattle car rounded a lake and a half-completed parking lot came into view, filled with flatbed trucks carrying sand, gravel and bricks.

After walking for a while, the cart stopped at a square that had just been repaired. At the end, a triple-arched stone pagoda leads to the tomb road. The stone steps were made of green stone, and stone horse sculptures were placed on both sides at regular intervals. The stonemasons were clanking away at the stones. On the ground were piles of Chinese roses that had been cut, and the florist was arranging them in pots for the flower bed.

Surrounded by mountains, the stone steps were lined with ancient trees, crowding the middle of the tomb walkway, which is particularly dark and deep. It seemed as though there was no sunlight all year round.

“It’s inconvenient to get back to town from here. How long will you children play around here? I’ll wait for you at the entrance.” The driver was very simple.

“No, no, I can’t tell what time it’ll be. We’ll find another way when we go back.” Lin Yan paid him while rubbing his ass, which had been through a terrible ordeal.

The driver was very repulsed by the development of the tourist area. He spat on the ground and cursed: “You must go back before dark. This place is inauspicious.” He shook his head and said, “To make money without a clear conscience, this isn’t a place to play around!”

They all got out of the car and stood in a row under the archway.

A-Yan touched the stone pillar and said to herself, “It’s only been two months since it was built, and the moss is already so thick.”

“It’s quite imposing… Why does it feel so different from the tombs we’ve travelled to before?” Yin Zhou folded his arms and rubbed the goosebumps on his arms. “Do you guys think the temperature has dropped? It’s especially cold and eerie around here.”

“Remember the Ming Tombs*?” Lin Yan said softly. “Ming people were very particular about Feng Shui when building tombs, and they often spent years choosing auspicious soils. Taking the Ming Tombs as an example, Yongshou Mountain is surrounded by three sides: east, west, and north. The north side surrounds a small basin. The mausoleum area was built at the foot of the mountain, facing south, with a river in front of it and backed by green mountains, overlooking the south plain from a high place, with a wide view.”

*(T/N: 明十三陵 - mausoleum park of the Ming emperors in Changping district of Beijing)

"You see what’s different about this one?”

Yin Zhou pulled out a long-sleeved shirt and put it on. He hissed and complained: “This isn’t a wide view. It was suffocating to get through the mountain pass. It felt like I won’t see the sun for 800 years and would freeze to death.”

“Hey, this mountain is in the wrong direction, why is it in the south? And we passed a lake just now…”

Lin Yan said coldly: “It’s all reversed. The mountains are in the south, the water is in the north, and the stagnant lake is half-moon-shaped, like a bow enclosing a mausoleum. It’s hard for the people who chose the site to find a greater place of such evil.”

Yin Zhou wondered: “That’s true, but what’s the point of making it like this?”

“The location of the house where people live and the placement of furniture is all about Feng Shui. For example, the kitchen is like a knife, and the southwest is the dominant male area. The kitchen is built in the southwest corner of the house, which is not good for the dominant male, making him prone to dark diseases. Another example is the southeast area for the eldest female position. If a man lives in the southeast, the trigram is called the Sky Wind interaction and means he will have an affair. This is the feng shui used by living people.” Lin Yan frowned.

“The mausoleum where the dead live has even more feng shui precautions. The mausoleum is unlucky, and the deceased can’t sleep peacefully or even be reincarnated.”

The little Daoist priest nodded: “Yes, an official in the M-Ming Dynasty offended the emperor so the emperor paved his tomb with red nitrate and vermilion. The coffin was buried at noon, forming an artificial ‘sea of hellfire’. The soul of the deceased suffered the pain of fire and exposure day after day. It is said that the descendants dug out his corpse, and the bones were charred and carbonized. It’s extremely tragic.”

"The m-mausoleum is about the balance of yin and yang. The place where the official is buried is the Yang. and here is the most yin. The gathering resentment can be used to raise a corpse. The dead are frozen like needles, let alone reincarnation. The opening hour is inauspicious. It’s going to be haunted by zombies.” The young Daoist priest put his hand on the pergola and squinted towards the towering Zhongtiao Mountain: “The dead won’t resist. This is a man-made hell, and the method is very ruthless.”

“I wonder how he got through it.” Lin Yan pursed his lower lip. “The resentment is still accumulating. No wonder the evil spirits are haunted.”

The three walked up the stone steps along the sacred path, passing by the shirtless workers from time to time with white towels on their shoulders. The workers, who rarely saw outsiders, picked up their loads and gave them a curious glance.

Yin Zhou and the little Daoist priest walked in front, and Lin Yan followed behind. The place was a different place from the grassy, forlorn place he remembered. The roar of the cement machine resounded everywhere. In time, more people will come here, vacationing, travelling, children holding the hands of adults, jumping around the coffin, and the gatehouse will sell pamphlets with every artifact unearthed from the grave. What he loved and used during his life will be placed in a glass case for viewing, never to belong to him again.

He didn’t know where Xiao Yu’s home was. Probably for ghosts, the grave was the only home where they could sleep in peace.

“Sorry, it’s like this.” Lin Yan whispered to Xiao Yu.

The ghost didn’t answer. He looked at him deeply, lifted the hem of his clothes, and walked forward with great strides.

The ancient pathway was a long way to a past life that he could not remember.

Lin Yan looked at Xiao Yu’s back and recalled the internship a few months ago with a little warmth. The place where they first met and the story began, the mine lights were brightly lit, the empty crypt was alone, and the good gentleman in white was watching him quietly not far away, his eyes falling, following him to look at the moon again after five hundred years. The world had changed, and there was only one person he could rely on.

More than ever, he wanted to be by his side, say a nice greeting, say that he liked him. Lin Yan walked a few steps closer but the ghost was odd. His body exuded a strange cold aura. His eyes were also extraordinarily cold, and his hands seemed like they were wrapped in porcelain. His knuckle cracked when his fingers curled up, like a walking skeleton.

Lin Yan wanted to chase him, but when he passed A-Yan, the little Daoist held him and shook his head.

“This is his territory, let’s be careful.” A-Yan’s voice was very low. “D-Don’t forget that he’s a ghost.”

“It’s all the same to me.”

A-Yan hummed contemptuously: “The location of this tomb is strange. In case he seeks revenge for what happened in his life, for his untimely death, don’t blame me for not having warned you.”

The stone steps turned straight down after reaching a high point, leading to a square and dark entrance. At the door, a temporary row of bungalows was set up with triple plywood. The entrance was open and a middle-aged man with a black and yellow face flashed out, and he saw the three of them from a distance. Lin Yan came forward to exchange pleasantries, and the middle-aged man immediately showed a warm smile after hearing that he was a student of Professor Chen. Then he went back to the house to get a set of keys and took the three of them in stride towards the tomb passage.

Entering the entrance, the surroundings suddenly darkened, leaving only the dim yellow light of the mineral lamps on both sides.

The tomb passage was located on the central axis of the ancient tomb. The stone walls on both sides and the ceiling were made of green bricks, which were extremely strong. The ancient tomb was very deep. The further down the corridor, the colder and more biting the air felt. The stone corridor was poorly ventilated. There was a musty and pungent stench. A straight ladder was installed deep in the corridor, which can bypass the second half of the tomb passage and go directly down to the bottom of the mausoleum.

The person in charge led the three of them inside and explained the progress of the construction of the museum. Lin Yan didn’t listen very carefully but felt that the surrounding echoes were very loud, and every word he said was buzzing.

The ladder led directly to the main hall, which was very different from the previous one. The rotten wooden figurines and broken jade materials had been cleaned up. The hall was brightly lit. A circle of glass display cabinets were built against the wall. Illuminated by small yellow and orange spotlights, parts of porcelain jade and other burial objects were placed into the display case. Seven or eight cultural relics maintenance personnel in the middle of the main hall were wearing white gloves and were carefully working on the ground.

The person in charge greeted each of them and took a bunch of keys off of his waist: “Here we are. I’ve opened this room now. What should we see first?”

Lin Yan glanced at the location of the main tomb, where a new security door was installed, and the door was tightly closed.

“Can’t we see the burial chamber?”

The person in charge smiled kindly: “Not now. As you saw when you arrived, the location of the tomb is contrary to the burial scriptures. It’s rare that the corpse and coffin have not been damaged by grave robbers after so many years. For fear of exposing the corpse to excessive air, the bones have been sealed up. Until experts arrive to further measure physique, gender, age and paleopathology, we don’t have the right equipment.” He pointed to the sensors piled up on the ground. “This tomb is extremely valuable for studying the status quo of ancient life. No wonder the professor asked you to come and study.”

“After a while, you may take samples and bring them back to the laboratory for research. If you want to see them, wait a few more days.”

Lin Yan was horrified as he imagined a scene where they took Xiao Yu’s thigh bone away.

After walking around in the front hall, Lin Yan and Yin Zhou lowered their voices to discuss their options. He was a little anxious. With that ghost’s temper, he was afraid that, if someone moved his coffin, they would be killed. However, the two discussed with the person in charge for a long time. The middle-aged man just spread his hands, indicating that it was the idea of the superiors, and there was nothing he could do about it. He didn’t have the key to the main tomb, and it was even more impossible for Lin Yan to get close to the corpse. On the other hand, the little Daoist priest had been checking the security door carefully, and while the person in charge was away, he quietly approached Lin Yan and said in a low voice, “I can open this door.”

“B-Besides exorcism, Master has taught me other things.” A-Yan raised the corner of his mouth proudly. “I never thought I’d have a use for it one day.”

“You know how to pick locks?” Lin Yan said in amazement.

“D-Daoism is used in Fengshui tombs, and opening various doors is a craft handed down from the ancestors.”

Lin Yan thought about it for a while, then dragged Yin Zhou and looked around the surrounding situation: “Comrade Technology Emperor, your chance has come. Can the electronic anti-theft alarm system here be disarmed?”

Yin Zhou narrowed his eyes and looked at the alarm with the small red light on the wall. He snapped his fingers: “No problem, just remove it…”

He spoke too loudly and had his foot stomped by Lin Yan. It hurt.

The person in charge turned his head, and the three stood side by side, smiling with infinite innocence.

Actually, Lin Yan squeezed through his teeth: “Where are the night clothes you brought?”

“Commonly used and often available. There’s no harm in being prepared.” Yin Zhou blinked hard.