Chapter 49

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Original Title: 挖坟挖出鬼

Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Yaoi

This translation is the product of my limited knowledge of Chinese characters as I attempt to learn the language. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 49

The scene made Lin Yan feel extremely warm. Even though he had never seen Xiao Yu’s diplomatic actions toward other humans other than going straight to strangling, just as he was about to step up to relieve him, the ghost narrowed his eyes and extended his hand towards Yin Zhou, following the etiquette of today’s people: “Hello.”

Even though at such a far distance, the softness in his expression and tone of voice only reminded Lin Yan of one thing. It was like a spring breeze.

Lin Yan scolded the hypocrisy in his heart with a clenched jaw. This scene suddenly felt very familiar. He recalled for a while, the first time Weiwei took him to meet her best friend, he did the same, showing a polite smile, ahead of schedule. He opened the door and paid the bill, the model human being.

All men who met their wife’s friends probably had this kind of virtue. He unconsciously raised the corners of his mouth, smiling foolishly. The little Taoist gave him a deep look. Lin Yan was startled and turned his head to cover it up.

The ghost’s cuffs were embroidered with cloud patterns with silver thread, and he raised his hand to reveal a wrist as green and white as jade.

This time it was Yin Zhou’s turn to be nervous. After hesitating for a while, he lightly squeezed Xiao Yu’s hand. When he retracted his hand, Lin Yan heard a “hah” sound, and he was relieved.

Lin Yan smoked in the tomb passage. Yin Zhou chased after him, shaking his hand in disbelief in front of him, and said in surprise, “The ghost just shook my hand…”

“How did it feel?” Lin Yan teased him.

“It was cold, like ice.” Yin Zhou still couldn’t believe it. His eyes widened, “Holy shit I really touched him. It’s so amazing and so anti-scientific and so incredible.”

Lin Yan puffed out a laugh and pursed his lips. “Just get used to it. I don’t even think he’s cold anymore.”

Yin Zhou pushed against his forehead: “Speaking of which, you’re not funny. If it wasn’t for the fact that I installed a remote-controlled Trojan on your computer when I was looking for your booking information last time, I wanted to make a couple of copies, but they all turned out to be the same thing… Now I don’t know how long you’ve been hiding it.”

“He’s not as perverted and shameless as you used to describe him.”

“Now you’re catching on.” Lin Yan reluctantly pointed behind him towards the door, “The previous blackening state almost killed me.”

Yin Zhou suddenly approached Lin Yan’s ear and said ambiguously, “Hey, you and him, who’s top and who’s bottom?”

“That must be your best bro. I pressed him into bed and ravaged him every day…”

“Unlikely.” Yin Zhou interrupted him dryly.

Lin Yan’s face turned red: “Would it kill you to shut up!”

“… I get it. we’re like the parents here.” Yin Zhou rolled his eyes. “He’s dressed like he’s from a movie. He looks really good. When compared to you, it’s a pity that the young lady is lost in vain.”

The two of them were smoking and chatting with each other. Lin Yan felt that even this scene was similar to the scene when Weiwei introduced him to her best friends. A large group of girls locked him out of the door, chatting and hiding in the room to discuss. He couldn’t hear what the girls were saying, only hearing bursts of laughter.

The current situation was completely reversed. He wondered if Xiao Yu was also hiding behind the wall. Lin Yan lowered his head and touched the tip of his nose, and couldn’t help but snicker.

When he returned, the ghost was waiting obediently beside the coffin and his expression was rather apprehensive. Lin Yan wrapped the royal sash around his waist twice between his fingers and laughed: “He complimented you, saying you look better than me. How come I didn’t see it?”

Xiao Yu also pursed his lips and smiled: “He didn’t look at it right.”

After staying in the coffin for a long time, the pungent musty smell seemed to have faded. Lin Yan opened the bag and took out a series of small tools such as gloves, paper and pen, a camera and a hand shovel. He took a deep breath and stared at the big black coffin. At that moment, he felt that his friends and lovers, both bones and souls, were with him, even though he was in the midst of all this weirdness and uncertainty.

In the past, he was always worried, afraid of the responsibilities on his shoulders, the eyes of the world, and the unpublished test results, but when he stared at a coffin, he calmed down. After experiencing life and death, the spirit becomes stubborn and strong, and mundane disturbances don’t involve him. Only time and memory, life and death, love and hate remain in the decaying and moldy air.

People only understand their narrow-mindedness in the face of time, Lin Yan thought. If there is a couple quarrelling, or a father and son are at odds, take them to see a coffin. Only after touching death, do you realize that what you were thinking about in the first place wasn’t worth it.

A heart suddenly sad and rational, as if outside, no longer knew what fear was. Lin Yan handed the camera to Yin Zhou and stroked the skeleton’s cheek with his fingers. The calcified cratered facial bones were rough and dry. He whispered, afraid of disturbing its long dream: “It won’t hurt. You slowly fall asleep. It’ll all be fine in a while.”

Xiao Yu kissed the back of his hand. Lin Yan smiled at him. He put on the gloves and straightened a section of the neck bone, starting at the shoulder blade, sliding to the chest, and feeling down each vertebra.

“Is this useful? Could the corpse have been searched by those people during the day?” Yin Zhou asked in a low voice.

“Come on. Ask A-Yan. This is archaeology, not tomb raiding. Heritage site protection always takes precedence over research. Do you know how precious a well-preserved body is? No one dares to move it if the on-site inspection equipment isn’t in place. Can’t you see this place is still locked? Besides, the finishing work often lasts for many years, so it’s obviously not the time now.” Lin Yan frowned, “The body is the last word of the deceased, and it is also the most honest thing he has ever said in his life. Listen to it first.”

“Hand me the knife. The burial clothes are waxed and are stuck to the body to get in the way.”

Yin Zhou handed over the dagger meant for self-defence and smacked his tongue in shock: “It’s really okay. Not doing it is one thing. Actually doing it is so perverted. Take it easy. This is your own man.”

“Let me show you what it means to be a professional.”

The blade picked up a bit of fabric on his chest. He cut a small slit vertically and reached in with his fingers to explore.

“We’re breaking the law, right?” Yin Zhou licked his lips, “You said just now that you are protecting…”

Lin Yan glanced at him coldly: “Apart from life and death, what is there to worry about?”

His eyes were stern. Yin Zhou dared not speak and held the camera carefully.

The surroundings were so quiet that the only sound that could be heard was their breathing.

A small, smoky black accessory was picked out from the sternum by the tip of a knife. Yin Zhou took it to the side to take a photo. The details of the shape of the device were captured by the flash on the screen. After zooming in several times, he called everyone to come and look at it.

It was a ring-shaped artifact with notches and a fine pattern.

“A jade split ring?” A-Yan said in surprise, “I’ve only heard of t-this thing being unearthed in the tombs before the Han Dynasty.”

Lin Yan rubbed the surface with his thumb. He shook his head and said, “No, the colour is clearly a Ming imitation of Western Han work. There’s something wrong.”

Yin Zhou was originally staring at the display screen intently, but when he heard this, he quickly turned his head away from it: “Is there a ghost in it too?”

Lin Yan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “I meant with this. A-Yan, we’re familiar with this. Look at the display cabinet in the front hall. Is there an imitation?”

“There are a few pieces of porcelain from the Song Jun kiln and paintings and calligraphy from previous generations, but they all look old and authentic.” A-Yan was very sure.

“Even if you like this shape, you should use old Han Dynasty pieces to accompany the burial for it to mean anything. The antique jade split ring wasn’t worth much at that time. So close to the chest in such an important position… What does it mean?” Lin Yan said to himself. Yin Zhou pointed to Xiao Yu and said you should ask him. The ghost came over to take a look. He shook his head and said he didn’t remember.

Yin Zhou glanced at Xiao Yu sympathetically, but Lin Yan frowned and said suspiciously, “When this thing was put on him, he had already passed away. He had no choice in it. It might be the intention of the embalmer.”

After taking a few more detailed photos, Lin Yan put the jade split ring back on the body and continued to check. He felt down each rib and found a pair of large Ping'an buckles on the side of his waist. Because the colour looked jaundiced and black, the jade was fine, but nothing special. There was a jasper ring finger next to the thumb on each hand. There was a small rotten thread at the end of each tibia, the colour unknown, hanging down to the feet.

A-Yan used the flashlight to observe carefully for a long time and finally shook his head.

“Is it possible that there were bells hanging in this position, and the bells dinged when you walked?” Yin Zhou joked.

“That’s an Indian dancer…” Lin Yan was not interested. After he was finished with the body, he simply took off his gloves and pressed the cloth under him one by one. The embroidery came into contact with the body, and the decaying fluid had been absorbed into it, drying hard. It was a thin, brittle and dark fragment that could not be opened at all. Slowly, he found a bulge and cut it open with the knife. It turned out to be a pair of good combs, made of small-leaf red sandalwood. The two semicircles come together to form a circle, one carved with a butterfly and one with an orchid.

“Die Lian Hua*. This is a token of love?” Lin Yan asked Xiao Yu, “You should have a memory of this one, right?”

*(T/N: 蝶恋花 - translates to Butterflies Love Flowers, a poem by Li Qingzhao. It’s a mourning poem about how, even though butterflies are found in pairs on flowers, this poet was always alone. Here is a much more in-depth analysis of it.)

Xiao Yu put his finger on his forehead. He recalled for a while, and said softly, “No.”

“It’s weird…” Lin Yan couldn’t help muttering, “He can remember the last time he imitated Tang Yin’s paintings. Why can’t these personal objects in the coffin strike a memory?”

He constantly felt that something was strange. No matter how long he discussed it with the young Daoist priest, nothing came of it.

His fingers touched the embroidery under his waist. The pattern was vaguely mandarin ducks, and the stitching was Hunan embroidery. It was very delicate. A large bulge caught his attention. The tip of the knife picked at it, and he drew an appalled breath of horror.

“A wedding dress!” Lin Yan hooked out the pieces. The cold red hadn’t completely faded away. It was inexplicably familiar. Looking carefully at the ornamentation of the fragment, he took several steps back in shock, “I know what’s wrong.”

“Everything in the coffin, except for the jade split ring on the chest, is in pairs, whether they should be in pairs or not.” Lin Yan grabbed the camera and flipped through the photos. His face became even more suspicious. “Look at this waist pendant. What kind of person wears two identical Ping'an buckles on their waist?”

“Who wears a jasper ring on each hand? A comb should be an important token to be buried with its master. Why is it in a pair, too? If these were shared between lovers, shouldn’t one keep one for each person?”

When Lin Yan said this, A-Yan also added in surprise: “Y-Yes, I’ve always felt strange in the front hall. The tableware, ink, and seals outside all come in twos. Even the j-jade hairpins are in pairs.”

Yin Zhou scratched his head: “I don’t understand this. Are pairs more auspicious?”

Lin Yan shook his head with a serious expression: “It’s different. A burial mound is a copy and a reproduction of the daily life of the owner of the tomb. If in a bedroom, if there are two beds, two TVs, two wardrobes, and two writing desks, what does it make you think of?”

“It’s a waste to live alone. If you are a husband and wife, you will probably be divorced soon.” Yin Zhou suddenly kept silent, turned his eyes to the wedding dress under the embroidered quilt in the coffin, and hesitated: “There’s also two of these. The other is…”

"In my possession.” Lin Yan said solemnly.

A picture flashed through his mind. the plain white mourning hall, the sound of mournful crying, someone with a pale face, stroking his remains over and over again, a pair of brocade combs, a pair of jade pendants, hairpins, jasper rings, bowls and chopsticks, even carriages, horses and sedan chairs, the groom’s auspicious clothes were put into the coffin in two pieces, without leaving a single word, turned into a mysterious contract from an ancient era forgotten in time…

What do you want to say? A violent burst of heart palpitations, shocked face and lips turned white, Lin Yan stumbled and pulled the jade split ring out of his chest. He pinched it in his hand and checked it repeatedly, reciting: “A jade split ring has three intentions. The first is a letter apparatus. When you see a jade split ring being worn, it means that the person concerned is severing their relations with you. The second is an accessory. It means that the wearer is decisive in everything and has the temperament of a gentleman. ‘When a gentleman can make a decision, he wears a jade split ring.’ The third is punishment. The offender stays in the realm or in a certain place, and is not allowed to return if he sees the jade split ring.”

Each foreshadows the end, forgetting him in a dark and cold place that will never see the light of day, where life and death will never meet again.

What had he experienced in his life?

Xiao Yu’s face changed dramatically. He snatched the small jade ornament from Lin Yan’s hand and held it in his palm. His strength was too great, his joints were slightly white, his voice was hoarse and sad, and he pushed his shoulder: “I want to find him. Help me find him.”

The man in plain clothes tugged at his hair with his hands. His eyes were chaotic. The deep pain in his eyes was like madness. He suddenly grabbed Lin Yan’s backpack and unbuckled it. Things scattered all over the place, unable to be cleaned up. The last thing that floated down was the big ancient red wedding dress. Its real body had long since decayed, and what Lin Yan saw was its"soul.“ The ghost embraced it in his arms and slowly squatted down. His expression was grotesque and gloomy, and he raised his eyes to look at Lin Yan.

"I’ve waited for a long time.” The ghost murmured, “It’s dark and cold here, and he never came back.”

Lin Yan grabbed Xiao Yu’s shoulder but he was abruptly thrown away. His eyes were piercing, and he said in a hoarse voice, “Go away.”

“… You’re not him.”

A love as deep as this, it was all a joke. The situation suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse. Lin Yan staggered back a few steps as if a basin of cold water was poured down on his. His whole body was frozen numb.

The smell of mould and decay in the air was suddenly strong and pungent. The air that came in wasn’t as much as the air that went out, and he was about to suffocate. Everyone looked at each other. The first to get angry was Yin Zhou, who stepped forward and grabbed Xiao Yu’s front lapel and slammed a heavy old fist into his face. A-Yan stuffed the miscellaneous things scattered on the ground into the bag and dragged Lin Yan out: “Let’s go.”