Folk Tale When a husband is killed, he has to do a funeral, and he tells his wife a dream at night not to be buried
During the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, a carpenter named Li Haisheng in Qingzhou often worked with the carpentry team in the village. The team consisted of five or six people, who knew each other well and went to the construction site together when they had a job.
One day, the carpentry class received an important project, and in order not to delay the construction period, the group decided to rush to the construction site in Liuzhou overnight.
However, there was heavy rain on the way, and the mountain road was muddy and rugged. Under the rain, the carriage suddenly skidded halfway up the mountain, and the group fell into the abyss with the carriage.
The tragic news soon reached the village, and everyone rushed to the place where the incident occurred. While all the members of the carpentry class were found, none survived.
The families returned with the bodies, and each loved one endured untold suffering. Li Haisheng's wife also endured heavy grief, but her belief in her husband as if he had never died remained unchanged.
That night, Li Haisheng's wife dreamed that her husband came home, and he told her: "Don't bury me, I will come back to life in the first half of the year!"”
After his wife woke up, she hurriedly came to Li Haisheng's side to check. He was found to be still unconscious, his body was still slightly warm, but he was not breathing at all, and he did not look like a living person at all.
However, convinced that her husband's dream must have a deep meaning, the wife decided to keep her husband's "body" instead of burying it with the other victims, despite the persuasion of others.
Li Haisheng did not eat or drink, and fell into a deep coma every day. The villagers called him the "living dead", believing that such an existence was meaningless.
However, his wife persevered, took good care of him every day, and looked forward to a miracle.
Half a year passed in a hurry, and one day, his wife came to wipe Li Haisheng's body as usual. Unexpectedly, after wiping, Li Haisheng took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes, as if he had woken up from death.
The wife was pleasantly surprised, and after confirming that it was not a dream, the couple hugged each other and cried.
After the silence, Li Haisheng asked his wife to invite his uncle. When the uncle heard that his nephew had come back to life, he hurried over.
Li Haisheng asked his uncle: "Uncle, do you remember Zhou Xiucai from Linxian?"”
The uncle replied: "Of course, I remember that Zhou Xiucai is very talented, and I once had a good relationship with him because I valued his talent and conduct, and often sponsored him with some gold and silver. It's a pity that he didn't meet at the right time, repeatedly failed the exam, and finally became disheartened and found a short-sighted end, so I prepared a funeral for him. ”
Li Haisheng said affectionately: "My life and death adventure is completely due to Zhou Xiucai's careful help!."He then recounted in detail what had happened to him.
At the beginning, after the group fell off the cliff, everyone's lives ended. Their souls were taken by demons to the Netherworld, a time when a massive hell expansion project was underway. The ghost judge himself ordered them to be recorded in a book, and they were temporarily employed as laborers here.
There is a good saying, nephews are like uncles. This is evident in the many people who go to the ghost register to register. When it was Li Haisheng's turn, the ghost book glanced up at him and asked in surprise, "What do you have to do with the Wang County Order of Linxian?"”
Li Haisheng replied frankly: "He is my own uncle. ”
After hearing this, Ghost Book's expression changed slightly, and he further asked him how he fell into the underworld, and Li Haisheng told everything without concealment.
The ghost book fell into deep thought, and then said, "You follow them first, and I will look for you later, this is not the place to speak." ”
After completing the registration, Li Haisheng was escorted to the construction site with other workers. Halfway through the journey, the ghost book caught up, talked a few words with the leading ghost cha, and then pulled Li Haisheng aside.
The ghost book said to him: "I was Zhou Xiucai from Linxian County when I was alive, and your uncle was very kind to me. In the yang world, I died before I could repay him, and now that you are in the underworld, I can't control others, but I will do my best to protect your life in order to repay the virtue of the public!”
Li Haisheng was surprised when he heard this, and he didn't know how the ghost book would make him return to the yang world.
The ghost book continued, "I am now in charge of labor registration, but today the judge is by my side and has witnessed your registration, so I can't save you this time." In half a year, there will be another batch of laborers, and I will arrange someone to replace you and let you return to the yang world!”
When Li Haisheng heard that he would have to wait for half a year, he was worried and couldn't help asking: "My body may have decomposed in half a year, right?"”
"I have taken this into account," said the ghost, "and I will arrange for you to give your wife a dream tonight, and you must let her keep your body and not bury it." In addition, I will keep half of your soul in your corpse, and make sure that the corpse does not decay, so that you can continue to work in the underworld without arousing suspicion. ”
After hearing this, Li Haisheng hurriedly expressed his gratitude, and the ghost book instructed him a few more words, asking him to wait patiently for half a year before leaving.
From that moment on, Li Haisheng, like other ghosts, worked hard in the underworld. The work here is extremely hard, and if the overseer is caught lazy, the ghosts will inevitably be severely punished.
Half a year was long and hard, and one day, Li Haisheng finally saw another group of ghosts being escorted to the construction site. This time, the ghost book personally went to the construction site to hand over the paperwork.
When handing over the paperwork, the ghost book and the ghost boss of the construction site supervisor kept laughing. He took out a stack of yellow paper from his bosom and handed it to the leader of the ghost mission, then pointed at Li Haisheng with his finger.
The leader of the ghost cha smiled and nodded, and the ghost book took out the brush and made some changes to the paperwork, and then took Li Haisheng away.
In a secluded place, the ghost book said to Li Haisheng: "I have sent someone to send you back to the yang world, please tell your uncle when you go back, saying that I am sorry for his expectations and ask him to forgive!"”…
After listening to Li Haisheng's story, my uncle was full of emotion, both embarrassed and deeply moved. He said: "I once told Zhou Xiucai that if he can achieve something in the future, he will be a fair and selfless good official. I didn't expect that in order to repay my kindness, he would take the risk of violating the laws of the underworld. Is this a failure for me, or is it not a failure?”