When I heard the name "Liu Wendao", my heart was still hanging, and I immediately became alert:

"How do you prove that you are Liu Wendao?" What happened before made me look alert for any stranger.

Liu Wendao said nothing, and directly took out an ID card from his pocket and handed it to me.

I carefully moved forward and took it over and saw that it was really Liu Wendao on my ID card, and the photo was the same as him. When I glanced at the date of birth, I was shocked!

June 1966!

It's 2018 now, and Liu Wendao must be at least in his fifties, but the middle-aged man standing in front of us looks like he is in his early thirties at most, so this ID card is definitely not his!

"Liu Wendao" seemed to see my concerns and doubts and asked:

"Do you think I don't look like a person in my fifties? Sometimes being too young can make people very upset, but you don't need to doubt my identity. It was Jiang Gongming who asked you to come to me, right?"

Jiang Gongming is the name of Grandpa Jiang Chao.

Jiang Chao nodded:

"Yes, my grandfather asked us to come to Daojia Village to find you. Are you really Liu Wendao?"

Liu Wendao smiled, first took his ID card back, and then said to us:

"If you can't trust me, then I can't do anything about it. This village is not clean, I am the only living person. Whether you can survive tonight depends on your own luck and leave."

As he said that, Liu Wendao turned around and left.

Jiang Chao and I looked at each other and chased each other out together.

"Brother Liu, we believe in you." At this moment, Jiang Chao and I had no other choice except to choose to believe in this middle-aged man.

If he is a bad person who wants to harm us, he can do it directly. There is no need to deceive us here. It is precisely because of this that I choose to believe it.

Liu Wendao stopped, shook the water stains on his raincoat and turned around and looked at me and said:

"No big or small, from tonight, I will be your master!"

In this way, Jiang Chao and I became Liu Wendao's apprentices for no reason.

That night, Liu Wendao took us back to his residence. There was a Taoist temple that had been abandoned for many years to the south of the village. Liu Wendao told us that he had lived here for more than 20 years.

In the Taoist temple, Jiang Chao and I told Liu Wendao about the terrible old lady we met before. After hearing this, Liu Wendao narrowed his eyes and looked at me and said:

"It seems that your Zhang family is indeed declining. Even those cats and dogs dare to jump out, but it doesn't matter. Since you are my Liu Wendao's apprentice now, I will definitely not spare that old thing!"

"Has our Zhang family been very powerful before?" I asked curiously.

Liu Wendao smiled:

"Don't ask, it's not good for you to know too much now. You guys go to bed early."

I went to bed at night, and Jiang Chao and I were so tired after scrambling in the middle of the night. I fell asleep shortly after lying down.

The next morning, I found Liu Wendao in the Taoist temple and told him that Grandpa Jiang asked you to help us find a job about dead people.

Liu Wendao nodded:

"Mr. Jiang Ming told me a long time ago, you will come with me later."

At noon, Liu Wendao took us to Gugu County and asked me to find a job as an apprentice in a coffin shop.

Jiang Chao's job may be quite special. He learned to sing "Seven Passes of Crying", commonly known as Crying Mourning, with an old man in the county town.

The meaning of singing "Seven Passes of Crying" is that people believe that after death, people have to pass the seven Passes before they can reach the underworld. The relatives of the deceased should help the dead souls to guide them forward with crying, which can shorten the time when the dead souls arrive in the underworld.

These seven passes are: Wangxiang Pass, Hungry Ghost Pass, Jinji Pass, Hungry Dog Pass, King of Hell Pass, Yacha Pass, and Huangquan Pass.

The singing of "Crying Seven Passes" is not only good, but also louder. While singing, the more heart-wrenching he cries, the better. Jiang Chao is because he is not professional enough and has been beaten up by his master many times.

Sometimes I could hear Jiang Chao's tragic crying halfway through the street.

And I was sitting in the coffin shop, looking at the black coffin, secretly glad that I was not the one who was sent to learn "The Seventh Pass of Crying"...

Since then, Jiang Chao and I have not only been good brothers, but also have very close cooperation in business.

In the county town, I often follow the coffin shop owner Mr. Qin to attend the funeral with the deceased's family, and complete the last step of the coffin shop: collecting the coffin!

What is the coffin collection? It means following the funeral team, sprinkling incense ash, and then sticking a white chess piece to seven inches of the coffin lid, which is the end of the coffin collection.

It means that the deceased's life is successfully concluded and the new life of "chess" will be successful.

Every time I follow Mr. Qin to collect the coffin, I can meet Jiang Chao who is following behind, wearing a shirt, and holding a wooden stick in his hand. While crying, he sang "Crying Seven Passes" loudly:

"One or a stick of incense, cigarettes rise to nine days, New Year's paper hangs on the front door, white banners hang on the second door, Daddy returns to heaven, the children kneel on the ground and sing the seventh chapter of crying for Daddy..."

Whenever I see Jiang Chao's look like he can't cry and insists on forcing himself to wink at the eyes, I want to laugh.

One day in early August, Jiang Chao ran to the coffin shop to play with me as usual after get off work.

"Ninth day of the 9th day, when is the door closed today? I will take you to eat lobster!" Jiang Chao said with a smile and said, "I can see that he is in a good mood today.

"What's wrong? Your master paid you a salary in advance?" Jiang Chao is a typical moonlight clan. He eats and drinks five days before paying his salary, and then 25 days after instant noodles and biscuits. His master also needs to provide regular relief.

Jiang Chao took out three hundred yuan in cash from his pocket and shook it in front of me:

"I'm lucky today, my buddy. I picked up three hundred yuan. My master told me that I can't take the money I picked up home. When you close the door, I'll invite you to eat lobster!"

"Where did you find it when you are so lucky?" I asked.

"The back door of the county hospital, okay, it's time for dinner. When will you close?" Jiang Chao asked.

I took a look at the time and it was almost time to close the door. The coffin shop had to close as long as the sun set. It was impossible to do business at night, and no customers came to buy coffins at night. So I went back to the house and said hello to Mr. Qin, and went out to eat lobster with Jiang Chao.

After all, Gugu County is a remote small county town, and the overall consumption is not high. We spent 200 yuan on food and drink.

After eating and drinking, I returned to the coffin shop. When Mr. Qin, who had been sitting on the rattan chair, saw me coming back, he stood up from the rattan chair and stared at his forehead and asked:

"Qijiu, where are you going tonight?"

I saw Mr. Qin look serious and said truthfully:

"We went to the Laowang Lobster House at the intersection of the street."

"Have you ever gone to some unclean places?" Old Qin stared at me and asked.

I shook my head:

"No, I'll come back immediately after eating the lobster. Jiang Chao picked up three hundred yuan, so we went to spend the money together."

"Where did you pick it up for three hundred yuan?" Old Qin asked immediately after hearing this.

"It seems to be at the back door of the county hospital." I said.

When Mr. Qin heard what I said, his face changed and he immediately said to me:

"Call Jiang Chao quickly and ask him to come over immediately!"

From Mr. Qin's facial expression and tone of speaking, I could clearly feel the seriousness of the matter, as if Jiang Chao and I were in trouble this time.

So I immediately called Jiang Chao and asked him to come over.

More than ten minutes later, Jiang Chao ran in panting. When Mr. Qin saw Jiang Chao, he immediately asked:

"Jiang Chao, did you pick up three hundred yuan at the back door of the hospital today?"

Jiang Chao nodded:

"Yes, what's wrong with Mr. Qin?"

"Did the three hundred yuan be folded into a triangle, tied with a red thread, and there was a piece of white paper inside?" asked Old Qin.

Jiang Chao was stunned when he heard this:

"Old Qin, how did you... know?"

After hearing this, Old Qin angrily patted his thigh hard:

"You dare to pick up the money with red lines in the hospital, it is the money used to buy your life!!"
Chapter completed!