71: Chapter 71: Skeletons 71: Chapter 71: Skeletons When graves were relocated, if bones were directly exposed to sunlight, it was referred to as “corpse decay.”
Such an event could greatly affect the fortune of descendants.
For this reason, constructing a sunshade before exhuming the grave was definitely necessary.
Several young men with the surname Li, who had come with Chen Hai and Li Dajiang, numbered about four or five.
Each was responsible for one wooden stake, driving it into the ground.
Once the stakes were upright, a shade cloth was draped over them, and in less than half an hour, a simple sunshade had been successfully built.
A square table, brought over on a cart and used as an altar, was already set with offerings, and the candles had been lit a while ago.
Following Chen Hai’s orders, Li Dajiang prayed for a while, silently reciting the reasons for the grave relocation and the new burial site, then picked up a shovel and began to take action.
Though he was no longer young, he dug the first three shovelfuls himself, but afterward, he merely held the shovel and watched on.
Sun Jinzhong looked after Chen Hai, who was sitting in a chair not far away.
After a period of rest, Chen Hai felt much better, aside from his still pale complexion.
Standing up, he slowly walked to the small mound that had been dug nearly half a meter deep.
“Hold on, Li Shun, you guys, stop for a moment…
Chen Hai watched the Li youths dig quietly for a while, then suddenly waved his hand and shouted.
“Chen Hai, what are you trying to pull?”
“Didn’t you say yourself that grave relocation shouldn’t go past noon?”
“It’s already past ten o’clock, and we’ve been digging well without even seeing the coffin, but now you suddenly tell us to stop.
If we miss the right time because of your words, can you take responsibility for that?”
With an annoyed expression, Li Shun complained vocally.
In front of Li Dajiang, the elder from Tai Island, they were somewhat well-behaved and dared not be too presumptuous, but they were never courteous toward Chen Hai.
While he spoke, he kept glancing at Li Dajiang’s expression.
The remarks he made were not without the intention of admonishing Chen Hai in front of Li Dajiang.
Li Dajiang said nothing, but his gaze, too, fell on Chen Hai at that moment.
Though he would not grow distant from Chen Hai simply because of Li Shun’s words, it was clear that he also wanted to know why Chen Hai had suddenly told Li Shun and the others to stop, what his intentions were!
“Big brother, take a look for yourself, isn’t the dirt we’ve just dug out much darker in color than what we had before?”
Li Dajiang’s reaction was natural, and Chen Hai, not being dissatisfied, explained with a smile.
Upon this reminder from Chen Hai, Li Dajiang also noticed that at the current depth, the soil had turned blackish-yellow.
With a look of suspicion, he once again turned his inquisitive eyes toward Chen Hai.
“Big brother, if I’m not mistaken, due to the lack of descendants to manage, our mother was buried without a coffin, simply wrapped in a bamboo mat and buried here!”
“This layer of soil should be Blood Soil, formed from the mixture of a decaying corpse with the surrounding earth!”
“After mother’s bones are exhumed, although I do not know whether you plan to cremate them or to transport them back to Tai Island for cremation, in my opinion, you should take this layer of Blood Soil back with you and spread it under the new coffin into which mother will be reburied!”
To prove the truth of his words, Chen Hai, while speaking, also searched through the opened layer of soil, finding some decayed and blackened pieces of the bamboo mat.
On one side, Li Dajiang bit his lip, feeling his nose turn sour at these words from Chen Hai, despite his advanced age.
It had been almost fifty years, yet he still remembered his mother’s appearance very clearly.
Just thinking about how his old mother carried him for ten months and brought him up through hardships, only to not have a proper coffin after her death, as her son, he felt unbearably guilty.
If it weren’t for the fact that most of those present were his younger relatives, he might have burst into tears right then and there.
“Younger brother, let’s do as you say.
Bring a sack on the handcart, fill it with all this Blood Soil, and I’ll take it straight back to Tai Island!”
Struggling to hold back his tears, Li Dajiang nodded and said.
“Underneath the Blood Soil, there should be bones, Li Shun, pay attention, you guys!”
“Do a good job, and each of you will get a Big Red Flower, and a red envelope of one hundred yuan,”
“If you mess up, I’ll only be looking at you, and forget about any red envelopes!”
Li Dajiang’s gaze turned to the group of Li youngsters, and he warned them solemnly.
“Don’t worry, Uncle Dajiang, we guarantee nothing will happen to Old Mrs.
“Since we’re close to reaching the spot, let’s stop using the shovel and switch to hand trowels.”
“That’s right, it should be done this way, Li Jie, Li Fang, you two go over to the handcart and bring over the urn for the bones!”
Hearing Li Dajiang’s words, the group of young Lis felt a surge of excitement.
Last time Li Dajiang came over to the sixth group of Yanbei Village, all their households within five degrees of kinship benefited somewhat.
This time, Li Shun and the others were eager to volunteer and help, thinking that their Uncle from Tai Island would definitely not let them down.
A Big Red Flower was worth almost twenty yuan.
Plus a red envelope of one hundred yuan, the offer from Li Dajiang was so generous for Li Shun and the others, it was enough to make them overjoyed.
“Underneath the Blood Soil, there indeed are bones!”
Chen Hai also nodded and reminded them, “Where are the Red Gloves prepared?
Quickly bring them here and put them on!”
“Remember, no one who isn’t wearing Red Gloves should touch the bones, or else it could bring ill fortune to the descendants.”
Perhaps because they were in high spirits, facing Chen Hai’s reminder, Li Shun and the others were unusually cooperative.
The ones known as Li Jie and Li Fang brought over the ceramic urn for the bones, and a pair of Red Gloves were distributed to each person present.
Digging with a shovel was more about broad strokes, but after switching to hand trowels, everyone was squatting on the ground, carefully scraping a few times before beginning to sift through the dirt with their hands.
If there had been a coffin, Old Mrs.
Li’s bones might have remained intact.
One look at the current situation told that her bones must have long scattered.
As an arm bone was uncovered from the soil, one by one, Li Shun and the others dug out pieces of bone and carefully placed them into the urn.
“Mother, your unfilial son has not visited you for nearly fifty years…”
Expressionless, and holding back the sorrow in his heart, Li Dajiang could no longer control himself upon seeing a greenish copper hairpin unearthed.
With tears streaming down his face, he knelt on the ground, his head knocking against the earth with a ‘thud thud’.