I saw sweat on Mao Xiaoli's face, and then she slowly covered the body with the shroud.
"To your office."
Mao Xiaoli and I walked towards the office, and I found something was wrong. The office door was half open. Could it be that Lao Zhou forgot to lock the door when he left
I pushed the door open and went in. I was shocked to see Lao Zhou sitting on a chair smoking. I turned on the light.
"Master Zhou?"
"Oh, I drank too much at night, and my wife was unhappy when I got home, so I came here."
Master Zhou did smell of alcohol, but he didn't look like he was drunk.
Mao Xiaoli is right behind me, Master Zhou took a look and said.
"It's Master Mao, hello."
It's normal that he knows Mao Xiaoli, as they both came from a crematorium.
"Then you guys keep busy, I'll go back!"
"No, I'll just grab something and leave."
I opened the drawer, took a book and left.
Mao Xiaoli got into my car, sat there, lit a cigarette, and spoke for a long time.
"That's really weird. It's clearly number 11, no mistake."
"How did you get this news?"
"Don't worry about it. There is absolutely nothing wrong. I have never made any mistakes. This old Zhou is here in the middle of the night. I don't think he is drunk. There must be something wrong."
"We can't search the entire morgue, can we?"
Mao Xiaoli didn't say anything.
"Go to the morgue."
I shuddered. We never go to the old corpse room unless it is absolutely necessary.
The old morgue is for unclaimed corpses sent from other places. When the relatives of the deceased cannot be found, they are kept there. Corpses that are more than three years old are called old corpses. The morgue has 103 cabinets. It was the earliest morgue built. It is a row of bungalows at the back of the building and cannot be seen from the outside.
"What are you going there for? That's not an old corpse."
"You talk too much. What do you know? Just talk less here and watch more. Then you will understand. When you are my age, you won't want to say a word."
Mao Xiaoli was a little angry. I just couldn't understand why Mao Xiaoli put on facial painting for her husband. It was really evil. What was the use of facial painting
I have absolutely no idea.
The morgue is eerie, with more than ten bungalows with doors one after another.
Mao Xiaoli walked to a door and stopped. The door was locked, an old-fashioned lock that was all rusty. Mao Xiaoli took out a bunch of keys from a bag. There were so many keys that she found the key very easily, inserted it, and twisted it for a long time before it opened.
After opening the door, Mao Xiaoli glanced at me.
"Sister Mao, it's better not to go in. It's not good."
"You talk too much."
Mao Xiaoli seemed crazy today. I didn't go in. Mao Xiaoli went in, and I waited outside. I didn't want to go into that place. My master, Yinyan, told me that no matter what happens, you should not go in. In the future, if an old corpse is found, its family members may be found and they will put on makeup. At that time, you should not go in and let the family members push it out themselves.
At that time I was most afraid and curious about this place, but I held back. I thought, I might never come here in my life, but I came here anyway.
Mao Xiaoli came out after a long time, locked the door, and left.
I followed and went to the crematorium, Mao Xiaoli said.
“We missed our chance.”
Mao Xiaoli got into her car, and it was so fast that she rushed out. I got into the car, lit a cigarette, and sat in the car to smoke. The false alarm was over. It seemed that Mao Xiaoli had given up. The disappearance of the body was probably not accurate. Who was providing Mao Xiaoli with such information? I didn't know. I couldn't think of who it was.
I glanced at the rearview mirror and broke out in a cold sweat. I saw someone in the mirror standing in the corner looking at my car. That person was Master Zhou, standing there like a ghost. I didn't know what Master Zhou was trying to do. Does all this have anything to do with Master Zhou
The next day, when I got to work, Master Zhou had already started working. He was dedicated to his job, and the site manager mentioned this. I didn't ask how Master Zhou was transferred to the municipal chemical plant.
There was unexpectedly a lot of work to do today, and I worked until after one in the afternoon. The manager came in with lunch. I finished eating, and the manager said, "Don't change your clothes after you finish the work, just come to my office."
I finished my work and went into the office, the manager said.
"There is an old corpse makeup, you come to do it. The family members have been found and it will be refined tomorrow."
The refining of the old corpse took place after dark. This was a strange thing, and I didn’t know why, because it was the first time I encountered it.
"You can ask Master Zhou, he's an experienced master, I don't have the experience."
"The family seemed to understand and requested ghost makeup."
I was stunned. I'm afraid not many people know about ghost makeup.
"That's impossible."
"Nothing is impossible. The family members will be here soon, you two can talk."
The family members came and two middle-aged men said that the deceased was their younger brother and asked for ghost makeup.
"That's impossible. I don't know how to put on any weird makeup."
"Since we know about ghost makeup, we also know about the other things. Now that Master Liu doesn't do the makeup, you have to do it."
"I can't do it."
I turned to leave, but the man grabbed me.
"I know that ghost makeup is difficult to put on, and it's an old corpse. I know this well. In fact, I used to work at the crematorium, but later I was transferred. However, I am still friends with some people there, so I know so much. For this reason, you have to give me some face. Here's the money, ten thousand."
The money was wrapped in white paper. This is the way to wrap old corpses. I heard from Yinyan about it, but I didn't take it. This job is not easy to do. The corpse is more than four years old. A corpse that has been old for more than four years has too much resentment. I can't suppress it at all. Maybe Master Zhou can do it, but they say that Master Zhou doesn't know how to do ghost makeup. What's more, his makeup is just average. He has been doing it for a lifetime. The speed is fast, but it's just average, acceptable.
“I can’t really do this because I’ve never done it before.”
"Everyone has a first time. Just like the first time I burned someone to death, I dropped the lever and ran away for several miles."
I didn't see any sadness in them about finding their brother. They seemed quite happy instead.
"I won't agree to anything you say."
I'm leaving.
Liu Shougui called me before I got home.
"You do that makeup, I'll be there soon."
I drove back and Liu Shougui arrived more than an hour later. He knew the man, but he didn't seem very familiar with him.
I pulled Liu Shougui outside.
"Uncle Liu, this old corpse has been here for four years. I haven't put on makeup before, and I asked for ghost makeup. This will cause problems."
"It's okay. I'm with you."
"I think his relationship with you is just average, there's no need to take such a big risk."
"Yes, I'm familiar with his father. He worked at the crematorium for just one day and then disappeared."
It seems there is really no way out.
"Make up after dark, refine at midnight."
Liu Shougui and I went to a restaurant not far from the crematorium to eat, drink, and talk about the old corpse.
"You don't have to be afraid. Which crematorium doesn't have a few old corpses?"
"That old corpse is not easy to touch."
"It's okay. I've done this many times and nothing happened. I'll teach you. In the future, this will be delicious and profitable. Ten thousand per piece is the minimum. Otherwise, this old corpse is the scariest."
"Have you ever been in trouble?"
"It happened before. I was very brave at that time. No one dared to do makeup on them, so I did it. It was no big deal. I didn't expect it to go wrong. My master didn't like me, so I figured it out on my own. That old corpse was three years old. He was carried to the makeup bed. It was very stubborn and it was very troublesome to put makeup on. The skin was in that shape. This is the most difficult type of corpse to put makeup on. After going through it a few times, your makeup skills will be greatly improved. Maybe no one can compare with you."
"What happened to you?"
"That day, I carried the corpse to the makeup bed. When I saw the corpse, I was worried because my master thought I was ugly and didn't like me. He never taught me anything. I figured it out on my own. It was like this, what should I do if I don't put on makeup? The dead person was on the bed. I started to put on makeup and foundation, but the foundation just wouldn't work. It wasn't because of the skin. I knew I was in trouble. I, Liu Dabao, was in trouble again. I went to find my master, but he scolded me and didn't care about me. He told me to just figure it out and die!"
I have never seen such a master. Even though he was appointed by the director, you don't have to be like this. Isn't it just a look? It's better not to have such a master.
"I couldn't put on the foundation, so I couldn't proceed to the next step. I was sweating all over, and the old corpse stood up, then jumped down and put on his own makeup. There was no mirror in the dressing room, and he actually put on his own makeup facing the wall. I was so scared that I peed, really peed. I leaned against the wall to watch. I had never seen that kind of makeup before, it was so beautiful, so beautiful. I didn't even know I was scared anymore. After the old corpse finished putting on his own makeup, he fell on the makeup bed. I reacted, packed up my makeup box, and rushed out. The family members stopped me, and then sent the corpse to see the makeup. At that time, they gave me 1,000 yuan. At that time, with 1,000 yuan, I could marry three wives."
I was a little sad when I heard that. The old corpse was made up by himself, and it seems that Liu Shougui's ghost makeup also has this color.
"The master also saw it. He didn't say a word at the time. He thought I did the makeup. From then on, he called me Master Liu and was very polite to me. However, I didn't know how the old corpse jumped up and put on makeup until two years later. I am ugly, but kind and like to help others. Sometimes, even if I help others, they are not happy, but I never think much about it. The person who helped me was an old master in the refining room. He will retire soon. He exorcised the corpse and put on makeup himself. He couldn't stand it, so he did that. Later, I had a very good relationship with this corpse. After he retired, I went there almost every day. Anyway, I had nowhere else to go. Later, he died of illness. Before he died, he taught me how to exorcise corpses. I did the exorcism makeup for him. I watched. This was his request. It is okay for an old corpse to put on makeup by himself. He asked to do this to have a perfect end to his life."
I didn't expect that something like this would happen here. It seems that the water in the crematorium is too deep, so deep that when you are drowned, you won't even know you are drowned.
That day, we entered the dressing room. A corpse that was more than four years old was lying on the dressing bed. We lifted the shroud and looked at the dead man's face. I was confused. It was really difficult to make up.
"You can't do your own makeup today, because if you don't use it properly, you'll make mistakes and become a walking corpse. If the corpse walks away, that's trouble. Today you do the makeup and I'll guide you."
"Thank you, Uncle Liu."
"I'm afraid you'll have to call me dad from now on."
Liu Shougui seemed very happy, but I couldn't.
"For base application, you don't need to apply it normally. Use an absorbent cloth and cover your face completely. Then pat it with medium force, not too hard. After the absorbent cloth gets wet, change it. Do this three to five times. When there is no moisture left in the absorbent cloth, pull your face..."
Liu Shougui was talking and I was doing it. I stopped and didn't move, because I felt a hand pulling me, pulling my clothes tightly.
Liu Shougui looked at me motionlessly. He was standing behind me on the left side and I didn't see any hand pulling my clothes.
"Am I moving?"
"I was trying to move. There was a hand. It wasn't your hand, was it?"
Liu Shougui was startled and turned to look at me. Sure enough, the dead man's hand was tightly grasping my clothes. I pulled it but couldn't pull it free.
"Okay, don't move, take off your clothes, take them off."
I was taking off my clothes. This kind of thing has happened before. I saw it with my own eyes. It slipped away as soon as I struggled. But this time was different. When I took off my clothes, Liu Shougui was sweating.
"This old corpse is powerful enough. Get out first. Get out first."
Liu Shougui was a little flustered. (To be continued)