I entered the refining room.
"What's going on?"
The director looked at me and said.
"I don't know. She won't tell me. The body was turned over five times."
I looked at the body in the chain and found nothing unusual.
"Okay, you do it, just follow me."
This female refiner was not very old, about 27 or 28 years old, and had been working as a refiner for more than three years. Refiners are most likely to have problems when they are about three years old, which are psychological problems. It is possible that she had a psychological problem.
Entering the office, I poured myself a cup of tea.
"Don't be nervous. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Tell me what happened slowly."
The refiner burst into tears and covered his face.
"I'm sorry, Director, I can't control myself."
I picked up the phone and called the medical center of the crematorium. There were four psychologists there who specialized in providing counseling to employees.
A psychiatrist came over, asked the refiner some questions, and then looked at me.
"Okay, go home today and have a good rest. Come back to work in two days. It's okay. This is not a big deal."
The female alchemist left.
"There's a problem. It's serious. I mean, send him to the hospital. Otherwise, there will be big problems."
"Can't the conversation solve it?"
"That's definitely not possible. It's best to send someone over right away to talk to the family, and then send him to the hospital to stay for a while, but he won't be able to work anymore."
I nodded. I didn't expect something like this to happen. In fact, such problems would occur in the crematorium. The most common ones were chemical technicians and makeup artists. There was a chemical technician in the crematorium who had been living in a mental hospital. Two others committed suicide. The stress of this job was too great.
At noon, the director and I went to the refiner's home.
We talked to the family and they also said that during this period, the child always did the same thing over and over again. Sometimes he would sit there and cry by himself, and sometimes he would scatter things.
The family members were reasonable, so the refiner was sent to the hospital. I think this is another case where, although there are psychologists in the crematorium who provide counseling from time to time, such problems still occur. It is hard to say whether this refiner can finally return to society.
Someone asked me to do a job, a complete set of work, involving people, houses, and many useful things.
When I do the work myself, I feel it is a kind of enjoyment. Sometimes I feel very tired, but it is a happy tiredness and I don’t feel anything.
It was the middle of the night. I stood up and moved around a bit and heard a noise behind me. It was normal to have noise in this old house, but that noise was a bit strange.
I slowly walked towards the room where the sound came from. It was my daughter's room, a room with a mirror. I had wanted to cover the mirror that day, but then I forgot about it.
I looked in through the window, but couldn't see anything because the curtain was blocking the view. The sound was very faint, but I could still hear it.
I opened the door and screamed in fright. Li Xiaohuan was standing in front of the mirror putting on makeup. I didn't know when she came in. It was ghost makeup.
"Xiao Huan."
I screamed, and when she smiled at me, I knew that it was not Li Xiaohuan's smile, but was replaced by a ghost.
I went in, closed the door, and sat facing the mirror.
"Xiao Huan, don't do this in the future. I don't want to wear makeup anymore."
As I was speaking, I was looking at the mirror. In a corner of the mirror, Li Xiaohuan was sitting there crying. I knew that she had been replaced, and the person in front of me was not Li Xiaohuan.
"Master, I remember it."
"Wash off your makeup and I'll take you home."
"No, Master, I'll stay here today. It's already midnight."
"Okay, just be careful."
I went out with my back covered in sweat. This is what happens when you put on ghost makeup. If this ghost has the ability to smash the mirror, then Li Xiaohuan will stay in the mirror forever and won't be able to get out. I don't think she has that ability yet.
I sat in the yard, trying to think of a solution. I was afraid of such things for a moment. If I didn't do it well, Li Xiaohuan would no longer belong to Li Xiaohuan. This substitute ghost would live her life for her, but that would definitely not be Li Xiaohuan's world. She would cry in the mirror for the rest of her life.
Things don't always go smoothly.
I didn't move that night. When we went to work together in the morning, Li Xiaohuan walked into the dressing room in a very familiar manner and opened her makeup box. I sat in the office and watched her.
Li Xiaohuan's makeup is indeed different from the original one. It is a ghost corpse makeup, and it is also the best time to learn makeup. Ghost corpse makeup is a big technique, but it only lasted for a while. Li Xiaohuan could not be seen in the surveillance. The stand-in is still not there yet, and has not reached the level of perfection, so naturally he will not appear at certain times.
I entered dressing room No. 13 and Li Xiaohuan glanced at me.
"Master, how do you think I look?"
"I want to have a good talk with you."
I was drinking tea.
Li Xiaohuan finished his work, sat opposite me and looked at me.
"You are not Li Xiaohuan. I knew it last night. You are a substitute. This is not good. You should reincarnate. Don't ruin someone's life. This is a debt. You are happy now, but you will have to pay it back painfully in your next life."
"Ke Mingzhe, I know you can see it. It's nothing. I like you, so I stayed. In fact, I am the eldest daughter of a wealthy family. I died of illness in that house at the age of 22. I was unwilling to accept it, so I waited until the wealthy family fell into decline and I had no hope. I was ready to reincarnate, but you came. You asked for the wealthy family's house, and that was what you deserved. I saw you and fell in love with you. You came into my room on the first day, which you didn't expect. You didn't see me either. I was in the mirror."
I didn't expect it to be like this. The love between a human and a ghost will always happen. Although they are in different worlds, the love is the same.
"I have a wife, Liu Yang, and a son."
"Yes, that's right, but Li Xiaohuan has always loved you. The most important thing is that you fell in love with Li Xiaohuan when you taught her ghost makeup that day. She was so beautiful after putting on makeup, and you were tempted. If you weren't tempted, I tell you, I wouldn't have taken the blame. Is this sin yours or mine?"
"This is the truth. Who doesn't like beautiful girls? It's normal for me to be attracted to her, but I haven't taken any action, and I won't have any."
"You said nothing else. I knew you wouldn't take any action, but you gave me a chance."
"So what do you want to do?"
“Live this life in your home.”
"That's impossible. I don't keep ghosts in my house. You know that."
"I'm not a ghost. I'm just a substitute. I really exist, but there are some things I can't do."
"We are from another world, and I am from this world, so we can't be together."
"Both humans and ghosts can have romantic feelings, not to mention that I am closer to you."
"Definitely not."
"Well, then Li Xiaohuan won't come back to life."
“Maybe you can’t do this.”
She smiled strangely and packed her makeup box. I knew from her skillful manner that she had probably set her sights on Li Xiaohuan for a long time and knew everything about her. She was just waiting for an opportunity, and I gave her such an opportunity.
When I got home in the evening, the substitute went back to the weaving room. I thought she needed to do something else.
After dinner, I went to Liu Shougui and told him what happened. Liu Shougui said.
"I told you and reminded you to stay away from Li Xiaohuan, otherwise something bad would happen, and something bad still happened."
"What now?"
“Let it be.”
"That won't work. Li Xiaohuan is my apprentice after all. She can't live in the mirror for her whole life. That's not fair and not reasonable."
"Is there fairness in the world? Is there rationality?"
Liu Shougui was obviously angry.
"You think wrongly of me. I'm not that kind of person."
I got up and left, heading to the crematorium. The old man at the gate waved at me. I went into the office without turning on the lights, thinking that if I could bring the refining furnace from the Bone Village over, perhaps this wouldn't have happened. The ghost of the rich lady wouldn't dare to approach here, as this place didn't belong to her.
If she were to be taken out and placed in the middle of the yard, Li Xiaohuan's substitute would never dare to enter the crematorium, and she would not be able to do Li Xiaohuan's job. If she did not act as a substitute according to Li Xiaohuan's life trajectory, it would not be long before the substitute would return to the original position, and Li Xiaohuan would be in trouble.
However, thinking about the refining furnace in the Bone Village does make me feel scared. How many corpses are there? I don't know how many people were burned there.
I feel a little scared when I think about it, but looking at it now, maybe this is a permanent solution.
I went out in the middle of the night and went to the Bone Village. The refining furnace in the Bone Village was glowing in the moonlight. It was very rare to see something like this still glowing after so many years.
I looked at the refinery and decided to take it away. It's so big that it needs a crane to pull it in. I can still bring it in with two cars and two drivers, but will it work? Will there be any accidents? I don't know.
I went to the bureau the next day and reported to the director. He thought for a long time and said.
"Okay, it would be a waste to leave it there, but Bone Village..."
"I can handle this."
"No one must die."
"I know."
The director agreed, but I was still hesitant. Apart from the dead, would there be any other problems if the refining furnace was placed here? If things were done the wrong way, it would be troublesome. It was easy to bring it here, but it might not be so easy to send it back.
I told Zhang Wen my idea. I don't know why, but I always had a sense of trust in this person. It was the first time I saw him.
Zhang Wen thought for a long time and said.
"You can give it a try. Is there something wrong? I noticed that Li Xiaohuan is a little strange these past two days."
I hesitated for a moment and then said it.
"Ghost makeup is a big makeup, and it is the easiest to go wrong. In this case, your idea is not wrong, but..."
"I'll be careful. I want you to help me choose a spot here. I've already measured the size."
"That's no problem. When are you going to go?"
"In the middle of the night."
I didn't expect that Zhang Wen would help me, agree and support me. This man always gave me a fatherly warmth. Even though he was twenty years younger than me, I still found it a little strange.
The next day, Zhang Wen circled and determined the position, and placed a piece of bone in the middle to secure the spot.
I drove into the Bone Village. The refining furnace was still shining. The two drivers were quite nervous, but they were at least two corpse-pulling masters from the crematorium, so they were still a little scared.
The crane rose up and lifted the object onto the car. The object was very heavy and the crane was shaking.
After the refining furnace was put on the car, we drove away from the village. After leaving the Bone Village, I breathed a long sigh of relief. I didn't expect it to be so smooth. I thought there would always be some problems, big or small. I didn't think it would succeed this time.
As expected, the incident did not happen in the Bone Village, but happened outside the Bone Village. (To be continued)