The next day at work, I didn't tell the master about the strange thing I encountered. Zheng Jun told the master about the powder ghost I encountered yesterday. The master frowned, opened the makeup box, took out the powder, and cut a piece with a knife.
"Bring less and cause less trouble."
Zheng Jun also did as he was told. We cannot stop our work. The dead cannot wait. They must be cremated after three days. This is the folk custom. If we don’t work, there will be a lot of trouble.
We entered the dressing room, and I was still carrying the deceased. Zheng Jun's hands began to tremble. She was really scared.
"Master, can I do your makeup?"
"No, I won't let you move. I have my reasons."
Today went surprisingly smoothly. I didn't lose any powder and basically used up what I cut off.
After coming out, I saw a man staring at me all the time. This should be the last batch of refining. Our work is finished and sent to the farewell hall for further refining. It will take two hours. Today's refining machines are much more advanced.
I didn't pay attention at first and thought they were the relatives of the deceased. These people always like to stare at our staff like this. They think we are a different kind of people, different from normal people. We are also used to this kind of look, so we seldom make friends with outsiders. If we really have no choice, we never take the initiative to extend our hands and shake hands because our hands are cold. Also out of respect, they don't like us to touch the hands of the dead every day, but in the end they still want us to complete the last journey of their lives. I think it's great.
After I changed my clothes and tidied myself up, the man actually walked towards me.
"Brother, let me ask you something."
He stared at me and asked, there are many other staff members here, and there are also guides. The guides here are called guides, or wayfarers. They are not serving the living, but the dead, even though they are leading the living, because the living serve the dead, so they are leading the dead. If you pay attention, you will see that they all wear a thin thread on their left hand, and it is hard to tell what color it is. Of course, red is absolutely impossible. There must be no red on the staff here, unless there are special circumstances.
"I pointed out some guides."
I wanted to leave, but he suddenly grabbed me. My hands were cold, and his were even colder than mine. I realized that this was a pink ghost, a man, so I didn't struggle.
"Let go and I'll tell you."
The man loosened his hand and said.
"I'm going to the columbarium."
I wanted to take it with me, but he said no.
"there."
There is a building over there, which was built in the 1960s. It was originally a columbarium. Later, all the buildings here were rebuilt, but that building was not demolished and was used as a warehouse. It was piled with all kinds of messy things, and I felt a little sad.
I never expected that I would actually meet a pink ghost.
Master Zhao came out, saw me, and came over. She glanced at the man, and the man turned and left.
"Pink ghost, ignore him, but he will pester you, he will come again, it's okay, I will find a way, what is he going to do?"
I told him, and he asked me to take him to the old urn.
"Well, come here by yourself in the evening, have dinner, don't drive, change your clothes, and wear a hat."
I got in the car and drove away. The crematorium is really not a place for people to stay. If you come to the crematorium to attend funerals, it is best not to leave the crowd, or walk around randomly, out of curiosity, wanting to see everything. In fact, you have made a mistake. The crematorium is almost crowded with little ghosts, but if it is not crowded, where there are people, the little ghosts will be fine. If there are no people, it is hard to say. If someone dies there, it will be a bad thing.
I didn't expect that a piece of powder would cause such a big trouble. I absolutely didn't expect that there are too many taboos in the crematorium. If you remember and be careful, nothing will happen. Of course, there are also places with no taboos. It's the same as normal places, just with fewer things. So in the crematorium, although the dead will not cause trouble to you, their ghosts will, which is even more troublesome. In fact, no matter where you are, there will be troubles of their own. It was then that I realized this.
After dinner, when it got dark, I got into the car, changed into black clothes, and got off to go to the crematorium.
I have only walked the road to the crematorium a few times, always by car or in someone else's car, because I know that there are ghosts on this road, and sometimes you can feel it.
When I walked on this road today, I felt particularly scared. No matter what, I had been in the crematorium for so long, and I was still scared. In fact, they were as scared as I was. No one wanted to get into trouble, especially trouble from ghosts. This was definitely not a good thing.
I can see ghosts. Zhang Xiaoxue is not just a ghost, she can also see souls and even more things.
I walked a few dozen meters and then stopped. There was a fog in front of me, a thick fog that I had never encountered before. I hesitated whether to go forward or back.
I saw Zhang Xiaoxue walking out of the fog, dressed in white. I shivered and told myself that it might be fake and I should never let this Zhang Xiaoxue get close to me.
I panicked for a moment, then calmed down.
Zhang Xiaoxue walked towards me with a smile and called me.
"Mingzhe, come here, Master Zhao asked me to pick you up."
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the voice, and there was nothing wrong with the smile. Zhang Xiaoxue liked to laugh. Her eyes could see, and although she saw ghosts and souls, she could still laugh as sweetly as before.
I looked and stared. Zhang Xiaoxue didn't walk fast. She walked about ten meters away from me. I didn't answer or move. I just kept staring at her.
"Mingzhe, come here quickly, Master Zhao is waiting anxiously."
I still didn't move.
Zhang Xiaoxue approached me, but I didn't move. She kept pulling my hand until she was beside me. I immediately pushed her away and turned around and ran. I believe that speed was the fastest I have ever run in my life. If it had been any faster, I would have died.
Because when Zhang Xiaoxue pulled me, that hand was hard, completely different from Zhang Xiaoxue's, and that warmth was icy, not freezing, so I determined that it was not Zhang Xiaoxue.
I ran about a kilometer away from the crematorium, looked back, and saw nothing.
My cell phone rang and I answered it. It was Master Zhao.
"Why didn't you answer the phone? I called more than ten times."
I heard no one.
"I have something to do today, so I won't go."
Master Zhao hung up the phone after he finished speaking. I checked the missed calls and there were more than ten of them. They were all from the time when my Zhang Xiaoxue was in the crematorium. I started sweating.
I called Master Zhao back, but his phone was turned off. Everything that happened today was so weird.
I stood there for a while and then went home. After I went home, I closed the door tightly. My scalp is still numb until now, because that Zhang Xiaoxue was definitely not Zhang Xiaoxue. That hand told me. If she hadn't pulled me, I would never have known that she was not Zhang Xiaoxue. This one was too similar. I don't know why this happened.
I didn't fall asleep until midnight. I have to wait until tomorrow to deal with everything. I didn't call Zhang Xiaoxue or go to her house. I was worried that I would meet Zhang Xiaoxue again on the way there. That would be a terrible thing. What happened today was too weird.
The next day, when I went to work, as soon as I entered the office, Master Zhao looked unhappy.
"Master Zhao, something happened yesterday. It was really strange."
"What's up?"
I said it, and Master Zhao was stunned for a moment, and took a long time to speak.
"Yesterday was a ghost day. I forgot. I informed you and told you not to go. It's very strange to encounter such a thing. Is that really not Zhang Xiaoxue?"
"I'll call and ask now."
I called to ask, and Zhang Xiaoxue said she was at home yesterday.
I looked at Master Zhao.
"Mingzhe, it seems that you are in trouble. The powder puff ghost asked you to go to the old urn behind, and you met a fake Zhang Xiaoxue here. All this is not accidental, and it seems that there is no connection. So, after nine o'clock tomorrow night, you bring Zhang Xiaoxue here. Remember, I will watch in the dark. You don't have to be afraid. I will come out if something happens. Maybe you will meet Zhang Xiaoxue and the powder puff ghost. Maybe Zhang Xiaoxue will see more things. Let her tell you not to take anything they give you, don't say a word to them, and don't let them touch your body."
"I… "
"What is a man afraid of?"
Master Zhao was unhappy and got up to go to the dressing room. I didn't want to go and didn't want to take the risk. I felt it was a bit too weird. The fact that I encountered such a thing was probably closely related to my extreme yin.
I went into the dressing room and saw Master Zhao sitting there smoking, while Zheng Jun had already started working.
When I pushed the deceased in and was about to lift the body sheet, Master Zhao said.
"Do not move."
I was startled. At this moment, someone suddenly spoke, which was quite scary.
Zheng Jun also stopped, looked at the corpse on the dressing bed, and then screamed. Zheng Jun's screams became more and more lethal. If it was a little more violent, it would probably have broken the diaphragm.
I also saw that the body sheet was actually moving, in the breathing position, which means that the person was not dead. This is impossible. Usually the corpse is sent here first and put in the freezer. Even if he is not dead, he must have been frozen to death.
Master Zhao didn't move.
"Come over to my side."
We walked to Master Zhao's side, she said.
"See? The shroud is moving. What does that mean?"
Class was still going on at this time. I was a little impressed by Master Zhao. She acted like nothing had happened.
"Not dead."
Zheng Jun said rudely, I didn’t say that.
"Yeah, think about it, how could he not die? The deceased had been brought here for at least three days, and then he was made up, and kept alive for three days in a freezer. Is that possible?"
Zheng Jun was about to scream again, so I covered her mouth. She stepped on my foot with her heel, but she didn't scream. I yelled, and Master Zhao jumped up and glared at me sideways.
"She stepped on my foot."
"You two, be quiet."
Master Zhao made the tea. The shroud was still moving, breathing. I leaned against the window. Zheng Jun leaned against the wall. She always leaned against the wall when she was scared. Then she scratched the wall with her hands. The name marks on the wall were all made by Zheng Jun with her fingernails.
The flavor of Master Zhao's Longjing tea came out, and he took a sip and said.
"This is a ghost corpse. There is only one kind of corpse that can breathe, and this is a ghost corpse. This is normal. Makeup artists have encountered this before. There is no need to make a fuss. As long as you don't uncover it, you'll be fine."
Master Zhao said this and stood up.
"After work, Xilaidian wine, it seems that you two have never treated me together."
Master Zhao suddenly said this and we were both a little confused. What did he mean
Master Zhao said nothing more. He took out the axis from the drawer and wrapped it around his wrist more than ten times.
"I'll do it for you to see."
Master Zhao walked to the dressing bed, reached into the corpse sheet, and started working.
"Master, we can't see it."
Zheng Jun is always talkative, and he will naturally tell you what the master wants to tell you.
"Shut up."
The master really became famous.
After Master Zhao finished working on the four corners, a white line appeared in one corner. It was clearly a black line, but what appeared was white.
"Okay, push this into my dressing room and do other work. Go out for lunch at noon, come back after lunch and finish this job."
I didn't know what Master Zhao meant. After she said that, she took off her gloves, threw them on the table, and walked out.
Zheng Jun went to her dressing bed like a cat and started to put on makeup.
I pushed the dead person in, said Zheng Jun.
"Brother, I have another number 1, can you help me push it in?"
"I'm busy."
"Brother, I'll pay for the lunch meal."
"I'm not short of money. Did you hear that person say that the makeup artist is short of money?"
"Brother, please."
I can't stand it when Zheng Jun acts like a jerk.
Zheng Jun and I finished our work at noon, took a shower, changed our clothes, and went into the office. Master Zhao left a note on the table, waiting for us at the Xilai Hotel. (To be continued)