In our area, there is a custom that if someone dies before the age of fifty and their body is not cremated, a young boy must sit at the head of the coffin on the day of the burial until the coffin is buried. My grandfather is a feng shui master, and for funerals in several surrounding villages, he is usually the one called upon. As a result, I have served as a coffin boy a few times.
This morning, my mother mentioned that Liu Degui from the village had died. Liu Degui was a tuberculosis patient in his thirties, thin as a reed, and lived alone. Once he died, the funeral had to be organized by the village. After lunch, my grandfather took me to help out. The village head said that cremation was originally planned, but Liu Degui seemed to know he was going to die and prepared a coffin in advance, so they had to honor his wish.
For a burial, a coffin boy is required. My grandfather calculated Liu Degui's birth date, and coincidentally, among the seven boys in the village, only my birth date did not conflict, so it was natural for me to serve as the coffin boy. On the day of the funeral, my grandfather placed a red cloth on the coffin, pressed some joss paper, and set me on top of it.
The bearers of the coffin were from the neighboring village, all big and strong, making a living from carrying coffins. Li Uncle smiled at me and said, "Little boy, hold on tight." I quickly grabbed the coffin ropes to avoid falling off when the coffin was lifted. At that moment, my grandfather announced that the time had come, and Li Uncle immediately raised his voice and shouted, "Liu Degui, let's go." Eight people exerted their strength, and the coffin was easily lifted.
Hearing the call to lift the coffin, the village head set off firecrackers at the door, and after the sound, the coffin was taken out, followed by the villagers who came to help, but no one cried, making it seem rather cold.
The journey went smoothly without any incidents. However, trouble occurred just as the coffin was lowered into the grave. Once the coffin touched the dirt, the duty of the coffin boy was supposed to end. I prepared to get down from the coffin, but as soon as I moved, my whole body went weak, and my butt seemed glued to the coffin lid; I simply couldn't get up.
Li Uncle, watching from the side, laughed at me, saying, "Look at you, boy, you're so weak." He reached out to pull me, but weighing only about forty kilograms, I almost pulled him into the grave, scaring him so much that he quickly let go and shouted to my grandfather, "Grandpa Zhang, come quickly, I think the boy has fallen into the coffin."
Hearing that I had "fallen into the coffin," my face turned pale. I had never experienced this with my grandfather, but there had been an incident in the neighboring village where the family had invited our village's Wu Laogou, who miscalculated the birth date. When it came time to bury the coffin, the coffin boy couldn't get up. Wu Laogou didn't attempt to resolve it but forcibly pulled the coffin boy out, resulting in the boy dying just a few days later.
My grandfather said that what Wu Laogou pulled out was just the person; the boy's three souls and seven spirits had long fallen into the coffin, so naturally, he couldn't survive. After that incident, Wu Laogou's reputation plummeted, and few people invited him. He bore a deep grudge against my grandfather. However, the Wu family is a prominent clan in our village and holds significant power, so my grandfather usually avoids conflict with them. He privately advised me to stay away from the Wu family, fearing they might resort to dark means.
While my grandfather was inspecting the grave, he heard Li Uncle shout and hurried over. The people around, upon hearing I had "fallen into the coffin," gathered around. Remembering the story of that boy, I was terrified of meeting the same fate and cried out for my grandfather to find a way. My grandfather was also anxious and told me not to move. He sent someone back to the village to catch a rooster that had just crowed, collected its blood, mixed it with red powder to draw a talisman on the coffin, and then asked Li Uncle to try pulling me again.
However, I still couldn't move. At that time, my butt felt cold as if I were sitting on ice, making it painfully uncomfortable. My grandfather quickly called the village head over and asked if Liu Degui's birth date was recorded incorrectly. The village head replied that it was impossible; when Liu Degui was born, his mother had died on the way to the health center, and I had helped carry the body back, so there was no way it was wrong.
Li Uncle, hearing the village head's words, looked at my grandfather with a strange expression and asked, "Grandpa, could there be an issue with the corpse?" My grandfather said it was possible and told him to quickly lift the coffin.
After the coffin was brought out, my grandfather took a chalk line, tied one