The Fortune Teller said this as he walked to the southeast of the coffin, stopping four or five steps away from it.
"Find two people with wooden shovels and have them dig three chi down." Several people dashed back to the village to get the wooden shovels.
The sun was visibly weakening. The Fortune Teller said, "We might not be able to dig it out today. Cover it with something, and whatever you do, don't let the rain get to it!" Before long, some farmers arrived with wooden shovels and began digging downward at the designated spot as instructed. A white snake? That was a celestial being!
The old people were all muttering to themselves. There really was a kind of Little White Snake in the area, but it was extremely rare. Whenever the elderly women saw one, they would kowtow, find a tray covered with red cloth, invite the white snake home, burn incense, and worship it. Strangely enough, the white snake would always obediently crawl into the tray, enjoy several days of incense, and then disappear without a sound.
The Fortune Teller drew a circle about a chi wide. Two people began digging. Sure enough, the soil here was clearly easier to dig than elsewhere. Before long, someone shouted, "There's a pile of frogs!"
"Stop digging!!" the Fortune Teller hurriedly interrupted. Everyone found it strange. Finding frogs while digging was perfectly normal. What was there to make such a fuss about?
Everyone saw more than a dozen frogs huddled together. How could there be snakes in a place with frogs? The old people began praying again. It wasn't for any other reason—who had ever seen such a huge coffin? Besides, no matter how one looked at it, they had disturbed its occupant.
The Fortune Teller was sweating profusely.