The Coffin Hit the Ground

Ma Laosan's wife died under deeply mysterious circumstances.

According to what Ma Laosan later told us, his wife and child had been perfectly fine when they went to bed that night. Around midnight, he heard noises in the courtyard, but after a full day of farm work, he was so exhausted he could barely open his eyes. He vaguely heard someone calling his wife's name, though he could not tell whether he had dreamed it.

Not long afterward, Ma Laosan's wife suddenly climbed out of bed. Still half asleep, he asked where she was going.

She did not answer. Assuming she was going to the outhouse, Ma Laosan asked no more questions and went straight back to sleep. When he woke the next morning, however, his wife was not in bed, and he could not find her anywhere. He called on a few neighbors to help search. They scoured the village without finding a trace of her, until the entire village joined the search and found her body in the hills behind the village.

When everyone saw the body of Ma Laosan's wife, they were so frightened that, for a time, no one dared go near it.

No one in the village had ever seen such a gruesome death. Something had bitten bloody wounds all over her body, and one foot had been gnawed down to bare white bones. Most terrifying of all, a strange smile still lingered at the corners of Ma Laosan's wife's mouth, and her eyes remained open.

To die so horribly and still wear a smile-the very thought sent chills down people's spines.

Ma Laosan sobbed uncontrollably. The villagers helped him prepare her body and brought it home.

According to the traditions of Nine Mountains Village, a body had to remain at home for three days before burial.

Over those days, people came one after another to pay their respects.

They were all neighbors who saw one another every day, so my father bought some spirit money and went to pay his respects to Ma Laosan's wife.

But something strange happened when they tried to burn paper offerings in the brazier in front of Ma Laosan's wife's coffin. Everyone else's offerings burned normally, turning to ash within moments. Yet the yellow spirit paper my father tossed into the brazier simply would not catch fire. Even after he poured strong liquor over it, less than half burned before the flames quickly died.

A strange gust of wind blew in from nowhere, scattering the ashes out of the brazier and covering my father's face and clothes.

Since the spirit paper would not burn, he decided to offer three sticks of incense instead. But shortly after he lit them, two snapped. The middle stick remained intact, while the sticks on either side broke in half. This formed the ominous pattern known as "three long, two short."

Everyone nearby went pale at the sight. Incense burning like that was a clear sign that the deceased held a grudge against the person making the offering.

She refused to accept either his incense or his spirit money.

My father was badly frightened, too. He hurried home alone and told my grandfather what had happened.

Grandfather sighed, knowing there was more to this than met the eye.

In fact, anyone who thought it through would realize that the death of Ma Laosan's wife was inextricably linked to me.

She had beaten me for giving her son Xiao Pang my blood to drink, and that very night, something happened to her.

Wu Banxian had said that I would face a calamity every three years: either I would die, or someone else would. Now that Ma Laosan's wife was dead, his prediction had come true.

Moreover, the wounds of various sizes covering Ma Laosan's wife's body had clearly been gnawed by wild animals. Judging by the tooth marks, they looked very much like bites from Yellow Weasels and foxes.

Everyone in the village knew that on the day I was born, hundreds of Yellow Weasels and foxes had gathered at our door and bowed in worship. Yellow Weasels and foxes also brought wild game to our home every day.

Now the villagers were all talking, saying I had caused the death of Ma Laosan's wife.

At first, they merely suspected it.

But by the next day, the matter seemed settled.

That was because, on the night my father returned from paying his respects to Ma Laosan's wife, everyone in my family had a terrible dream-everyone except me.

In their dreams, Ma Laosan's wife came to our home. She stood on the toes of one foot, while the other was nothing but bare white bones. With a vicious smile at the corners of her mouth, she told my family that I had caused her death and that I had to pay with my life. She demanded that they kill me, or the entire Old Wu Family would die with me.

That same night, Ma Laosan also dreamed that his wife had returned. She wept before him, saying I had caused her death and telling him to kill me. Only then could she leave in peace and be reincarnated.

Early the next morning, Ma Laosan came to our house with a woodcutting blade in his hand. His eyes were filled with murderous intent as he looked at me and demanded an explanation from my family.

My parents panicked, not knowing what to do. In the end, Grandfather stepped forward and pushed me out in front of him. With a stony expression, he told Ma Laosan, "If you truly believe this child caused your wife's death, you can kill him to pay for her life. If you have the guts, do it now."

Ma Laosan did not dare follow through. If he really killed me, he would probably be executed himself. In the end, he could only slink away.

The coffin remained in Ma Laosan's house for three days, and at last it was time for the burial.

On the day of the burial, the sky was dull gray, without the slightest breeze.

Several young men from the village were called in to carry the coffin. But they had only carried it as far as the doorway when the ropes suddenly snapped.

This was a terrible omen. According to village belief, once a coffin left the house, it must not touch the ground until it reached the burial site. Yet this one had barely crossed the threshold before the ropes broke and it crashed heavily to the ground. It was deeply inauspicious, a sign that something dreadful was going to happen.

Ma Laosan was badly frightened by the sight. He threw himself over the coffin and wept bitterly, saying between sobs, "My wife, I know you died unjustly and don't want to leave. If you have any grievances, go after whoever harmed you. Please don't torment your own family..."

As Ma Laosan clung to the coffin and sobbed, a chorus of chittering suddenly came from behind him.

Just as on the day I was born, hundreds of Yellow Weasels and foxes suddenly appeared near Ma Laosan's front door.

Among them was an unusually large Yellow Weasel, with a streak of white fur running from the top of its head down its back.

The enormous Yellow Weasel led hundreds of Yellow Weasels and foxes straight toward the coffin. Terrified, the people around it scrambled aside. Some of the more timid ones were so frightened that their legs gave out, leaving them unable to run; they simply collapsed to the ground.

The Yellow Weasel with the white fur on its back approached Ma Laosan's wife's coffin, circled it three times, then stretched out a furry paw and struck it three times in succession, producing dull thuds.

Afterward, the large Yellow Weasel quickly departed with the other animals.

Once the Yellow Weasels and foxes had gone, the young pallbearers tried lifting the coffin again. This time, they could move it.

After the Yellow Weasel with the white fur on its back struck the coffin three times, the burial could finally proceed without trouble.

But the day after Ma Laosan's wife was buried, people discovered that her grave had been dug open and her body had vanished.