Chapter 1 Disguise

"Dress... dress as a woman?"

Fatty immediately suspected he had misheard. After all, it was an age-old rule that women did not carry coffins. But Luo Tianhe proved he wasn't joking with his actions.

The first thing he did was find a woman's mask and put it on.

The second was Yuan Shanyuan, who also put on a mask. He even found one for Bai Yu, who was like a mindless porcelain doll, allowing Yuan Shanyuan to place the mask on her face.

Seeing this, no one doubted any longer. As Li Bai also found a woman's mask and put it on, the rest started to move as well. But there were plenty of woman's masks, though most were damaged to varying degrees, with few complete ones.

After searching for a long time, only Yao Shunyu and Fatty each found one.

"Are there any more masks like this?"

Fatty held up the mask and asked Lai Fu, but the latter shook his head with a troubled expression. "No, I had people bring all the boxes left behind by the people who performed rituals in the warehouse. Not a single one is missing."

Just as Fatty was preparing to rise to the occasion and let the doctor have his mask first, Luo Tianhe had a new development. He squatted in front of a pile of messy men's masks, picked one up, examined it carefully, and then reached behind it with his hand. Then, in an unbelievable scene, he actually pried off a slightly smaller woman's mask from behind the man's mask.

The two masks were superimposed on each other, and they were both very thin, making it impossible to distinguish them without careful observation.

Soon, he repeated the trick, taking off another woman's mask. Then, holding one mask in each hand, he walked towards Jiang Cheng and Lin Qianqian. But Jiang Cheng keenly noticed that for a few seconds, the range of Luo Tianhe's right hand's swing was significantly smaller than his left hand, and his arm was slightly stiff, as if he was secretly exerting force.

Sure enough, when he reached the two of them, Luo Tianhe handed out one mask with one hand, his movements and expressions quite natural. His left hand reached towards Lin Qianqian, while the mask in his right hand… was for himself!

"Put them on quickly, we're about to set off."

Jiang Cheng roughly understood what this old fox was planning. He must have tampered with his own mask, and walking this coffin-carrying road with a problematic mask, the consequences were predictable.

He snatched the mask that was originally intended for Lin Qianqian from his left hand, and then, taking advantage of Luo Tianhe's stunned moment, thanked him, "Thank you, Mr. Luo. I understand the rule of men on the left and women on the right."

"That's for me!" Lin Qianqian said angrily.

But Jiang Cheng simply didn't bother with this woman, quickly turned around and walked back to Fatty and the others. Lin Qianqian looked like she was going to go up to demand an explanation, but Luo Tianhe stopped her.

"Don't be angry, Miss Lin. Hehe, it doesn't matter which one you take, the masks… are all the same."

Although he said that, and Luo Tianhe's expression was normal, there was a hint of undisguised coldness in his eyes as he looked at Jiang Cheng's back, and this scene was just captured by Fatty.

"The old guy's looking at you strangely," Fatty mouthed to Jiang Cheng secretly.

Jiang Cheng put the snatched mask on Fatty, and at the same time took the mask from Fatty's hand, and also stuffed that mirror into Fatty's pocket, instructing, "Everyone keep your eyes peeled on the road later. Something's bound to happen tonight, dressed like this, carrying the coffin."

Before he finished speaking, several figures walked over from a distance. After seeing the person in the lead, Lai Fu's face turned ugly. "It's the Third Young Master's gatekeeper. Everyone be careful."

In fact, without Lai Fu's introduction, Jiang Cheng and the others recognized the brawny man in the lead. He was one of the two who had been guarding outside the warehouse before, and had even had an argument with Yao Shunyu and Fatty at the time.

"What are you doing here?" Lai Fu questioned.

The brawny man, stripped to the waist, his bronze muscles making him look strong and powerful, first scanned everyone with his eyes, then said in a cold voice, "The Third Young Master is worried something will happen tonight, so he specially sent me to take a look. Sending the Master back to the tomb is a top priority for our Wu Manor, and there must be no mistakes."

"I'm here, it's not your place to interfere."

Lai Fu was a shrewd man. Based on various events and the information Jiang Cheng and others had provided, the strange happenings in the Wu Manor were inseparable from the Third Young Master, especially since he had harmed the Second Young Master to such a state. Naturally, Lai Fu was not willing to give the Third Young Master's people a good look.

The brawny man was also sensible and didn't intend to stay long. After observing for a while, he turned around and left, but after only a few steps, he suddenly stopped, turned his head, and looked at everyone with a meaningful look in his eyes. "Oh, right, I almost forgot. The Third Young Master also asked me to pass on a message to the masters, saying that it's getting late, and please, masters… start your journey early."

Everyone ignored the Third Young Master's threat. After the brawny man left, Luo Tianhe, the most experienced, began to explain the arrangements for tonight. "I said before, tonight we're dressing as women and carrying the coffin upside down, which means the narrow end of the coffin will be in front, and the wide end will be in the back."

One end of the coffin was wide and the other narrow. Normally, the wide end was in front when carrying a coffin, because the wide end corresponded to the head of the corpse. Having the head in front meant a smooth journey into the earth, while having the narrow end corresponding to the feet of the corpse go out of the doorframe first was disrespectful, implying that the deceased was being disliked by their relatives and swept out the door. In serious cases, it could even ruin the feng shui of the entire family.

Under Luo Tianhe's command, everyone stood in their respective positions. Luo Tianhe was naturally standing in the first row, responsible for controlling the head of the coffin, while the symmetrical position in the first row was given to Fatty.

Yuan Shanyuan and Bai Yu stayed at the end of the coffin to guard the rear, and the rest stood in the middle.

At this moment, the coffin lid had been closed, but not sealed, and Lai Fu, who had been dismissed by Luo Tianhe, now hurried back, carrying a pot.

Opening the lid, the pot contained white rice, but this rice was not ordinary rice, but half-cooked rice specially prepared for wandering ghosts.

After evenly distributing the half-cooked rice into four rough porcelain bowls, Luo Tianhe picked up one of the porcelain bowls and heavily placed it on a corner of the coffin. As he slowly let go, an incredible scene appeared. The rough porcelain bowl, which could not possibly stand, stood firmly!

The coffin lid was curved, becoming steeper towards the edge!

It felt as if the coffin itself had a strange suction, sucking the porcelain bowl full of half-cooked rice, or as if an invisible hand was firmly grasping the bowl.

But either way, it made one's spine tingle.

One after another, until the four rough porcelain bowls were distributed at the four corners of the coffin, like four huge coffin nails holding the coffin down, Luo Tianhe finally had a chance to catch his breath.

From the side, everyone could see the fine beads of sweat on his forehead, clearly indicating that this task was not as simple as it seemed.

After Luo Tianhe had caught his breath, he took a fire starter and some incense from Lai Fu, wrapped them in cloth, and stuffed them into his arms.

"Sad songs can't hold back the flowing clouds, weeping sounds accompany the wild cranes flying."

"Raise the coffin!"

With Luo Tianhe's roar, everyone exerted force together. The coffin trembled twice, and then was steadily lifted.