Chapter 1.20 Lime (Extra)

The number of snail shells was very large and they were all packed on top of each other in a dense layer, just like a tumor growing out of the well’s wall. The eldest Wu brother thought it was very strange but also good because the ancient bricks used to build the old well’s wall were very strong and could be dug out and used. This would save him a lot of money in the tomb’s construction and he could even make a profit if there were any extras that could be sold.

In order to get the bricks, they knocked the calcified shells down with pickaxes. But after a particularly strong hit, they found several skeletons that had been hidden under the snail shells. Not only were the bones completely covered in the dried shells and stuck tightly to the wall, but they were also completely calcified.

But the strangest thing was, when they struck the deepest part of the snail shells, water started seeping out. After hitting them some more, they found that there was a cavity inside that contained a wet corpse.

The body was well preserved and had only slightly shriveled up. Although the skin was a rotten green color, it still had a shiny luster to it. He could see that this was a very young woman. She was naked, and her nails and hair were extremely long. Her nails were so long, in fact, that they had curled over.

This matter was unusual. Digging up a dry well while trying to dig a grave and then discovering an ancient corpse in that well… would this tomb be built or not?

They suspected that the woman’s body may have been from a previous dynasty. She had probably been thrown into the well or killed by someone. These snails may have gathered in the past to fight over the carrion, but they probably all died because the female corpse was highly toxic. As a result, a “snail shell coffin” was formed and the woman’s corpse was preserved.

The eldest Wu brother had no choice but to go to the family elders at that time and ask them how to deal with it.

But no one had ever seen such a corpse before. The body was placed at the old ancestral hall and soon began to stink, but the Taoist priests couldn’t seal it. And that kind of smell wasn’t corpse rot, but a fishy smell like snails. Some people suggested that the eldest Wu brother find a feng shui master to take a look at it.

The feng shui master was called One-Eyed Shen and was said to be very powerful. One-Eyed Shen looked at the wellhead but said nothing. No matter how the eldest Wu brother asked, he just wouldn’t talk. In the end, he eventually left without taking a single penny, but he did leave a note for the eldest Wu brother.

No one knew what was written on that note. The villagers only knew that the eldest Wu brother still built the grave there and buried the Wu patriarch in it. The body that had been discovered was later missing.

The incident spread from village to village and a saying gradually came about: the village where the Wu family lived was called Mao Shajing, which seemed to originate from that well. Legend had it that in ancient times, this was a land of heavy droughts. The village was built here because there was a well that ended up being the lifeblood of the village. The well dug up by the eldest Wu brother may have been the old well from that time. Now their ancestral tomb was pressing on the village’s lifeblood and the Wu family had taken all the benefits.

Coincidentally, from then on, the Wu family’s reputation suddenly started to rise again, as if they also agreed with this statement.

During the ride back from Zhao Shandu, we carefully pondered over Xu A Qin and the legend he had relayed to us. Uncle Two was very good at feng shui so I asked him, “Is our ancestral grave so good?”

“This doesn’t fall under feng shui anymore,” Uncle Two said. “Didn’t you listen? It’s because it was pressing on the wellhead. In ancient times, there was a saying that the wellhead might be connected to the vital energy of a dragon vein. That kind of dragon vein is called a ‘hidden dragon’ and the wellhead is called the ‘dragon’s eye’, but this isn’t obvious. If One-Eyed Shen could see it, he wasn’t a feng shui master but a feng shui scholar, which means he wasn’t reliable. And to tell you the truth, the feng shui of our ancestral tomb is actually quite ordinary.”

“Then what do you think was written on the note One-Eyed Shen left for our ancestor?”

“I think it’s something like ‘don’t let the cat out of the bag, you can find someone else’ or something.”

“You’re even more unreliable. If that’s the case, our ancestor surely wouldn’t dare continue digging the tomb. But he demolished the well at that time so that bastard must have told him something,” Uncle Three said.

Uncle Two nodded, “If it weren’t for the well, I think it might have something to do with the corpse. Maybe it has nothing to do with the well at all and it was the corpse that made the feng shui master afraid to speak. The note may have been about the dead body.”

When I saw the strange expression on Uncle Two’s face, I asked, “Have you got any answers?”

“It’s hard to say. I have to go back and look at our genealogy to see if what I think is right,” he said. “If I am, then we’ve made a big mistake.”

<Extra 1.19> <Table of Contents><Extra 1.21>

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Updated 12/3/2021