Corpse Cremator

In the midsummer, the sun rises early. This is the coolest time of the day. The school's greenery is far more beautiful than the streets outside, and you can hear the sparse chirping of insects and birds.

Since I woke up last night, I haven't slept since then. I feel groggy and uncomfortable. I took a cold shower and woke up a little.

The bus was bumpy and swaying. I fell asleep in a short while. With the support of a nap, I didn't feel as uncomfortable as before when I got off the bus.

When I arrived at the funeral home, there were cars and people everywhere, even outside. There were bodies that were not burned yesterday, and they accumulated for a day. Today, many people came to mourn the dead and send them off for the last time.

A police car stopped at the entrance of the gate. Zhang Dahan got off the car, said hello to me, and walked directly into the funeral home.

After the incident yesterday, the body of Lao Li was moved away. After the police made a detailed record of the scene, I moved the things inside and changed to another dormitory. Sister Yaoyao still lives next door to me. She moved from the second floor to the third floor. After returning to the dormitory, I changed into work clothes and prepared to go to the shift.

The work of the funeral home has a clear division of labor. The cremation workshop is mainly responsible for cremation and collection of corpses, and the other departments are responsible for other work. Each job is very important.

In the office, there are three cremation workers and two corpse collectors, including me. Lao Li died, so there is one less person. The workshop manager arranged the work and reminded me of safety precautions. I was not assigned any work for the time being, and asked me to learn from Master Yu.

After the work was arranged, I followed Yu Qiu to the cremation room.

At first, Master Yu didn't say a word, his expression was indifferent, and he couldn't tell whether he was happy or angry.

Seeing this, I hurriedly took out the cigarettes I bought for the old butcher yesterday, put them in Master Yu's pocket when no one was around, and took out a cigarette and lit it for Master Yu.

He took a puff of cigarette, and his face immediately turned from gloomy to bright, smiling, with wrinkles all over his face: "Xiao Mao, it's not easy to be a cremator. The director called me this morning and told me that you should follow me for a few days, and you have to do it yourself in a week. Let's learn the most difficult and common one today!"

I nodded and responded with a smile: "Master Yu, I just joined the company, and I don't understand a lot of things. You have to teach me more!"

"Of course, there haven't been new cremators here at the stone mill for many years. In the past, it was always me and Lao Luo who burned corpses. We were so busy that we couldn't handle it. Sometimes we were still burning corpses when it was almost dark! Now that you are here, after you get started, we are all relieved!"

Master Yu chatted with me while smoking.

The crematorium was very dark, without any light. The sun was shining outside, but it was so dark inside that you couldn't see your hand in front of you. As soon as you came in, you could feel a cold chill, eerie.

Master Yu has been cremating corpses here for decades and is very familiar with this place. He turned on the light, turned around and walked inside to introduce the equipment in the cremation room to me.

After the introduction, I realized that there are differences in cremation.

There are only two types of cremation at the Stone Mill Funeral Home. One is a single asbestos net on which the corpse is placed. After the cremation, the skeleton is intact and it is a single furnace for one person. The other is a large furnace where several corpses are placed and burned together. A few cuts are also made on the corpse to prevent explosions during the cremation process.

And what I want to learn today is that kind of large furnace.

Master Yu came to the crematorium and lit a stick of incense beside each crematorium: "Xiao Mao, remember, the first thing you do when you enter the crematorium every day is to light a stick of incense in front of each stove. You can only start burning the bodies after the incense is burned out! If the incense of a stove goes out halfway through burning, then this stove cannot be used for the day. You have to wait until the next day to light the incense again. You can continue to burn after it is completely burned out!"

I nodded beside Master Yu.

He stared at me in surprise: "You are quite interesting. Those cremators hired before would tremble when they stepped into the cremation room, not to mention cremation. You are very calm!"

After that, he introduced me and opened the tool drawer, which contained some iron hooks and special knives: "These things are used before the bodies are sent to the furnace to prevent the bodies from exploding during the burning process, and it is difficult to tell whose bones belong to whom!"

At this time, I saw the furnace at the deepest part of the cremation room. Master Yu did not go forward to light incense. I felt a little strange and asked: "Master Yu, why don't you light incense for the furnace at the innermost part?"

Shh!

Master Yu made a gesture to silence, and said with a serious expression: "Don't mention that furnace. No matter how busy you are or how late you work overtime, you can't go to that furnace to cremate the body!"

I was very curious, but I chose to shut up and didn't ask.

Since Master Yu said that I couldn't go there, I didn't go.

After getting familiar with the equipment in the cremation room, Master Yu and I waited for the incense in front of the crematorium to burn out. We had to wait for the corpse collector to bathe and make up the corpse, and then hold a memorial service. We had to wait at least an hour before the corpse was brought in.

In front of the furnace, all the incense burned very calmly, and the silver-gray incense ash fell down.

Master Yu took a look and breathed a long sigh of relief. I handed him another cigarette. After lighting it, he seemed to remember something and slapped his forehead: "Xiao Mao, wait for me. I suddenly remembered that the garbage thrown in the corner two days ago has not been cleaned up. I have to deal with it quickly. If the director sees it, I will be evaluated again!"

After that, he turned and went to another room. When he came out again, he was holding a bag of garbage in his hand.

Master Yu left.

I was the only one left in the whole cremation room.

I was not afraid of this kind of environment, and watched quietly. I don't know why, but the dream from last night and the words Jiang Ping and the others heard that night came to my mind. Putting them together made me nervous.

'The corpse collector dies first, then the corpse cremator! '

The female corpse asked me to help her find her high heels. A strong sense of doubt suddenly surged in my heart. My originally calm mood became nervous at this moment.

Just then, my cell phone rang suddenly, startling me. I saw that it was my father's call. I pressed the answer button and heard my father's familiar voice: "Mao'er, I'm in the car. I estimate that I will arrive around 2 pm. Come and pick me up then!"

"Got it, Dad! I'm going to work now. I'll ask the director for leave later to see if I can leave earlier!" After hanging up the phone, I looked at the incense in front of the crematorium.

The incense was extinguished!

There are a total of nine furnaces on the ordinary crematorium side, not counting the innermost one, there are still eight left. But now, three of the incense in front of the eight furnaces have been extinguished.

At this time, the lights in the crematorium began to flicker, accompanied by the sound of electricity.

Faced with this situation, I couldn't help but get a little nervous, staring at the corridor in front of the crematorium without blinking, fearing that something bad would happen.

My father once said that the more times like this, the more you need to calm down and never panic.