Corpse wax generally refers to bodies that are immersed in water or buried in moist, water-rich soil. The so-called wax is formed from the fat and minerals within the body that have solidified.

I followed the footprints and found that they extended all the way to the corner of the room, behind a large blue-and-white porcelain vase depicting a cloud dragon. My heart sank a little.

They say it’s easy to send the king of hell away, but difficult to deal with little ghosts. Could it be that there’s an underage zongzi (a type of rice dumpling)? I said to the chubby guy, “Look, these footprints only go one way; they haven’t come back. Could it be…?”

Before I could finish my sentence, the chubby guy waved his hand at me, signaling me to be quiet. I turned my head and saw the large porcelain vase suddenly wobbling by itself.

The chubby guy whispered, “That thing is hiding behind it.”

Zhang Tu had taken off half of his gear, but he hadn’t removed the belt around his waist; now he decided not to take it off at all. He brought over the oxygen tank and asked the chubby guy, “What thing?”

The chubby guy, annoyed by him, cursed, “Zongzi!”

He was taken aback: “Zongzi? The kind from Jiaxing Wufangzhai?”

The chubby guy shook his head and ignored him. I asked the chubby guy, “Can you be sure? I’ve never seen such a small zongzi.”

The chubby guy replied, “I can’t be sure either, but regardless of whether it’s a zongzi or not, we have to go take a look. Otherwise, it could be a disaster, and it won’t feel good to have this hanging over us.” Saying this, he picked up the air gun and gestured for me to follow. I thought to myself that I definitely wouldn’t go, so I shook my head.

The chubby guy sighed and had no choice but to call Zhang Tu over. This was Zhang Tu’s first time in the pit, and he was exceptionally excited. He immediately mimicked the chubby guy and walked over. The two of them formed a pincer movement towards the large blue-and-white porcelain vase.

Although I was scared, I couldn’t show too much cowardice in front of the woman, so I pretended to be brave and followed behind Zhang Tu, carefully peeking out to look.

We walked slowly, afraid that something might suddenly jump out. The chubby guy shone his flashlight first, but the large vase was too big to see anything clearly. He poked it with the air gun, and his actions reminded me of when I was a child trying to catch weasels, which made me involuntarily chuckle. After poking it five or six times and hearing no response from behind, he finally mustered the courage to walk over. Upon seeing it, he clicked his tongue and cursed, “Damn it, it’s just an empty wooden box, making me all nervous for nothing.”

We followed him over, and I saw that it was a double phoenix-carved baby coffin, only the size of a violin case. The coffin lid had already been opened and set aside, and the white base of the coffin was still in good condition, but the body was missing. No wonder the chubby guy thought it was just a box. I said, “This isn’t a box; it’s a type of coffin.”

The chubby guy was initially skeptical, but he quickly understood and asked, “Are you saying this is the coffin for that little zongzi?”

I nodded and took a closer look, noticing several holes drilled into the coffin. A black streak extended from one of the holes down to the ground, suggesting that some liquid had once flowed out of it. This scene seemed to resemble something mentioned in my grandfather’s notes.

The chubby guy carefully examined the coffin inside and out with his flashlight, then sighed in regret, “From the size of this coffin, you can tell that the child must have had quite a few good things on them. It’s a pity we don’t know where the body went; otherwise, if we pressed down on it, we might have been able to squeeze out a few pearls.”

I nodded. The children who died young or were buried as accompanying sacrifices always had many items in their coffins, most of which were carried on their bodies, especially in the bellies of the sacrificial boys, where there were often preservation beads—valuable treasures indeed.

A few of us searched around to see where the body might have gone, but after turning everything over, we found not even a scrap. It seemed that those tomb raiders had taken everything away.

The胖子 (Fatty) was unwilling to give up and wanted to open the coffin. I felt it was inappropriate and pulled him back, saying, “This coffin is different from others; it’s definitely not just for holding dead bodies. We shouldn’t touch it.”

Fatty laughed and said, “The body is gone. What are we afraid of? Are you worried that the coffin will jump up and bite me?”

Aning interjected, “Our purpose here is not to rummage through the dead’s belongings. Let’s hurry to the main burial chamber and not waste time. Let’s get this over with quickly.”

Fatty knew he was in the wrong and had no choice but to comply. We went back to organize the diving equipment first. As Fatty slung his backpack over his shoulders, he suddenly glanced at me, his mouth moving as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, looking a bit embarrassed. I sighed and scolded, “Just spit it out, will you? What is it?”

Fatty said, “Do you think that little zongzi (the term used for a type of dumpling, but here it refers to the child spirit) might have crawled into that big porcelain jar over there?”

I looked at the large jar, and a thought crossed my mind—there was indeed a possibility. Fatty blushed a bit and said, “I heard a sound coming from the direction of that jar, like it was coming from inside. I thought, zongzi isn’t a mouse; how could it crawl into the jar? I thought I must have misheard. I just mentioned it casually; I didn’t mean anything else.”

I knew he was still thinking about the treasures on the body and wanted to tease him a bit. Just then, that large porcelain jar suddenly toppled over with a clatter. I froze, thinking, “Could it be that he was right?”

The four of us fell silent, nervously watching the jar. It first spun a few times in place and then began to roll toward us with a “gulu gulu” sound.