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AzzGab => Esoterica => Topic started by: AZZERAE on April 09, 2021, 09:11:28 PM

Title: Roadside Envelope
Post by: AZZERAE on April 09, 2021, 09:11:28 PM
(https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-3fdfd812982b49f6d0e7056bb4b4040c)

If you see a red envelope by the side of the road, do not pick it up.

As the story goes, a young man, let’s just call him Li, was on his way home and saw a red envelope on the side of the road. Li stopped and picked it up. The envelope looked new, doesn’t look like trash. He opened the envelope and discovered brand new hundred yuan bills and something else. He didn’t want to draw attention on the road, so he put the money back in the envelope and brought it home.

After he got home, he emptied the content of the envelope, 500 Yuan, and a few strands of hair, a black and white picture of a lovely young woman, and a few pieces of white things, upon closer inspection, revealed to be fingernail clips. Li freaked out a bit, but telling himself this must be some kind of sick prank. He threw away the hair and nail clippings but somehow kept the picture. The girl looked nice.

That night, Li had a dream. The woman in the photograph was in his dream, looking quite nice and friendly. Li woke up feeling pretty good actually. A beautiful girl in his dream, a good way to start a new day. The next couple of days went by like normal. Li started to feel as if there is someone else in his apartment. Shadow in the corner of his eyes or items moved from the bedroom to the living room, and yet he didn’t remember moving them. But somehow Li wasn’t scared. Whatever was in his apartment, didn’t mean him harm. He had this gut feeling that it’s OK. He kept dreaming about the woman. In his dream, they’re a married couple, they would have dinner together, and he would tell her about his day at work, while she listened.

And Li started to get sick. At first, it’s minor, a cold here, a cough there. He felt tired all the time, which he believed to be anemia, and started taking vitamin D. He started to hallucinate, seeing the woman even during waking hours. He was fired from his work because he got caught falling asleep at his desk twice by his boss.

A few months later, his family realized they haven’t heard from Li for days. His mother went to visit him at his apartment, but nobody answered the door. She reached out to his work but was told they had fired the guy months ago. His mother got the police to knock the door open and found his son’s decomposed body. Li had died for days.

His body was discovered lying in bed peacefully, fully dressed in his best suit, with shoes on. The autopsy couldn't identify the cause of death. Everything considered, it seemed he just fall asleep one night, and never wake up. So the doctor ruled natural causes.

The doctor did find something, the corpse was holding a black and white picture of a lovely woman.

… And that’s not the end of the story.

The police returned the body to the Li family, after ruling the death natural cause, alone with the picture. They assumed the picture must be the guy’s girlfriend, so perhaps had some sentimental values for the family. And yet, neither Li’s parents nor his friends recognized the woman in the picture.

When the Li family preparing the funeral for him, they received a strange guest. It’s a couple about the same age as Li’s parents. They introduced themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Zhang. The Zhang family was one of the prominent families of the city. The Zhangs explained to the parents that they had lost their daughter not long ago. They brought out a picture, the same woman in the black and white picture Li was holding when he died. The Li family was confused, was their son dating this girl? Mr. and Mrs. Zhang looked at each other and nodded. Yes, Li was dating their daughter and before he could tell anyone, their daughter had died in an accident. They heard the news of Li’s death and came to pay respect.

Also, the couple hesitated a bit and asked if they could bury Li with their daughter as if they’re a married couple in the Zhang family cemetery. This was a highly unusual request. But the Lis were poor, they could barely make ends meet, let alone having a family cemetery. The Zhangs pleaded, they promised would cover the full funeral cause, make sure their son buried in a good lot with good Fengshui, and politely implied that they’re happy to compensate for whatever inconvenience this might cause the Li family. The Lis told the Zhangs that they needed time to think, and would give them a reply in a few days.

Mrs. Li thought this was a good idea. Funerals were expensive, and their family was struggling. But Mr. Li didn’t like the idea, his son buried in another family’s graveyard, wouldn’t that be a disgrace for his family? It was as if his son married into another family. Mrs. Li called her husband an old fossil who still believes in those stupid old traditions of who marries into who. Eventually, Mrs. Li overrule Mr. Li and told the Zhangs they agree with the deal.

The Zhangs were beside themselves after receiving the news, they thanked the Lis repeatedly, and went started the funeral preparation immediately.

To Li’s surprise, the Zhangs had everything prepared in a matter of days. It’s almost as if they had everything planned, and ready to go, and just waiting for his son’s untimely death. But, Li brushed off the thought and believed Zhang must have to spend extra to get things done quickly. The funeral itself was by the book, followed all the traditions, and didn’t cut any corners. The Zhangs set up 3 days of funeral dinner, inviting all to come. During the ceremony, the Lis watched Mr. Zhang formally set up their son and the Zhang girl’s spirit tablets in the Zhang Family shrine. Mrs. Zhang was crying, murmuring something like “after all these years, my dear girl can finally enter the family shrine, finally be at peace”.

At the funeral dinner, Lis overheard some relatives of the Zhang family chitchatting, turns out, the girl was killed in a freak accident and did not get a peaceful death. According to the local tradition, unmarried daughters could not enter the family shrine, receiving tributes from the family. The Zhangs had tried to set up a ghost marriage for years, by purchasing newly deceased corpses. It didn’t count though, someone else took over the conversation, apparently, for a ghost marriage to work, the families of the bride and the groom must agree, it can’t be just some random dead person.

So the rumor went, the Zhangs got desperate. They resort to curses and spells. They started to leave red envelopes with money (dowry), a picture, and some personal items of their daughter, around the roadside. Whoever picked it up, and took the money, would be considered taking dowry money, which means, they agreed to marry. Of course, not all people who pick up the red envelope were suitable, their daughter needs to pick the right person.

They must have left quite a lot of envelopes, another relative said. Think about how much money they spend on that!

“Looks like they finally found one.” relative number 1 concluded.

The Lis family pieced everything together, but it’s already too late. The death was already ruled natural causes. They have already taken Zhang’s money, and let them did the funeral. Their son was already buried 6 feet underground. Making a fuzz now will not help anyone other than embarrass themselves.

There’s nothing they can do.

If you see a red envelope by the roadside, do not pick it up.

- Written by Feifei Wang on Quora (https://qr.ae/pG8PH1)
Title: Re: Roadside Envelope
Post by: Colonel Pate Manly on June 26, 2021, 12:07:54 AM
What does one do with Blue Roadside Envelopes?

-COL Manly