External Things (4)

1 In order to make sure the ancient regulations and rules of etiquette were followed, a group of Confucians dug a rich man’s new buried tomb. After whole night of toil, the captain of the group stood outside the tomb said, “The sun is rising. How is your work?”

2 A young man said, “It is almost finished. The corpus is coming out. We will skin the cerecloth soon. Wait! I find a pearl in his mouth.”

3 The captain said: “Do you remember the ancient regulation of etiquette? It says: ‘Green wheat, green wheat. Grow on the mound field. No offering when living. Why mouth kept pearl in.’ this guy was rich and relentless. How dare he keep the pearl? Let’s dig it out.”

4 The digger seized the corpus’s hair and pushed down his beard, they used iron tool to open his mouth forcefully. They were careful to protect the pearl; however, broke the bone of the mouth.