White-Washing the Customer

Scattered silver snow, collected ownerless corpse.

The corpse before him, from the yamen's prison, was wrapped only in a piece of ragged cloth. According to the jailer, the man had died of guilt, having taken his own life in the prison at night.

But when Xu Qing unfolded the cloth, he found the corpse completely naked, without even a scrap of fabric to cover its navel.

Looking at the death posture, hugging its knees and curled into a ball, it was clear the man had died of starvation and cold, not guilt!

With the thought of uncovering the truth, Xu Qing reached out to touch the body, attempting to awaken the Immortal Book of Salvation to read its life story.

But to Xu Qing's utter bewilderment, the Duren Sutra in his mind showed no reaction.

What had gone wrong?

Could this corpse be fake?

Xu Qing immediately dismissed the possibility. Even a fake human body would not be achievable for a mere four taels of silver, let alone sold to him!

Then it must be his method of salvation that was incorrect.

Carefully recalling the process of saving corpses, Xu Qing suddenly had an epiphany.

Back when he saved the Corpse Laborers from the Cui Family Mill, those laborers looked no different from ordinary corpses on the outside.

The only difference was that to create a complete Corpse Laborer, it required the blessings of the Soul-Returning Curse, the Corpse-Raising Curse, and other processes. Finally, a special type of Walking Corpse Talisman had to be inscribed on the body to give it the programmed consciousness of a laborer.

Ordinary corpses, untreated, would have their souls gradually dissipate over time.

Including when he saved Liu Youdao, it was because the man had died recently and his soul had not yet departed his body, which allowed for salvation.

As for Master Liu a few days ago, it was because Liu Youdao, even before setting up the mourning hall, had intended to dig up his grave after his death and refine him into a Corpse Laborer for further profit.

By the time Xu Qing went to Master Liu's mansion, Master Liu had already been subjected to the Corpse Driving Curse and was in a state of soul preservation.

After reviewing his past salvation experiences, Xu Qing seemed to have found the problem.

The corpse before him, which had died of starvation and cold, had clearly been dead for longer than the period during which souls lingered.

In other words, he needed to summon its soul before he could perform the salvation.

With a solution in hand, Xu Qing felt an inexplicable excitement.

This might be his first Corpse-Raising experience since becoming a Corpse Driver!

Closing the shop door, he lit a stick of Spirit Incense. Once his mood had calmed, Xu Qing gathered the items needed for corpse driving, put on his fish-skin gloves for protection, and laid them out in a line along the edge of the plank bed.

A Soul Herding Bell, a Corpse Driving Whip, an ink-filled compass with an octagonal mirror, and a cinnabar pen and purple smoke furnace.

Regardless of whether they would be used, just a glance would elicit a cry of "Authentic!" from any observer, expert or layman alike.

Look at this collection of tools, this was probably all a Corpse Driver could gather in a lifetime, and he had brought it all out!

"Protect my soul, attend my spirit, nourish my Qi, connect my blood. Let no other soul approach, let no wandering soul depart. Listen to my incantation, fragmented spirit enter the dream. Heaven's gate opens, Earth's gate opens, the golden sparrow transforms into spirit, the wandering soul returns to its body. Thousand-mile soul-snatching curse, quickly return to your true nature!"

Taking out the Soul Herding Bell, he recited the Soul-Returning Curse from the Thirty-Six Corpse Driving Curses. As the bell and the incantation reached a certain frequency, a gust of yin wind suddenly swept in through the windows and door cracks of the Corpse Driver's Shop. The invisible wind swirled, found its direction, and finally settled on the ownerless corpse.

The next moment, the curled and stiff corpse on the plank bed suddenly trembled, emitting crisp cracking sounds as its bones stretched and shifted.

When the sounds stopped and the limbs were fully extended, the ownerless corpse suddenly opened its grayish-white eyes. A hoarse, dry voice, like a creaking well windlass, emerged from its mouth.

"Cold, so cold! Lend me your skin to wear."

An anomaly occurred. Xu Qing, caught completely off guard, was so startled he almost felt his hair stand on end. The Thirty-Six Corpse Driving Curses never mentioned that the corpse would speak after the ritual!

Seeing the corpse on the bed suddenly spring up and about to claw at his skin, Xu Qing instinctively threw a punch!

Then came a second punch, a third punch, a flurry of punches!

Only when the plank bed collapsed and the terrifyingly "acting" corpse was left twitching did Xu Qing stop.

"That's it?"

Reaching out, he pressed the convulsing corpse, frozen to death, beneath him. The Immortal Book of Salvation in Xu Qing's mind began to flip pages.

The corpse's name was Qu Zhicai. He was a dissolute man who excelled in gambling, whoring, and drinking, constantly either on his way to a gambling den or on the unknown roads of brothels.

At the age of twenty, Qu Zhicai, having just come of age, set a grand ambition: he would travel to all the casinos and brothels in the Great Yong Dynasty, then write a book and become a founding ancestor.

To put it bluntly, he just wanted to gamble and whore, a scumbag with no ambition!

After setting his grand ambition, Qu Zhicai used the pretense of going to the prefectural city to study diligently and pursue a career to borrow money from relatives and friends, and then vanished without a trace.

Did he really go to the prefectural city to study?

You wouldn't believe it, but he did study!

However, upon arriving in the prefectural city, he didn't study poetry or classics, but how to roll dice and how to visit brothels!

When he ran out of money in the prefectural city and got bored, Qu Zhicai would borrow a sum of money from his acquaintances there, saying he would repay it in a few days.

But when the repayment date arrived, the creditors inquired—

Good heavens! Qu Zhicai couldn't be found anywhere in the prefectural city!

At this point, Qu Zhicai had already absconded with the money and gone to another city to live it up.

Over the next six months, he repeated this method, and it seemed his grand ambition was actually within reach!

One day, Qu Zhicai, walking with a swagger as if he were about to ascend to immortality, arrived in the Jinmen region. Upon reaching Jinmen, it would be unthinkable not to visit the famous Linhe pleasure boats!

Linhe Fang had no curfew, and even in the dead of night, various idlers still frequented the gambling dens and brothels.

Qu Zhicai was among them.

For instance, if he had a bad run at the gambling house one day, he'd go to the flower house across the street to find a girl for a "leg-eating" meal to improve his luck. Once he felt the "fishy" luck returning, he'd head back to the tables.

This sort of thing wouldn't be a big deal for a dissolute wanderer, but Qu Zhicai was bewitched and did something he absolutely shouldn't have!

That day, his luck was bad, so he went to Cuiyun Tower to "improve his luck." After he was done, he accidentally spotted the girl's jewelry box!

Inside, there weren't just gold and silver hairpins, but also various pearls, jade, and bits of gold and silver.

Qu Zhicai asked the girl, "What are you saving all this money for?"

The girl replied, "Today is the last job I'm taking. After this, I'll use the money I've saved over the years to buy my freedom from my godmother."

The girl also said, "Young master, you are the last noble guest on my journey to freedom. I will certainly serve you well."

In the girl's eyes, Qu Zhicai was the last wisp of wind, the last speck of dust she encountered on her journey through the courtesan life. So, she used all her years of training, every bit of knowledge she had, useful or not, and served him meticulously!

After Qu Zhicai left, the girl took the jewelry box and found her godmother. Just as she was about to pay to get her deed of sale back, she suddenly discovered that all the valuables in the jewelry box had vanished!

This was her entire future!

The girl was so furious she almost passed out. Fortunately, the madam of Cuiyun Tower had some principles. After hearing the reason, she didn't need to say much. Friends from all over the streets and alleys who had received her "physical alms" in their youth came!

Old ones, young ones, those with canes, those carried on stretchers – anyone who could still breathe showed up!

Though it was a bit of an exaggeration, it truly highlighted the woman's connections!

The crowd was incensed and cursed loudly, threatening to turn Linhe Fang upside down.

Such a commotion quickly alerted the patrol constables and the garrison soldiers.

The constables were initially annoyed, thinking, "What are these gamblers and brothel-goers causing trouble for in the middle of the night again?"

When they arrived and heard the story, the constables' anger flared even hotter!

However, this time, their anger was directed at the freeloading customer!

There's an old saying: "Thieves don't steal from the sick, and robbers don't steal from prostitutes."

The former refers to not stealing money meant for medical treatment when someone is ill, and the latter means not stealing the money earned by a woman selling her services!

Even in the lowest professions, this was a fundamental rule!

After all, stealing a prostitute's earnings was a grave sin, and word of it would bring shame not only to ordinary people but even to petty thieves!

Just as a crowd was angrily searching for someone in front of Cuiyun Tower, trouble erupted at Lihua Courtyard, just across the street!

It turned out that Qu Zhicai wasn't satisfied with just one theft. After losing all his money at the gambling house, he actually doubled back. Although this time he was more careful and chose a different girl at Lihua Courtyard to steal from, his luck was not only bad at gambling but also in romance; he was caught red-handed by the girl.

In a panic, Qu Zhicai had no choice but to jump from the attic, running away naked.

Even though it wasn't broad daylight, running around under the moonlight wasn't a good look. A patrolling constable saw this and mistook him for a night-time rapist. Without a second thought, he chased after the man like a cat chasing a mouse.

Over at the brothel and gambling district, the patrol captain and garrison soldiers also heard the news and rushed towards Lihua Courtyard.

They passed through the execution ground and wound around Tongzi Street, finally reaching the outside of Cui Family Mill, where the patrol captain and the patrolling constable finally met up.

"Where is the suspect?"

"Reporting to the captain, the thief ran into the alley!"

"Oh? If I remember correctly, that should be a dead-end alley."

"Follow me!"

Patrol Captain Zhao Zhonghe rushed into the alley first to apprehend the freeloading customer. To his surprise, as soon as he entered, he saw someone next to the customer, about to climb over the high wall into the mill.

This was truly "good things come in pairs, and so do encounters with thieves."

Seeing the person about to retreat back into the courtyard, Zhao Zhonghe, without a second thought, pulled out his pre-prepared crossbow.

Xu Qing's vision went dark at this sight.

This was because the small crossbow wasn't aimed at anyone else but himself, Xu!

Back when he had climbed into the alley from the Corpse Laborer's mill, preparing to escape, he had encountered a group of soldiers rushing towards the alley. He never expected it to be because of such a trivial matter!

When Xu Qing saw this, Qu Zhicai's "legendary" life was far from over.

It was the coldest part of the first lunar month, and the naked Qu Zhicai was escorted by a group of people to the police station.

They interrogated him all night, and only then did they learn from Qu Zhicai that he had used all the money meant to buy the girl's freedom to boost the gambling house's profits!

Tsk, what a kind soul!

The gambling house owner thought, "How is this business related to me? If this gets out, what will happen to our reputation?"

With that thought, the gambling house owner held his breath and scraped together the money for the girl's freedom.

Look at that, even a gambling house owner had more integrity than Qu Zhicai!

At this point, not only the brothel and gambling house patrons but also the people in the police station were filled with indignation. So, they secretly devised a wicked plan: they wouldn't give Qu Zhicai any bedding or clothes.

The next day, looking through the cell bars, the perpetrator of the "prostitute theft and gambling" was curled up in a ball, completely silent.

Having witnessed the entire life of the freeloading customer, Xu Qing felt a surge of anger, as if he wanted to kick the other person a few times.

If Qu Zhicai hadn't run into the alley by the mill, he wouldn't have been shot by the patrol captain.

He still remembered meeting that captain two days ago, when the man had been holding his dog-beating stick and told him he smelled of makeup and was too effeminate!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became!

Finally, the Duren Sutra gave its evaluation of the corpse: Human, Low Grade.

Seeing the rating, Xu Qing felt a strange sense of relief.

This was the first time he had hoped a corpse's rating wouldn't be too high.

As for the reward from the Duren Sutra, it was a shamanistic curse from the Shu region called the Green Cicada Money Return Curse.

The Southern Border Witch Records mentioned that in the south, there was an insect called the Green Cicada, which looked like a cicada but was larger. When the Green Cicada laid its eggs on leaves, if one took the larvae, the mother Green Cicada would fly to find them, no matter how far away.

Some shamans used this technique, borrowing the characteristic of the Green Cicada mother and child reuniting after separation. They would smear the blood of the mother and child onto money. Money marked with the mother's blood or the child's blood would fly back after being spent. This was the origin of the saying 'Green Cicada returns money.'

However, the Green Cicada Money Return Curse Xu Qing had before him didn't require the blood of the Green Cicada mother and child. One only needed to perform the Money Return Curse on the silver, and it would be imbued with the characteristic of automatically returning.

After Xu Qing grasped this method, he remained silent for a long time.

Wasn't this just freeloading?

This freeloader's obsession with getting things for free was truly formidable; even after death, their instincts hadn't forgotten this path.