Looking at the people who had come to pay their respects, Xu Qing felt a strange sensation rise inexplicably in his heart.
It was as though a character from a storyteller's tale—someone who had nothing to do with him—had suddenly stepped out of the story and into reality, standing there alive before him and speaking to him.
Xu Qing knew perfectly well that the other party harbored a Ghost Fetus, yet he still pretended not to know, lighting a stick of incense to see what exactly the man was plotting.
"Brother Li! My Brother Li!
How could you leave without saying a word?"
A sudden howl rolled up from flat ground, making Xu Qing's eardrums throb.
Seriously? Are you crying for your own father here?
"Brother Li, we were brothers, and I truly couldn't bear to see you go. If I'd known this would happen, I might as well have died with you, so I wouldn't have to suffer this knife-twisting pain and feel my heart being torn apart alive!"
Just as the mourning cries were reaching their peak, another dozen or so people came bustling to the shop entrance to pay their respects.
The burly man at the head hurriedly helped Liao An up and sighed. "Little Brother Liao, don't grieve too much. If Brother Li were still alive, I'm sure he wouldn't want to see you like this."
The others also came forward one after another to offer consolation and pay their respects.
Seeing this, Xu Qing was puzzled. He caught hold of someone who had just finished offering incense and asked, "It isn't time for the funeral rites yet. Don't you people know to follow the proper order? I've only just finished tidying him up, and he isn't even dressed yet."
The young man wearing a padded jacket and felt hat had eyes as red as rabbits. When Xu Qing tugged at his arm, he did not get angry. He merely tilted his head toward the roof beam, doing his best not to let the little pearls fall, and said, "You can't blame us. Third Brother Liao missed Elder Brother Li terribly. He didn't even eat lunch and came over first, saying he wanted to take one last look at Elder Brother Li, so he wouldn't have no familiar person beside him and have to leave this world alone."
"We talked it over and came along too."
Xu Qing understood at once. It seemed this Liao fellow wanted to put on a show of deep brotherly affection and thereby reduce suspicion on himself.
Thinking of this, he could not help asking again, "If you were afraid he'd be lonely, why haven't any of his family or relatives come?"
The young man sniffed. He held it in for a long while, but still failed. The little pearls began pattering down, and Xu Qing knew at a glance that he was truly heartbroken from the bottom of his heart—far more genuine than Liao An, who only knew how to bellow at the top of his lungs!
"Sister-in-law was going to come along just now. Third Brother Liao agreed, too, but I persuaded her to go back." The young man sighed. His voice sounded as though an entire block of alum had been stuffed into his throat, bitter and harsh. "I saw Elder Brother Li's injuries clearly this morning. If Sister-in-law saw them, who knows how heartbroken she'd be? And there are still my little nephew and niece. They're so young, and they've already lost their father."
Xu Qing did not know what to say. He merely patted the young man's shoulder and said, "The dead have passed, so the living must mourn in moderation. If your Elder Brother Li were still alive, I'm sure he wouldn't want to see you grieving for him."
The words sounded familiar, but they truly were a cure-all.
Hearing this, the young man raised his sleeve and wiped away his tears with lightning speed. Pretending to be perfectly fine, he straightened his chest and lifted his head. "You're right. Elder Brother Li used to teach me that a real man couldn't act like a spineless weakling and cry every single day!"
"..."
Just as he said this, Liao An—who had been pretending to mourn like a cat crying over a dead mouse—happened to reach the climax. That heart-rending wail of his could have brought the sky crashing down!
After the idle onlookers had left, the Corpse Driver's Shop fell silent once more. Xu Qing went next door and said that he had received a major job: seven or eight corpses were waiting for their Funeral Procession, and the burial clothes, coffins, incense, and candles all needed to be supplied.
Wu Yaoxing was overjoyed when he heard this!
He called over the neighbors and assigned each of them a task. This side needed several bundles of incense, that side needed several coffins. In less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, he had arranged everything neatly and properly!
The next day, Li Fan's parents, wife, and children came to the Corpse Driver's Shop under Liao An's lead.
The old man could not bear to see white-haired parents burying their black-haired child. He only dared stand at the entrance, refusing to go inside no matter what.
His voice trembled as he said, "You've made a mistake. You must have made a mistake. That isn't my son. My son's martial arts are so great—how could anything have happened to him?"
As he spoke, the old man reached out and gripped Xu Qing's arm. As though confirming the answer in his heart, he asked, "Young Sir, that man isn't my son, right?"
Xu Qing was about to answer when he vaguely heard a voice from inside the shop—
"Sister-in-law, don't grieve too much either. Today, before Brother Li's spirit in Heaven, I, Liao An, will make this promise: I'll certainly find you a good family in the future. I won't let you and your children suffer bullying as a lonely widow and orphans."
Xu Qing's brows drew together. What kind of human words are those?
It was no secret that people in this era who devoured a household left without a male heir were plentiful. Setting aside distant examples, if that man truly sold Madam Li and her children elsewhere, then cloaked it under the banner of "doing what was best for her," what would Li Fan's elderly parents do afterward?
And what kind of fate would Li Fan's two young children face in the future?
Before his death, Li Fan had received two hundred taels as a settlement allowance. With that money, even if Madam Li never remarried, she could still live out the rest of her life in comfort.
It was not that Xu Qing was overthinking things. The world was simply like this. Given Liao An's habit of betraying his brothers, his character was plain to see. He might already have his eyes on the Li family's property!
After seeing off Li Fan's relatives, Xu Qing picked up the Corpse Driver's trade secret skill once more that night.
In front of him, a runner from the brokerage house was responsible for leading the way. Xu Qing, meanwhile, had to carry each of these corpses to their respective Mourning Halls and settle them properly before dawn.
With outsiders present, it was inconvenient for him to use the corpse-driving technique, so he could only transport the bodies in the most plain and simplest manner—by carrying them on his back.
On the fifth day, after each household had kept vigil for three days, Xu Qing put on the ritual robe for presiding over funerals. Leading a group of neighborhood residents whose professionalism needed no further explanation, he began sending Li Fan and the others off one by one in their Funeral Processions and laying them to rest.
After finishing the funeral rites during the day, Xu Qing sat listlessly beneath the pomegranate tree in the rear courtyard that night. Yet the image of Liao An devouring the Li household without a male heir kept surfacing in his mind.
"Brutes are easy to save, but people are hard to save. Li Fan, oh Li Fan—you made your family worry while you were alive, and even after your death, you still won't let anyone live in peace."
With a sigh, Xu Qing stopped absorbing moonlight. Instead, he put on his knuckle-dusters, took his corpse-driving implements, and made his way through the darkness to the Li family residence.
He had come once during the funeral procession that day, so he knew the route well enough now.
When he reached the side room where Madam Li and her children were staying, Xu Qing peered through the crack in the door and saw Madam Li sitting before the bed, staring blankly into space.
Madam Li had finished crying during the day and had just coaxed her two children to sleep.
In the dead of night, she let out a forlorn sigh and walked to the window.
A sliver of slanted moon hung outside, with a few scattered stars. For no reason at all, Madam Li's nose stung, and all the emotions she had been unable to reveal before her parents-in-law and children came surging out in one overwhelming rush.
Her husband had died without a clear explanation.
Her children had lost their father at such a young age.
And she, a mere woman, had lost her husband halfway through life. Who knew when the neighbors would start spreading rumors about her?
Saying she had killed her husband would already be sparing her with their words!
Then she thought of the disgusting things Liao An had said during the day about taking charge of Li Fan's affairs and helping her find another family. Only then did she understand what it felt like for the sky to collapse.
Just as Madam Li sat by the windowsill, grieving alone, a hoarse, coarse male voice suddenly came from outside the window, right by the wall!
Madam Li's heart jolted. She assumed some local thug had heard that her husband had just died and come to bully her and her orphaned children.
She quickly grabbed the scissors from the sewing basket and was about to call for her parents-in-law and the neighbors when she heard the man hush her.
"Madam, don't make a commotion. I came to tell you the true cause of Li Fan's death, so you'll know who has been hiding treachery!"
The words at Madam Li's lips were forcibly swallowed back. Upon hearing the true cause of her husband's death, she widened her eyes, and her entire body began to tremble.
Liao An—the man who often dragged her husband off to drink and fool around, and who had even bought sugar figurines and toys for her children—was actually the true culprit behind her husband's death!
"Madam, go to the brokerage house tomorrow and find Fifth Master Chang. Remember not to reveal anything. Once you meet Fifth Master Chang, tell him everything from beginning to end. Fifth Master will naturally see justice done for you."
After saying this, the outside fell completely silent.
Madam Li hurriedly opened the door and looked around outside. The courtyard was empty and utterly silent. There was not a single human shadow to be seen—no one remained to pour out their heart to her!
Early the next morning, Xu Qing chatted for a while with Wu Yaoxing and Old Man Hu from the Coffin Shop.
When noon arrived and the yang energy was at its strongest, he returned to the Corpse Driver's Shop, found a cool spot, and lay down for a comfortable nap.
Toward evening, the yang energy ebbed. Xu Qing closed the shop doors and was just about to head to the rear courtyard to practice a set of Tiger Seal Dragon Elephant Fist and loosen his muscles when someone beat him to it and called out for the shop doors to be opened.
It was still that same brokerage-house runner, and still that same flatbed cart for hauling corpses.
The runner said with intense hatred, "Shopkeeper Xu, our Fifth Master said this corpse is yours to handle for free. But there's one thing: whether you send him to the mines or somewhere else, he absolutely cannot have an easy time! Make him work like an ox and a horse in his next life, and ensure he never reincarnates as a human again!"
Xu Qing wondered, Which unlucky bastard offended Fifth Master Chang this time?
Thinking this, he lifted the burial cloth. When he saw the corpse that was barely recognizable as human, Xu Qing burst out laughing!
Wasn't this Liao An, the one who had wanted to devour the Li household without a male heir?
He had only been gone for a day—how had he ended up in such a sorry state?
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