This was not the first time Hu Baosong had said this to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing glanced at the hale and hearty old man before him and said with a smile, "The current emperor can still live into his eighties. How old are you, old man? For all you know, by then I might not be in the Undertaker Business anymore. I could be treating illnesses and saving lives as a physician instead. All of that is still a long way off!"
Hu Baosong neither agreed nor disagreed. Just as Xu Qing was about to leave, he suddenly said, "Youngster Xu, don't touch the coffin with the red lacquer in your shop. That coffin is the Four Seasons Coffin. Who knows what strange thing might be hidden inside?"
Xu Qing was seized by doubt. He turned and carefully studied the other man, probing, "Old Hu, do you know something?"
"I've lived to this age. Is there anything I don't know?" Hu Baosong grinned, revealing gaps between teeth coated in yellow moss.
"That red-lacquered Four Seasons Coffin was something Liu Youdao dug out of the ancient road by the river crossing. He couldn't make up his mind and didn't dare open it, so he came to ask whether I recognized the coffin."
"I thought he might lose patience and open it one day, but instead he died somewhere else. What a pity. This old man still wanted to see what exactly was hidden inside that Four Seasons Coffin."
Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that, then asked, "Since you want to know so badly, why remind me not to open it?"
"You dull-witted brat, are you truly ignorant, or are you pretending to be confused? Before, you and I weren't familiar with each other, and neither of