After Jia Lerong finished speaking, the three men fell silent. Even Jia Lerong's wife, sitting some distance away and soothing the child, said nothing.
A moment later, she suddenly heard chairs scrape. Looking up, she saw her husband and his two younger brothers heading out with their heads lowered.
They were going to collect their mother's body. As the woman softly comforted the child, an inexplicable grievance and sorrow welled up inside her. She wiped at the corner of her eyes and sighed.
The three Jia brothers left without a word, silently making their way toward the small square. When they encountered people along the road, those who had intended to greet them swallowed their words at the sight of their expressions, merely stepping aside and watching them pass.
When they arrived, the three corpses were still swaying in the wind. The closer they drew, the stronger their fear became.
After all, someone hanged alive did not make for a pleasant sight. Enduring the stench and the discomfort in their hearts, the three worked together to take down the corpses, which had become stiff and heavy in death.
"Big Brother, keep watch. We'll go buy a cheap coffin!" The youngest was hard-mouthed but soft-hearted. Seeing Granny Jia's miserable state in death, he was the first to speak.
"Go to the Zhang Family Coffin Shop. Since we're laying out the body, do it properly. Forget a grand, lavish burial—it would be too affected, and no one would believe it anyway. Buy a mid-grade coffin."
Jia Lerong had studied in his younger days and handled matters clearly. His two younger brothers both trusted him, immediately agreeing. As palace guards, they had eaten meat and trained every day for the past half year, and were quite strong. They passed through the alleys to