A Hefty Reward, Heroes of the Jianghu

A Hefty Reward, Heroes of the Jianghu

Winter, especially a season of once-in-a-century bitter cold.

Always claimed an especially large number of lives.

After all, this era was unlike the world Yu Chen remembered from his previous life, where medicine was advanced enough to saw open someone's skull, fiddle around inside, stitch it back up, and have the patient bouncing around like normal after lying in bed for three to five months.

In this world, seeing a doctor was not so easy.

Some poor commoners, especially elderly people, found it difficult to weather a single snowstorm.

Thus, Corpse Movers had an especially hard time that year.

"Gravekeeper, have you eaten lunch?"

After the brawny Corpse Mover buried the body and erected a marker, he saw Yu Chen sitting by the entrance. He walked over and greeted him of his own accord, complaining, "The ground's frozen solid, there are more dead people than ever, and most come from lonely households with no kin. What a sin!"

"I have." Yu Chen nodded, chatting idly. "That's why you live one day at a time."

Hearing that, the Corpse Mover thought Yu Chen was lamenting his own status as a criminal household. He coughed awkwardly twice and did not continue the subject.

Perhaps because of their unusual occupation, ordinary folk all avoided Corpse Movers like the plague.

So Yu Chen, the gravekeeper at Qingfeng Mausoleum, gradually became the man's conversational companion.

—They both worked among the lowest of the low, so neither had any call to look down on the other.

Yu Chen did not much enjoy talking, but he was happy enough to listen to the Corpse Mover's tales of all manner of gossip from the county seat below the mountain, using them to learn what major and minor events had occurred there.

—A man who ran all over the place heard much and knew much.

Sure enough, in less than a quarter hour, Yu Chen learned two major pieces of news from the Corpse Mover.

One was that Jinyang Trading was recruiting hands to transport goods to Yunyang. The other was that Old Master Wang had put up a hefty reward for the life of that White Ghost tiger.

His heart stirred, and he could not help muttering inwardly.

A hundred taels of silver?

Damn, they really were rich!

At current prices in Weishui, a few taels of silver could buy a life. Sun the Old Lady's son had been crushed to death while hauling goods, and the compensation had only been two taels of loose silver.

A hundred taels of silver was enough for a penniless wretch to go to Skybridge, buy a house and a storefront, and live securely for the rest of his life. Of course, it was also enough to have the girls of Huaqing Tower take turns serving him for a year and a half.

Everyone had their own way of living.

His thoughts churned, but his face revealed nothing.

Naturally, the Corpse Mover noticed nothing unusual about Yu Chen and continued, "There's one more thing. Want to hear it?"

Yu Chen nodded without replying.

The Corpse Mover rolled his eyes. He had wanted to keep the listener in suspense, but Yu Chen gave him nothing to work with. He could only recount the matter of Li Er from Hanging Bridge in full.

"Funny thing is, that was Li Er from Hanging Bridge! One of the most notorious ruffians in all Weishui. Though he was nothing in the eyes of those truly ruthless men in the south of the city, his name was still among the loudest around Hanging Bridge!

"And yet such an overbearing fellow actually got on his knees and returned the money. If it wasn't Sun the Old Lady's ghost haunting him, what else could it have been?"

"Maybe a prodigal son turned back?" Yu Chen offered perfunctorily, though inwardly he thought that if a butcher's knife were held to someone's neck, even the most stubborn brute would have to bow his head.

"Who knows?" The Corpse Mover waved a hand. Once he had finished his dry tobacco, he prepared to pull his cart down the mountain.

At the last moment, as though recalling something, he turned to Yu Chen and said,

"Blade-Faced Big Strong who got beheaded, the shoemaker's family on Youfang Street, Old Mister Zhao at Skybridge, and now that bully Li Er... In barely ten days, four hauntings have already spread through Weishui.

"People in our line of work are more likely to run into such unclean things. You should still be careful. Next time I come up the mountain, I'll bring you a basin of black dog blood to ward off evil and protect you!"

With that, he pulled his handcart down the mountain.

Leaving Yu Chen caught between laughter and tears.

Truth be told, when the Corpse Mover said that, Yu Chen had been rather grateful.

They had no family ties or friendship, yet the man was willing to think of his welfare. Whether it was useful or not, that was exceedingly rare in this world.

Of course, Yu Chen had little need for so-called black dog blood to ward off evil.

Because the evil in the Corpse Mover's tale was Yu Chen himself.

As expected, the corpse the Corpse Mover had brought up the mountain this time had died with its eyes closed, without any unfulfilled wish.

Laid to rest in the earth.

Naturally, it did not trigger a "task" from the Scripture of Deliverance.

Yu Chen was not anxious. After lunch, he simply swept around the mausoleum, then practiced Subduing the Dragon and Taming the Tiger twice in a secluded spot. By then dusk was approaching, the moon shone bright and the stars were sparse.

Another day and night had passed away for nothing.

Early the next morning, Yu Chen got out of bed, practiced his fistwork once, changed into clean clothes, and went down the mountain toward Skybridge.

As a member of a criminal household, Yu Chen rarely had cause to visit Skybridge, where Weishui's wealthy families gathered. Whenever he did go, there was bound to be business.

Today was no exception.

Ever since hearing the Corpse Mover speak yesterday of Old Master Wang, head of an Aristocratic Clan of herbalists, offering a hundred taels of silver for the tiger's life, Yu Chen had felt tempted.

He needed silver.

And Weishui County Seat was only so large. With his status as a member of a criminal household, there were almost no legitimate ways for him to earn money.

Old Master Wang's sudden offer of a hundred taels of silver for the mountain tiger's life was an opportunity for Yu Chen.

After all, they had said that whoever brought them the tiger's corpse would be paid.

Yu Chen had come down the mountain this time to see whether the matter was true.

Skybridge, before Wang Household Manor.

Sure enough, two servants stood before a notice board. The board clearly recorded Old Master Wang's reward, and the Wang Household seal was stamped below it.

It was absolutely true!

Yu Chen understood at once and was about to turn away.

But then he suddenly caught sight of a faint, spectral gleam, appearing and vanishing amid the grim Wang Household Manor.

He froze immediately.

By now, he was incomparably familiar with such a sight.

It meant that where that ghostly light appeared, there was a dead person who had not died with eyes closed and possessed an unrealized wish!

Just then, one of the servants beside the notice board thought Yu Chen had come to pay respects to their eldest young master. He walked over, cupped his hands, and said, "Young sir, if you wish to offer worship, please come to the mourning hall."

Yu Chen was startled. He had never even met Young Master Wang, yet he could go in and pay his respects?

"The master has said that during the seven-day mourning period, all who come are guests, regardless of their station. If sir wishes to pay respects to the eldest young master, please enter," the servant said again.

Yu Chen did not decline. For the first time, he stepped through the gates of the Wang Household, lit three sticks of incense, and firmly planted them before the coffin.

All along the way, whether servants, household retainers, or members of the Wang Household themselves, everyone wore mournful expressions.

That was difficult to feign.

It was enough to show that Young Master Wang had been a decent man in life. Otherwise, these people would not have grieved from the bottom of their hearts.

At the same time, amid the flickering ghostly light within the coffin, a hazy figure slowly drifted toward Yu Chen.

Yet compared to the ghosts of Old Mister Zhao and the others, Young Master Wang's soul was exceptionally horrifying. Only his upper half remained, while his chest and abdomen looked as though they had been torn and bitten to pieces by something sharp. Intestines, flesh, and blood hung all over the ground as he slowly crawled toward Yu Chen.

Even Yu Chen, accustomed to seeing corpses, could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

What a miserable death.

Even the rumored punishment of being torn apart by chariots was probably no worse than this.

After offering the incense, Yu Chen was about to take Young Master Wang's ghost back with him when, at the entrance to the mourning hall, he saw a group of people emerge from the Wang Household's inner quarters.

At their head was a burly man. He was powerfully built, with bronze skin and a close-cropped crew cut. In the depths of winter, he wore only a short shirt, the muscles exposed beneath it like coiling dragons and crouching tigers, brimming with savage strength.

Even his gait was like that of a dragon and tiger; at a glance, he was clearly a trained martial man.

What drew even more attention was a terrifying scar at his collar, running down from his left shoulder as though it might pierce straight through his entire body.

Several more sturdy men followed him out, dressed like jianghu wanderers. Within the orderly Wang Household Manor, they were exceptionally conspicuous.

Finally, the person who saw these men out from the inner quarters was a stooped old man in a thick coat. He escorted the jianghu men to the door, cupped his hands, and said, "The matter of subduing that tiger is in the hands of you heroes! So long as you bring back its corpse, a hundred taels of silver will be offered at once. Moreover, whenever the Zhengqing Gang purchases medicinal herbs from any shop under my Wang Household, the price will be halved!"

With words so lavish, who else could he be but Old Master Wang, the man in charge of the Wang Household?

And those jianghu men were likely the Zhengqing Gang, renowned in the chaotic southern district of Weishui City.

"Rest easy, Old Master Wang!"

The short-shirted leader of the Zhengqing Gang cupped his fists. Without another word, he turned and left.

Yu Chen did not linger either, following them out.

Only Old Master Wang remained, his wrinkled face bearing the grief of a heart dead beyond all sorrow.