Burned Corpse in the Wasteland, Wealth Stirs the Heart

Burned Corpse in the Wasteland, Wealth Stirs the Heart

The year's end was drawing near. Weishui had a basketful of matters, great and small, but life still had to be lived one day at a time.

Whether it was the deaths of Ji Family's Three Brothers or Weishui's chief constable Xiao Zihua being stripped of his post, they made excellent topics of conversation for the common folk, but they could not replace tea, rice, oil, and salt.

As for Lin Yi, three days had passed since the case of Ji Family's Three Brothers' heads hitting the ground, yet there was still not the slightest news about the mysterious figure known as the "Head-Taking Ghost."

Rumors even spread among the people that it was not a person at all, but a ghost walking through the darkness, specializing in punishing those vicious villains who had escaped the law's judgment.

As for anything else, no one knew.

Today was another day of swirling snow.

Humming an unknown tune, the Corpse Mover pulled his cart up Qingfeng Mausoleum.

The corpse on the cart had been burned black all over, curled into a ball. How could it retain even the slightest resemblance to a human?

After going up the mountain, the Corpse Mover greeted Yu Chen, who was sweeping snow, then began digging a pit.

Yu Chen glanced at the body behind him, his brows knitting faintly.

Though the corpse on the cart had been charred black beyond recognition, its sturdy bones suggested that it had been a man.

Seeing this, the Corpse Mover thought Yu Chen had been frightened by the grisly sight. With malicious amusement, he said, "Grave watcher, can't take it already? Good thing you didn't see the bodies of Ji Family's Three Brothers a few days ago, or you'd have vomited up last night's meal on the spot!"

"You wouldn't know it, but those three corpses had their heads torn right off. They held them in their hands and knelt in the wind and snow. That sight... tsk, tsk."

As though he had recalled something wonderful, the Corpse Mover clicked his tongue in admiration twice before realizing his reaction was somewhat inappropriate. He laughed awkwardly and glossed over it.

Ji Family's Three Brothers had lived at Hanging Bridge, but anyone with even a little knowledge knew that one of their relatives was a major figure in the Blackwater Gang of Southside Old Street. Thus, even in death, they could pay to be buried in Bright Moon Mausoleum rather than in Qingfeng Mausoleum, a place no better than a mass grave.

After hearing this, Yu Chen showed a relieved expression on the surface, but inwardly he muttered.

You mean the corpses of Ji Family's Three Brothers?

I know them all too well.

I did it!

While chatting, the Corpse Mover dug the pit and complained, "Weishui is getting more and more chaotic. Just two days ago, that mysterious Head-Taking Killer appeared, and now they've found another corpse that died a miserable death in the south of the city. Look at it—it's burned so badly even his own mother probably couldn't recognize him. It was most likely those jianghu fiends again. What a sin!"

Matters in the south of the city were difficult for the yamen to control.

This was practically common knowledge throughout Weishui.

Every year, eighty percent of Weishui's homicide cases occurred in the south of the city. Of those eighty percent, another eighty percent became unsolved cold cases, with the killer nowhere to be found.

From the looks of it, this case would likely be no different.

After all, gangs stood thick as trees in the south of the city. Bloody conflicts happened almost every day, and deaths were nothing unusual.

After burying the corpse, the Corpse Mover waved his hand and dragged his cart down the mountain.

Once he had left, Yu Chen beckoned toward the fresh grave. A ghost emerged from the snowy earth and followed him into the house.

In the wind and snow, the young grave watcher walked ahead while the ghost, unable to rest in peace, followed close behind step for step. The sight was much like the legendary emissary of the underworld, leading an unresting soul toward the land of the dead.

Once inside, he shut the doors and windows tight as usual.

Yu Chen took out the Scripture of Deliverance and drew the miserable ghost, blackened by fire, inside.

Amid a blaze of golden light, scene after scene flashed before Yu Chen's eyes like images in a revolving lantern.

The owner of these memories—the charred corpse—was named Wang Hai. He was a porter who made his living through physical labor, carrying and lifting goods for others every day to support his family.

At home, he had a wife who could no longer do heavy labor due to illness, a little girl only three years old, and an eighty-year-old mother who could do nothing but lie on the heated bed all day.

The entire family of four depended on him alone for food.

Though he could basically make ends meet and support his whole family, Wang Hai was deeply anxious.

Everything in the Household rested on his shoulders, while the money he earned was only enough to cover their daily expenses.

He could not save even a single coin.

That meant that if anything happened to him—even if he caught a chill and rested for two days—his wife, daughter, and mother would go hungry.

How could he not worry?

Fortunately, Heaven had eyes. The turning point came roughly half a month ago.

At that time, two major events occurred in Weishui—news of Old Master Wang's huge reward for the man-eating tiger was spreading like wildfire, while the Golden Sun Merchant Guild from the prefectural capital was passing through Weishui. After losing manpower in an avalanche along the way, they had no choice but to recruit guards and porters in Weishui.

Both were ways to make quick money.

The former belonged to skilled fighters who licked blood from the edge of the blade, while the latter belonged to ordinary men like Wang Hai, who had nothing but strength.

Thus, while the Zhengqing Gang and Yu Chen were preparing to hunt the tiger, Wang Hai and a group of porters left with the Golden Sun Merchant Guild.

Perhaps it was a coincidence of fate, or perhaps his opportunity had arrived.

In any case, while escorting the merchant guild, the Golden Sun Caravan encountered a wolf pack and lost quite a few more men.

During their flight and struggle against the wolves, Wang Hai relied on his robust physique and nimble wits. Risking his life, he saved an executive of the Golden Sun Merchant Guild.

In the process, one of his lower legs was bitten.

Grateful for the life-saving favor, the Golden Sun Merchant Guild executive gave him two choices: either return to the prefectural capital with the guild to work for them, or take a cash settlement and receive a sum of money.

Thinking of his wife, child, and elderly mother at home, Wang Hai helplessly chose the latter.

So, on the return journey, the Golden Sun Merchant Guild executive gave him a brocade pouch containing six Gold Zhu of excellent quality.

This was no small sum.

According to Great Xia's exchange rate, one Gold Zhu weighed three qian. Six of them weighed eighteen qian, which was nearly two taels of gold.

Converted into silver, that was equivalent to twenty taels of snow-white silver!

A full twenty taels of silver!

For a wealthy Weishui merchant like Old Master Wang, it might have been no more than a single hair from nine oxen.

But for Wang Hai, at the bottom of society, it was undoubtedly an enormous fortune!

Wang Hai immediately tucked away the brocade pouch and returned home.

Yet Wang Hai had not expected that wealth stirred the heart. Those six Gold Zhu were not merely prosperity—they were disaster.

Among those escorting the Golden Sun Caravan, besides Wang Hai, more than twenty men from Weishui County Seat had gone along as well.

People from all walks of life were mixed together, fish and dragons jumbled in one pool. Every sort of person was there.

No one knew how, but word that the Golden Sun Merchant Guild executive had given Wang Hai Gold Zhu spread among those men.

After they returned to Weishui, it naturally could not remain hidden.

Yet while wealth stirred the heart, the law hung overhead like a suspended sword, making some ill-intentioned people afraid to act rashly.

But there were always some who feared neither Heaven nor earth—desperados who licked blood from the blade's edge.

The large and small gangs of Southside Old Street were prime examples, and among those ruthless men, the Blackwater Gang was the most vicious and cruel.

Before Wang Hai could even go to the bank to exchange the Gold Zhu for the silver and copper coins used in daily life, the Blackwater Gang came looking for him.

Half supporting him and half forcing him along, they brought Wang Hai to the south of the city, claiming to admire his willingness to risk his life. But their real aim was elsewhere.

—Those six Gold Zhu.

Once they reached the south of the city, several burly men of every sort surrounded Wang Hai and forced him to hand over the six Gold Zhu.

But Wang Hai had an elderly mother above and a young child below, and he had been counting on those six Gold Zhu to improve their lives!

Who would willingly let them be taken for no reason at all?

Those men found no Gold Zhu on Wang Hai or in his home. Guessing that he had hidden it somewhere, they forced him to tell them where.

Wang Hai was stubborn as iron and refused to speak no matter what.

The Blackwater Gang men beat him with clubs and lashed him with whips.

Wang Hai still refused to speak, so they kept beating him.

In the end, without any sense of restraint, they beat him to death.

(End of Chapter)