Wang Household's Fool, a Love-Struck Sap

Wang Household's Fool, a Love-Struck Sap

The golden rooster crowed at dawn; it was another long-missed day of brilliant sunshine.

In Weishui's winter, where the wind howled and snow fell hard, such clear days were pitifully rare.

Yu Chen rose from bed early. After cooking and eating, he wiped down every tombstone scattered haphazardly across Qingfeng Mausoleum. Unhurriedly, he returned to his daily routine.

Xiao Zihua's matter was being investigated by Xie Qing.

And since the other party had vowed he could find him, he surely had his own confidence.

As for how he intended to search, that had little to do with Yu Chen.

Snakes had snake paths, rats had rat paths. As the renowned second-in-command of a gang in southern Weishui City, Xie Qing naturally had his own channels.

All Yu Chen had to do was wait.

By the time he finished cleaning Qingfeng Mausoleum, it was nearly noon.

Yu Chen had just finished preparing the meal when the Corpse Mover's strange little tune sounded outside.

Yu Chen's face darkened.

Could this guy have deliberately timed it for mealtime?

"Gravekeeper!"

Like a noisy crow, the Corpse Mover's rough voice rang out from outside.

Yu Chen opened the door, only to find the Corpse Mover's broad face right before him. The man grinned. "The weather's truly nice today!"

Yu Chen sighed and looked behind him, but did not see the familiar flatbed cart. Curious, he asked, "No work today?"

"Nope, no corpses today. Those dead ghosts know what's good for them—they knew to give us a day off in such fine weather." The Corpse Mover spouted nonsense and casually slipped past Yu Chen, sitting down at the old table.

"Then what are you doing at a graveyard if you've got nothing to do?" Yu Chen rolled his eyes.

"Hehe, isn't it because my five-viscera temple is empty, so I came to ask you for help?" The Corpse Mover patted his head and pointed at the table. "Eh, you're eating pretty well! Steamed whole fish! Boiled sliced pork! And... scallion tofu?"

He sat down without the slightest courtesy, taking a bite of meat and then a bite of fish, clicking his tongue in admiration. "Mm, your cooking is getting better and better! Come on, eat! Don't stand on ceremony—make yourself at home!"

Yu Chen: "..."

Was there perhaps a possibility—just a possibility—that though it might not be right, it still needed to be said—

This was fucking my home!

But the Corpse Mover had already picked up his chopsticks and begun wolfing down the food. Yu Chen could only helplessly take up his own bowl and chopsticks and start eating.

During the meal, the Corpse Mover also asked why he had been eating so well lately, and whether he had struck it rich.

Yu Chen merely said that the day of his exile was approaching, so he wanted to use the money he had saved over the years to eat something good before setting off.

Half-jokingly, the Corpse Mover mentioned that he would pull some strings so Yu Chen would not have to be exiled.

As they spoke, the two lowlifes ate like starving ghosts, clearing the entire table in less than half an hour.

At the end, the Corpse Mover wiped his mouth, let out a satisfied burp, and said, "Gravekeeper, I actually came up here today to say goodbye."

Yu Chen's hand, just about to set down his bowl and chopsticks, paused. "You're leaving?"

"Something came up. I'll be gone for a few days."

The Corpse Mover nodded. "Outside Weishui City, there's a place where some filth has piled up over the years. They want me to go clean it up."

He patted his head and laughed heartily. "Gravekeeper, you didn't know this, did you? Before I started hauling corpses, I used to sweep streets!"

Yu Chen shook his head. He truly had not known that.

Though it was also possible that this fellow was simply making it up. After all, a martial arts grandmaster of the Innate Realm did not fit the role of either corpse carrier or street sweeper.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the Corpse Mover, full and satisfied, stood up, stretched lazily, and prepared to head down the mountain.

Yu Chen accompanied him into the county town, intending to buy some vegetables and meat to bring back up the mountain as well.

Under the bright daylight, an unexpectedly mournful funeral tune suddenly drifted over from the end of the county street.

Before long, an imposing funeral procession appeared before the two of them.

The procession was grand indeed. Musicians led the way, zithers and se accompanied the rear, and even the Daoist priests clearing the road numbered seven or eight, each carrying peachwood swords, holding lanterns aloft, and hanging yellow talismans as they marched! As for the coffin, it gleamed brightly. Yu Chen could not tell what material it was made from, but one glance told him it was expensive.

Such a massive funeral procession passing through the streets naturally drew countless townsfolk to stop and watch.

Before the coffin hung a memorial portrait. The youth in it looked honest and simple, only seventeen or eighteen years old.

Yu Chen heard the people beside him muttering.

"Isn't that Wang Household's little fool? He died?"

"What fool? He was a love-struck fool!"

"This Wang Household is truly something else. They ignored him completely while he was alive, yet after he died, they put on such a grand display!"

"..."

Amid the townsfolk's idle chatter, Yu Chen gradually understood some of it.

He did not know the young man in the memorial portrait, but he knew the Wang Household all too well.

The Wang Household of Skybridge monopolized ninety percent of Weishui's medicinal herb and timber trade, making money hand over fist until their bowls overflowed with gold!

Half the silver beneath Yu Chen's bed had come from Old Master Wang's purse!

"Tsk, what a pity." At that moment, the Corpse Mover muttered beside him.

Yu Chen looked up at him.

He explained:

"I recognize the kid in that portrait. His name was Wang Ling. I think he was the child of a concubine belonging to the Wang Household's Second Master. But the boy had something wrong with his head, and his mother died early. Once he passed thirteen, the Wang Household threw him into one of their woodcarving workshops and ignored him completely.

He was there when we ate and drank at the Wang Household's Tiger Head Feast the other day. Who would've thought he'd be dead today?"

Yu Chen listened and slowly nodded.

Once the funeral procession passed, the streets became lively again. Yu Chen then heard the surrounding townsfolk discussing Wang Ling's cause of death.

"That kid was cursed by fate. They say he choked on a steamed bun this morning. His mind wasn't right, and he didn't know how to call for help. The other workers nearby panicked and ran in circles without knowing what to do. By the time they got him to the clinic, he'd already breathed his last!"

"..."

After chattering away for quite some time, the spectators finally dispersed.

Yet Yu Chen kept staring in the direction the funeral procession had gone.

Within the flowing crowd, a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth stood there, his figure hazy, his feet not touching the ground. He was gazing at Yu Chen with a foolish grin!

—An unfulfilled wish.

This young man with something wrong in his head had an unfulfilled wish. He had died with eyes that could not close!

"Wake up!"

The Corpse Mover patted the dazed Yu Chen, and only then did he come back to himself. He watched the funeral procession head toward Bright Moon Mausoleum in the mountains.

"That poor cursed kid! I heard not only was his mind not right, he was also a love-struck fool, a wronged sucker!"

The Corpse Mover sighed as he looked in that direction too.

As they chatted, Yu Chen also learned Wang Ling's story.

It was said that from the moment the child was born, his mind had not worked properly. To put it bluntly, he was an idiot. All day long, he only grinned foolishly and never spoke.

In the entire Wang Household, aside from his mother, no one was willing to pay him any attention.

But good times did not last. When Wang Ling was eight or nine, his mother fell ill from a chill and passed away.

Naturally, the fool became even less welcome.

Though slow-witted, Wang Ling seemed to possess a special gift for carving. So, to keep him out of their sight and out of their minds, the Wang Household assigned him to work at one of their woodcarving workshops, where he remained for years.

Only after his death did they put on this hypocritical grand funeral.

But if that were all, the townsfolk would not have talked so much about Wang Ling. After all, what street did not have a few fools?

What truly made Wang Ling a subject of gossip was that he seemed to have fallen in love with some woman.

Ever since he began working at the woodcarving workshop, he had often scrimped and saved to buy flowers and jewelry. When he had free time, he even carved pretty little wooden trinkets.

His coworkers had asked him what he was making all those things for. He only smiled foolishly and said they were gifts for someone.

How could his coworkers fail to understand?

They guessed that this foolish boy had likely been struck by springtime longing!

But that was no great matter.

Men and women fell in love; fools did too.

The problem was that Wang Ling had kept giving gifts for years, yet his coworkers had never once seen what the woman looked like.

Whenever they asked Wang Ling, he merely smiled and said nothing.

Even more infuriatingly, one coworker had actually seen a woodcarving Wang Ling had made with his own hands at a pawnshop!

That woman had actually sold the woodcarvings Wang Ling painstakingly carved day and night to a pawnshop?!

The coworker immediately told Wang Ling about it, but Wang Ling did not care in the slightest and carried on as before.

That was how the story spread. Coupled with his Wang Household bloodline, his foolish, muddled mind, and that "object of affection," whoever she was but surely no good person, he naturally became a topic of conversation after meals and over tea.

"Say, that woman too—if she didn't like the fool, couldn't she just refuse him?" At last, the Corpse Mover spat. "Why take his things? And then sell them off? That's simply bullying him!"

After hearing that, Yu Chen found himself speechless.

He looked at Wang Ling, who was still grinning foolishly.

By the words of this life, Wang Ling was a love-struck, grievance-bearing sucker.

By the words of his previous life, wasn't this fucking textbook simp behavior?

(End of Chapter)