Beautiful even in death

Chen Miao's gaze fell on Qian Xiaomei's face.

It was quite ordinary.

Not daring to look any longer, Chen Miao stepped back, opened the book, and read the contents, which had already changed.

"..."

"Since no one was left to watch the cold storage after Old Wang died, I was temporarily assigned to guard it. Out of guilt toward Old Wang, I didn't refuse."

"At noon, I went to the cold storage to see Old Wang and, while I was there, took a look at the deceased beside him."

"They had both died young. I sighed at how unpredictable life was."

"After nightfall, I gathered my things and went to guard the cold storage. As midnight approached, I thought I heard a faint sound coming from one of the refrigerated compartments."

"After listening carefully, I realized it wasn't Old Wang's compartment, but the one next to his. Curious, I opened it, only for the sound to disappear."

"I thought I had imagined it. Just as I was about to close the compartment, a hand seized my wrist. An icy chill spread from my wrist through my entire body. Unable to move, I could only watch as another hand reached out of the compartment and plunged into my chest."

"The moment my heart stopped beating, I vaguely heard a voice."

"'Why won't you give me...'"

"I died!"

Expressionless, Chen Miao closed the book and slowly pushed Qian Xiaomei back inside.

Throughout the process, he kept his eyes fixed on the compartment.

Nothing happened, even after the door was completely shut.

He hurried out of the cold storage. Once he felt the warmth of the sunshine outside, Chen Miao let out a long breath.

Ignoring the sticky feeling left by the cold sweat drying on his skin, he went over the contents of the book again.

There was a lot more text this time!

And for the first time, it included a detailed description of what happened inside the cold storage!

Was it because I entered the cold storage? Or because I got close to her?

Chen Miao speculated, but his attention soon shifted to something else.

That sentence!

Why won't you give me...?

Give me?

Give me what?

Chen Miao frowned in thought.

When Chen Miao was a child living with his grandfather, he had once overheard him telling someone that people who died with lingering attachments would not rest peacefully.

The expression "unable to rest in peace" meant something along those lines.

Only after the deceased's lingering concerns were resolved could they depart in peace.

In the past, Chen Miao would have taken such claims with a grain of salt.

But what was happening to him now forced him to seriously consider the possibility.

Back in his office, Chen Miao pulled up Qian Xiaomei's information.

"A beauty content creator..."

Chen Miao searched for beauty creators on several short-video platforms, trying to find Qian Xiaomei's account.

But the beauty niche was far more crowded than the tiny niche of funeral directors. Chen Miao searched for a full hour without finding her.

Only when he tried searching for "beauty creator who died suddenly" did he find Qian Xiaomei.

After watching, Chen Miao realized he had scrolled past her earlier. But she looked so different from Qian Xiaomei that he had skipped over her.

He recalled the face he had seen earlier, then looked at Qian Xiaomei's face in the video.

Chen Miao could only admit how little he knew.

In ancient times, this would have been called disguising one's appearance.

Through Qian Xiaomei's videos, Chen Miao learned a little about her.

But he still had no idea how that sentence ended.

After some thought, Chen Miao pulled out her family's information and called the number listed there.

Even if he didn't know Qian Xiaomei's final wish, someone had to!

The call connected quickly, and a weary voice came from the other end.

Judging by the voice, it was probably Qian Xiaomei's mother or another relative.

"Hello, I'm Chen Miao, a funeral director at the Tianmen Funeral Home. Are you a family member of Qian Xiaomei?"

"Yes, I'm her mother. Is something wrong?"

Chen Miao chose his words carefully before speaking.

"Well, Qian Xiaomei's farewell ceremony is tomorrow, and I need to write her eulogy. I'd like to learn more about her life. Would you have time to tell me a little about her?"

A full half minute of silence passed before she answered.

"What would you like to know?"

"Well, her file says she was a beauty content creator. Did she have any..."

Before Chen Miao could finish, Qian Xiaomei's mother abruptly burst out in anger.

"Beauty creator, beauty creator! If it weren't for that beauty creator nonsense, how could she have died so suddenly!"

"She loved making herself pretty ever since she was little. I kept her in line so she couldn't go overboard, but once she went to college, she ran wild."

"She didn't study properly, wouldn't find a job after graduating, and insisted on becoming some kind of online content creator!"

"She spent all day painting her face into a mess, smearing piles of cosmetics onto it. Was her face a city wall? Could it withstand all those chemicals?"

"I threw her cosmetics away, and she got angry with me and insisted on moving out."

"Living alone with no one to keep her in line, staying up all night and sleeping all day—how could her body take it?"

"She hadn't even lived alone for a year before she... she..."

"If I hadn't thrown away her cosmetics, if she hadn't moved out, would she... would she..."

Listening as the voice on the other end turned from anger to sobbing grief, Chen Miao fell silent.

But there were things he still had to ask.

He listened to her ramble for over ten minutes before finding a moment, as Qian Xiaomei's mother calmed down, to ask his question.

"Ma'am, she's gone now. Please accept my condolences. I'm sure Qian Xiaomei wouldn't want to see you like this."

"Other than her family, do you know if there was anything Qian Xiaomei couldn't bear to leave behind?"

Qian Xiaomei's mother answered in a nasal voice.

"What else could she have been attached to? Aside from those cosmetics, all she cared about was her face."

Something stirred in Chen Miao's heart.

Her face?

"Ma'am, I heard you chose the free Funeral Makeup package for Qian Xiaomei?"

"Yes. That face was the death of her. I don't want to see her covered in heavy makeup again. She came into this world clean, so she should leave it clean!"

Chen Miao began to form a theory.

"Ma'am, have you considered that, since Xiaomei cared most about her face, letting her leave like that might leave her with regrets?"

"..."

"Ma'am, you might not believe this, but in our line of work, we place the greatest importance on the final wishes of the deceased."

"Although Qian Xiaomei didn't leave any last words, as the person who knew her best, you should know how she would have wanted the world to remember her appearance."

"Ma'am, I'm not saying this to sell you an additional service. We can give Qian Xiaomei a prettier makeup look free of charge."

After saying his piece, Chen Miao waited quietly.

A long while later, a reply came from the other end. "Go ahead. Go ahead. If she liked it... then... go ahead."

Hearing her hang up through her sobs, Chen Miao sat in silence for a while before rising, picking up his phone and the book, and leaving the office.

After learning about Qian Xiaomei and speaking with her mother, Chen Miao had some guesses about the rest of that sentence.

Why won't you give me cosmetics!

Why won't you give me makeup!

These were the complete sentences Chen Miao had come up with.

But compared with "cosmetics," he thought "makeup" was more likely.

Cosmetics were ultimately just tools to make Qian Xiaomei beautiful. It wasn't the act of applying makeup that she loved, either. What she loved was the exquisite face it gave her!

So Chen Miao decided to test his theory!

After passing through the main farewell hall, Chen Miao reached the Funeral Makeup room and found his colleague... Shi Manman.

Disturbed by the sound of Chen Miao entering, Shi Manman put down the modeling putty in her hand.

"Do you need something?"

Chen Miao glanced at the mannequin head in front of her, which had been damaged and then repaired. "Yes, there's something. Do you know Qian Xiaomei, the client brought in yesterday?"

"Yes. Her family chose the free makeup package."

Chen Miao nodded, then asked, "Do you have time right now? I'd like you to do Qian Xiaomei's makeup."

"Did her family change the package?"

Shi Manman took out her phone to check whether she had missed a message, but Chen Miao stopped her.

"Not her family. It's me. Think of it as a private job. Would five hundred be enough?"

Shi Manman looked at Chen Miao and pressed her lips together. "Twenty percent off for someone I know. Four hundred is enough."

After gathering her things, Shi Manman picked up her makeup case and walked over to Chen Miao.

"Let's go."

Chen Miao nodded and led the way.

Previously, Chen Miao had thought Shi Manman was rather quiet and difficult to communicate with.

They already worked somewhere that made it hard to find friends. With her aloof personality on top of that, finding a partner would probably be difficult.

But today, Chen Miao thought Shi Manman's personality was wonderful.

She got straight to work without asking why, saving him a great deal of explanation.

He also hadn't expected that Shi Manman already considered him someone she knew well enough for a discount.

After the previous experienced mortuary beautician left, it had taken the funeral home a full two weeks to recruit Shi Manman, a "rookie" with about as much work experience as Chen Miao.

Come to think of it, they had only been colleagues for two months, and had spoken even less.

They only exchanged a few words when Chen Miao hosted memorial services or passed along the families' wishes.

He hadn't expected Shi Manman to consider him an "acquaintance."

They walked all the way to the cold storage. Only after Chen Miao pulled Qian Xiaomei out of the refrigerated compartment did Shi Manman speak.

"What style of makeup does she need?"

Chen Miao took out his phone and found Qian Xiaomei's most-liked beauty video.

"Can you do this?"

Shi Manman took the phone, dragged the video to the end, and nodded after examining the makeup. "Yes. Half an hour."

With that, Shi Manman set down her case and began wiping Qian Xiaomei's face.

Chen Miao glanced at Shi Manman's case.

He didn't know what ordinary girls needed to put on makeup, but it certainly wasn't the same as what Shi Manman kept in hers.

Even with his lack of knowledge, Chen Miao knew makeup didn't require that many needles.

As Shi Manman got to work, Chen Miao found a chair and sat down to wait.

"You can go take care of your own work. I'll call you when I'm done."

Shi Manman spoke.

"No need. I don't have anything to do."

Chen Miao didn't feel comfortable leaving Shi Manman here alone. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself.

After watching for a while, Chen Miao took out the book, opened it to the first chapter, and drifted into thought.

Chen Miao had many questions.

Why, for instance, could he see this book?

Why could it predict his future?

Why had ghosts suddenly appeared in this world?

These questions and more churned through his mind, but beyond speculation, Chen Miao could find no answers.

He didn't know how much time had passed before an "All done" brought him back to his senses.

As his eyes refocused, the first thing Chen Miao saw was the text in the book.

The contents had changed!

His guess had been right!

This time, however, it wasn't the contents that caught Chen Miao's attention, but the title!

"Chapter 1: Beautiful even in death"