Funeral invitation

In a little alley.

A little girl was playing in the alley with Gray Kitten in her arms. In just one day, the cat had grown noticeably plumper. Clearly, the food was good.

A student with a buzz cut walked over and soon spotted the little gray cat that matched his master's description.

A lame leg, gray fur, a goofy grin, and a little girl holding the cat.

That was definitely the one.

Hao Shanzhi was agonizing over how to coax the little girl into returning his "junior fellow disciple." This cat was immensely important. Although his master hadn't said much, Hao Shanzhi knew he had to bring his junior fellow disciple back.

His junior fellow disciple was having a wonderful time with the little girl. Hao Shanzhi leaned against the wall, his brow furrowed.

"You're here to take the cat back, aren't you?"

The woman who approached wore a white apron smeared with flour, her hair twisted into a crooked bun. Her expression was gentle, as though she had seen right through his thoughts.

"Oh, hello. Yes, I'm here to take the cat back." Hao Shanzhi nodded eagerly.

"All right, just a moment." The woman nodded, then gently called to her daughter, who was playing with Gray Kitten.

"Duoduo, give the cat back to this young man."

"No! I love this kitty." As expected, the little girl pouted unhappily, hugging Gray Kitten tight and looking pleadingly at her mother.

The woman wasn't buying it. She walked over and hauled her daughter toward her, but didn't try to wrestle the cat away for fear of hurting the cat.

Duoduo started wailing and was on the verge of tears.

Hao Shanzhi sighed. "Why don't you let her keep the cat? The owner passed away from an illness anyway."

At that, the woman looked up in surprise and asked cautiously:

"Then this cat is..."

Hao Shanzhi briefly explained what had happened.

The little girl seemed to remember something and shouted, "I know! This isn't the older uncle's cat. It's the younger uncle's cat! I gave him lots of buns. I want to go find him!"

The woman scolded her daughter.

The little girl began to cry. "But I want to find him! He's the one who told me to give him the cat..."

What does she mean, he told her to give him the cat?!

A chill ran down Hao Shanzhi's back. He no longer even wanted the cat.

"Uh, how about this? Here's the death notice. You can go to his funeral and return the cat to whoever should have the cat." Hao Shanzhi handed the woman something resembling an invitation, then beat a hasty retreat.

Looking at the well-behaved cat in her daughter's arms, the woman sighed.

"Come on. We're closing for the day. Let's go home and get you changed."

The police station.

Yang Donglin looked at the black invitation before him and lit a cigarette.

"Life and death are so unpredictable..."

Looking at Zhang Shuke, who was bawling beside him, Yang Donglin gave him a kick. "Since when were thieves so sentimental?"

"We understood each other! We were best friends! What would a cop like you know? Do you think everyone's as heartless as you? If you hadn't arrested him, why would he have had to waste his last few days of life stuck in this little place with me?" Zhang Shuke pointed at Yang Donglin's nose and shouted. If the auxiliary police officer beside him hadn't held him back, he probably would have charged at him.

His face darkening, Yang Donglin stood and walked over to Zhang Shuke.

"W-what are you doing?" Faced with the burly, ferocious Yang Donglin, Zhang Shuke quickly grew frightened. Yang Donglin had beaten him plenty of times before.

There was a click.

The handcuffs opened.

Zhang Shuke froze.

"You can go."

"Why? Aren't I supposed to serve ten years?"

"I lied. Now get lost. If I catch you stealing again, just see if I don't kill you." Yang Donglin gestured for the young auxiliary police officer beside him to let go.

Zhang Shuke raced to the detention center's entrance, then doubled back and snatched the black invitation off the desk. Clutching it to his chest, he kept looking over his shoulder as he walked away. "I'm leaving. I'm taking this. I'm going to my buddy's funeral. You promised, so don't arrest me!"

"Get lost." Yang Donglin kept it short.

He Min was busy. The newly appointed executive CEO had dumped all of the Crane River Group's affairs on its equally new chairman, then vanished.

Not that she had actually gone missing.

He Min was busy arranging Zhang Youzhi's funeral.

The windows of He Min's rich-lady car had been smashed, and it had just been hauled out of the dealership's service center. Once she confirmed that her "dowry car" still ran, she began driving around in search of the best cemetery in Crane City.

She even took out her dowry savings-about three hundred thousand-planning to spend part on the funeral and save the rest. Then she would see whether she could find any of Zhang Youzhi's immediate family and give them the bank card.

She was thirty already, an aging unmarried woman. If she couldn't find a husband, she wasn't going to force it. Being a rich mama's girl wasn't so bad either.

But a globally renowned funeral company suddenly contacted He Min, telling her not to worry, and sent a young man to coordinate with her.

The handsome man introduced himself as the White Jade Capital Company's regional CEO. Judging by the sheer size of his company, even his regional CEO title carried more weight than the entire Crane River Group.

The CEO, named Xu Nayuyan, repeatedly stressed that the Funeral Company took this funeral very seriously. It had been invited by Crane City's municipal government and had official backing, so He Min didn't need to worry.

But He Min still insisted on overseeing everything from start to finish. From the scale of the funeral down to the material for Zhang Youzhi's coffin lid, she handled it all herself, with no intention of letting Xu Nayuyan get involved.

Xu Nayuyan was at his wits' end. His superiors had repeatedly emphasized that he had to carry out the additional "luxury services" while also accommodating He Min's wishes as much as possible.

Those two instructions contradicted each other!

Besides, Xu Nayuyan didn't dare offend He Min too badly, because he also had a romance expert assignment... He Min was his next client.

The blame for this lay mostly with Zhang Youzhi. The man had played matchmaker without a clue, ordering a romance expert package without He Min's knowledge.

As it happened, all the Funeral Company's elite personnel were already busy with assignments. Xu Nayuyan had no choice but to play two roles: arrange the funeral that his superiors had specifically entrusted to him, and take the opportunity to win He Min's affection.

But whenever anything involved Zhang Youzhi, He Min seemed to become a different person and refused to let anyone interfere.

Finally, after Xu Nayuyan protested vehemently, He Min decided to discuss the remaining arrangements with him so he wouldn't get in her way.

Xu Nayuyan took the opportunity to choose an upscale café, hoping to score some points with her.

To prevent any mishaps, Xu Nayuyan cleared the café in advance and briefed the servers. During their date, a server would accidentally bring over a rose package meant for someone else, and Xu Nayuyan would generously buy it. He had planned everything out.

Then, as Xu Nayuyan sat elegantly in a suit waiting for He Min to arrive, he was dumbfounded.

A thin woman pushed open Starbucks' revolving door, then walked into the café carrying an enormous black-and-white funeral wreath two meters across.

"No, wait. Why did you bring that thing in here?" Xu Nayuyan stood, staring at He Min in bewilderment.

He Min set the wreath down with a thump and pulled Xu Nayuyan over.

"Feel the texture. What do you think? Isn't it great? Let me tell you, I ordered this wreath from Cao County. This is just a model. The real wreaths are over ten meters across. I'm planning to fill the funeral venue with these wreaths made entirely of real flowers. What do you think?"

As she spoke, He Min punched Xu Nayuyan in the chest, then waited for him to praise her.

"Yes, it's very nice. But why did you haul a funeral wreath into a café?" Xu Nayuyan gave a muffled grunt, then spoke calmly without letting anything show.

"Not just a wreath. I brought a bag of sample spirit money too." He Min opened the bag hanging from her shoulder, revealing the bright yellow circles of paper money with square holes in the middle.

Just then, a cool draft from the air conditioner blew their way. The spirit money fluttered inside the bag, then scattered all over Starbucks like petals strewn by a heavenly maiden.

Combined with the café's warm yellow lighting, it looked distinctly eerie.

"Look at this quality! The underworld must only accept yellow spirit money. I bought a whole truckload. Feel it. Isn't it soft?" He Min proudly picked up a piece of spirit money, then pointed out a group of people filing in.

"A Western-style band! They're really good at playing Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix."

Knowing this couldn't go on, Xu Nayuyan shot a meaningful glance at the dumbstruck server beside him.

The server barely managed to regain his composure and approached Xu Nayuyan with a bouquet of Starlight Roses.

"Sir, are these the Starlight Roses you ordered..."

Before the server finished, He Min's eyes lit up.

"Yes, yes, yes! I'll take those." With that, she snatched the flowers and held them in her arms.

Warmth filled Xu Nayuyan's heart, and he was about to say something.

Only to watch He Min dismantle the bouquet of colorfully spray-painted roses at lightning speed, then stick the flowers into the enormous funeral wreath.

"Look! Doesn't that give it more atmosphere?"

Xu Nayuyan: ...