The next day, as the first light broke and thin mist spread over the distant mountains, the sleeping Wei Family stirred awake, like a thousand-year-old corpse opening its sinister eyes.
When Xie De went out, he saw no sign of Wei Yanchi. Wei Yanchi's door was shut tight, but both he and the items were gone. A flicker of unease crossed Xie De's mind. Coupled with how clearly off Wei Yanchi had been the night before, it made him all the more certain something was wrong.
"455, Wei Yanchi is missing."
455 scratched its head. "Maybe he's already gone to the ancestral hall to mourn? He is part of the host family, after all, while we're guests. There must be some rules that keep us from going together."
"He wouldn't leave without saying anything."
Xie De slipped both hands into his pockets, leaving Little House Centipede in the courtyard. His gaze swept around the quadrangle before he withdrew it and followed Old Liu to the main hall. Coal Ball trotted beside his legs, moving even faster than he did.
There were so few outsiders attending the Wei Family's funeral that they could not even fill a table.
Along the way, Wei Family members knelt on the ground with white cloths wrapped around their heads, burning yellow paper and bowing their heads as they muttered or wept. Their muttering was unintelligible, but their cries rang clear, filled with sorrow and grief.
A little girl wearing a white flower on her head ran past Xie De, faintly laughing as she recited from Songs of Chu. "The Earth Deity coils ninefold, his horns sharp and pointed. Thick-backed, with bloodied thumbs, he races after men..."
Xie De asked Old Liu, "Whose child was that?"
Old Liu gave an awkward smile. "Probably from the third