Early that morning, the woman from the coffin shop next door walked in.
Her surname was Hua, and she was in her fifties, with permed brown curls and her usual warmly enthusiastic expression. Wearing a deep reddish-brown dress with a yellow down jacket draped over it, she was a thoroughly saturated splash of color.
"Xiao Yue, do you want a mahjong table?" Sister Hua asked as soon as she came in.
"Hm?" Yue Wen looked up in puzzlement. "What happened?"
Sister Hua waved a hand. "Oh, I've got a funeral at my shop today, and the family brought over an automatic mahjong table for me to burn for the old man. They said he loved mahjong when he was alive, so they wanted him to keep playing after he died. I told them burning the real thing wouldn't work. I'd make them a paper one and give them a discount, just two thousand. That way, he'd actually receive it when they burned it."
"They finally bargained me down to a thousand, but they left this old mahjong table with me."
"It's no use to me, so I figured I'd give it to you."
By the time Sister Hua finished, Yue Wen, Qi Dian, and Zhao Xing'er had all gathered around, their three heads nodding furiously. "Yes, yes, yes! Thank you, Sister Hua!"
"Come carry it over, then." Sister Hua beckoned and walked out.
"I'll do it!" Zhao Xing'er darted out, zipped into the coffin shop next door like a whirlwind, then zipped back with a mahjong table on her shoulder.
Sister Hua hadn't even sat down yet. There was a blur before her eyes, and the enormous mahjong table in front of her vanished. She pressed a hand to her chest to steady herself, muttering, "What just went whooshing past?"