Suspicion

"Splash, splash."

Outside the house, Old Lu put the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth into a wooden bucket filled with well water and began washing it gently.

Lu Mingyue glanced outside. Seeing her grandfather sitting on a little stool with his back to her, she could not help feeling a flicker of doubt.

Ever since she was five, when her grandfather told her that the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth was an heirloom of the Lu family, he had always had Lu Mingyue wash it after each corpse collection.

Preparing the dead for viewing was no small matter. Besides the reward from the authorities, it also had a bearing on the funeral gratuity paid by the family.

Lu Mingyue had no experience and was only a child. How could Old Lu dare let her try her hand at it casually?

During the previous two years, when Lu Mingyue had been too weak to wring the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth dry, Old Lu had occasionally helped her wring it out.

But that had all been half a year ago.

Although the prisoner whose corpse they had collected this time had been sentenced to hanging, he had been tortured in prison before his death. A whip soaked in salt water had torn more than a dozen gashes in his body. According to the rules of the corpse-collecting trade, Old Lu ought to stitch those lash wounds closed as best he could.

Yet he had entrusted such an important task to Lu Mingyue, who had only tried her hand at it a few times...

"Mingyue, didn't you say the other day that there was something unusual about this Corpse-Wrapping Cloth?"

Just as Lu Mingyue was stitching the lash wounds on the corpse and letting her thoughts run wild, Old Lu's voice suddenly rang out.

"Ah, it's just..."

Lu Mingyue had never intended to hide the Immortal Cultivation Technique from Old Lu and instinctively tried to answer, but no sooner had she begun than her voice fell silent.

It was not that she did not want to tell him, but that she could not get the words out.

The teachings must not reach a sixth ear.

Since this was a world of immortal cultivation, there had to be some mysterious rules.

After her initial shock, Lu Mingyue had proved very quick to accept things.

After all, even her soul from another world had crossed over here. No matter how many more strange things happened, she could understand them.

"Heh heh, all right. Go ahead and finish preparing him for viewing!"

Old Lu had turned around at some point. Seeing Lu Mingyue open her mouth without making a sound, he smiled and shook out the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth in his hands.

"I was just a little puzzled. This cloth was left by the grandfather of the grandfather who found me and took me in back then. I'd never heard of anything special about it, so I asked. Looks like this is your good fortune, lass."

At this point, perhaps because he saw Lu Mingyue staring blankly at him, Old Lu smiled again and tossed the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth into the bucket.

"Let me do it after all. This man was the son of the Twin Blades Gang's second elder. We can't be careless."

As he spoke, he had already walked into the house and taken the needle and thread from Lu Mingyue.

"What are you still standing there for? I'm waiting to finish up and have lunch. Off you go."

"Oh!"

Only after Old Lu rolled his eyes at her again did Lu Mingyue come to her senses. She walked outside and looked at the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth in the wooden bucket.

Her grandfather had not said much today, but his words had been very unusual.

And this time, he had made no attempt to conceal it, showing that he knew Lu Mingyue had obtained an opportunity for immortal cultivation.

Lu Mingyue's mind, which had been running rather wild, actually grew much calmer now.

Her grandfather had just spoken openly, and now he was having her wash the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth again. Clearly, he had no grievance against her, his granddaughter.

Perhaps her grandfather simply wanted an opportunity for immortal cultivation, just like hers?

After all, it was a chance to cultivate immortality. Although the pain of opening an acquired spirit palace was terribly wearing, had she not persevered all this time without giving up?

Lu Mingyue did not think there was anything wrong with Old Lu's thinking.

In the world she had come from in her previous life, plenty of people believed that immortal cultivation could grant eternal life. That was eternal life!

"Grandpa, what would you like to eat today? I'll make it once I finish washing this!"

With her mood back to normal, Lu Mingyue stopped letting her thoughts run wild. As she washed the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth, she pondered what to make for lunch and dinner.

"Let's have boiled fish. Your boiled fish tastes good. Nothing goes better with a drink."

Old Lu answered with a smile too, never once raising his head, his hands moving swiftly.

Those wounds that looked as though the whip had torn the skin and split the flesh actually closed visibly as the needle and thread danced through his hands.

That was craftsmanship and experience. Lu Mingyue still had plenty to learn.

"For dinner, let's have cured pork ribs. Those go well with a drink too. There's a Li family shop over in the south of town. Their cured meats have the most authentic flavor. Buy them there."

"You know where the silver is. Work out roughly how much you'll need and take it yourself."

Hearing the lightness in her grandfather's voice, Lu Mingyue could not help craving the food too. She answered, "Okay!" and hurriedly lifted the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth, wrung it dry, shook it out, and hung it beneath the eaves.

Then she went into the inner room and took one tael of silver and five strings of copper coins before leaving the courtyard with her little carrying basket on her back.

After she left, Old Lu, who had been concentrating on stitching the wounds, raised his head and glanced out of the courtyard.

The Lu family's courtyard gate was never shut except at night. That was Old Lu's habit.

So Old Lu could clearly see Lu Mingyue's little figure skipping away.

He put down his needle and thread, walked out of the house with his hands behind his back, and looked up at the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth Lu Mingyue had hung beneath the eaves.

There was little wind on that spring day. The Corpse-Wrapping Cloth simply hung beneath the eaves, with some water still not wrung out of it.

Old Lu narrowed his eyes and studied it for quite some time before withdrawing his gaze with a sigh.

"Heh, this really is... Looks like I'm just not destined for immortal cultivation in this lifetime?"

Old Lu muttered to himself, then circled around to the other side and looked up at the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth again.

This time, he looked even longer.

Unfortunately, there was nothing on the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth.

This Corpse-Wrapping Cloth, passed down from his grandfather's grandfather, seemed to have nothing special about it beyond being a little cleaner and preventing blood from seeping through.

Old Lu silently returned to the house. As he looked at the corpse lying on the table, his eyes were full of thought.

"Wow, Grandpa Li, are these your puppies?"

Outside the Li family shop in the south of town, Lu Mingyue looked at the three little yellow puppies lying in a row in the sun. Unable to contain her delight, she crouched down and stroked them one by one.

"Woof, whine! Woof, whine!"

Two of the little yellow puppies were startled by this two-legged creature who had suddenly appeared and ran whining into the shop. Only one little yellow puppy remained, sitting upright with its bottom on the ground and sticking its tongue out toward Lu Mingyue's little hand.

"Ah, Mingyue. My Big Yellow carried them back from outside. I don't know whether they're his pups. What's this, lass? Want to keep a dog?"

Li Laifu, the elderly proprietor of the Li family shop, came outside. Looking at Lu Mingyue doting on the puppy, his aged face was full of an affectionate smile.

"If you ask me, a dog would be just right for your household. Don't they all say dogs ward off evil? You're still a little child. Having a dog in the courtyard would add a bit of yang energy, at least."

"And as it happens, this little pup is a male."