Chapter 59: Coffin Suppressing the Departed Soul

Steward Gu laughed, "Steward Xie, what a display of official authority. I only ever knew the Profound Mirror Bureau to be a government office established to solve the people's worries and troubles. Only today do I realize that the Profound Mirror Bureau is actually as clingy as a dog-skin plaster. You've been tossing and turning here all day without solving a thing. We hired someone more capable and even offered a gift of money, which was already courteous and thoughtful enough. Yet you insist on lingering here—what kind of logic is that?"

"What did you say?" Xie Shouzheng was annoyed.

Dami and the other guards present also crowded around, intending to teach the steward a lesson.

At this moment, the man brought by the steward had already finished surveying the surroundings: "I have long heard of the Profound Mirror Bureau's great reputation. I thought you were such formidable figures, but it seems you are nothing more than this, unable to even handle such a small matter!"

Xie Shouzheng barked, "And what kind of thing are you, daring to question us?"

The man said, "I am Li Tiansheng, greetings to Steward Xie. I heard Steward Xie has been here all day yet failed to resolve Miss Gu's obsession. Since that is the case, why not let me try?"

He walked to the front of the coffin, muttered a string of words, and then gave a low shout: "Miss Gu, please be on your way!"

"Bang!" The coffin lid was slammed shut.

The pallbearers hired by the Gu family immediately came up to lift the coffin.

Strangely enough, the coffin that previously could not be moved no matter what, was lifted with ease after those few incantations from Li Tiansheng.

Even Xie Shouzheng found it inconceivable: "The obsession hasn't been resolved, so why is she suddenly willing to leave?"

Steward Gu sneered: "It seems the Profound Mirror Bureau is nothing more than this. Steward Xie, the burial ceremony is next; does your Profound Mirror Bureau intend to follow along as well?"

Lin Qingyue said: "Since the Gu family can solve it themselves, there is no need for us to join in the excitement."

After speaking, she took the lead and walked away. Halfway there, she actually bent down to pick up the bag of silver she had left behind earlier, smiling as she said to the steward: "Many thanks."

Steward Gu sneered: What Profound Mirror Bureau, they are nothing but a mob that has never seen silver!

"Steward Gu, is it?" Lin Qingyue paused, then suddenly smiled brightly, "I observe that your forehead is dark; it is truly a sign of great misfortune. I fear your days are numbered."

After dropping this remark, Lin Qingyue left together with the people from the Profound Mirror Bureau.

Steward Gu was extremely annoyed: "Who are you calling a sign of great misfortune? Whose days are numbered? This is a curse! I shall report this to my mistress and make your Profound Mirror Bureau pay dearly! Hmph, to think there is actually a woman in the Profound Mirror Bureau; truly a mob!"

After cursing twice, Steward Gu turned to ask Li Tiansheng: "Can it be buried directly like this? It won't stop halfway again and refuse to move, will it?"

"It won't," Li Tiansheng said with certainty. "Her soul has been fixed by me and she dares not cause trouble. When we bury her, I will use silver nails to pin down her limbs, which will keep her soul forever suppressed within the coffin!"

On the way back, Dami and the brothers under him were all filled with indignation:

"The Gu family is truly bullying us too much. Steward Xie, you led us to work hard here for a whole day, and in the end, they hired someone else to replace us. This is simply an insult!"

"A mere steward, yet so arrogant. I don't know who gave him the nerve!"

"And calling us a mob—I think their own family conduct is corrupt, which is why they have such an evil servant who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth!"

This was the first time Xie Shouzheng had encountered such a thing, and he was inevitably irritated: "Deputy Envoy Lin, why did you pick up that bag of silver? What do you want with their foul money? Thinking they are all that just because they have a bit of stinking money—abominable!"

Lin Qingyue said: "The brothers have been busy all day, working hard. What is wrong with taking some money? Besides, they gave it themselves; it would be a waste not to take it!"

Xie Shouzheng said in a difficult tone: "But our Profound Mirror Bureau lives on the Emperor's grain. There are regulations from above against accepting kickbacks; otherwise, it counts as corruption!"

"That is why I didn't intend to pocket it privately," Lin Qingyue said, tossing the money directly to Xie Shouzheng.

Xie Shouzheng immediately shouted as if he were holding a hot potato: "Hey, hey, Deputy Envoy Lin, this isn't right! Are you trying to make this official commit a crime?"

Lin Qingyue raised an eyebrow and smiled: "I am simply handing over the kickback given by others. In this way, the money can be entered into the public account. Once it is in the public account, using it to reward the brothers—isn't that only right and proper?"

The other guards also chimed in:

"That's right, the brothers haven't had dinner yet!"

"We've been busy all day, only gnawing on flatbread at noon. I'm so hungry now I can feel my chest touching my back."

"I'm hungry too, let's just go have a meal!"

Xie Shouzheng was still hesitant: "It's still inappropriate, this..."

"There is nothing inappropriate about it. Just write a report afterwards to explain it; would the Emperor even care about this pittance? Let's go, to Tianxiang Lou! Call the other brothers in the bureau too!" Lin Qingyue was not as pedantic as Xie Shouzheng, and she led the way to Tianxiang Lou.

During her time at the Profound Mirror Bureau, Lin Qingyue had seen the situation clearly.

While it was called a government office, in reality, the treatment of those from top to bottom was no better than that of ordinary yamen runners. In the entire office, only Xie Shouzheng held an official rank and could collect a meager salary.

The daily expenses for food and drink were all covered by his own salary.

Simple meals were one thing, but once they encountered a thorny case, everyone from the chief official down to the runners had to risk their lives!

That would be one thing, but what was most unbearable were those wealthy, powerful families who prided themselves on their status. When they needed them, they greeted them with smiles. When they didn't, even a steward could come out and insult them with words.

Xie Shouzheng said that when the Crown Prince was still around, he could back them up and would often open his private treasury to subsidize them.

After the Crown Prince met with misfortune, the Profound Mirror Bureau went downhill. Although the Emperor still had use for them, he sat in a high position and could never imagine the petty troubles of those beneath him.

Seeing everyone gorging themselves at Tianxiang Lou with no table manners, Xie Shouzheng couldn't help but sigh: "It is this official who has failed the brothers."

Dami, gnawing on a large pork knuckle with grease all over his mouth, said: "Don't say that, sir. Actually, the brothers are content just to have a stable life. But if we could have such big meals often in the future, the brothers wouldn't mind!"

Xie Shouzheng laughed and scolded: "You certainly have a beautiful dream!"

He turned to pour wine for Lin Qingyue and asked: "By the way, Deputy Envoy Lin, what did you mean by those words you said to the Gu family steward at the end? Does he really have a calamity of blood?"

Lin Qingyue sipped her wine and smiled slightly: "That is correct."

……

The night was like ink, a lone crow croaked low, and the oily green will-o'-the-wisps on the mass grave looked like ownerless wandering souls.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!" That was the muffled sound of the soul-suppressing nails being driven into bone.

"Gu Nianxue, the yellow earth before the tombstone presses your bones, the square inch within the coffin suppresses your soul!"

"Thump!" The soul-suppressing nail nailed her hands shut.

"Gu Nianxue, the ties of this life are exhausted, the path to the next is severed, do not disturb the living!"

"Thump!" The soul-suppressing nail nailed her feet shut.

The woman, who had long since died, had blood and tears flowing from her seven orifices.

Yet this still could not earn a shred of pity.

"Close the coffin, bury her!"

The lid was slammed shut again and lowered into the pit dug in advance.

The yellow earth fell, burying the woman's life and the secrets she carried.

"Eldest Miss, just stay in the coffin properly. Don't blame us for being heartless; if you must blame someone, blame your own bad luck. Who told you to return to the Gu family and see things you shouldn't have seen?"

The soil that had just been shoveled over was trembling, as if something inside was struggling with all its might to push upward.

But soon, the tombstone fell, like the final soul-suppressing nail, causing that patch of earth to instantly fall silent.

A simple row of characters was carved on the tombstone: "Tomb of an Unknown Person."

Seeing that the matter was settled, Steward Gu led his men away, the heavy burden in his heart finally lifted.

The night was as thick as unresolvable resentment, and even the moonlight could not shine upon this pitch-black place.

At some unknown moment, a figure stood before the tombstone, their low voice filled with suppressed hatred: "The Gu family is truly ruthless, not even giving you a name!"

The wind carried a wail; it was the soul within the coffin weeping.