Chapter 101

During the days when Xu Qing was not in the mortuary, besides Prince Zhu, who had visited several times, Wang Lingyuan from the patrol office also came once, bringing a few river fish.

From August to November in Linhe, it is a good time for fishermen at the port to organize fishing activities. If you wait until November to December, the port will be even livelier.

Because this period is the golden season for fish to grow most rapidly, and the meat is even fatter and more delicious.

Xu Qing asked Xuanyu: "Has Senior Brother Wang mentioned anything about Xiuniang?"

Seven days ago, when Xu Qing sent Xiuniang to the Shuimen Bridge residence, he had mentioned to Wang Lingyuan that Xiuniang's corpse had been burned. Now that his Senior Brother Wang had brought fish over, there must have been progress in this matter.

"Senior Brother Wang said that destroying a corpse to eliminate evidence is a serious crime. The villains who burned Xiuniang's corpse, except for the few who went missing, have all been brought to justice..."

The missing ones must be the group that was scared to death by Xiuniang, and the rest should be the ones who slipped through the net before Xiuniang could scare them.

Xu Qing nodded upon hearing this. Speaking of which, there were quite a few people who had been sent to prison directly or indirectly through his hands.

Whether it was the Liu family or the heartless husband of Sai Yuxian, they were all locked behind iron bars now, just waiting for the autumn execution, when the heads of these people would all fall to the ground...

"Looking at it this way, autumn is really a good harvest season," Xu Qing sighed.

Xuanyu felt the same: "Senior Brother Wang said that the fish in autumn are the fattest. I really want autumn to come quickly."

Although the zombie and the cat were not thinking about the same thing, it didn't prevent them from looking forward to autumn together.

"Has the government office sent any new goods during this time?" Xu Qing asked.

As the acting shopkeeper, Xuanyu naturally knew what the 'new goods' Xu Qing was talking about were.

"They only sent a few fresh fish; there have been no new goods."

"And the fresh fish?"

"Hmm," Xuanyu blinked, "they ran into my stomach."

"If you want to eat, I can go to the port and help you catch a few..."

Seeing Xu Qing shake his head, looking uninterested in the most delicious things in the world, Xuanyu couldn't help but wonder: "Is Immortal Xu in a bad mood because there have been no corpses collected recently?"

Xu Qing was stunned for a moment, then laughed dumbly: "Not at all."

"Look at the medical clinic; they hang a couplet at the door that says: 'I wish there were no illness in the world, what does it matter if the medicine on the shelves gathers dust.'"

"Although we are a mortuary, if there could be fewer corpses of those who died unnatural deaths, it would be a good thing."

Xu Qing was right. After all, besides corpses of those who died unnatural deaths, his shop also provided funeral services for those who died of old age.

Those busy people, whether they live fifty or a hundred years, will one day lie quietly in the mourning hall or on the cold bed, and the mortician will paint the last makeup of their lives for them.

In other words, those potential customers can pass by his shop a thousand times without entering, but as long as they step in once... his mortuary wasn't opened in vain!

Now the only thing he was worried about was his peers in the lever-room.

The lever-room in Linhe Square is an old brand; they have been engaged in the funeral business for a long time. It is no exaggeration to say it is a family business with orderly inheritance.

His mortuary, in the final analysis, hadn't been open long enough, and the publicity wasn't in place. Otherwise, just the funeral business alone would have countless corpses waiting for him to favor.

"I see. So Immortal Xu still wants to eat fish, right?"

Xuanyu opened her eyes wide, her ears trembling, and her cat eyes shining brightly.

Xu Qing didn't know what was wrong with this cat today, always asking him if he wanted to eat fish. Could it be that the few fish Wang Lingyuan brought had hooked the cat's gluttony?

"We'll eat fish later. I have a small item here for you."

Xu Qing searched his sleeves and took out a small, exquisitely crafted item.

It was a shuttlecock made of chicken feathers, which Xu Qing had plucked from Jin Luan when it was weak. Otherwise, the golden chicken wouldn't have reported him to Yizhen like a savior when it saw her.

When Yizhen saw the sparse feathers on Jin Luan, she had asked him about it, but Xu Qing had fobbed her off by saying it was due to toxin invasion, a weak body, and hair loss.

After all, when it came to medical theory, he was very proficient.

"What is this?"

Xuanyu looked at the golden-red shuttlecock, and her cat eyes shone.

The shuttlecock Xu Qing made was produced according to ancient methods. The part connecting the round piece under the feathers also had a small, white, fluffy ball. According to the saying of this time, this little thing had another name, called a shuttlecock ball, also known as a foot-playing toy.

Xuanyu gently poked the shuttlecock with her paw, fearing she might accidentally damage it.

Seeing this, Xu Qing laughed: "The feathers of this shuttlecock are made from Jin Luan's feathers. The hardness is comparable to gold and stone, but it doesn't lose its flexibility. You can play with it without worrying about damage."

"By the way, if Xuanyu wants to kick it like a human, you can also possess the disciple who summons immortals..."

Xu Qing was like a husband who had returned from a long journey and brought gifts for his wife and children, constantly refreshing his impression in Xuanyu's heart.

He felt that as long as he kept it up, the day of cat-petting freedom would be getting closer and closer.

"By the way, a few days ago, someone who claimed to be a friend of Immortal Xu came from Jinmen..."

Jinmen? Xu Qing was a bit confused at first, but after hearing the name Huaian, he instantly realized that this was Prince Zhu of the Changting Prince's Mansion.

Why did this little fatty run over to find him?

Xu Qing looked at the sky; it was already night.

Shaking off the irrelevant thoughts, Xu Qing greeted Xuanyu and left the mortuary, turning toward Shuimen Bridge.

The corpse-burning case was over, and it was time for him to go see the female ghost raised in the residence.

Shuimen Bridge residence.

Xu Qing stepped on the courtyard wall as if walking on flat ground.

This was the Gecko Wall-Walking technique he had obtained when he transcended the swallow in front of the room and caught two thieves in the residence.

Familiar with the traps and mechanisms on the wall, Xu Qing hadn't even gone deep into the residence when he heard the movement of a loom operating in the west wing.

Creak, creak—the sound of the shuttle moving back and forth was particularly harsh in the middle of the night.

Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and silently approached the wing room.

Inside the half-open door, a woman dressed in thin gauze, with a waist that could be held in one hand, was sitting in front of the loom, working with her back to the door.

Xu Qing walked up to her, but the other party still didn't notice, only pulling the shuttle rope and moving the loom. The cloth under her hands kept stretching and lengthening as she stepped on the pedal.

"Where did you get the loom?"

In the wing room, which only had a female ghost and the sound of weaving, a man's voice suddenly sounded.

"Ah!"

Xiuniang, who was focused on weaving, was startled and exclaimed. She turned her head and saw Xu Qing standing beside her, staring at her.

"Why do you walk without sound? You're going to scare me to death!"

"You're already dead."

Xu Qing's tone was gloomy.

Xiuniang spat and scolded: "That doesn't mean you can scare people like that."

"I didn't scare people; at most, I can only be said to be scaring a ghost."

Xu Qing turned and leaned on the loom, saying: "You haven't answered my question yet. Where did you get this loom?"

"Don't sit on it; you're messing up the silk threads..."

Xiuniang saw Xu Qing's eyes narrow and felt guilty, so her voice became smaller and smaller.

She said softly: "You left me here and didn't care about me. I had nothing to do, so I thought about moving the loom from home here. When I'm bored, I weave a few pieces of cloth..."

"With cloth, I can also make you a set of clothes."

Xu Qing heard this and remembered that Xiuniang's family ran a tailor shop.

"How much cloth can you weave with that little bit of silk? I'm afraid it won't even be enough to sew a pair of undergarments when you're done."

"When I have time tomorrow, I'll go collect some high-quality Shu silk and buy some colored threads for you to use."

Xiuniang was overjoyed and continued: "Besides silk threads, I also need measuring tapes, scissors, scrapers, dyes, and sewing needles of various sizes..."

"Stop!"

Xu Qing's eyelids twitched, and he asked: "Don't you have these things at home?"

Xiuniang's smile stalled upon hearing this, like a flower hit by frost, drooping.

"During the days I wasn't home, everything in the house was looted by people. Even the small tree my father planted in the courtyard was cut down..."

Xu Qing was speechless.

If his guess was correct, those who swallowed the property of Xiuniang's family were not her relatives, but the government officials in the government office.

There was no one left in Xiuniang's family, and her relatives were either dead or in prison, so there was no one to inherit the family property.

Those items could only be swallowed and divided by the government officials, and even her residence would be confiscated into the treasury and resold by the tooth-broker.

The only fortunate thing was that the old tailor's loom was still there.

Xu Qing shook his head helplessly.

"These are all small matters. They are just trivial things like needles, threads, and scissors. When I have time, I'll buy another set."

"Compared to this, I have something to tell you."

At the door of the wing room, the clear moonlight shone into the room through the cracks in the door.

Xu Qing told Xiuniang the news that the corpse-burning case had been solved.

Xiuniang was stunned for a long time after hearing it, and then she suddenly squatted on the ground, hugging her knees and wailing.

But when her emotions eased slightly and she raised her head, Xu Qing didn't see tears on her face; all that remained was a wisp of black energy filled with yin poison and resentment overflowing from her eyes.

Xu Qing's heart moved. He looked closely and saw that the hideous black lines that had been clinging to Xiuniang's cheeks and neck had faded. Now, Xiuniang's ghost body was clearer, and the yin energy on her body was clearly purer.

After the dim dusk, the quiet beginning of the night.

At the second watch of the Hai hour, it was the time of human settlement.

In the distance, the night watchman knocked on the copper gong and clapper; it was exactly two strikes of the gong and two knocks of the clapper.

Zhu Huaian received the report from his subordinates and had already learned the news of Xu Qing's return.

He tossed and turned, unable to sleep, so he simply took advantage of the night to visit.

Outside the mortuary, Zhu Huaian vaguely heard a crisp crackling sound coming from the backyard of the shop. He knocked on the door for a long time, and although he didn't see anyone open the door, he heard a woman's voice asking a question not far from his side.

"It's you little fatty again. Why are you running over to knock on my door in the middle of the night instead of sleeping at your own house?"

Zhu Huaian and the guards following him looked to the side and saw a red-clad woman with a cold temperament standing gracefully outside the mortuary, questioning them.

In the woman's hand, she seemed to be holding a brightly colored pheasant feather.

"So it's Erniang. I heard that Brother Xu has returned today, so I couldn't help but come to visit. If there is any offense, please forgive me, Erniang."

Xuanyu blinked and said: "Then you're late. When he came back, he only stayed for half an hour before leaving again."

Zhu Huaian didn't believe it. He looked at Xuanyu suspiciously, but the expression on her face didn't look like a pretense.

But he still didn't believe his luck would be so bad.

Zhu Huaian took two steps back, facing the mortuary. The next moment, the little fatty returned to his true nature and started howling at the top of his lungs.

"Brother Xu! Brother Xu! It's me, Huaian!"

Jingxia Street, which had always been as quiet as a desolate ridge at night, heard such a loud voice for the first time.

The proprietress of the incense shop across the street, who was sleeping sweetly, sat up in shock, causing her bulging undergarments to tremble. She thought it was the thief who stole eggs and vegetables coming to steal people.

"Who is it! Someone died in the middle of the night, why are you crying like a ghost!"

Cheng Caiyun couldn't sleep anymore. She grabbed the scissors hidden under her pillow with one hand and clutched the pouch containing the peace talisman with the other, feeling suspicious and uneasy.

"Brother Xu, oh Brother Xu, are you deliberately hiding from me?"

Seeing that no one answered in the mortuary, Zhu Huaian had no choice but to turn to Sun Erniang.

As a result, he just happened to see Erniang nimbly flipping over the roof of the mortuary.

A clear voice from Erniang came from the air.

"I already said my cousin isn't here. You wait until tomorrow to look for him. Also, you are not allowed to bark like a dog anymore!"

"."

What Zhu Huaian didn't know was that for Xuanyu, for her to say the words 'bark like a dog', he must have really annoyed her.

You have to know that in normal times, the cat immortal of the Cat Immortal Hall never uses dirty words.

"Your Highness, why don't we come back tomorrow?"

The guards beside Zhu Huaian felt their mouths dry, and cold sweat had already soaked their foreheads.

Think about it, he was a Ninggang martial artist, but he hadn't noticed the abnormality of the woman in red.

There were only two reasons for this: one was that the other party's martial arts level was not inferior to his, and the other was that the other party's means of hiding her aura were far more brilliant than his.

Zhu Huaian turned around helplessly, but before he had walked a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

"I'm not going back! I'll spend the night here today. I don't believe I can't wait for Brother Xu!"

"."

The guards looked at each other.

The next morning, Xu Qing left the residence, feeling refreshed.

Last night was a full moon, which was a good time for monsters and evil spirits to sense heaven and earth and draw in the moonlight.

When he was cultivating, black smoke rose above his head, and black mist permeated his nose, like a big snake spitting out mist and dampness in the mountains and clouds.

When Xiuniang saw him like this, she thought he had gone into a demonic frenzy and was trembling, not daring to move. It wasn't until the sky began to brighten that she was sure Xu Qing was just cultivating normally.

Xu Qing still remembered the question Xiuniang asked him when he left the residence.

"Are you also a ghost?"

Xu Qing had never seen such a stupid female ghost. He pointed to the shadow that could be vaguely seen on the ground under the faint morning light.

"Eh, you're not a ghost. Then are you a monster? I heard that monsters can also turn into human form after cultivating for a long time..."

At that time, Xu Qing didn't choose to explain, but raised his hand and gave her a candied chestnut.

Except for a cry of pain that was a bit noisy, the world was suddenly much quieter.

Leaving Shuimen Bridge, Xu Qing took advantage of the bustling morning market and turned to the vegetable market to buy some odds and ends.

When the sky was completely bright, he drank a bowl of half-cooked duck blood soup he had asked the vendor to stew and wandered toward Jingxia Street.

Arriving at the street, the door of the coffin shop was tightly closed. Since the seven-day lecture, Hu Baosong hadn't stepped out of the door, and no one knew what the little old man was tinkering with.

Only Xu Qing knew that the little old man had been working hard to prepare lessons for Senior Sister Yizhen. As for him, he was at most an auditor; the old man wouldn't rack his brains like this just for him alone.

Walking through half the street, when he was about to reach the mortuary, Xu Qing suddenly saw four or five visitors with temperaments very different from ordinary people squatting in a row against the wall in front of his door...

(End of chapter)