Chapter 170

Two days ago, Daoist Priest Yizhen returned to the Five Elders Temple and dug up a jar of aged wine buried by her master, Zichen, under the ginkgo tree in the temple.

Blessings and misfortunes are interdependent. Zichen's talent was far higher than Hu Baosong's, but because of this, Daoist Priest Zichen could not escape the thunder disaster and heavenly punishment. On the contrary, Hu Baosong, the poor student, lived for more than two hundred years until the end of his life because his cultivation was insufficient.

A drink and a peck, is it not predetermined?

Now there is only one jar of fine wine personally buried by Daoist Priest Zichen, which has resisted the erosion of time and has been preserved to this day.

Old people are the most nostalgic. If Hu Baosong saw this wine brewed for him by his master, he would surely be extremely happy.

Yizhen, holding the wine jar, had a smile in her eyes. Besides this jar of wine, she didn't forget Hu Baosong's entrustment, worshipped before her master's grave, and told her about the things that had happened during these days.

After worshipping her master, Yizhen returned to Well-Bottom Street with the fine wine that had been stored for decades of affection.

Opening the shop door, the sunlight from outside broke into the coffin shop, and there was no one on the rattan chair.

Coming to the backyard, the remnant game on the chessboard under the peach tree remained.

Yizhen felt a little uneasy. She came to the chessboard and saw an extra jade box on the stone table.

A letter was pressed under the jade box.

On it were the words "To my beloved daughter Yizhen, open personally."

Daoist Priest Yizhen's eyelashes trembled, somewhat caught off guard.

Suppressing that trace of unease, the female Daoist comforted herself that perhaps the old man wanted to recognize her as a relative, but couldn't let go of his face, so he wrote a letter to test her reaction.

If she had no resentment in her heart, the father and daughter could naturally recognize each other. If she was unwilling, it could be treated as if nothing had happened.

It was all just the scheming of an old fox. It must be so.

With a nervous heart, Yizhen opened the letter. She read it word by word, and as she read, the unease in her heart became more severe.

The letter read: "I have three wishes and three regrets. First, I wish my child's Dao heart to be clear and the road ahead to be unobstructed. Today, I leave a jade box, which contains the inheritance of the Hu-Yang clan. Long-term cultivation can stimulate the insufficiency of the bloodline and penetrate the wonders of our generation's cultivation."

"I only sigh that my time is running out, and I cannot teach you personally, fulfilling the responsibility of raising and caring for you..."

"I wish my child to cut through the dust with a sword of wisdom, study and cultivate diligently, and strengthen the foundation. If there is anything you don't understand, you can ask the elders in the temple. Don't imitate my past and delay the Dao path... I still remember traveling far with a book on my back and forming a bond with your mother. However, I was greedy for the wine and sex of the secular world and abandoned her. I spent half my life indulging in the red dust, failing your mother, and also failing you."

"Third, I wish my child to meet a sincere gentleman, and never meet a dissolute and ungrateful person like me."

"Now, as a father, my frost-covered temples are sparse, and I can no longer shelter my child from the wind and rain. I only wish that from now on, when you step on the moon, there will be a clear breeze to guide you, and when you cross the river, there will be a brocade scale to hold the lamp. Even if there is snow at dusk on thousands of mountains, you can still see the sunrise for ten thousand miles."

——Father's last words, the first day of the Frost Moon, Jiazi Year.

When she saw the final signature, Yizhen felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

This was not a letter; this was clearly a suicide note!

In the mortuary shop.

When Xu Qing was holding a funeral for Hu Baosong, a female Daoist was holding a "three-hall trial" in his shop.

Jin Luan had just woken up, looking blank and at a loss. Yizhen asked it if Hu Baosong had been here, and if Xu Qing and the old man were hiding something from her.

Jin Luan listened in a daze.

Old Man Hu? Didn't see him.

It had just seen Master Xu; the two of them had just finished eating at a restaurant on Flower and Bird Street and came back. How could it possibly forget?

Yizhen was stunned. Could it be that this matter really had nothing to do with Junior Brother Xu?

But thinking of Hu Baosong's suicide note and Xu Qing, who was nowhere to be found at this time, Yizhen felt that things were not that simple.

Could this gluttonous chicken have been fed a love potion by Xu Qing? Otherwise, why would it call him "Master Xu" one after another so affectionately?

Seeing that she couldn't get useful information from Jin Luan, Yizhen turned to look at Xuanyu.

The latter opened its big eyes, and its face was full of the innocence that only children have.

The cat doesn't know anything!

Huang Xiaoliu had just rushed back to the hall and was preparing to report the intelligence from the streets today, but was caught by Yizhen.

"Little sable, the poor Daoist wants to ask you one thing. Have you ever seen your master take the coffin shop's Manager Hu and go somewhere?"

Huang Xiaoliu's small eyes rolled around. After seeing Xuanyu flick its tail and cast a deterrent look at it, the little yellow weasel immediately shook its head and said: "Never seen it. I haven't seen the master for these few days. As for Manager Hu of the coffin shop... he probably went to deliver a coffin to someone's house!"

Yizhen saw Huang Xiaoliu's nervous look and followed its gaze to look at Xuanyu.

Just a moment ago, the black cat, which was still a domineering hall master, became innocent and pure in an instant.

"Meow?"

"."

Daoist Priest Yizhen returned in defeat under the gaze of the cat's eyes, which had no impurities.

Perhaps it was really her thinking too much. Maybe the old man just wrote a suicide note in advance, but didn't expect her to come back at this time, and it was inadvertently left on the stone table under the peach tree.

Yizhen returned to the coffin shop and pressed the suicide note under the jade box as it was.

The next day, Xu Qing, who had just returned from the Yinhe Ancient Road and hadn't had time to catch his breath, was told by Xuanyu about Yizhen coming to "hold him accountable."

"Old Hu, I went to great pains to hold a funeral for you. If you have spirits in heaven, you must bless my business to be prosperous and have a steady stream of customers..."

After tidying up the remains and changing into a brand-new outfit sewn by a female ghost, Xu Qing took the newly made memorial tablet and came to the coffin shop on the street.

Yizhen had been absent-minded for the past two days. At this time, she was sitting in front of the counter, staring blankly at the rattan chair where Hu Baosong often lay.

When she saw a figure break into the shop, Yizhen felt a joy in her heart, but when she saw the appearance of the person in front of her, the unease in her heart suddenly rose to the peak.

It was none other than Xu Qing.

In Xu Qing's hand, he was holding a memorial tablet with Hu Baosong's name written on it.

"Senior Sister, please accept my condolences."

Seeing Yizhen not speaking, Xu Qing had to place the memorial tablet in front of the offering table and light a stick of incense.

"Senior Sister, Master Hu entrusted his funeral affairs to me a long time ago. Speaking of which, I can be considered half his student. Two days ago, the old man felt that his life span was coming to an end. Perhaps he didn't want to see Senior Sister sad and hurt, so he told me to go to the Yinhe to hold a funeral and see him off..."

"In the future, if Senior Sister has any very difficult matters, you can also look for me. As long as it is within my ability, I will definitely help. This was also entrusted by Master Hu before he died..."

Xu Qing chattered about some intimate words, and Yizhen responded numbly.

When Xu Qing left the coffin shop and only Yizhen was left alone, the late sadness surged into her heart.

Gathering and dispersing have their times; life is like a dream.

In the next two days, Yizhen came to find Xu Qing again.

Under the peach tree that had lived for hundreds of years, Yizhen took a jar of wine and said: "I haven't had time to thank Junior Brother these few days. This is the aged wine buried by my master for him before he died. It's a pity he didn't have time to taste it."

"Senior Sister doesn't need to be so polite. Since this is something left by Senior Sister's master, it should be kept well. Even if you want to drink it, you should find a suitable day and a good time..."

"A good time?" Yizhen suddenly remembered what Hu Baosong said in the suicide note...

Besides the vision written in Hu Baosong's suicide note, I heard that in the Shao Prefecture, whenever a daughter is born in a family, parents will bury a jar of "Daughter Red" as a necessary item for the daughter's wedding.

And her master Zichen's secular surname happened to be from Shao Prefecture.

Yizhen suddenly realized, and then embarrassedly put away the wine jar on the table.

If it weren't for Xu Qing's reminder, she really wouldn't have thought of this.

Thinking about it now, the reason her master buried this jar of wine back then should also have some other reasons.

Xu Qing didn't know what Yizhen was thinking. The reason he refused was purely because a zombie cannot eat or drink casually before evolving into a corpse. If he forced himself to drink, he wouldn't necessarily be able to taste much of the wine.

You must know that chewing wax is the daily routine of ordinary zombies.

Zombies are numb. Even if Xu Qing has nearly five hundred years of cultivation, so far, the response of his seven orifices is far inferior to other cultivators of the same realm.

Hu Baosong once told him that anyone with cultivation has the opportunity to open the nine senses, namely "eye, ear, mouth, nose, tongue, body, intent, end, store."

Every time a human or demon opens a sense, they can obtain many mysterious abilities.

However, human life is short, and many people spend their whole lives only opening one or two senses to assist in cultivation.

Xu Qing has the Heavenly Eye and Yin Pupil, so he no longer needs to open the eye sense. As for other senses...

Before breaking through to the Golden Armor Corpse and surviving the thunder disaster to become a Corpse, ordinary zombies cannot use common methods to open senses. But once they become a Corpse, through the washing and refining of the long river of time, zombies can open the nine senses one by one.

Among the nine senses, the nose is the "many-hearing sense," and the tongue is the "five-flavor sense." Xu Qing pondered that if he really wanted to taste fine wine and delicacies, he would at least have to wait until after becoming a Corpse and opening the many-hearing sense and five-flavor sense.

Otherwise, it would be like a cow chewing a peony, purely a waste of heaven's gifts.

"Senior Sister might as well bury the wine under this peach tree. When the peach blossoms bloom in the future and the time is right, it won't be too late to dig it up and enjoy it."

Peach blossoms bloom...

Yizhen was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

"I am best at digging holes. Senior Sister, leave this work to me!"

Xu Qing brushed his back and didn't know where he took out a shovel.

Digging a three-foot-deep pit in two or three strokes, Yizhen held the wine jar with both hands and carefully placed it in.

"This is the wine passed down by Senior Sister's family, so Senior Sister should seal the soil."

After handing the shovel to Yizhen, Xu Qing suddenly remembered one thing.

If he remembered correctly, two hundred years ago, Hu Baosong dreamed of a woman in pink clothes and realized the truth. After that, he was determined to quit drinking and buried the wine gourd he carried with him under the peach tree.

Rubbing his chin, Xu Qing pondered that when he opened the five-flavor sense one day and could taste the wine, he would dig out the gourd and have a good drink.

In early September, the sky is a loom and the clouds are cloth. The autumn rain is like dense needlework, weaving evenly and obliquely.

Today is the day of the "Autumn Execution." I don't know which dynasty it started from, but for all criminal executions that require beheading in the market, except for those who are guilty of heinous crimes and are executed immediately, all other death row prisoners are scheduled to be executed in the autumn and winter seasons.

Regarding this, there is also an explanation in the "Theory of Solar Terms" of the Astronomical Bureau, saying that in the autumn and winter seasons, gods descend, and after the death row prisoners are executed, the interaction between heaven and man will detain these resentful ghosts and Yin souls who are dissatisfied because of the execution to the Underworld for retrial.

This is called the "Yin-Yang Double Judgment."

Besides this mysterious saying, there is another saying that the end of autumn is the farming slack season, and the common people have more time to gather at the market entrance to watch the execution. The imperial court can just take this opportunity to deter those who have illegal thoughts.

Furthermore, the weather in September is gradually cooling, which is conducive to the preservation of corpses. If it were in the sweltering summer, the corpses might smell rotten shortly after being executed.

In short, the Autumn Execution is not an auspicious day. On this day, there will be ignorant common people who want to go to the execution ground to dip steamed buns in blood, there will be people who are bold enough to rob the execution ground, and there will also be many onlookers who don't think it's a big deal to watch the excitement...

However, by comparison, more people will deliberately avoid the market entrance and will not go to the Autumn Execution ground to join in the fun.

Xu Qing is another type of "group" independent of everyone else. For him, the Autumn Execution day is undoubtedly the busiest day of his business in the year.

On this day, I'm afraid no one will be happier than him!

On the day of the Autumn Execution, Xu Qing changed into the white-bottomed gray robe he only wears when performing funeral rites early in the morning. In his hand, he also held a long banner with the words "Autumn Execution Special Offer: Half Price for Funeral and Burial" written on it.

Among those executed, some have family members looking for people to collect the corpses. As the leader of the funeral industry in Linhe, Xu Qing must seize this rare opportunity to develop all potential customers.

The so-called "Autumn Execution" lasts at least two months. If there are many death row prisoners, it is not uncommon to execute them until the twelfth lunar month.

Xu Qing couldn't care about eating. He stuffed two candles in his hand, dealt with a few bites, and happily rushed to the vegetable market.

On the first day of the execution, the number of heads was the largest. Just as the sky was getting light, Xu Qing arrived at the vegetable market early and inserted the banner for soliciting business beside the execution ground in advance.

There were government office runners who came early to arrange the execution ground setting up the execution platform.

The leading government office runner was Zhao Zhonghe's nephew. Seeing Xu Qing inserting the banner there, he hurried over to ask.

"Manager Xu, what is this?"

Xu Qing reached out and touched his own advertising banner, laughing: "Isn't it the Autumn Execution today? I thought I was also a part of Linhe, so I came over to help collect corpses, tidy up appearances, send off funerals, etc. You guys go ahead and do your work, don't worry about me..."

If it were in the past, Zhao Yuan would definitely think this person had some serious illness. Who comes to the execution ground to solicit business? Isn't this nonsense!

But it's just that Xu Qing hasn't been doing this for the first day. Before there was an Autumn Execution, this person often went out to solicit customers. Half of the notices on the city gate bulletin board are now funeral and burial notices.

People in the government office have long been accustomed to it. Furthermore, it's not necessarily a bad thing to have someone come to the execution ground to solicit customers.

"You put this banner here, can others see it?"

Zhao Yuan looked at the banner that was as tall as a person and gestured with his hand. It wasn't much taller than himself.

"I thought about not wanting to affect the government office's Autumn Execution, so I didn't make it too tall."

Zhao Yuan said boldly: "Hey! What's this? The government office are all our own people. Even if you make it taller, can we brothers tear it down for you?"

"Done! With your words, brother, I can rest assured!"

At this moment, Zhao Yuan, who was being polite, didn't understand the seriousness of the matter at all. He laughed and turned to handle the chores of the execution ground.

By the time he finished everything and was leading his brothers back to eat, he saw Xu Qing, who had just returned to the mortuary shop, bring another roll of red cloth and two bamboo poles.

"What is Brother Xu doing?"

"Oh, I thought the banner was too short, so I found a bamboo pole to see if I could support it higher."

Looking at the fifteen-foot-long bamboo pole, Zhao Yuan felt inexplicably empty in his heart.

But thinking of the promise he had just made, Zhao Yuan suppressed the unease in his heart.

"Okay, Manager Xu, you go ahead. My brothers and I are going to eat, otherwise, we won't have an appetite for the execution."

Watching the government office runners leave, Xu Qing untied the red cloth banner, put the two ends on the two bamboo poles, tied them tightly with ropes, and then firmly inserted the bamboo poles in front of the execution ground.

The murderous autumn wind blew, and the words "Autumn Season Promotion and Great Feedback of the Mortuary Shop" on the red cloth banner were exceptionally eye-catching.

(End of chapter)