Chapter 188

Eunuch Lou left very peacefully.

On the street only one mile away from the city gate, a gully nearly ten feet long was plowed out.

In the city gate hole, the soldiers sheltering from the rain heard the movement and just wanted to go out in the rain to investigate the situation, when they saw a team of paper people carrying a rain-beaten coffin, scattering paper money, appearing in the rain curtain.

The white lightning flashed, setting off the underworld atmosphere of the paper people.

The city gate soldiers obeyed their hearts, and the feet they just stepped out were immediately retracted, just pretending they didn't see anything.

When the paper people collected the corpse into the coffin, only a burning red-hot axe remained on the ground, sizzling with white smoke.

The burning wooden axe handle, after being drenched by the rain, turned into charcoal color.

The paper person team walked on both sides of the gully, and the coffin carried by thirty-two poles crossed the gully and marched toward the city gate in a mighty way.

Paper money was scattered, and the waterproof white paper lanterns were particularly conspicuous in the gloomy rain, like flowers of ghost fire emerging from the grave, cold and gloomy.

The city gate soldiers, and some people hiding in the city gate hole to shelter from the rain, were all curled up in the corner, shivering.

The tall and thin paper people walked through the city gate hole, bringing bursts of gloomy wind, and also carrying a strange incense smell.

When everyone came back to their senses, the paper person funeral team had already marched out of the city gate and didn't know where to go.

When the rain cleared and the sky cleared, Wanshou County returned to its usual appearance, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

Mortuary shop, Wang's little sister enjoyed the service of renting the mourning hall for free, keeping the vigil for the old lady in the shop.

In the mortuary room separated by a wall, Xu Qing was watching the history of a little eunuch's rise.

"Speaking of what is the best thing to eat in this world, besides white flour buns, there is nothing else!"

"After entering the palace, I will have buns that I can't finish."

"Are you the new cook in the imperial kitchen? The taste of the buns you steamed is not right."

"You said there is no problem, then why can't I taste the old taste?"

"That cook! Concubine Hui ate the food you made, and the child in her belly is gone! That is a dragon seed, and a dragon seed with a handle! One corpse and two lives, what crime do you say you should have?"

"I understand, what I like in my life is not buns, but money, silver, and the golden brilliance of the whole room!"

"Master Liao, if you don't dislike it, Xiao Wuzi is willing to support you in your old age."

"Godfather, I heard that the Emperor wants to spare no effort to promote Wanshou County, and the child wants to contribute to the Emperor..."

Eunuch Lou's life was full of copper smell, and only when he first entered the palace did he still have some simple visions.

After Xu Qing finished watching the other party's revolving lantern, he didn't know how to evaluate it. You say you are a eunuch, you don't have any children, why do you save so much money?

Shaking his head, Xu Qing looked at the reward of the Scripture of Saving People. The corpse evaluation was Human-grade, high quality. He was rewarded with a bone-melting palm technique and a bone-eroding sword technique.

Both techniques are martial arts masterpieces. The bone-melting palm technique can break people's bones, flesh, and tendons through the skin, but the surface can be intact.

The bone-eroding sword technique is just the opposite. This sword technique specializes in the technique of flesh stripping. Combined with the sword formula, it can swing thousands of sword shadows in the blink of an eye, stripping people of flesh and leaving bones, leaving only a white skeleton.

Xu Qing was puzzled at first. Since this eunuch knows this sword technique, why didn't he use it in the well building?

But when he remembered that the Chang general itself was a different kind condensed from a pile of white bones, he was happy in his heart.

No wonder this eunuch only used the bone-melting palm technique. It turns out he couldn't use his meat-scraping trick.

"Bone-melting palm technique, the name is quite interesting, but I don't know what effect this palm technique will have when hitting a non-decaying bone..."

Xu Qing just thought about it casually. This technique is just a name that conflicts with him, but if it really hits him, I'm afraid it's like scratching an itch.

But this thing also depends on the person. If it is in the hands of someone with cultivation, the upper limit is really hard to say!

The few days Wang's little sister borrowed the mortuary shop to keep the vigil added a lot of inspiration to Xu Qing.

Those widows and bachelors who have no father, no mother, no children, even if they prepare coffins in advance, they may not have anyone to handle their funeral after death.

Even if there are enthusiastic neighbors to help, who can guarantee to find the corpses of these people in time?

When they are really found, eight out of ten are passing by the door, smelling the smell, and then they react.

Xu Qing thinks this is not good.

As the leader of the funeral industry in Jinmen, he has to solve this problem.

At the very least, you can't let people expose their corpses at home after death, and no one buries them, right?

Do it if you say it. Xu Qing took out pen and ink and wrote a notice again.

"It is said that life is a guest and death is a return, and sages sigh the same; being cautious about the end and thinking about the distance is related to filial piety and fraternal duty. This shop is set up according to ancient teachings and acts according to benevolence and virtue, specifically opening a convenient door for the widowed, lonely, and lonely to solve the worries of a hundred years.

If you establish a contract for the afterlife in advance and set the ceremony of a hundred years early, you can avoid the worry of being panicked.

For those who make an agreement, this hall should register and keep a record, visit the door on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, and give rice and flour during festivals. Even if there are no descendants to enjoy, there is also cold and heat to take care of.

Now establish three major good promises:

First, pre-purchase a coffin, choose a lucky place to wait for the gloomy time, and the price is no more than half of the market.

Second, regular visits, observe daily life and prepare for needs, the capital does not take a penny, the so-called humanistic care.

Third, full ceremony at the end of life, revolve according to ancient systems, and ensure that the clothing and burial are in accordance with the ritual.

Any widowed, lonely, and lonely people who are interested can enter the hall to handle the membership iron coupon. Those who hold this coupon, even if there are no children and grandchildren around their knees, can avoid being alone after death.

Words are like iron coupons, promises are like mountains, and promises are like iron. I dare to tell the ten-party good believers, benefit the poor and weak, and take into account the low price and high quality. Those who buy coupons on the same day will be given an anniversary ritual and ten complete burns."

After writing the notice, Xu Qing pondered for a moment, and then picked up the pen to write the conclusion.

"I wish all the people in the world can get the comfort of a good end; all the ghosts in the nine springs can enjoy the peace of burial.

——Xu Family Hall Master, established on the auspicious day of midsummer in the year of Jia Chen"

To prevent someone from not understanding, Xu Qing also wrote a short vernacular notice, saying that in order to let widowed elderly, or left-behind elderly have an end, the funeral shop specifically provides funeral pre-sale packages, including regular door-to-door visits, and humanistic care services of sending rice and oil during festivals.

The notice is in nine copies, implying peace under the nine springs.

Holding nine notices, Xu Qing posted them in the mortuary shop, coffin shop, burial clothes shop, and paper shop. In addition, there were also announcements on the bulletin boards at the city gates of Linjiang County.

At night, Wang's little sister kept the vigil in the shop. During this period, a fat man and a yellow-clothed man walked into the inner room, and then a delicate little lady followed an old man and also entered the inner room.

Then she heard the rustling conversation coming from the room.

After everyone left, Xu Qing, who had finished the hall meeting, turned to Wang's little sister.

"Wang girl, the time has come. I have a grave garden in the west of the city. The feng shui there is okay, and it's not far from here. The old lady lives there, and it's convenient for you to visit in the future."

Hearing this, Wang's little sister was sad, but she still cheered up and said: "Thank you, sir, for your help. Yue'er has nothing to repay for sir's kindness. If one day..."

Xu Qing waved his hand to interrupt: "These things are the business dealings of my hall, and I don't ask for repayment. Let's handle the old lady's affairs properly first, and other things will be discussed later."

Wang Yue'er nodded. The little girl was only ten years old and was at the age when she needed to rely on others. At this time, Xu Qing was like a mountain to shelter from the wind and rain. Whatever the other party said, she was willing to listen.

After all, sir has helped the Wang family more than once.

After nailing the coffin with the descendants' nails and tying the leather strap, little Yue'er didn't understand anything, so Xu Qing acted as an elder, teaching her to sweep wealth, lift the coffin, and resign from the spirit.

The so-called sweeping the coffin is to use a broom to remove the floating soil on the coffin.

As for lifting the coffin, it is not to lift the coffin lid, but to pad a copper coin at a corner of the coffin.

Resigning from the spirit is for the living to salute the dead and say goodbye for the last time.

After the coffin left the hall, paper money was burned, and after the funeral basin was smashed, the little girl took the paper banner, wiped her tears, and followed Xu Qing all the way to see her off.

Outside the shop, Sun Erzhuang, who had been waiting for a long time, drove the funeral car—actually a flatbed cart pulled by a big horse with a big white flower on its chest and a white cloth strip tied to the horse's head.

Guan Dazhuang stretched out his Kirin arm, scooped his hand into the basket full of paper money, and the paper money in the sky drifted and scattered.

Xuanyu ran to the door, sat by the threshold, and looked at the "paper flowers" flying on the street.

For some reason, it felt that this scene was very romantic.

I remember when the official lady got married, there was also a pair of boys and girls, carrying flower baskets full of petals, throwing them into the sky...

But Xuanyu felt that the paper money and paper flowers cut by Immortal Xu himself were more beautiful than those picked petals.

"Paper money and paper flowers are so beautiful, why can they only be used at funerals, and can't be used at weddings?"

Xuanyu looked up at the dancing paper money, and its thoughts had already drifted to nowhere.

On the barren slope twenty miles west of the city, Xu Qing circled three new grave circles, one for Wang Yue'er's grandmother, and two for her parents.

Wanshou County is now a matter of human beings, and if a little girl is left to live there again, I am afraid it will not be stable.

Xu Qing simply asked the little girl's opinion.

"Yue'er, now that your brother is away, you are the master of the family. Since you plan to stay here, it is best to move your parents' coffin here, so that you don't have to run back when you want to worship in the future."

Yue'er nodded: "Everything listens to sir."

Xu Qing looked at the ignorant girl before him, feeling very depressed.

Why did he become a father and a mother again?

If he had known this, he should have beaten Wang's boy properly at the beginning. How could there be someone who didn't even want his home for his own ambition?

In Xu Qing's heart, a man who doesn't take care of his family is not a man at all.

Even if he only has one cat, he often thinks about going home. This Wang Liang is good, he has a sister, a grandmother, but what about the result?

Leaving an old man with a lame leg, he left without looking back.

Xu Qing felt a headache. This Prince Zhu who fooled people into rebelling, and this Wang boy, none of them were people who made people worry.

After worshipping the old lady, the Sun Erzhuang brothers drove the carriage back to Guanmen Village, and Xu Qing took Wang's little sister to Linjiang County.

Arriving at Jingxia Street, seeing the little girl following him, Xu Qing said: "Miss Zhang of the burial clothes shop has a gentle temperament. If you agree, I will talk to her, and you will temporarily live in the burial clothes shop in the future."

Seeing Wang Yue'er twisting her clothes, nervous and not speaking, Xu Qing had to be patient and continue: "The mortuary shop is small, and there is no vacant room. Furthermore, you are a daughter, living with me, it is inconvenient..."

In the end, Wang's little sister chose to listen to Xu Qing and temporarily followed Zhang Wan to operate the burial clothes shop.

Zhang Wan is the daughter of the county magistrate, who has read poetry and books since childhood, and her needlework is not bad. Wang's little sister can also learn a lot from her.

On the contrary, if the other party followed Xu Qing, I am afraid that after a while, she would learn to be crooked.

A human little girl, tossing corpses all day long, shouting the promotional slogan of the mortuary shop at the door, just thinking about it makes people feel scared.

Days are like flowing water. Since Xu Qing held an internal meeting with the hall's disciples and immortals of each hall, he drafted the after-sales service of the funeral, including grave renovation, tombstone repair, and those lonely elderly people who bought membership iron coupons and pre-purchased funeral services. These people also need the focus of the Huang Immortal of the hall.

This day, Xu Qing received an old man over seventy.

The old man was a night watchman. He had been watching for a lifetime. A few years ago, because of his old age, he was replaced, and the old man began to retire.

This old man was married once when he was young, but the couple didn't live for many days before the woman ran away with someone.

The key is that when she ran away, she also took away a lot of silver with the adulterer, and even the valuable items in the house were pawned.

Later, the official caught this pair of adulterers, but the money was not recovered.

Since then, the old man has not married a wife, and there is no relative to take care of him. Now hearing that Xu Qing is handling funerals here, the old man didn't say a word. After coming to the shop, he handled the membership on the spot and received the iron coupon.

"Young man, I have no hope now, I just count on you. You must not collect enough silver and then disappear with the silver. That would be too damaging to Yin virtue..."

Xu Qing said happily: "That can't be. If you don't believe it, you can go out and inquire about the reputation of my shop. The grave garden with good feng shui in the west of the city is what I bought. This matter is registered in the government office. I can run, but the land of this shop can't run..."

"You just put your heart in your stomach! By the way, about the grave garden in the west of the city, I think it is very necessary to introduce it to you..."

The grave garden in the west of the city leans against a small hillside. Xu Qing also gave the slope a name, called "Wujiu".

It means no disaster, no fault, and it is generally a lucky name.

"Go slowly, watch the steps."

Helping the old man, sending him to the outside of the shop door, Xu Qing's attitude was very good.

These are all potential customers in the future, living corpses, he must serve them well!

Sending the old man away, the widow boss lady opposite the door carried the incense basket, put the things heavily on the coffin lid with a cold face.

"Which blind person offended Boss Cheng again?"

Cheng Caiyun sneered: "No one offended, just thinking that I have to let you handle the funeral in the future makes me uncomfortable!"

"..."

Xu Qing laughed dryly: "That can't be. You are still young. If you marry a good family in these few years, or recruit a son-in-law, it's not too late."

"Bah!"

Cheng Caiyun's face turned black again when she heard Xu Qing's address: "Your aunt, I will not serve two husbands in my life. If I find a second family, it's better to let me lie in this coffin now!"

Xu Qing looked at Cheng Caiyun's back, always feeling that this widow also had an unknown past.

(End of chapter)