Chapter 2: The Beggar Scholar

The Scripture of Delivering People can save the dead and survey the life of the deceased.

Within the courtyard where Xu Qing currently stood, more than a dozen zombies were still working; judging by their clothing and appearance from their lifetimes, they were most likely corpse-workers holding local household registration.

In Xu Qing's eyes, their life stories were undoubtedly a living history book placed right before his eyes, capable of quickly and effectively helping him understand this world.

However, all of this had one prerequisite: that the Scripture of Delivering People could truly save them.

Mere thought without action was a sham; as soon as Xu Qing's thoughts stirred, he rolled up his sleeves, stood on tiptoe, and began to approach the nearest zombie.

Although he himself was now a zombie, he still felt somewhat apprehensive; if the zombie before him suddenly sprang up and bit him, it would probably hurt quite a bit, wouldn't it?

Xu Qing followed the zombie pushing the millstone step by step, his mind engaged in an internal struggle.

Do it! We are all dead people; what the hell am I afraid of!

After a brief calculation, he made up his mind; courage surged in Xu Qing's heart, and he reached out to place his hand on the other's shoulder.

That zombie remained unmoved, continuing to do the work right in front of its eyes.

Even donkeys have stubborn tempers, yet these zombies are even more obedient than donkeys!

Seeing this, Xu Qing felt even less fear; taking advantage of the moonlight, he quickened his pace by two steps and got ahead, finally getting a clear look at the other's true appearance.

It was a zombie in tattered rags with a dirty face; judging by its attire, it did not seem like a decent person in life, but rather a street beggar.

At this moment, clouds covered the moon and hid its light; the entire courtyard was silent except for the sound of grinding. Xu Qing glanced around roughly, saw no one nearby, then retreated behind the zombie before him, suddenly crouched down, hugged the other's legs, and performed a "pulling green onions from dry land" lift!

The down-and-out zombie fell with the sound; Xu Qing seized the moment to step over and straddle its back. Even so, the zombie beneath him still managed to free one arm, stretching it far toward the mill handle, as if, aside from pushing the mill and working, it had no other thoughts.

Having barely managed to control the zombie before him, Xu Qing now faced a severe problem.

"How does one deliver the dead again?"

In his life, he had not studied Buddhism, nor did he understand Taoist thought; aside from physical deliverance, he truly did not know how to deliver people!

As if sensing his thoughts, the Scripture of Delivering People in Xu Qing's mind suddenly blazed with light, and the ethereal scriptures and verses of immortal music rang out once more.

"The Human Path is obscure, the Immortal Path is vast, the Ghost Path is joyful..."

"It opens the gate of life for humans; the Immortal Path values life, the Ghost Path values completion."

As the Scripture of Delivering People turned its pages, the deceased's memories bloomed like frozen spider lilies on the road leading to the Netherworld.

They say the Stone of Three Lives can reveal the memories of three past lives; Xu Qing did not possess such ability, but at this moment he truly saw the traces and past of this life of the deceased.

The zombie's name was Feng Chunlai; in life, he was a disciple of the Begging Sect, commonly speaking, a beggar who begged for food.

The Jianghu has Eight Gates: the Outer Eight Gates are Theft, Gu, Sale, Phoenix, Thousand, Witch, Opera, and Killing; the Inner Eight Gates are Startle, Exhaust, Drift, Register, Wind, Fire, Rank, and Begging.

Among them, the Begging Gate is the deepest in learning, focusing on the Way of Down-and-Out, and belongs to the most difficult to master among the Eight Great Gates.

Feng Chunlai was someone with insight; even reduced to a beggar, he always upheld the professional philosophy that "excellence in work comes from diligence, while idleness leads to ruin"; in the beggar's den, he was always the first to go out begging and the last to return, a unique figure.

People say old wine tastes mellow, and old people have broad knowledge.

After cultivating in the trade of begging for decades, Feng Chunlai finally realized the true essence of the Begging Sect on one night!

That was "Taking and giving wisely surpasses others; without hatred, do not demand evil."

These ten short characters were the righteousness that the old beggar pursued and explored throughout his life.

That night was New Year's Eve; the snow fell heavily. The happy Feng Chunlai got drunk on wine and danced in the street. Inside the high wall, the Zhao family's dog accompanied him.

The next day, someone woke up early to sweep the accumulated snow from the doorstep and only then discovered the old beggar's corpse.

He passed away smiling.

Feng Chunlai had no parents, no children, and no grandchildren; the government officials collected his body in public, but behind the scenes, they handed it over to a corpse-driver.

Corpse-drivers are also called "Corpse-Driving Artisans"; they collect silver from families to send those who died far from home back to their hometowns, emphasizing that fallen leaves return to their roots. If the corpse has no owner, they will drive the body to a public mortuary or a fixed small shop for placement.

Some less scrupulous corpse-drivers would refine those ownerless corpses into "corpse-workers" and sell them secretly.

This corpse-driver clearly belonged to the latter category; after refining the old beggar into a zombie, he sold him to this mill to work.

Coincidentally, the corpse-driving artisan who refined the old beggar happened to be the "black intermediary" who originally picked up Xu Qing's corpse, refined him, and then resold him.

Getting dead people's money for free is truly immoral!

While cursing inwardly, Xu Qing had already surveyed the beggar's entire life.

Afterwards, the Scripture of Delivering People gave an evaluation of the corpse: Human Class, Lower Grade.

At the same time, he received a reward for delivering the corpse—

Two song verses for beating the lotus flower and singing "Rat Comes to Treasure," along with several exquisite clappers strung together with golden bamboo strips.

The song verses were not recorded on paper but directly integrated into his mind; as for the clappers...

Xu Qing bit them with his sharp, pointed zombie teeth; the teeth left marks.

They were actually real gold and silver!

However, could clappers of such high purity be used to beg for food?

Xu Qing felt they were useless; food sustains people; what use did a zombie have for these clappers? If it were in his previous life, they might have alleviated some mortgage pressure.

Coming to his senses, Xu Qing's gaze fell on the subdued zombie beneath him; at this moment, the hand of the old beggar that had been stretching toward the millstone had been put down at some point. Looking at his face again, the corners of his mouth smiled, his eyes were closed, just as he looked satisfied before death.

Xu Qing stood up and shook the old beggar's corpse; it was cold and stiff, with no reaction whatsoever.

Not believing in bad luck, he placed the other's corpse back in front of the millstone again, letting its hands rest on the mill handle.

There was still not the slightest movement.

Seeing this, Xu Qing's heart gave a thump; if the mill's manager discovered this tomorrow, it would surely cause trouble!

But then he thought again and breathed a sigh of relief.

What did it have to do with him that the old beggar went on strike?

After delivering all the zombies in this courtyard, he would run away overnight with a bucket in hand; by then, he would let this black-hearted mill worry itself!

Thinking of this, Xu Qing immediately felt full of energy, rolled up his sleeves, and headed toward the next workstation!

Zombies are fat at night and thin during the day, hiding by day and emerging by night; the zombies in the corpse-worker mill were no exception.

During the day, the mill's real craftsmen would come to clean the stone troughs and add grain, medicinal materials, and other items needed for grinding the second night, while the zombies in the mill served as donkeys and mules, working tirelessly under the nourishment of moonlight, performing the hardest work in the mill, truly existing as perpetual motion machines.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing had arrived before another circular grinding trough, roughly a zhang in diameter. Following the same method, he subdued the corpse worker, then unfolded the Immortal Scripture of Delivering People.

One scroll of the Deliverance Sutra reveals the deeds of one's past life.

The zombie beneath him and the old beggar were of the same trade, yet the latter was a junior.

On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, he and a group of beggars were huddled in a dilapidated courtyard, drinking wine and gnawing on chicken legs. Who would have thought a band of masked ruffians would suddenly burst in, clearing out this beggar den in three swift moves.

After reading the beggar's life story, Xu Qing received a reward: an iron rice bowl and a dog-beating staff.

As for why the young beggar had invited such a fatal disaster, he simply could not fathom it.

You say this group of ruffians ignored wealthy merchants and masters to rob, yet chose to rampage through a beggar's den during the New Year?

By the time the fourth watch arrived, Xu Qing had delivered another seven or eight zombies. Without exception, all of them had been beggars who begged in Fucheng during their lifetimes.

Seeing a string of golden clappers, silver clappers, and iron clappers hanging from his waist, Xu Qing finally could not hold back his laughter.

What kind of drop rate is this? Setting aside kings and generals, was there truly not a single wealthy master or bandit in the entire courtyard?

At this moment, the wooden clappers struck the fourth watch. Time was running short, yet Xu Qing had delivered less than half the zombies in the courtyard.

"Pick a few more at the very end. No matter the reward, I must stop in time!"

Afterwards, Xu Qing picked the tallest from among the short, choosing one who looked less ragged than the rest. Unexpectedly, this time he truly struck lucky.

In life, this man had been a poor scholar whose family fortune had declined. Though alone, he was literate and educated. He set up a stall on the street, writing letters for others and doing some calligraphy and painting, managing to live peacefully.

Alas, good times did not last. The scholar fell in love with a courtesan named Su Hongxiu. This woman had grown up in a brothel, with a thousand faces and ten thousand schemes; how could a mere scholar possibly control her?

In her daily life, Su Hongxiu would either feign headaches or fevers to demand money for medical visits, or ask him for rouge and powder to dress herself. In the end, she seemed to feel the scholar could truly do anything for her, so she stopped bothering to fabricate excuses and simply demanded openly.

If this had happened to an ordinary person, they certainly would not have been willing, but this scholar was no ordinary man!

When Su Hongxiu asked him for money, he not only met the requested amount but eagerly asked if it was enough, promising to earn more if it was not.

Even a dog licking a person does not act so shamelessly! Besides, the master must feed the dog first before it has the strength to wag its tail.

Su Hongxiu was the top courtesan of the brothel, claiming to everyone that she sold her art but not her body. The scholar earned money day after day and poured it into her, yet in the end, he hadn't even licked her feet, yet he still eagerly pursued her.

Not far from the scholar's stall, an old fortune-teller who could no longer bear to watch it all took a lump of mud, placed a bamboo stick on top, hung a mud dog on one end of the stick, and a mud rabbit on the other.

As long as the bamboo stick was turned, the dog would chase the rabbit in circles.

Yet even if it chased for a lifetime, even if the mud mound crumbled, it could never catch the rabbit.

And this rabbit was like that Su Hongxiu.

Upon hearing this, the scholar flew into a rage of shame, pointing at the old man and cursing him, saying the fortune-teller was a dog catching mice, meddling in affairs that were none of his business!

Thus, more than half a year passed. Su Hongxiu, whose price had been driven up by the brothel, was bought out by a Squire Lang and taken as a concubine. Hearing this "disaster," the scholar rushed nonstop to the Squire's home, thinking that even if he had to sacrifice his life, he would take his beloved away from this sea of bitterness.

Arriving at the Squire's house, the scholar planned to climb over the wall. By sheer coincidence, while on the wall, he happened to see Su Hongxiu flirting and being intimate with the old Squire in the back garden.

That was a decrepit old man well past sixty! How could she lower her head and stoop to kiss him!

The scholar refused to believe what he had seen and heard, instead rationalizing it to himself, thinking that Su Hongxiu was merely compromising, that when one is under someone's eaves, one has no choice but to bow one's head.

Only after the old master, trembling and holding his waist, left the garden did the scholar finally have the time to climb over the wall and enter the courtyard.

Facing Su Hongxiu's shocked expression, the scholar's eyes turned red and wet even before he opened his mouth.

"Hongxiu, let us elope. I will take you away from this ghost place and never let anyone bully you again!"

Su Hongxiu broke free from the scholar's grip, rubbing her wrist and saying, "You hurt me."

"Also, let us not meet again in the future. I fear the master will misunderstand!"

A very pretty Miss, yet at this moment she spoke words more decisive than a thorned knife gouging out one's heart.

The scholar forced a smile, gave Su Hongxiu the only money he had left, which he had prepared for their elopement. Afterwards, he did not know how he left the Squire's house; he only remembered that the sun that day was very cold, as cold as falling into an ice hole!

He had spent all his savings; the money he earned, along with his wholehearted sincerity, had been given away, yet he could not return whole.

Passing by the river, the scholar suddenly remembered a saying—

Whores have no affection, actors have no loyalty.

And he was a fool, a great fool!

After that, a corpse drifting with the waves appeared in the icy, slushy river of the deep winter twelfth month, until it was fished ashore by a corpse driver.

"Such deep resentment. Perfect for use as a corpse worker."

The scholar's past life story ended here.

While Xu Qing sighed and shook his head, the Deliverance Sutra also provided the corresponding reward.

A "Ren" grade, mid-tier "Book of Documents," and one Heart-Opening Pill.

(End of this chapter)