Chapter 271

When the guest left the Mortuary Shop, his sorrow was gone, clearly very satisfied with Xu Qing's service.

At this time, the first ray of morning light fell on the street. Xu Qing looked outside and saw the guest's figure like a layer of pale white light, then gradually faded until it completely dissipated in the crowd on the street.

Xu Qing was just about to withdraw his gaze when he saw several pedestrians wearing hemp and mourning clothes walking toward him from the direction the guest had disappeared.

These people were driving a flatbed cart, covered with white cloth, heading straight for Xu Qing's shop.

Fine! It seems that the visit to Boss Liu today will have to be delayed for a while.

A familiar opening line, familiar rhetoric, Xu Qing welcomed the distinguished guest into the shop in a few words.

"I am Tian Yongfu. My brother went fishing by boat at the mouth of the Tanggu River the day before yesterday. Unexpectedly, the weather changed suddenly. My brother couldn't avoid it in the middle of the river and accidentally capsized the boat and died. This is the certificate issued by the government office..."

The leading guest could not hide his grief. He bowed and said: "Shopkeeper, please."

Xu Qing nodded and skillfully carried the corpse from the flatbed cart into the shop.

"Your brother has passed away; it is truly heartbreaking. Please accept my condolences." Xu Qing took out the "Book of the Deceased" used for recording funerals and asked: "May I ask your brother's name, his hometown, and his age? I will carve the tombstone and make the spirit tablet for him..."

"My brother is Tian Yonggui, living in Pingxi Township, aged thirty-nine."

Seeing Xu Qing open the thick Book of the Deceased, the names inside were dense, and just the written part was two fingers thick.

After Xu Qing finished recording the information, Tian's elder brother couldn't help but ask: "This book..."

Xu Qing nodded: "Account book, recording all the guests our shop has entertained in the past."

"..."

This is not an account book; this is clearly a ghost register!

Tian Yongfu said as if possessed: "It seems the shopkeeper's business is quite prosperous."

Xu Qing pretended not to hear. Could he reply that it all depended on the guests' support?

While Tian Yongfu was waiting on the side, Xu Qing let Xuanyu go to the paper-craft shop, while he stayed in the shop to dress and makeup the corpse.

After the corpse was given rites, Xuanyu, who had returned from the paper-craft shop, also sent the newly crafted paper fishing gear.

"What are these paper crafts?" Tian Yongfu asked suspiciously.

"I observed that your brother loved fishing, so I crafted some fishing gear and paper boats. These are gifts from my shop and will not be charged separately. Please feel free to use them."

Tian Yongfu was stunned, then said with some lingering fear: "It is indeed necessary to burn some fishing gear. After my brother died, others said that he had promised to burn some paper boats and fishing gear for Jiang Konglou before he died, but my brother only cared about going fishing at the mouth of the Tanggu River and forgot about this matter."

"Jiang Konglou therefore harbored resentment and turned into a water ghost, dragging my brother into the water and harming his life..."

Xu Qing heard this and was noncommittal. He had just given rites to Tian Yonggui's corpse. The so-called breach of promise to a ghost resulting in ghost harm was just the result of everyone's speculation.

Besides, after Jiang Konglou was executed, his corpse had already been given rites by him. How could there be any possibility of him causing trouble?

The reason Tian Yonggui died was that after getting the location of the nest, he was afraid that others would seize the opportunity, so he went to the mouth of the Tanggu River that night.

At that time, it was late, and the weather in Jinmen was unusually stuffy. A fishing friend on the way advised him to go to the river mouth another day, but Tian Yonggui thought the other party was trying to trick him into going back so he could run to the river mouth and seize the fishing spot.

He thought he had seen through all the schemes of others. When he arrived at the mouth of the Tanggu River and drove his boat to a barren beach in the middle of the river, Tian Yonggui suddenly heard a thunderclap from above.

Then came raindrops the size of copper coins.

Tian Yonggui only then realized that what the fishing friend said was the truth.

But since he had come, if he went back empty-handed, he would lose face!

It was also Tian Yonggui's fate to have a disaster.

The old saying goes: "When fish jump out of the water, wind and rain will surely come."

When Tian Yonggui came, the weather was stuffy, and those fish went crazy, drilling out of the water in piles, simply dazzling.

In the eyes of fishing lovers, these fish were like beauties covered in light gauze, dancing gracefully, just waiting for him to undress and go to favor them.

If Tian Yonggui did nothing and left, would he still be a man!

Even if the wind and rain grew stronger, Tian Yonggui was still comforting himself and cheering himself up.

As long as he could catch a big fish today, he would be famous in the Jinmen area!

Jinmen people admire those with unique skills the most. He dared to fish in the wind and rain; if he didn't become famous, who would?

In the end, Tian Yonggui did become famous, and he also performed a "unique skill."

In the Mortuary Shop, Xu Qing put Tian Yonggui's corpse into the coffin, and Tian Yongfu and his relatives worked together to lift the coffin onto the flatbed cart.

When the driver drove the carriage back, Tian Yongfu looked back at Xu's shop subconsciously, only to see a pair of couplets particularly eye-catching under the white paper lanterns with the words "Welcome" and "Send Off."

It was written: "Don't worry about the funeral affairs, manage and always help the people of the world."

"Shopkeeper Xu is truly a good person!"

Tian Yongfu sighed sincerely.

Everything cannot be delayed. After the Tian family left, one after another, corpses were sent to Xu Qing by the lever house, or corpses of fishermen who drowned at the port.

Jinmen is a water town. Besides the Beijing-Jinmen Canal, there are more than a hundred large and small waterways such as the estuary and the Baisha River, so there are many fishermen who make a living by fishing.

Water and fire are ruthless. Two or three days of heavy rain caused the water level of all rivers in Jinmen to rise. During this period, the number of people who died of water disasters was significantly higher than usual.

On this day alone, Xu Qing received no less than fifty drowned corpses, the most of which were from a cargo ship that sank at the port.

This cargo ship was not carrying goods, but people who had fled the war in Jingzhou Prefecture and escaped to Jinmen.

At the end of the sixth month, it was the sweltering season, and the weather was unusually stuffy. The corpse-salvage team didn't dare to delay after salvaging the corpses. After approval from the government office, they rushed to the lever house.

The current lever house relied on Xu Qing, and after having the government office's relationship, it was equivalent to having official endorsement.

The lever house replaced the righteous manor, burying corpses for free. In the two years since Chen Guangrui took office, he had also curbed the wicked culture of the government office selling corpses for profit.

The two can now be said to complement each other. Chen Guangrui is the magistrate of a county and has absolute say in the living circle of Linjiang County. Xu Qing has transformed into the leader of the dead circle in Linjiang County, and it is the kind that covers the sky with one hand.

It is not just the corpses of Linjiang County; those corpses passing through Linjiang via water transport from all over the world, as long as they are not careful, will be pulled to Xu's shop to perform a Dharma ritual by force.

The Xu shopkeeper of the Mortuary Shop, unknowingly, has already become the king of the underground world of Linjiang County.

After giving rites to the dead on the ship, Xu Qing saw the chaos in Jingzhou. The Cangyi Army, Southern Tribes, Dongzhai, and various sacrificial groups and water divisions had already united and pushed to Jingzhou Prefecture!

Is this an attempt to push back via the waterway?

Xu Qing frowned as he watched.

Throughout the dynasties, it was always the local army that used the Jianghuai water transport to transport grain and troops to Lingnan to conquer the Southern countries.