Chapter 37: Dream-Making Technique

As the saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, and close neighbors are not as good as opposite doors.

Xu Qing took out eight strings of money, four of which were paid for Wu Yaoxing. As for the other four...

He had already taken advantage of the tax official's handover of property, used the Thousand Shadow Stealing Technique, and the method of "Stealing Yang and Plundering Yin" to steal two booklets issued by the Heavenly Heart Sect.

Xu Qing's technique was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, he took the booklet out of his arms again and handed it to the leading tax official.

"These two booklets, one was thrown into my courtyard by the Heavenly Heart Sect evil person, and the other was thrown at the door of the incense and candle shop opposite. You officials don't need to waste your tongue and feet anymore. These extra four strings of money are considered the fine paid by me and the owner of the incense and candle shop together."

The leading tax official raised his chin and wanted to say something, but saw Xu Qing take out another tael of silver.

"The Heavenly Heart Sect bewitches people's hearts and does great harm. This tael of silver is considered my extra gift, which can be considered as a meager effort to eliminate the evil sect."

Seeing the silver and hearing these scene words, the tax official's face instantly softened.

"Look, what is called understanding righteousness and knowing the general situation. This is what the people of our Yong Dynasty should look like!"

When the servants see money, the cat and the mouse sleep together.

Xu Qing watched this group of greedy cats in clothes leave. The landlady of the incense and candle shop opposite blinked, showing an unbelievable look.

Why didn't this group of official bandits come to her house? Could it be that they changed their nature?

At the entrance of the paper-craft shop, Wu Yaoxing was holding two strings of money plus two taels of silver, insisting on stuffing it into Xu Qing's arms.

"You paid for me, so you must let me return the money, otherwise I won't be happy!"

Wu Yaoxing didn't know that the money Xu Qing gave was all tampered with. As long as Xu Qing was willing, the mother coin that had performed the Qingxia Returning Money Technique would call, and those sub-coins would have to obediently return to his side?

"Keep the money first. In the future, when I preside over funerals for people, I will have to ask you for paper people and paper horses. Besides, you know me, I like to run to the smoke and willow alley when I have money, and in the end, I have to throw it into the gutter. You just help me save it!"

Xu Qing didn't lack money. Besides, the Qingxia money he gave wasn't unreturnable. If he really accepted Wu Yaoxing's hard-earned silver at this time, how would he be different from the official bandits who came today?

The landlady of the incense and candle shop didn't know the truth from beginning to end. It wasn't until Wu Yaoxing, who couldn't hold his tongue, ran over to explain clearly that she understood that Xu Qing had paid the tax silver for her.

Later in the evening, Xu Qing closed the shop door and was about to go to the guard room to find Senior Brother Wang Lingyuan, but saw Cheng Caiyun of the incense and candle shop carrying a basket of native eggs and walking over.

"Little Manager Xu, this is the eggs that the sister-in-law specially ran to the younger sister-in-law's house to get. I heard you like this, so just take it and taste it."

Xu Qing raised his eyebrows and accepted the basket with a smile.

This Cheng Caiyun was not quite the same as Wu Yaoxing. The latter refused and resigned, and only temporarily accepted the idea of returning the money.

And this landlady of the incense and candle shop only carried a basket of eggs and wanted to clear the tax silver during the day.

Seeing Xu Qing didn't mention returning the money, Cheng Caiyun was very happy. When she went back, she even threw a wink at him, which made Xu Qing's whole body hair-raising.

A person in his thirties, for those two strings of money, why go to such a self-deprecating appearance?

Xu Qing naturally had no plans for a middle-aged woman. In his eyes, the other party was not as fresh as the old hen that laid this basket of eggs!

Tomorrow he would go buy a few old hens to feed in the courtyard. Wouldn't he be able to eat fresh eggs every day?

Xu Qing tucked two native eggs into his arms, and while sucking, he walked to the patrol government office.

After arriving at the government office guard room, Wang Lingyuan waved at him, and Xu Qing followed "Mother Wang" to the mortuary like a prostitute visiting a brothel, full of excitement.

Several green lamps illuminated the house.

In the mortuary, more than a dozen hard wooden beds were neatly placed, three of which were covered with plain cloth, and the human body contours protruding under the cloth cover could be vaguely seen.

On the other side, there were bookshelves for storing case file copies, and a case table for examining corpses.

The mortician is not only responsible for examining corpses. According to the Dayong law, the mortician also has the authority to contact case files and participate in reasoning about the case.

If there is a case of dark and weak, if it can be tested properly and wash away the grievances for the dead, the imperial court will also give extra reward silver to show commendation.

Therefore, the mortician also belongs to one of the thirty-six trades, and is a trade that truly requires certain technology and experience to do.

On this side, Xu Qing was about to use the corpse-driving method to help Wang Lingyuan drive the corpse to the examination table, but was stopped by Wang Lingyuan raising his hand.

"Junior Brother, examining corpses is different from driving corpses. You must keep the corpse in its original appearance as much as possible. If you use the corpse-driving method, it may change the posture of the corpse when it was victimized and lose important clues."

Wang Lingyuan changed a lot when he talked about his own profession. He really kept the method of teaching Xu Qing to examine corpses!

Speaking of which, he was old, and this skill of examining corpses really didn't have an apprentice to pass on. Now that he had this cheap Junior Brother Xu Qing who was willing to learn, he was naturally very serious.

Carefully moving the corpse to the predetermined position, Wang Lingyuan talked from observing the posture of the deceased to how to determine the cause of death of the deceased.

The details were kept without reservation, all of which were precious experiences he had accumulated since he was engaged in the mortician trade.

Xu Qing listened carefully on the side, and from time to time would pour tea and water for Wang Lingyuan, until the other party was completely full, and then stopped.

About the time of adding lamps, Wang Lingyuan, who was over fifty, drank a lot of tea during the period and couldn't hold back his urine, so he gave him a few instructions and rushed to the latrine.

On this side, seeing that the plan succeeded, Xu Qing immediately put his eyes on the corpse on the case table.

In front of him was a female corpse. Judging from the strangulation marks on her neck, she should have died of suffocation.

However, Xu Qing didn't care about these. He didn't need any method to examine the deceased at all, and he could gain insight into all the reasons for the deceased's life.

Reciting the Sutra of Saving People, the underworld yellow spring appeared in his mind, and the deceased's memories were like flowers on the other shore, blooming in front of Xu Qing without reservation.

The deceased's name was Sai Yuxian, and she was a play actor in the opera troupe. Because a guest often listened to her singing, she moved true feelings, redeemed herself, and became a husband and wife with him.

But the good times didn't last long. The two lived together

The deceased was named Sai Yuxian, originally an actress at an opera troupe. Just because a patron often listened to her sing, she developed genuine feelings, redeemed her own freedom, and became his wife.

But good times did not last long. They had been keeping house together for less than half a year when Sai Yuxian's husband, due to massive debts, began drinking heavily and taking it out on her.

One day, after a bout of drunken rage, he pointed at her and said, "They all say actresses are heartless. If you truly have feelings for me, you should go sing and entertain guests to pay off my debts, so I don't have to suffer every day."

Sai Yuxian was also a person of extreme temperament; she actually went to the red-light district because of this and became a secret prostitute!

Two or three months later, Sai Yuxian held her head high, like a proud white goose, and handed a full sum of silver to her husband.

"Today I want to tell you that actresses also have love and loyalty!"

However, what Sai Yuxian never expected was that upon hearing this, her husband instead began to berate her for not keeping to the ways of a virtuous woman. If she had been entertaining guests for two or three months, wouldn't all the neighbors, relatives, and friends know he had a fickle wife?

How could Sai Yuxian have imagined her own husband had two faces? It was he who made her become a prostitute to pay off debts and prove her heart. Now, it was also he who called her unvirtuous and fickle.

In a fit of anger, Sai Yuxian made a show of force, intending to go find the neighbors to judge who exactly was the heartless and ungrateful one.

Her husband was someone who loved his reputation above all else. Even if the family was in debt and couldn't afford to eat, he would still use a thick piece of pork skin to wipe his mouth, waiting until it was glistening with oil before he would go out. Now, hearing her words, how could he suppress the anger in his heart?

Thus, the husband immediately reached out to pin down his wife as she prepared to leave, pulled off the sash from his waist, and tightly strangled her throat, fearing she would shout out something that would damage his reputation.

Just like that, the actress who had paid off her husband's debts met her final curtain call.

After watching this grand drama of a loving couple turning into mortal enemies, Xu Qing did not know how to comment.

He only thought: a thousand-gold jade body is polished in a hundred ways, yet it still cannot wear down the greed and desire of a lover.

Afterwards, the Scripture of Saving People gave a "Human-Rank Mid-Grade" evaluation, and the reward was a "Dream-Weaving Technique."

(End of chapter)