Chapter 581

This year, the first snow in Jiangcheng came a bit early.

When we started blanching vegetables, the snow had just begun to fall; by the time Fang Lao, Tang Xun, A Cheng, and Tang Tang arrived, it had already become a heavy goose-feather snow.

The hot pot bubbled all night, and the mahjong table was set up.

After we slept in a daze and woke up, the outside was already a world of white.

That night, we gathered together, talked a lot, and felt many emotions.

Finally, Fang Lao said: "Xiao Jiu, since everyone has already returned, you should also put more thought into what needs to be done at the Wufu Town Pawnshop and the Jiǔyàn qū; you can get started."

The higher-ups have decided that Wufu Town may relocate some of its residents back, and by year-end the pawnshop should have rewards based on merit; this responsibility, you cannot shirk.

Yeah, you can't shirk it.

These few months of leisure time, for me, feel like stolen time.

What needs to be faced, still must be faced.

I nodded: "I understand, I will cooperate with the arrangements from above, and I will manage our pawnshop and the hall well."

After seeing Fang Lao off, Tang Xun and the others also had to leave.

Tang Tang had to return to school, Tang Xun and A Cheng returned to the Feng Clan.

The rest are the original members of our pawnshop.

Hu Sanmei said: "I will hand over the Jiǔyàn qū hall to Yulin to manage, and I will return to Yin Mountain; just call me if anything comes up."

Bai Shulan said: "The Jiǔyàn qū side also must have a Bai Family Medical Clinic."

……

Everyone expressed their own opinions.

Finally, after the gavel, the Wufu Town side still handles pawnshop business, while the Jiǔyàn qū side is the Immortal Clan hall.

What I mainly manage is still the pawnshop side.

On the hall side, Liu Junyan holds authority; the other four Immortal Clan members worry, I don't interfere too much; if the pawnshop side needs something, that side will fully cooperate.

In less than two months before the year, they were busy to the point of having no time to touch the ground.

After some residents of Wufu Town relocated back, the whole town became lively.

On New Year's Eve, everyone gathered again.

The year-end summary arrived as scheduled.

Various commendations, a large amount of merit, and kind words filled a basket.

Everyone's face was beaming with smiles.

The merit inside the Soul-guiding Lamp was once again full to the brim.

But at the end, the ghost official dropped another bombshell: effective immediately, the Wufu Town Pawnshop is renamed Wufu Town Yin Dang Hang, connecting yin and yang, and placed under the management of the Nether Realm.

Upon hearing this news, we felt both joy and sorrow.

The joy is that our pawnshop now has an official establishment, and if we cause trouble, someone will back us up.

The sorrow is that my senior sister's Yin Dang Hang has been completely struck from the records.

Yu Nian……

Sigh.

The pawnshop and hall began normal operations; the hall's business became busier—those who look after matters, treat illnesses, catch ghosts and subdue demons—each person had their own role.

Because of the hall, those minor exorcism and redress grievances matters were almost all taken over by that side, leaving the pawnshop side quite idle during the day.

From midnight to three a. m. at night, this period is somewhat busy.

If encountering a ghost festival like the fifteenth of the seventh month, we almost have to stay up all night.

Furthermore, I often need to personally go to the Nether Realm, traveling back and forth between yin and yang, feeling that this business is harder than before.

Of course, these are the prosperous scenes after the Yin Dang Hang got on track; initially, however, it also went through many twists and turns.

On the first night of business for the Wufu Town Yin Dang Hang, around 1 a. m., I fell asleep leaning on the counter.

That drowsiness wasn't from lack of sleep; it felt like being drugged.

As I drifted into the dream, I wondered in my heart, maybe something wants to trade with me in the dream?

Sure enough, after sinking into the dream, my soul floated in the darkness, and finally stopped at the steps in front of the Lookout Village platform.

Under the steps, an old woman with a full head of silver hair sat on the ground crying.

Tears and snot streaming.

"Boss, I'm exhausted! I'm really so tired!"

"I can't walk; if it gets any later, I won't make it in time for reincarnation!"

I looked at the old woman crouched on the ground, feeling not the slightest fear, but rather somewhat amused.

The old woman likely died a natural death in old age, and her family circumstances were not bad.

The funeral garments she wore were all made of fine material.

But… layered left and right.

Single-layer, thick, pure cotton, silk…

Piled up on her body like a small hill.

And on her feet she wore a pair of thick-soled cotton-leather shoes.

I furrowed my brows and asked: "Old lady, what's wrong? Did you summon me here to pawn something?"

The old woman nodded firmly: "Pawn, I will pawn my entire body from head to toe to your pawnshop; the pawn value is a pair of black cloth shoes."

I furrowed my brow.

Since I took over the pawnshop, I have indeed received many strange and odd items, but funeral garments… especially in this netherworld state, I have truly never received any.

The key is, I may be willing to accept it, but I also need to be able to retrieve it, right?

Just as I was feeling a bit at a loss, a nearby spirit whispered furtively: "Old lady, is this little fragrant-cloud gauze cape the latest style in the living world?"

The old lady tugged at that little cape, looked it over, and nodded: "My daughter-in-law is filial; she had it specially made for me before winter. All these patterns on it are hand-embroidered, and it was quite expensive. It's a pity I died before I could wear it much—my daughter-in-law knew I liked it, so she burned it for me."

That spirit said enviously: "You truly have good fortune."

"Ah, blessings are indeed blessings, but the children meant well and did harm." The old lady sighed repeatedly: "I've only just died not long ago, and on this journey to the netherworld, wearing all these clothes, I can't walk. Plus these shoes on my feet—my daughter bought them new, a brand name, fearing I'd be cold—but as soon as I step, my feet stick; while other spirits can float, my two feet feel like they're filled with lead."

Upon hearing that, I understood.

After a person dies, the funeral procedures follow a specific set of rules.

There are particulars about what kind of funeral garments and shoes to wear, how much money to bring on the road to bribe minor ghosts, when and how to burn the deceased's clothing from life.

Right after death, during those three days of lying in state, the spirit goes from being dazed and confused to accepting guidance and entering the netherworld, and the time is short.

Like this old lady, it's because her family loves her so much they can't help but heap all sorts of good things onto her.

The old lady can't walk while carrying all these things, and if she doesn't reach the Nether Realm to report in within the allotted time, trouble will ensue.

And those shoes on her feet—top layer of cowhide, rubber soles—unlike cloth shoes whose soles burn to light ash, hers melt into a sticky lump when burned, heavy and tacky, no wonder the old lady is exhausted to tears.

These things aren't unbearable to burn; rather, one should wait until after the seven-day mourning period, when the old lady has settled in the netherworld, then burn them for her—she'll have a place to put them, right?

But the best practice is to burn them in batches around the Cold Clothes Festival each year, so the old lady neither freezes nor wears herself out, and when her reincarnation day comes, she can be reborn joyfully, benefiting her family and descendants.

I scratched my head, hesitating: "I want to accept them, but I don't know how to."

"What's so hard about accepting them?" the nearby spirit urged anxiously, "Make a deal with her, go back and craft paper effigies, attach these items to them, and those of us who want them will appear in your dreams to ask for them; then you just burn them later."