Chapter 620

Yu Nian inherited her father's Ferry; theoretically, ferrying souls no longer requires the Nether Ferry.

Moreover, she just came back from our side; she probably hasn't received any task, right?

This Nether Ferry…… who did she make it for?

Who does she intend to ferry?

·

After breakfast, Hui Moqiong brought back a piece of news.

"Let me tell you something rare." Hui Moqiong plopped onto the sofa in the front hall and said, "The underworld official who came to cause trouble last night—guess which department he belongs to?"

Li Qingying handed Hui Moqiong a cup of warmed milk and asked, "Don't keep us in suspense—exactly which department?"

Hui Moqiong took it, took a sip, then said: "The Chenghuang Temple's."

I and Li Qingying both froze for a moment.

Immediately I understood why Hui Moqiong's tone was so odd—this is really… scolding one's mother while holding the rice bowl.

That underworld official yesterday, the Yin-Yang King Wang Fanchen, was no pushover; I never expected he himself was a soldier under Wang Fanchen.

"They say when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter; the current City God hasn't even done anything, yet these fleas can't wait to jump up and down, even wanting to break ground on our Seventh Lord's head—he's dreaming!"

Hui Moqiong was huffing and puffing, full of complaints.

"Xiao Jiu gave him a good retort last night, didn't he just slink back with his tail between his legs?" Hui Moqiong continued, "I've already told General Jin about this; he'll have something coming for him."

I wondered, "The problem is, who gave him the order last night? Given his rank, without a warrant he shouldn't dare to just come and seize people, right?"

Speaking of this, Hui Moqiong perked up: "I looked into it, and there's plenty of cat grease."

"I heard that back then the City God's position had been vacant for a long time; the Nether Realm screened several candidates, finally narrowing it down to two: one was Wang Fanchen, the other called Gu Yuan. Originally their abilities were comparable, but then wasn't there the incident with Zhu Ming? Wang Fanchen rose Yībù Dēngtiān to become City God, and Gu Yuan naturally got buried."

I understood: "In other words, that underworld official last night was Gu Yuan's man; if Wang Fanchen were removed from office, the next City God would likely be Gu Yuan, right?"

"Right." Hui Moqiong said, "Now Wang Fanchen's life or death is unknown, and the Nether Realm has shown no movement; it feels like they're waiting for things to ferment on their own, letting them fight internally, and whoever wins will take the position."

Li Qingying said with a headache: "Fighting also requires people to be alive to fight; if Wang Fanchen dies… pah pah pah, a hundred taboos, a hundred taboos..."

None of us want anything to happen to Wang Fanchen.

He is Yu Nian's man.

As long as he lives, he'll eventually be my brother-in-law.

As long as he lives, the City God's position isn't something any random cat or dog can covet.

But if he dies, Yu Nian will be heartbroken, and we'll also feel unresolved resentment.

Hui Moqiong said, "For now we don't need to fear that Gu Yuan could stir up any big waves; Wang Fanchen has held the Chenghuang Temple for years, his prestige stands there, the Golden Shackles and Silver Chains General are his confidants, a higher rank crushes people—just you wait, that underworld official from last night will surely have a rough time ahead; the thing we fear most is……"

What we fear most is Wang Fanchen dying, or him being alive for a long time without anyone seeing him dead or seeing a corpse.

When a person leaves, the tea grows cold—an timeless truth.

Li Qingying sighed and said, "Sometimes I really feel the heavenly way is unfair; what wrong did Wang Fanchen have in this whole affair? He himself is also a victim. Besides, he finally dispersed all his Merit—not that was to protect those thousands of lives, right? Isn't that a great Merit?"

Yes, over these years Wang Fanchen's achievements in the Chenghuang Temple are plain for all to see.

Even the Hermit of Bamboo Seclusion said back then that even if Wang Fanchen's Xiūwéi and Merit weren't enough for the City God's position, another ten or twenty years would suffice.

Nowadays, how many tens of years, how many twenties of years have passed?

How could today's Wang Fanchen compare to what he was back then?

While we were chatting here, someone knocked on the door of the Funeral Shop.

They came to buy paper crafts.

Only then did I realize today is March 3, the Shangsi Festival.

Nowadays many places no longer pay much attention to the Shangsi Festival, but in the past it was a very grand festival—sacrifices, purification, outings—and there has long been the saying, "When the Chen month and Si fire appear, when the water is exhausted, people conceive."

Legend has it that starting from the night of the Shangsi Festival, for the next three days the Gates of Ghosts swing wide open, yin and yang alternate, and the spirits of our ancestors will come from the water to enjoy the mortal world's bustle, even to be reborn.

So every year during these three days of the Shangsi Festival, our Funeral Shop's business booms.

The residents of Wufu Town will buy various paper money, gold ingots, and paper crafts, etc., and take them to the Pearl Plate River to burn.

A few days ago I still remembered this matter, but the paper crafts hadn't even been made in number before something went wrong, and then it kept being delayed.

After seeing off a batch of customers, I hurriedly got busy.

While I was making paper people, I heard Li Qingying shout from outside: "Xiao Jiu, there are people selling flower lanterns and flower boats on the street—should we buy a few to release on the Pearl Plate River tonight?"

I replied, "Yes!"

After answering, my heart suddenly gave a thump—flower lanterns, flower boats… boat…

Yu Nian was in a hurry here to return to Huicheng, and after going back she stayed up all night busy making the Nether Ferry—could it be that she's trying to make it in time for the Shangsi Festival?

The Shangsi Festival is originally a water festival; all the sacrifices have some connection to water.

Yu Nian is about to… do something big!

I was thinking about that when Huang Fan returned from outside.

As soon as he came in, he looked for Hui Moqiong.

Huang Fan trusts Hui Moqiong greatly; for any matter he first seeks his fifth brother, but after searching around and finding him absent, he turned to me, hesitated, then approached and asked, "Boss, has your fifth brother gone out again?"

"Yeah, he's busy." I asked, "Anything up?"

Huang Fan then said, "My fifth brother asked me to keep a close eye on the area around Jūnzhú Shān these days; since early this morning, people have been trickling over to burn paper and pray around Jūnzhú Shān, and I see some are burning memorial texts."

I raised an eyebrow: "Memorial text? What kind of memorial text?"

"It's a memorial text praising the City God's Merit." Huang Fan said, "It feels like they specially hired someone to write it; the format is very standard, naming names and surnames, adding burned gold and silver ingots, offering wine, lighting red candles—everything is complete."

My heart went thump-thump as I asked, "Is there an altar set up?"

Huang Fan said yes: "They originally wanted to carry the altar to the original position in front of the Chenghuang Temple's gate, but I was worried about a secondary collapse, so I didn't allow it; they just placed the altar at the intersection."

I hurriedly said, "Go back now and help move the altar to the gate, place it as high as possible; they likely have invited a master to preside over the rites, don't stop them, just stand by and protect a bit—this should last three days, especially tonight, so be sure to stay safe……"