Free Web NovelChapter 57: Chapter 57: Ferocious
"Ms. Chun’s man was really no good, not a bit of affection did he remember, and in the end, he just chose the cheapest pine coffin from the village coffin shop for Ms. Chun and her child, and didn’t even inform the people of the manor. He just hired a few men and buried them right away."
Yang Xiao feigned surprise, "Both in one coffin?"
Master Zhou exhaled a heavy breath of alcohol, his face flushing with anger as the liquor hit him, "Exactly! Can you believe that? At the time, folks in the village were all talking, saying that kind of thing would lead to retribution, and sure enough, it wasn’t long after that... hey, Wang Laizi died."
"Oh? How did he die?"
"Heard he drank too much, fell to his death on the way back from the gambling house. I don’t know all the details; he didn’t die in our manor, died in the next village over," Master Zhou slowly reminisced, "If you ask who was the unluckiest, it was Manager Liu from the village coffin shop. He didn’t make much from that thin coffin, and now, with Wang Laizi dead, he has to cough up another coffin for nothing."
Yang Xiao knew something about this practice. It was said that the old established coffin shops had their rules: if someone who bought a coffin died unexpectedly within seven days, the shop had to provide a coffin for the deceased for free. This was known in the trade as redeeming evil spirits; in some places, it was called sending coffin calamity.
"Looks like Ms. Chun’s grave is also in Crouching Tiger Manor." Yang Xiao decided to make a trip to Crouching Tiger Manor if time allowed.
Before Master Zhou could speak up, the man who had been drunkenly slumping over the table grinned crookedly, chuckled, and said, "What’s this? From what I gather, this brother here... had a thing for Ms. Chun in the past? Hahaha, old flames die hard."
Worried his friend might speak out of turn, Master Zhou immediately interrupted, raised his glass to Yang Xiao in apology, "My dear fellow, my friend sometimes misspeaks. Please don’t take him seriously." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Yang Xiao wasn’t annoyed and responded with an easy smile, "A fancy that’s hardly worth mentioning. But the first time I came to Yingke Building, I saw Ms. Chun’s performance. So many years have passed, it’s natural to feel a bit nostalgic."
"True, Ms. Chun’s acting was good. Still, I must admit she was no beauty, my friend, you haven’t seen her without her makeup on." The drunken man pursed his lips, as if suddenly remembering something, and spat vehemently to the floor, "But she was still better than that flirt Xi Yao, heh, just thinking about her annoys me!"
"Enough, Diao brothers, the dead should be respected. Do not speak ill of the deceased." Compared to his companions, Master Zhou was considerably more broad-minded.
After a hearty meal and drink, Yang Xiao stood up to take his leave, taking Su Tingting with him, and they headed straight for the carriage, "How far is Crouching Tiger Manor?"
The coachman, who had been napping against the carriage, had just awakened and was still a bit groggy, "Crou... Crouching Tiger Manor? It’s not close."
"Will we make it if we go now?" Yang Xiao said as he helped Su Tingting into the carriage, "Can we get back before nightfall?"
After a moment of thought, the coachman eventually nodded, "Yes, if we take the main road and have the carriage, and are quick about it, we should be able to, but..."
Yang Xiao understood the coachman’s hesitation and nodded in agreement, "We won’t be long once we get there. This matter is important."
Just as the coachman had described, the road was much smoother than the one leading to the docks, flat and wide, allowing the carriage to pick up speed. Yang Xiao even managed to catch a rare nap in the carriage, with Su Tingting promising to keep watch, assuring him it was safe to sleep.
Crouching Tiger Manor was even smaller than expected, but the surrounding environment was decent—a picturesque spot. Yang Xiao didn’t dare delay and, following the local’s directions, quickly found Shouhe Coffin Shop that Master Zhou had mentioned.
It wasn’t hard to find, after all, there was only one coffin shop in the manor, situated right next to the depression on the west side, carefully chosen.
Looking at the wooden sign hanging outside the courtyard, it bore the words Shouhe Coffin Shop, and on both sides of the entrance, there hung a couplet.
"No man can enjoy a millennium of life," Yang Xiao glanced toward the other side, "Here lies immortality."
"What grand claims," Su Tingting was stunned for a moment, and the next second, her eyes seemed to suddenly discover something, "Hey, why is there a couplet but no horizontal inscribed board?"
Yang Xiao stood outside the door for a moment and took a deep breath, "The shopkeeper of this coffin shop is an old hand, quite skilled in his ways. When we go in, don’t speak, I’ll handle him."
Su Tingting quickly grabbed Yang Xiao’s arm, pleading, "You... You have to explain to me first what’s going on here; otherwise, I’m afraid I won’t be able to act it out and will hold you back."
Yang Xiao had no choice but to explain, "Coffins were highly significant in the eyes of the ancients. Families with elderly members would prepare a coffin early on and keep it in a dark room in their backyard. Even the poorest families would try to save up for a coffin before death, hence the saying about saving for a coffin."
"Having a coffin at home, known as ’lucky coffin’, is considered auspicious. But a coffin in a coffin shop, or one without an owner, is different—it’s called an ’Ominous Instrument’. That’s why coffin shops and paper tribute stores and other such funeral supply stores are also known as ’Six Gates of Ominous Establishments’." frёeωebɳovel.com
"Among the Six Gates of Ominous Establishments, coffin shops are at the forefront, with many sayings about their facades. Take a closer look at the threshold of this courtyard."
After Yang Xiao’s hint, Su Tingting noticed that the threshold of the courtyard was not only high but also slanted inward.
"The direction of this threshold’s slant has a lot to say, similar to the banners in Buddhism. If the threshold slants outward, it means the coffin shop only accepts good corpses, those who died from illness or other types of natural death."
"If the threshold stands vertical, neither in nor out, it implies that the shop can take corpses that died by hanging, warfare, drowning, and such—those who died unnatural deaths."
"As for this threshold that slants inward, that’s something serious—it means all comers are welcome, even daring to accept corpses showing signs of becoming undead or that have developed strange phenomena, evil corpses."
"The reason for making the threshold slant inward is actually practical. This way, even if a corpse in the courtyard rises at night, it can’t leave."
"Such beings have rigid ankles, incapable of stepping over. They’re trapped by the angle formed between the threshold and the ground, pinning their insteps tightly. Hence, this inward-slanting threshold has another name—Corpse-watching Stake—meaning that the next morning, passersby might witness a horrifying scene of a corpse with pale, iron-blue complexion, staunchly stuck on the threshold, motionless, left for onlookers to gaze upon."
Lifting his chin, Yang Xiao gestured for Su Tingting to look up, "And about the lack of a horizontal board above the door that you mentioned—it has its significance too. The horizontal board is the charm of a couplet. It’s the finishing touch. The absence of a horizontal board here signifies that the big shopkeeper of this coffin shop has encountered some wicked business, having his ’charms’ taken away."
Su Tingting blinked, "Cha... Charms?"
Yang Xiao grew somewhat impatient, stretched out two fingers, pointing towards Su Tingting’s eyes, "It’s those two pearls in your eye sockets."
"Alright, as long as you have a general understanding, that’s enough; anything more is useless. Remember, after we go in, don’t talk nonsense, and don’t stare at people. We’ll leave after asking what we need to," Yang Xiao was the first to step through the door.
