Chapter 22: The Evil Man
Lao He hid at the door of a jewelry store, using the door pillar to conceal his figure.
In these two streets and one alley, Lao He and other guards are familiar faces on the streets. They have been hanging around the streets for years, and many people in the shops know him.
Therefore, he could not appear in front of the people from the two coffin shops.
Lu Yu stood alone under the sign of "Fuyin Descendants" and peered into the shop with the door half closed.
As mentioned before, both coffin shops have large storefronts and spacious interiors.
Inside the store, wooden shelves were neatly arranged with dozens of coffins stacked on them, some painted black and some still in their original wood color.
Fuyin Houren does low- to mid-range business. It can be seen that the materials used for these coffins are common pine and other woods, with a few slightly higher-end willow coffins in between.
Through the half-open coffin lids, one can see that the materials used in these coffins are truly touching.
The thickest willow coffin that Lu Yi saw had a coffin board that was less than two inches thick. There were a few pine coffins placed on the side. Not only were the coffins themselves made of small wooden strips, instead of large logs, the coffin boards were less than an inch thick.
Most of the shop was occupied by coffins. Under the dim light, a skinny old man in a light blue brocade robe and a grizzly bear skin cloak was shivering and asking a few waiters who were eating at a square table.
"Hey, order three of the cheapest and thinnest coffins you have here, and send them to Sijifang now."
Next to the skinny old man stood two slender middle-aged men.
The two middle-aged men were dressed lightly, wearing long robes with arrow sleeves as white as snow, white belts, white boots, and white headbands that held their hair in place. There were also three small silver sword-shaped hairpins inserted in the buns.
They wore swords at their waists, the scabbards were also made of white shark skin, and the hilts were wrapped with white silk ribbons, which were also pale white.
Their temperament is also cold, which makes people stay away from them.
Late in the night, when Lu Yi encountered these two people in the coffin shop, he felt a chill in his back when he saw them suddenly.
With a cough, a tall, thin, slightly dark-skinned middle-aged man wearing a dog-skin hat and a light brown satin jacket with copper coin patterns walked out from a small door at the back of the coffin shop.
"It's New Year's Day, and someone died in your house? Oh, I'm so sad, I'm so sad."
Several waiters sitting at the square table stood up and bowed to the tall and thin man with expressionless faces: "Boss."
Across the street, in the All the Way Safe, a tall and thin middle-aged man poked his head out and shouted in a strange voice, "Hey, is it open? Sir, come to my Safe? I have top-quality coffins made of rare wood shipped from the south, six-inch boards, eight-inch boards, and one foot and two inches thick top-quality boards."
"Golden nanmu, sandalwood, huanghuali, all kinds of good materials, everything is available!"
"Your old man died and is sleeping in our coffin. That's a great honor!"
The shopkeeper of Fuyin Hourenhao rushed to the door of the store in two steps and almost bumped into Lu Yu. He did not apologize to Lu Yu, but pointed at the shopkeeper opposite and cursed: "An Laokou, you don't do business like you... Your old man is dead in the New Year's Eve, bah!"
After spitting on the ground, the shopkeeper of Fuyin Hourenhao narrowed his eyes and looked Lu Yi up and down: "My lord, someone in your family has passed away too? Well, can you pick a coffin? Or, can you order one from us? It will be useful sooner or later!"
Lu Yu shuddered with fear and laughed dryly, "Hey, look, look, I'm just, look!"
The shopkeeper of Fuyin Houren pulled the corner of his mouth and showed a stiff smile: "It's okay to take a look, it's okay to take a look. What do you like? Tell us. We have pine, poplar, willow, jujube, and all kinds of materials. Moreover, this is a time-honored brand with hundreds of years of history, and the craftsmanship of the masters is superb."
Before the shopkeeper finished speaking, the skinny old man in the shop started shouting, "Shopkeeper, if you don't do business, why are you arguing with that kid? Hurry up, three thin-skinned coffins, the cheapest ones, we need them urgently."
A man in white beside the skinny old man, with his left hand on the hilt of his sword, walked silently to the door of the coffin shop, staring at Lu Yi with a grim look.
The shopkeeper laughed dryly, looked at Lu Yi, turned around and walked to the skinny old man: "The cheapest? Are you sure? Tsk, the most important thing in life is life and death. This person's death is a big deal. We have to let him go comfortably and sleep soundly, right? Otherwise, take a look at this ash coffin?"
The shopkeeper said loudly, "Look, these are two-inch thick boards, solid wood boards, not just random things made of wood strips. This is our first order of the year, so we'll give you a discount. The original price is twenty strings of cash, and we'll charge you the cost, twelve strings of cash. How about that?"
The skinny old man sneered and pointed at a few coffins made of pine wood in the corner of the shop: "Stop talking nonsense, there are only three of them, and there is no need to paint them. Follow me to send them to Shijifang Qi Fangyuan, quickly."
Lu Yi put his hands in his sleeves, stood at the door of the coffin shop, and looked at the skinny old man and the chattering of the shopkeeper with a smile.
The man in white stared at Lu Yi with cold eyes again and again. After a while, he found that Lu Yi seemed to have no reaction to his intimidating gaze, so he moved sideways and blocked Lu Yi's gaze.
"My friend, it's a bit lively, not pretty."
"For matters like this where someone dies, you should just go somewhere else, right?"
Shopkeeper An across the street was staring at this side with a stiff smile.
Behind him, a few guys were looking over there, also looking at this side.
Lu Yi stretched out his hand and pushed the man in white hard on the chest. He smiled and said, "What? What? I asked the boss to order a coffin, and you don't allow him to do business? Yeah? Or is it that three people died in your family during the New Year, and there is something shameful about it?"
The man in white's face turned extremely gloomy.
Lao He stood in the shadow in front of the shop next door and raised his eyebrows suddenly.
During the New Year, who’s family has three people die?
Someone's dead, but you're still using the cheapest, thin-skinned coffin?
Because of the angle, he could only hear the conversation between Lu Yi and the man in white, but couldn't see the man's appearance. He felt itchy in his heart, and subconsciously stuck his head out, trying his best to look towards the door of Fuyin Descendants.
At the entrance of Safe Journey, the shopkeeper An and several of his employees seemed to have some kind of connection. They turned their heads at the same time and stared at Lao He under the dim red light.
A smile appeared on the stiff face of Manager An: "Oh, isn't this Mr. He from the palace guard? Did someone die in your family? Are you here to buy a coffin? Come, come, come, come to our Ping An, and we'll give you a good one, a good one."
Shopkeeper An stretched out his hand and waved to Old He: "Come on, come on, come to our Ping An! The coffins of the Fu Yin across the street are not worthy of a great man like you, Mr. He!"
Under the pale blood-red light, Shopkeeper An stretched out his hand and waved at him repeatedly. The chilly "Come, come" made Lao He's whole body covered with goose bumps - it was New Year's Day, and this was too unlucky!
Especially the last sentence, which almost made Lao He vomit blood in anger.
What does it mean, 'not worthy of a great man like Mr. He'?
Old He didn't come here to buy a coffin. Even if he did, it wouldn't be for himself, right?
But his whereabouts had been exposed. Old He walked out of the shadows with a gloomy face, pointed at Shopkeeper An, turned around and walked slowly towards the brightly lit street intersection in the distance.
Shopkeeper An looked at Lao He's slowly leaving back and suddenly took a deep breath silently.
His face suddenly turned pale, and his lips suddenly turned bluish-gray. Then, under the pale skin, traces of green blood vessels appeared, making his face look extremely evil and hideous.
Lu Yi pushed the man in white on the chest with his palm, but the man did not move at all.
He raised his chin proudly and stared at Lu Yi with a squint.
In the Fuyin Descendants Room, the skinny old man shouted dryly: "It's a blessing from the master to have a coffin to bury those three bitches. It's just these three, stop nagging. What's the price? It's the New Year, and it's the first sale, you have to give me a discount price!"
The shopkeeper sighed and muttered to the skinny old man, "Okay, three of the cheapest thin-skinned coffins, tsk."
"It's New Year's Day, and this is the first sale of the year. I'll give you the cost price. For these three coffins, you can pay 800 coins each."
"Well, you still have to choose three sets of shrouds. The coffins have already been bought, so these shrouds are not worth much, right?"
"We have cheap shrouds made of coarse cloth. A set will cost you fifty cents. What do you think of the price?"
"Hey, are these three people in your family male or female? The styles of these shrouds are different for men and women. What size are these shoes? Tell me so I can make you a set."
The skinny old man waved his hands impatiently: "All three of them are women, hurry up."
In the coffin shop, the owner, the clerk, and several sturdy men who came out from the backyard and were about to help carry the coffin, all froze in their movements and looked at the skinny old man in unison.
The shopkeeper coughed dryly, his lips slightly blue, and said in a dry voice: "There are also rules for women's burial clothes. The old and the young cannot be mixed. You are an old man, you know the customs of our Dayin. These funeral items are used in the wrong format. It is not good for future generations and the host family!"
The skinny old man frowned, pondered for a while, and said dryly: "Three yellow-haired girls, about fourteen or fifteen years old. You are an expert, you are right, you have prepared the shrouds, shoes and so on. Well, put more money in the coffin, let them die early and reincarnate early!"
At the door, Lu Yi looked at the man in white who was blocking the way, shook his head, turned around and left.
At the door of the coffin shop opposite, Manager An and several of his employees' eyes fell directly on Lu Yi's back.
Afterwards, Shopkeeper An laughed dryly: "Close the shop, close the shop. Tsk, seeing my peers having a prosperous new year and opening up businesses to make money, I feel uncomfortable. Close the shop, close the shop, and see if there will be a good business tomorrow."
Suddenly, Manager An howled at Lu Yi's back : "Young man, why don't you order some good funeral supplies? You never know when they might be needed."
Almost at the same time when Lu Yi turned around and left, a hoarse voice rang out in the dark room in the basement of the backyard of the Safe Journey, where a red lantern hung alone.
"Someone came to buy a coffin for a young woman. I'm afraid it's the guy we're looking for. In addition, there are palace guards spying on us."
A low gasp was heard.
"The ghost girl is severing her earthly ties and ending her karma. She is right next door... Let her kill the palace guard, and then..."
"Haha, our chance to dedicate ourselves to the Ghost Mother and achieve the body of a true ghost has arrived."
"Would you like to follow me and share this supreme opportunity?"
