The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 77

[New Quest: Burial Companion. He labored all his life and never stopped dreaming of tasting a tender virgin prostitute from Shengjing’s Jewel Market. Now that you have appeared before him, he seems to have other ideas.]

Through the Mind’s Eye, buildings and people became gray outlines and translucent shadows.

Only the mass of black-red mist seated on the coffin remained vivid.

As Zhao Li saw him, he saw her.

His split mouth revealed crooked yellow teeth. Saliva ran from the corner of his lips and soaked the back of his burial clothes.

“Hurry over and serve me.”

The corner of Zhao Li’s mouth twitched at his words. She clenched her back teeth.

“Fine. Wait there. I’ll serve you at once.”

She started forward, only to hear the shadow sitting at the head of the coffin say, “Pretty enough, though a little too old. You’ll have to do.”

Zhao Li stopped.

Did he mean what she thought he meant?

Murder in her eyes, she ripped her long saber from its sheath.

This dead old bastard.

She surged forward and reached the black coffin in the blink of an eye.

The bright silver edge flashed. The beautiful fish-eye pattern on the blade shone with dazzling color.

In one instant, the saber pierced the black fog and sank deep into the shadow’s body.

The dark figure, which had been sitting so grandly atop the coffin, screamed.

It swiftly dissolved into black smoke and sank into the coffin.

Zhao Li clicked her tongue and stopped before it.

She closed her Mind’s Eye, and the world returned to normal.

“Come out!” she shouted.

A nearby door that had been left open a crack immediately creaked wide.

Head Constable Xing stood behind it, drenched in sweat, and swallowed.

He had hidden there to spy out of curiosity. He could not see what had happened, but he had certainly heard the old man’s scream.

“Was that Father?” the eldest son asked, shaking as he tried to pull his brothers upright.

His brothers proved even more useless. The three dragged at one another and collapsed together.

Several constables crowded behind Head Constable Xing one after another, hiding there without dignity.

At Zhao Li’s call, the head constable forced himself one step forward.

“Thousand-Household Commander Zhao, is it resolved?”

“Oh, no. He ran back into the corpse.”

Head Constable Xing silently withdrew the foot he had extended and retreated into the Liu courtyard, half hidden behind the door again.

Zheng Lian walked over instead.

“Thousand-Household Commander Zhao, should we stack firewood and burn it?”

After two incidents, Zheng Lian and his fellows seemed to have joined a cult of fire worship. Their first response to everything was burn, burn, burn.

Zhao Li shook her head. “This alley isn’t suitable.”

The corpse did need to be burned, but the alley was deep and narrow. Smoke would not disperse easily.

Smoke from burning human remains could make weaker people ill if it washed over them.

Anyone with low yang energy might suffer several days of bad luck from contact with it.

After considering, Zhao Li told Old Man Liu’s three sons, “Find more corpse bearers. Preferably men born in the Years of the Dragon, Tiger, or Dog. Take him to the burial ground first.”

The brothers hesitated when they realized their father was going to be burned.

Zhao Li glanced at them. “If you don’t want to burn him, prepare to have your father pounding on your door every day demanding a wife.”

“Supernatural anomalies have no human conscience. Think about your youngest sister.”

The three had never been particularly filial. They shuddered in unison and stopped hesitating.

Only Old Yi was present, so they begged him to help again.

Old Yi considered that the rope had indeed broken on his watch. Once they promised they truly would not pursue him, he went out to find more men.

Zhao Li moved a bench over and stood guard beside the coffin.

Meanwhile, the constable Zhao Li had sent for a physician returned with one.

Several cowardly constables seized on the excuse of helping take Old Man Liu’s youngest daughter to the clinic and promptly slipped away.

More than ten burly men somehow crowded around a single door panel to carry it.

Only those consumed by curiosity remained.

Head Constable Xing had intended to leave as well, but his hunger for gossip proved too strong.

Before long, Old Yi returned with several men carrying shoulder poles.

They looked at one another, but none moved.

At last, Old Yi summoned his courage and asked, “Thousand-Household Commander Zhao, what should we do?”

Only then did Zhao Li realize what they were waiting for.

“Carry it as you normally would.”

Given her answer, Old Yi recovered the authority of a veteran corpse bearer and began directing the others.

They stood on either side of the coffin and wrapped two-finger-wide hemp ropes around its corners.

The poles on their shoulders slid through the prepared knots.

Old Man Liu’s three sons had run aside long ago. None burned incense or kowtowed.

If the family itself observed no courtesies, why should the corpse bearers?

The poles settled onto their shoulders. With a shouted count, the men straightened.

Old Man Liu’s sons had purchased the cheapest coffin in the shop.

A fingernail could press a dent into its boards, so it was not heavy.

The bearers walked several steps. Near the alley entrance, however, they began to slow, every face flushing crimson.

The ropes around the coffin creaked beneath an unbearable load.

“Thousand-Household Commander Zhao.” Old Yi felt the weight on his shoulder increase until it seemed he carried a mountain. “The man inside refuses to leave.”

This old bastard was endlessly irritating.

“Don’t let it touch the ground!” Zhao Li shouted.

Then she flipped onto the coffin lid, drew her saber in the same motion, and drove it down into the wood.

Strangely, though Zhao Li’s weight had been added to the coffin, the bearers instantly felt much lighter.

The mountainlike burden vanished.

They straightened and looked in awe at Zhao Li sitting cross-legged on the coffin lid.

People in their trade encountered such events often enough and sometimes met capable Daoist priests or monks.

But they had never seen anyone dispense with a ritual altar and solve the problem through such direct violence.

“Let’s go.”

Zhao Li shifted into a comfortable position and remained seated brazenly atop the coffin.

Encouraged by what they had just witnessed, the corpse bearers strode briskly out of the alley.

“F-follow them!” Head Constable Xing poked his head out, then called Old Man Liu’s sons and hurried after the procession.

An official sedan traveled along the street.

Inside, Shen Yan wore a scarlet court robe and read documents.

Remembering something, he lifted the curtain and told the attendant riding beside him, “Take a detour to Baiji Restaurant on Sanshan Street.”

At this time of year, Baiji Restaurant served pond bamboo shoots from Shanyin. They were exceptionally fresh.

He could buy some for that girl to taste.

After giving the order, Shen Yan heard no response.

He was beginning to frown when the attendant stammered, “Lord Shen, up ahead…”

The man stopped, unsure how to continue.

Shen Yan’s brow tightened. He was about to lose his temper when he saw the commotion at the street corner.

A procession was crossing the road.

Several corpse bearers carried a black coffin. Dutiful sons wailed beside it, and constables from the Five Cities Military Patrol Office followed behind.

Sitting cross-legged atop the coffin was a familiar figure, a long saber planted in front of her.

Amid fluttering spirit money, she had her head down and was peeling sugar-roasted chestnuts.

Shen Yan rubbed his brow as a headache bloomed.