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墨書 Inktalez
Living Funeral
He wasn't due yet, but someone else's time had already come.
"Who?" Zhang Fatty immediately asked.
Zhang Xun didn't answer Fatty's question. Although I couldn't understand what they were talking about, I was curious. It must have something to do with Jiang Changsheng. I was waiting for Zhang Xun's response, but he simply wouldn't continue.
Surprisingly, Zhang Fatty didn't ask further, as if he understood. Reluctantly, I spoke up and asked who’s time was up.
Zhang Xun replied, "You don't know them."
Damn it, if he didn't want to say, then fine, but why make up an excuse? Since he refused to elaborate, I decided not to press the matter. After we reached the city center, Zhang Fatty had his own business to attend to and left in a hurry. He didn’t give me a chance to persuade him to stay and quickly hailed a taxi before disappearing.
Zhang Xun watched the taxi that Zhang Fatty had taken until it vanished into the crowd. Only then did he turn to me and say, "Let's go."
I nodded. Now that Gao Qing was back, there surely wasn't enough room for two people at Gao Ling's place. So I suggested to Zhang Xun that we get a hotel room. Since we were both covered in mud, we also bought a change of clothes before grabbing a meal.
Then we returned to the hotel to rest.
After taking a nap, my phone was fully charged. I turned it on and saw several missed calls and unread messages.
I opened it up and found messages from Gao Ling.
Without reading the texts, I directly called Gao Ling. She picked up almost instantly; as soon as the call connected, she exclaimed, "Fei, are you back?"
I replied with a simple "yes" and then asked, "Is there something going on?"
Gao Ling said, "Big trouble has come up. I took on a job, but there’s been a problem with it, and now I'm in hot water."
I hurriedly asked, "Where's Gao Qing?"
"Gao Qing left. There was a situation with my parents," Gao Ling replied.
"What happened?" I inquired.
"This matter can't be explained in just a couple of sentences. It's better to discuss it in person," Gao Ling said.
I agreed and, after stepping out, called Zhang Xun. I knocked several times but received no answer. At that moment, a cleaning lady passing by informed me that the gentleman had checked out and left long ago.
No way! Zhang Xun left at this time? I quickly pulled out my phone to call him, but the call didn't go through; it indicated that his phone was turned off.
Forget it. Zhang Xun must have had his own matters to attend to, so he left first. I put my phone back in my pocket, hailed two taxis on the way, and headed straight to Gao Ling's house. I used my key to open the door, and found Gao Ling sitting on the sofa, scratching his head in confusion.
When Gao Ling saw me, he said, "Fei, you finally came back."
I asked, "What happened?"
Gao Ling started, "A few days ago, I took on a job for a woman's funeral. The woman was a college student."
I responded with an "uh-huh," urging Gao Ling to get to the point. He continued, "The main issue is that the woman's body is missing."
I was taken aback.
I said, "What does that have to do with you? Aren't you just attending a funeral? Or helping with a ritual or mourning?"
When Gao Ling heard the words "mourning," he spat and said, "I would never do something like mourning; that's Zhao Fan's job."
I replied to Gao Ling, "So you're saying the missing body is your responsibility?"
Gao Ling said, "Yes! I made a foolish mistake this time. This job was done together with Zhao Fan. Originally, I was supposed to handle the ritual while that bastard took care of the mourning. This family is wealthy; otherwise, they wouldn't hire both of us at the same time."
"Damn it," I said, unable to tolerate Gao Ling any longer. "Get to the point."
Gao Ling replied, "The point is that Zhao Fan and I arranged a Yin Marriage for this female corpse. The family didn't want their daughter to leave this world alone, so they asked us to find her a match. Otherwise, Zhao Fan wouldn't have gone through the trouble of crying over her."
The key issue was that after the Yin Marriage was arranged, the female corpse went missing, and then eerie things started happening.
I didn't interrupt Gao Ling, waiting for him to continue. He took a deep breath and said, "Secondly, the male corpse we matched for the Yin Marriage was found hanging at the entrance of the female's family home."
I asked, "Was it a fake corpse?"
Gao Ling replied, "If it were just a fake corpse, it would be easier to handle. But that's not the case; it's incredibly eerie. You know what happened? After they hung the body up, the old man of that family fell seriously ill."
I fell into deep thought. Now, the responsibility lay with us to resolve this situation; otherwise, we would face the consequences later.
After listening to Gao Ling's account, I understood the entire situation.
I told Gao Ling, "You guys can still make money from this."
Gao Ling said that the family had planned it this way from the start. They sought us out for the ritual and mourning as a joke since arranging a Yin Marriage for the dead isn't exactly honorable work.
Gao Ling sighed and handed me a cigarette while lighting one for himself.
"This has already happened; there's no use dwelling on it now," he said.
Gao Ling's personality was carefree and somewhat blunt; he likely missed some details. It was only nine o'clock, so I suggested he call Zhao Fan over so we could discuss our strategy together.
"Alright," Gao Ling said. "I'll make the call. Honestly, I didn't want to take this job at first either, but that dog Zhao Fan is all about making money, so there was no exception this time."
I nodded in agreement. I had seen Zhao Fan's methods before; he even dug up a coffin after a burial just to make some cash. His greed had reached an alarming level.
The phone was quickly connected, and Zhao Fan seemed flustered, so there were only a few words exchanged before the call ended. We agreed to meet at the Client's house.
The Client had bought a villa in the suburbs, so we headed straight to the villa area.
Upon arrival, I noticed that the environment was indeed quite nice—beautiful mountains and clear waters. This is what it means to live well.
Zhao Fan, who probably lived nearby, was already waiting for us at the entrance. Gao Ling said, "No need to wait here; let’s go inside."
Zhao Fan nodded, and we quickly made our way to the Client's home. The Client's villa was the last one in this row, situated against the mountain. At that moment, a black ribbon hung at the entrance, accompanied by white lanterns—an unmistakable sign of death.
After getting out of the car, we didn’t rush inside. Zhao Fan briefly explained the situation to me, which was generally similar to what Gao Ling had mentioned, except he noted that the female university student was an only child.
Hearing this made me pause; another family suffering from the loss of a child. The parents must be heartbroken!
I suggested we knock on the door.
Gao Ling quickly stepped forward to ring the doorbell. Before long, a woman who looked like a maid opened the door. From her attire, it was clear she was a caregiver. Upon seeing us, she sighed and then led us inside.
At that moment, a scent of Yuanbao Candle filled the air.
Once in the living room, I noticed a middle-aged couple sitting on the sofa, appearing to be in their forties or fifties. Their spirits seemed quite low.
Gao Ling promptly introduced us: "Mr. Hu, Mrs. Hu, this is our esteemed expert."
Mr. Hu and Mrs. Hu glanced at me; perhaps they thought I looked too young and remarked, "Master Gao, this isn’t something to joke about. What can someone so young do?"
Even though it was just ten in the morning and sunlight streamed in from outside, I still felt an overwhelming chill within the house.
At that moment, Zhao Fan spoke up: "Both of you should know that one's abilities are not determined by age. Our Brother Fei here possesses profound skills—far superior to both of us."
"Really?" Mr. Hu asked suspiciously.
Gao Ling replied, "More golden than real gold."
I urged the two of them to stop with the nonsense. I said that the Yin Qi in this house was too heavy, and I wasn't entirely sure. I needed to take a look first.
Mr. Hu said, "Sir, then please take a look."
I nodded. At that moment, Mrs. Hu sighed and said we could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive, then instructed the servants to prepare tea. I told them it wasn't necessary since the Old Man was sick. I asked them to take me to see the Old Man.
Mr. Hu agreed, his face full of sorrow. We headed straight to the Old Man's room, but when we opened the door, there was no sign of him.
Mr. Hu called out for his father, but there was no response. He began searching room by room. As he couldn't find anyone, Mr. Hu started to panic.
Suddenly, I said, "Mr. Hu, check your daughter's room."
After I spoke, Mr. Hu looked at me doubtfully but eventually led me there. The moment we stepped into his daughter's room, we were both stunned or perhaps even terrified because we saw the Old Man hanging from the beam.
In an instant, I felt a chilling coldness creeping up my spine...
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