"Ha, haha, hahahahaha..."
At first, Tan Wenbin merely let out a brief chuckle, but then he couldn't stop himself from laughing louder and more extravagantly, gradually drawing Runsheng and Xue Liangliang into laughter with him. This time, Li Zhuiyuan didn't force himself to act sociable, nor did he actually laugh aloud, but the corners of his lips curved up faintly.
They had braved mortal peril, witnessed the uncanny, and after harrowing twists and turns, finally cheated death.
Ordinary people possessed a natural gift for forgetting the pain once their wounds healed. No matter how bitter or agonizing the ordeal, once you endured it, your brain helped deliberately fade the negative perceptions—sometimes even allowing you to savor a lingering hint of sweetness in hindsight, like sipping roadside flower nectar on the walk home from school.
Right now, Tan Wenbin felt an exhilarating thrill course through him from head to toe. Danger truly was addictive.
Yet as they laughed, the ground beneath them began to shudder. Tan Wenbin jumped in alarm. "Did we laugh in resonance with the mountain?"
It certainly wasn't from laughing, but the earth was undeniably trembling, and rocks from above began tumbling down. The four scrambled to their feet and hurried to a flatter stretch below.
After a while, the tremors subsided and stillness returned. However, the spot where they had stood just moments ago had collapsed into a massive hollow, completely burying the stone crevice they had crawled out of. In truth, finding it again would have been pointless anyway; the passage underneath had undoubtedly been crushed shut.
"It must be a chain reaction triggered by the collapse of the underground palace," Xue Liangliang said.
Tan Wenbin asked in bewilderment, "Was that monster so ruthless it demolished its own home on the way back and buried itself too?"
Xue Liangliang shook his head. "Who knows? Maybe it just wanted to go back and find its mother."
Hearing those words, Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help recalling the snake-faced woman seated upon the bed.
Xue Liangliang found another high vantage point to scout their bearings, then led everyone toward the camp. The distance wasn't actually that great, but the rugged terrain slowed their progress considerably.
Fortunately, by afternoon they spotted people—a militia unit carrying rifles and explosives. They were likely the first wave of reinforcements dispatched from the rear after the attack.
Upon learning that the four were "missing personnel" from the expedition team, the militia promptly arranged an escort to send them back. Along the way, they encountered several survey workers who had stayed behind to assist. All of them greeted the group warmly, stepping forward to offer heartfelt thanks.
The gratitude caught the boys off guard. Only after chatting did they realize that somehow, the story of that night had circulated as Xue Liangliang leading a few boys to lure the massive beast into the cave, thereby saving everyone else.
Xue Liangliang hastily explained that the creature had charged toward the cave on its own accord and that they had merely fled for their lives. But evidently, his colleagues simply nodded in polite acknowledgment, their expressions revealing they didn't believe his humble denial.
This made Xue Liangliang rather anxious. He had no desire to claim unearned glory.
Tan Wenbin, meanwhile, muttered to Li Zhuiyuan, "Does an honor like that give you bonus points on the college entrance exams?"
The four were escorted out of the mountains and into vehicles. Upon reaching the local township, they were sent to a hospital in the urban district of Wanzhou for thorough examinations. Once cleared, they checked into a government guesthouse to rest.
During their stay, numerous officials came to check on them, and investigators arrived to take official statements.
Xue Liangliang stepped up to handle all of them. Following their prior agreement, they kept the existence of the subterranean palace strictly under wraps for the time being.
It wasn't that they intended to conceal it permanently, but they had already been informed that Luo Tingrui was on his way. Xue Liangliang and Li Zhuiyuan decided to wait for Engineer Luo to arrive and report the situation to him first, letting him decide how to brief the higher-ups.
Unlike back in their home village, where resolving an encounter with a dead-flipper meant keeping it quiet so normal life wouldn't be disrupted, this matter now involved a major national engineering project. They had to be completely transparent eventually.
Arriving before Luo Tingrui was Team Leader Ma Yiming. Unshaven and disheveled, his eyes showed visible signs of exhaustion and unfocused shock. When he saw Xue Liangliang, he gripped his hand tightly, then went into the room to see Li Zhuiyuan and the others, his lips murmuring ceaselessly, "Thank you... thank you."
*Thank you for coming back alive.*
Ever since the disaster struck, he hadn't slept a wink, crushed under immense psychological pressure. Counting the temporary workers and auxiliary personnel, his team had lost eight people in a single stroke. Now that four had returned alive, the suffocating weight on his chest eased ever so slightly.
No sooner had Ma Yiming left than Luo Tingrui arrived accompanied by two men, having evidently coordinated their timing on purpose.
Xue Liangliang went into a private room alone with the two escorts and recounted everything about the underground palace, omitting, of course, Li Zhuiyuan's supernatural role throughout the ordeal. After finishing their debriefing with Xue Liangliang, the two men entered the main room, asked Li Zhuiyuan, Runsheng, and Tan Wenbin a few questions each, and then took their leave. Only the five of them remained in the room.
Luo Tingrui grabbed Xue Liangliang by the shoulders and gave him several firm shakes. "You scared me half to death!"
At his age and professional standing, it was no exaggeration to say that an apprentice successor often meant more than a biological son—especially since he had no sons, and his only daughter had chosen a different career path.
Immediately after, he stepped in front of Li Zhuiyuan, bent down, and pulled the boy into a tight embrace.
Virtually all top figures in the industry could see that the country would soon launch a massive wave of major infrastructure projects. Yet such projects took years to transition from blueprints to completion. If Luo Tingrui wanted to realize his grandest ambitions, he genuinely needed successors to carry the torch.
Luo Tingrui waved a hand with a broad smile. "Come on. Let's go grab a late-night bite."
The food stall was not far from the guesthouse, a place serving Wanzhou grilled fish.
Luo Tingrui looked at Xue Liangliang and the other three. "Do you drink? I can have a few with you."
Tan Wenbin waved his hands at once. "We don't drink."
In truth, Binbin occasionally shared a cup or two with Great-Grandpa back home, but when the highest-ranking person at the table clearly preferred not to drink, he was far too shrewd to be tactless. "Let's just get some soft drinks, then."
"Right away!"
Tan Wenbin got up, went into the shop, and brought out a crate of bottled soymilk. "Hey, this is all they sell here." With a bottle opener, he popped the caps one by one and set a bottle before each person.
Luo Tingrui said to Xue Liangliang, "Don't let it get cold. Eat while we talk."
Everyone picked up their chopsticks and dug into the fish.
Xue Liangliang recounted the events of the subterranean palace to Luo Tingrui once more. After listening, Luo Tingrui merely nodded with an easy smile.
Tan Wenbin chimed in immediately, "See? Now that's a teacher who has truly seen the world!"
Luo Tingrui took a sip of soymilk and said, "Aside from when relevant authorities come to ask, do not speak of this matter to outsiders."
The four nodded in unison.
Then Luo Tingrui smiled faintly.
"Indeed, I've encountered several incidents of this sort over the years. We modern people merely walk across this land, having no conception of just how much history and mystery lie buried beneath our feet."
Construction sites were never short of uncanny occurrences. Major engineering projects in particular excavated wider and deeper, making bizarre encounters all the more likely.
The beginning of countless eerie rumors in society sounded something like: *My father, or a relative of mine, or a friend who worked on such-and-such project site once dug up...* But in Engineer Luo's case, he was the protagonist himself.
He shared an episode from his past with the four of them.
It had happened many years ago, when he had just entered the workforce and was temporarily reassigned to participate in a project in Jilin. At the time, he had found it peculiar: although the country operated as a unified board, it was usually the Northeast, as the nation's eldest son, sending industrial talent and machinery south to the interior. When did the interior ever need to send engineering teams up there?
Though set deep within the mountains, the site was not completely remote; it was close to Ji'an.
Only upon arrival did they receive their designated assignments. Their work involved neither planning and design nor construction, but an inspection of an existing underground structure. It was supposed to be a classified installation, in all likelihood a massive civil air defense facility, yet for unknown reasons, it was suffering from severe water seepage.
Divided into numerous squads, they inspected various structural nodes. Certain key zones were strictly cordoned off and placed off-limits to them, handled by another designated team. During their duties one day, Luo Tingrui and a colleague stumbled upon a dried-up drainage outlet—an opening large enough for an ox to pass through.
By all accounts, given the construction standards of that era, natural wear and tear should never have created a breach so enormous. Most importantly, when their inspection route had passed through that exact section the day before, the hole hadn't been there at all.
Leaving one colleague behind to guard the mouth, Luo Tingrui and another companion squeezed inside to investigate. Reaching this point in the tale, Luo Tingrui chuckled softly.
"We were young back then, utterly fearless. Besides, looking at the slogans painted along the corridor walls, everyone was brimming with revolutionary morale and courage. The fellow left behind to guard the entrance had only stayed because he lost at rock-paper-scissors, and he was sulking miserably over it."
The fissure was deep, its narrowest point requiring a person to turn sideways to squeeze through, yet it seemed to stretch on without end.
By rights, they had long crossed beyond the boundaries of the construction zone, yet the surroundings didn't look like natural seismic fractures or tectonic shifts. Around several corners, clear tool marks from manual chiseled excavation were plainly visible.
The two young men had been ecstatic at the time, convinced they had uncovered sabotage by enemy agents.
Yet the deeper they ventured, the stranger it became. Not only did primitive tools begin appearing on the ground, but bloodstains also surfaced. Venturing even further in, they heard voices speaking from the deep.
Then, the figures ahead seemed to catch wind of approaching footsteps. A distinct rush of footsteps dashed in their direction, accompanied by the flickering glow of torches.
Though the two weren't terrified, they knew they had to relay the intelligence. Luo Tingrui told his companion to run back first, while he kept a slow jog, hanging back to cover the retreat. After all, the fissure was exceptionally narrow; even if he fell and became a corpse, he could still plug the path.
Back then, the two young men were still inclined to believe that hostile infiltrators were deliberately sabotaging the facility. But gradually, the voices and footsteps on the far side vanished without a trace.
Knowing his companion had already sprinted far ahead and might well have cleared the tunnel mouth to summon backup, Luo Tingrui decided against retreating and instead pressed deeper inside on his own.
As he walked, his head grew heavy, his legs turned to rubber, and his vision blurred into a hazy haze. "At first, I thought it was oxygen depletion. But looking back later, I think I was..."
Luo Tingrui paused, his gaze sweeping over the four seated before him.
Tan Wenbin and Runsheng were completely engrossed in the story. Xue Liangliang guessed, "Poisoned?"
Luo Tingrui turned to Li Zhuiyuan, gesturing for him to take a guess.
Li Zhuiyuan gave a shy smile and asked, "Asleep?"
Hearing that answer, Luo Tingrui parted his lips slightly, clearly taken aback. "Xiaoyuan, how could you have guessed that?"
"Because when I'm exhausted, I feel the same way."
Luo Tingrui gave a noncommittal nod and resumed his tale. "In retrospect, I probably did fall asleep, because the companions who rescued me told me I was found unconscious inside the fissure.
"Yet I felt it couldn't have been a dream, because everything was far too vivid.
"I stumbled all the way to the deepest part, where I saw a magnificent, palatial hall. I saw singing girls and dancers performing, and people reveling over wine. They invited me to join them. They asked me many questions, and I asked them a few in turn.
"As for what we actually said, I can't recall clearly. I only remember talking for a very long time, drinking an immense amount, and finally collapsing in a dead-drunk stupor. When I woke up, I was lying inside a tent at the base camp.
"Doesn't it sound like *The Peach Blossom Spring*?"
Tan Wenbin nodded. "It really does! It starts with 'at first extremely narrow, barely wide enough for a person,' and then suddenly opens up into broad daylight. What follows is just like it too—chatting, inquiries, and being treated generously with food and wine."
Xue Liangliang asked, "Did you report it to the higher-ups, Teacher?"
"Naturally, I did. But quite a few people filed reports over those couple of days. Some claimed to have seen soldiers in ancient armor inside the corridors, while others saw strange women clad in antique robes."
"What about the subsequent investigation? The fissure?"
"Later, water levels surged and flooded the installation. Moreover, something went wrong in those restricted core zones; several people never made it out. As for the precise details, I was never informed. Our assignment was terminated halfway, and my report never received any follow-up feedback."
Xue Liangliang asked, "Did the leaders disbelieve it?"
Luo Tingrui shook his head. "More likely, they believed it, but considered it irrelevant regardless."
Tan Wenbin remarked, "Then it's nothing like *The Peach Blossom Spring*. Yours sounds rather sinister in hindsight, whereas *The Peach Blossom Spring* is a beautiful tale."
Li Zhuiyuan spoke up quietly. "Perhaps the place recorded in *The Peach Blossom Spring* was never a village of the living to begin with."
"Xiaoyuan, why do you say that?" Luo Tingrui looked at the boy with renewed curiosity.
"Just a fleeting thought. Teacher, can you describe a few more details?"
"Details? Certainly. Do you have paper and a pen? I'll sketch them."
"I do!" Tan Wenbin promptly fished out his pocket notebook and pen, handing them over.
Luo Tingrui began drawing. His line work was exceptionally precise, capturing details with architectural fidelity. He drew a robe first, followed by a saber, and finally a suit of armor.
Evidently, though many years had passed, the memory had lingered in Engineer Luo's mind, revisited and contemplated often. Otherwise, he could never have remembered it so vividly.
The four leaned in to look, but to the other three, the sketches merely looked like ancient relics; they couldn't discern anything more.
After studying them for a couple of seconds, Li Zhuiyuan murmured, "Goguryeo?"
Luo Tingrui interlaced his fingers and asked in all seriousness, "Xiaoyuan, are you truly not considering changing your major?"
The boy shook his head at once.
"I merely fear your talents might be squandered." Luo Tingrui reached out to pat the boy's head. "Just how much knowledge is packed inside this little brain of yours?"
Tan Wenbin asked in confusion, "What on earth is a Gao-gou-li?"
Xue Liangliang prompted, "The common mispronunciation is Gao-ju-li."
Tan Wenbin's face cleared. "Oh, that! I know that one. Thank goodness history tests don't grade your pinyin pronunciation."
Luo Tingrui continued, "Later on, I sketched out some of the things I saw in that dream and traveled around asking various scholars, only managing to piece together a few clues after great difficulty."
The regional regime of Goguryeo had existed in the Northeast for centuries and enjoyed considerable historical fame, but its prominence largely stemmed from serving as the backdrop for the military campaigns of Emperor Yang of Sui, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Gaozong of Tang. Most domestic citizens had little interest in its cultural aspects, whereas Koreans across the border loved to claim it as their ancestral heritage.
That was why Luo Tingrui was so astonished when Li Zhuiyuan identified it at a single glance.
"Afterward, due to both work and personal curiosity, I visited Ji'an multiple times. During my two most recent trips, I consulted specialists who dedicated their careers to excavating and researching Goguryeo culture, and I visited their local museum. Only then did I verify that what I saw in that dream was no fabrication. Before that night, I had never had any contact with anything related to Goguryeo culture. If I had never encountered it in reality, how could I have conjured it out of thin air?"
Xue Liangliang asked, "Teacher, what happened to that project?"
Luo Tingrui lit a cigarette and took a drag. "The year before last, I looked into it again. All I found out was that what happened there back then was far more severe than what I knew, but all records and archives concerning that project have been sealed. Access is strictly forbidden."
Tan Wenbin grinned. "You truly can't let it go—it's like your white moonlight."
Luo Tingrui was amused by the analogy. "Indeed. After all, I was young back then and started working early, barely older than you boys are now. In truth, I encountered several more incidents throughout my career that were far more severe and utterly inconceivable."
Tan Wenbin urged eagerly, "Tell us more!"
"I can't. With the Goguryeo incident, I lacked clearance to read the files; with the later incidents, I myself am part of the classified files that were sealed away."
"Ah, what a pity," Tan Wenbin sighed in profound disappointment.
"You will encounter things like this yourselves in the future. When that time comes, you too will be sworn to secrecy.
"Alright, let's talk about the matter at hand. Putting aside the underground palace and the rest, the subterranean river you discovered alone is enough to kill off the plan Ma Yiming was pushing."
Xue Liangliang ventured, "Actually, this wasn't really Team Leader Ma's fault..."
"The higher-ups are well aware of that. But whenever disaster strikes, someone must shoulder the blame. Of course, they won't punish him harshly; it mostly depends on whether he can climb out of this slump himself.
"I didn't want to go watch him weep, nor did I have the patience to console him. Since the founding of the nation, how many martyr monuments have been erected alongside roads and bridges? I have witnessed plenty with my own eyes, and the best way to honor them is to keep building our homeland."
With that, Luo Tingrui raised his glass of soymilk, and the others raised theirs in return, clinking glasses.
Tan Wenbin drained his soymilk in one gulp, thinking to himself: *A high-level leader truly is different; his motivational speeches sound so much more natural than my old man's.*
"Liangliang, in two days you'll transfer to another group with me. We need to mount a concentrated assault on that design scheme and push it through as soon as possible."
"Yes, Teacher."
"Xiaoyuan, what about you?"
"Huh?" Li Zhuiyuan pointed at himself. "Can I still keep going?"
"I'm asking if you need a break to rest up after going through an ordeal like this."
"Alright, a break, then." Li Zhuiyuan nodded. He truly felt fatigued, and he still had to make a trip to Fengdu.
"Good. You're still young, so you must balance work and rest, and make sure to exercise regularly. I hear child prodigies usually have frail health."
"It's not that exaggerated, Teacher, but I'll keep your words in mind."
Xue Liangliang brought up the issue on his mind. "Teacher, we didn't deliberately lure that creature away to save anyone."
"I know. Didn't you just explain that?"
"I don't want to claim unearned credit."
"Liangliang... and the rest of you, listen closely. Sometimes we all dream of keeping ourselves pure and spotless, but this world is bound to have dust, and sometimes it even whips up sandstorms."
"I understand that, but Teacher..."
"After an incident like this, if an exemplary model can be held up, it will make things far easier for Ma Yiming and the others."
"I understand."
Once the late-night meal concluded, Luo Tingrui took his leave first, and the four returned to the guesthouse.
Tan Wenbin remarked with lingering enthusiasm, "That Wanzhou grilled fish was seriously delicious. I bet if someone mastered the recipe and opened franchises in other cities, they'd make a fortune."
Xue Liangliang offered, "If you're serious about that, I can invest in you."
"No, no, no, I was just musing aloud! Making money can't compare to studying."
Immediately after, Tan Wenbin whispered, "Say, can that honor give me bonus points on the exams?"
"Our Haihe University isn't hard to get into, and besides, this incident will remain classified from the public."
"Oh." Tan Wenbin's shoulders slumped.
Runsheng asked, "Can't you think of other ways to earn bonus points?"
Tan Wenbin shrugged. "The only other way is if my biological father dies heroically on duty."
Runsheng was left utterly speechless.
The large bundle resembling rotten straw that Tan Wenbin had salvaged was packed inside a bag. Li Zhuiyuan handed the bag and a sheet of paper to Xue Liangliang.
"Brother Liangliang, the restoration instructions are written on the paper."
"Don't worry. I won't join the new group to meet up with Teacher for another two days. Over these next two days, I'll drive back to Shancheng and use my workplace connections to get this handled for you first." Xue Liangliang scanned the required items on the list. "The materials aren't hard to procure; most are readily available. But since you want it kept confidential, we certainly can't approach a cultural relics department. A friend of mine can do it, though it will take him a bit longer."
"That's fine, let him take his time with the restoration. The main issue is that once brought out, it can't remain exposed to the open air for too long, and I don't have proper storage conditions here."
"Understood. Leave it to me. So you're heading to Fengdu next?"
"Brother Runsheng needs another dressing change tomorrow. We'll head out the day after."
"Stay safe on the road. When you're ready to head back, contact me and I'll book your tickets."
"We'll let you know before we leave, Brother."
On the morning of the third day, Li Zhuiyuan set off for Fengdu with Runsheng and Tan Wenbin. They took a bus partway and then transferred to a boat, disembarking directly at the pier in Fengdu County.
In truth, the simplest way would have been to call the Ding family and ask them to look into whether the Yin family of Fengdu still had descendants here. But that connection belonged to Granny Liu after all, and Li Zhuiyuan was reluctant to rely on it. He preferred to see if he could track them down on his own first.
From the moment they stepped off the pier, the bustling din was overwhelming. People crowded shoulder to shoulder along the ascending street, lined with stalls on both sides. As luck would have it, they had arrived right during the Fengdu Ghost Festival temple fair.
Tan Wenbin was thrilled, peering this way and that. "Hey, no joke, this temple fair is way livelier and more fun than the ones back in Nantong! Actually, our local fair can't even hold a candle to this."
Li Zhuiyuan said, "Binbin, travel is simply going from a place you're sick of to a place someone else is sick of."
"Oh, right. I almost forgot—for you, going back to Nantong is practically a vacation too."
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Still, Xiaoyuan, I genuinely feel people in Sichuan and Chongqing love life and know how to enjoy it so much more. Back home, after evening self-study, you can hardly even find a late-night snack stall. Ha! I want to eat that—do you guys want some?"
The array of local street snacks was dazzling, and everything was remarkably cheap. Even Runsheng, who was usually frugal and disliked eating out, didn't pinch pennies this time. The three of them sampled treats all along the road, treating it as lunch. In such a boisterous atmosphere, Runsheng's habit of chewing incense sticks drew no special attention.
Tan Wenbin stopped before a ghost mask stall where two craftsmen were hand-painting designs. He stood watching for a good while, then asked the artisan to paint him a Sun Wukong mask. He didn't dare buy an actual ghost mask to bring home; catching a glimpse of it during a late-night bathroom trip would frighten him into a cold sweat.
Once it was finished and paid for, Tan Wenbin slipped the mask over his face, striking a monkey pose. "Halt, demon! Hand over my Xiaoyuan!"
Next, they stopped at a tea stall. Covered-bowl tea was widely popular at temple fairs across the country, often sweetened with sugar or fruit powder crystals, making it a delightfully refreshing break when tired from walking. Yet the tea here was markedly different from other places—brewed fresh on the spot. The leaves had an unrecognizable scent, but the brew was rich and potent. The banner hanging beside the stall read *Soul-Befuddling Tea* on the left and *Meng Po's Soup* on the right.
Tan Wenbin bought three bowls. The three of them sat on small stools, sipping slowly. The flavor was quite pleasant—rich without being bitter. Most fairgoers were locals, but there were also plenty of tourists drawn by the Ghost Festival, including a few foreigners.
"Xiaoyuan, is that really King Yanluo's Palace up there?" Runsheng asked, pointing at the architectural complex on the mountain above.
"It's the Great Emperor of Fengdu. He presides over the netherworld and is the ancestral lord of all departed souls beneath heaven."
"Sounds incredible." Tan Wenbin took a sip of tea. "Was he a local?"
"One legend says the Great Emperor of Fengdu was Yin Changsheng, the younger brother of Empress Yin Lihua of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Unmoved by worldly wealth and prestige, he devoted his heart to cultivating the Dao, ultimately finding his karmic path and ascending to immortality in broad daylight right here in Fengdu."
"The Empress's younger brother?" Tan Wenbin smacked his lips. "Giving up a life of glorious luxury to cultivate the Dao? What was he thinking?"
"Different people pursue different things. Didn't you turn down Brother Liangliang's investment to open a Wanzhou grilled fish franchise the day before yesterday?"
"Turns out I'm just as pure and unstained by worldly dust, eh?"
Runsheng asked, "Xiaoyuan, why does every shop here have a little water tub out front?"
Li Zhuiyuan replied, "It's probably a local custom."
Finishing their tea, the three continued upward. Li Zhuiyuan planned to find a funerary shop to ask about local corpse retrievers. If there were any surnamed Yin, he would leave a sum of money with the family to settle the karmic debt incurred in the subterranean palace.
Passing under the grand archway that read *Fengdu Ghost City*, they spotted a stone tablet behind it bearing an inscription: *"If you do not walk by night, how would you know there are night travelers on the road?"*
The quote came from Ge Hong's *Baopuzi* from the Jin Dynasty, recounting words once spoken by Yin Changsheng. The general meaning was that only after attaining immortality did he realize how many immortals walked the earth, just as one who never walked by night would never know that others traveled under the dark.
For Li Zhuiyuan, these words carried a different resonance. Before coming into contact with corpse retrievers, he had had no idea that dead-flippers existed in the world. Only after encountering and learning the craft did he realize there were quite a few, alongside many peers in the trade.
Looking past the stone tablet, they saw a shop directly opposite. The signboard read: *Yin Jun Coffin Shop*.
Two plaques hung flanking the doorway, inscribed with *Promotions and Coffins Bring Wealth* and *Fortune Arrives with the Flow*.
"Yin Jun" was a title of reverence for Yin Changsheng, so the shopkeeper might not necessarily be surnamed Yin. Still, being a coffin shop, it had to have ties to the corpse retriever trade.
Just like his own Great-Grandpa back home, who used to maintain excellent ties with the entire upstream and downstream funerary supply chain—right up until Great-Grandpa started running his own supply chain, which soured the relationship.
Stepping into the shop, they found it rather quiet. Two full-sized coffins, one red and one black, rested deep inside. The counter, however, was lined with mini coffins that looked like collectible figurines. They were painted in various styles, including Ultraman, Astro Boy, and Transformers.
Tan Wenbin picked up a small coffin, opened it, and shut it again, admiring the craftsmanship. "How exquisite! The owner certainly has a business mind, but when you pick the wrong product line, no amount of effort helps."
During a festive temple fair, while other stalls teemed with customers, this place remained deserted. Whether local or tourist, hardly anyone strolling through a fair cared to pick up a coffin—or even a miniature coffin toy—on a whim.
Tan Wenbin clicked the lid open and shut several times, asking with a laugh, "Xiaoyuan, how about we buy two and use them as pencil boxes back home?"
"Hello there! See anything you like? If you buy two together, I can give you a discount."
The inner curtain parted, and a girl about Tan Wenbin's age walked out holding a bowl of noodles. Her skin was lightly tanned, but she was tall for a local, radiating an easy, straightforward energy.
"Alright, these two, I'll take them."
"Deal."
Tan Wenbin knew Li Zhuiyuan had business to ask about, so he made a purchase first to break the ice.
Runsheng asked, "Buy another one to give to Zhou Yunyun?"
Tan Wenbin didn't get angry; instead, he seemed genuinely tempted. "Hey, don't knock it—that's actually pretty romantic."
The girl shopkeeper smiled and piped up, "Want one? I've got couples' sets."
"Give me a set."
"Sure thing, coming right up." The girl retrieved two small coffins from beneath the counter, one black and one red. The craftsmanship was delicate, complete with interlocking mortise-and-tenon joints that allowed the two coffins to snap together.
Tan Wenbin chuckled. "That's really neat."
The girl chimed in, "Naturally! If I were a girl and the boy I liked gave me this, I'd be thrilled to death."
Li Zhuiyuan asked in confusion, "Aren't you a girl?"
"Ah, well, yeah, I am!" The girl shopkeeper burst out laughing. "Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue."
Seeing that Tan Wenbin had actually paid and had the four mini coffins wrapped up, Li Zhuiyuan felt compelled by desk-mate loyalty to ask, "Binbin, are you really giving this to Class Monitor Zhou?"
"I just thought they were fun." Tan Wenbin rolled his eyes. "Actually give it to her? I'm not an idiot."
The girl shopkeeper pouted in disagreement. "Why shouldn't you? If she doesn't like it, it just means she doesn't appreciate the deeper meaning! This is the romance of our traditional culture!"
Tan Wenbin nodded. "Even though I still won't give it to her, I think you're absolutely right."
"Judging by your accents, you're tourists from out of town. Where are you from?"
Tan Wenbin: "Nantong."
The girl tilted her head. "Where's Nantong? Anhui or Jiangxi?"
Tan Wenbin: "Jiangsu."
"Oh, Jiangsu, I know that! Jinling, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Huai'an, Xuzhou—those are all super famous. Nantong... is famous too!"
Tan Wenbin asked mischievously, "Famous for what, for example?"
"For example..." The girl choked, drawing a blank.
Li Zhuiyuan prepared to get down to business. "Boss, do you know of any corpse retrievers around here? The kind in villages who specialize in fishing out floaters."
"Corpse retrievers?" The girl asked in surprise. "Who are you looking to retrieve?"
"No one. We're just inquiring. Do you know any? More specifically, do you know any corpse retrievers surnamed Yin?"
The girl darted briskly into the inner room. Moments later, the curtain parted again, and she stepped out holding a Yellow River shovel in her left hand.
"My surname is Yin. I'm Yin Meng."
Li Zhuiyuan hadn't expected to find his target so effortlessly. Still, he pressed on, "Does your family have a genealogy book?"
"Why are you asking so specifically?"
"To give you money."
"We do."
"Could you bring it out for me to take a look?"
"If you look, do we get the money?"
"The name Yin Zhiwang has to be in it."
"Yin Zhiwang? Yes, he's there! That was nearly two hundred years ago, but I remember it clearly."
"Oh?"
"The genealogy records that a man-eating serpent appeared in Wan County. He led a group to hunt the serpent, went there, and never came back. Wait here, I'll go fetch it for you to see."
"No need." Li Zhuiyuan looked toward Tan Wenbin. "Give her the money."
Tan Wenbin produced the money and set it on the counter; the banknotes were bound with red string.
Yin Meng picked up the stack, staring in disbelief. "What happened? Did you run into his dead-flipper somewhere?"
"Yes."
"Huh?" Yin Meng hastily waved her hands. "Don't scare me! I was just spouting nonsense!"
Being able to wield a Yellow River shovel and casually mention a "dead-flipper" proved she truly belonged to the craft—and had received far purer training than someone like Great-Grandpa. That being the case, there was no need to be overly guarded.
"We owed him a favor, and we came specifically to repay it. Take the money, and our business is settled."
"Hehehehe..." Yin Meng let out a string of giggles, counting the cash as she spoke. "Aiya, the ancestors really did manifest their spirits to send money! I was just agonizing over how to pay next month's rent."
Tan Wenbin offered, "Running a business like this, making rent really must be tough."
"What else could I run?"
"You could sell Wanzhou grilled fish."
Yin Meng blinked.
Tan Wenbin added, "Yangzhou fried rice works too."
Yin Meng nudged the half-eaten bowl of noodles before her—plain dried noodles without toppings, dressed only with a splash of soy sauce.
Tan Wenbin nodded knowingly. "Understood."
"Have you eaten? Shall I make you some noodles? Or I can run across the street to buy a few dishes and treat you to drinks?"
Li Zhuiyuan said, "We've already eaten."
"Then stay for dinner tonight! You came all this way to give me money; the least I can do is treat you to a meal. Besides, I doubt my old ancestor could have helped you with much anyway."
"He did."
"I don't buy it. If he had been capable of helping you, he wouldn't have died out there and failed to come home himself."
"There's also this jade pendant." Li Zhuiyuan took out the jade pendant and placed it on the counter. "I return this to you as well."
Yin Meng looked down at it for a moment, then pushed the jade pendant back. "One thing at a time. I took the money, but this jade pendant belongs to you."
"Alright." Li Zhuiyuan didn't insist, pocketing the jade pendant once more. "Then we'll take our leave."
"Hey, aren't you going further up to see the sights? The attractions are all up top!"
"We are."
"The boats stop early around here. Since you're out having fun, don't rush—take your time. You can stay the night here in my shop and save on hotel fees."
They were out sightseeing after all, and with her repeated warm invitations, Li Zhuiyuan stopped declining. "Thank you for your trouble, then."
"Hey, you really aren't some ancient dead-flipper that crawled out after waking up under a water burial, are you?"
"Me?"
"Yeah! Here, let me test you." Yin Meng pulled a talisman slip from her pocket and slapped it onto Li Zhuiyuan's chest. Seeing no reaction, she feigned shock. "Heavens, how terrifying! Are you really that fierce!"
Everyone knew she was joking.
"Courtesy demands reciprocity! Halt, demon, let me stick one on you too!" Tan Wenbin whipped out a talisman from the *Zhuiyuan Secret Papers* and slapped it onto Yin Meng's forehead.
A second later, the talisman paper turned purple.
Tan Wenbin leaped into the air, screaming, "Holy crap!"
Yin Meng looked bewildered.
Li Zhuiyuan stood on tiptoe, reached up, and peeled off the talisman. "Binbin, the talisman paper got soaked in water before. It turns purple when it comes into contact with facial oils."
"Oh... oh!" Tan Wenbin scratched his head, flushed with embarrassment.
Runsheng leaned close and murmured, "If there were a water-corpse stench, I would have said something."
Yin Meng doubled over with laughter. "For a second there, I almost thought I was a dead-flipper myself! Hahahahaha!"
The three stepped out of the coffin shop. As they reached the entrance, Li Zhuiyuan pointed at the small water tub by the door. "Why does every shop have one of these out front?"
Yin Meng explained, "This is Fengdu Ghost City, and this street is called Ghost Street. The living aren't the only ones who like strolling through markets—once night falls, the others come out too.
"In the old days, before electric lights, people relied on candles, which didn't illuminate things clearly. When merchants shut their doors to count their copper coins, they often found coins made of paper.
"Later on, a custom developed: shops placed a tub of water by the door, and dropped received copper coins inside. Anything that floated was fake, and the shop would refuse that customer's business."
Tan Wenbin asked, "Now that everything is paper currency, which floats naturally, wouldn't every shop need a counterfeit detector?"
Yin Meng replied, "Those machines are expensive; who can afford one?"
Tan Wenbin froze. "Wait, you still receive fake money nowadays?"
Yin Meng slid open a drawer beneath the counter and pulled out a small stack of Hell Bank notes.
"Look. This is what I've collected since the beginning of this month. It would have been enough to cover next month's rent, but who knew it wasn't business from the living?"
Tan Wenbin gingerly touched the paper money with his fingertips. "You're pulling our leg, right? Just doing it to add atmosphere to our tour?"
"Of course! What era is this? Where would ghosts come from? You barely even see floaters anymore; I haven't landed a corpse-retrieval job in ages."
"You don't even see floaters? That shouldn't be—with so many waterways around here, people must still slip and drown, right?"
"People look for village retrievers; they rarely come to me. They think street-front shops are too expensive."
"Are you actually cheap?"
"I really am expensive," Yin Meng said as if it were only natural. "If I lowered my prices, wouldn't that damage my reputation? I am a proper, bona fide corpse retriever after all!"
Tan Wenbin made a face. "No wonder you can't afford rent."
"Let's go, Binbin."
"Coming! Wait up, Xiaoyuan!"
For the rest of the afternoon, Li Zhuiyuan guided Runsheng and Tan Wenbin through a thorough tour of Fengdu Ghost City. Temples and statues abounded, but during daylight, nothing felt frightening.
Along the way, they encountered two folk performance troupes and stopped to watch, taking in the rich traditional atmosphere.
Runsheng and Tan Wenbin observed with rapt attention, eager to read every explanatory plaque beneath every statue. While ordinary tourists merely gave passing glances, they treated it as supplementary education. Li Zhuiyuan walked leisurely, admiring the older architectural and sculptural styles; as for the plaques, he had no need for them, his mind already brimming with knowledge.
Back when Li Lan hadn't despised him quite so much, he had been allowed to sit in her study while she worked. She would either hand him blueprints to play with or toss stacks of books before him to browse.
As dusk approached, the three descended the mountain and returned to Ghost Street.
The street remained bustling. Many local residents were busy during the day, able to attend the temple fair only in the evening.
Moreover, the eerie charm of the Ghost City truly came alive at night, particularly with the red and white lanterns overhead; once lit under the dark, the ambiance was unmatched.
Outside the coffin shop, foot traffic remained sparse, and Yin Meng had once again abandoned the counter.
"We're back!" Tan Wenbin called out loudly.
Yin Meng parted the curtain and poked her head out. "I stewed pig trotters! We're having a grand feast tonight—it'll be absolutely smashing!"
Li Zhuiyuan replied in local dialect, "Deal!"
At seven in the evening, night settled in.
Yin Meng carried out a massive basin of pig trotters, and they gathered around a small table. The trotters were stewed so tender that they melted in the mouth.
That was, provided one overlooked the bristly pricks against the tongue, as Yin Meng had forgotten to pluck the bristles.
She possessed a lively, cheerful temperament. Perhaps due to the lack of business, she rarely had anyone to converse with, so she happily spun yarns throughout dinner. Runsheng focused entirely on eating, Li Zhuiyuan chimed in occasionally, while Tan Wenbin led the charge for their side, holding his own against Yin Meng.
Binbin deliberately spoke in the smattering of Sichuan dialect he had picked up. His pronunciation was off, but he had captured the intonation. As the two chatted, their tones grew higher and their cadence faster, sounding like a spirited folk song duel.
Yet they didn't speak much about corpse retrieval, for Yin Meng had limited practical experience. She had pulled out floaters, but had never encountered a true dead-flipper.
Her knowledge and skills had all been passed down from her grandfather. Her parents had divorced when she was very young; her father had gone south to seek his fortune and vanished without a trace, while her mother had remarried into a household in a neighboring township and borne two sons. When she was small and naive, Yin Meng had sought her mother out, only to realize as she grew older that her mother wanted nothing to do with her.
Reaching this part of the conversation, Li Zhuiyuan and Yin Meng raised their glasses of soda and tapped them together.
She had spent most of her life with her grandfather, who had run this shop and worked as an authentic corpse retriever before passing the business down to her. She was sharp-witted and could have made money running a different enterprise, but she refused to change the shop's nature, knowing her grandfather would never have approved.
Li Zhuiyuan had noticed the calluses on her palms and the subtle shifts in her feet whenever she stood or sat; she was clearly trained in martial arts.
That was how a young woman could run a shop alone; she had thoroughly thrashed virtually every local hooligan on the street.
She joked that if she felt like it, she could easily become the big sister boss of Ghost Street and collect protection money.
Runsheng, engrossed in gnawing on a pig trotter, took the initiative to raise his glass and clink it against hers.
When Li Zhuiyuan asked whether her grandfather had left behind any ancient texts or scrolls, she had countered in bewilderment: *Aren't corpse retrievers taught face-to-face through generations? What could you possibly learn from a book?*
This left Li Zhuiyuan slightly disappointed; he had hoped to inspect the collection of an esteemed peer. Yet he also felt a touch of envy. Judging from Yin Meng's conduct, her grandfather must have been highly accomplished, giving her a remarkably complete and systematic upbringing in the craft.
Still, Li Zhuiyuan didn't look down on his own Great-Grandpa. After all, Great-Grandpa could pour out blessings and fortune like flowing water; sticking with Great-Grandpa meant enjoying delicious food and drink every single day.
All in all, tonight was the most relaxed and comfortable evening they had experienced since leaving Nantong. Everyone was in high spirits.
That sense of easy relaxation lasted right up until sleeping arrangements were made.
"What? You want us to sleep in coffins?!"
Tan Wenbin clutched his head, his face a portrait of disbelief. Meanwhile, Yin Meng was busy laying quilts inside the coffins in the back room.
"What's wrong with that? Sleeping in a coffin is comfortable!"
"Can't I just make a pallet on the floor outside?"
"We're on the mountain; it gets cold at night, and I don't have enough bedding. It's much warmer inside the coffins."
Tan Wenbin muttered, "That's the first time I've ever heard 'warm' used to describe a coffin."
The inner room served as both storage and kitchen, housing three coffins, while the outer storefront held two. Since they were already here, they had to adapt to local custom.
In the end, Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng took the two coffins in the outer shop, while Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng slept in the back room.
Coffins were like stinky tofu: they looked uninviting, but once you lay inside, they were surprisingly comfortable, offering an enveloping sense of security. Naturally, the lids had to be pushed aside slightly to allow ventilation.
Exhausted from a full day of traveling and sightseeing, Tan Wenbin quickly drifted off into slumber. But then, he heard the sound of fingernails scratching against his coffin lid.
*Rustle... rustle...*
Tan Wenbin broke into a cold sweat. Pulling the quilt up over his face, he left only a slit for his eyes to peer upward.
Then Runsheng's face appeared above him. "Heh-heh."
"What are you doing!"
"Peeing."
The toilet was located behind the inner room; sleeping in the outer storefront, Runsheng had to pass through the back room to use it. Fuming, Tan Wenbin yanked the quilt over his head and ignored him.
A short while later, he heard the rustling sound on the coffin lid once more.
Tan Wenbin began to feel uneasy, thinking it couldn't possibly be Runsheng again. Who was it?
The next instant, Runsheng's face appeared again.
"What do you want now!"
"Done peeing. Going back to sleep. Just letting you know."
Tan Wenbin gritted his teeth in irritation.
With great difficulty, he managed to coax sleep back into his mind.
*Rustle... rustle...*
Tan Wenbin opened his eyes and pounded his fist against the lid.
The noise stopped.
Rolling onto his side, Tan Wenbin tried once more to fall asleep.
*Rustle... rustle...*
Tan Wenbin threw off the quilt, gripped the edges of the coffin with both hands, and sat bolt upright. He looked around—there was no one near his coffin.
*Did Runsheng run that fast?*
Tan Wenbin swallowed hard, his skin prickling with unease. Not daring to climb out, he shrank back inside the coffin.
*Rustle... rustle...*
The sound emerged yet again. Tan Wenbin buried his head under the quilt, pretending not to hear, tucking his feet tightly inside as well. Then the scratching ceased.
Tan Wenbin kept his face smothered beneath the blanket, holding still for a long time until sweat beaded on his forehead, thinking that Runsheng had finally gone to sleep and stopped messing with him. Needing fresh air, he gripped the quilt with both hands, intending to throw it off and pull it back down in one swift motion.
*One, two, three...*
The quilt flew off his face, but he failed to pull it back down as planned.
Because an aged face, having crept into the coffin at some unknown moment, was staring right down at him, hovering inches away.
Chapter 67