Chapter 190

The next morning, Qin Su accompanied Qin Lide to visit some nearby attractions. When the sun was high at noon, they found a specialty restaurant for lunch.

Despite his advanced age and the fact that he had been drunk the night before, Qin Lide was full of energy. He was still in high spirits after a morning of sightseeing, and even made a travel vlog on video software while eating—the kind where a person pops out from a lotus flower effect.

The difference is that while most people prefer to use cheerful and unrestrained love songs as background music, he used Taoist songs, which made the whole video seem more transcendent and otherworldly.

Qin Su sat across the table and glanced at the lotus flower, her face emerging from its slowly blooming petals. She remained calm and poured Qin Lide a cup of tea, saying, "Grandpa, drink more water."

Qin Lide chuckled and agreed, then posted the video to his WeChat Moments, quickly garnering several likes and comments.

He said to Qin Su with some pride, "These old guys all say the photos are well taken, clear and beautiful."

Upon hearing his words, Qin Su suddenly remembered: "When you go to Haishi, would you like to meet up with some old friends?"

Qin Lide put down his teacup, his face slightly somber: "My old friends in Haishi... my local friends here are all gone."

Qin Su was stunned; she hadn't expected it to be like this.

Qin Lide said, "It's the same old story from over twenty years ago that I told you last night. Before fellow Daoists from other parts of the country arrived, the Daoists from Haishi encountered that disciple first. Several old guys I knew were injured, some slightly and some seriously, which significantly shortened their lifespans."

Qin Su suddenly realized.

No wonder Qin Lide hasn't set foot on this land for so many years, and his expression was off when he was drinking last night. So that's why. This city must have made him feel a little sad.

“These people have done a great deal, and their merits must be immense.” Qin Su thought for a moment, then said, “Since we’re here, why don’t we go and pay our respects?”

Qin Lide was clearly tempted, but hesitated and said, "I'm not very familiar with their families, and we haven't been in contact for so many years..."

Qin Su said, "What's the big deal? We're not going to do anything bad, we're just asking for the address of a cemetery."

After being persuaded by her, Qin Lide's concerns were greatly alleviated. After hesitating for about half a meal, he contacted his old friend.

After lunch, the two of them spent the afternoon visiting the cemetery.

It seems that Qin Lide not only contacted the family of his deceased friend, but also told many other friends about it, as his phone kept ringing with messages.

Older people prefer sending voice messages to typing, so even though Qin Su didn't listen intentionally, she still heard quite a bit from Qin Lide's speakerphone.

"Old Qin, buy me some gold ingots too, as a token of my appreciation. I'll transfer the money to you."

"Sigh, it's been so many years. Please bring them a bouquet of chrysanthemums for me. I think I'll be seeing them again soon."

"Buy me gold ingots too, I don't want paper money or anything like that. Those paper bills worth hundreds of billions or even billions are just trying to fool people."

Amidst the jumbled voice messages, an elderly woman with a southern Jiangsu accent said, "Hey, Lao Qin, my grandson is also in Haishi. He's a policeman there. I'll have him go with you so he can help you carry more things."

Qin Lide said, "No need, I'm here with my granddaughter. Let your child go to work."

The old lady said firmly, "I'll ask him to take a leave of absence. How can we let the young girl carry all these things? Wait a moment, I'll give him your phone number."

Within three minutes, Qin Lide's phone dialed a number, and a young man's voice came through: "Hello, Mr. Qin, this is Tang Xuan. My grandma just called me. I'm driving to see you now. Could you please tell me where it would be convenient for you to wait for me?"

He spoke in a slightly loud voice, quickly and crisply, with a rather energetic and lively manner.

Qin Lide couldn't refuse any longer, so he gave him an address near the cemetery.

But the two of them couldn't just stand there waiting for Tang Xuan, so they thought they'd wander around the neighborhood. Coincidentally, there was a funeral parlor street near the cemetery with more than a dozen funeral shops. Qin Lide said they would go and ask about the rules of the cemetery, such as whether burning paper money was allowed, whether there were any time restrictions, and pick out some gold ingots while they were at it.

There are several types of joss paper sold on the market. The less commonly used ones are large joss paper and fake foreign coins. Large joss paper is a large piece of white paper with a few lines of round coins printed on it. Fake foreign coins are made by wrapping silver foil paper with a cardboard core and stamping it in the shape of a silver dollar. These two types are not very popular among the general public.

People generally prefer to buy ghost money and gold and silver ingots. Ghost money, also known as paper money, is usually modeled after current currency and has words such as "Underworld Bank" or "Heaven and Earth Bank" written on it. The patterns and denominations are very arbitrary.

Qin Lide had seen hundreds of millions or even billions of ghost money over the years, and he glanced at them without paying any attention. But just as he was about to look away, he suddenly noticed that the portraits printed on a stack of banknotes were particularly different from what he remembered. They looked familiar, but they were clearly not Buddhist or Taoist deities.

He asked curiously, "Who is this person?"

The boss peeked out and said, "Oh, this is Kamijou Koyuko."

Qin Lide: "Are they foreign gods?"

"No, she's a female protagonist from a famous anime," the shopkeeper said calmly. "But you can call her that, a goddess to anime fans."

"..." Qin Lide understood this time. He wasn't angry about the design of the banknotes, but rather found it absurd. "Do people actually buy these?"

The shop owner said, "Many young people buy them, and some even order custom-made celebrity portraits."

Qin Lide frowned and asked, "Don't people have portrait rights these days? Isn't this an infringement?"

The boss waved his hand: "Hey, we don't usually make custom-made items for living celebrities, we only make them for deceased celebrities."

He argued vehemently, "Every industry needs to develop and innovate; we are just being grounded in reality."

Qin Lide: "..."

I think you guys are not only down-to-earth, but also from the local government.

As expected of a funeral home, it certainly has a sinister atmosphere.

Qin Su listened from the side and looked around the funeral home. Sure enough, she saw several stacks of ghost money printed with different celebrities, including a certain charming Marilyn Monroe.

Qin Lide also saw it and couldn't help but shake his head, feeling that he was somewhat out of touch with the times.

He then looked at the gold and silver ingots in this shop. Without even touching them, he knew that the paper was rough and the quality was poor. So he took Qin Su away and went to look at other shops.

When Tang Xuan arrived, the two of them had only looked at three stores and hadn't made a choice yet.

Tang Xuan parked the car, greeted the two people, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then asked, puzzled, "Aren't these things the same in every store? What's the difference?"

Qin Lide laughed and said, "This is different."

Although gold and silver ingots are not actually made of gold or silver, the type of paper used is still significant.

Ji Xiaolan's "Notes from the Thatched Cottage of Close Observation" records a story about a maid named Yu'er who died during the Qianlong era. She quickly woke up because the paper money burned for her was not good enough. The underworld officials disliked the poor quality of the paper money. Later, they burned some ingots made of gold and silver foil, and she finally found peace.

This shows the importance of material selection when folding paper ingots. Some sincere families will even buy gold and silver foil paper and fold them by hand.

Qin Lide knew how to fold, but since they were out of town and there wasn't enough time, he had to settle for buying it from a store instead.

Tang Xuan listened, completely bewildered.

Although his grandmother was a Taoist, she had not been involved in the practice for many years, so he did not understand or believe in these supernatural matters.

However, Qin Lide was an elder and a friend of his grandmother, so he followed along with the selection process without complaint, adhering to the attitude of "not believing but respecting".

After Qin Lide finished shopping, he looked around and laughed, "Luckily, Xiao Tang came, otherwise the two of us really wouldn't have been able to carry so much stuff."

I bought six bouquets of chrysanthemums alone, not to mention bags and bags of gold ingots, which were not heavy but quite bulky.

Tang Xuan said modestly, "It's all what I should do."

They had been busy buying things, and now that the three of them were walking towards the cemetery, they finally had time to talk properly.

Qin Lide asked Tang Xuan perfunctorily questions such as "How old are you?", "Which region do you work in?", and "Are you usually busy?", to which Tang Xuan answered honestly.

When asked if he had a girlfriend, Tang Xuan's heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously glanced at Qin Su—he knew she was Old Master Qin's granddaughter, and he was greatly impressed when they first met, but he didn't dare to look at her for long afterward.

"No," Tang Xuan replied earnestly. "I was quite busy during the first two years after I started working, and I wanted to focus on my career, so I didn't think about this kind of thing."