Chapter 17 The Crying in the Funeral Hall
With the blacksmith shop closed, Guan Zhiwei still needed to earn money even without a salary. She chose to go out of the city and into the mountains to cut down trees, which was not a difficult task for her.
The firewood had to be moved back, so he brought dog teeth along as well. No matter how much he carried back, it was all considered money he had earned, and it was also a way of helping his family.
With the weather getting colder, wealthy families were willing to buy firewood, and it sold quite well.
We've made it through those tough times.
Let's wait and see; maybe things will get better after this autumn.
Sister Ning received a tip that someone was willing to help her get Brother Yao released, but it would require a large sum of money and needed to be done as soon as possible.
She not only exhausted her family's wealth, but also had to borrow more money. In desperation, she asked her family for help.
When Yaozhuang was making money, she helped his family quite a bit, but his family wasn't wealthy either. They had only a few acres of poor land and made a living by working for others.
I've definitely saved some money, but I'm unwilling to throw it away.
Her brother directly refused, saying, "Husbands and wives are like birds in the same forest; when disaster strikes, they fly away separately. Why do you care about him? You have several sons. If you raise these children, you'll have done right by him."
"Winter hasn't even arrived yet, why does that sound so chilling?"
Sister Ning tilted her head back, swallowed her tears, and left her parents' home.
She pawned or sold whatever she could from her home. Several of the craftsmen who worked at his shop chipped in, and even Guan Zhiwei contributed eight hundred coins.
She scraped together enough money to redeem the person.
I was very happy to go.
She confided in Guan Zhiwei, saying, "Sister, money can be earned back. As long as the family is together, there's nothing to be afraid of."
Guan Zhiwei thought it made sense.
Yao Zhuang was redeemed in the morning, but died in the afternoon.
His entire body was covered in rotten flesh, not a single good inch of it; you wouldn't recognize him if you didn't see his face.
He was an ordinary citizen, a mortal, and could not withstand being whipped or beaten.
Guan Zhiwei suddenly realized why the officials were in such a hurry to redeem Sister Ning. They were really good at business, managing to get money even before she died.
Grandma Gouya tore off a piece of white cloth and put it on Gouya's wrist. Gouya cried so hard he could barely breathe. Guan Zhiwei also took a piece of cloth and tied it around her wrist.
The neighbors helped with the funeral arrangements, and Madam Feng's husband did a lot of work and kept comforting Sister Ning.
The funeral hall was simple, the coffin was thin, and three children lay on the coffin crying.
Sister Ning, dressed in mourning clothes, knelt before the coffin for a long time, and her numb face suddenly showed expression.
She covered her face and cried bitterly, "You died too late! You should have died sooner!"
When they brought him back, he was already unconscious, so the couple didn't say a word before he was brought back.
She quickly found a doctor to take her pulse, bought medicine, and there were still two packets of medicine that hadn't been boiled yet.
Those two packets of medicine were a waste of money.
ah--
She pounded her chest hard; her heart ached terribly.
Madam Feng whispered to Guan Zhiwei, "I said the same thing when my husband died. But I probably didn't cry as bitterly as she did."
"oh."
Guan Zhiwei had something on her mind, so she gave a casual reply and then glanced at the sky outside.
It was getting dark.
"You stay with her, I'm going out for a bit and I'll be right back."
"It's getting dark. Where are you going? These soldiers in the city have been acting like mad dogs lately. They eat and drink without paying, and they're just short of robbing people. It's dangerous for you to go out alone," Madam Feng said worriedly.
Guan Zhiwei whispered, "I'm going to kill someone."
Someone else is in danger, not her.
She had accompanied her sister-in-law to deliver gifts several times, so she roughly knew who to seek revenge against.
—The jailer who said, “Give me money, and I’ll spare Yaozhuang two lashes.”
—A government official who says, "Give me money, and I'll see you."
—A swindler who says, "Give me money, and I can help you get Yaozhuang out of the village."
She used a white cloth in mourning to display one head, two heads, and then she tried to cut off the third head.
The other person knelt down with a thud, weeping bitterly: "My lord, I had no choice."
"Were you acting under someone's orders?" Guan Zhiwei wondered if she could dig out more people, chop off more heads, and offer them as a sacrifice to the dead.
The man paused for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, “Sir, the higher-ups are making a fuss about investigating accomplices and traitors. Today someone comes to investigate, tomorrow someone comes to investigate, and every time they come they have to torture people and take their confessions and statements. This is not something we little people can control.”
They weren't really trying to find out anything; they were just going through the motions.
Personnel of different official ranks all had to go through the process.
“His flesh was rotten, but that doesn’t mean he was worthless.” Guan Zhi smiled slightly. “You even used him to make money and swindled the last savings of the orphan and widow.”
The man stammered, "I have no choice. I have an elderly mother, wife, and children to support. Grand Commandant Gao is leading his troops back to Yingzhou. If I don't save some money, my whole family will die. I'm taking a risk to get the body out of Yaozhuang."
Is Grand Commandant Gao leaving? Has he still not won over these powerful families? Will the common people follow him?
Guan Zhiwei looked at the person whose face was covered in snot and tears, and stretched out her hand: "Give me back the money, and I won't kill you."
"My lord, my lord..." The man who was about to wet his pants suddenly found courage: "Kill me, I will pay for Yaozhuang's life, I only beg you not to implicate my whole family."
Guan Zhiwei laughed angrily: "You value money more than your life?"
He was crying and sniffling, saying, "This money is to save my whole family's lives."
He was a lowly, twisted, disgusting, pathetic middle-aged man.
Guan Zhiwei sighed, picked up the two heads, and turned to leave.
The man pounded his legs hard, unable to stand up. His shoulders twitched repeatedly, and when he looked up again, his face was full of smiles.
Young girls are so easy to fool; they're too soft-hearted.
Not only did they escape disaster, they also kept their money.
He crawled under the bed and pulled out a box containing the twenty taels he had swindled. Hahaha! He could now live a wealthy life with his family!
"Do you feel like you've met a kind person?" a voice came from behind.
His smile was still frozen on his face, but fear had crept up from his ankles to his back.
"Sister Ning and I initially thought so too."
Heads fell to the ground.
Guan Zhiwei met his gaze. "We were so happy when we thought Brother Yao would come back, just like you."
The head remained smiling, as if it had died happily. It was wrapped in a white cloth and looked no different from the other two.
She picked up the twenty taels, put it in her pocket, and chuckled all the way back to the mourning hall.
The funeral hall was filled with weeping, not from sadness, but from fear.
Sister Ning's eyes were red and swollen like walnuts. When she saw Guan Zhiwei return, she rushed over as if she had seen a savior.
"Xiao Guan—" came the shrill cry.
"What's wrong?"
"Two soldiers on horseback just passed by, stopped her, and kidnapped Daya!" Sister Ning couldn't take it anymore; she was going crazy. Her husband had just died, and now her daughter was in trouble.
"It's alright, I'll go find her." Guan Zhiwei placed the three severed heads on the altar.
Drip, drip, blood flowed down from the altar.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com