When Guan Shigao learned of these things, he sighed and thought that the young girl was really capable, and had achieved success in her career at such a young age. It was a pity that the old man had passed away so early and did not have the life to enjoy happiness.
Aside from that, there doesn't seem to be any other feeling.
It wasn't until he saw the burial items the girl had prepared for the old man that he truly realized how wealthy the girl was!
In fact, in this era, ordinary families generally do not place burial items for the deceased.
Firstly, most people don't have the financial means, and secondly, funerals nowadays involve large banquets, and with so many people around, anyone can see what's inside the coffin.
In such a situation, if someone were to discover that someone had placed valuable burial items in the coffin, the grave would likely be dug up and stolen that very night, before the next day.
This behavior could even make the family a target for unscrupulous individuals.
Therefore, for the safety of the deceased and their descendants, few people nowadays put valuables in the coffin of the deceased. At most, they put some effort into the coffin and funeral clothes to show that they respect the deceased.
However, the old man's daughter spent a lot of money to buy many valuable items and put them in the old man's coffin or on his body.
Of course, when preparing these burial items for the old man, the girl wasn't foolish enough to actually put them in front of everyone.
She bought the old man a jade thumb ring, a gold bracelet, and a valuable jade pendant, and when no one was around, she put them all on him. Then she pulled up his burial shroud to cover them all up.
If you didn't lift up the old man's clothes, no one would know that he was hiding so many valuable things.
Even the girl's closest male relative didn't know.
Guan Shigao, as an outsider from a neighboring village who came to help, should not have been aware of the situation.
Coincidentally, when he was sending the old man up the mountain to be buried, he was temporarily made a coffin bearer because there were not enough people.
Perhaps because Guan Shigao had been helping out at the house for the past few days, the girl and the male relative both recognized him and thought he was efficient and had a good impression of him.
So before they were to seal the coffin and set off, the Taoist priest reminded the family to check the old man's appearance again and to straighten his clothes. However, the old man's daughter and the male relative were held up by other matters, so Guan Shigao was given this task by the two of them: to check if the old man's clothes were crooked.
If anything is crooked, ask Guan Shigao to straighten it out.
Guan Shigao didn't think much of it at the time, and obediently looked down to check on the old man's condition in the coffin.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out that one of the old man's sleeves was indeed crooked.
Adhering to the principle of doing one's promise to others, Guan Shigao immediately bent down and reached into the coffin to straighten the old man's sleeves.
As a result, good heavens, he directly touched something on the old man's arm.
Guan Shigao was startled at the time, thinking that there were some insects on the old man's arm.
When he lifted his sleeve, he discovered that it wasn't an insect at all, but a large gold bracelet!
When Guan Shigao saw the gold bracelet, he was completely shocked.
That gold bracelet was bigger and thicker than any he had ever seen before; he estimated it to be worth tens of thousands.
He never expected that the girl would be so generous as to put such a valuable gold bracelet on the dead old man's body, so that the bracelet could be buried with him.
When the old man is buried, the gold bracelet will also be completely buried in the dust along with him.
Doesn't that mean tens of thousands of yuan just vanished?
In any case, Guan Shigao did not understand this behavior.
In his view, wouldn't it be better to keep this money for the living?
That gold bracelet looks great on the girl herself; it's big, beautiful, and very elegant.
When his son and daughter-in-law got married, he wanted to buy his daughter-in-law a big gold bracelet, but unfortunately he didn't have enough money after the wedding, so he could only choose a small one.
If only he had that much spare money back then, he could have bought his daughter-in-law such a big gold bracelet, and it would have looked much better for the wedding.
Guan Shigao had only thought of this matter unintentionally, but as he thought about it, an inappropriate thought involuntarily popped into his mind.
The old man's gold bracelet was about to be buried with him, but for him, it was of no use whatsoever.
If he had this gold bracelet, he could get a decent gold ornament for his daughter-in-law.
Although the daughter-in-law didn't say anything when she got married and the gold jewelry wasn't very presentable, her parents would often grumble behind her back, complaining that the three gold pieces Guan Shigao gave her were stingy and inappropriate.
Guan Shigao knew he was in the wrong, so he always felt inferior to his in-laws.
He was naturally unhappy, which is why he rarely went to his son's residence in the city, so as not to run into his in-laws and have to keep smiling and acting like a grandson.
Moreover, Guan Shigao often regrets not going all out back then, even if it meant borrowing money from others, he should have put more effort into the bride price.
Otherwise, things would be like this now: he can't hold his head up in front of his in-laws, and his son probably doesn't have any face in front of his parents-in-law either.
Guan Shigao regretted it more and more, and at the same time, he was increasingly tempted by the big gold bracelet on the old man's hand.
Although they couldn't afford to buy decent gold jewelry when their son got married, isn't it too late to make up for it now?
Although the guests from the wedding can no longer see it, the daughter-in-law and her in-laws can!
After making up for these things, his in-laws can't possibly look down on him and his son anymore, right? They can't possibly still have the confidence to be superior all the time, can they?
In a short moment, Guan Shigao seemed to have already seen the shocked looks on the faces of his in-laws and daughter-in-law when he took out gold jewelry worth tens of thousands of yuan.
But despite his thoughts, Guan Shigao still hesitated.
After all, even though the old man is dead, and the bracelet will only be eating dirt with him, it still belongs to someone else.
If he actually took it, wouldn't that be considered stealing?
If he gets caught, wouldn't he lose all face and possibly even go to jail?!
While Guan Shigao hesitated, the old man's daughter's voice came from the side; she was walking towards the coffin.
Meanwhile, the Taoist priest was instructing the old man's daughter, saying that the auspicious time had arrived and it was time to put the coffin on the mountain.
Everything was urgent, and there was no time left for Guan Shigao to hesitate.
Therefore, at the last moment, with an extremely fast and stealthy movement that he himself had not anticipated, he took the gold bracelet off the old man's hand, slid it directly into his own wrist, then firmly wedged it on his arm, and then pulled down his sleeve to cover it up.
When the old man's daughter came to the coffin, he pretended to help the old man tidy his clothes, and then calmly said to the old man's daughter.
"Everything is ready, we can put the coffin on now."
The old man's daughter glanced into the coffin and saw that her father's clothes were all tidied up and there was nothing wrong with him. She wiped away her tears, took one last look at her father, and then said that the coffin could be sealed.
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