Five people from the yamen arrived and entered the west wing. Liang Qi also came out of the kitchen.
Among the people from the yamen, one was a coroner. His hands were withered and thin, with bulging veins. A short yamen runner carried a wooden box for the skinny man.
Liang Qi stood at a distance at the door, watching the seven people enter the west wing of Old Lady Ge's house one after another. At this time, some villagers also gathered in the courtyard of the Ge family to watch the excitement.
Of the five people who went in, one of them placed a box on the ground and opened it from the middle. Inside were all sorts of knives, pliers, tweezers, and some other unidentified tools.
The thin coroner then gently touched the aorta with his hand, and used his index finger and thumb to pry open Li Shuanshu's eyelids to check the condition of his eyes.
Then the short man with the toolbox, under the coroner's instructions, pried open Li Shuanshu's mouth, looked at it, and then let the short man put it down.
The two constables who followed over turned Li Shuanshu's body over again, and finally the coroner made a gesture indicating that there was nothing more to see on the body.
They then examined three other bodies and finally arrested the one who was barely alive.
The head constable strode out and said to the villagers, "They were all scared to death, and one of them went insane from fright. Does anyone know anyone inside?"
Liang Qi then stepped out from behind the crowd, pointed at Li Shuanshu's body, and said, "This is from our village, his name is Li Shuanshu, I don't recognize the others."
The leading constable said, "Then keep Li Shuanshu here, and carry the rest onto the oxcart and take them to the mortuary. Take the madman back to the jail."
...
When Xu Fanyuan returned on his second trip, he happened to have Li Lei in the car with him. The car canopy that had been prepared was unloaded so that the cabinet could be pulled out, and that's when Li Shuanshu died.
Liang Qi took another donkey cart to pick up Li Qianqian and Lu Xiaomei. He also brought Xiao Douding back and left the key at Tonghe Medical Clinic.
Li Qianqian went to Xingfei Cloth Shop and bought eight feet of mourning cloth, and then went outside the town to order a thin leather coffin, which she had the shopkeeper transport to Niukou Village.
Xu Fanyuan, along with Li Lei and Liang Qi, carried Li Shuanshu to their home. Some began tidying up the mourning hall, while others sought out a geomancer.
The geomancer gave two dates: tomorrow and three days from now, for the burial.
It wasn't until the afternoon that Liang Qi brought everyone back. The coffin was also delivered to Li Shuanshu's house. Li Qianqian bought clothes for Li Shuanshu to wear in his old age from town.
Li Lei and Li Qianqian helped Li Shuanshu dress in old clothes, put copper coins in his mouth and dry rations in his hands, and then the villagers carried Li Shuanshu's body into the coffin and conferred an official title upon Li Lei.
Li Qianqian stayed by the coffin and burned paper money. Li Qianqian and Li Lei brought mourning clothes, and Xu Fanyuan led Li Lei, who was wearing mourning clothes, to kowtow to each household, informing them to go to the Li family the next morning to send Li Shuanshu off on his final journey.
Li Lei and his comrades worked late into the night, digging a pit in the reclaimed land large enough to bury the coffin.
At dawn the next day, Li Shuanshu broke the basin, picked up a white sail, and led four young men to carry Li Shuanshu's coffin from the village to the reclaimed land, to the pit dug the day before, and buried the body there.
After burying Li Shuanshu, Li Lei found Lu Xiaomei in the Li family's kitchen, pulled her into the inner room, and calmly said to her, "Our marriage will have to wait three years. Although my father was not good to us when he was alive, we still have to be filial."
Lu Xiaomei nodded hesitantly and said softly to Li Lei, "It's entirely up to you."
Li Lei silently gripped Lu Xiaomei's hand. Lu Xiaomei panicked and immediately ran away. Li Lei followed her out of the inner room and stopped when he saw Xiaoyue.
Seeing that most of the villagers had left, leaving only Xiaoyue's family, Li Danian's family, and Xu Fanyuan, Xiaoyue didn't try to hide anything and said to Li Lei, "You can stay here tonight, I'm going to town."
After a moment's thought, Li Lei said to Xiaoyue in a deep voice, "Let's go. I'll drive the donkey cart; I'll leave it in the yard, so don't worry about it."
He then pulled Xiaoyue and Liang Qi into the inner room and whispered to Xiaoyue, "We've decided not to hold our wedding on the sixth day of the second lunar month."
"Observe the mourning period for three years, and then set the engagement date three years later. Who knows, you might even get married before we do."
Xiaoyue glanced at Liang Qi who followed her in, remained silent for a while, then looked up at Li Lei and said, "Li Qianqian also needs to discuss this with Zhu Hegui. Zhu Yan is a year older than you, and you want him to wait three years. Does his family agree to this? They haven't mentioned the marriage at all."
Li Lei thought for a moment, then looked at Liang Qi and said to Xiao Yue, "Alright, let's book a day after our store opens."
Xiaoyue knew that Li Lei wanted to create opportunities for Liang Qi and Xiaoyue, but Xiaoyue and Liang Qi were not as simple as Li Lei thought. Xiaoyue did not want to explain to Li Lei, so she just replied lightly, "Okay."
Li Lei, Li Qianqian, Lu Xiaomei, and Xiaodouding returned to the town together.
Xiaoyue also went home with Sister Yang on the same route.
...
On the eighth day of the second lunar month, the weather was exceptionally warm. Xiaoyue went to town early in the morning. At eight o'clock, she took down the signboard covered with red silk ribbon. It read "Sisters' Clothing Shop," and the words were written by Manager Tong.
The red silk was torn down, and firecrackers were set off. The smell of gunpowder spread everywhere, even inside the clinic. Manager Tong delivered a tea set to the clothing shop.
Xingfei Fabric delivered two bolts of fine fabric to the clothing shop. Xiaoyue then treated the two families from Xingfei Fabric and the medical clinic to a lavish meal at her shop.
On the ninth day of the second lunar month, Xiaoyue got up in the morning and set up two sets of ready-made clothes at the door. Many people came to look at them, but none of them bought them, and Xiaoyue was not in a hurry.
On February 12th, Xiaoyue, Li Qianqian, and Li Lei went to Lijia Town. They then went to Lijia Village and found Sister-in-law Ge.
Sister-in-law Ge led Xiaoyue and the others to Zhu Hegui's house in the next village. The family was drying corn when they saw the group arrive. They were very hospitable.
Xiaoyue had Li Lei stop Zhu Yan, who was going to town to buy meat. Once inside the hall, Xiaoyue got straight to the point and told the Zhu family about Li Shuanshu's death.
After saying that, Xiaoyue led Li Qianqian and Li Lei to Sister-in-law Ge's house to listen to what Zhu Hegui's family planned.
Before they had even sat down for a quarter of an hour, Zhu Yan came over again to invite Xiaoyue and the others to dinner at the Zhu family's house. Xiaoyue felt relieved, and the two families happily ate their meal.
Xiaoyue said to Zhu Yan, "Go to the market in town. Li Qianqian works at the clothing shop. If you have time when you're in town, go and sit at the clothing shop." The Zhu family was even happier to hear that Li Qianqian was working in town.
Xiaoyue stayed in town for another night, and the next day she rushed to the village, bringing Li Lei with her.
Xiaoyue smiled at Li Lei, who was driving the donkey cart, and said, "Take Chunyue and Shuiyue to town to look after the shops. You stay home and go down the mountain to build a house and garden. I'll draw a plan for you when I get home to explain how to build it."
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