I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 189 A Series of Ghost Stories
Today, a new female tenant moved into Wujiupo in the west of the city. As the property manager, Xu Qing, who is also in charge of the cemetery, had to perform some welcoming ceremonies before the tenant moved in.

The paper money fluttered down, and the burning of incense was a lively and festive affair. At the neighboring graves, the Wang family couple, the lame old man, and the old woman from the Wang family also benefited, with each family's grave receiving an extra stick of incense.

When Xu Qing went to Wanshou County to relocate the graves of the Wang family couple, he also found the body of the lame old man and brought it back with him.

At that time, he also opened the Sutra of Salvation and looked through the old man's past.

The old man was a veteran of the Battle of Tianmen Pass in the early years. Back then, many people died defending Tianmen Pass against foreign invasion. The soldiers who guarded the pass at the beginning were almost all replaced from top to bottom. Even those who survived to the end were rarely able-bodied.

The veteran lost a leg in that battle and became one of the few witnesses to the Battle of Tianmenguan.

After that, the old soldier and some other wounded soldiers entered the Changting Prince's Mansion, took on some sinecure positions, and lived out their retirement in the mansion.

These veterans may appear disabled, but they should not be underestimated.

Those who survived from the Battle of Tianmen Pass to the very end must have possessed exceptional skills.

Otherwise, Zhu Huai'an wouldn't have left a lame old soldier in the Wang family.

The old soldier didn't know anything else, but Xu Qing learned some battlefield combat skills from him, which were simply pure killing techniques.

The combat experience gained from such battlefield fighting is far more brutal than any street fighting skills.

Street gang fights, at their most vicious and ruthless, involve nothing more than some low-level tricks, or sprinkling some lime powder or pepper. They may look fierce, but in the eyes of a true veteran, they are nothing more than child's play.

In the old soldier's memory, Xu Qing saw the fierce soldier who cut off his own arm to escape the predicament and rejoin the battle, and he also saw the lame old soldier who did not hesitate to cut off his severed leg, throw it far away, hit the enemy general, and rescue his trapped comrade.

Xu Qing seemed to realize something. The real key to these battlefield killing techniques might not be the method of killing, but the calmness in the face of life and death.

Like a gecko shedding its tail to survive or a argali sheep cutting off its horns to heal itself, when this calmness becomes instinctive, whether for survival or to kill the enemy, one will find the fastest way to resolve the situation.

Xu Qing admitted that he couldn't be that calm yet, but if he were to cultivate to the point of not being able to transform his bones, let alone cut off his tail to survive, he wouldn't even blink if he were asked to take off his own head and use it as a weapon.

On Wujiu Slope, pine, cypress and willow trees provide shade, and occasionally a wild wind blows, making the whole cemetery rustle.

Where the pine needles rustle, the sound is like the whispers of ghosts; where the willow branches sway, figures in green and white robes appear and disappear; when the weeds grow thick, it is as if one can hear a filial daughter weeping at her grave, sobbing softly.
Even though they were in the same world and under the same sun, Shang Shaoyang clearly felt that this place was much colder than other places.

This is still in broad daylight; what would this place look like after sunset?
"Brother Xu, you usually come here alone, aren't you afraid?"

As Xu Qing repaired the newly raised grave, he said without turning his head, "Afraid? Why should I be afraid?"

For a zombie like him, coming to a graveyard is like going home. I've never heard of someone being afraid of going home.

"It's not advisable to go alone to secluded places. I heard people in a teahouse say that quiet, remote places are most likely to breed ghosts and monsters, let alone in this cemetery. Who knows, there might be some hanged ghosts, vengeful ghosts, or wronged ghosts waiting here for a substitute to take their place and be punished, so that they can take the opportunity to escape and reincarnate."

Xu Qing was stunned for a moment, but when he heard the word "teahouse," he suddenly asked, "The teahouse you're talking about, could it be Fulai Teahouse?"

"How did you know, Brother Xu?"

Xu Qing said earnestly, "Don't listen to storytellers' nonsense. There are no ghosts or monsters in this world. If there are, it can only be the work of people's hearts!"

"Human nature is the culprit." Shang Shaoyang found this strange and asked involuntarily, "What does 'human nature is the culprit' mean?"

Xu Qing stopped repairing the work and, leaning on his shovel, said:
"At the street corner of Jingxia Street, there used to be a Mr. Hu who once said something like this: he said that most of the evil spirits in the world are caused by people."

"When people refrain from wrongdoing, demons will not act on their own. When people do not do good deeds and harbor resentment and fear, the earth's energy becomes turbid, and the workings of heaven become unpredictable. Demons then seize this opportunity to enter the world and commit evil, their evil deeds becoming increasingly difficult to eradicate. If heaven and earth are clear and bright, and people do not act on their own, in a peaceful and prosperous era, demons will naturally conceal themselves and remain outside the world."

After saying this, Xu Qing looked at Shang Shaoyang with a smile: "Young Master Shang, do you think there are any evil spirits on Wujiu Slope right now?"

Shang Shaoyang looked around and saw no one else besides Xu Qing, the kind-hearted manager of the Yin Xing business. So where did this monster come from?

"These words seem to have some deeper meaning. It is clear that Mr. Hu, whom Brother Xu mentioned, is also a remarkable person. I should pay him a visit."

A visit in person? Xu Qing blinked. That's not the custom!

"Well, Brother Shang, you don't have that kind of luck. Mr. Hu passed away half a year ago, and I was the one who arranged his funeral."

Shang Shaoyang felt a little regretful.

"Brother Xu, in all these years of running your funeral business, have you ever encountered any ghosts or monsters?"

Xu Qing countered, "Brother Shang, have you seen him before?"

"I've heard my elders talk about it, but I've never seen it."

Now you've seen it.

Xu Qing smiled slightly and said, "I've never seen any ghosts or monsters either. These are just stories made up by storytellers to grab attention. I've never believed in them."

"We must believe in the importance of investigation and knowledge acquisition; the investigation of things and the acquisition of knowledge is the only true principle."

Shang Shaoyang frowned and said, "It's better to believe it exists than not to believe it doesn't. The concept of ghosts and gods has existed since ancient times. Although I have never seen one, I have heard of them. This matter is probably true."

Never seen one before? It's because you've been too well protected by your family. These days, there's a shortage of many things, but there are plenty of monsters. Just wander around the wilderness and graveyards more often, and you'll surely encounter ghosts and monsters.
When a nation is on the verge of collapse, monsters and evil spirits will emerge in droves; this is not just a casual remark.

Shang Shaoyang was alone at the gravesite, talking to ghosts and monsters. When they got excited, he even wanted to spend the night at Wujiu Slope to see if there were any ghosts at all.

Xu Qing, a zombie from a poor graveyard, had to run his shop and shrine every day to earn incense offerings and support his family. He had no time to waste with a rich young man.

Besides, he already has ghosts to watch at home, and they can even sing and dance, so why would he go to great lengths to find other ghosts for entertainment?

Xu Qing ignored Shang Shaoyang and, after handling Yu Qiulan's funeral arrangements, drove the hearse back to Linjiang County.

Shang Shaoyang had no choice but to reluctantly follow them back.

The next day, Xu Qing arrived at Xinyaofang, where the refugees were being resettled, accompanied by constables from the yamen.

Distributing money and grain requires someone to maintain order; otherwise, unrest is inevitable.

Xu Qing wasn't afraid, but to outsiders, he was, after all, a scholar who couldn't even kill a chicken, how could he possibly withstand a starving refugee?
Inside the yamen, Tang, the clerk, following instructions from the county magistrate, also arrived at Xinyaofang.

The relief tents were set up, and the shop assistants from the grain store and the yamen runners directed the transport of grain from the coroner's shop into the tents.

In Linjiang County, one tael of silver could be exchanged for about 150 catties of rice and flour. Xu Qing's two hundred taels of silver, plus the five hundred taels added by Shang Shaoyang, bought no less than 100,000 catties of rice and flour.

Master Tang's eyes lit up with envy: "So much grain, how much silver must that be? Even if I worked as a master clerk for ten years, I might not be able to save up this much silver."

Xu Qing believed this. The clerk was an assistant in the government office, earning at most three or four taels of silver a month, a maximum of fifty taels a year. If he didn't engage in shady dealings for ten years, he really couldn't save up seven hundred taels of silver. "I heard that since you had a son and a daughter, you have turned over a new leaf and started doing good deeds to accumulate virtue for your children. How come you've become greedy for worldly money again?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Zhou's mustache tilted to the side, and he spoke in his Guanzhong dialect in embarrassment and anger: "What are you talking about? What do you mean by turning over a new leaf? It's as if I was corrupt before!"

Xu Qing was taken aback: "Isn't the advisor a local from Tianjin?"

Tang Zhou pursed his lips and said, "My hometown is Guanzhong. Back then, I fled to Tianjin. Fortunately, I knew a few characters and had some basic literacy, which allowed me to settle down in Tianjin."

The two chatted idly until the constables finished transporting all the grain, then Zhao Zhonghe walked over, leaning on the hilt of his sword.

"You two have plenty of free time, while we suffer the hardship and toil."

"Look at what Officer Zhao is saying. Helping Manager Xu to help the people is a good thing that accumulates good karma. How can it be so hard and tiring?"

Zhao Zhonghe grinned and said, "It's easy for you to talk when you're not the one suffering. You make such nice noises, but why don't you come and carry the rice on the other side?"

As Zhao Zhonghe approached the two men, he was about to speak when he suddenly sniffed.

"What's that smell? Why does Brother Xu smell even better than the young women and wives on the street?"

Xu Qing's face darkened; this constable's mouth was just as sharp as the gold-plated bodyguards of the Tai'an Escort Agency.

Master Tang laughed and said, "You think everyone is like you, smelly and stinky? Manager Xu is a scholar, a real intellectual, so naturally he's more refined than a roughneck like you."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhonghe sniffed his sleeve. Normally, he wouldn't be able to smell anything, but with Xu Qing's peculiar fragrance in front of him, his own body odor seemed particularly noticeable.

"It does seem to have a certain flavor. Well, I'll go to Yu Yan Zhai another day and buy some cosmetics to apply myself."

"Officer Zhao, stop joking! What's the difference between you putting on makeup and a bear wearing flowers? It's a complete waste of good things!" Master Tang reasoned with him, "The money you'd spend on cosmetics would be better spent treating the brothers to drinks."

After arguing for a while, the two turned around and found that Xu Qing had already run to the relief shed and set up a notice board.

Zhao Zhonghe glanced around and saw that the funeral parlor on Jingxia Street had launched a public welfare campaign, making Xu's shop the top choice for important life events.
The slogans were easy to understand, and below them was written the business philosophy of the mortuary: to show care for the widowed and orphaned, to lend a helping hand to refugees and starving people, to accumulate good deeds, and to bring blessings to future generations.
"This Manager Xu really hasn't forgotten his business." Tang Zhou seemed to have gotten used to it.

Zhao Zhonghe said with a smile, "Speaking of which, the clerk and Manager Xu are acquaintances. If the clerk goes to the coroner's shop in the future, Manager Xu might be able to give him some discounts."

Upon hearing this, Tang Zhou's face darkened, and he said irritably, "This discount should be kept for Officer Zhao himself! I am too unlucky to accept it!"

Inside the relief shed, Xu Qing held a small, broken bowl and kept turning it to scoop rice and flour into a measuring cup.

After filling each liter, he would lift the curtain and distribute the food to the pale-faced disaster victims.

Zhao Zhonghe and others wanted to help, but he sent them outside the grain shed under the pretext of maintaining order.

At first, Xu Qing was a little slow in filling the small bowl with rice and flour, but as Shi Ji received more and more food, he became faster and faster.

So much so that a small, broken bowl can be filled with hundreds or thousands of liters of rice and flour.

In the end, Xu Qing had no choice but to ask the yamen runners to help distribute the grain, while he was in charge of transferring the rice from the bags to the more conveniently accessible wide-mouthed vats inside the tent.

Zhao Zhonghe is a martial arts master who can lift heavy vats weighing four or five hundred pounds with ease.

After two days of continuous relief efforts, the 100,000 jin of grain was exhausted.

At this moment, the grayish-brown bowl in Xu Qing's hand gradually turned into a pale yellow, and the space inside had expanded to the size of a room.

On the last day of closing the shed, Shang Shaoyang, dressed in white, came to the relief shed.

“I originally thought you were just talking, and even if you really went to help these people, you wouldn’t give away all the food and money. Now it seems that I was judging others by my own standards.”

Xu Qing, who was packing up his stall, had no time to listen to a rich young man's thoughts.
"Stop talking nonsense. If you have nothing better to do, help me collect those grain sacks over there and sweep the floor. Can't you see I have urgent business to attend to? How can a young master from a wealthy family be so clueless?"

"."

Shang Shaoyang's eyelids twitched slightly. In all his life, no one had ever dared to order him around like this, let alone make him do the rough work that only servants and maids would do.

After a moment of silence, Shang Shaoyang put down his sword, turned and went to the grain sacks covered in rice and flour dust, and began to work.

Xu Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief after the grain shed was dismantled and loaded onto the truck.

Publicly distributing food is not a job suitable for a zombie; he is better suited to secretly distributing food.

As a zombie feared by all and forced to hide beneath human skin, maintaining a stealthy sense is still very important.

After finishing everything, Xu Qing looked at the errand boy in charge of running errands at Master Feng's residence and said, "It's still early. I'll go over to Master Feng's place later."

The laborer, who had been conscripted and done half a day of dirty work, wiped his sweat and asked hesitantly, "Mr. Xu, that thing is most noisy at night, will this work?"

"We want it to come out at night. If we go during the day, will it come out?"

Xu Qing couldn't very well say that he also enjoyed doing things at night, so after a moment's thought, he continued, "Just tell Second Master that. He's knowledgeable, he'll understand."

After the waiter left, Shang Shaoyang, whose white clothes had turned dirty, asked, "What kind of riddle are you playing? What business has to be done at night?"

Xu Qing glanced at Shang Shaoyang, who seemed curious about everything, and said, "It's nothing serious, just going to Flower and Bird Street to perform a ritual. That's the main business of my coroner's shop."

"Flower and Bird Street?" Shang Shaoyang's eyes suddenly lit up. "I heard that Flower and Bird Street is haunted. I went to check it out yesterday, but I didn't find anything unusual."

"You're going to perform a ritual at night in the flower and bird market? Aren't you afraid of running into that ghost?"

Xu Qing said dismissively, "What is a ghost? A person becomes a ghost after death. It can't do anything while it's alive, so why should I be afraid of it after it's dead?"

"If I really encounter a ghost, I will fight it. If I win, all the better. If I lose, I will be no different from it."

"Death is inevitable, so what is there to fear?"

Xu Qing, being a zombie, speaks with a tough attitude.

Shang Shaoyang was unaware of the details, but he was filled with excitement and his emotions surged to his head. These words were exactly what he wanted to hear.

“If Brother Xu is not afraid of death, how can I be? Tonight I will go with you!”

(End of this chapter)