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

Chapter 212 That year, that month, it was the season for parting again.

July has just passed, and August is already here in the blink of an eye, just the beginning of the season.

As the old saying goes, this is a time of great turmoil. Every year at this time, everyone in every industry is busy as a bee, and no one can get away from their work.

Farmers were busy with the autumn harvest, merchants were busy making more goods before the end of the year, and the rebel gangs were busy training their troops for food for the winter and funds for the coming year, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

In Tianjin, during the August fishing season, overwintering fish gather in large numbers, while fishermen at the port who rely on water for sustenance are busy catching their catch.

In autumn, everyone is extremely busy, even the funeral industry, which is usually quiet, has to get busy.

Autumn execution at the execution ground, in front of the vegetable market.

The familiar red banners, the familiar posters, and the persistent people holding steamed buns, staring at the free dipping sauce all day long.

Xu Qing couldn't understand it, but guessed that perhaps the blood-soaked buns were really delicious, otherwise why would there be repeat customers?
On the execution platform, in addition to Magistrate Chen and Judge Li, there were two more executioners this year.

Looking at Wu Zhiyuan and Wu Wencai's unsmiling expressions, Xu Qing felt as if he were watching puppets on a stage, their laughter, anger, and curses no longer under his control.

Tsk, it's still better to collect corpses. Sitting on a coffin is just like being an official. Which of those corpses would dare to argue with him?

On the stage, Chen Guangrui tossed one red slip after another, while Li Tongpan beside him kept his brush constantly moving, seemingly drawing large red crosses.

When it was Yang Hong, Yuan Hu, Zhou Heng and others' turn to be led to the execution ground, the two stopped and temporarily handed over the task of supervising the execution to the Wu brothers.

Wu Zhiyuan's face was cold and hard, and the red-headed sign in his hand showed no mercy. Wu Wencai's judge's pen was busy marking things up. When the heads of the men fell to the ground, Judge Li took the list of names, glanced at it, and nodded.

Below the execution platform, Xu Qing was overjoyed.

After all, he's someone who collects corpses and arranges funerals; if he's not happy, who is?
Officials can't let go of their pride and have to maintain a serious expression in such formal occasions, but he's the owner of a funeral parlor and doesn't need to maintain an image, so he can just do whatever makes him comfortable!
So, among the crowd of onlookers watching the execution, there was one person whose joy was practically written all over his face.

People are used to it by now. As long as they're not the ones getting beheaded, they just let others have their fun!

Just as Xu Qing was engrossed in watching others split their hair, he suddenly felt someone reaching out and pulling at him.

When the man realized he couldn't budge him, he pushed aside the people next to him and forced his way to the front of the stands.

Xu Qing glanced to the side and saw a man holding up a sign, squeezing into the execution ground and shouting, "Spare his life!"

Normally, when Xu Qing heard or saw this line in a storyteller's tale, he would find it quite relatable, but now his subconscious reaction was—

Who is this guy? Do you own the execution ground? You think you can just keep people here whenever you want?
However, perhaps this sentence inherently possessed some kind of stopping power, because the five or six executioners who had just raised their swords really didn't bring them down!
When soldiers maintaining order drew their swords to stop him, the man brandished his badge and said with an air of superiority, "I am an officer of the Mirror Bureau. All other criminals who are skilled in martial arts will be transferred to the Bureau to be executed."

This person clearly timed it perfectly, deliberately waiting until the court had ordered the execution of several criminals before stepping forward to stop the next death row inmates who needed to be executed.

Chen Guangrui and Li Tongpan whispered to each other. The latter seemed to have already communicated with the Jingzhao Division. Before Chen Guangrui could ask any more questions, Li Tongpan ordered the remaining death row inmates to be divided into two batches. Those who were not skilled in martial arts would remain at the execution ground to be executed, while those who were heavily shackled and had martial arts skills would be taken to the execution ground.

Xu Qing frowned. What did the Mirror Bureau need people who practiced martial arts for? And why specifically choose death row inmates?
Recalling Liao Jinzhong's ever-smiling demeanor during his trial at the yamen, Xu Qing always felt that there was something shady going on behind the scenes.

These eunuchs, just like the loincloth they carried on their bodies, always liked to hide their true intentions and do some shameful and disreputable things.

But no matter what kind of shady dealings they were, Xu Qing secretly remembered that they had ruined his business.

A month later, as the autumn executions drew to a close, Xu Qing counted the number of death row inmates to be executed this year and found that it was about a hundred fewer than in previous years.

It should be noted that Linjiang County is a well-known commercial port in Tianjin, with merchants coming and going like ants. It can be said that the one thing it has in abundance is people. In addition, with the refugees from Yaozhou being taken in by Xinyaofang, the county government's prison alone has been expanded twice in the past year.

The port area is a hub for many talented people, and naturally, it's also rife with shady characters. Logically, his harvest this year should have increased rather than decreased.
"Does Constable Zhao know how many death row inmates have been transferred to the Mirror Bureau?" Xu Qing asked casually while collecting the bodies.

Why are you asking this?

"Sigh, what could be wrong with me? I just feel that there are significantly fewer corpses this year than in previous years. I don't know if it's because our port is indeed more peaceful than in previous years, or for some other reason."

Zhao Zhonghe said irritably, "Peaceful my ass! I've never been this tired in the last two years since I became a constable!"

"As for the number of corpses, do you know how many death row inmates were sent to the Mirror Bureau?"

Zhao Zhonghe held up two fingers: "No less than two hundred."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and asked, "What does the Mirror Bureau need these death row inmates for?"

"Who knows?" Zhao Zhonghe chuckled, leaning on his arresting knife. "It's not a bad thing, and it saves the brothers in the yamen the trouble of dealing with these corpses."

As the two were talking, a copper coin rolled over from somewhere, and by sheer coincidence, it rolled right in front of Zhao Zhonghe.

The copper coin was quite delicate; it spun around a few times before finally lying down on the ground.

Zhao Zhonghe bent down to pick up the copper coin, looked up and gazed into the distance. He saw that the market was bustling with carriages and pedestrians, making it impossible to determine where the copper coin had come from.

"The atmosphere at this execution ground is too grim. Look at these copper coins; they're still stained with blood. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were money lost by some vengeful ghost to buy his life!"

Zhao Zhonghe said something half-jokingly, then raised his calloused, thick fingers and rubbed the bloodstains on the copper coin.

Beside him, Xu Qing subconsciously activated his Qi Observation Technique. He saw that there was an ominous black aura swirling around the copper coin in Zhao Zhonghe's hand. Strangely, once the bloodstains on the copper coin were wiped away by the other party, the black aura completely disappeared, as if what he had seen before was just an illusion.

"Officer Zhao, may I borrow this copper coin for a look?"

"Give it to you!"

Xu Qing caught the copper coin that Zhao Zhonghe casually tossed to him. He played with it for a while but didn't find anything unusual.

strange things
Xu Qing looked up at Zhao Zhonghe's departing figure and shook his head.

Perhaps it was the murderous aura emanating from the constable that neutralized the ominous aura emanating from the copper coin. Xu Qing couldn't find any other reasonable explanation.

Jingxia Street, the coroner's shop.

The large red lanterns at the entrance of Xu's shop, used for welcoming and seeing off customers, seemed even redder than usual. Inside the shop, corpses were laid out from the front stalls into the courtyard; if counted carefully, there were probably no fewer than three hundred.

That day, the incense and candle shop across the street closed early, and no matter what noises were heard outside at night, the mother and daughter refused to open the door.

Wu's wife and Wu Yaoxing, who lived next door to the paper-making shop, had already gone to Pingqiu County with Wu Zhiyuan. Now they no longer had to live in fear every year at this time, afraid that a corpse would come knocking on their door in the middle of the night.

Before leaving, Wu Yaoxing specially invited Xu Qing to a restaurant for a half-day of drinks.

Although Xu Qing had expected this, he remained silent for a long time when he heard that Lao Wu wanted to transfer the paper-making shop to him.

People come and go on Jingxia Street, just like the two lanterns hanging at his door, welcoming and seeing off people, but unable to keep them.

Wu Yaoxing made it clear that Jingxia Street was where he grew up, and the paper craft shop was his livelihood.

Now that their children and grandchildren have become successful, the cooking skills they used to make a living have become an eyesore on their path to success.

What can we do? We have no choice but to give up!

He couldn't let his children and grandchildren down, but closing the paper-craft shop completely wasn't a good idea either, and Wu Yaoxing wasn't comfortable selling it to someone else.

After thinking it over, Xu Qing came to mind.

In Wu Yaoxing's eyes, Xu Qing's kindness to his family was far beyond what a shop could repay. He wished he could give the shop to Xu Qing to manage.

He was completely at ease.

Xu Qing had nothing to say. After drinking the farewell wine, the Wu family paper-making shop was officially under Xu's control.

However, Xu Qing also said that as long as Wu Yaoxing wants to come back someday, the paper-making shop will always be kept for him.

Wu Yaoxing was drunk at the time, his face flushed, and he readily agreed.

Xu Qing sighed helplessly. In just two years, nearly half of the people on the entire Jingxia Street had already left.

Fortunately, although he had no living friends in his mortuary, it was still quite lively.

While Xu Qing was busy performing rituals to help the deceased pass on, the spirits in the shrine were also not idle.

Huang Xiaoliu comes and goes without a trace every day, but whenever Xu Qing sings the "Helping Soldiers' Incantation," this yellow weasel always appears in the shop immediately.

Gu Zixu and his daughter Gu Qiao'er, one taught students at the funeral clothing shop and the other was in charge of the daily affairs of the Fengshui Hall. These two gray immortals with professional experience never caused Xu Qing much trouble.

Needless to say, the embroiderer, besides going to see Boss Liu every few days to learn new plays, spent most of her time at the Shuimenqiao villa training on the looms that Xu Qing had recently bought for her.

How obedient was this girl? When Xu Qing taught her the art of not dying after being beheaded, he casually joked that if she was afraid of not being able to find her head, she should knit a scarf and tie it with a hair tie, so she wouldn't be afraid of losing her head one day.

In July, when the autumn heat was at its peak, Xu Qing went to the other courtyard to turn over the soil for autumn planting. He saw the embroiderer wrapped in a thick scarf, just like the white silk of a hanged ghost, and didn't she feel hot at all!
Xu Qing didn't know how to comment, so he just casually mentioned that if he were ever beheaded, wouldn't the person cut off his scarf along with it?
But Xu Qing dared not say anything more. He felt that if he asked the embroiderer to replace the scarf with an iron chain, the girl would probably do the same.

It's hard for Xu Qing not to trust an employee who takes his words to heart, good or bad, and finds joy in his work!

Besides matters in the county, Sister Jin and Bai Xiaoxian from Baosheng Temple have also become a couple. As the temple keeper, Sister Jin is very responsible. She is Xu Qing's temple keeper and also Xu Qing's most devout believer. However, this believer has never known what the true form of Baosheng Niangniang looks like.

Over the past two months, Xu Qing, through the Blood Lake Dharma Realm, used dream-making techniques to teach Sister Jin many tricks for childbirth and childcare, as well as various ways of taking care of children. Sister Jin had given birth and raised children before, so she understood these things immediately.

Now, under the management of Sister Jin and Bai Xiaoxian, the incense offerings at Baosheng Temple are increasing day by day, and the influence of the birth manual is also constantly enhancing the popularity of Baosheng Niangniang (Goddess of Childbirth).

Tianjin is a commercial port, with countless people from all over the world coming and going to trade every day. During this time, many people would pass on their birthing manuals to other places. Baosheng Temple is a temple associated with having children and good fortune, and naturally it would attract more worshippers.

Unfortunately, the emperor was not doing his job properly. Chen Guangrui wrote down the benefits of popularizing the midwifery manual in a memorial and sent it to the capital, but it stopped at the cabinet and was not even presented to the emperor.

Emperor Jingxing had long ago decreed that local governors and the three departments could submit their memorials to the emperor, while memorials from prefectures and counties had to be screened by the local authorities, the three departments, and the cabinet before being submitted.

In short, the scene before Emperor Jingxing's desk is now clear and bright.

Xu Qing didn't care about these court affairs. Right now, besides the immortal employees under his command who made him worry-free, there were also some people who made him particularly concerned and concerned!
One is the Crow Lord, a celestial being from afar who travels across the ocean to retrieve seeds from a foreign land.

As for the other one...
Xu Qing took a moment to glance at the 'lucky cat' that was guarding his shop in front of the counter.

At this moment, the cat possessed Sun Erniang's body and was carefree playing with the Dream Gu.

The chubby, white, lazy bug was 'waving its arms and legs' and making whimpering noises. Xu Qing didn't even need to activate his hearing ability to tell how nasty the bug was cursing.

The Dream Eater sleeps in every hour of the day; the only time it's diligent is when it changes its sleeping position or turns over.

Xuan Yu noticed Xu Qing looking over, so she turned her head and stared at him intently.

Xu Qing remained silent, turned around and continued to perform the ritual to help the deceased's body pass on.

He could always see a peaceful and serene side in Xuan Yu. Even if he was about to face a life-or-death crisis, the cat would not have any worries until that moment.

The only time Xu Qing saw Xuan Yu looking worried was when he was facing the five-hundred-year lightning calamity.

But right now, it is Xuan Yu who may face disaster at any moment.

After a sleepless night, more than 300 decapitated corpses have now been restored to their original state.

The prisoners who were sentenced to death by beheading almost all had a special skill. Even if they didn't have any special talent, if someone could make their own head disappear, they could at least be called good at it and dedicated.

Xu Qing saw corrupt officials and sycophants from ordinary people, and then he saw honest and upright officials from chivalrous heroes.
The vast world could not contain these few hundred people, but the small coroner's shop contained everything, and one tragic drama after another was staged.

Movable type printing, lacquer carving, sugar blowing and painting, flute and zither playing, patchwork clothing made by a hundred families, umbrellas given by thousands of people, as well as shady skills such as picking locks, forging official seals, and catching chickens and stealing dogs.

After counting the rewards from the Salvation Sutra, Xu Qing learned many unique skills, but what interested him most was a strange technique for creating 'earth-shaking thunder'.

(End of this chapter)