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

Chapter 60 Fallen leaves return to their roots
Wanshou Township is a good place. It is adjacent to Baishui in the south and connected to the capital in the north. In addition to its convenient geographical location, the people here are all extremely long-lived.

Some people jokingly say that the number of centenarians in the two counties and twenty-four prefectures of Tianjin combined is not as many as that in Wanshou Township.

When the current emperor heard about this, he made a special visit to this place and stayed there for more than half a month.

Before returning to Beijing, Emperor Longping named this village "Wanshou".

It implies that this is the place where the emperor visits, and the emperor should share its blessings and prolong his life.

On this day, a horse-drawn carriage creaked into Wanshou Township on the dirt road.

There were fields and paths around the countryside, and the sounds of chickens and dogs could be heard. Xu Qing sighed, stopped the carriage, and asked the old farmers working in the fields for directions.

After receiving the confirmation, he reached out and patted the cloth-wrapped coffin parked in the carriage.

It seems to wake up the person sleeping inside.

The horse-drawn carriages carrying people returning home passed through the rural dirt roads, and the outlines of the village's unique tiled houses appeared. The scene here was obviously different from the endless streets and alleys of Linhefang.

Linhefang has the prosperity unique to towns, and even in the poorest areas, it is rare to see thatched houses.

The Wanshou Township before us not only has thatched huts, but also courtyards built with fences and hawthorn trees.

It was spring now, and the fruit trees planted in front of and behind the houses of the villagers had already been dressed in pink.

Peach red, plum white, and various other flowers attract bees and butterflies.

Xu Qing rarely saw such scenery, so he deliberately slowed down his pace and enjoyed the flowers along the way, feeling quite relaxed.

Looking at the local villagers, they seemed to be accustomed to it and no one cared about the rural scenery.

It is the same as the way scholars look at flowers and the way villagers look at fruits.

As Xu Qing admired the scenery along the way, he really had the upper-class temperament of a city zombie who came to the countryside to collect folk songs.

After passing several huts and tiled courtyards, and crossing several fertile fields planted with rapeseed, I saw smoke rising from the foot of the mountain in the distance. It turned out that there was a village living there.

Xu Qing drove the carriage to the village entrance and saw a group of villagers arguing in a chaotic manner. He could faintly hear words like "report to the police", "invite a fortune teller", and "burn it down".

"Old man, may I ask Wang Qiao if the home of Prime Minister Wang is here?"

As soon as Xu Qing finished speaking, the air suddenly became quiet. The villagers were like judges and ghosts, staring at him with deep eyes.

The old man sitting under the old elm tree stood up, looked at him for a long time, and asked, "Do you know Wang Qiao? Do you know where he is?"

Xu Qing raised his eyebrows and thought, isn't the person right in front of you? Isn't that the one lying in the cloth-wrapped coffin?
However, he refused to tell the truth and just smiled and said, "I was asked to come to Wang Qiao's family and deliver a message for him."

On the side, a gossipy villager grumbled: "The wife is dead, and she will soon become a tuberculosis ghost and harm people. Why don't you come back quickly to deal with the funeral? Sending a letter is useless."

Another villager started to jeer, "Don't waste time, report to the authorities first and call in a sorcerer. That tuberculosis ghost died in such an ugly way, who knows what evil intentions he has, just waiting to harm others!"

Xu Qing frowned when he heard this. The old man next to him was kind enough to explain the situation to him, and only then did he understand the situation.

It turned out that Wang Qiao's wife, Li, had died of tuberculosis the day before. When Wang Qiao's mother and his two children were dealing with Li's funeral, unexpectedly, Li, who was lying in the thatched cottage, suddenly got up from the dead body, ran to the gate of the Wang family courtyard, and wandered back and forth.

The villagers had never seen such a weird thing before, and they were all terrified. So they united and planned to report to the police or ask a sorcerer to handle the matter.

Xu Qing's heart moved when he heard this. Pretending to be dead?

This is really a coincidence that someone meets a ferryman while crossing the river!

He immediately stepped forward, raised his neck and looked around.

Don't you want to hire a mage? No need to bother, I'm one!

When everyone heard this, they thought, "What nonsense! How can a young man like you, who doesn't even have any hair on his mouth, be as capable as the magician?"

"Young man, this is no joke. The one from Wang Qiao's family is a living tuberculosis ghost!"

A living tuberculosis ghost? Xu Qing was delighted to hear this description. If a living zombie were in front of you, wouldn't you be afraid? Why would you be afraid of a tuberculosis ghost?

Without a word, he asked the villagers to lead the way, and the horses behind him followed him closely. The horses were smart and knew who was more capable, much more discerning than humans!
Everyone loved to watch the fun but was also afraid of being haunted by ghosts, so a group of people held knives and sticks, and some even lit torches, and followed Xu Qing in a noisy manner.

When they arrived at Wang Qiao's house, Xu Qing looked back.

Well! A group of people hid a hundred steps away, no one dared to come forward.

In front of the Lushewa Courtyard, Li, with his eyes cloudy and sunken, was wandering around the yard like a walking corpse.

Xu Qing moved closer and could still hear the murmur of "Wang Qiao. Wang Qiao".

Li's mouth remained tightly closed, and the sound seemed to come from her chest.

"Sir, my mother didn't harm anyone after her death. It's just that my father left home for many days, and I didn't get to see my mother before she left, so..."

There were only three people left around Xu Qing, namely Wang Qiao's mother and his two children. The one who spoke now was Wang Qiao's twelve-year-old son Wang Liang.

Even if the person you love the most turns into a ghost, you will not be afraid of him or her, but you will feel sad.

Xu Qing looked at the dishes and chopsticks placed in front of the door and knew that Wang Qiao's parents and children still treated Li as a living person.

It's a pity that the Li in front of him is just an ordinary walking corpse who relies on a breath of death to maintain his movement. He is no different from an earthbound spirit. Both are bound by obsessions, which is why they cannot transcend.

Xu Qing had seen many corpses, so his eyes were sharp. After a while of observation, he figured out the cause of the disease.

The next step is to prescribe the right medicine.

Just this prescription.
Xu Qing looked back at the tightly wrapped coffin in the carriage, and then glanced at Wang Qiao's old mother and children.

This prescription is probably a bit too strong. It’s okay for the dead, but I’m afraid it’s hard for the living to bear!
Otherwise, why not hide it from the living and bury Wang Qiao somewhere else, so that they won't lose their mother and daughter-in-law, and suffer the pain of losing their father and son?

Xu Qing thought for a moment and finally shook his head in rejection.

The husband went out to find a cure for his wife's illness, but died unexpectedly in a foreign land. His wife was unaware of the situation. Even after her death, she still missed her husband's safety, so she stood outside the door and waited for him.

She never hurt anyone when she was alive, and she held her breath after her death, just to wait for the person she wanted to see. At the moment of farewell between life and death, was she going to miss this little thought?

As for Wang Qiao's family.
When a person dies, the light goes out. Instead of letting them worry about the "missing" Wang Qiao and spend all their energy looking for him every day, it is better to let them experience the pain of separation as soon as possible, so that they don't have a place to worship and miss him in the future.

"Sir, can my mother be saved?"

"Yes, once she sees someone, she will naturally rest in peace."

"Who?" the old man and the child asked almost at the same time.

Xu Qing did not respond, but reached out to pull the coffin out of the carriage, then untied the cloth and opened the coffin lid in front of everyone.

"father!"

"Qiao Nan!"

Stopping several people who wanted to rush forward, Xu Qing quietly watched Li wandering at the door.

Li seemed to have sensed something and the frequency of her muttering Wang Qiao's name became much faster. She staggered over and lay down beside the coffin. When the two dead people met, there was no movement.

Xu Qing saw clearly that at this moment, Li's lips, which had been tightly closed, opened a tiny gap, and the last breath that was wrapped in her throat after death completely dissipated as her obsession faded.

At this time, the winter was over and spring was back. The north was getting warmer and wild geese flying home were chuckled in the sky. Xu Qing paid out of his own pocket to perform a ritual for the loving couple who met and buried them free of charge.

After the ritual was completed, he had two high-quality red ropes in the shape of a human figure in his hands.

Wherever the red string is tied, no matter how far apart they are, they can feel the person they miss.

Xu Qing was alone and had no one to hang him with, so he simply tied two red ropes on his wrists, one on the left and one on the right. Then he found that he always subconsciously put his hands in his sleeves. The key point was that the weather was not cold, and he, a zombie, was not afraid of the cold.

Seeing that it was not a good thing to have his left and right hands always stuck together, Xu Qing had no choice but to throw both ropes into the map of mountains and rivers to get some peace and quiet.

(End of this chapter)