Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 1: Notes on Becoming a God in the Mortal World
After taking his package from the shelf, Chen Miao greeted the gatekeeper at the East Gate and headed back.

On the way, he saw Old Wang, the cold storage manager, hurrying towards the office area on the second floor of the business hall, as if something was wrong.

It's probably not that he resigned, since the position of cold storage manager is relatively easy, especially after the business volume of Tianmen Funeral Home has declined significantly in the past year, making it even more leisurely.

Moving to a different location would be a losing proposition.

With this guess in mind, Chen Miao continued walking into the museum.

Chen Miao works at a place called 'Tianmen Funeral Home', which is one of two funeral homes in Tianmen County.

A year ago, Tianmen Funeral Home was the only funeral home in Tianmen County. Later, after the Fushou Funeral Center was built in the north of the county, Tianmen Funeral Home was no longer the only one.

Tianmen Funeral Home has been established for nearly ten years, and many people in Tianmen County know about it. However, the fact that it has been established for a long time is not entirely a good thing when applied to a funeral home.

The longer the time, the more outdated the equipment, the less advanced the environment, and the more basic the functions.

The newly established Fushou Funeral Center represents modernization, new equipment, and comprehensive functions.

As a result, the business volume of Tianmen Funeral Home declined sharply during the year, and the staff also began to leave.

As far as Chen Miao knew, there was already a mortician with nearly 20 years of experience, a hearse driver with over 10 years of experience, and a funeral director with 5 years of experience who had resigned.

Of course, leaving the company is the most respectable way to put it at Tianmen Funeral Home; you could also say they were poached.

Those who remain at their posts, except for Chen Miao, have all received offers of employment from Fushou Funeral Center, and it may not be long before more people leave.

As for why Chen Miao didn't receive it, it's not because Chen Miao, as a funeral director, is unpopular.

It can be said that those who need to be certified to work in the funeral industry are all scarce talents.

The reason why they didn't recruit Chen Miao was because Tianmen Funeral Home was owned by Chen Miao's uncle, and Fushou Funeral Center naturally didn't want to make a fool of themselves.

Their approach was indeed correct.

Chen Miao chose the funeral industry in college and became a funeral director, partly because of his uncle's funeral home.

The other reason is Chen Miao's grandfather.

Chen Miao lost both parents at a young age, and his grandmother passed away early. He lived with his grandfather during his childhood.

When Chen Miao was in high school, because Tianmen County was a distance from the village and it was not safe to ride a bicycle, Chen Miao stayed at his uncle's house.

But less than half a year after Chen Miao left his grandfather, he was suddenly struck by the devastating news that his grandfather had passed away!
Chen Miao went back with his uncle's family, but he started to have a fever as soon as he entered the house and was sent to his room to rest.

He drifted in and out of sleep several times. One time, after waking up, he suddenly heard that his grandfather was going to be buried, so he forced himself to go with him.

Strangely enough, after watching his grandfather being laid to rest, Chen Miao's fever subsided.

Since then, Chen Miao has developed a sense of awe and... curiosity about death!
Influenced by these two factors, Chen Miao chose funeral service as her major after high school.

In this way, it can be considered that they have entered the 'family business'.

After walking across the funeral home's square, Chen Miao arrived at a small office next to the main farewell hall.

There used to be two people here, but the other funeral director has left, so the office is now his alone.

Tear!

The package was torn open, revealing the books inside.

Upon seeing the six large characters on the book, a look of bewilderment appeared in Chen Miao's eyes.

If I remember correctly, he bought "If Your Eyes Deceive You".

But now, the cover reads "Notes on Becoming a God in the Mundane World"!
Did they send the wrong item?

Chen Miao did not ask the seller.

He saw a deal for this book in his classmates' group chat and got it for 0.01 yuan. Even if it was sent by mistake, does he have to ask the seller for a refund?

After rolling up the express delivery bag and throwing it into the trash can, Chen Miao looked at the book, which appeared to be at least five or six hundred pages long.

The book cover is not decorated much, with only six large silver characters, and there is not even author information or publisher information.

This is strange.

Even pirated books will have information such as the publisher printed on them. Chen Miao couldn't think of any other possibility for a book with only a title like this, except that it was printed by someone for fun.

Reaching out to touch the book, Chen Miao let out a soft exclamation.

"The cover material seems pretty good?"

He opened the book. Chen Miao had originally thought the first page would be a book introduction and author biography, but instead, he went straight into the main text.

The text at the top only says "Chapter 1" and there is no summary title.

Driven by curiosity, Chen Miao continued reading.

The content is written in the first person, consistent with the naming convention of 'notes' in the book title.

"Old Wang, the cold storage manager at the funeral home, called me and said he had something to do that night and asked me to cover his shift and check on the operation of the cold storage equipment when I had some free time."

The first paragraph alone captivated Chen Miao.

Whether it's 'funeral home', 'Old Wang', or 'cold storage', these are all familiar terms to him.

"This book tells the story of a funeral home?"

Chen Miao continued reading.

"It's just a matter of checking how the equipment is working; it's not a complicated thing. I agreed to Lao Wang's request."

"In the early morning, I remembered Lao Wang's instructions, so I took a flashlight and went to the cold storage. The funeral home was a bit chilly at night."

"Soon, I was put into the cold storage... I died."

"Uh."

Chen Miao was stunned by the plot development, but that wasn't what left him speechless.

He turned the pages a few more times, only to find they were all blank.

The entire book seems to contain only a small portion of content on the first page!
"A half-finished product? It's really just printed for fun?"

Chen Miao closed the book helplessly.

Buzz~ Buzz!

The phone rang.

I looked at my vibrating phone, then glanced at the closed book in my hand.

For some reason, Chen Miao thought of the passage he had just seen.

Chen Miao picked up his phone and chuckled inwardly when he saw the caller ID.

The call was from a salesperson in the business hall. After answering the phone, Chen Miao learned that a customer had been sent to the cold storage for preservation, and his family would be holding a memorial service in Yongning Hall in three days. He was asked to prepare for the memorial service.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Miao tossed the book aside and turned on his computer to check the guests' information.

[Deceased's Name: Qian Xiaomei]

【Age: 28】

Cause of death: Sudden death

[Occupation: Beauty Blogger]

[Family relationships...]

After reviewing the deceased's information, Chen Miao created a new document and began to think about the opening remarks for the memorial service.

After several revisions, Chen Miao finalized his opening remarks:

"Qian Xiaomei once said, 'Live each day to the fullest, like the colors of a rainbow.' Today, standing here, looking at her bright eyes and flowing skirt in the photo, we finally understand—she truly did it! Although fate cruelly pressed the pause button, the value of life is never measured by its length..."

These items should be given to the family members if they need them later.

When it comes to the deceased, nothing can be taken lightly, otherwise the family's fists will teach Chen Miao a lesson.

When he first started out, his uncle took the beatings and scoldings for him because of his carelessness, so Chen Miao always took this matter very seriously.

Buzz~buzz~
My phone vibrated again.

Chen Miao, who was correcting a typo, frowned, but still picked up the phone.

Chen Miao was taken aback when he saw the caller ID.

"Hey, Brother Wang, what's wrong?"

……

(End of this chapter)