Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 24 Approaching, Encounter

Xiang Shang's family was well-off; in a way, the Xiang family was Chen Miao's uncle who had taken a different path.

When the demolition occurred, the Xiang family received a batch of compensation money, but Xiang Shang's father did not buy a house or stocks. Instead, he partnered with someone to buy a sand dredging vessel!

The savings that Uncle Chen Miao had accumulated over nearly nine years were gone in just three years for the Xiang family!

Like Chen Miao's uncle, Xiang Shang's father also had great courage.

After the river was cleaned up, private mining was no longer allowed. Most of the sand mining plant owners either quit or went to other areas where the regulations had not yet been implemented to resume their old business.

Xiang Shang's father, however, was different. He invested most of his earnings from several years of sand mining into a large vessel that met the requirements for river dredging and registered it with a relevant company.

Thus, Xiang Shang's father transformed himself from an illegal sand miner into a river dredging operator.

Although the sand that has been cleared out can only be sold to the relevant departments at a low price, the large quantity and few competitors make up for it!
This allowed the Xiang family to take off immediately.

Because they had too much money, Xiang Shang's family moved away from Tianmen County and went to the city to develop their business.

Over the years, because they have money, the Xiang family has been involved in various industries, and river dredging has become marginalized.

Therefore, Xiang Shang doesn't need to worry about how he will live the rest of his life.

In Xiang Shang's father's words, "I'll let you play until you're 35. If you can't build your own career, then learn to do the family business."

In real life, if you can't find a job, you have to go home and inherit the family fortune.

As for the relationship between Xiang Shang and Chen Miao, it was the relationship between Chen Miao's father's generation and Xiang Shang's father.

Actually, even if Chen Miao didn't work in the funeral industry, Xiang Shang's father could have arranged other things for Chen Miao, but Chen Miao still chose what he liked.

In retrospect, it seems that his affection for her did not disappoint him.

More than ten minutes later, Chen Miao and Xiang Shang arrived at the north of the city.

Motorcycles are indeed much faster than cars.

Upon arriving at the pedestrian street, Chen Miao's first words upon getting off the bike were: "If you don't want me to hold a memorial service for you, then you'd better behave yourself when you ride your bike from now on!"

Xiang Shang had no choice but to park the car.

"I'm just so excited about buying a new car!"

Listening to Xiang Shang's thoughts, Chen Miao gained some understanding of the concept of telepathy.

Judging from the situation of Uncle and Xiang Shang, having a telepathic connection doesn't yield much information. They may have a lot on their minds, but Chen Miao can only hear one or two sentences spoken when their emotions are running high.

However, Chen Miao thought of something: if combined with the Heart-to-Heart Talisman, to what extent could the telepathic connection be achieved?
Soon, Xiang Shang, who had parked his car, came over.

Chen Miao glanced at his car and pointed to the two helmets on it.

"Aren't you wearing a helmet?"

"No need, it would be too much trouble."

Chen Miao shook his head and didn't say anything. Anyway, Xiang Shang had plenty of money; if he lost it, he could just buy another one.

"By the way, what are you doing here on the pedestrian street?"

Xiang Shang asked, casually turning the car keys hanging on his finger.

"Buy something."

"what?"

"I've recently started learning how to draw talismans and I'm planning to buy some talisman paper and cinnabar. Do you have any connections?"

Chen Miao did not hide what he was going to do.

"Drawing talismans? Your funeral home still offers that service?"

Xiang Shang looked surprised.

"It's just my own hobby. I'm asking you a question, do you have any connections?"

What kind of connections are you referring to?

"I want to buy some good quality handmade wood pulp yellow paper and high-quality cinnabar."

Chen Miao thought for a moment and then said.

“I see… Cinnabar is easy to get. A friend of mine owns a Chinese medicine shop in the city, so he should have some connections. As for the yellow mounting paper, I don’t know anything about it. I’ll ask my friends to see if they know anything about it.”

Chen Miao nodded and walked into a shop selling incense and candle offerings.

Because of the Laomu Temple in Jingshan, north of the city, there are many such shops in Tianmen County. The Laomu Temple does not restrict worshippers from bringing their own offerings, so the shops at the foot of the mountain often have better sales than those on the mountain.

Of course, good sales don't necessarily mean more money than those in the mountains.

Upon entering the shop, Chen Miao walked to the counter where incense sticks were displayed; the glass cabinet contained all kinds of incense sticks.

Coarse and fine, long and short, sandalwood, agarwood, cypress, and rosewood, etc.

"What would you like to buy, sir?"

Chen Miao pointed to the sandalwood.

How much is a bundle of these?

"Fifty-one bundles."

"Are there any more expensive ones?"

"There aren't any cheap ones left... uh, what did you say?"

The shop assistant asked in surprise.

"I asked if there was anything of better quality."

Chen Miao smiled.

"Oh, yes, yes."

The shop assistant went inside to look for it, feeling a little embarrassed.

He really didn't expect Chen Miao to ask such a question. Let alone agarwood, people who come to buy other types of incense only ask if there are any cheaper ones. He's never seen anyone ask if there are any more expensive ones.

If you really want to buy high-quality goods, you shouldn't come here.

Fortunately, the boss still had some of his best stock.

Not long after, the shop assistant brought out another bundle of incense sticks.

Chen Miao took a look and found that it was indeed of much better quality than the ones in the cabinet.

"how much is this?"

"Five hundred a bundle."

"Are there any more expensive ones?"

"That's all. We have expensive agarwood and sandalwood. If you want some, I can get them for you."

Chen Miao shook his head. "This bundle will do. Could you give me a bundle of red string instead?"

Seeing that Chen Miao was so agreeable, the shop assistant didn't say much and directly took out a small bundle of red rope.

"Xiang Shang, pay the money."

Xiang Shang, who was playing with the bracelet in the shop, was stunned when he heard this.

"You buy things, and you expect me to pay?"

"Just tell me if you're going to pay or not!"

Chen Miao looked at Xiang Shang with a smile, a gesture that left Xiang Shang somewhat puzzled.

"Could it be that this kid is going to treat us to dinner later? If I don't pay, will he back out?"

With this in mind, Xiang Shang decided to take a gamble, so he took out his phone and scanned the QR code.

But when Chen Miao walked out of the shop with the incense, Xiang Shang didn't hear anything about inviting him to dinner.

"Fuck!"

Xiang Shang took off and chased after him.

Before he could even speak, he saw that Chen Miao had a peach charm tied with a red string in his hand.

"for you."

Xiang Shang accepted the peach charm.

"what is this?"

"Peach charms".

"Is this thing worth five hundred dollars?"

Xiang Shang looked at the crudely made peach charms with a "you're kidding me" expression.

"I made it myself, so tell me if it's worth it or not!"

"Sanshui, when did you become so shameless?"

Xiang Shang pocketed the peach charm, walked up and grabbed Chen Miao by the neck, but didn't mention money again.

After that, Chen Miao and Xiang Shang strolled around the pedestrian street for a while.

Xiang Shang's sudden appearance made Chen Miao give up the idea of ​​going to the Yin-Yang Shop.

If this gets noticed, it might implicate Xiang Shang.

To Chen Miao's surprise, Xiang Shang and he left in a hurry after only walking around for less than ten minutes.

When Chen Miao asked him, he remained secretive, unaware that his true thoughts had already been revealed... he was going to become a simp!

But for Chen Miao, it's better that he left.

Immediately, he took out a hat and sunglasses from his bag, put them on, and walked into the deep alley of the pedestrian street.

As you walk further in, the number of people decreases.

In the alleys deep within the pedestrian street, most of the houses are still owner-occupied residences, and the few shops that exist are mostly necessities like tobacco and alcohol supermarkets.

After walking for about ten minutes, Chen Miao finally saw the shop with the wooden sign that read "Break Yin and Yang".

Below the three characters "断阴阳" (Duàn Yáng Yīn), there is also an octagonal pattern.

It was only three o'clock in the afternoon, but the shop door was tightly closed.

Chen Miao looked around, walked to a small key-cutting shop, and took out the keys to his office and dormitory.

"How much does it cost to make a key?"

"Five yuan a handful."

"Make two."

The experienced key cutter rummaged through his toolbox with Chen Miao's key in hand, and soon found two template keys without grooves.

After comparing the grooves on the key, the master craftsman began to cut grooves with his naked eye.

Just as Chen Miao was about to ask a question, he suddenly saw someone walking towards the shop that performed the Yin-Yang divination, which instantly caught his attention.

The person knocked on the door a few times, and when no one answered, knocked a few more times.

Then, the person actually walked over.

Upon arriving, Chen Miao was able to clearly see the appearance of the person who had come.

He wore thick, round-framed glasses and had a slight rosacea, but it wasn't very prominent.

Short hair, with uneven shades of black and white.

His clothes were a bit loose and baggy, making him look somewhat sloppy.

"Hey bro, can I ask you something?"

After the middle-aged man with glasses walked over, he handed a cigarette to the old man who cut keys.

After the master craftsman took the document, he asked, "Do you know where the people from that shop went?"

The old master looked up and glanced at it.

"I don't know. The door has been closed for the past two days, but I saw the lights were on at night, so they should be back in the evening."

"Oh, I see. Thanks, brother."

After the middle-aged man with glasses finished speaking with a smile, he turned around, exchanged a glance with Chen Miao, and left.

The bespectacled man had a peaceful gaze, unlike the middle-aged man with triangular eyes.

"Here you go, it's done."

Just as Chen Miao was pondering who the middle-aged man with glasses was, the old master interrupted him.

Chen Miao took the key and scanned the code to pay ten yuan.

As he was about to leave, he asked, "Master, what was that shop doing?"

Without even looking up, the experienced craftsman said, "You see, the boss is quite capable."

"Oh, I see. What's the boss's name? I can recommend someone to come and take a look."

"Zhong Fa".

After muttering a few words, Chen Miao turned and left.

……

P.S.: Today's update is being posted early; tomorrow's update will be at 22:00 as usual.
(End of this chapter)