I Only Want to Lie Flat But Am Forced to Cultivate Immortality-Chapter 252 - 142: Relying on the Banner, Corpse Roar Skill

Chapter 252: Chapter 142: Relying on the Banner, Corpse Roar Skill

When Xu Qing arrived at Master Feng’s house, he happened to see a few staff members tying four-season paper flowers.

This was something he was quite familiar with. Whenever there was a white event at someone’s house, they would take willow branches at the door and attach colorful, alternating yellow and white paper strips. The purpose was to ’announce the death’. freewebnσvel.cѳm

There were many nuances in announcing a death.

Besides the simplest method of attaching paper strips, some families would hang tongtian paper at the door for white events.

What is tongtian paper? It is folding old white flax paper, cutting the ends to form strips three fingers wide and one and a half feet long, linking them into a chain. This is called tongtian paper.

The quantity of tongtian paper is usually cut according to the age of the deceased, one strip for each year, plus one strip each for heaven and earth.

For example, if Emperor Longping died at the age of eighty-three, eighty-five strips would need to be cut during the death announcement.

Additionally, there are other considerations when hanging tongtian paper.

Normally, one should find a red-headed rope, tie one end, attach a piece of charcoal, and hang it on one side of the outer door.

If the deceased is male, it is hung on the left, if female, on the right.

The left side represents Yang, the right Yin, corresponding to male and female.

In front of Xu Qing were five bundles of tongtian paper, spreading out from the left side of the door in an eight-character shape for about ten feet, resembling a silver tree-lined scene.

After counting the paper strips, Xu Qing shifted his gaze to the tightly closed courtyard door.

At this moment, the previous couplet on the courtyard door had been torn off, replaced with a white piece of paper.

Xu Qing recognized this too. In the funeral business, it was called a ’door announcement’. A door announcement was a white paper posted at the door with the words ’obituary’ or ’funeral matters’, indicating the deceased’s name, gender, age, death anniversary, previous occupation, or social status.

In addition, some would include detailed funeral arrangements and dates.

The purpose of announcing the death was simple, to clearly inform family, friends, and neighbors that someone had died in the house, so they could come to offer condolences or assistance.

Though these things might seem unnecessary, they’ve endured to this day as part of funeral rites and thus must carry some inherent reason.

Enough idle talk; Xu Qing stood at the door and took a glance, getting a rough idea of how many people in this household had died, and whether they were male or female, and their ages!

"Five deceased, all young men, the oldest being forty-five, the youngest only twenty."

Xu Qing sighed in relief, it seemed like Master Feng was still tenaciously alive. He just didn’t know what relationship those five deceased had with him.

Next to him, Xuan Yu followed Xu Qing’s gaze to the paper decorations, and curiously said, "Did you secretly tell fortunes again?"

"Fortunes?" Xu Qing shook his head, "Fortunes can tell only three things. No upright person keeps busy telling fortunes for no reason..."

"Then how did you know this?"

Xu Qing chuckled and pointed to the decorations, "They told me."

"Paper decorations can talk?"

"You could say that."

Xu Qing suddenly thought of his senior brother, who worked as a forensic doctor in the Government Office, and commented, "Everything has a language. Even the dead can speak, so it’s no surprise that paper decorations can too."

While speaking, Xu Qing knocked on the courtyard door, and a staff member came to welcome him in.

The staff didn’t know Xu Qing, but he didn’t ask about his identity.

Because when a household has a white event, with white paper banners announcing the death at the door, it is generally assumed the door is open for visitors to pay respects.

Even if a stranger passing by wanted to come in to mourn, the hosts usually wouldn’t stop them, considered adhering to traditional customs and conventions.

Following the staff, Xu Qing entered through the courtyard gate, passed the screen wall, also known as the Xiao Wall, and reached the courtyard.

"Master Xu! Oh my, you are indeed a rare guest!"

When the steward saw Xu Qing, his heart sank. He thought to himself, what bad luck! Just recently mentioned Master Feng, and now here he is!

Fortunately, the steward quickly composed himself, pressing down his emotions, and came out to greet Xu Qing with a cupped fist.

"Steward He, it has been a while."

Given that there was a white event in the household, Xu Qing felt it inappropriate to greet warmly, so he returned the courtesy normally and followed the steward to the spirit hall, thinking to offer incense to the deceased first, before discussing serious matters.

Accompanied by Steward He, who was sweating profusely, Xu Qing reached the spirit hall and heard the sounds of a heated debate.

"Master Feng, let’s stick to the facts. Something went wrong with the goods during our Taian Escort Agency run, which is our fault. Regardless, the payment needs to be tripled, but regarding our lost personnel..."

"We must avenge our men, Master Feng. Please don’t stop me; whoever dares to stop me will become our Taian Escort Agency’s enemy!"

Xu Qing stopped outside the spirit hall and peered inside through the threshold. There, he saw a young man in his twenties leading several Escort Masters, confronting Master Feng.

"Young Master Xie, you don’t understand the intricacies of this matter. The Jinmen Gang is no longer what it used to be. The three branches of the Salt Gang in Jin Sect now have two branches under their control. The only one who could challenge them, Granny Cao, had her entire family wiped out a few months ago. Granny Cao had Grand Commandant He supporting her. Yet, nothing has come of it until now..."

Master Feng didn’t want to clarify too much, especially with rumors of a high-ranking Imperial Court official having co-opted the Jinmen Gang, but who dared speak of it openly?

Young Master Xie stiffened his neck, angrily saying, "I don’t care about any high-ranking official! In our line, we speak of trust with clients, loyalty within the escort agency, and rules within the trade. If the Jinmen Gang breaks these rules, I will take them down!"

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