“Are you asleep?”

“No.”

“Weren’t you the one who asked me to come keep you company while you sleep?”

“Can’t sleep.”

“Oh.”

“How long have you been alive?”

“Two hundred years, but I’ve spent most of that time lying in a coffin. If you really think about it, the time I’ve actually spent outside living a proper life is less than twenty years.”

“What do you think of your boss?”

“Not much. He’s so petty.”

“I think so too.”

“Did he scold you today?”

“I was in the wrong.”

“Oh.”

“Actually, I’ve always been curious, what kind of person is the one your boss and you often talk about?”

“What kind of person?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s put it this way, if he were in your boss’s position yesterday, he wouldn’t have waited for me to make a move. He would have killed that puppet himself. He wouldn’t be afraid of exposing anything, and he wouldn’t have come to ask me why I was meddling.”

“Oh, I see.” Bai Yingying pondered for a moment, and said, “A person like that probably won’t live long, right?”

Tang Shi was silent.

“Actually, the boss has many shortcomings. Sometimes he’s not manly enough, he’s too cautious in his actions, and he’s always calculating things in his mind after doing them. But all in all, he’s actually okay. Everyone has their own different lives, and naturally, everyone has their own different personalities.

He likes to be careful, like a squirrel who likes to bring things back to his home, enjoying this feeling of accumulation and protecting this feeling, because he came from an orphanage. He originally had nothing.”

“You can understand him?”

“I wouldn’t say I understand him, but to be honest, I don’t want to turn myself into someone like you are now. I like to play on my phone every day, play games, watch movies, and enjoy my current life, making up for the two hundred years I spent lying in a coffin. The boss can still indulge and satisfy me in this regard.”

“Isn’t a life without pursuit or excitement boring?”

“Not everyone yearns for excitement and passion. Everyone should have their own way of life, as long as they like it.

To be honest, sometimes I can see that the boss is also restraining himself, and I’m very worried that the boss won’t be able to hold back and will turn into someone like you and the one you talk about.”

“Scared?”

“Yeah, I’m scared.”

“You’re someone who has died once, what’s there to be afraid of? What else is there to fear? He’s not to my taste. He looks peaceful and refined, but deep down he’s full of the selfish thoughts of a petty man, only thinking about himself. To put it bluntly, he’s selfish.”

“The boss is alright.”

“You disagree?”

“I disagree. I know that when my Madam reached the pinnacle of merit and went to hell, she must have told the boss to get rid of me, but the boss hasn’t done that.

And I also know that because I’m in the shop, the number of ghosts that come to the shop has decreased a lot, and the boss hasn’t driven me away.”

“That’s because he’s using you as a pillow. He wants to sleep soundly at night.”

“Isn’t someone who’s willing to give up performance for the sake of sleep quality a good person?”

Hearing this,

Tang Shi was stunned for a moment,

For some reason,

The figure of the person who liked to sit in front of the underworld shop basking in the sun while holding a chair appeared in his mind,

The sunlight shone on him,

Like an old grandfather.

………………

No matter what the problem with the faceless woman was, at least it was temporarily resolved. Now, all that was needed was to wait for the final result from Rong City.

Of course, this matter could wait, but the matter of moving couldn’t wait. Xu Qinglang had found a new address, near South Street in the center of Tong City, which was considered the commercial center in the hearts of the people of old Tong City, with a high flow of people.

Zhou Ze had received an invitation yesterday to attend Miss Liu’s memorial service. Zhou Ze wasn’t sure why he had also been invited. He hadn’t planned to go, but after Xu Qinglang saw the signature, he strongly demanded that Zhou Ze had to go, because the shop he was interested in was the Liu family’s property.

Discussing business with her family at someone’s funeral seemed a bit inappropriate, but based on the principle of saving money where possible, Zhou Ze agreed.

Taking a car to the address on the invitation, Zhou Ze found that he wasn’t going to the funeral home, but driving to a location in the countryside. It was a villa built in the middle of the fields.

It was currently the season when rapeseed flowers were in full bloom. The villa was set among the sea of flowers, giving off a very lonely feeling.

There weren’t many people who came. There were only four or five cars parked at the door.

After Zhou Ze got out of the car and walked in, he saw Cui Yilang and several other members of the Horror Story Lovers Association standing in the courtyard. They were standing together, chatting in low voices.

No one greeted Zhou Ze, and no one came to collect the gift money. Several scattered groups of people were there, as if they were having a picnic in the suburbs.

The exterior of the house looked no different from the three-story houses built by rural families near Tong City, but after walking in, he found that the interior was completely in the style of Western European decoration.

From the beams to the coffee tables and cups, it made people feel as if they had walked into the background of a British drama.

Music began to play at this time. It wasn’t the common "funeral music," but Chopin’s "Farewell Waltz." Although it spoke of farewell, the melody was much lighter than the domestic funeral music.

Several women wearing black veils came down from upstairs. They were the hosts.

A man dressed as a priest, holding a Bible, walked to the center.

Everyone gathered around to share the sorrow.

Zhou Ze poured himself a cup of coffee at the nearby self-service counter and took small sips.

Domestic funeral customs have undergone several reforms in modern times, and can even be said to have been subverted several times. The vast majority of regions have long banned burials.

In the countryside, funerals are held in a shed set up in front of one’s own courtyard. In the city, some people do it in their own community or simply rent a venue in a funeral home.

This Western-style funeral was the first time Zhou Ze had encountered it.

Zhou Ze remembered hearing someone say before that there were many families in some Western countries that had "funeral workshops." The first floor of their house was used for normal life and also rented out as a mourning hall. At the same time, they also provided services such as collecting corpses and corpse beautification.

Looking at it now, it seemed to be following this style, but in China, most people still couldn’t accept it.

When it came time to pay respects to the deceased’s remains, everyone lined up and went over one by one. If you were on good terms, you could hold the coffin lid and say a few words. If you were on bad terms, you could walk over, sigh, and pretend to be sad.

When it was Zhou Ze’s turn, Zhou Ze looked into the coffin and found Miss Liu lying there neatly dressed, wearing a black礼裙 dress, really like she was asleep.

What surprised Zhou Ze a little was that Miss Liu had fallen from the stairs in front of him. No matter how you used words to describe it, you couldn’t hide the fact that she had died in an extremely tragic state, but Miss Liu’s remains looked very exquisite and the restoration was very good.

This couldn’t help but remind Zhou Ze of when he had died, the mortician who had impatiently put on makeup on him with an eyebrow pencil. He had never enjoyed this kind of treatment.

The dead can’t give bad reviews, it’s really unfair.

After the viewing of the remains, everyone went to the side hall for a meal, a buffet style, but there wasn’t much to eat, just some pastries and roasted sausages to serve as afternoon tea to satisfy hunger. It was impossible for you to drink and eat to your heart’s content here.

Zhou Ze poured himself a glass of wine, drank some, and then walked out of the side hall. He planned to find Miss Liu’s family members to talk about renting the shop.

Xu Qinglang said that he would rent it for a year first, and then Zhou Ze would pay him rent monthly. This was also because Zhou Ze couldn’t come up with so much money at once. Zhou Ze also had to reciprocate and try to negotiate a price if he could.

But after searching around, Zhou Ze couldn’t find the family members who had appeared wearing black纱 veils earlier. Instead, he saw the priest standing at the staircase smoking a cigarette.

When Zhou Ze walked over, the priest also handed Zhou Ze a cigarette.

The two men stood together, smoking cigarettes.

The priest wasn’t a foreigner. He was also Chinese, about thirty years old, with a somewhat tender face.

Without much communication, the priest walked away after smoking. Zhou Ze extinguished his cigarette butt and happened to see that there seemed to be stairs leading down below the staircase.

It should be a basement.

Ordinary Chinese families generally don’t have the habit of building basements. Out of curiosity about this place, Zhou Ze still walked down and saw the elevator inside. Next to the elevator, there was also a metal door.

The door was open. He pushed it open and walked in, immediately feeling a drop in temperature.

In front of Zhou Ze, there were two steel beds and a freezer, similar to the style of a hospital morgue, but with some other equipment.

It gave the feeling that this was a slaughterhouse.

Walking to the side of the steel bed, Zhou Ze reached out and touched it. This should be where dead people lay. Miss Liu should have laid here before and received her last beauty treatment in life.

This was the beauty salon for the dead.

“Sir, this place is not open to the public.”

A young man in a gray suit stood at the door and said.

Zhou Ze nodded apologetically. He had been presumptuous.

“Have we met somewhere before?” Zhou Ze asked, because he felt that the man looked familiar.

“Perhaps. This is my business card. Of course, we don’t hope you have the opportunity to use the phone number on it.”

The young man handed Zhou Ze a business card.

The name "Chen Zesheng" was written on the business card, with a note saying he was the director of the Tong City Western-style Funeral Home.

“Is business good?” Zhou Ze asked.

For a long time, others had been asking Zhou Ze "Is business good?" Now Zhou Ze finally had the opportunity to ask others.

Of course, Zhou Ze also knew that when others asked him "Is business good?" they were actually thinking:

This idiot actually opened a broken bookstore in this broken place. It would be a miracle if business was good!

“It’s a bit deserted. After all, not many people in China accept this kind of funeral custom,” Chen Zesheng said with a wry smile.

“Mm.”

Zhou Ze finished asking, feeling comfortable.

“By the way, the deceased’s family members are on the second floor,” Chen Zesheng reminded.

“Okay, thank you.”

Zhou Ze left the basement.

However, just as Zhou Ze walked up the stairs, the hand holding the business card suddenly trembled. He lowered his head again and glanced at the name on the business card:

Chen Zesheng.

It seemed that

The one who committed suicide with Miss Liu the next day

Was also surnamed Chen?

…………

Closing the metal door,

The young man in a suit and leather shoes lay on the steel bed,

He reached out and gently rubbed his right cheek. The skin was already wrinkled and cracked, and there was green shaping liquid flowing out from inside.

He shook his head,

And sighed:

“As soon as I die, the two morticians at home start slacking off,

How can we do business like this?”