"Perhaps."
Shang Shaoyang by himself at the cemetery slope, discussing ghosts with other ghosts, even felt so enthused at times that he wanted to spend the night at Wujue Slope to see if there really were any ghosts.
Xu Qing, a poor zombie born in the graveyard, had to run the shop Immortal Hall every day to earn incense money to support his family. He had no time to waste with a wealthy young man like this.
Besides, he had plenty of ghosts to see at home already, and they could even sing and dance, so why bother looking elsewhere for entertainment?
Xu Qing ignored Shang Shaoyang. After handling Yu Qiulan's funeral arrangements, he hurriedly drove the hearse back to Linjiang County.
Shang Shaoyang had no choice but to follow back, feeling a bit dispirited.
The next day, Xu Qing arrived at the newly established refugee settlement Xin Yao Lane, accompanied by constables from the Government Office.
Distributing relief food requires people to maintain order; otherwise, there might be looting incidents.
Xu Qing wasn't afraid, but in the eyes of outsiders, he was just a scholar with no strength to bind a chicken, so how could he fend off hungry refugees?
Tang Zhou, with nothing better to do, came along with Zhao Zhonghe to Xin Yao Lane.
Setting up the relief tent, the grain store's workers and the Government Officials helped to transport the funeral shop's grain into the tent.
In Yong Dynasty, one tael of silver could exchange for about one hundred and fifty pounds of rice and flour. Xu Qing's two hundred taels of silver, added to Shang Shaoyang's additional five hundred, bought no less than a hundred thousand pounds of rice and flour.
Tang Zhou watched until his eyes turned green: "So much grain, how much silver would this cost? Even if I worked as a Master for ten years, I might not save up this much silver."
Xu Qing believed these words; a Master's salary in a Government Office would at most be three or four taels of silver a month, fifty taels tops a year, and it would indeed be impossible to save seven hundred taels of silver coins in ten years unless one engaged in corrupt practices.
"I heard the Master has reformed since having both a son and a daughter and started doing good deeds to build virtue for his children. So why are you now coveting mundane silver again?"
Tang Zhou's pointed mustache tilted to one side in shame and annoyance, and he retorted in his hometown dialect: "What are you talking? Reforming like I was corrupt before!"
Xu Qing was surprised: "Master, you're not from the Jin Sect local?"
Tang Zhou smirked and said, "My hometown is in Guanzhong. Years ago, I fled here to Jin Sect. Luckily, I recognized a few words and knew a bit of literature, so I managed to settle here."
The two chatted idly until the Government Officials had moved all the grain, and Zhao Zhonghe, supporting the hilt of his sword, walked over.
"You two are at leisure, while we suffer the toil and hardship."
"Look at Chief Zhao's words. Helping Shopkeeper Xu relieve the people is accumulating good karma. How can it be bitter and tiring?"
Zhao Zhonghe grinned: "It's easy to talk when standing still. The Master's words sound so nice; why don't I see the Master carrying rice on his back?"
As he approached, Zhao Zhonghe suddenly sniffed the air.
"What's that smell? Brother Xu smells better than the young ladies and wives on the street?"
Xu Qing's face darkened: What kind of talk is this!
Tang Zhou laughed: "Do you think everyone's like you, all stinky! Shopkeeper Xu is a scholar, a real academic, naturally more refined than a rough person like you."
Zhao Zhonghe sniffed his sleeve. Normally, he wouldn't notice any smell, but with Xu Qing's peculiar fragrance nearby, his own sweat stench became all the more obvious.
"There does seem to be a smell... Oh well, I'll have to go to the Jade Hue Lodge someday to buy some cosmetics to apply."
"No, please don't! You applying cosmetics would be like a bear wearing flowers, a complete waste of good stuff!" Tang Zhou argued reasonably: "You might as well use the money for the cosmetics to treat the brothers to some drinks..."
The two bickered for a while. Turning around, they found that Xu Qing had already run to the relief tent and set up a bulletin board.
Zhao Zhonghe squinted and saw that the Funeral Shop's charitable event was now underway on Underground Street. For life's matters, choose the Xu's shop...
Simple and understandable slogans, with the shop's philosophy below, offering care to the lonely and aid to the starving refugees, accumulating benevolence, blessings for descendants...
"This Shopkeeper Xu is still thinking about his business," Tang Zhou had grown accustomed to it.
Zhao Zhonghe joked: "Speaking of which, the Master and Shopkeeper Xu seem familiar. If the Master ever visits the funeral shop, Shopkeeper Xu might even offer a discount."
Tang Zhou's face darkened upon hearing this, and he replied angrily: "That discount is better left for Chief Zhao to use! My fortune is thin, I can't handle it!"
In the relief tent, Xu Qing held a small broken bowl, continually scooping rice and flour into the container.
Each time he filled a container, he lifted the curtain to distribute the grain to the refugees with sallow faces.
Zhao Zhonghe and others wanted to help but were sent outside the tent under the guise of maintaining order.
Initially, Xu Qing was slow with the small bowl for distributing grain, but as the relief food increased, his speed also picked up.
Eventually, a single bowl of rice and flour could fill hundreds, even thousands of containers.
By the end, Xu Qing had no choice but to let the Government Officials help distribute the food, while he was inside, transferring the grain from the bags to wide-mouthed large casks for easier access.
Zhao Zhonghe, being a Meridian Passage Martial Master, found the four or five hundred-pound casks light in his hands.
After two continuous days of relief distribution, the hundred thousand pounds of grain were nearly depleted.
At this time, the small gray earthen bowl in Xu Qing's hands slowly transformed into a pale yellow, with the interior space expanded to the size of a room.
On the last day of dismantling, Shang Shaoyang, dressed in white, came to the relief tent.
"I thought you were just talking, maybe you'd really help these people, but surely you wouldn't give away all the grain and money. Now it seems I judged you by my own standards."
Xu Qing, busy packing up, had no interest in listening to a rich young master's reflections.
"Don't say this and that. If you have nothing to do, help tidy the grain bags over there, sweep the ground, and can't you see I have urgent matters here? How can a young master from a wealthy family be so insensitive..."
"..."
Shang Shaoyang's eyelids twitched slightly. No one had ever dared to command him so, especially to do menial work fit for servants.
After a moment of silence, Shang Shaoyang laid down his sword and started working in the dusty grain bag area.
After dismantling and loading the relief tent, Xu Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Public relief wasn't suited for a zombie like him; he was more suited to secretly distributing grain.
As a zombie feared by all, who could only hide beneath human skin, maintaining stealth was very important.
After handling everything, Xu Qing turned to the errand boy from Mr. Feng's mansion and said, "It's still early. I'll go to Second Master later, so I'll come by later in the evening."
Dragged into hard labor for half a day, the errand boy; unsure, wiped his sweat and said, "Mr. Xu, that thing is most rampant at night, can this really be done..."
"That's exactly why it's done at night. If I went during the day, would it even come out?"
Xu Qing couldn't admit he also preferred nighttime visits. Pondering a bit, he continued, "Just tell Second Master this, he'll understand."
After the errand boy left, the once white-clad now dirt-clad Shang Shaoyang asked, "What secret are you two keeping? What business must be done at night?"
Xu Qing shot a sidelong glance at the curious Shang Shaoyang and said, "Nothing major, just performing a ritual at Flower and Bird Street, which is one of my funeral shop's main business activities."
"Flower and Bird Street?" Shang Shaoyang's eyes suddenly lit up. "I heard Flower and Bird Street is haunted. I even went to see yesterday, but found nothing unusual."
"You're conducting a ritual on Flower and Bird Street at night. Aren't you afraid that the ghost will trouble you?"
Xu Qing smiled faintly, "What is a ghost? A person becomes a ghost after death. It couldn't do anything while alive; why should I fear it in death?"
"If I encounter a ghost, I'll fight it. If I win, great. If I lose, I'm no different from it."
"It's nothing more than death. What's to fear?"
Being a zombie, Xu Qing spoke boldly.
Shang Shaoyang, not fully understanding, felt his blood boil. His spirit surged to his head; the words suited his heart perfectly.
"If Brother Xu doesn't fear death, how can I fear it? Tonight, I'll go with you, brother!"