Two lanterns, covered with blue wax paper, hung in front of the ancestral hall, casting a dim blue glow.
The broken threshold was discarded in the corridor, and a large incense burner lay overturned next to it, covered in ash.
The plaque was still there, its inscriptions barely discernible; the vermilion paint on the walls and pillars had faded. Weeds overran the courtyard, some reaching into the crevices of the roof tiles, while the copper bells at the eaves hung silently, unmoved by the wind.
A night owl screeched from the shadows; upon someone’s arrival, it flapped its wings and flew away.
Mo Li surveyed the surroundings; several burly men with clubs lay sprawled on the ground.
As he had entered, these men thought Mo Li was there to encroach on their territory, and had charged at him yelling angrily, only to end up in this state, along with painfully bruised buttocks, which made them look around in shock.
“Who’s there?”
“Did Chen Mazi send you to cause trouble?”
The questioning abruptly ceased as they saw their crooked-mouthed leader being pushed in by Lu Min.
Their leader’s face turned pale, his expression fearful.
Others, dressed as walking corpses, were continually chased in; some were covered in mud, some trembling uncontrollably, all cowering like quails.
Now there was no need to ask; they had clearly met a tough opponent.
The crowd fell instantly silent, their expressions not so much panicked as bewildered, like a stone finally settling.
โHad they never considered the possibility of trouble while deceiving people near Taijing?
Stealing and deceiving differed from murder; murder might be a spur-of-the-moment act driven by emotions, but a premeditated act was something people had at least considered the worst outcome for.
Seeing that Mo Li and his group didnโt come up to kill them, a glimmer of hope arose in their hearts.
โThis personโฆโ
The crooked-mouthed leader didnโt know how to address these formidable figures, and with a mournful face, he pleaded, “We were blind and offended you all, but truly, my brothers have no money, and even if you searched us completely, youโd find but a few copper coins.”
โIf you canโt make money, why continue to stay here?โ Mo Li suddenly asked.
The leader looked embarrassed and then defensively said, โGoing back means only farming and being exploited in various ways. You can hardly make a few coins a year. If the weather is good, you can barely feed yourself, let alone afford meat and wine. Here, although it’s sometimes feast, sometimes famine, at least during the feast times, we can truly fill our stomachs and have enough wine. It’s all about having no choice, enduring years of bitter life or choosing a few days of respite? We chose the latter.โ
Lu Min was stunned. Were the common peopleโs lives really so hard?
โNonsense!โ Meng Qi said coldly, โYou are corpse drivers from Xiangxi, not farmers. Where is this talk of farming coming from? Trying to cloak your own misdeeds with others’ hardships to bluff your way through?โ
The crowd was startled; the crooked-mouthed leader quickly said, “No, no, the real corpse drivers are only four or five in number; the rest areโฆ taught by me. They havenโt really driven corpses, just scared people passing by.”
He glanced at Meng Qi and Mo Li, adding sheepishly, โOn the Jianghu roads, everyone knows what corpse driving entails. We brothers have no home above or place to stand below; following me back to my hometown to restart our old trade, isnโt that all deceit? Deceiving the living for money is still better than deceiving the dead, isnโt itโฆโ
Lu Min was taken aback, unaware of what exactly Xiangxi corpse driving involved, let alone the intricacies within.
Mo Li casually used a secret voice transmission to inform him: “Corpse driving is when you divide a corpse into pieces to help someone transport it back home. At night, they pretend the corpse is walking; during the day, they rest. When they reach the clientโs home, no one is allowed in the mourning hall. They reassemble the corpse, expose the hands and feet, and fill the clothes with straw. They cover other parts with talisman papers, claiming that touching the corpse will cause it to come back to life. The family only gets to see it once before it’s quickly sealed in the coffin to be buried the next day. Some corpse drivers only bring back the head and limbs, disposing of the torso by burning or burying it.โ
Lu Min’s eyes widened in disbelief.
People especially valued the integrity of the corpse, which is why hanging was considered a lighter punishment than beheading in legal terms. Even those who took their own lives often chose to drown, hang themselves, or swallow gold rather than using a knife.
Lu Min shouted angrily, ready to grab and severely beat the man.
Seeing the situation turn sour, the crooked-mouthed leader hastily dodged.
“I have seen a few corpse drivers in my time,” Meng Qi slowed his speech, his voice carrying a bone-chilling coldness as he stared at the crooked-mouthed leader, who felt as if a knife were scraping across his face.
“At first, corpse drivers transported whole bodies, but then it changed…”
“Why did it change?” Mo Li couldn’t help but ask, curious about the customs of corpse driving that Master Qin had told him about, though he was not familiar with these specifics.
“Those who transported coffins back to their hometowns were scorned, while corpse drivers were feared. They stayed in designated houses provided by villages along the way, even the inns and tea houses they visited were run by their peers not involved in corpse driving. The relatives of the deceased respectfully offered gratuities, food, and visited during festivals, thanking them for three years until the mourning period ended. These benefits made them choose to be deceptive corpse drivers rather than simple transporters.”
Meng Qi looked mockingly at the disheveled crowd, continuing with a sneer, “Some didn’t believe they were really transporting corpses and secretly followed them to see if they carried any bodies. To deceive these onlookers, they sometimes abandoned the corpses entirely and fabricated accidents, claiming that disturbing a traveling corpse brought a curse, with death following within half a year. It’s not an exaggeration to say they were committing murder for profit.”
“No, no, I’ve never done that,” the crooked-mouthed leader denied outright, frantically defending himself. “That’s old news, forty years ago the authorities in Xiangxi arrested many, everyone charged and jailed, and they demolished all the corpse drivers’ shadowy dwellings throughout Xiangxi… There’s been no livelihood since then, which is why we ended up here deceiving people.”
Mo Li internally calculated; this was a decree from the Chu dynasty.
It was likely a response to the crimes of the corpse drivers, crushed with thunderous force.
Yet, the practice of corpse driving in Xiangxi was deeply ingrained, and some had slipped through the nets of the law, the crooked-mouthed leader evidently being one of them.
“Even if you went back to corpse driving now, you wouldn’t want to,” Meng Qi directly pierced their intentions, his smile not quite reaching his eyes, “As you just said, laboring hard day-to-day, how can it compare to the ease of deceiving people here? Staying near Zhu Hou Temple, pretending to be walking corpses to scare people, requires neither traversing mountains nor dealing with actual corpses.”
The leader was at a loss for words.
Indeed, why go back to the old trade when they could scare people and make quick money without much effort? Moreover, the Chu dynasty’s authorities had exposed their tricks long ago, and there were even more people who despised them back home; going back would be suicidal, wouldn’t it?
Mo Li glanced around and noticed everyone avoiding his gaze, realizing their predicament.
Meng Qi threw the men into a corner of the courtyard and proceeded into the temple.
Mo Li was about to follow, but with Mr. Jinshui and the carriage still outside the temple, and concerned that Lu Min might not handle these men alone, he decided to stay in the courtyard.
The Zhu Hou Temple was not severely damaged; the structure was largely intact, the main issue being neglect over the years.
Mo Li walked over to the incense burner and touched the dust on it.
The crooked-mouthed leader carefully observed their actions, suddenly struck by an ideaโcould these two be here to pay respects at Zhu Hou Temple?
This was common; many scholars visited annually, becoming easy targets for the crooked-mouthed leader and his men.
He sighed inwardly, initially thinking himself unlucky, the “easy prey” before him having been snatched from another group. With so many swindlers and robbers near Zhu Hou Temple, even if he didn’t act, others would, probably just lacking a bit of luck.
If these two were indeed here for Zhu Hou Temple, then there was no issue of luck involved; today was destined to be disastrous.
In this remote wilderness, Zhu Hou Temple was the best refuge, and if not for his and his men’s skills, they might not have been able to hold it. Now, this advantage had become a death sentence, how could the leader of the corpse drivers not be frustrated?
“I have some incense here; would you like to use it?”
The leader desperately signaled his men, and Mo Li turned unexpectedly to look at him.
The leader managed a strained smile, and his men quickly produced a box of incense from a corner.
It was a low-quality sandalwood, mixed with a pungent smell.
Mo Li lowered his eyes as he took the box, asking in surprise, “Why do you keep such things?”
The leader’s heart skipped a beat, but he had no choice but to take a gamble.
“This… It’s said that Lord Zhu has the power to command spirits and ghosts. Although we can barely read, we still need his protection, a shelter from the storm, and occasionally we offer some incense.”
“Is that so?”
Mo Li casually set the box containing the sandalwood aside.
Meng Qi came out as well, his expression neutral and without any intent to kill.
The crooked-mouthed leader breathed a silent sigh of relief. If it weren’t for the legendary tales surrounding Zhu Yan that made people wary, and had it been any other old minister of the Chu dynasty, they would have already turned this place upside down.
“What should be done with these people?” Mo Li asked Meng Qi through a secret transmission.
Leaving them here was clearly not an optionโnot for the sake of Zhu Hou Temple, but to prevent them from harming passersby.
The problem was, even if this group of corpse drivers were taken away, other swindlers would emergeโcatching all the thieves nearby wouldn’t matter if even one or two slipped through the net, and within a year, this place would again be a den of robbers.
It was too easy to make money here.
The local officials who had colluded with the thieves and the townspeople who had set traps for unwary travelers had grown accustomed to “good days” and would not willingly cut off their source of income.
These people weren’t guilty of capital crimes; killing them wasn’t an option, and murder wouldn’t solve the root problem.
Meng Qi didn’t particularly care about preserving the dignity of the dead. Prepared for the decrepit state of Zhu Hou Temple, he wouldn’t be overly saddened, but the temple becoming a haven for robbers was intolerable.
“It’s not that difficult, isn’t there someone ready?” Meng Qi gestured towards Lu Min.
“You mean?”
“The Crown Prince… no, Emperor Yongchen only asked us to take his brother out of Taijing and meet the Jinyiwei at a designated spot. The person in charge is likely Gong Jun, an acquaintance, which makes things easier.”
“…”
Mo Li looked at the smile at the corner of Meng Qi’s mouth, thinking that Fat Rat was stirring up trouble again.
Indeed, Meng Qi continued, “Try to get in touch with Gong Jun’s people. I see that Lu Min has ambition and doesnโt want to stray far from the capital. The nearby town is a good choice.”
“Could we also leave Mr. Jinshui behind to thoroughly investigate the embezzlement case?” Mo Li held his forehead.
“Exactly,” Meng Qi said gravely. “The reason this route is so profitable is that the officials avoid dealing with Zhu Hou Temple, always cautious not to offend the Emperor. These swindlers can thus safely hide here. If we remove their foundation, things will become much easier.”
The reputation of the Jinyiwei was not unfounded.
No matter how lucrative the operation, just hearing the three words “Jinyiwei” would make people shrink back.
Mo Li remained silent for a long time, finally sighing, “To what end!”
Why had the world become like this? The whims of a monarch could dictate the life and death of millions. A mere concern about causing trouble could lead a county official to turn a blind eye to robbers. Now, even deploying the Jinyiwei could be considered a strategy for governance. Wasn’t that absurd?
As the sky covered by dark clouds finally began to drizzle,
Mo Li used his inner power to keep the rain off him, leaving the ground where he stood dry.
The crooked-mouthed leader was dumbfounded, growing increasingly anxious since he couldn’t overhear the conversation.
Meng Qi frowned at him briefly, then sealed the acupoints of everyone present and led Mo Li into the temple.
Inside, bedding, pots, and pans were scattered all around, but the main hall remained relatively clean.
Mo Li walked up to the shrine where a statue of a man dressed in official robes holding a jade scepter stood. The face and eyes were carved in a very standard manner, making it indistinguishable from others.
โThis is the memorial spot for Lord Yueyang, the Honorable Zhu Wenxian.โ
Wenxian was Zhu Yanโs posthumous title.
Wise and insightful is called Wenxian, possessing the wisdom to comprehend the world and the talent to manage it. Even then, the character ‘Xian’ (็ฎ) seems too modest for such a man.
โWhat kind of man was Lord Yueyang?โ
Mo Li had heard about Chancellor Deng who loved mutton, and General Song whose home had a beautiful garden, but Meng Qi seldom spoke of Zhu Yan.
Every person has a genuine and natural side, even the most saintly.
Meng Qi frowned slightly, and candidly betrayed his old friend.
โZhu Yan was lazy!โ
โLazy?โ
Mo Li was taken aback. Zhu Yan was from Jiangnan, a region renowned for its scholarly excellence, where child prodigies who could compose poems by the age of sixteen emerged every so often. Zhu Yan himself became famous as a youth, well-read and almost omniscient, with many deferring to his intellect. How could such a person be lazy?
โHe dreaded hardship and avoided trouble. He wouldn’t get out of bed until the sun was high in the sky, coupled with a frail body, susceptible to cold and heat. He often said that once the world was at peace, he would resign his official post to enjoy leisurely days at home, reading books, drinking tea, and eating fruits. He didnโt want to attend the morning court before dawn.โ
Meng Qi drifted off into thought for a moment, then continued, โHe was too lazy to speak or scold, too lazy to vie for the position of chief strategist. He never married or had children. Deng Sheng once said that even if the worldโs greatest beauties paraded naked in front of Zhu Yan, they wouldn’t attract his attention as much as a book would, since flipping through pages took less effort.โ
Mo Li initially laughed at these remarks, but then fell into deep thought.
Such a person, who loathed trouble and hardship, decided to support the empire, strategize for Chu Emperor Yuan, and ultimately died of illness in the military camp.
โBrother Meng, the old days are gone, but there will still be those like Lord Yueyang who harbor the world in their hearts, seeking neither fame nor fortune, but only the welfare of the people.โ
