The six beggars were young to begin with, and once they were separated, their fighting ability was pitifully weak. The hot-blooded crowd had already pinned them firmly to the ground, leaving them unable to move.
The clerk quickly swept his eyes over the surroundings. Fortunately, they were only little beggars, and there were not many of them.
Otherwise, with just those few words from Shen Yuan, combined with the crowd’s agitation and everyone’s unwillingness to lose, all fired up to beat the other side to death, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Even so, the little beggars who had been pinned down glared furiously at the adults holding them, looking ready to start another fight at any moment.
Fortunately, the Wu Kingdom valued martial prowess and respected authority.
Even a minor government clerk was someone ordinary people would not dare provoke.
Anyone who could serve as a clerk in the Yamen had some sort of family background and connections.
That was why the clerk could single-handedly calm everyone down.
The people pinning down the beggars quickly let go and slipped back into the crowd. Those who had wanted to rush in and beat someone raised their legs halfway before hurriedly retreating.
The few beggars did not dare run. The official was watching them.
They knew all too well how serious the clerk’s words were. As beggars, they could only wander around the county. Without an identity or a travel permit, if the officials wanted to hunt them down and clear them out, they would have nowhere to escape.
What they had said earlier had only been empty threats in the heat of the moment. If things really turned serious, how could they dare imagine the consequences?
The clerk ignored the people who had slipped away and continued coldly addressing the beggars: “Now, all of you, get up. You are being arrested for assaulting and robbing someone in the street. You will go to the Yamen, take a beating, and perform a month of forced labor.”
The beggar leader finally came to his senses. He pointed at Shen Yuan and said, “Officer, he beat us too! He has to come with us!”
He had not seen the others who had joined in. He could accept taking that loss, but he definitely could not let this skinny monkey off! Once they reached the place where they would perform their labor, he and his brothers would make this brat pay!
The clerk clicked his tongue, clearly impatient. “All I saw was you beating and robbing someone. I didn’t see you being beaten. Stop your blathering and get up, or you’ll find out what happens!”
Even a fool could hear the favoritism and protection in those words.
The beggar chief stared at the clerk, who snapped coldly, “What are you looking at?”
He shrank back, not daring to show his anger or say a word. The authorities could crush a person to death. His life was more important…
Although there was only one clerk, the beggars still did not dare run. They could only obediently stand up.
Normally, no one dared report robberies and assaults to the authorities. As long as no one reported them, the authorities did not investigate. Sometimes, even when clerks witnessed such things with their own eyes, they would pretend not to see because they could not be bothered to intervene.
Today, they had simply been unlucky enough to run into someone who liked meddling in other people’s business.
Since an official had intervened, they could only endure it obediently. Otherwise, they could forget about having peaceful days ahead.
After making the men stand in a row, the clerk returned the fish to Shen Yuan. “Hold on to it yourself. It’s dead heavy.”
Shen Yuan had originally wanted to give the fish directly to the clerk to thank him for blatantly lying on his behalf and letting him off the hook. But then he heard the man call it dead heavy. The fish weighed only two pounds, hardly heavy at all. Shen Yuan had gotten a rough sense of the clerk’s personality, and it was obvious that he did not intend to accept it.
He had no choice but to take the fish. “Thanks, big brother.”
The clerk said, “Don’t try to cozy up to me. My name is Ji Ping’an. From now on, call me Ji…”
Before he could finish, Shen Yuan smoothly changed his form of address. “Brother Ping’an, thank you! Next time, I’ll carry a few more big sacks and buy Brother Ping’an some sesame pancakes.”
Ji Ping’an was thoroughly annoyed. Whatever, he could call him whatever he wanted.
“You don’t need to remind me that I ate your sesame pancake.” Ji Ping’an sized Shen Yuan up. This boy’s heart was in the right place, and he was likable, with a quick tongue and an easy manner. Although he was somewhat impulsive, he also knew how to judge the situation. Otherwise, he would have rushed out at the docks. He was fairly clever and sharp, and possessed a good deal of resolve. There happened to be a job he could recommend him for, which would count as repaying him for that sesame pancake.
That way, the boy would not use it as an excuse to cozy up to him.
“There’s a tea house on Dofu Street. They’re short a tea server. Go take a look tomorrow if you have time, and tell them Ji Ping’an recommended you.”
Shen Yuan was stunned for a moment. A tea server? A good job! He could do that! Was this repayment for the sesame pancake? Wasn’t this a little too much? He said awkwardly, “Brother Ping’an, one sesame pancake is nothing. Wouldn’t I be taking advantage of you?”
“If you weren’t suitable, I wouldn’t have mentioned it. If you don’t want to go, I’ll find someone else,” Ji Ping’an said.
Shen Yuan immediately responded, “I’ll go, I’ll go! I was just being modest.”
He had been worrying about not being able to find work.
How could he possibly not go?
Ji Ping’an let out a cold snort. “Don’t mention that sesame pancake again, and don’t try to cozy up to me.”
Shen Yuan felt that “don’t cozy up to me” and “stop trying to cozy up to me” were Ji Ping’an’s habitual phrases. They had no real bite and were just things he said.
If Shen Yuan had truly taken them to heart, he would never have caught Ji Ping’an’s eye, much less received his recommendation for a decent job.
Although he had no idea why Ji Ping’an had taken a liking to him or why the man had chosen to help him.
Shen Yuan waved the fish. “Take care, Brother Ping’an.” Then, remembering that Ji Ping’an seemed to care quite a lot about that sesame pancake, he promised, “I definitely won’t mention the sesame pancake again.”
Ji Ping’an gave a nasal hum in response and led the six beggars back to the county office.
The surrounding crowd immediately dispersed as well, afraid that Ji Ping’an might remember them. Shen Yuan turned around and helped Old Xu to his feet.
“Thank you, young brother. Thank you, thank you…” Old Xu ignored his own injuries and kept bowing in thanks. He had genuinely thought he was going to die, and never expected someone to step in and save him.
He had merely pushed back a little while carrying a heavy sack. He had never imagined that the other party would not only give him that precious coarse flatbread, but also save him so thoroughly.
“What are you saying, old man? There’s no need to thank me. Are your injuries serious? There’s a clinic just ahead. Would you like to have them looked at?”
Hearing the young man’s concern, much of the bitterness and pain in Old Xu’s heart eased. A warm current rose within him.
“It’s nothing serious. You…” Old Xu paused, his aged, cloudy eyes fixed on Shen Yuan. “My several sons all left home to go to war when they were about your age.”
Shen Yuan finally understood why the old man’s eyes seemed to glimmer with tears whenever he looked at him.
So that was why.
Remembering what Ji Ping’an had told him, Shen Yuan comforted the old man aloud. “Your sons must all have been great heroes. I should thank them too, for protecting us with their lives.”
Tears shimmered in Old Xu’s eyes. No one had ever said such things to him. His sons had been great heroes. Someone remembered why they had died, and remembered them with gratitude.
He wiped at his tears. “Yes, they were all good children. If they were still here, I certainly wouldn’t have been beaten by those people. You don’t know, they were all good children. This old man really misses them.”
Shen Yuan watched the old man suppress his sobs, and his heart felt heavy.
He had lost his loved ones without even seeing them one last time. There were so many things he wanted to say, so much longing he wanted to express, and so many grievances he wanted eased.
But he would never see them again.
Longing could not be conveyed, yet nothing could stop it from growing wildly.
“Their bodies were never found, so they don’t even have graves. Sometimes I want to sit with them and talk, but there’s nowhere to go.” The old man was already weeping openly. “How could they be so heartless? How could they really leave their mother and me like that? They promised before going to war that they would come back alive.”
Because of that promise, the elderly couple stood outside their home every day, waiting for the children who had left.
But all they received was one death notice after another.
Their children would never return, and they would never see them again.
Shen Yuan wiped away the old man’s tears with his sleeve. “They can have graves. You can have a place to sit and talk with them.”
Shen Yuan said, “You can make a clothing grave. Even if they are far away, even if their bodies were never found, the souls of the deceased can still return home.”
Old Xu stared blankly, then grabbed Shen Yuan’s sleeve as if clutching a lifeline. “What is a clothing grave? What is a soul of the deceased?”
Burying a body in a grave was only so that when one missed a deceased loved one, there would be a place to visit. It made it feel as though the person were still there, merely sleeping beneath the earth.
But what was a clothing grave? And what was a soul of the deceased? Old Xu had never even heard of such things.
Shen Yuan also noticed something strange about the Wu Kingdom. It seemed that its culture surrounding rituals and memorial offerings was a blank slate.
According to his body’s memories, the origins of Daoism here lay in ancient nature worship, sorcery, divination, and healing through talismans【Note: 1】. There were quite a few deities associated with nature, such as those who governed wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, the four seasons and solar terms, and various epidemics…
But there truly were no deities of the underworld.
It seemed that when a person died, they simply died.
Shen Yuan analyzed the situation. It might have been related to the fact that books and the right to study were controlled by the noble families. Even if relevant records existed, the upper classes would perform rituals according to them, but they would not go out of their way to inform the common people at the bottom.
After all, paper books did not even exist here yet. They used bamboo slips instead. Nor was there an Imperial Examination, so ordinary people had no opportunity to study or learn to read.
The terrifying division between classes had locked knowledge away in the hands of the upper echelons.
“After people die, they have souls of the deceased, but the living cannot see or sense them. The souls of the deceased cannot remain together with the living, or they will harm the living person’s body. The living person’s yang energy will also scorch the soul of the deceased.”
Shen Yuan’s voice was clear and resonant as he explained every detail, one word at a time.
“A grave is their home after death, giving the soul of the deceased a place to return to. For a clothing grave, you need clothing worn by the deceased’s family member, preferably something they wore often. Then a family member must bury it. While doing so, remember to silently recite the deceased person’s name and birth details in your heart. Then clearly state your own home address, reciting an invitation for them to return. After repeating it several times, walk home from the graveyard while continuing to recite the deceased person’s name and birth details. Then walk from home back to the graveyard without stopping the silent recitation. That way, the deceased will know where their clothing grave is in relation to their home. It is essentially like taking the soul of the deceased on a walk to learn the way.”
Shen Yuan deliberately made the process somewhat intricate and complicated. That would make it easier for people to believe it was real.
Sure enough, after Old Xu finished listening, he urgently asked, “Young man, where did you hear this? Is it really true?”
Shen Yuan almost said that he had pieced it together from all sorts of random things he had read in his previous life. Then he thought of something, and his eyes lit up.
“My parents said a wandering Daoist had chosen my name and said I was destined to have an immortal connection. Yesterday, I fainted, and after I woke up, there were things in my mind that I had never known before. Perhaps my immortal connection has revealed itself. I learned about clothing graves and souls of the deceased after fainting yesterday.”
Everyone in Dashu Village knew that a Daoist had chosen his name and said those things.
Before life had become so difficult, when the adults of the Shen Family were still alive, their neighbors would joke about it whenever they saw the original Shen Yuan, asking whether he had encountered his immortal connection yet.
Shen Yuan was not afraid of the old man asking around the village. His explanation had a solid foundation.
Old Xu had never imagined that the young man before him had experienced such a bizarre encounter. But then again, if he had not gained such an immortal connection, how could he know things like this?
When people wanted to believe something, they could fill in the gaps themselves, even if the matter was full of holes.
At last, the concern in his heart had found somewhere to rest and be released. Old Xu was overjoyed. His sons could still return. Had they been waiting a long time to come home?
It was all because he had not known these things that he had left his children wandering outside for so long, unable to return home.
It was his fault. He had failed them as their father.
“Young man, I want to make clothing graves for my sons. Could you help me keep an eye on things?” Old Xu asked Shen Yuan cautiously. “I’ll give you money. No matter how much, I’ll find a way to provide it.”
Shen Yuan gently shook his head. “You don’t need to pay me. Just choose a day for the burial and come find me in Dashu Village beforehand.”
“I have to pay you, I have to.” Old Xu muttered on and on. His wrinkled, weathered face held a trace of hope. Shen Yuan did not say anything more. The old man’s thoughts were elsewhere, and he would not listen anyway.
After accompanying Old Xu to the pharmacy to get his medicine, Shen Yuan saw that it was almost time to go to the grain shop and wait for Wang Sanhu, so he bade Old Xu farewell.
Before leaving, Old Xu once again said that he would go to Dashu Village to find Shen Yuan once he had settled on a burial date. Shen Yuan nodded in agreement.
When Shen Yuan reached the grain shop, he discovered that Wang Sanhu had already arrived and had bought the grain he needed.
Shen Yuan had already decided what kinds of grain to buy with his money, so he simply had the shop assistant weigh it. The process was very quick.
After finishing their purchases, the two of them set off together toward Dashu Village.
Home.
Shen Yuan carried a full load of food, his heart filled with happiness as well. Once they got back, he would have a proper feast with his younger brothers and sister.