Chapter 5 Dead Man’s Shoes
After one night, several villagers from Wangjiazhuang came here and took away the four corpses fished out of the river.
The villagers also said nothing, paid Dashun the admission fee and left.
Dashun may have seen Xie Que start practicing martial arts and knew that he needed more food to replenish his energy and blood, so he generously threw all the more than ten taels of silver to Xie Que.
Xie Que was not stingy with himself and immediately went to the city to buy half a fan of pork and beef.
After a few meals, he ate more than five kilograms of meat. Xie Que also felt that because he ate well, he became more powerful in boxing.
In this day, Xie Que ate meat and practiced martial arts. Taking into account the bonus of "never leaving his fists", Yan Qingquan made great progress.
But it seemed that after yesterday, there were no more corpses in the river, which made Xie Que feel a little disappointed.
But in fact, this is the norm. After all, Dashun is only responsible for dozens of miles of river area. The number of villages along the river is limited, and it is impossible to fish out corpses every day.
What made Xie Que a little strange was that when Er Meng disposed of the corpse in the future, there was still a swollen corpse that had been left in the morgue all day and night.
After even the stench of the corpse spread out, Xie Que couldn't bear it and poured a bottle of potion on the corpse to cover up the stench.
Although Dashun didn't care, Xie Que always felt that this was not good.
If a relative came to claim the body, it would be a bad reputation to take back such a body.
Xie Que took advantage of his morning boxing practice to plan a trip to Ermeng's village.
When he walked to the door of Ermeng's house, Ermeng's father was sitting on the doorstep smoking a cigarette.
His face was full of worry and he looked preoccupied.
"Uncle Wang, where is Er Meng?" Xie Que walked up to Er Meng's father.
The surrounding villages all belong to Wangjiazhuang, and most of the villagers are named Wang.
Er Meng's father raised his eyes and glanced at Xie Que. His weather-beaten face was criss-crossed with grooves. He sighed: "Er Meng is not feeling well. He has been lying in bed all day and night."
Just as Er Meng's mother walked out of the house, she also looked worried: "Ah Que, look at Er Meng. He didn't eat or drink water after he came back the day before yesterday. He didn't even sleep in bed. He just stared. No...is it..."
People in this world believe in ghosts and gods, and are extremely sensitive to these words. Xie Que had already guessed what she meant without saying anything.
Xie Que's inner thoughts changed and he said to Ermeng's mother: "Auntie, please show me how Ermeng is doing first."
Ermeng's mother nodded dully, tears dripping from the corners of her eyes, and took Xie Que into the house.
As soon as he entered, a pungent smell poured into Xie Que's nose.
Xie Que, who has been dealing with corpses for many years, can tell immediately that it is the smell of corpses but it is not strong.
It seems that some herbs were used to cover it up.
Ermeng lay flat on the bamboo bed covered with straw mats, his eyes round but lifeless.
Xie Que stepped forward, raised his hand and waved it in front of his eyes, but Ermeng didn't even blink.
Then he put his hand on his forehead, but there was no reaction.
"No fever." Feeling that the temperature was normal, Xie Que retracted his hand and began to have doubts in his heart.
Er Meng's mother tugged on the corner of Xie Que's clothes, leaned close to Xie Que's ear and said, "Ah Que, go out and talk."
After leaving the house, Ermeng's mother saw no one around and said in a panicked tone: "The shoes Ermeng wore back the day before yesterday were not his own shoes..."
He was startled, and immediately remembered Ermeng's limping appearance when he went back.
In the netherworld business, the most taboo thing is to take things from the dead.
No matter whether it is clothes, property, nails or hair on a corpse, or even steamed buns dipped in human blood, it will cause disaster.
Although Ermeng has some intellectual disabilities, he will abide by all the rules.
Dashun hired him to work for half a year, but nothing like this had ever happened.
"Aunt, where are the shoes?" Xie Que asked.
Ermeng's mother took out her shoes from under the bed: "Here..."
Xie Duo nodded and took it.
At this time, Xie Que suddenly saw several young men passing by.
They carried hoes on their backs, as if they were going to work in the fields.
But they looked a little guilty and looked around a few times in the distance.
When they reached the door of Er Meng's house, they were a little hesitant, but finally ran away.
"Aunt, who are these people?" Xie Que was a little confused.
"They are all from nearby villages. Er Meng likes to play with them." Er Meng's mother sighed, "But these people always bully him."
Xie Tong nodded, guessing that this matter had something to do with these people.
After all, it can be seen from their guilty expressions that these people may know something.
Xie Que said something to Ermeng's mother, and then chased after those people.
Unexpectedly, when these people saw Xie Que chasing after them, their expressions changed drastically.
"It's the little water ghost!"
"Run?"
"Stop running and tell him."
Some nearby villagers nicknamed Dashun "Water Ghost", which means the person who fishes out corpses, so Xie Que naturally became the "little water ghost".
Faced with such a nickname, Xie Que was not angry.
After all, this is just a stereotype held by some villagers, and all corpse hunters are called this.
"Wang Jian, tell him what you came up with."
Several people pushed out a young man in a short shirt carrying a hoe.
Wang Jian looked a little frightened and told Xie Que the truth.
These people looked down on Ermeng because of his intellectual problems, but Ermeng always wanted to join them.
So Wang Jian encouraged Er Meng to steal something from the drowned man to prove his courage, and they would accept Er Meng.
But they didn't expect that such an ominous sign appeared on Ermeng, which scared several people to the point where they couldn't sleep or eat well.
When he saw Xie Que coming over, he knew something was really wrong with Ermeng.
Now to tell the truth, I hope that the body collector can solve this matter.
Xie Que thought it would take some effort, but he didn't expect that these people directly gave him the answer he wanted.
After thinking about it, I realized that this high probability involves supernatural events, which is not a problem that I can solve now. It would be better to go back and tell Dashun.
Before this, there had never been any problems with someone taking something from a dead person.
Xie Que confirmed again, and several people also swore by it.
After explaining that they only encouraged Ermeng and did nothing else, Xie Que turned around and left.
In the meantime, Xie Que saw several stone plates placed outside the village, with weights marked on them.
Most of the people in Wangjiazhuang were martial artists, so it was not surprising that they would place these stone plates to hone their strength.
Seeing that there was no one around, Xie Que also became interested and stepped forward to test his strength.
Shipan grew up from small to large, and Xie Que tried them one by one.
The first part was relatively easy, but at the end when lifting the 500-jin stone plate, Xie Quefang found it particularly difficult.
Xie Que felt that he was close to the limit, so he did not touch the six hundred kilogram stone plate.
Putting it down, Xie Que nodded with satisfaction. It seemed that the blue entry of washing the tendons and cutting the marrow was really miraculous, allowing an ordinary young man to lift a five hundred kilogram stone plate.
After returning home, Xie Que went directly to the morgue.
He just hoped that the body whose shoes were taken away by Ermeng had not been taken away yet.
Xie Que's eyes fell on a pair of dusty straw sandals, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Among the corpses he retrieved the day before yesterday, there was no corpse wearing straw sandals, which meant that the corpse had been disturbed by others.
Xie Dian burned three sticks of incense and inserted them at the feet of the corpse.
Then he bowed three times and prepared to take off the straw sandals on his feet.
Unexpectedly, when Xie Que put his hands on the ankles of the corpse, the Death Judgment Diagram actually appeared in front of Xie Que, and the corresponding page was opened.
"Whether to consume a white entry to review the memory of the deceased."