Chapter 19: The Corpse Chaser

Facing his grandson’s surprised attitude, the old man smiled. There was a hint of pride in his smile. He touched his grandson’s head and said, “There are so many different crafts in the world, and any one of them that can reach the pinnacle is remarkable. It’s normal to work for the country. If it weren’t for working for the country this time, would we be able to take the train and have a special soft sleeper just for the two of us?”

The boy also smiled happily and asked his grandfather, “Grandpa, do you mean you are the best among the corpse-carriers?”

“Haha, what’s the most powerful? It’s just that I haven’t ruined this craft.” The old man’s words were humble, but the pride in his eyebrows and corners of his eyes could no longer be concealed.

“I know my grandfather is the best. Have you ever done anything for the country before?” The boy suddenly asked excitedly.

The old man’s smile stopped suddenly, and then he changed to a calm expression in a flustered manner, and then began to look around in his bag.

“Grandpa, what are you doing? You haven’t answered my question yet. What are you looking for?” The boy didn’t notice the old man’s change in expression and asked curiously.

“Oh, I’m looking for some tobacco leaves. I want to smoke a pipe. I don’t think I can smoke in the soft sleeper. I’ll sit in the corridor and smoke,” the old man replied lightly. As he spoke, he had already found the tobacco leaves and was about to walk out.

“Grandpa, you haven’t said anything about what you did for the country in the past, have you?”

“Oh, that’s not true.” The old man paused for a moment, then walked out without looking back.

In the corridor outside the soft sleeper compartment, the old man sat on the bench of the single table. His expression suddenly became very complicated, with nostalgia, fear, sadness… and his eyes became deep.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he couldn’t light his pipe even after trying several times. After a few puffs, he realized that it didn’t taste right. The old man then snapped out of his reverie, gave a wry smile, and carefully lit his pipe.

After taking a deep breath, the old man exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. Looking at the rising smoke, the old man was lost in his memories.

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In 1937, a time of war, the country suffered every day, and every day the people here had different tragedies.

Sichuan, Hunan and other places were relatively safe places in that chaotic era. After all, they were deep inland, but this did not prevent the war from reaching here, only that the impact was smaller.

At that time, there were many people from Hunan who died in a foreign land. Because of the rules of the ancestors, the fallen leaves always return to the roots and must be buried in peace. A group of mysterious people began to be particularly busy.

This group of people are the corpse-carrying craftsmen of Hunan’s western region.

There are restrictions on the transportation of corpses. It is impossible to drive a corpse all over the country. After crossing a certain boundary, the corpse can no longer be driven. Therefore, their business is mainly aimed at Hunan people who died in Sichuan, or Sichuan people who died in Hunan.

Since ancient times, there have been sighs of “the road to Shu is difficult, as difficult as climbing to the sky,” and the Xiangxi area is also full of mountains and peaks, with roads that are no less difficult than those in Sichuan. It is easy to imagine how difficult it is to run a business as a corpse runner.

Ordinary people know that in addition to overcoming the difficult roads, there are many harsh conditions for this job, such as the corpse must not be rotten when it arrives at the destination, for example, there is a time limit, it must arrive within the specified time, and for example, it must not bump into living people.

Those who know about the corpse-chasing have this taboo. If they encounter a corpse-chasing artisan carrying a corpse, they will have bad luck for eight lifetimes.

This is actually a misconception. The fact that the corpse-carrier walks at night is a helpless act, and there are taboos in the industry, so how could it bring bad luck to people? It’s just that people, out of fear of ghosts and gods, naturally add a touch of mystery to it.

No matter what these legends are, in those days, the activities of the corpse-carrying craftsmen were frequent. War brought wealth to everyone in the business of transporting the dead, and there were even special corpse-carrying offices in Chongqing, Sichuan at the time.

That year, Sun Kui was 16 years old. He signed a contract with his master at the age of 11, and five years later, he finally got his first business trip. This time, he went to Chongqing. It was a wealthy family in Hunan who asked him to drive their son’s corpse back from Chongqing to Hunan.

When Sun Kui thought about this business, he felt fresh, because the client was a wealthy family with a little power, and it was impossible to offend the son of a warlord, who was to be shot in Chongqing.

This is the tragedy of the chaotic era. The binding force of the law is almost non-existent. What good is it if you have power and status? Outside this area, even a local snake can crush you, unless you are extremely powerful.

This era was a time of suffering, a time of power and power colliding, and ordinary people found it especially difficult to survive in the cracks.

The execution ground is still at the market, but the executioner has changed from wielding a big knife to wielding a gun. People keep a certain distance, after all, bullets are blind, which is not the same as in the past, when a knife could kill anyone except the condemned.

At this time, it was not yet three o’clock in the afternoon, and the executioner, who was probably used to this scene, was chatting easily. As for the condemned prisoner who was waiting to die, he was pale and silent.

Sun Kui’s master, who was called Old Sun, took Sun Kui as a disciple because they were from the same family and Sun Kui had the capital to make a living in this line of work.

At this time, Old Sun pointed to one of the young men who was still relatively handsome, but now had no color in his face and was shaking like a sieve, and said, “When you go to collect the body later, recognize it carefully. He is the third young master of the Zhao family.”

Sun Kui looked at the face, which was not much more mature than his own, and felt a little sorry for him. He whispered to his master, “He’s so young, and he’s going to be executed? What did he do? Murder and arson?”

“No, he didn’t kill anyone or set anything on fire. It’s just that young people are prone to impulsive behavior, shouting about overthrowing this and that. Can you blame them for being shot? Hey, it’s already hard enough to live a peaceful life in this troubled world, so why go out of your way to be a martyr?” Old Sun was a bit emotional, and his expression showed that he felt sorry for the young man.

“Master, I’ll take the body away later. Can I take it?” Sun Kui was a little worried. He wasn’t stupid. He had been traveling with his master since he was a child, and he was very meticulous. Although his master’s words were simple, he had heard a lot of information. For example, this warlord must be very domineering. If a young man shouts a few slogans, he will be shot.

“Don’t worry about this. The relationship between the upper and lower levels has been taken care of. Later, remember to act quickly, otherwise the soul will be scattered cleanly, and the corpse will not be able to be rushed.” Lao Sun said simply, obviously he didn’t want to comment on anything, lest disaster come from the mouth.

“Yes, Master, don’t worry. I can still do this little thing!” Sun Kui nodded seriously.

While the master and apprentice were chatting, time had already passed unnoticed to the third hour of the afternoon. With a preparatory command, the executioners raised their guns.

At this time, the execution ground was filled with the sound of wailing and howling. Needless to say, it was the prisoners who were making the noise. Don’t think that everyone at the execution ground is a hero. It is normal for people to break down at this moment.

Some cried out for their mothers, some begged for mercy, saying they would never do it again, and some shouted that they would be a hero again in 20 years. In fact, their pants were already wet with urine, and it was always a tragedy.

People are emotional creatures, and it is inevitable that they will feel sad for the rabbit and the fox. Sun Kui saw this tragedy for the first time at the execution ground. When he saw the third son of the Zhao family shaking even more violently, with tears on his face and snot all over his face, he finally couldn’t bear it and turned his head to the side.

Someone next to him said, “It stinks! Those people are scared out of their wits by the smell of urine and feces.” As soon as the words fell, Sun Kui heard a burst of gunfire.

The execution was quick. After confirming that the prisoner was dead and that there was no need for a second shot, the execution team left the scene, and the crowd began to slowly disperse.

Old Sun immediately shouted, “Sun Kui, hurry up and carry the corpse to the designated place. Once the vital breath is gone, even immortals can’t do anything. I’ll go prepare. Hurry up. This Zhao San is the last person in this business.”

Sun Kui responded, quickly rushed out of the crowd and headed straight for the corpse of Zhao San. At this time, Sun Kui, who had sharp eyesight, discovered that two other corpses were already being taken care of.

Oh, there are so many people in the same business. Sun Kui sighed and ran to the body of Zhao San.