I Can Devour Spirits

Chapter 82: Chapter 82: The Great Ghost of Impermanence Arrives Unexpectedly; Wandering Divine Spirits, Unknown Fate

This day, Duan Rong finally walked out of Wild Boar Mountain!

After eight or nine days, he was unwashed and uncombed, with a scruffy beard on his face and a stench on his body. His brown short outfit had several holes in it!

When he walked out of Wild Boar Mountain, it was already dusk, the evening shadows were gathering, and smoke was rising from cooking fires!

By the roadside of the villages, as the farmers returned home with their hoes, they saw Duan Rong looking like a beggar, with a stench all over him, yet he had a knife tied at his waist. The honest farmers were both disgusted and afraid, and they stayed far away from him...

Duan Rong walked to the house of an old man at the village head.

Duan Rong stood outside the fence, and the old man’s family was eating in the yard.

The old man’s son and daughter-in-law also returned from the fields, and the family of four was sitting around the table!

By now it was quite dark, the light in the house was dim, eating in the yard saved some oil lamp money.

As they were eating, they suddenly saw a dark figure stand in front of the fence courtyard, with a knife vaguely visible tied at the waist.

The old man’s son immediately jumped up from the table and grabbed the carrying pole leaning against the wall, saying: ”Sir, we are just poor villagers, we have nothing at home, why don’t you go and look elsewhere...”

The old man’s son had mistaken Duan Rong for a wandering swordsman who robbed everywhere.

Duan Rong was stunned and quickly explained: ”Don’t misunderstand me, young man! I am the one who left the horse here!”

The old man stood up from the table, walked to the fence, and looked carefully at Duan Rong before slapping his thigh and exclaiming: ”Ah, it’s the guest! How did you get to look like this?”

Duan Rong chuckled, saying: ”I was living like a wild man in the mountains for a few days.”

The old man immediately opened the fence door and let Duan Rong in.

The old man’s son took bowls and chopsticks from the kitchen and served Duan Rong some food.

After days in the mountains, spending most of his time catching fish by the stream to eat, Duan Rong suddenly tasted grain, and it felt incredibly fragrant, whetting his appetite.

Farmers are simple-minded, although Duan Rong had a stench on him, he left his horse here and just ate some fodder, then gave them some silver coins, making the family quite grateful to him.

After Duan Rong finished eating, the old man’s son took him to the ditch at the west end of the village to bathe together, chatting idly...

Seeing that it was already dark, and traveling at night was unsafe, Duan Rong stayed at the old man’s house to sleep.

At night, the old man’s daughter-in-law lit an oil lamp and patched up Duan Rong’s tattered short outfit.

The next day, as dawn was breaking, Duan Rong led his horse, said goodbye to the family, and left Wild Boar Mountain...

Duan Rong galloped all the way, and around noon, he entered Xianggu County’s East City Gate.

Entering the city gate, Duan Rong slowed down his horse, returned it to the vehicle rental company, redeemed the deposit, and then headed to Yuan Shun Escort Agency.

Duan Rong, full of thoughts, walked into the grand entrance of Yuan Shun Escort Agency, and just after a short walk, he began to hear the distant sound of suona playing.

The regulations within Yuan Shun Escort Agency are strict; who would dare to play the suona in the escort agency in broad daylight?

Although puzzled, Duan Rong didn’t have the heart to bother with idle matters; he intended to first return to his dormitory to change out of the patch-filled short outfit he was wearing.

As Duan Rong entered the middle courtyard, the sound of instruments became even louder, and it seemed somewhat... like funeral music!

”This mournful sound... isn’t it funeral music?”

Thinking this, Duan Rong’s heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he hurried towards the direction of the sound!

After exiting a narrow alley, he saw from a distance that Xiao Zongting’s courtyard entrance was covered with white streamers.

The mournful string-pulling and suona sounds were coming from the courtyard...

Duan Rong’s heart ached, and he immediately dashed over.

Upon entering the courtyard gate, he saw many elegiac couplets and wreaths placed by the courtyard wall, several middle-aged women busy preparing food at the kitchen’s entrance, but Zhu Xiaoqi was nowhere in sight.

From time to time, people carrying things came in and out, everyone hurriedly stepping, and no one paid attention to Duan Rong as he walked in.

Duan Rong reached the door of the backyard, and saw that the courtyard had a makeshift shrine with white streamers hanging!

Inside the shrine were three long benches, and a black varnished coffin was placed on the benches!

In front of the coffin was an incense table with candles burning on both sides, and incense smoke curling up on the incense burner.

To the right of the shrine stood two people, both wearing white cloth on their heads and dressed in mourning clothes.

One of them was Zhu Xiaoqi, who wore plain clothes, bowing her head and weeping silently.

The other was also a young woman, half a head taller than Zhu Xiaoqi, with distinct eyebrows and bright eyes, lips as if painted with rouge, skin like white jade, though her face bore traces of tears, her eyes shone with a determined light, as if no blow could defeat her...

She was Xiao Baijiao’s elder sister, Xiao Yu!

Two days earlier, Xiao Baijiao had another fit.

Although Gu Suxiu rushed over and barely held her life, it was only a matter of one or two days.

Seeing his daughter like this, Xiao Zongting’s heart ached as if cut by a knife, and after a large cry, he immediately summoned someone to notify Xiao Yu.

While returning from a journey to Ruyang Prefecture with the Escort Team, Xiao Yu heard the bad news and rushed back, running two horses to death on the way, finally arriving in Xianggu County yesterday afternoon.

Unfortunately, by then, Xiao Baijiao had already passed away an hour earlier.

The sisters didn’t get to see each other for the last time!

Although Xiao Yu was heartbroken, she was inherently strong and fiercely spirited, known as the ”Rouge Tiger” in the Escort Team.

Xiao Yu, as dusk fell, began preparing for her sister’s funeral.

Although Xiao Zongting had prestige and support within Yuan Shun Escort Agency and should have garnered a unanimous response.

But unfortunately, Ruan Fengshan was absent, and Chief Leader Luan Jingfu opposed Xiao Zongting everywhere, obstructing the assembly of personnel.

Leading Zhu Xiaoqi, Xiao Yu contacted a few people herself, and that evening, she set up the shrine, then sent notices to relatives everywhere.

She also had some familiar Escort Masters’ wives come to the house to help cook!

Together with Zhu Xiaoqi, she bought white cloth, arranged for a coffin and musicians, so that by the time relatives came to mourn the next morning, all ceremonies were ready.

If you ask where Zhu Xiaoqi got her efficient and decisive work style, it was learned from Xiao Yu!

The Xiao family having such a daughter was Xiao Zongting’s fortune!

On the left side of the shrine, by the courtyard wall, a row of suona players and string-pullers were playing vigorously...

On the right side of the shrine, the ground was lined with mats, and a group of people dressed in mourning clothes knelt on the mats, crying sounds rising and falling, all of them were relatives of the Xiao family, in terms of generations, they were all juniors to Xiao Baijiao...

As Duan Rong entered the gate, he immediately fixed his gaze on the coffin in the shrine, rushed over, and leaned on the edge of the coffin to look inside...

Inside the coffin, Xiao Baijiao looked as if she was sleeping, with a delicate makeup, peaceful expression, her beautiful bun adorned with several camellias...

”If only flowers could adorn my hair, do not ask where I shall return.”

Duan Rong recalled the verse, and suddenly his heart ached, tears cascading down.

As Duan Rong rushed over, Xiao Yu and Zhu Xiaoqi both noticed a flickering shadow before them, and simultaneously turned their heads to look at Duan Rong.

Upon seeing Duan Rong, Zhu Xiaoqi immediately pointed at him and scolded: ”Where have you been? The second miss has died and only now you return! Before she breathed her last, she mentioned many times that she had words for you, words for you! I searched for you countless times! Not even your shadow was seen...”

”Where did you go?” Zhu Xiaoqi’s words were full of reproach, and as she spoke, she began to cry.

Duan Rong seemed as if he hadn’t heard a word, his hand clutching the coffin, he suddenly broke into mournful sobs!

The crying was heart-wrenching, resounding off the clouds, momentarily drowning out the sound of the suona!

Duan Rong’s face was a mess of tears and snot, occasionally making a sound like a donkey’s bellow, as if struggling to breathe...

Several middle-aged women carrying items walked past the shrine, hearing Duan Rong’s cries, whispering to each other as they walked.

”Where did Miss Yu find this mourner?... What a heartfelt cry...”

”Nowadays, there are too many people who take money and don’t do a job... But sincere ones like this are rare... Look at him... Crying so sorrowfully... It’s making me want to cry...”