Song of Silent Promise

21. Demons And Ghosts (4)

Man Zui sat quietly, his gaze kept falling to the coffin at the far end of the room. Xiao Yang was serving tea for everyone, before stammering to himself,

"He-jie... perhaps even the ghost rumors were related to her? After all, she used to be... ."

Man Zui shut him up with a sharp glare.

Fu Yan brought the cup of tea onto his lips, then as though he was thinking about something, he paused and put the cup down. Fu Chun glanced at him before saying to Lord Hai, "Your method is good. But the talismans are only good for smaller beings. To use it to preserve a human body... mostly in a mere couple of days, the body would deteriorate more than it normally would. The talismans work by 'borrowing' time of the body's leftover vitality. After the talismans lost their potency, the body would rot in a blink of an eye. Hence, to use it to preserve small number of meat is still alright, but you must take care to not keep meat for a prolonged point of time using these talismans."

Lord Hai nodded a few times, "Understood, Understood. Thank you for esteemed Daoist' words of wisdom." Although he had the preservation talismans, his family members always promptly finished the meat provision way before their expiry date. His rotund figure was definitely not achieved by scrimping on meat. Thus, he retracted his initial thought to act benevolent and glossing further of the fact he had used his 'precious' talismans for Man Zui's wife's coffin. He waved his hands towards Man Zui, "I may lack talent, but I can afford to lose some talismans so you can see He Xiang one final time."

After Xiao Yang retreated to the back room, Xu Yejing looked at her untouched cup of tea and asked, "Water for Shuyi's households... are they from the water canals we see outside?"

Lord Hai, "Yes."

Xu Yejing was thoroughly not interested in drinking tea derived from a source of water where someone had recently died in. Lord Hai laughed at her blatant ashen expression, "All the water delivered to the households have been filtered thoroughly. More over, He Xiang's death is merely a couple of days ago, and the last filtered water were delivered to Man Zui's residence since a week ago... ." Then he stopped when he saw Man Zui's dark expression.

"A couple of days...," Man Zui said through his gritted teeth, "I was only late a couple of days... ."

Although the sky was clear when they arrived, the soft sound of pitter-patter of rainfall was soon heard. It was not a heavy downpour, but enough to add the sombreness of the atmosphere. With a lone coffin inside the room normally used to receive guests, it heightened the desolate feeling further.

Lord Hai said a few more perfunctory words before leaving the house. He also promised he would issue a legal order for the local temple to perform death rites and properly send off He Xiang.

Xu Yejing had thought they would need to look for an inn to stay, but Man Zui insisted to host the three of them, "If you don't mind He Xiang lying in this room, you can use the left wing of the house to make yourself comfortable." He paused and gripped the tea cup tightly before drinking it slowly, as though absent-minded, "I... want to talk to the three of you, if you don't mind."

Fu Chun and Xu Yejing looked at Fu Yan, who they both had tacitly understood to be the main decision maker in this journey. The young man kept looking towards the opened window. The initial dampness of the weather had been eased somewhat from the rain. Without looking at Man Zui, he said, "About three years ago, Duhan and Khorin engaged in a large-scale war. Heaven and earth was overturned, blood of innocents flowed like the yellow river."

Man Zui's eyes carried astonishment, then a trace of regret flashed on his expression.

Fu Yan spoke further, "Duhan's Left General Man Ge-ershu; what is your relationship to him?"