mtl008 Chapter 68 The boy left his name
Chapter 68 The boy left his name
“Ji Hang——!”
Lin Lezhi frowned and shouted, suddenly waking up from his sleep, sitting up and supporting himself on the edge of the bed, his chest rising and falling restlessly, with a look of shock on his face.
The scenes in the dream kept playing before my eyes, over and over again.
In the dream, Ji Hang was covered in blood. Before his eyes completely lost the light, he never looked at himself. Only he kept shouting.
Lin Lezhi's panicked eyes quickly swept across all the decorations around him.
Looking at the unfamiliar things around him, Lin Lezhi seemed to be relieved, but only Lin Lezhi himself knew that the uneasy throbbing in his chest was still continuing.
Feeling dry in his mouth, Lin Lezhi got out of bed, walked to the table and poured himself a glass of water. After the cold water went down his throat, he felt much more comfortable.
After taking a deep breath, Lin Lezhi looked at the scenery outside the window. It was already dawn and he could hear the singing of birds outside the house. It was pleasant to the ears and made his soul feel cleansed and comfortable.
I thought I could sleep until noon, but now I am not sleepy at all. Instead, I am unusually awake, with an indelible sadness in my eyes.
Lin Lezhi's eyes darkened. He hadn't had this dream for a long time. Perhaps it was because too many things had happened recently that made him think of it again.
Sitting on the stool, Lin Lezhi suddenly smelled a fragrance. After careful searching, he found that they were four letters in the tattered clothes on the table.
Where have I smelled this fragrance before?
"Boom boom boom! "
Before Lin Lezhi could calm down completely, there was a sudden and urgent knock at the door.
"Mr. Jiang, Mr. Jiang, are you awake?" The waiter's voice came from outside the door.
Since he couldn't fall asleep again, Lin Lezhi shouted towards the door, "Wake up, what's the matter?"
"There's someone downstairs who said that you, Mr. Jiang, ordered something from them, but you didn't go to pick it up. Seeing that you reserved a place here, they came to visit you in person."
Lin Lezhi was confused. Why didn’t he remember ordering anything? Could it be Jiang Lian’an?
But Jiang Lian'an should not have lived here before, otherwise the waiter would not have no impression of her at all.
"I see, thank you, I'll be down in a moment."
Confused, Lin Lezhi packed up a bit and walked out of the room. He happened to meet Xiao Yihuo walking out of the room. There was no one else around. Lin Lezhi smiled and greeted him, "Hey, Xiao Fox, why are you up so early? Why don't you sleep a little longer?"
However, Xiao Yihuo had no intention of joking with Lin Lezhi at all. He kept a serious face and did not respond to Lin Lezhi's words, which made Lin Lezhi feel a little uncomfortable.
Lin Lezhi joked, "That's right, I almost forgot that you have very sharp ears. If you are curious, let's go down and take a look together?"
"it is good."
Lin Lezhi extended an olive branch, and Xiao Yihuo naturally had no reason to refuse.
When going downstairs, Lin Lezhi asked, "Is Qingchuan still not awake?"
Xiao Yihuo responded calmly: "He always gets up late."
When I came downstairs, I saw a man dressed as a businessman sitting in the lobby downstairs.
Seeing Lin Lezhi and the others coming down from upstairs, the visitor stood up from his chair anxiously. After paying his respects, he could not hide his surprise and embarrassment. He asked a little embarrassedly, "I am Zhang Pingzhi. Which of you is Mr. Jiang?"
"I am." A hint of speculation rose in Lin Lezhi's eyes, and he said bluntly: "You said that I ordered it from you, but you didn't recognize me?"
"I'm really sorry, the person who came to order something from me only said his name and where he was, but he didn't look like you, or his height." The man gestured on the spot, "That person is about as tall as your shoulder, with his hair covering one eye and a bamboo pole in his hand."
Lin Lezhi was slightly startled, and exchanged glances with Xiao Yihuo, then looked at the person who came, stretched out his hand and said with a smile: "I know who it is, where is the thing?"
The visitor scratched his head in embarrassment and said with a smile: "I really can't move that thing by myself, so I have to trouble you to go with me."
Because it was early in the morning, there were not many pedestrians on the road, and under the guidance of the visitor, we quickly arrived at the destination.
The plaque reads "Zhang's Coffin Shop".
Shopkeeper Zhang warmly welcomed the two into the coffin shop. He walked to a piece of white cloth and lifted it up. It turned out to be a coffin with very delicate workmanship and special texture. Unlike other coffins, the texture was straight in some places and curved in others.
It is smaller than the coffin placed next to it.
Shopkeeper Zhang touched the coffin, his eyes filled with memories, and he slowly said, "About ten years ago, I bought a small banyan tree. The wood was loose and easy to rot, so it was not suitable for making a coffin. I thought of making it into a funeral ornament and selling it with the coffin..."
On this day, when Shopkeeper Zhang was thinking about where to start cutting, he heard hurried footsteps running into his backyard. Shopkeeper Zhang thought someone had just died and maybe a coffin was needed urgently, so he turned around quickly.
But no one was seen.
"Shopkeeper, please sell me this banyan tree."
Shopkeeper Zhang looked in the direction of the sound and spotted a young man kneeling on the ground.
"You want to buy this piece of wood from me, but can you afford it?" Shopkeeper Zhang asked with a look of doubt on his face.
It's not that Shopkeeper Zhang looks down on people, nor is he exaggerating. He has been a shopkeeper for a long time and has met many people. He can guess whether a person is rich or not just by looking at his clothes.
The young man was wearing ragged clothes and was dirty. He was holding a bamboo pole in his hand and looked disabled. He didn't look like he could afford a coffin.
"As long as you give me some time, I can definitely raise the money!" the boy said stubbornly.
"What do you plan to do with this banyan tree when you buy it?"
Hearing this, the young man raised his head, his eyes slightly red as he said, "I want to make a coffin for my friend. He said before he died that people in his area like banyan trees because they bring people together."
"This banyan tree cannot be used to make coffins. It is very easy to rot. It is a waste of money to make coffins. It is not worth it."
Shopkeeper Zhang sighed softly and kindly advised: "There are dead people everywhere nowadays. Why don't you buy a straw mat? It only costs a few coins. I'll give you some paper money or something. You don't have to use a coffin. After all, when people die, they don't know anything. It's rare to be buried in peace these days."
Manager Zhang's own eldest son also died on the battlefield and even his body was not brought back.
He spent his whole life making coffins, but his own son couldn't even use them. The coffins were empty, with only some of his eldest son's favorite little things in them.
The young man pursed his lips tightly, still refusing to give up and said, "How much is this piece of wood? I'll buy it with the money. If your store is short of manpower, I can come and help!"
"How can you help me? You might just cause more trouble."
“Please…please!!”
The young man kowtowed several times on the ground.
Shopkeeper Zhang felt so bad that he squatted down to stop the young man and said in a compromising tone, "Go back and think about it. I'll keep this wood for you. If you still need it in a few days, come back to me."
A glimmer of hope flashed in the boy's eyes, and a smile slipped across his bitter face. He immediately asked, "How much does it cost?"
Shopkeeper Zhang helped the young man up from the ground, and without strangling him, he told him the truth: "It cost me ten taels of silver just to buy this piece of wood."
Hearing about ten taels of silver, the young man looked at a loss and clenched the corner of his clothes at his side. To him, ten taels of silver was an astronomical figure.
"You want to make a coffin, and the cost of the work is not small. Since you really want it, I can waive the cost of the work and only charge you ten taels. It's not too much, right?"
Seeing the young man standing on the ground without saying anything, Shopkeeper Zhang shook his head helplessly and said, "So, you should go back and think about it again."
"Okay, thank you, Shopkeeper Zhang. I will think about it carefully."
The young man left dejectedly, but came back within three days. As agreed, Manager Zhang did not cut the banyan tree for his own use.
However, the young man still couldn't afford the money, so he knelt in front of Shopkeeper Zhang and said, "I have no money, but I will use my whole life to give you these ten taels of silver."
After a long time, Shopkeeper Zhang compromised and agreed to the young man.
After all, the labor fee was free, so Shopkeeper Zhang couldn't pay other carpenters, so he had to do it himself. He said to the young man: "I'll give you this banyan tree, but you have to work with me on this coffin. Also, you have to keep your word, and you can't give me a penny less of the ten taels of silver."
"Okay, I will definitely give you every penny!"
I don’t know if it’s because of his age, but as Shopkeeper Zhang was talking, his nose felt sore and tears started to fall. Afraid of being laughed at, he turned around and wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes.
"I made this coffin with him. Although he didn't know how to make it, he learned very quickly and was very efficient. He could do it very quickly. Sometimes I would take a nap when I was tired, and when I woke up I would find him still working there, very seriously."
"Even though he never mentioned that person, and never said his name, I only knew that his left eye was disabled. I didn't ask, after all, it's not easy to survive in this chaotic world, but I can see that he really cares about the person who passed away."
"After the coffin was finished, I offered to hire him for a long-term job, but he refused."
"However, he still comes to give money every once in a while. When he sees that the coffin shop is very busy, he will also help out, but he never asks to stay in the coffin shop. He also refuses to accept my wages."
Shopkeeper Zhang stared at the coffin in a trance, and said with a look of emotion: "Look, this coffin has been placed here until now..."
"Since he came to you to get something, has he saved enough money?" Lin Lezhi asked.
Shopkeeper Zhang looked at the coffin and shook his head, then looked at Lin Lezhi and said, "In fact, he spent ten years and only managed to collect less than seven taels of silver."
"Originally I wanted to say seven taels, after all, this banyan wood is extremely difficult to preserve, and I spent a lot of money just to maintain it. I'd rather use it while it's still in good condition, so that my efforts will not be in vain."
Shopkeeper Zhang said with a worried look in his eyes, "Five nights ago, he suddenly came to me and said he was going to fulfill his promise. He was holding three taels of silver in his hand and told me that he was now staying in the Shuiyun Inn. He said his last name was Jiang and that he would come to take the banyan wood coffin from me in a while. Then he left in a hurry."
"Before he left, he said, thank you for all the time."
As he spoke, Shopkeeper Zhang took out the three taels of silver from his bosom and said worriedly, "I was worried that he had done something wrong and the money was not obtained legally, so I kept it with me. I wanted to return the money and the coffin to him when he came back, but... he never came back since he left, so I thought of going to the inn to have a look."
These three taels of money were exactly what Xiao Yihuo had given him in the narrow alley five days ago. He took it casually without looking carefully at how much it was.
Lin Lezhi then understood why Shi Peng poured out all his savings in the abandoned house that day, but there was no silver given by Xiao Yihuo.
That's when Lin Lezhi started to suspect Shi Peng.
Originally, Lin Lezhi thought that Shi Peng used the money to buy ghost money.
Shopkeeper Zhang said in a panic, "I just met the two gentlemen. Could it be that the money is..."
"This money is not ill-gotten, Manager Zhang, just accept it. I will send someone to pick up the coffin later." Xiao Yihuo said.
Hearing that the money was not ill-gotten, Shopkeeper Zhang relaxed a little and murmured in a low voice: "It's good that everything is fine, it's good that everything is fine..."
"What about him? Why don't you see him?" asked Shopkeeper Zhang with an expectant look on his face.
Lin Lezhi and Xiao Yihuo looked at each other, and then Lin Lezhi looked at Zhang the shopkeeper and said, "If Zhang the shopkeeper wants to see him, he can go to the court in Changluan County at 5 pm today."
"Ah? No... didn't they say he was fine?" Looking at the expressions of Lin Lezhi and the other man, Manager Zhang vaguely sensed that something was wrong, and his voice trembled a little.
Looking at the gaze from Shopkeeper Zhang, Lin Lezhi couldn't bear to hide it, after all, he couldn't hide it.
After a moment of silence, Lin Lezhi looked at the coffin behind Manager Zhang and said slowly, "He has now fulfilled his wish and is meeting the person he wanted to meet."
Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Zhang staggered a few steps, and Lin Lezhi hurried forward to support him.
In an instant, the experienced shopkeeper Zhang seemed to have aged a few years. He said in a trance, "I'm fine. Thank you, Master Jiang. I guess... this is the best for him. It's the best. Thank you, Master Jiang, for telling me."
After agreeing with Shopkeeper Zhang on the time to pick up the coffin, the two left Zhang's Coffin Shop.
After walking a few steps, the voice of Shopkeeper Zhang came from behind.
"Please wait a moment, gentlemen."
Following the sound, the two turned around and saw Shopkeeper Zhang running out panting with a piece of paper and a pen dipped in ink.
"Could you please tell me his and his friend's names, sirs?" Perhaps because he felt that he was bothering others, Shopkeeper Zhang looked a little embarrassed.
Shopkeeper Zhang was also a man of temperament. Shi Peng never said anything, and he never asked about it, let alone asked Shi Peng.
"no problem."
As he spoke, Lin Lezhi took the paper and pen, but Lin Lezhi was afraid of exposing that he didn't know how to use a brush, so he handed it to Xiao Yihuo without saying anything, just giving him a look.
Xiao Yihuo did not refuse. He took the paper and pen and wrote two handsome yet majestic names on the paper.
'Shi Peng'.
'Cao An'.
After finishing writing, Xiao Yihuo pointed at Shi Peng's name and told Manager Zhang that he was the young man.
After Lin Lezhi and Xiao Yihuo left, Shopkeeper Zhang stood at the door of the coffin shop and looked at Shi Peng's name for a long, long time.
It was not until someone came to patronize the business that the paper was put away.