Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 6 Table of Contents
Chapter One: Even in Death, I Will Be Beautiful

"Old Wang, the cold storage manager at the funeral home, called me and said he had something to do that night and asked me to cover his shift and check on the operation of the cold storage equipment when I had some free time."

"It's just a matter of checking how the equipment is working; it's not a complicated thing. I agreed to Lao Wang's request."

"After nightfall, I fell asleep and completely forgot about Old Wang's instructions."

"The next day, Old Wang died; he died in the cold storage!"

"I heard he died suddenly last night after returning to the cold storage."

"Old Wang's family made a scene at the funeral home for a while, received compensation from the director, and Old Wang was left at the funeral home. His family said they would come back in seven days to handle some matters."

"Old Wang probably never imagined that after guarding the cold storage for half his life, he would end up living in a freezer himself."

"Because there was no one to guard the cold storage after Lao Wang died, I was temporarily assigned to guard it. Out of guilt towards Lao Wang, I did not refuse the job."

"At noon, I went to the cold storage to see Old Wang, and while I was there, I also took a look at the deceased person next to him."

"They all died young, which makes me lament the impermanence of life."

Looking at the girl's bare face in the freezer, I thought of her profession in the information. If she could make a decision, she certainly wouldn't let herself leave like this with no makeup on.

"So I called the mortician from the museum to do the makeup for the girl."

"I don't know if it was my imagination or the makeup, but when I pushed the girl who had finished her makeup back into the cabinet, I felt like she was smiling."

"Something seems to belong to me in the dark, and it's two coins heavier."

That concludes all the changes.

Chen Miao didn't die, and nobody else died in the story!

But this is not the end.

Just as Chen Miao finished reading this chapter, some more words appeared at the end of the article.

[Chapter 1 complete. Received Yin Virtue (two coins), Qian Xiaomei's gratitude (Makeup Mastery), and Wang Tao's resentment (Seven Days of Resentment). Side story begins!]

Good deeds done in secret?

A makeup expert?
Seven days of resentment?

Extra?
What are these?
"Chen Miao, what do you think?"

The slow, gentle voice pulled Chen Miao out of his confusion.

Chen Miao closed the book and went over to take a look.

"Your cooking skills are excellent."

Chen Miao expressed his sincere admiration.

"Thank you, would you like to transfer via WeChat or pay in cash?"

Chen Miao was taken aback, then took out his phone and transferred four hundred yuan to her.

"Sended."

"Thank you. You can always contact me for work in the future, and I'll give you a 20% discount."

Chen Miao looked at Shi Manman, who rarely smiled, and nodded, "Definitely."

After slowly leaving, Chen Miao reached out and pushed Qian Xiaomei into the cabinet.

During the process, he thought of the contents of the book, looked down, and his heart skipped a beat.

Qian Xiaomei had a smile on her face similar to the one she had shown earlier.

That seems to be... satisfying?
click!
The cabinet door closed, and nothing happened.

Before leaving, Chen Miao glanced at Old Wang's cabinet one last time.

Resentment?

Did Old Wang also have unfulfilled last wishes?

But why is there no foreshadowing about Old Wang in the book?
Or are you saying we'll see it tomorrow?

Chen Miao did not open Lao Wang's cabinet and left the cold storage directly.

Back in his office, Chen Miao opened the book.

But he was stunned as soon as he opened it.

The first page was originally supposed to be the main text, but now it's changed and has become the table of contents!

……

Contents
I. Introduction
[Author Information]

[List of Skills]

[List of Miscellaneous Skills]

【Item List】

II. Main Text

Chapter 1: Even in Death, I Will Be Beautiful

3. Extras

[Chapter 1 - Extra Chapter: Old Wang's Resentment]

IV. Appendix

[Redeem List]

……

"what are these?"

Chen Miao turned to the next page and saw the [Author Information]:
Name: Chen Miao

【Age: 24】

[Occupation: Funeral Director]

[Virtue in secret: Two coins]

[Current Status: Haunted by resentment (7 days)]

When Chen Miao saw the last line, he was shocked!
Recalling the contents of the text that had just appeared, Chen Miao finally understood where this "being haunted by resentment" came from.

Although somewhat helpless, Chen Miao had no way to reason with Lao Wang.

Turning the page again, Chen Miao saw the [Skills List]:
[Funeral Hall Setup - Introduction]

[Funeral Etiquette Expert]

[Eulogy Writing - Proficient]

[Makeup Mastery] "Are these my existing skills?"

Chen Miao flipped through it again!

The "Miscellaneous Skills List" and "Item List" are empty.

Chen Miao ignored it, skipped the main text, and went straight to the extra chapter!
Chapter 1 - Side Story - Old Wang's Resentment

"After I did Qian Xiaomei's makeup, I had some profound insights—insights about the world!"

"Perhaps there really are things beyond my understanding that I don't know about."

"Having never been exposed to these things before, I had no clue how to sort them out, so I could only suppress my doubts and continue with my life."

"That night, I had a dream."

"I found myself in a small, cold space. I felt like I was experiencing sleep paralysis; I could only look but couldn't move."

"I don't know how much time passed in the dream. When I woke up, I found that I had caught a cold and felt a little weak."

"I initially thought the dream was just a coincidence, but I kept having the same dream for the next few days!"

"Every time I wake up from a dream, my health deteriorates a little more."

"After the seventh dream, I never woke up again."

"I am dead."

Chen Miao's face darkened when he saw the last line of text.

Just when we got rid of Qian Xiaomei, another one, Lao Wang, appears?

Although he didn't die on the first try this time, the problem is that Lao Wang's resentment is clearly different from Qian Xiaomei's. Qian Xiaomei only died when she entered the cold storage; she was fine if she didn't go there.

But Old Wang's resentment followed Chen Miao!
Perhaps if Chen Miao hadn't slept, he would have been fine.

Can you go seven days without sleeping?
Chen Miao remained silent.

He continued turning the pages, intending to learn about all the changes in the book.

After flipping to the appendix, Chen Miao saw even more content than the main text and the extra chapters!
……

A pair of red candles (symbolizing a small act of good karma)
A pair of white candles (symbolizing a small act of good karma)
Four sticks of incense (for accumulating merit)
A bucket of black dog blood (a small act of good karma)
A bag of glutinous rice (a small act of good karma)
One qian of cinnabar (a unit of weight in Chinese astrology) - (a unit of weight in Chinese astrology)
A bowl of rooster blood (a small act of good karma)
A large sheet of yellow talisman paper (representing one coin of good karma).
……

[Centennial Peach Wood] (Two coins for good karma)

[Centennial Jujube Wood] (Two coins of good karma)

[Centennial Willow Wood] (Two coins of good karma)

[Centennial locust tree] (Two coins of good karma)

A bowl of rooster comb blood (a token of good karma)

One copper coin (representing two coins of good karma)

……

In addition to these contents, Chen Miao also saw a line of text in the upper right corner of each page of the exchange list.

Current act of good deeds: Two coins

Chen Miao understood all these words, but shouldn't these kinds of things usually appear in the game store?
A book contains a redemption list?
How do I redeem it?

Chen Miao's fingers traced the exchange items, and a thought suddenly struck him.

As he moved his fingers, the appearances of various objects appeared in his mind.

Chen Miao was certain that he had not imagined the corresponding item in his mind before this.

When he removed his finger from the redemption options on the pages of the book, the corresponding appearance of the items disappeared from his mind.

Even when Chen Miao subconsciously tried to recall, it wasn't as clear as before.

After repeated attempts, Chen Miao confirmed that the appearance of the object in his mind was due to that book.

"Could it really be possible to exchange for it?"

Chen Miao subconsciously wanted to test it out, and then he saw the four incense sticks that appeared out of nowhere on the appendix page!

At that moment, his finger was placed precisely where the four incense sticks were!

The sudden appearance of this item really surprised Chen Miao.

But when he thought about how amazing the book was, he quickly accepted the change.

"Ok?"

Chen Miao noticed something was wrong as he picked up the incense stick.

Compared to the incense sticks commonly found in funeral homes, the four in his hand were clearly different in appearance alone.

The incense sticks at the funeral home cost ten or twenty yuan a bunch, and they are yellowish-brown in color with a granular texture visible in the cross-section.

This is because these incense sticks have binder added during production, and the actual fragrance content may be less than half.

The incense sticks in Chen Miao's hands are purplish-brown in color with irregular oil lines. The purplish-black cross-section even shows a waxy luster, which indicates that the incense sticks have a high oil content!
Chen Miao is a funeral director. He learned about this kind of knowledge when he was in school. This incense should be a pure, unadhesive powder stick incense made by hand!

The hand-rolling is not a gimmick; because there is no binding powder, pure wood powder incense sticks would break if pressed by machine, so they can only be rolled by hand.

Moreover, these incense sticks need to be air-dried in a constant humidity environment for 7-15 days to be made; if they are dried too quickly, they will crack.

Looking at the incense sticks, Chen Miao turned on his computer and started searching.

Before long, Chen Miao found out the information about this incense stick.

「降真香，半沉级价格在500~1500元/克，沉水级在2500~5000元/克，奇楠级8000~15000元/克。」

The four incense sticks in Chen Miao's hand, although not lit yet to observe the smoke, should be classified as... Kyara grade based solely on their color!

A single stick of incense weighs about 0.2 grams, so one stick costs over 1500 yuan, and four sticks would cost 6,000 yuan!
Because it is handmade, this incense has a lower density than pressed incense, so it burns faster, and one stick takes about 18 to 25 minutes to burn.

In other words, just this one stick of incense burns nearly 100 yuan per minute after it's lit!

If all four are burning at the same time, that's 400 yuan per minute!
As Chen Miao clicked his tongue in amazement, something suddenly occurred to him.

Why are there four?

Looking at the four incense sticks in his hand, Chen Miao suddenly remembered that sentence.

Three gods and four ghosts!

Are these four incense sticks for ghosts?

……

PS: This book uses a conversion scheme where one jin equals ten liang and one liang equals ten qian, making it easy to remember and convert.

(End of this chapter)