Zombie Life Begins in Hongxi Village

The next morning, Lin Yi was awakened by the crowing of a rooster.

Sunlight had already squeezed in through the cracks in the window, drawing golden stripes on the floor.

From the courtyard outside, one could hear the sounds of servants moving about quietly, and the soft rustling of brooms sweeping across the bluestone floor.

Ren Tingting was no longer in bed. Lin Yi looked at the dark red stain on the bed and smiled slightly. It was like two different worlds. He had finally gotten rid of his status as a virgin.

He put on his clothes, pushed open the door, and went out.

In the courtyard, Ren Tingting had changed into a plain white mourning dress and was standing under the eaves instructing the servants on their duties.

Her hair was still tied up with a white silk ribbon, and she still had no makeup on her face, but her overall spirit and energy were completely different from last night.

Last night, she was like a frightened fawn, her eyes full of defensiveness and fear.

Today, she stood under the eaves with her back straight, her voice clear and powerful. When she instructed the servants to do things, her tone was decisive and efficient, and she already had the air of a young lady in charge.

Hearing the door open and close, she turned around and saw Lin Yi standing in the doorway.

The morning light shone on him, giving him a soft glow, which, combined with his angular face, made him look incredibly dashing.

Her face flushed slightly, but she quickly covered it up and stepped forward to say in a low voice, "Ayi, I have already asked Uncle Fu to find a bricklayer to repair the yard, and the door has also been reinstalled."

I had the servants burn my grandfather's body in a bonfire made of lychee wood, and I've collected his ashes in a jar.

Lin Yi nodded, her gaze sweeping around the courtyard.

The flower stand that was smashed last night has been cleaned up. The broken bluestone slabs haven't been replaced yet, but the rubble has been swept aside.

Ren Tingting added, "I told Uncle Fu and the others to call you son-in-law."

Lin Yi raised an eyebrow. Ren Tingting met his gaze without flinching, only her lips curved slightly into a smile.

Lin Yi didn't care; it was just a title, she could call him whatever she wanted.

He nodded, which was taken as tacit agreement.

Sure enough, when he walked around the courtyard, whether it was the steward, Uncle Fu, or the maids and servants, they all bowed their heads respectfully and called him "Young Master".

A short while later, Uncle Nine arrived.

He was holding a celadon jar, the mouth of which was sealed with a yellow talisman, and inside was Ren Fa's ashes.

Last night, Uncle Nine disposed of Ren Fa, who had turned into a zombie, in the cell in less than half an hour.

Ren Tingting took the urn and temporarily placed it in the mourning hall in the backyard along with the ashes of Old Master Ren.

She knelt before the coffin, burned an incense stick, looked at the two urns of ashes, her eyes reddened for a moment, but she quickly composed herself.

After the incense burned out, she stood up and told Uncle Jiu that after the funeral, she wanted him to find a new auspicious burial site for her father and grandfather.

Uncle Jiu felt somewhat guilty towards Ren Tingting.

Strictly speaking, Ren Fa's death was somewhat related to his lax supervision.

So without saying a word, he patted his chest and promised to find a good feng shui site for the Ren family to bury Ren Fa and Old Master Ren. He also specifically told Ren Tingting that no matter what happens in the future, she can come to the mortuary to find him at any time.

After saying this, he lit an incense stick for each of the two deceased people's memorial tablets and then took his leave.

Not long after Uncle Jiu left, mourners began to enter the house one after another.

Ren Fa died a violent death, and according to local custom, the mourning period cannot exceed three days, so the mourning begins today.

The tables and chairs in the main hall were moved to one side, and two offering tables were placed in the center, with memorial tablets for Ren Fa and Old Master Ren.

The incense burner was filled with incense sticks, and wisps of smoke curled around it, filling the air with a rich fragrance and the smell of paper money.

Ren Tingting, dressed in mourning clothes, knelt before the coffin. Whenever someone came in to offer incense, she would kowtow in return.

The first to arrive were some of the town's bigwigs and business partners.

These people didn't really have any personal relationship with Ren Fa; they were just going through the motions out of politeness and business dealings.

After offering incense and exchanging a few words of condolence, they hurriedly left, none of them lingering for even a moment longer.

It is the rule that one should not leave food for someone who has died a violent death.

Awei also came.

He was wearing a wrinkled black uniform and was maintaining order at the entrance with the two team members from yesterday.

He was unusually attentive today, greeting each and every mourner who entered the door with familiarity; these were all wealthy gentry and prominent families.

But when his gaze fell on Lin Yi, he couldn't hide his grief.

He saw Lin Yi standing next to Ren Tingting, and Ren's servants were actually calling Lin Yi "son-in-law".

Awei's face fell instantly, and his eyes even turned a little red—not from anger, but from resentment.

He had been pursuing Ren Tingting for so long, visiting her every few days to fawn over her. It was one thing for her uncle not to like him, but Ren Tingting had never even given him a second glance.

As it turned out, this young man from the provincial capital, who appeared out of nowhere, stole away his goddess after only one day.

But he didn't dare to retaliate.

The image of Lin Yi pointing a gun at him yesterday was still vivid in his mind, and his knees were still slightly weak.

So Awei chose to express his dissatisfaction in another way—by making a mournful face.

Those who came to pay their respects, unaware of the situation, assumed that he and Ren Fa had a very deep relationship, and they all sighed in their hearts that this cousin was truly a man of great loyalty and affection.

As noon approached, the number of mourners gradually decreased.

Ren Tingting had been standing all morning, and her legs were a little sore. Just as she was about to sit down and rest for a while, a commotion suddenly broke out outside.

The commotion was not the solemnity expected of a funeral; instead, it was the sound of people shouting loudly at the door, as if it were a market.

Ren Tingting frowned. Uncle Fu strode in, his face not looking too good: "Miss, three of the clan's elder uncles have arrived, and they've brought several other people with them."

Ren Tingting frowned even more deeply.

She never expected that these people wouldn't even wait until the seventh day after her father's death.

It's only the second day, just the day for the body to be laid in state for mourning, and they've already come to our door in a hurry.

The light at the entrance to the main hall dimmed slightly.

Three old men, so old they needed help to walk, walked in, followed by four middle-aged men and one young man.

The three old men were dressed in decent mandarin jackets, made of good material, but they were a bit faded from washing, and the cuffs were frayed. It was clear that they were wearing these clothes that they would not normally wear, but only for this kind of occasion to make a good impression.

As soon as they entered, three pairs of cloudy old eyes began to scan the Ren family's courtyard—

From the rosewood furniture in the main hall to the blue-and-white porcelain flowerpots under the eaves, from the Taihu stones in the corner of the courtyard to the maids and servants, they spared no one, their eyes filled with a greedy glint, much like a stray dog ​​that hadn't eaten for three days entering a butcher shop.

The leader was the eldest uncle, with a white beard, who leaned on a boxwood cane and walked with a shaky gait.

But his eyes were very shrewd. After scanning around, they landed on Ren Tingting, and a forced smile appeared on his lips.

Behind him followed his second and third uncles, whose faces were one fat and one thin, but whose expressions were remarkably similar—

They all tried hard to feign the kindness of elders, but could never hide the shrewdness in their eyes.

The middle-aged men they brought were all tall and burly, wearing short jackets that revealed their thick arms. They stood like several walls of flesh at the entrance of the main hall.

These middle-aged men started yelling and shouting at the maids of the Ren family as soon as they entered, their voices so loud they could lift the roof off.

"Hey you, pour the tea, hurry up! What kind of work are you doing, dawdling like that?"

"Is there any more snacks? Bring them out! There's so little of this, who's going to eat it all!"

They acted as if this place was already their home.

Standing next to several middle-aged men was a young man of about seventeen or eighteen, dressed in a silk robe. The fabric was new, but it just didn't suit him at all.

He was short with a short neck, and the collar of his long gown was obviously two fingers too big, as if he had borrowed someone else's clothes.

He tried his best to maintain the aloofness of a young master, with his chin slightly raised and his lips pursed, but his small eyes kept darting around.

He glanced at Ren Tingting's face one moment, then at the rosewood table and chairs in the main hall the next, his eyes darting around like two abacus beads, revealing all his little schemes.

"Tingting," the uncle walked to the altar with his cane, neither offering incense nor bowing, and immediately adopted the tone of an elder lecturing a younger generation.

"Such a big event as Ah Fa's passing, why didn't you invite us elders to preside over the ceremony? You're so inconsiderate."

"Exactly," the second uncle chimed in, a hint of reproach in his chubby face. "We're all family, blood is thicker than water. Who else can you rely on if not us?"

Third Uncle was as thin as a bamboo pole, but he had the loudest voice. He stood in the middle of the main hall, hands behind his back, chin held high, his voice booming as if he were performing a grand opera:

"Looks like the Ren family can't do without us! What does a seventeen-year-old girl know about funeral arrangements? People will laugh at us if word gets out!"

Ren Tingting stood before the altar, her face gradually growing colder.

Her hands were clasped together in front of her, her nails digging into her palms.

She had long suspected they would come, but she hadn't expected them to be in such a hurry—

They wouldn't even bother with the pretense; they started making trouble right before her father's coffin. Their behavior was so ugly it was blatant.

She turned her head slightly and glanced at Lin Yi, who was standing by the pillar next to her.

Lin Yi leaned against the pillar with her arms crossed, her face expressionless and silent, only nodding slightly at her.

Ren Tingting felt much more at ease.

Just then, Awei squeezed through the doorway. He had heard the commotion from outside and, after a moment's thought, decided this was a good opportunity to impress his cousin—

Although Lin Yi has already snatched him away, what if...?

If Lin Yi is driven away by these clan elders, and he steps forward to help Tingting, there might still be a chance for things to turn around.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Awei, with his round belly, squeezed into the main hall, raising his voice high, "Are you bullying my cousin? Let me tell you, I, Awei, am the security captain of Renjia Town!"

"Anyone who dares to cause trouble at the Ren residence, I'll be the first to object!"

Before he could finish speaking, his uncle slowly turned around and looked him up and down with his cloudy old eyes.

"Awei, this is a matter for the Ren family. What business is it of yours, an outsider?" The eldest uncle's voice was unhurried, as if he were shooing away a fly.

Second Uncle chimed in, his fat face beaming with a fake smile that looked like it could squeeze oil out of a can: "Awei, don't you know how you got this security captain position?"

"This seat was bought for you by our Ren family. We can let you go up, but we can also let you come down. You'd better think it over carefully."

The third uncle added ominously, "Awei, you'd better think this through. Ultimately, the Ren family's affairs are decided by the Ren family. Don't make a mistake."

Awei's face flushed red and then turned pale. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but it felt like something was blocking his throat.

Awei swallowed hard, his shoulders slumping slowly.

He took a step back, then another, his expression shifting from impassioned fervor to an awkward, mocking laugh.

"Uncles, please don't misunderstand. I just don't want things to get too ugly." He coughed twice, his voice eight octaves lower than before. "Since this is a family matter of the Ren family, then... then I won't get involved."

After saying that, he lowered his head and retreated to a corner, his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched over like a quail.

But his eyes were still darting around—he secretly glanced at Lin Yi standing by the pillar, and a secret sense of schadenfreude suddenly welled up inside him.

He can't handle these clan elders. Weren't you so arrogant? Now let's see how you get out of this mess!