Otherworldly Merchant

Chapter 11: A Tale of Love

I carefully sized up Wu Tiezhu's corpse, somewhat perplexed.

I could easily tell that there was something fishy with this situation. The cut on the missing arm wasn't clean, and it almost felt as though the arm had been bitten off.

Furthermore, Wu Tiezhu's mouth was bulging as if something was stuffed inside.

Just as I was preparing to have someone pry Wu Tiezhu's mouth open to see what was inside, the police came over from the nearby town.

The sluggard eagerly rushed to them and said, "Police officers, someone robbed the ancestral grave of my family! You must severely punish the perpetrators. They insulted my ancestors!"

When the sluggard opened his mouth, his deadly bad breath blew in the faces of the police officers, making them retreat a step.

Afterward, one of the police officers asked the sluggard what had happened, while the other took some pictures of the scene to gather evidence.

The sluggard kept chattering on about the ancestral grave of his family. At last, the police officer couldn't bear it anymore and asked, "Actually, I only want to know how this person died..."

I interjected, "I think he bit off his arm and then died of excessive blood loss."

After hearing my words, the people on the scene gasped, one after another.

The police officer didn't believe my explanation and asked, "How did you reach this conclusion?"

I replied, "Did you take a look at the cut on the corpse's arm? You can easily tell that the arm was bitten off."

Soon after, a person that looked like a forensic expert jumped into the hole and carefully examined the corpse. He nodded and said, "That's right. The arm was indeed bitten off."

I continued, "Take another look. There seems to be something stuffed into his mouth."

The forensic expert nodded and opened his bag, using tweezers and pliers to pry open Wu Tiezhu's mouth, finding a lot of rotten flesh inside, and even a finger.

The people at the site got agitated; they were obviously afraid. After all, no matter how one looked at it, the fact that Wu Tiezhu had bitten himself to death was by no means normal. The crowd couldn't help but associate Wu Tiezhu's death to supernatural causes.

On the other hand, the sluggard was very calm. He took delight in others' misfortune and said, "Serves him right."

The young forensic expert was also taken aback, and he no longer dared to look straight at that desolate tomb. He likewise felt that this grave was extremely uncanny. He asked his colleagues to pull him up and quickly told us the results of the autopsy. "The deceased is Wu Tiezhu, a grave robber. He mutilated himself while robbing the grave, biting off his left arm and dying from the excessive loss of blood. He might have been affected by some mental illness."

As for the following matters, the authorities handled it all in a well-organized manner.

The police notified Wu Tiezhu's family, inviting them to come forward and identify the corpse. 

After the police had left, I told the people at the site to keep digging and completely unearth the grave of the imperial concubine.

The sluggard asked me, looking very anxious, "Since we already know that it was Wu Tiezhu's doing, do we still need to continue with what we were doing? Can't we just bury the dead here?"

I shook my head and said, "That won't do. Weve already disturbed the dead, and it would be wiser to bury them anew. Moreover, the blue and white porcelain led us to the ancient grave so that we could unearth it... but, why did it do that? Aside from that grave digger, there would be something in the coffin as well."

The sluggard was now a faithful follower of mine, so he agreed to my suggestion and kept digging.

After the surrounding grey bricks were moved aside, the internal part of the tombs chamber was revealed. The tombs chamber wasn't too big, and there were some bottles and jars scattered here and there. There was also the ghastly sight of a coffin painted in red in the middle.

The lid of the coffin had been pushed aside. Needless to say, this was Wu Tiezhu's doing.

After seeing that the villagers weren't too keen on taking action, I went forward and tied a rope around the coffin, telling the villagers to pull it out.

When the coffin appeared before everyone's eyes, the people at the site opened their eyes wide and were rendered speechless.

The female corpse inside the coffin wasn't rotten and had been perfectly preserved. Teeth, hair, and even eyelashes; everything was clearly visible. She wore beautiful clothing worthy of an imperial concubine and had a smile on her face. Her hands lay flat, and she looked very serene.

She had turned into a desiccated corpse.

I noticed that she was tightly holding a scroll in her hand.

After hesitating a little, I finally stretched out my hand to remove the scroll, taking a quick look at it.

There was a poem written above.

"The picture of the dead suddenly becomes so beautiful, and one can't help but sigh.

Filled with sorrow and all alone, why can't we be together in life and death?

Dying together and meeting in the underworld, with our bones buried beneath a desolate mountain.

After getting reborn, we would meet again and read books together.

What if I'm locked up in a dark coffin? The impression of your countenance in my heart is enough to keep me company.

The happy past has already become dust, and I can only remember you and cry."

Although I wasn't an expert when it comes to ancient poetry, I could tell at a glance that it was a poem about love.

In short, it talked about how a person would be filled with emotion in front of the portrait of their dead lover, lamenting that they couldn't share life and death with them. After recalling the begone joys of the past, tears couldn't help but flow from one's eyes.

However, there was something I didn't understand. Why did the imperial concubine have this scroll with her? For whom had she written this poem? After all, her lover had seemingly died prematurely...

During the rule of feudal society, there were countless concubines like this one in the Imperial Palace. Since gaining the favor of the Emperor was wishful thinking, they could only find someone else to rely on.

It was unknown whod been lucky enough to obtain the love of this imperial concubine, but their fate hadn't been too good, and theyd prematurely passed away.

That person was likely related to the 'Blue Head'.

Currently, I didn't have the time to investigate this matter. Therefore, I told the people at the site to cover the coffin again and seal it with iron nails. As for the matter related to the new location of the grave, it was something out of my expertise, and the specialists in the village would take care of it.

Afterward, Li Mazi and I went to the sluggard's house and leafed through his genealogical records to discover something about the origin of the 'Blue Head'.

Towards the end of the Qing Dynasty, a famous general named Nalan accidentally met this imperial concubine. The duo fell in love at first sight. The man appreciated the literary talent of the woman, while the woman was awed by the bravery of the man.

At that time, under the rules of feudal society, the duo had faced all sorts of pressures and could only have trysts in secret.

Later, Nalan was seriously injured during a great battle. Seeing that he wouldn't be able to make it, the imperial concubine was extremely sad and didn't eat for three days. Although they hadn't been born on the same day, they could at least die on the same day.

Upon seeing this situation, Nalan was also in great pain. Therefore, he wrote down his testament, and ordered his servants to use his teeth and ashes to manufacture the 'Blue Head' so that he could forever accompany the imperial concubine.

The imperial concubine was heartbroken after receiving the Blue Head. She would hug it all night and cry bitterly.

Later, she discovered that this set of blue and white porcelain was far from ordinary. She almost felt as though the great general Nalan was accompanying her every night.

Perhaps being able to stay together like this was the best outcome for the duo at that time...

Afterward, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked Beijing[1], the imperial concubine managed to safely escape the Imperial Palace with the help of the Blue Head. Moreover, she brought several treasures with her, enough to last for the rest of her life.

No one would have expected that even after his death, the great general Nalan would use his spirit to protect his beloved. Time slowly passed, and a hundred years later, his love hadn't diminished in the slightest.

According to our original agreement, we were supposed to take away the Blue Headit was the reward for our trip here.

However, who had the heart to break up these two lovers after hearing this heroic and moving story?

Furthermore, it was unlikely that the Blue Head would stay calm if I were to forcefully take it away.

Finally, I told the villagers to bury the Blue Head and the imperial concubine together...

Li Mazi obviously flew in a rage, and he ignored me for three days and three nights. After all, who wouldnt be angry if several hundred thousand renminbi that should belong to them were buried underground?

Li Mazi wasn't the only one in this state, because even I felt my heart bleed.

In order to repay us, the sluggard took several funerary objects from the ancient grave and gifted them to us.

All the objects came from the Imperial Palace, and they had considerable value. Therefore, we still made some profit.

After the grave was moved, the sluggard didn't experience strange things again. Perhaps due to the blessing of his ancestors, the sluggard made quite a sum from the jewelry in the tomb. Afterward, he worked hard and ended up becoming a real estate businessman.

Compared to the lucky sluggard, Wu Tiezhu's family was rather miserable.

First, Wu Tiezhu's father got into a car accident and became a vegetable. Wu Tiezhu's mother couldn't bear the family pressure anymore and killed herself after drinking poison. Even the son of Wu Tiezhu's elder brother was born with an imperforate anus.

People said that it was retribution for Wu Tiezhu's evil deeds.

Li Mazi had once asked me, "Would my family also face retribution?"

I only smiled and didn't say anything.

Who knows, perhaps there was still a pair of eyes watching us in secret?

Actually, the fact that Elder Brother Wu's son had been born with an imperforate anus wasn't a big deal. It was just a birth defect that could be fixed with a surgical operation.

1. Troops from the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan were sent to North China in 1900 to suppress the Boxer Rebellion.