DiploNovel #568 - Burn or bury?
#568 - Burn or bury?
Chapter 565: Burn or Bury?
The Zhang family, mother and sons, were all country bumpkins who had never left their village in their entire lives. They didn't even know the roads, so how could they have the ability to find the legendary members of the Zhang family?
As for Cheng Yu, he had grown up in a Taoist temple since he was a child and had never left it. In terms of insight, he might be better than the Zhang family, but finding someone in the vast sea of people was also impossible.
After Zhang pleaded with Jiang Nan for help, she returned to her own cabin and guarded Zhang Chen's body.
Time passed bit by bit. The four people guarding Zhang Chen's body became visibly thinner. The two little ones cried until their eyes were red, their eyes swollen like peaches. They cried and sobbed, saying that they had angered their eldest brother to death, and no matter how Cheng Yu explained and comforted them, it was useless.
The few people looked at Zhang Chen's body, their hearts filled with mixed feelings of sadness and joy. The good news was that as time passed, there were no signs of decay in Zhang Chen's body, and it remained fresh. The bad news was that although Zhang Chen's body was not damaged, Zhang Chen did not wake up.
Inside Shen Qiu's cabin, listening to his subordinates' report, Shen Qiu couldn't help but frown: "Jiang Nan actually has pills in his hands? And she gave them to the Zhang family? This is really troublesome!"
The steward of the cabin stood aside, head lowered and silent. Shen Qiu tapped his fingers on the table. After a long time, he said to the steward, "Go and tell the Zhang family to burn Zhang Chen's body! If we can burn his body, then everything will be over, and we will completely cut off his hope of resurrection."
"The Zhang family is like a demon, how could they allow us to burn his body?" The steward smiled bitterly upon hearing this: "Unless we use force."
"Use force?" Shen Qiu was silent for a moment upon hearing this, then shook his head: "No! No! If the Zhang family investigates in the future, we will be in trouble and ruin the friendship between the two families. In order to give the Zhang family an explanation, the Shen family will definitely hand us over as scapegoats."
Speaking of this, Shen Qiu took a breath and said meaningfully: "Although Zhang Chen's branch was exiled, that was the emperor's decision, and it doesn't mean that the Zhang family's main family has completely abandoned him. Who didn't know Zhang Ke Cheng's influence in the capital back then? Countless elders of the Zhang family regarded him as the hope of the family. Those who supported and favored Zhang Ke Cheng back then are still alive! Even the emperor took into account the influence of the Zhang family and only exiled him. If we do too much, those old guys will definitely not let it go."
"There are many ways to burn Zhang Chen's body, such as persuading people by analyzing the pros and cons, or coercing them, but we must never directly take action," Shen Qiu said in a heavy voice.
Hearing Shen Qiu's words, the steward lowered his head and looked at his toes, and couldn't help but sigh deeply. A trace of bitterness appeared in his eyes. This kind of thing was like a pile of sticky snot, stuck to his hand and he couldn't shake it off. He had to carry out the orders, and if the Zhang family investigated in the future, he was afraid that the young master would hand him over to take the blame.
However, since the young master had ordered it, he had no choice. Even if the consequences were severe, he had to do it.
"This humble one knows what to do." The steward bowed and respectfully retreated.
After leaving Shen Qiu's room, the steward stroked his chin and pondered for a moment before saying, "If I want to accomplish this, I must occupy the moral high ground, so that if the Zhang family investigates in the future, I can give the Zhang family an explanation, hoping that the Zhang family can show mercy and let me keep my lowly life."
As for how to get Zhang to burn Zhang Chen's body?
Of course, it was to mobilize the power of the masses. As long as the guests on the ship felt that the corpse had to be burned, then he could naturally come forward to coerce them.
"If Zhang Chen's body develops a plague, or has a rotten smell, then the guests on the ship will naturally put pressure on the Zhang family without me having to come forward." A gleam of light appeared in the steward's eyes.
He went all the way to the passenger ship, looking at the Zhang family of four who were sadly surrounding Zhang Chen's body. A gleam of light appeared in the steward's eyes: "Madam Zhang, the weather is hot now, and there are some ice cubes in the cabin, which may keep the body for a longer time. This humble one has received the young master's order and specially brought you some ice cubes."
"My young master said that although you cannot reveal your identity, which means my young master cannot help you, it is still possible to give you some ice cubes to delay the decay of the corpse," the steward said.
The steward came closer, and behind him, servants were carrying baskets of ice cubes, which emitted bursts of cold air.
At this time, the steward secretly said in his heart: "I have already taken the initiative to send out ice, which can be regarded as a statement of merit. If the Zhang family in the capital investigates in the future, I will have a better chance of survival."
Madam Zhang glanced at the steward and then at the basket of ice, and said with gratitude: "Thank you, steward, I will definitely repay you handsomely in the future."
The steward nodded upon hearing this: "My young master is also regretful that he cannot help, but the rules are like this and cannot be broken. These ice cubes are just a token of my heart!"
With the steward's instructions, the baskets of ice were laid out, Zhang Chen's body was lifted up, and then buried in ice.
Of course, this ice was not ordinary ice, but had been pre-mixed with ingredients by the steward.
The next day
A trace of corpse odor came from Zhang Chen's body, and at the same time, countless yellow pustules appeared on Zhang Chen's body for no reason, like bubbles, which looked particularly terrifying and hideous.
The next day, Cheng Yu had already noticed something was wrong: "Strange, why is there a corpse odor?"
Then he quickly pulled away the ice and exposed Zhang Chen's body. When he saw the pustules and blisters on Zhang Chen's body, Cheng Yu was so shocked that he fell to the ground, unable to speak for a moment, only tears constantly flowing down his cheeks.
"How could this happen?" Madam Zhang was so shocked that the breakfast in her hand fell to the ground.
"It's over! Eldest brother's body stinks! Eldest brother, it's all my fault, I angered you to death. Wake up quickly, let me die for you. If you can come back to life, I would be happy even if I were cut into pieces and had no burial place." Zhang Wei didn't care about the hideous and terrifying blisters, and directly rushed forward to hug Zhang Chen's body and cried to death.
The family panicked and cried around Zhang Chen's body, which immediately alarmed the guests on the ship. One by one, they cast their gazes over, and then the changes happened exactly as the steward expected. Someone noticed the pustules on Zhang Chen's body and couldn't help but exclaim, "It's a plague! That's a plague!"
"Plague?"
As soon as these two words came out, the atmosphere on the entire ship suddenly became tense. Countless people gathered around, looking at the pustules and blisters on Zhang Chen's body with horrified expressions.
"This corpse cannot be left, it must be burned! Once the plague spreads, we don't know how many people will die!"
"That's right, we can't joke with the lives of everyone on the ship! This is definitely a plague, and his body must be cremated."
"This sister-in-law, your son is already dead. The deceased is gone and cannot be resurrected. Why don't you quickly burn him and bury him in peace?"
...
At this time, everyone surrounded them, chattering and constantly persuading Madam Zhang.
When it doesn't involve their own interests, there is no problem with how long you leave Zhang Chen's body, but now that Zhang Chen has a plague, if you are not careful, it will infect everyone, how can everyone sit idly by?
"What my junior brother has is not a plague! Don't talk nonsense. If it were a plague, our family of four would have been infected long ago. How could we still be fine?" Cheng Yu was unhappy when he heard these people wanted to burn Zhang Chen's body, and quickly stood up and retorted.
"This little girl, does it matter whether the abnormality on your brother's body is a plague or not? Your brother's body already has a rotten smell, and his body is probably already rotten. Why don't you quickly bury the body in peace, are you going to wait for him to rot into a pile of flesh?" Someone else persuaded.
"This is a plague, quickly burn the corpse to avoid spreading it to everyone!"
"That's right, we can't harm everyone on the ship because of you!"
At this time, Madam Zhang was unhappy: "Even if it is a plague, that is my family's business, how can you interfere? I just want to leave it like this, what can you do?"
"You bastard, you are using everyone's lives to bury your son. We must not tolerate this kind of thing. This corpse must be burned!" Someone else said.
"Try to touch a finger of my son's corpse! This body must not be burned! My son took the pills, and his body has been preserved, how can it rot? And we have been together all the time. If my son had a plague, we would definitely not be spared. The blisters on my son's body are definitely not a plague! Try to touch a finger of my son!" A trace of cold light appeared in Madam Zhang's eyes, and her eyes were full of murderous intent.
A group of people quarreled and confronted Madam Zhang and the others. Madam Zhang and the others refused to give in at all, and kept scolding each other.
...
At this time, someone shouted loudly: "Ship steward, are you going to take care of this? There is a plague on your ship, how can we take the ship? We have paid for the tickets, you have to take care of this!"
Someone directly shouted to the cabin steward, asking him to come forward to solve the matter.
"That's right, if you can't solve it, we dare not take this ship anymore. Give me a refund and stop the ship to shore, I want to go down!"
At this time, some people were secretly fanning the flames unintentionally. Everyone recognized it as a plague. At this time, seeing that the Zhang family refused to give in, they all shouted to the steward.
The steward, who had been hiding in the dark, had been waiting for a long time. At this time, seeing the excitement of the crowd, he secretly said in his heart: "It's done!"
Then he walked out slowly: "What are you all making such a noise about?"
"Steward, you came just in time. This kid's body has a plague and has already rotted. It should have been burned and cremated long ago to avoid infecting us. This ship is the Shen family's ship, you have to take care of this matter and give us a charter!" Someone saw the steward's arrival as if they had seen a savior and quickly called out.