Chapter 14 - 8: Liu Mansion Tasting Melons
The funeral hall for Landlord Liu was set up in the main hall, as described in the Funeral and Mourning Scripture, which is considered the most sacred and inviolable place in a household where ancestors and deities are worshipped.
If someone passes away at home, the deceased's family would move the body to the main hall and place it on a temporarily made wooden bed, to avoid having the deceased lying in bed for too long.
Because people spend half their lives asleep in bed, if the deceased remains in the bed for too long after passing, it's believed their soul could be trapped there and unable to reincarnate.
So, whenever a family feels an elder is nearing the end, they would move them to the main hall and attend to them there. This is what is known as dying a natural death in one's family home.
Xu Qing pushed the door open, and upon reaching the outer part of the main hall, he could tell instantly that someone in this household had knowledge of the proper rituals.
Even if they were not from the trade of undertakers, they must have been involved with funeral services before, with practical experience in such matters.
However, experience notwithstanding, they still committed some taboos.
Just like now, where it's unheard of to have such loud quarrels and physical pushing in front of the funeral hall.
Upon closer inspection, Xu Qing recognized one of the bickering women as his acquaintance, Su Hongxiu. The other was a similarly dressed noblewoman in mourning clothes.
"You shameless fox! It's all because of you that our master met his end. Now, you dare come here pretending to be sorrowful like a cat crying over a dead mouse. I see through your sinister motives: you've been waiting for the day our master dies to get a share of the Liu family inheritance!
I'm telling you now, as long as I have breath in me, you won't get a single penny!"