Chapter 46 - 36: The Rebellion Tax
The two brothers met and felt like old friends, talking until the sun was high in the sky. It wasn’t until then that Wang Lingyuan remembered he still needed to go to work at the government office.
But compared to recognizing a brother, taking a half-day off work wasn’t a big deal.
As he was leaving, Wang Lingyuan didn’t forget to advise, "A few days ago, an unfamiliar corpse driver came to the patrol office to collect bodies. From what I could tell, he didn’t seem to be from Xiangyin and is probably a newcomer."
"You need to know that rivals are particularly envious when they meet." Wang Lingyuan said earnestly, "The unclaimed bodies in the patrol office are originally of little value. Even if they are sold to a charity burial, they are worth no more than two taels of silver. But you have been buying them for four or five taels, which has already caused some discontent among your peers. I see them as people who are hard to deal with and may vent their anger on you, bringing trouble. You are still young and not aware of the dangers in this line of work, so you should be vigilant daily and not let these shady people take advantage of you..."
Little did Wang Lingyuan know that the bodies of those peers he mentioned had already turned cold. In a few more days, they would probably be nothing but a pile of decayed bones, and how could they cause trouble for Xu Qing?
Even if the world is as perilous, could it be more perilous than his junior brother?
Although Wang Lingyuan’s reminder came late, kindness never comes too late.
Xu Qing sincerely thanked him and accompanied him to the door of the funeral shop before stopping.
As he was leaving, Wang Lingyuan promised to look after his business and, if there were any unclaimed bodies, to find a way to send them to his shop first.
Xu Qing thought to himself, "Doesn’t this count as a monopoly in our industry?"