Chapter 9 – Only The Dead Can Leave
The Deran River is like a meandering ink, flowing silently through the city of Vanessa. The hustle and bustle of the day is now silent, only the gurgling water beating against the embankment, like a very rhythmic ballad. On the peaceful river, there is only one place that is busy. It was a wharf that few pedestrians were willing to approach, and the boatmen in black were going about their day’s work. They transported corpses from all over the city during the day, loaded them on ships after sunset, and sent them outside the city. Their boats were covered with black cloth and black sails, but any ships traveling at night would avoid them if they saw them. This saves the boatmen in black a lot of trouble. At least they never have to worry about river congestion.
The black-clothed boatmen lived up to their names, all wearing black robes, black gloves, and black cloth masks. This is not to create a sense of mystery, but to prevent the spread of disease. Among the corpses they transported were those who had died of illness. Nobody wants to get sick.
Today’s Vanessa city-state is unexpectedly peaceful, and the corpses transported throughout the day can be loaded in only three ships. Usually there are four or five ships. The last ship is about to sail. At this time, two people wearing white beak masks appeared on the pier, one tall and the other short. The tall man was pushing a cart covered with a tarpaulin. The leader of the black gondoliers (his title, according to the custom, was “Master”) guessed that they were the sneaky surgeons of the town who had come to them again for dead bodies. Although it is troublesome, Master Black Boatman is willing to sell their favor. In terms of justice, after all, no one can guarantee that they will not get sick for a lifetime, and the improvement of doctors’ medical skills is beneficial to everyone. In terms of self-interest, doctors often give a generous “thank you gift”. The salary of the boatman in black is meager, and there is no “thank you gift”, how can he support his family?
“Good evening, Master Boatman.” Two beak masks saluted the black-clothed boatman.
“Good evening, doctors.” The black-clothed boatman also replied, “Are you here to deliver the goods?”
“Yunhuo” is a slang word in the industry, which means “transporting a corpse”.
“Exactly, Master.”
“Do you have a letter of recommendation?”
One of them was slightly shorter and the beak mask took out the letter from his pocket tremblingly. Judging by his jerky appearance, it must be the first “delivery”. The master boatman in black took the letter. This letter is amazing. It was written by Mrs. Manley, the hostess of the “Rose Garden”. The sealing wax is intact, and the letter paper still exudes a faint smell of perfume. The boatman in black read the letter by the dim moonlight, folded it and put it away.
“No problem.” The master said, “you came just in time, the ship is just about to set off. This batch of goods are beggars who have died and no one cares about them. Nobody collected the corpses when they were taken to the cemetery. Pick whatever you want. You take it What about the ‘exchange’ goods?”
The tall bird-beak mask gestured for the black-clothed boatman master to approach, and then lifted a corner of the tarpaulin on the trolley to reveal the “cargo” underneath. The trolley contained a young man… no, it should be said to contain a young corpse. His hair was brightly dyed, his face was black, as if painted with coal, and his facial features could not be seen clearly. The master boatman in black instinctively felt that something was wrong.
“How did he die?”
The short man replied, “I took the wrong medicine.”
“Take the wrong medicine” is also a slang word in the industry, but it is more popular among the reticents, meaning “to be poisoned to death”. The black-clothed boatman guessed that one of the two beak masks was a doctor and the other was a killer. This combination is not bad, the doctor makes poison, the killer kills, and after the killing, the person is transported for “exchanging goods”, and the exchanged corpse is handed over to the doctor for research, and the corpse is destroyed by the way. Although the master was still a little uneasy (after all, the city has not been peaceful recently, he seemed to be looking for some wanted criminal), but he couldn’t break the rules. What does the intrigues and **** storms among the big men above have anything to do with a little black-clothed boatman? Even if the governor changes and changes, and the rich and nobles rise and fall, the boatman still has to eat. What’s more, the tall bird’s beak mask stuffed him with a bag of “thank you” which was not light, which made the master very satisfied. He waved his hand, and the two beak masks unloaded the corpse from the trolley, and exchanged it with some “cargo” on the ship. The two of them did their work very neatly, and it was finished in a short time.
The two beak masks saluted the master again, and pushed the cart away from the pier. The master boarded the corpse ship and ordered his men to set sail. The black-clothed boatmen worked very **** this trip, because the “thank you gift” that the master got, the subordinates also got a share.
The black boat with black sails sailed along the Delan River to the outside of the city. The wind direction was good tonight, and within an hour, the corpse boat stopped at the special pier outside the city. There are bullock carts on standby at the pier. The black-clothed boatmen moved the bodies off the boat one by one. A small wooden plaque was hung on each corpse’s foot, with the person’s name and date of birth written on it. The dead who have a name, a family and a mouth will be sent to the cemetery, claimed by the family members, and then a grand funeral will be held. The bodies with cases on them were taken over by the sheriff and sent to a dedicated morgue. The unnamed, unaccompanied dead are sent in the other direction: the funeral pyre. Their ashes will be scattered in the Derain River, which will flow down to the sea, saving money on cemeteries and tombstones.
The corpses sent by the doctors were transported to the pyre along with other unknown corpses. The black-clothed boatman master has done this job countless times, and he is very familiar with it. But today, things are a little different. In front of the pyre stands an official who specializes in managing the funeral industry. According to Vanessa’s regulations, the corpses transported out every day must be counted by an official and their identities checked before they can be buried. But no one wants to deal with corpses all day long, so the official only shows up occasionally to spot-check the work of the black-clad boatmen. How could it be such a coincidence that he came here today? The master thought to himself, it must have something to do with the turmoil in the city these days. They’re looking for a wanted man, some kind of traitor’s son.
Officials stopped the ox cart carrying the corpse. He looked like he hadn’t woken up, holding a heavy book in one hand and a quill in the other.
“Stop, stop!” He impatiently commanded the black-clothed boatman, “I want to check the number and identity of the corpses!”
“Of course. My lord, please take a look.” The master made an inviting gesture, “There are six corpses in total, all of them are beggars, hooligans, and poor ghosts in the city. No one collected the corpses when they died. If it weren’t for the order of our kind governor, they You don’t get the privilege of cremation, you can only rot and mold in the city.”
“This is not a favor, it is to prevent the plague.” The official said, “The dead bodies will become the source of infectious diseases, especially these dead bodies that died in an unknown way. Let me see, six dead bodies. Well, and the list The data on the computer is consistent.” He leaned closer to the corpse truck, “Huh, a bunch of poor people died in the city, causing trouble to others. Hey, what’s the matter with this person?” He pointed to the dead body sent by the doctor. Young man, “Did the deceased make a mistake?”
The heart of the master boatman in black was beating wildly. “There is no mistake, my lord. The little one has checked it beforehand. How could it be wrong?”
“Didn’t you say that these people are beggars and poor ghosts?” The official glared at the master, “How can beggars have money to dye their hair?”
“This…” The black-clothed boatman master thought, “He, he is a foreigner! No one knows where he came from, what his name is, and he has no relatives or reasons in this city, and no one collects his body. Still What the little ones see is similar to that of a beggar.”
“This is not allowed! According to the regulations, this type of deceased must be handed over to the magistrate, and family members may come to identify the body in the future.”
“Yes, my little one will ask someone to transport the dead to the magistrate’s side.”
“Wait!” The official stretched out his hand and poked the face of the deceased, “Why is his face so dark? How did he die?”
“He…he took the wrong medicine…”
“What?”
The black-clothed boatman master broke out in a cold sweat. If the officials went around behind him, they would see a lot of wet clothes on his back. He searched and searched, but he couldn’t find any reason to help him out of the predicament. Those two beak masks worthy of the plague! It’s all their fault!
“Why don’t you speak? Are you hiding something?”
A rush of hoofbeats interrupted the officer’s interrogation. I saw a blond young man coming on horseback. He was wearing a flowing white satin robe that fluttered in the wind like the wings of a white bird. He wore a gold necklace on his chest, and at the end hung a small badge inlaid with gemstones, like a holy emblem. There are so many temples in the city of Vanessa, and officials can’t tell which **** the holy emblem belongs to.
Before the horse stopped, the blond youth jumped off and landed steadily, which shows how agile he is. The young man pressed his hands on his chest and bowed slightly to salute. The official didn’t know why, but it was customary for him to take off his hat in return.
“Hello, my lord.” The young man said, turning to the black-clothed boatman, “Hello, master.”
The master boatman in black was about to faint. He recognized the youth’s voice—it was the tall man with the bird’s beak mask on the pier! He didn’t know what medicine was sold in the young man’s gourd, so he had to pretend that he didn’t know him.
“What’s the matter with you?” the official asked haughtily.
“I’m here to claim a corpse.” The young man said politely, “The master boatman mistook the name tag of the corpse, and mistakenly took a dead person with a name as an unidentified corpse.” He pointed to the dyed corpse on the bullock cart. The corpse with blue-purple hair and black complexion, “That’s him.”
The official touched his bare chin: “Who is he?”
“It’s my apprentice.”
“and who are you?”
“I serve the **** of truth and pretense.”
“Oh, it turned out to be a priest.” The official stared at the golden holy emblem on the young man’s chest, “How did you die as an apprentice?”
“Eat something you shouldn’t eat.”
The officer raised an eyebrow. The black-clothed boatman master leaned close to him and whispered, “My lord, what he meant was that this kid died of poison.”
“Poison? This is murder! Have you reported it to the sheriff?”
“Not a murder, my lord. Because he drank the poison voluntarily,” said the blond priest.
“Then suicide? Why did he commit suicide?”
The blond youth was silent for a while.
“I think only God knows the answer,” he said.
The officer frowned. It didn’t feel right to him, but he couldn’t stop a priest either. God knows if there are any high-ranking adults in the city who believe in “the **** of truth and pretense”? As long as the priest goes to gossiping in the ears of the big man, his official career will be over! It’s better to simply turn a blind eye to this matter. If the higher-ups ask, he just needs to shirk that he doesn’t know anything!
The official cleared his throat: “Okay, okay, you can take this apprentice’s body away. However, Master Black Boatman, it is your job mistake to get the name tag wrong, and you must be fined.”
“It’s a small mistake. Small ones should be punished.” The master apologized again and again, while lamenting his “thank you gift” in his heart.
The blond priest bound his apprentice with a tarp and mounted him on horseback. Seeing that the matter was over, the official went to the funeral pyre first and ordered his subordinates to prepare kerosene. The blond priest took advantage of the time when the officials left, took the hand of the black-clothed boatman master, and passed a note to him calmly.
“When you get back to the city,” the blond priest whispered, “you can find any silent person and give him the note. Don’t worry, your ‘thank you’ will not be short of a penny.”
“The Reticent! So you too…”
“Just be clear in your heart, don’t say it to the outside world.”
The master nodded. “But I heard that the silent one never lies, and would rather keep silent when necessary. But you…”
The blond youth smiled. I really can’t see that such a handsome young man can be a killer in the dark. “Nothing I just said was a lie.”
The blond-haired youth jumped onto the horse’s back and urged the horse to run into the distance. The master boatman in black sighed. The Reticent’s note was still in his sleeve. It was just an ordinary note, but he felt that his skin was going to be burned.
After dealing with the affairs of the day, the officials returned home exhausted. He has a wife with a loud voice at home. If he could, he wouldn’t want to come back at all. No, as soon as he stepped into the house, his wife’s voice pierced his eardrum like a feathered arrow.
“You **** ghost, why did you just come back! Tell me, did you go to the brothel again?”
“Show your head! I run to the cemetery every day, and I’m almost exhausted! Please, shut your mouth and let me be clean for a while!”
“Ha! The cemetery! Why don’t I see you so diligent! Hey! What is that black face on your face? Did you fall headlong into the grave?”
“What dark…?”
The officer found the mirror at home, looked up, and found several coal-black marks on his chin. Strange, how could there be stains on his face?
A terrible vision flashed through the officer’s mind. He thought of the corpse of the young apprentice who was mistaken for the dead body of the unknown road today. The face of the corpse was pitch black, he touched it curiously, and then touched his chin… The stains on the face must have been stained at that time! But according to the blond priest, the reason why the body was black was because of poison, so it is impossible for the black stain to stick to his fingers! unless…
Unless that black is coal black painted on!