Xiao Zhao stopped there and looked up at my face.

Lin Zhao and I exchanged a glance, and then he immediately went outside. Only then did I nod and say, "Continue."

Xiao Zhao said, "Old Sun's words before scared the hell out of me! How could I dare to listen any further? I told him, 'Forget it, I can't do this. The job posting just said to watch the gate, right? How did it turn into washing dead people's faces?'"

Old Sun told me: If it wasn't for washing dead people's faces, who would pay you such a high salary? Go ask around yourself. Someone your age going out to work, getting two thousand would mean the boss is related to you.

If you're not washing dead people's faces, why would they pay you five thousand a week?

I was really scared at the time: I told Old Sun, I can't do this job. I quit.

I was about to leave when Old Sun said, "When you were three years old, you almost fell into a basin of water and drowned, right?"

I was stunned. No one knew about that except my family.

Old Sun then mentioned several things, and he accurately predicted everything about my past. Some things even my parents didn't know, but he seemed to see them and didn't miss a single detail.

Seeing that I didn't leave, Old Sun said, "You have the fate of a Tong Zi (virgin boy)."

"You were originally a Tong Zi in the City God Temple. When you went to the underworld with the City God to handle affairs, you secretly reincarnated. Tong Zi who reincarnate without permission will definitely be taken back."

"At the ages of three, twelve, and twenty-four, you'll have a difficult hurdle to pass. If you get through it, you live. If you don't, it's when the City God reclaims you."

"If you leave, you won't make it through this year."

Hearing what Old Sun said, I became even more afraid.

Ever since I was little, I've been able to sense whether good or bad things are going to happen to me. This year, after the New Year, I've been feeling like something bad is going to happen!

What he said made me feel uneasy.

Seeing that I didn't leave, Old Sun said, "Help me cover here for a month. Maybe I'll be back in less than a month. When I get back, I can help you send away your Tong Zi fate, and you'll be fine."

I thought for a long time, then gritted my teeth and agreed.

Old Sun then said, "Remember, you don't just wash a dead person's face once. You wash it according to how many red strings are tied to the head of the bed. Wash according to the number of strings, but no more than three times."

"One wash uses one bucket of water. Never use one bucket of water to wash a dead person's face twice."

"When you carry the water back to the courtyard, first, don't look into the bucket. Second, walk slowly. Don't spill the water. If the water spills on the ground, quickly soak it up with yellow paper. Never let the water seep into the ground."

"When you pour out the water the next day, stand far away and look at the water, just tilting your head to see the surface. If the surface is red, don't touch the bucket. Keep it in the sun. When the water turns black, then you can pour it out."

I remembered everything Old Sun told me.

Before Old Sun left, he specifically took me to wash a dead person's face twice, saying it was to teach me how to do the job.

When Old Sun was teaching me how to work, I noticed that there were five buckets behind the door. At that time, I asked him, "What's the maximum number of red strings that can be tied to the head of the bed? You have five buckets behind the door. Can you tie five red strings?"

Old Sun said, "You won't encounter five strings. I've been doing this my whole life, and I've only encountered five strings once. If you had that kind of luck, you could win the lottery."

Later, I chased after Old Sun and asked, "What if the water never turns black?"

Old Sun got anxious at the time and said, "Why do you always ask about things that aren't important? Do what you're supposed to do!" and sent me away.

While Xiao Zhao was talking, I was also thinking about Old Sun's background.

According to modern terms, Old Sun's skills would make him a mortician.

According to modern terms: A mortician is also called a funeral director. What they do is restore the deceased to their pre-death state. This includes repairing the face and body, also known as makeup and grooming for the deceased, to restore a complete face and body as much as possible.

One theory is that morticians came to China from Dongyang (Japan), but this is not correct.

Morticians have existed in China for a long time. However, the mortician's work is not done by one person, but with different divisions of labor. From dressing the deceased, opening the light, carrying the body into the coffin, and sending the body home, everything is done by specialists. Moreover, the previous process never touches the next person's work.

Until modern funeral parlors gradually rose, and it was no longer allowed to keep the spirit at home, these things were gradually simplified, gradually integrated, and completed by the mortician himself.

What Old Sun did was just one of the procedures, which was to resolve the grievances on the deceased, so that the people behind could smoothly sort out the deceased's remains. Moreover, he only handled corpses that died in accidents, and nothing else.

In this funeral home, is Old Sun the only capable person? Or is it a hidden dragon and crouching tiger, hiding a whole set of Bai Shi (funeral) masters?