C14 A Skyhigh Price for a Corpse

I knew that this was what Second Uncle meant when he said to settle me down. In his eyes, giving me a large sum of money and letting me leave this remote and poor village to live outside was the best way to settle me down.

However, I didn't want money. Since I was young, I had never spent much money. My desire for money was not as strong as my desire to figure out the death of my four brothers and find the culprit who killed my father.

Therefore, I refused Second Uncle and didn't take the card he handed over. Instead, I looked into his eyes and said seriously, "I don't want money. I want to investigate what happened that year with you."

When I said this, I thought Second Uncle would definitely disagree. He would even threaten me with his death like how his grandfather had forced him to leave. After all, other than him, I was the only descendant of the Jiang family. I had even thought of a way to deal with Second Uncle. If Second Uncle insisted on letting me leave, I would reason with him and use him as an example. He couldn't let go of the death of his brother and nephew for twenty years, so why would he ask me to ignore the death of his brother and his own father?

If he couldn't understand me, then there was nothing I could say to him. Although he was my second uncle in name, I had never interacted with him since I was young. To put it bluntly, I didn't even know him two days ago, so why would he care about me? If I didn't leave, what could he do to me?

I had thought of a few ways to deal with Second Uncle in a short period of time, but unexpectedly, he did not say anything after I rejected him. Instead, he took the card back and silently turned around to return to his own house. He closed the door and left me alone in the room.

Second Uncle was too unreasonable. When he was at Poison Elder's house, he clearly swore that he would settle me down. How could he take out a card and give it to me before taking it back? Now that he was a member of the family, he should at least take some money out to subsidize his family expenses. Or, it could be said that Grandfather's request was unreasonable. Second Uncle did not plan to care about me and my mother at all.

Although I did not expect Second Uncle to treat me well, his indifference made me feel very uncomfortable.

I returned to my own room and laid down. I thought about what had happened in the past two days and fell asleep very quickly.

It was because I had not rested for a few days and nights. I slept very soundly.

After sleeping for an unknown period of time, I was woken up by a loud noise. I opened my eyes and saw the sunlight in the room. It was getting late.

The noise seemed to have come from outside our house. I got up and cursed in my heart. Could it be that my mother had run out and caused a big trouble? The villagers had come to find me?

I pulled my shoes and ran out of the door. I saw dozens of people gathered in front of my house. There were men and women, old and young, all of them talking. My second uncle was also standing outside the door.

"What's wrong? What happened?" I asked my second uncle in a low voice.

"It's nothing." Second Uncle said indifferently.

It was impossible for the people to pile up in front of my house for no reason. I realized that as they chattered, their eyes were all looking at the top of my house.

I turned my head and followed their gaze. I found that there was an additional plaque on top of my house. It was made of wood and simple. There were three bright red words on it: "Corpse Seeking Man."

"Corpse Seeking Man? What the hell?" I muttered to myself and looked at my second uncle, asking, "You wrote it?"

Second Uncle did not say anything, but I already knew in my heart. Besides my second uncle, who else could have hung the plaque on top of my house?

"Corpse Seeking Man? Huaili, what does this mean?" Someone asked Second Uncle curiously.

Second Uncle said, "It's just the literal meaning of it. It means to find a dead body and bring it back to its family."

Everyone sighed when they heard Second Uncle's explanation. Then, they started to talk. Everyone was curious about the "Corpse Seeking Man", including me. In this day and age, people thought of all kinds of businesses to make money. The business of the Corpse Seeking Man was truly rare.

"Find the corpse? How do we find it?" Someone could not help but ask his second uncle.

Second Uncle said faintly, "The culinary skills of the chef cannot be said."

"Can you even find a corpse like that? Even if the police can't find it, you can still find it?" Someone asked again.

Second Uncle nodded and said, "Yes."

"Hu Laoer, did your brother-in-law find it?" Mao Dazhi, the eldest nephew of the village chief, poked Hu Laoer, who was standing beside him, and asked him.

"I gave up a long time ago. It has been eight years. Where can I find it? I think he died outside." Hu Laoer said.

"Then let Huaili find it for you." Mao Dazhi said with a smile. He obviously wanted to watch the show.

Hu Laoer followed Mao Dazhi's words and asked his second uncle, "It has been eight years, can you still find it?"

Second Uncle said, "Yes, no matter how many years it has been, it is either a violent death or an unnatural death. It can be a natural disaster or a human disaster. As long as it is dead, we can find it."

The moment Second Uncle said this, the crowd became restless.

Hu Laoer became interested as well and said, "A dead body in a foreign land, a dead relative in a foreign land, and it is unfavorable to the family. After my brother-in-law went missing for a few years, my sister has been in bad luck all this time. Today, I will make the decision to find my brother-in-law's corpse and let him return to his roots." After he finished speaking, Hu Laoer changed the topic and asked his second uncle, "How much do you need to find a corpse?"

"One hundred thousand," Second Uncle said.

The moment Second Uncle opened his mouth, the crowd became silent. It was a long while before they started to boil again. There were all kinds of things to talk about. Someone said, "Second Uncle is crazy about money. One hundred thousand, why don't you rob him?"

Someone said, "Second Uncle is a liar. He came up with such a name to cheat everyone's money. The bodies of people who have died for seven or eight years have long turned into a pile of bones. Who knows if he will casually make a pile of bones to fool people?"

There were also people who scoffed at Second Uncle and said, "Don't listen to his nonsense. He even wants to find a corpse. His own brother's body hasn't been found yet, and he still has the face to hang a Corpse Seeking Man sign."

The moment that person said that, everyone started to jeer, "Huaili, if you can find your brother's body, we will all submit to you. At that time, we will make you famous in all the villages."

Everyone started to talk, and I also looked at Second Uncle. In my heart, I was thinking, "Second Uncle, since he wants to find a corpse, then let's just do it. He even offered such a high price. 100,000 yuan is not a small number. In our poor village, some people won't be able to save up this amount of money in their entire lives. Who would spend all their money to find a corpse? Second Uncle doesn't know about the economic situation of the village, but he offered 100,000 yuan. No one can bargain with him. What is the point of hanging that sign? Is it to find a corpse? Everyone is right. My father's corpse hasn't been found for twenty years, but Second Uncle is boasting that he can't find a corpse that he can't find. Isn't this slapping his face?!