The autumn wind in the early morning blew across the street with a little bleakness. The old trees in the yard swayed branches, the leaves fell and fell, and the sound of pounding clothes sounded in the courtyard.

After a night of silence, more and more people were on the old street. The owners on both sides of the shop pushed open the paper doors in the shop, took out a broom and swept the fallen leaves at the door.

Boss Lu still got up early as usual. This is not because he had any business in the morning. It is just that older people have poor sleep quality and light sleep. As soon as the sunlight lit up, the roosters in the yard began to crow for a long time, and he woke up.

He polished his golden sign "Shengshengtang", and carefully cleaned the inside and outside the store. He moved out of the bench and sat at the door of the store. The sound of clothes pounding in the Siheyuan came from his ears.

He looked at the old tree with few leaves and sighed silently.

His family is in a funeral business. The coffin is often made of nanmu and the quality is very good. There was a riddle of Tong Yao on the street, "The old shop on the East Street is so wonderful. His coffin is of good quality. The long wooden boards are surrounded by all sides, one end is big and the other end is small. It pretends to be dead and can't run away, and it can't stand it if a living person!"

In the past, some local rich people from Beijing came to their house to customize coffins. The three words "Chengshengtang" are also real and century-old brands.

But now his business is really in a downturn.

Because no one uses coffins to bury in modern society, everyone will choose to go to the funeral home to cremate the remains, put them in small urns, and bury them in a cemetery, which covers a small area and is convenient for cleaning.

The coffin is big and bulky. Except for a few old friends who told him to take care of his business before his death, his shop was basically deserted for a long time and he ran the store at a loss a few months ago.

If it weren't for the golden signs passed down from ancestors, Boss Lu would also want to give up this elimination funeral method, and switching to an incense shop would be much better than this half-dead state.

The store was as brilliant as it was now, and old things that could not keep up with the trend of the times would be eliminated. This kind of folk pure handmade products is no longer as good as the small box produced in mass.

He made up his mind that if there was no turnover this month, he would personally pick out the gold sign of his ancestors, and there would be no "rebirth hall" on this street in the future.

While he was in a daze, a gentle fragrant wind blew to him. The person who came was a girl. The girl was not tall or short, with a pretty face. She had a silver hairpin on her head, and a jade bracelet on her white wrist as white as the moon. She was wearing a white Hanfu. The streamers beside her danced lightly with the wind, like a fairy walking out of Guanghan Palace.

Boss Lu stared at the girl in a daze. The girl looked into the shop curiously, then turned her head to look at Boss Lu and asked, "Are you the shopkeeper here?"

"Yes, you girl is so handsome."

Boss Lu sighed that the girl was like the dawn in the sky, and also like a breeze that was coming into autumn. Just one glance could make you feel the beauty flowing on her body, and start a refreshing day.

"Hehe." The girl grinned her teeth and smiled generously, then blinked her big eyes, her eyes as clear as the clear spring on the fragrant mountain, bright eyes and white teeth, and her small mouth was cherry red and gentle. "Boss, are you selling coffins here?"

"Yes, my daughter, why are you asking this?"

Boss Lu can't do many businesses a year, and now someone comes to take care of his business. This should be a happy thing, but the other party is a girl who looks about twenty years old. No matter how you look, it doesn't seem like you are here to buy a coffin.

"Of course I'm buying something." The girl waved her white sleeves and before Boss Lu invited her, she walked to the store by herself and looked at the century-old store with curious eyes. Boss Lu got up from the stool and said with a tense face: "You daughter, this kind of thing makes your adults come here, it's unlucky and unlucky!"

Of course, Boss Lu doesn't want the girl to get into the dark atmosphere here. After all, this is not an antique jewelry store, and the price of a coffin is high, which is much more expensive than a small urn.

"It's okay, I'm not afraid of these things. Can the boss sell me a few coffins?" The girl smiled.

"Oh, your daughter is really ungrateful. How can you ask you to come to such a place alone? These things are expensive!" Boss Lu didn't believe how much money this smiling girl could take out.

"My adults are not here. Now I want to buy a few more coffins for preparation. I heard from the neighbors that, boss, your coffin is of good quality, so I'll come here!" The girl looked around. There were a few coffins in the store, with large front end and small back end, trapezoidal shapes, and the lace shapes were different.

"Daughter, do you take this seriously?" Boss Lu half-believed and half-doubted, "You want to be young, and you want to do this coffin, and you still need a few sips at once. Although my old store has stock, it is not necessary to sell it at will."

"It's nothing, it's just prepared for my friends." A hint of sadness appeared in the girl's eyes.

Boss Lu was even more furious when he heard this. His voice trembled and he boldly asked the girl, "Daughter, are you friends who have some serious illness and need to take care of your funeral?"

Boss Lu has been doing a coffin business for his whole life, but he never expected that someone would prepare coffins for several people at the same time. Now it is not a war era, where wars are everywhere, and people are dead everywhere. Even at that time, no one is preparing like a girl. Isn’t this curse someone to die and damage her good deeds!

"Oh, no, they might have some trouble, and then..."

The girl's faint smile was hidden in her slightly strange smile, which scared Boss Lu to take a few steps back. Could this fairy-like girl be the incarnation of some demon?

Boss Lu looked at the girl with his eyes again. The girl was so perfect, with no flaws on her face. Boss Lu was nearly 70 years old, but he had never seen such a handsome little girl. She was as beautiful as water, and was so beautiful that she was unrealistic.

"Daughter, what's your name?" Boss Lu asked with courage.

The girl lit her lips, recalled it, and smiled, "My name is Xiaomeng, and many people call me that."

Boss Lu was sweating. It was not feudal now. At that time, it was okay to call a girl, Xiaoyu and Xiaohua, or something. Boss even called Goudan and Gou Zuo. Now, for outsiders, there are no surnames without surnames, which makes Boss Lu even more weird.

His throat was hoarse and he was a little speechless. The girl's smile was very sweet, but this sweetness seemed to hide too much meaning in Boss Lu's eyes. He didn't know why his legs were a little weak.

In the past, he heard stories about "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" by the storytellers in West Street, and there were many similar plots in it, but that was a storyteller, and he couldn't say a word of truth in his mouth, but today he bumped into it.

"Boss?" The girl tilted her head, and golden sparks seemed to appear in her dark eyes. Boss Lu was shocked and was busy responding.

"Sell it to me, I'm useful."

"Okay... how many coffins do you want, my daughter?" Boss Lu's voice trembled.

"Let me think about it, one, two...three..." The girl counted with her fingers. Finally, she counted the number of one hand, stretched out five fingers, and said happily: "Help me make five-mouthed coffins, use the best materials, I want the best one, don't worry about the price."

"Daughter, we have jade here, it's hard to do with you." Boss Lu tried to refute, but the girl shook her head, "It's okay, I can move."

"This... OK." Boss Lu smiled bitterly.

"By the way, I will engrave the name on each coffin, bring a piece of paper, and I'll write you a list."

Boss Lu immediately got the pen and ink. The girl raised her sleeve and walked like a dragon on the paper, and wrote down the names of the five people with great ink.

"Okay, I'll pick up the goods this afternoon, just be ready."

"Hey." Boss Lu nodded and bowed. The little aunt jumped to the door, as if she was about to leave. Boss Lu wiped the sweat from his forehead, but the girl suddenly turned around and scared Boss Lu to the point of bent down.

"By the way, add another coffin." The girl did not have the smile of the previous smile, but a faint sadness appeared on her face.

"Okay, then do you want to have a name like before?"

“I want it.”

The girl opened her lips and teeth lightly and pronounced the name of the two words.

The boss carefully wrote down these two words on paper.
Chapter completed!