13 Minke Street

It was dawn.

“Who was it, who on earth was it!?”

Aunt Mary’s angry shrieks came from the basement.

Then, she stormed up the ramp and saw Diss in his priest’s robes.

“Father, Mr. Mauson in the basement was… by some damn….”

“I performed a ritual for him.”

“Oh, I see. Praise your kindness, may Mr. Mauson rest in peace.” Aunt Mary immediately prayed.

Then, she turned around and went back to her workshop, quietly ‘touching up’ on Mr. Mauson again.

It wasn’t the first time the bodies brought home had been disturbed. Her father-in-law had also performed rituals for the deceased before, messing up their makeup in the process.

But, since it was her father-in-law who did it, Aunt Mary didn’t dare to get angry at him. Not one bit.

Last night, Karen, before leaving the workshop, had put Mr. Mauson’s body back on the stretcher, wiped away his own blood on the floor, and tidied up Mr. Mauson’s clothes a bit. But the makeup on Mr. Mauson’s face… Karen really didn’t have the ability to restore it.

So he could only wash up and go back to bed.

When he woke up, his cousin Trent, who shared the room with him, was nowhere to be seen.

Karen sat up from the bed and rubbed his forehead.

This body was certainly good-looking, even from a man’s perspective.

But it was a little too frail.

In his previous life, although Karen often stayed up late and smoked, he persisted in jogging and working out, so his physical fitness was still decent.

“Looks like I need to make exercise a priority.”

Karen washed up and went downstairs to the second floor, and saw the milk and bread left on the dining table.

He poured a glass of milk, dipped the bread in it and ate two slices; then he drank the milk mixed with bread crumbs in one gulp. Karen tidied his collar and cuffs, and went down to the first floor.

The gramophone on the first floor was playing the piano piece “Departed Friends”, one of the most frequently used mourning song in Luojia City and several nearby cities.

Karen stood still next to the gramophone. The first floor was already decorated, looking solemn and sombre.

Ron and Paul were placing the coffin on a small podium, Mina and Chrissy were busy lighting candles. His cousin Trent was holding a mop, cleaning possible footprints on the floor.

Aunt Mary sat in the corner, drinking water and looking a little tired. Karen knew why – having to rush to complete the work that was supposed to be done last night must have been tiring.

Aunt Winnie was holding a booklet, taking inventory of the supplies.

All the furnishings in the house on the first floor, except for the ‘flowers’, were ‘old actors’.

Although they were all recycled items, replacing them if they were lost or misplaced would require a considerable amount of money.

Grandpa stood by the podium, watching Ron and Paul place the coffin in place.

Karen had been downstairs for a while, but Grandpa didn’t specifically look his way.

Everyone in the family was working; only Karen woke up late and no one called for him. This could be considered as a special treatment toward Karen.

“Please come in. Thanks for coming so early, we’re really sorry to trouble you.”

“No problem, no problem, it’s my duty, ha ha.”

Uncle Mason greeted a middle-aged bald man who was dressed cheaply but looked very imposing. Karen searched his memory and knew that his name was ‘Malmo’, the deputy director of a certain office in the district government.

In Karen’s ‘memory’, Aunt Mary looked down on this person very much, thinking he was too greedy, had a bad eating habit, and liked to boast about his status. Yet, in the department where he worked, except for one director, everyone else held the title of ‘deputy director.’ The other staff members were all appointed through backdoor connections, while he had to run errands and do busy work. So in reality, he was just a clerk.

Mr. Malmo noticed Karen. He reached out to touch Karen’s head.

Karen took a step back to avoid it.

“Ha ha, I heard you were ill last time when I came, now I see you’ve recovered?”

“Yes, thank you for your concern,” Karen responded.

“Hmm, good.”

Malmo didn’t linger. He went up the steps, picked up his old ‘Voigtländer’ camera, and took a picture of Jeff in the coffin. Then he stepped down from the platform.

Grandpa, dressed as a priest, stood in front of the coffin, bowing his head and praying.

Click!

Malmo took another picture.

Finally, Malmo retreated to the entrance of the living room, chose a spot with better lighting, aimed the camera lens at the full view of the living room, and lifted it up.

Karen saw Aunt Mary, who was sitting on a chair earlier, also standing up. Everyone else, including his cousins, also solemnly bowed their heads in mourning.

“Get ready, take your places…”

Karen also straightened up and lowered his head.

Click!

“Done.” Malmo put down the camera.

Uncle Mason handed a black notebook to Malmo, who nodded and accepted it.

Inside was the tip. Welfare orders were like this – looking at just the municipal allocation and charity funding, it was actually not that low, but it had to be divided layer by layer when implemented.

Of course, today’s ‘tip’ would be more than usual, because Mr. Malmo came early today.

With the three photos to be archived and submitted to the report taken, Mr. Malmo left directly with the camera and notebook, without lingering. Uncle Mason escorted him all the way to the door.

Even if he wanted to be courteous by sending the man directly back to his office, it couldn’t be done – unless Mr. Malmo was willing to take the hearse for transport. The Inmerales family didn’t have a private car.

Subsequently, Paul and Ron took Jeff’s body out of the coffin together, placed it on the stretcher, and pushed it back to the basement.

Right after that, the two men pushed Mr. Mauson out and carried him into the coffin.

Aunt Mary came over and started making adjustments to his posture, trying to make Mr. Mauson look as ‘comfortable’ and ‘composed’ as possible.

The rest of the decorations and settings remained unchanged.

This was a ‘gathering’. Although Mr. Mauson’s children were stingy in other aspects, due to some relatives living far away in other cities, they booked the memorial service for Mr. Mauson for a whole day instead of half a day.

Of course, if conditions allowed, not to mention booking half a day, they would even be willing to book by the hour.

So today, Jeff was actually hitching a ride with Mr. Mauson.

Jeff, who had already completed the process, had to give way and go back to lie in the basement.

Mr. Mauson had taken his place instead, lying down in repose.

Paul and Ron each went to the living room door and the yard gate to put up signs, indicating that today there was a mourning event for Mr. Mauson.

Since Karen didn’t have much to do on the first floor anyway, he simply went to the flower beds in the yard, and picked a lot of basil leaves.

Then he went upstairs to the second floor and entered the kitchen.

He was in charge of preparing lunch today. Often times, the venue of the wake would provide simple meals for the mourners. Of course, this only happened when the family needed this service and paid for it.

So, the Inmerales family members also ate together, treating it as a working meal.

However, today, Mr. Mauson’s children didn’t even order simple meals, let alone drinks—not even the cheapest lemonade. So, the Inmerales had to prepare their own lunch.

Karen didn’t feel much uncomfortable entering the kitchen. In his previous life, he often cooked for himself, and he enjoyed the process. Although his cooking skills were not good enough to be called a chef, he should be considered excellent among housewives and husbands.

After washing the basil leaves, Karen put a few pieces into a cup and poured hot water over them.

Then, he began selecting ingredients. The kitchen was well stocked with ingredients, but he didn’t plan to make an extravagant meal.

There was a refrigerator in the kitchen that looked very new. It should have been bought not long ago, but in Karen’s eyes, it was really outdated.

As he was preparing to process the ingredients, there was some noise coming from the first floor. It should be the relatives and friends who came to attend Mr. Mauson’s wake.

Mina and Chrissy walked up to the second floor. The two little girls stood outside the kitchen curiously, looking at Karen who was kneading dough.

Normally, when there were guests at home, the two girls would be responsible for serving tea and water downstairs. But today, they were not needed for that.

“Brother, when did you learn to cook?” Mina asked.

“Yeah, yeah, what’s that stick for?” Chrissy poked her head in and asked.

“Just wait and see.” Karen smiled. The rolling pin he was holding was taken from the small desk in his bedroom that was sprained. There was actually a more handy long round stick in the basement, but Karen didn’t dare to use it, and he didn’t dare to wash it.

He poured oil into the pan, heated it up, fried the pre-wrapped spring rolls until it turned golden brown, and then took them out to drain the excess oil.

The spring rolls were filled with leeks and some diced meat.

After that, Karen started frying eggplant pancakes. In between each pancake, he added a basil leaf to make them crispier and less greasy.

Because there were many people in the family – Ron and Paul would also eat lunch here – Karen fried two large plates of spring rolls and eggplant pancakes respectively.

Afterwards, Karen started to stir-fry the ingredients. He felt that he should still find time to go to the market in the future. The family had a lot of food in stock, but it was lacking in spices.

He poured the previously marinated chicken pieces into the pot, covered the pot, and started to stew.

Yes, Karen was preparing another dish: “Braised Chicken.”

He picked up a teacup, sipped the warm basil tea, and sighed. Karen really liked this feeling.

In his previous life, there was a very popular and simple way of eating in his hometown called ‘Green Tea Over Rice’, which used basil tea and pickles and some others. Although it was simple, it was addictive if you got used to it, but it was not good for your stomach.

Oh, yes, he still had to make some pickles. Although there were ‘jars’ in the basement, Karen decided to go to the market to buy new ones.

When the chicken was almost cooked, Karen added the chopped potatoes, mushrooms, green peppers and other ingredients into the pot and started to stir-fry on high heat to collect the juice.

In another pot, Karen made a simple tomato egg soup with eggs and tomatoes.

When the soup was cooked, the braised chicken was also ready to be served.

“Mina, Chrissy, come and help set the table,” Karen called out.

“Ok, brother.”

“Mmm, smells so good!”

Mina and Chrissy came in to carry the plates.

After setting the table, Chrissy went downstairs first to inform the family that lunch was ready, and then she ran upstairs impatiently, grabbed a spring roll and put it in her mouth.

It wasn’t that Chrissy was disregarding table manners; in their household, during busy times, people would come up to eat whenever they were free, without waiting for everyone to gather. Those who finished eating early could then go downstairs to handle business and greet guests.

“Tastes good, brother.” Chrissy nodded as she chewed.

“Chrissy, use a fork,” Mina reminded.

“It’s okay, just use your hands.” Karen also picked up a spring roll with his hands and dipped it in a bowl of fruit vinegar.

The taste of the fruit vinegar was similar to that of white vinegar, and Karen was not very satisfied with it. He still preferred Zhenjiang aromatic vinegar.

Mina served Karen a bowl of soup. As usual, Karen liked to add vinegar to his tomato egg soup, but he was a bit resistant to the taste of the fruit vinegar.

After a spoonful of soup went down his throat, Karen took a deep breath. At that moment, he was so moved he almost cried.

It wasn’t because he was starving. After experiencing such a big change in his life, the food from his ‘hometown’ brought him a sense of comfort.

No amount of ‘chicken soup’ could compare to the realness of the soup he was now savoring.

Mina and Chrissy ate with relish. They used spring rolls and eggplant pancakes to dip in the sauce of the braised chicken, but Karen refused Mina’s offer to serve him braised chicken on his plate.

He didn’t cook rice, and braised chicken without rice was soulless.

“Brother, will you teach me how to cook in the future?” Mina asked.

“Me too, me too!” Chrissy also looked expectant.

“Well, sure,” Karen said, smiling.

At this time, Aunt Mary also came upstairs. Seeing the food on the table, she was quite surprised and said, “Karen, did you make all this?”

“Yes Auntie, please try some.”

“Alright.”

Aunt Mary picked up a spring roll with a fork and took a bite. “Hmm, very delicious, when did you learn to cook?”

“I read it in a book.”

“Really? That’s amazing. In the future, we can add one more service to our home. The chef we hired will carefully prepare simple meals for the guests.”

“Sure,” Karen replied politely. Today was just a small trial, but he would make many more dishes. In his previous life, having achieved financial freedom, he often traveled around the country, not for sightseeing, but specifically to explore local cuisines.

He especially liked and was good at Sichuan cuisines.

Aunt Mary sat down and continued eating, even taking the opportunity to mock: “Not many people came to offer condolences, and even fewer brought condolence money. There were even some who just brought a bouquet of flowers. Tsk tsk, you can tell that they picked it up from Mrs. Mark’s yard next door.”

The level of development of productivity is the fundamental reason for the emergence of customs and traditions. After all, both weddings and funerals require the help of relatives and friends. Therefore, the emergence of condolence money also has its functionality.

However, according to Karen’s memories, weddings here could be attended without giving money, but you have to buy gifts instead. Sometimes, newlyweds would even provide a list of desired gifts to relatives and friends, which was more or less the same thing.

However, compared to gifts, people still prefer to receive cash.

“Can that make back the cost?” Karen asked Aunt Mary.

“That’s why they booked the afternoon session. In the afternoon, relatives from out of town will come, and there should be some who will bring a lot of money, right?” Aunt Mary took a sip of the soup and continued, “But it doesn’t matter. We can be happy with less income.”

Everyone came up one after another to have lunch, and they all praised Karen’s cooking skills.

In terms of food ranking, spring rolls were the most popular. In the afternoon, Ron and Paul even came up again to finish off the leftover spring rolls.

When Grandpa came up to have lunch, Karen stood by the side.

“Not bad.”

“I can make other things too,” Karen said. “But I need more spices.”

“Ask your aunt for money.”

“Okay, Grandpa.”

“If you cook in the future, your allowance can be increased. Of course, you don’t have to cook every day,” Diss said.

“I like to cook.”

Well, the allowance increase was also nice.

During this exchange between the grandfather and grandson, Poe remained prostrated on the nearby small sofa, gazing at the spread of food on the table, lost in thought.

“Meow…” (A demon who can create its own language?)

“Meow…” (A demon who can also cook?)

“Meow… meow…” (Am I crazy, or is the demon crazy?)

At nearly three o’clock in the afternoon, the last group of mourners from out of town finally arrived.

They were four elderly individuals dressed in suits, adorned with… military decorations on their chests.

Karen noticed that the envelopes containing condolence money they handed over were clearly much thicker.

The four elderly men gathered around Mr. Mauson to pay their respects. One of the old men named Dingel also asked Aunt Mary about the funeral arrangements later. Aunt Mary politely replied that everything had been arranged.

She could mock the stinginess of the deceased’s children behind their backs, but there was no need to make them lose face in person.

Mr. Mauson’s children quickly approached and escorted the elderly guests away while engaging them in conversation.

Standing at the door of the living room with a bucket of water, Karen heard Mr. Mauson’s children explaining that due to the weather, the burial in the cemetery could not be organized or arranged. They said that Mr. Mauson’s last wish was to keep everything simple and not disturb anyone.

However, Mr. Dingel obviously saw through the lie, but he didn’t argue. When he walked out of the courtyard with the other old men, Karen saw him sigh in the direction of the living room and wipe the corners of his eyes.

The mourning ceremony came to an end.

Organized and supervised by Aunt Winnie, everyone began to clean up the living room.

Paul’s neighbor came over and found Paul, saying that his mother had gone to the clinic for a checkup in the afternoon due to physical reasons.

Paul, who had just gotten a raise, asked his neighbor about his mother’s condition. After all, he had just gotten a raise, and if it wasn’t anything serious, he was embarrassed to leave work now.

After all, today’s work was not over yet. Although he didn’t have to transport the coffin to the cemetery for burial, he had to transport two bodies to the Hughes Crematorium in the suburbs for cremation.

“Go to the clinic and see your mother. Give her my regards,” Aunt Mary said.

“Thank you Ma’am, thank you Ma’am.” Paul thanked her and immediately turned around to run to the clinic with his neighbor.

After Paul left, Uncle Mason rubbed his buttocks with a pained expression on his face and complained, “My ass still hurts.”

Aunt Mary glared at her husband and shouted, “All you know is slacking off!”

Usually Uncle Mason didn’t touch the corpses much and didn’t like physical labor, so him being lazy was expected. It was just that, Karen believed that Uncle Mason was really not well. He must have been injured yesterday. He said he fell, but Karen theorized that Uncle Mason was beaten.

“Uncle, I’ll go with you,” Karen said.

It’s not that Karen was diligent, but he knew that some things didn’t need to be hidden, and that tacit understanding was enough.

But the most important thing for him to ensure his safety at the moment was to blend into this family. Completely.

‘Family’ was Grandpa’s soft spot.

To a certain extent, Karen was also taking advantage of this soft spot. With protecting himself being the goal, Karen didn’t think he was being sinister and pretentious.

Aunt Mary was reluctant to let Karen work initially – the situation in the workshop the other day made her very worried about her nephew’s physical condition – but they were lacking manpower now.

And according to customs, except for close relatives, women and underage children are not suitable for going to the crematorium. The local standard for adulthood here was fifteen years old.

Uncle Mason was overjoyed and patted Karen’s shoulder affectionately. “Our Karen has really grown up. Ron, let’s take the ‘guests’ up first.”

Together with Ron, Karen first pushed out Jeff, who had been left alone in the basement for a day, and then worked together to load him onto the modified ‘Nutshell’ branded hearse.

After that, they also pushed Mr. Mauson out and loaded him onto the hearse.

While moving the ‘guests’, Ron was afraid that Karen wouldn’t be strong enough, so he held up the ‘guest’s’ shoulders by himself, while Karen only needed to hold up the legs.

After loading the ‘guests’ into the car, Uncle Mason waved Aunt Mary goodbye and got into the driver’s seat, starting the car.

The car drove all the way west, turned a corner, and continued west, entering the townhouse complex on Minke Street.

At this time, Karen noticed that Uncle Mason had deliberately slowed down the car.

Karen turned his head to look at the townhouse across the street, and saw a woman sitting at a coffee table by the window on the second floor. There was a book and a glass of water on the coffee table.

The woman leaned back slightly, her upper body hidden behind the half-opened curtains. However, her long legs and red high heels, with the tips of her toes slightly raised and swaying gently, revealed a strange sense of charm and temptation.

But after Karen saw the high heels….

He suddenly felt a little dizzy, and an unknown gloominess weighed on his heart. Because of the unpleasant images left by that dream, for a long time to come, he probably wouldn’t like high-heeled shoes very much, especially… red ones.

Karen turned his head again and stared at Uncle Mason in the driver’s seat, who was also looking at the townhouse. There was an indescribable look in Uncle Mason’s eyes.

But in Karen’s memory, although Uncle Mason was not very good at business and liked to be lazy and dislike physical labor, his lifestyle was impeccable, and his relationship with Aunt Mary was also very good.

Therefore, Karen didn’t think Uncle Mason was having an affair here; and choosing someone so close to home for an affair would be too foolish.

At this moment, Karen tentatively asked, “First love?”

“Huh… oh, nonsense, it’s nothing like that!” Mason immediately stepped on the gas…. And gave a final glance at a woman who was watering the flowers in her garden.

After leaving Minke Street, Uncle Mason couldn’t help but turn his head to look at Karen, his face somewhat embarrassed. “Really, it’s nothing like you think.”

“I believe you, Uncle.”

“In fact, I only found out recently that she and her husband moved here. I’ve seen her across the yard, but we just smiled at each other, never spoke. Karen, you know, I’m someone who values family a lot.”

At this point, Mason sighed and continued, “I messed up my former home, but since I’ve already made such a mess, how could I possibly do something to upset your aunt again. 

“Two days ago, that lady had some trouble at her house and asked for my help. I helped her out, and then it had nothing to do with me anymore. She and her husband are currently looking for a new house to move into.”

Uncle Mason subconsciously shifted in his seat, glancing at the two ‘guests’ lying in the car from the corner of his eye.

Karen noticed this detail.

So, Uncle Mason being beaten up by Grandpa and him helping out that woman… Was it related to Jeff?

It can only be Jeff, because Mr. Mauson was brought from the nursing home, and Jeff was the one who froze to death on the streets as a welfare recipient.

Thinking back to the dream he had in front of Jeff and his aunt immediately calling Uncle Mason home after Grandpa went down to the basement…

Karen rubbed his forehead.

Jeff….

Did he really freeze to death?

“Karen…”

“Don’t worry, Uncle. I won’t tell Aunt.”

Karen knew Uncle wanted this assurance. He deliberately didn’t say anything earlier, waiting to hear more gossip.

“Phew… Haha.”

…

Second floor, bedroom.

A leg lifted. The sole of the high-heeled shoe hooked the curtain, and pulled the curtain close.

Immediately, the legs wearing red high-heels walked towards the door.

Just as ‘she’ was about to open the door….

From the nearby radio came the sound of static crackling, and then…

“Cough cough cough…”

A fit of coughing could be heard from within.

“Where… do you think… you’re going!“

The radio host’s voice sounded a little weak, as if he was sick, or… injured.

Immediately afterwards, the radio came to life again:

“Oh, you say you sensed him? He’s already dead, do you understand? You scared him to death and it’s caused me endless trouble. An inquisitor from the Church of Order for this district has already come looking for me.

“What? What does a Church of Order’s inquisitor amount to?

“The others, of course, don’t matter. But he’s different, he’s no ordinary inquisitor… no, I don’t even understand why he’s merely a local judge now.

“This injury of mine – he’s the one who left it. I’m not entirely confident I can defeat him.

“Consider this injury as repaying the favor I owed you back then. So please behave yourself from now on; also, some things may happen in Luojia City recently. I’ve sensed some unusual presences already appearing in the suburbs of this city.

“Him, him, him? Why are you still fixated on him!  He’s just a stupid thief you scared to death! He’s already being sent for incineration, what more do you want!

“What?

“You’re not talking about that stupid thief?

“Is it… is it the one who entered our spiritual consciousness last time?

“Then, then, then you absolutely cannot make contact with him again! He’s definitely not ordinary!

“Actually, I think he’s a high priest from some cult, using a holy artifact of his church for spiritual exploration, and just happened to stumble across us.

“Only afterward did I realize how powerful he truly was. I originally thought yet another dumb thief had broken into the house and you’d dragged him in, but then you told me he’d appeared silently by himself. No, it was a descent!

“You ask me why he did it?

“Peeping is probably just his hobby, not his purpose!

“Especially that sacred song he sang… it made me shiver from the depths of my soul!”