Masterlist of posts and character list
Chapter Two (continued)
The mortuary appeared solemn and quiet, gloomy and cold, and on top of that, Bai Jiu was wailing like a ghost loudly enough panic anyone. He clung desperately to the door frame, unwilling to enter, and shaking his head with all his might. “I’m a doctor, not a coroner!”
Pei Sijing thought a moment. “Close enough,” she said.
“What’s ‘close enough?” You’re a sharpshooter. Could I say you and a dice shooter[1] are ‘close enough’?! Physician and coroner are two distinct professions! Different trades, worlds apart!” Bai Jiu then used the vigor of this pretend anger to turn his big eyes around and walk straight back outside.
Pei Sijing wasn’t fooled. Taking matters into her own hands, she grabbed Bai Jiu by his collar and dragged him into the mortuary, no matter how he flailed. She was a soldier to her core, all business and taking charge when there was a mission to complete.
“Save me! The Demon Hunting Bureau is forcing a virtuous[2]…forcing a doctor to do an autopsy!” Bai Jiu shrieked like a pig at slaughter.
White cloth hung heavy and draping inside the mortuary, joss paper covered the floor. Only one funereal tool was missing: Coffins. There weren’t any. The whole space empty, deserted. Wen Xiao had entered alone and already done an examination of sorts.
Bai Jiu, eyes red and full of tears, cried, “I want to go find Mr. Xiao Zhuo and resign!”
Wen Xiao carefully examined the room, hands clasped behind her back. “Okay,” she said lightly. “In five days, you can wait to lose your head.”
Bai Jiu clasped his own neck and contemplated being unexpectedly separated from his head. Crestfallen, he said, “Once this case is solved, I’m going to find Mr. Xiao Zhuo and resign.”
Pei Sijing moved forward to investigate. She also noticed something was wrong. “Where are all the bodies?”
“Chongwu Camp,” Wen Xiao replied. “They came earlier to take the bodies and destroy them, destroy the evidence. They don’t want to us to solve the case.”
Bai Jiu’s emotions boiled over into hot tears, laughing with relief. “They’re such good people.”
Pei Sijing and Wen Xiao turned to give him a cold look.
Bai Jiu immediately changed his expression and cursed. “No, there’s not one good thing about Chongwu Camp!”
Wen Xiao sighed. At the moment, all they could do was find some other way. Only, when she turned around to face Pei Sijing, she discovered there, behind a still-unaware Bai Jiu, was an enormous black coffin.
Bai Jiu was surprised to find two sets of eyes on him and the look in those eyes wasn’t warm. He was immediately on guard. “Why are you two staring at me? What terrible idea do you have now? I’m going.” He turned on his heel to leave and slammed straight into the coffin.
[1] In the original, he used a term that would kind of translate to “shooting cotton,” meaning to fluff cotton. Since English doesn’t have the same verb overlap for working with cotton and shooting a bow and arrow, I opted for this instead.
[2] He starts to say an idiom that means, essentially, “forcing a virtuous woman into prostitution.”
Idioms that appear in this section:
鬼哭狼嚎 (guǐkū-lángháo) – wail like ghost and howl like wolves; wild shrieks and howls; terrible racket
隔行如隔山 (géháng rú géshān) – different trades are separated as if by mountains (i.e. the outsider knows no more of the secrets of the craft than he knows of another country); different trades, worlds apart; to somebody outside the profession, it’s a closed book
执行任务 (zhíxíng rènwu) – carry out a task; perform a mission; do the job
公事公办 (gōngshì-gōngbàn) – business is business; do official business according to official principles; to do things in a strictly business-like manner
眼泪汪汪 (yǎnlèi-wāngwāng) – eyes brimming with tears; in tears
