I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 565 Burn or bury?

Zhang and her two sons were all country bumpkins who had never left the village in their entire lives and didn’t even know the way. How could they have the ability to look for the legendary Zhang family?

As for Cheng Yu, he grew up in a Taoist temple and had never walked out of it. In terms of vision and knowledge, he might be better than Zhang's mother and two sons, but he had no idea where to start if he wanted to find someone in such a vast crowd.

After Zhang pleaded with Jiang Nan to take action, she returned to her own cabin and stayed guarding Zhang Chen's body.

Time passed little by little, and the four people guarded Zhang Chen's body, which was visibly thinner. The two little ones cried until their eyes were red, and their pupils were swollen like peaches. They cried and said that they had angered their eldest brother to death. No matter how Cheng Yu explained and comforted them, it was helpless.

Several people looked at Zhang Chen's body with mixed feelings. The good news was that as time passed, Zhang Chen's body showed no signs of decay and remained fresh. The bad news was that although Zhang Chen's body was not damaged, he did not wake up.

In Shen Qiu's cabin, listening to his subordinates' report, Shen Qiu couldn't help but frown: "Jiang Nan actually has elixirs? And gave them to Zhang? This is really troublesome!"

The cabin steward bowed his head and said nothing. Shen Qiu tapped the table with his fingers for a long time before he said to the steward, "Go and ask the Zhang family to burn Zhang Chen's body! If his body can be burned, then it will be over and there will be no hope of his resurrection."

"The Zhang family is like a demon, how could they allow us to burn their bodies?" The steward smiled bitterly and said, "Unless we use force."

"Use force?" Shen Qiu was silent for a moment, then shook his head: "No! No! If the Zhang family investigates in the future, we will be in big trouble, and it will destroy the friendship between the two families. In order to give an explanation to the Zhang family, the Shen family will definitely hand us over to take the blame."

At this point, Shen Qiu took a breath and said meaningfully: "Although Zhang Chen's branch was exiled, it was the emperor's decision, and it does not mean that the Zhang family has completely given up on him. Who doesn't know the influence of Zhang Kecheng in Kyoto back then? Countless elders of the Zhang family regarded him as the hope of the family. Those who supported Zhang Kecheng back then are still alive! Even the emperor was concerned about the influence of the Zhang family and only exiled him. If we do something too much, those old guys will definitely not give up."

"There are many ways to burn Zhang Chen's body, such as asking people to analyze the pros and cons and lobby, or forcing, but we must never do it directly." Shen Qiu said in a heavy voice.

Hearing Shen Qiu's words, the steward lowered his head and looked at his toes. He couldn't help but sigh deeply, with a hint of bitterness in his eyes. This kind of thing was like a pool of sticky snot, stuck to the hand and couldn't be thrown away. He had to obey orders and deal with it. If the Zhang family investigated in the future, he was afraid that he would be asked by the young master to take the blame.

But since the young master had ordered this matter, he had no choice. No matter how serious the consequences were, he had to do it.

"I know what to do." The steward bowed and then retreated respectfully.

After leaving Shen Qiu's room, the steward stroked his chin and thought for a moment before saying, "If I want to accomplish this, I must do my best to be righteous. This way, when the Zhang family investigates in the future, I can give them an explanation. I hope the Zhang family will show mercy and let me live."

As for how to ask Zhang to burn Zhang Chen’s body?
Of course, it is to mobilize the power of the masses. As long as the passengers on the ship feel that the body must be burned, then they can naturally come forward to force it.

“If Zhang Chen’s body is infected with plague or smells rotten, the passengers on the ship will naturally put pressure on Zhang without my intervention.” The steward’s eyes gleamed with a gleam of light.

When they came to the passenger ship, they looked at the four members of the Zhang family who were gathered around Zhang Chen's body in sorrow. A gleam of light flashed in the steward's eyes: "Madam Zhang, the weather is hot now, and there are some ice cubes in the cabin. Perhaps this body can be preserved for a little longer. I got some ice cubes specially for you according to the young master's order."

"My master said that although he cannot help you because you cannot reveal your identity, he can still give you some ice to slow down the decay of the body." said the steward.

The steward came closer, and behind him were servants carrying baskets of ice cubes that gave off bursts of cold air.

At this time, the steward thought to himself: "I have already taken the initiative to send the ice, which can be regarded as a gesture of merit. If the people of the Zhang family in the capital investigate in the future, I will have a better chance of survival."

Zhang glanced at the steward, then looked at the basket of ice, and said with gratitude, "Thank you, steward. I will definitely reward you handsomely in the future."

The steward nodded and said, "My master is also regretful that he cannot help, but this is the rule and cannot be broken. These ice pieces are just a token of our gratitude!"

Following the steward's instructions, baskets of ice were laid out, Zhang Chen's body was lifted up, and then buried again with ice.

This ice is certainly not ordinary ice, but one that has been added with ingredients by the steward in advance.

Second day

A slight stench of corpse emanated from Zhang Chen's flesh. At the same time, countless yellow abscesses inexplicably appeared on Zhang Chen's body, like blisters, which looked particularly terrifying and hideous.

On the second day, Cheng Yu already noticed something was wrong: "How strange! Why is there a stench of corpse?"

Then he quickly pulled away the ice and exposed Zhang Chen's body. After seeing the abscesses and blisters on Zhang Chen's body, Cheng Yu was so shocked that he fell to the ground. He couldn't speak for a while, but tears kept flowing down his eyes. "How could this happen?" Zhang was so shocked that she dropped her breakfast on the ground.

"It's over! Big brother's body stinks! Big brother, it's all my fault. I made you angry to death. Wake up and ask me to die for you. If you can come back to life, I will be happy to be cut into pieces without a burial place." Zhang Taowei didn't care about the hideous and terrifying bubbles, he rushed forward and hugged Zhang Chen's body and cried bitterly.

The family panicked and wept bitterly around Zhang Chen's body, which immediately alarmed the guests on the ship. They all turned their eyes to him. Then, things turned out exactly as the steward had expected. Someone noticed the abscess on Zhang Chen's body and couldn't help but exclaimed, "It's the plague! It's the plague!"

"plague?"

As soon as these two words came out, the atmosphere on the entire ship suddenly became tense. Countless people gathered around and looked at the abscesses and chickenpox on Zhang Chen's body with horror.

"We can't keep this body. We have to burn it! Once the plague spreads, we don't know how many of us will die!"

"That's right. We can't joke about the lives of all the people on our ship! This is definitely a plague, and the bodies must be burned."

"Sister-in-law, your son is dead. The dead cannot be resurrected. You should burn him quickly and bury him in peace, right?"

……

At this time, everyone gathered around and began to persuade Zhang.

When it does not involve personal interests, you can keep Zhang Chen's body for as long as you want. But now a plague has broken out in Zhang Chen's body. If we are not careful, he will infect everyone. How can we just sit back and do nothing?

"My junior brother doesn't have the plague! Stop talking nonsense. If it was the plague, our family of four would have been infected long ago. How come we are still fine now?" When Cheng Yu heard that these people wanted to burn Zhang Chen's body, he immediately became unhappy and quickly stood up to refute.

"My little girl, does it matter whether the abnormality in your elder brother's body is a plague? Your elder brother smells like decay, and his flesh must have already rotted. Why don't you bury his body quickly? Are you going to wait for him to rot into a pile of meat paste?" Someone else spoke up to persuade her.

"You are the plague, burn the body quickly to prevent it from spreading to others!"

"That's right. We can't let you guys harm all of us on this ship!"

Zhang was unhappy at this time: "Even if it is a plague, it is my family's business, how can you interfere? I am happy to leave it like this, what can you do?"

"You bastard, you are taking everyone's lives to bury your son. We can't tolerate this kind of thing. Your body must be burned!" someone else said.

"If you dare to touch my son's body, just try it! This body must not be burned! My son took the elixir and his body has been preserved. How could it rot? Moreover, we have always been together. If my son gets the plague, we will definitely not be spared. The chickenpox on my son is definitely not the plague! If any of you dare to touch my son, just try it!" Zhang's eyes showed a cold light, and were full of murderous intent.

A group of people were quarreling and confronting Zhang's men. Zhang's men refused to give in and kept cursing at each other.

……

At this time, someone shouted loudly: "Boatman, are you going to do anything about it? There is a plague on your ship, how can we take the boat? We have paid for the tickets, you have to take care of this matter!"

Someone shouted directly to the cabin manager, asking him to come out and solve the problem.

"That's right. If you can't solve this problem, we won't dare to ride on your boat anymore. Give me back my money and dock the boat so I can get off!"

At this time, some people inadvertently fanned the flames, and everyone thought it was a plague. Seeing that the Zhang family refused to give in, they all shouted for the manager to take charge.

The manager who was hiding in the dark had been waiting nearby. Seeing the excitement among the crowd, he thought to himself, "It's done!"

Then he walked out slowly and said, "Why are you all making so much noise?"

"Manager, you've come at the right time. This kid's body has been infected with the plague and has already rotted. It should have been cremated long ago to prevent us from being infected. This ship belongs to the Shen family. You have to take care of this matter, and you have to give us a set of rules!" When someone saw the manager coming, he called out as if he had seen a savior and quickly spoke.

(End of this chapter)