Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 5: Even in Death, I Will Be Beautiful

Chen Miao's gaze fell on Qian Xiaomei's face.

very common.

Not daring to look any longer, Chen Miao took a step back, opened the book, and looked at the changed contents.

"..."

"Because there was no one to guard the cold storage after Lao Wang died, I was temporarily assigned to guard it. Out of guilt towards Lao Wang, I did not refuse the job."

"At noon, I went to the cold storage to see Old Wang, and while I was there, I also took a look at the deceased person next to him."

"They all died young, which makes me lament the impermanence of life."

"After nightfall, I packed my things and went to guard the cold storage. Around midnight, I vaguely heard sounds coming from the freezer."

"After identifying it, I realized it wasn't Old Wang's cabinet, but the cabinet next to his. I curiously opened that cabinet, but the sound disappeared."

"I thought I was hallucinating and was about to close the cabinet when a hand grabbed my wrist. A chill ran through my body from my wrist, and I couldn't move. I watched helplessly as another hand reached out from the freezer and disappeared into my chest."

"At the moment my heart stopped beating, I vaguely heard a sentence."

"Why won't you give it to me..."

"I'm dead!"

Chen Miao closed the book expressionlessly and slowly pushed Qian Xiaomei inside.

Throughout the process, he kept his eyes on the cabinet.

Nothing happened until the cabinet door was completely closed.

After quickly leaving the cold storage and feeling the warmth of the sunlight outside, Chen Miao breathed a sigh of relief.

Ignoring the sticky feeling after the cold sweat dried, he reviewed the contents of the book again.

There's a lot of content this time!

And for the first time, a detailed description of the cold storage appeared!

"Was it because I went into the cold storage? Or because I came into close contact with that person?"

Chen Miao made his guesses, but soon his attention turned to something else.

That's exactly what I meant!

Why won't you give it to me...?

You won't give it to me?
What are you not giving me?
Chen Miao frowned in thought.

When Chen Miao was a child, he lived with his grandfather. He once heard his grandfather say to someone that if a person leaves with worries, he will not leave peacefully.

The phrase "dying with eyes wide open" has a similar meaning.

Only by relieving the deceased of their worries can they depart in peace.

In the past, Chen Miao would have just listened to such statements.

But what's happening to him now forces him to seriously consider the situation.

Back in his office, Chen Miao opened Qian Xiaomei's file.

"Beauty blogger..."

Chen Miao searched for beauty bloggers on several short video platforms, trying to find Qian Xiaomei's account.

But there are too many people in the beauty industry, far less niche than funeral service providers. Chen Miao searched for a full hour but still couldn't find one.

He only found Qian Xiaomei after trying to search for the keyword 'beauty blogger who died suddenly'.

After reading it, Chen Miao realized that he had just seen this blogger, but he had missed it because her appearance was so different from Qian Xiaomei's.

Think about the face of Qian Xiaomei that he saw before, and then look at the face of Qian Xiaomei in the video now.

Chen Miao can only be described as ignorant.

In ancient times, this would be called disguise.

Through Qian Xiaomei's video, Chen Miao learned some things about Qian Xiaomei.

But he still had no clue about the second half of that sentence.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Miao pulled out the information about Qian Xiaomei's family and dialed the number listed on it.

Since he didn't know what Qian Xiaomei's last wish was, then someone must know!
The call was answered quickly, and a tired voice came from the other end.

Judging from the voice, it should be someone like Qian Xiaomei's mother or a relative.

"Hello, I am Chen Miao, a funeral director at Tianmen Funeral Home. Are you a family member of Qian Xiaomei?"

"Yes, I'm her mother. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Chen Miao spoke after reciting his words.

"It's like this, because tomorrow is Qian Xiaomei's farewell ceremony, and I'm here to write her eulogy, so I'd like to learn more about her life and deeds. I wonder if you have time to tell me about it?"

After a long silence of half a minute, there was finally a response.

"What would you like to know?"

"It's like this, I saw in the information that Qian Xiaomei is a beauty blogger, is she...?"

Before Chen Miao could finish speaking, he suddenly heard Qian Xiaomei's mother's angry voice.

"Beauty blogger! Beauty blogger! If it weren't for this beauty blogger, how could she have died suddenly!"

"She loved beauty since she was little, and I kept an eye on her so she couldn't do whatever she wanted. But after she went to college, she really let loose."

"Instead of studying properly and finding a job after graduation, you insist on becoming a self-media blogger!"

"She always makes a mess of her appearance with makeup, slathering all sorts of cosmetics on her face. Is her face a city wall? How can it withstand so many chemicals?"

“I threw away her cosmetics, and she got angry with me and insisted on moving out.”

"When a person is out in the world without any constraints, with their days and nights reversed, do you think their body can handle it?"

"I've only been living alone for less than a year, and... sob..."

"If I hadn't thrown away her cosmetics, if she hadn't moved out, wouldn't she... wouldn't she... sob sob..."

Hearing the voice on the other end of the microphone shift from anger to sorrow, Chen Miao fell silent.

But there are some things he has to ask.

After listening to Qian Xiaomei's mother rambling on for more than ten minutes, Chen Miao finally managed to ask his question during a brief moment when Qian Xiaomei's mother had calmed down.

"Auntie, the deceased has passed away. Please accept our condolences. Qian Xiaomei certainly wouldn't want to see you like this."

"Regarding Qian Xiaomei, do you know what else she can't let go of besides her family?"

Qian Xiaomei's mother's nasal voice came through. "What else could she not give up? Besides those cosmetics, what she cares about most is her face."

A wave of emotion surged within Chen Miao.

face?
"Auntie, I heard that you chose the free cosmetic surgery package for Qian Xiaomei?"

"Yes, she died because of that face. I don't want to see her with heavy makeup again. She came into this world clean, so she should leave clean!"

Chen Miao had a guess in his mind.

"Auntie, have you ever thought that since Xiaomei cares most about her face, will letting her leave like this leave her with regrets?"

"..."

"Auntie, you may not believe it, but those of us in this line of work pay the most attention to the wishes of the deceased."

"Although Qian Xiaomei did not leave any last words, as the person who knows her best, you should know what kind of person she would choose to leave to the world in the end."

"Auntie, I'm not saying this to get you to buy any value-added services. We can help Qian Xiaomei with a better makeup look for free."

After Chen Miao finished speaking, he waited quietly.

After a long while, a voice came from the other end: "Go ahead and do it, go ahead and do it. If you like it... then... do it."

After listening to the sobbing voice on the other end of the phone, Chen Miao remained silent for a while before getting up, picking up his phone and book, and leaving the office.

After learning about Qian Xiaomei's situation and communicating with Qian Xiaomei's mother, Chen Miao began to speculate about the rest of that sentence.

"Why won't you give me cosmetics!"

"Why won't you put on makeup for me!"

This is the sentence that Chen Miao completed.

But compared to 'cosmetics', Chen Miao felt that 'makeup' was more likely.

Cosmetics are ultimately just tools to make Qian Xiaomei more beautiful. What Qian Xiaomei likes is not makeup itself, but the exquisite face that comes with makeup!
Therefore, Chen Miao decided to try his guess!
After passing through the main farewell hall, Chen Miao arrived at the burial room and saw his colleague... Shi Manman.

Startled by Chen Miao's entrance, Shi slowly put down the clay in his hand.

"Is there a problem?"

Chen Miao glanced at the mannequin head in front of Shi Manman, which had been damaged and repaired, and said, "There's something. Do you know Qian Xiaomei, the customer who was delivered yesterday?"

"Yes, I know. Her family opted for the free makeup package."

Chen Miao nodded and then said, "Do you have time now? I'd like you to do Qian Xiaomei's makeup."

"Did his family members change their meal plans?"

Just as Shi Man took out her phone to check if there was any information she had missed, Chen Miao stopped her.

"It's not his family member, it's me. Just consider it a side job, how about five hundred yuan?"

Shi Manman looked at Chen Miao, pursed her lips and said, "20% off for acquaintances, 400 will do."

After tidying up her things, Shi Manman picked up her makeup case and walked up to Chen Miao.

"Let's go."

Chen Miao nodded and led the way.

Chen Miao used to think that Shi Manman was a bit quiet and difficult to communicate with.

Being in a workplace where it's not easy to make friends, and having a cold personality, it will probably be difficult for her to find a partner in the future.

But today, Chen Miao felt that Shi Manman had a very good personality.

By simply doing things without asking why, Chen Miao saved himself a lot of trouble.

Furthermore, Chen Miao hadn't expected that he was already considered an acquaintance of Shi Manman's.

After the previous senior cosmetic surgeon left, it took the salon two whole weeks to recruit Shi Manman, a 'newbie' with almost the same years of experience as Chen Miao.

To be honest, he and Shi Manman had only been colleagues for two months, and they had barely spoken to each other.

Only when Chen Miao presided over the memorial service or conveyed the wishes of the family would he slowly say a few words to Shi.

Chen Miao never expected that Shi would gradually treat him as an 'acquaintance'.

They walked all the way to the cold storage, and it wasn't until Chen Miao pulled Qian Xiaomei out of the freezer that Shi Manman finally spoke a single sentence.

What style should it be?

Chen Miao took out his phone and found the beauty video that Qian Xiaomei had liked the most.

Can this be dissolved?

Shi Manman took the phone, scrolled to the end of the video, looked at the makeup, and nodded, saying, "Okay, half an hour."

After saying that, Shi Manman put down his suitcase and began wiping Qian Xiaomei's face.

Chen Miao glanced at Shi Manman's box.

He didn't know what ordinary girls needed for makeup, but it was definitely different from what was in Shi Manman's makeup box.

Even if Chen Miao didn't understand much, she knew that makeup didn't require that many needles.

As the event gradually became busier, Chen Miao found a chair, sat down, and waited.

"You can go about your business, I'll call you when you're done."

He spoke slowly.

"No need, I'm fine."

Chen Miao was worried about Shi Manman being alone here. He would feel terrible if something happened to her.

After reading for a while, Chen Miao took out the book, flipped to the first chapter, and started daydreaming.

Chen Miao had many questions in his mind.

For example, why did he come across this book?

Why did this book predict his future?
Why did ghosts suddenly appear in this world?
These kinds of questions swirled in his mind, but Chen Miao could not find any answers beyond guessing.

After an unknown amount of time, Chen Miao finally snapped out of his daze when he heard someone say "It's done."

Once his gaze refocused, the first thing Chen Miao saw was the contents of that book.

The content has changed!

His guess was correct!
This time, however, it was the title that caught Chen Miao's attention, not the content!

Chapter One: Even in Death, I Will Be Beautiful

……

(End of this chapter)