After hearing what Zhao Fei said, I almost cursed out loud. This rascal isn't a rascal, he's just trying to trick me, isn't he? The deceased's coffin is heavy like a mountain because of lingering resentment. According to folklore, it's the vengeful spirit of the deceased clinging to the coffin, holding it down tightly to prevent it from being moved.
Of course, forcibly using a crane to take the coffin away is possible, but it would inevitably lead to trouble later. Don't ask me how I know this; my grandpa told me countless stories like these when I was a child.
I remained silent on the phone, but Zhao Fei became anxious on the other end. He said, "Young man, we've paid the full amount. You've taken the money, you can't back out now."
"Besides, you're the night shift manager, the most professional in the business, right?"
I took a deep breath, suppressing my anger, and said, "Stop the nonsense! Get some people ready. I'll be there at midnight tonight!"
Then, with a snap, I hung up the phone.
The night shift management manual clearly stated that once you've taken the money, you must complete the job. If you receive payment but fail to fulfill the task, you'll have to compensate the client tenfold.
With my existing debt of a hundred thousand, if I had to pay ten times that amount, it would be sixty-four thousand. It's better to reluctantly go and handle the corpse than to end up owing such a huge sum.
However, after hanging up the call, I still felt uncertain. After pondering for a while, I called Zhang San Fen again.
Perhaps because it was during working hours this time, Zhang San Fen answered quickly, and his tone was much better than before.
He asked, "What's up?"
I quickly explained, "Boss, I've taken on a job here."
I proceeded to recount the situation with the black brick kiln case.
The other end remained silent, neither confirming nor denying. If it weren't for the background noise of a vehicle still present, I would have thought he had hung up on me again.
With a cheerful tone, I said, "Boss, it's my first day on the job, and there's no one to guide me. How about you accompany me for a day? I can learn from you, right?"
He replied, "I'll be there soon, but I'll only accompany you for one night."
And just like that, the call abruptly ended. This guy always hung up without saying goodbye.
Though I let out a long sigh of relief, I thought to myself that it seems my boss has some capability. If he dares to take over a funeral parlor, he must have something going for him.
I closed the night shift management manual, changed my clothes, and headed downstairs.
The sky outside had just darkened, and the funeral parlor was eerily quiet.
The bustling hall that had been noisy during the day was now empty, even the staff had packed up and gone home.
I took out my keys, opened the glass door of the hall, turned on a few lights, and finally felt a bit more at ease.
As I looked at the empty hall and the dim lights around, I couldn't help but let out a sigh.
From 8 pm to 6 am the next day, ten hours. This isn't going to be easy.
And for the next one or two years, I'll probably have to work here, which doesn't exactly make the best use of my youth.
While lost in thought, a beam of car headlights shone into the hall.
It was a black four-door Mustang, its rugged body covered in yellow mud spots, as if it had just come from somewhere muddy.
The car door opened, and Zhang San Fen, dressed in a gray combat jacket, stepped out with a handbag in tow.
He glanced at the entrance of the funeral parlor and said, "He Yongheng."
I hurriedly trotted over, taking the bag from him and wearing a fawning smile, "Boss, you're here!"
His bag was quite heavy, giving me the feeling that it was filled with tools like hammers and wrenches. I also noticed he looked exhausted, as if he had just finished a day's work at a construction site.
A farmer driving a Mustang?
I wondered to myself. Then I placed the bag on the reception desk.
Zhang San Fen didn't stand on ceremony; he casually sat down on the reception desk chair and said, "I'll be with you tonight. Anything happening tonight, I'll handle it."
"With you around, observe more, learn more, and if there's anything you don't understand, ask me."
I eagerly nodded, as long as you help me collect the bodies of the black brick kiln case tonight. From now on, I'll handle night shifts, but I won't touch these messy jobs.
He had just finished speaking when the phone on the desk started ringing.
Zhang San Fen reached out and answered the call, saying, "Nanshan Funeral Parlor."
A male voice came from the other end, cautiously asking, "Excuse me... has Boss Zhang San Fen returned?"
Zhang San Fen replied, "Speaking."
The voice on the other side instantly became excited, "Ah! Ah! You're Boss Zhang?!"
"Well, you see, we have a gathering, specifically for dealing with the curse on the deceased in western Sichuan..."
Before he could finish, Zhang San Fen's voice turned cold, "If you don't want to die, stay far away from that thing!"
And then he abruptly hung up the phone with a snap.
After hanging up the phone, Zhang San Fen said, "When someone calls the front desk looking for me, it's usually not important. Truly important matters or people would call my private number."
"Also, you can call me, but you're not allowed to give my number to anyone else."
I quickly nodded, thinking that my boss sounded quite impressive. He wouldn't even reveal his phone number.
Zhang San Fen continued, "You must thoroughly understand the night shift management manual. We can accept some bodies, but not all. Some can cause trouble. Of course, I'm not afraid of trouble, but I dislike it."
"As for the commission, we don't have a fixed price. The price is determined based on the difficulty of collecting the body. You decide this for yourself. The funeral parlor doesn't rely on this business to make money, just don't ruin our reputation."
I remembered the price that Zhao Fei offered me and asked cautiously, "Boss, for tonight's eight bodies, what would be a reasonable price?"
Zhang San Fen pondered for a moment and said, "Around twenty thousand each. These bodies have issues, specific problems I'll explain when we collect them."
My face immediately contorted into an expression of disbelief.
If Zhao Fei were here, I'd be tempted to slap his teeth out.
Twenty thousand each, and that bastard gave me eight hundred!
Eight bodies! That's a total of one hundred sixty thousand! If I get half of it, that's eighty thousand! How could I still owe a debt with that kind of money?
My head started to spin, and I asked, feeling a bit dizzy, "Boss, do I get a commission for collecting bodies?"
Zhang San Fen looked at me and said, "
Yes. One-thousandth of the commission amount. That's a longstanding rule in the funeral parlor business. As you know, the funeral parlor doesn't rely on this to make money, so the commission is relatively low."
I stumbled, almost falling to the ground.
What happened to the promised half of the commission?
Why did it become one-thousandth?
You scoundrel, Zhao Fei!
Zhang San Fen looked at my expression and asked with interest, "So, what price did you quote him?"
My face turned beet red, and through gritted teeth, I said, "Eight hundred each!"
"Boss, I'm sorry, but the night shift management manual says I have the right to set my own prices for collecting bodies..."