Moving

On the topic of "equality for all beings," the hearse of the Ingleys family takes it to the extreme:

Whether the passengers are alive or deceased, riding in this vehicle is a torment for everyone.

Ron had long been used to it, with his head on the corner of the carriage and his feet outside.

This posture seemed very inconsistent for a fat man, but it allowed him to maintain maximum stability and even snore to catch up on his sleep.

Karen, on the other hand, found it a bit painful to sit. He had to constantly use his hands to support the bottom to maintain his balance. The roads in the city were fine. After leaving the city and heading to the suburbs, the road conditions became much worse and bumpy. Very miserable.

Jeff and Mr. Mossanen even hugged each other without shame during the continuous bumps. This posture was like lovers lying on the bed talking to each other.

Karen, who couldn't stand it anymore, tried to pull the "two people" apart more than once, but the space in the car was so big that the two people who had just been separated would soon find each other along with the bumps, and then hug each other again.

If there are relatives following the car, this is unlikely to happen. At the very least, they will only have to endure limited vibrations in the coffin.

But Jeff himself is a loner and is on the welfare rolls; while Mr. Mossanen is not on the welfare rolls but is still better than the welfare rolls.

Karen is not qualified to comment on the "work attitude" of her family members. Even if she made lunch today, she is actually still a "rice bug" in this family.

finally,

As Uncle Maissen turned the steering wheel to the left, the hearse drove into a yard that resembled a small factory building, with a sign hanging at the door - Hughes Cremation Society.

"Hey, Ron, wake up!" Uncle Maissen shouted as he knocked on the car window.

"Oh, oh, here we are." Ron wiped his saliva and stretched again.

Karen first helped put the stretcher down, and then together with Ron, they moved Jeff and Mr. Mossanen down one after another. Uncle Maissen was responsible for stabilizing the stretcher and preventing it from sliding.

At this time, a middle-aged woman wearing gray overalls came over, holding paper and pen in her hand.

"Hey, what a handsome young man."

The woman stared at Karen first.

"Hello, Mrs. Hughes." Ron greeted warmly.

Is this what Paul said, Mrs. Hughes who prefers Ron?

However, in the face of Ron's enthusiasm, Mrs. Hughes just made a sound from the corner of her mouth in response, and turned to focus more on Karen.

In fact, Mrs. Hughes is good-looking. Although she is wearing work clothes, she can still see her plump figure. In addition, her skin is very fair.

However, when Mrs. Hughes's hand pinched her face, Karen still reached out and took her hand off somewhat unnaturally;

After all, although he could adapt to the beauty of this body, he couldn't adapt to being teased like a little boy.

But Mrs. Hughes directly grabbed Karen's hand with her backhand, and her fingertips swept back and forth in Karen's palm, the teasing meaning was very obvious.

From her eyes, Karen could read the greed that those middle-aged and older men had when they looked at the little girl's figure.

"He is Karen, my brother's son." Uncle Maissen handed over a cigarette.

"Oh?" Mrs. Hughes was a little surprised, "Your nephew?"

Mrs. Hughes took the cigarette, asked Maissen to light it for herself, and continued: "I haven't seen it before."

"One of the guys had something going on at home, and I got hurt a little bit," Uncle Maissen explained.

"Injuried?"

"I accidentally fell."

"Whose wife fell over her window sill?"

"Don't make such a joke. By the way, you're not busy today, are you?"

"There's another house ahead of us that's burning down. Just wait a moment."

"Just turned on a stove?"

"I want to turn on more furnaces, but you have to send so many people to burn them for me. Does the hot furnace cost nothing?"

"Okay, okay, let's push the 'guests' in first."

"Okay, I'll go in and make arrangements first. See you later, handsome guy." Mrs. Hughes winked at Karen, turned around and walked inside first.

Ron pushed Mr. Mossanen alone , while Maissen helped Karen push Jeff's stretcher.

"Mrs. Hughes is a very enthusiastic person." Maissen lowered his voice slightly and said to Karen.

"Well, yes." Karen nodded.

"Her husband passed away early. She is now managing the cremation society. Although she has never remarried, she has many lovers around her."

"Uncle, you don't need to tell me this."

"Hey, I have to remind you, I am also from your age." Maissen stretched out his hand and knocked on the iron plate of the stretcher cart, making a "clang" sound, "A boy of this age can also penetrate the iron plate. ."

"… " Karen .

"You are getting older. Find a serious girlfriend from now on." Maissen urged again.

"Okay, uncle, I understand."

Karen knew that Maissen didn't mean to say bad things about Mrs. Hughes, but she didn't want her young nephew to be distracted by Mrs. Hughes.

After walking inside, Karen could smell a greasy smell.

It's just greasy... not fragrant or sweet, a bit like a moldy bedroom in the rainy weather.

However, the furnishings inside can clearly be seen to be aging. This should be an old cremation company.

"In the early years, this cremation company was almost unable to operate and was almost bought by another large cremation company."

"Then what?" Karen asked.

"Then it was discovered that the large cremation company opened the cremations at the same time in order to save costs, so the ashes of others from the day before yesterday were given to the families of the deceased today."

Hearing this, Karen opened her eyes wide: Can such an operation be possible?

"Isn't that..."

"Yeah, they sent their relatives to be burned, and then went back with the ashes of strangers. The funniest thing is that they actually continued like this for several years."

"That's too tragic."

"After the incident broke out, the owner of the cremation company was stoned to death by someone unknown at night. The police were unable to find the murderer because there were too many suspects with motives."

Karen nodded and said, "That's really damn good."

Put yourself in their shoes, if you were grieving the loss of a loved one, and sent your loved ones here to be cremated, but you brought back the ashes of a stranger, and even kept the ashes in that altar for several years, Karen felt He will also have the urge to kill someone.

"After the large funeral company went bankrupt, Mrs. Hughes's cremation company was able to continue to survive and operate, but it is now difficult. Large-scale chain funeral companies have long appeared in other cities.

They can connect everything from the hospital, to our deceased care center, to the cremation center, as well as the transportation in between.

They also opened a branch in Luojia City, and Winnie received a call from them a while ago, saying they wanted to buy our home. "

"Grandpa won't agree." Karen said.

"Of course my father would not agree, and neither would I! Do you know what they do? They transport and manage the remains, mourn them, cremate them or bury them.

Like wholesale vegetables in the market.

These capitalists really should be hung up on street lamps!

They only have money in their eyes, and they don't know how to care for the deceased or respect the remains! "

Hearing this,

Mr. Mossanen who were so jolted in the hearse that they almost kissed .

uncle,

How do you have the nerve to say the word "respect"?

"Our family is doing okay. Although they plan to block our suppliers, because of your grandfather's relationship, our family's business has been doing okay." Uncle Maissen 's tone became much lower, "But Mrs. Hughes's place is starting again. It's getting a little tough."

At this time, Ron, who was pushing Mr. Mossanen in front, turned back and shouted:

"Aha, so I support the Accord Party. Only they are willing to punch those damn capitalists back!"

As he spoke, Ron waved his fist.

The Accord Party, which Karen had read in the newspaper a few days ago, is a left-wing party that has developed in Luojia City and has gained momentum in recent years.

but,

After hearing the words "Accord Party",

Uncle Maissen immediately shouted:

"Go crazy, support those lunatics to go up, they will only make our current life a mess!"

Ron shrugged, as if he was too lazy to argue with his boss, and continued pushing the stretcher.

Maissen , whose neck was red with anger. He was quite understandable, because uncle explained what the weakness of the petty bourgeoisie was.

This is not a mockery, it may sound like a mockery, but in the final analysis it is the inconsistency in butts caused by the class of life.

After walking down a not-so-long aisle, Karen and others finally arrived at the "incineration room" pushing the stretcher cart.

There are three incinerators in the incinerator, but only one is functioning.

Outside the glass window, Karen saw a man with messy hair and unkempt beard sitting on the ground.

And at this time,

The incinerator that was originally operating also stopped.

A grey-haired but energetic worker opened the door and shouted to the man:

"Sir, please come and get your wife."

Immediately, the old worker saw Maissen , smiled on his face, waved and said hello:

"Hi, Maissen ."

"Old Darcy!"

Uncle Maissen stepped forward and handed old Darcy a cigarette.

"How many are there today?" Old Darcy asked while lighting his cigarette.

  Maissen made the "two" sign.

"Oh, God have mercy on you." Old Darcy smiled happily.

Of course he knew how much loss cremation would mean to the Imles family.

In fact, a loss is not a loss, but the original burial can make more profits. After this part of the profits that could have been made is lost, it becomes a "loss".

"Sir, please come and pick up your wife." Old Darcy blew out a smoke ring and urged again.

The man raised his head in confusion, and then stood up silently. However, when he saw the incinerator inside the glass window, he leaned his back against the wall again, as if resisting everything in front of him.

yes,

Who can accept all of a sudden that the person beside them is turned into a pile of ashes?

Karen heard Uncle Maissen ask old Darcy in a low voice: "What's wrong?"

Old Darcy took a puff of his cigarette, shook his head slightly with disdain, and responded in a low voice:

"If I don't give a tip, I won't buy the urn from the club, haha."

If a customer gives a tip or purchases our "merchandise",

Naturally, you will enjoy some special treatment.

For example, if you are scared or uncomfortable, the incinerator Old Darcy will help you put the ashes into the urn and hand them to you.

Of course, some people want to pick up the ashes of their loved ones themselves, so Old Darcy will help you carefully break the bones into pieces for you to store.

The man didn't know if he had no money or if he really didn't understand this. His eyes were filled with confusion and confusion.

Seeing his stupidity, Old Darcy said disdainfully: "He's still a professor of psychology, but he doesn't even understand this."

Um?

This position caught Karen's attention.

By chance, I met a colleague.

Karen took the initiative to step forward, looked at the man, and whispered:

"You should go pick up your wife now."

"I...I..." The man's hands were trembling.

It can be seen that he is engaged in a fierce psychological struggle.

In fact, if you have a good relationship and have been living together, after the death of a loved one, your body or ashes will not feel as scary as watching a ghost movie, but will feel... very ordinary.

But some people's emotions and psychology are special. For example, Karen once received a patient in his previous life. He and his wife loved each other very much, but he chose to go into the delivery room to accompany his wife when she gave birth. This was a very loving move, but... ...Since then, he has been left with a serious psychological shadow. In the end, he had to choose to divorce his wife. After that, it became so serious that he would tremble and fear when he saw women and children.

"Are you still afraid of your wife?" Old Darcy urged, "Hurry up, there is still a queue."

"I...I'm not..." There was a look of struggle and self-blame on the man's face. Obviously, Old Darcy's words "You are still afraid of your wife" made the husband feel deeply guilty and self-blame.

Mentally, it is actually divided into "physiological" and "psychological". "Psychological" is actually easy to overcome, but "physiological" is really difficult to deal with.

"I'm not... not afraid of her... but... but me..."

Karen sighed,

reach out,

He patted the man on the shoulder.

Fine,

For the sake of my peers.

Karen turned around and walked to Maissen :

"Uncle, we are still in a hurry to go home. Let me collect his ashes."

When old Darcy heard this, he felt a little unhappy and said in a nonchalant manner:

"Your nephew is so kind."

There was no praise in his tone.

  Maissen shrugged and said, "Old Darcy, I'm still in a hurry to go home. If I get home late, Mary will blame me again."

"Okay, okay, okay."

Old Darcy gave up;

"You push one of the bodies up first, and I'll pick them up."

Ron pushed Mr. Mossanen in. Karen hesitated for a moment, then helped Ron lift Mr. Mossanen to the incinerator's push platform.

Although Mr. Mossanen "appeared" last night,

Expressed his obsession with not being cremated;

But Karen couldn't help him. Even if the last "Karen" left him 6,000 rupees, it was enough to buy a coffin at the cost price, but what about the cost of burial in the cemetery?

The most important thing is... what reasons and qualifications does he have to ask the family to give extra treatment to an ordinary customer?

Grandpa is still alive,

Even if grandpa is gone, uncle is still there.

It's not his turn to be the leader of this family... Well, it's not his turn to be the loser either.

After doing this, Karen walked over to Old Darcy and watched Old Darcy pulling the ashes away with an iron hook.

Old Darcy turned his head and glanced at Karen standing behind him.

asked:

"Is it your first time?"

"Um."

"Haven't seen it before?"

"No."

"What a young master." Old Darcy teased.

  The male of the Imles family saw the ashes for the first time.

Karen pointed to a pile of bones on the ground and asked, "Shouldn't it be ashes?"

Karen bit hard on the word "ash".

In his impression, after cremation, the ashes should be white and flour-like.

But what I saw in front of me was a pile of bone fragments. There was some ash, but the majority of the bones were fragments, and they were quite large.

Old Darcy said doubtfully: "That's it."

"Oh, that's how it is."

Karen suddenly realized that the film and television works in her previous life had deceived her.

At this time, seeing Old Darcy throwing the empty cigarette butt on the ground, Karen touched her pocket, took out the pack of cigarettes that Paul gave her, pulled out one, and handed it to Old Darcy.

Old Darcy took the cigarette,

He looks much better.

But he still did not forget to remind:

"That's not how good people act."

"Haha." Karen understood what he meant and could only explain, "He came to our school before and gave us a public class. He can be regarded as my teacher."

After hearing this reason,

Old Darcy smashed the filter,

"That's it."

immediately,

Old Darcy put on a glove with his left hand, picked up a small hammer with his right hand, and squatted down.

Start pounding on these big bones, breaking them into smaller pieces.

"Does everyone take away the ashes like this?" Karen asked curiously.

Old Darcy let out a "ha" and said: "Most people just take part of it."

"Oh." Karen said again, "That..."

"Didn't you see what I was doing? It's for your uncle's sake." Old Darcy shook his shoulders and continued to knock the bones, "It's also for your grandpa's sake."

Large pieces of bone were broken one by one;

Old Darcy stopped and pointed to the table diagonally in front of him, where there was a row of urns of various styles.

"Bring one here."

"okay."

Karen walked over, took a look, and found that the cheapest urn actually cost 1,000 rupees.

An ordinary worker gets half a month's salary.

Of course, there is something more expensive. Karen saw a very exquisite and elegant urn priced at 50,000 rupees;

However, there was a lot of dust on it, so it was obviously an old actor.

After all, many people come for cremation, in addition to religious beliefs, because it is cheaper than burial, so this 50,000-rupee urn is destined to be difficult to circulate.

Karen picked up the urn containing 1,000 rupees and brought it to old Darcy.

"Well, I will ask uncle to give you the money."

Old Darcy said "ha", waved his hand, and said generously: "No need."

"What a shame, it's only 1,000 rupees."

"Cost 50, wholesale price is cheaper."

"… " Karen .

grass,

black,

It's so dark.

Old Darcy was a little confused and asked, "Have you never helped the family before?"

"I don't."

This part of the memory really didn't exist in "Karen's" mind last time.

"No wonder, your family sells coffins and clothes, which are similar to this."

"Really."

Karen smiled awkwardly.

Haha, it turns out that my house is also so dark.

Old Darcy began to put the ashes, and according to the size and shape of the bones, he chose to put the ones at the bottom, the ones on the sides, and then the ones in the middle...

Hierarchical and orderly;

It made Karen feel like... plating before serving the food.

at last,

Basically nothing is missed.

Old Darcy put almost all the ashes into the urn;

The skull, which was hard and difficult to burn, was finally placed at the top position in the middle by Old Darcy;

Subsequently,

There was a "pop" sound,

Old Darcy closed the urn.

"Take it to him."

"Ok, thank you."

"Ah."

Karen bent over,

Pick up the urn.

It's hard to imagine that she might have been a living person not long ago. Well, even before entering the incinerator, she was still a complete person.

Now,

It's in the box in your hand.

Karen walked out, and when she walked in front of the man, the man subconsciously stretched out his hands, but he was a little timid.

"She...she..."

"I took your wife out, don't mind. Now, I'll give you her hand."

Hearing this,

The man's expression suddenly became much more relaxed.

The tone of his speech also became slightly calmer:

"No...you are a gentleman."

He finally reached out, took over his wife's urn, and held it in his arms.

"My Linda...is she really gone?"

Karen replied: "From a physical level, I am indeed gone."

"Then..." The man raised his head, with hope in his eyes.

"But in the spiritual world, she is still alive, living in your spirit.

You think, she is there. "

"Yes, yes." The man kept nodding, "As long as I think about it, she is there, she is still with me, no, she is even closer to me, my Linda."

A smile appeared on the man's face, not a ferocious smile, but a warm, genial, and sunny smile.

"Linda believes in the Berry religion, and according to the teachings, her body needs to be cremated; you know, taking her to the cremation center is more like a kind of torture to me.

Thank you. After Linda left, my friends all advised me to look away and accept her departure. You were the first person to tell me that she was still there. Thank you, I am really grateful to you. "

"You're welcome."

The man held the urn, turned and left.

Karen leaned silently against the wall of the aisle and slowly took out a cigarette;

At this time, Maissen came over and asked angrily:

"When did you learn to smoke, and who taught you?"

Karen replied: "Aunt Mary."

Karen didn't lie. The first cigarette he had since he woke up in this world was given to him by Aunt Mary.

"Uh...okay."

Uncle Maissen immediately changed his tone and changed the subject:

"Karen, I know you are kind, but you can't help everyone. If you get used to being kind, you will find that there are really too many people in this world who need help."

"Uncle, I just..." Karen wanted to explain, but she didn't know how to explain the reason for "walking together". She could only nod and said, "Yes, uncle, I know I can't help too many people."

"No, it's not a question of whether you can help or not, but when you find that more and more people need your help but you can't do anything, you will feel pain."

Karen was stunned for a moment, nodded and said, "That's what you said."

  Maissen was very satisfied with Karen's attitude. He shrugged and said, "Besides, many times there is no good reward for being a good person."

As soon as he finished speaking,

The man who had left with the urn trotted over again. He stood in front of Karen and bowed to Karen again.

This bow caught Karen off guard, and she instinctively bowed to him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I forgot, the money for the urn hasn't been paid yet."

The man took out an old-fashioned wallet that was a little shabby and obviously had some age.

Of course, the previous adjectives are meaningless and pale,

Because the key point to describe a wallet is its...thickness.

It's very thick, to be exact, very swollen!

It's so swollen that it can't even be closed!

The face value of the one hundred rupee banknote is printed with the portrait of Emperor Rotraland in the history of Ruilan Kingdom.

And at this moment,

Emperor Rotralan was almost so tight that he wanted to be ejected!

It turned out that it was not that he had no money for the cremation, nor for tips, nor for buying an urn, but... he had never thought about that, and had no life experience of spending money conveniently.

"I have paid for the cremation fee before. How much does the urn cost?" the man asked, "I'm sorry, I almost forgot before and just held Linda's hand and left."

"Five...ahem...one thousand rupees."

Karen originally wanted to say 50 cost price.

But then I thought that old Darcy had helped a lot and packed the ashes very well. The thousand rupees should be used to pay for the urn.

He didn't want to rely on this to make a profit.

After all, he had no shortage of money in his previous life; in this life, he doesn't have to worry about food and drink for the time being. The last "Karen" even saved 6,000 rupees of private money for herself.

"OK."

The man took out all the money in his wallet, put away the empty wallet, and handed a thick wad of money to Karen's hand.

This thickness

This weight,

Uncle Maissen 's eyes widened.

Um,

Karen, who had not been moved by the small money before, now had her eyes a little straightened.

This large pile of money is at least twenty thousand rupees, only a lot more!

Swallowing subconsciously, Karen said, "You gave me too much."

"Not much, this is your psychological consultation fee. The psychological services you gave me are worth the price. No, you returned Linda to me. This small amount of money cannot even be used to repay you for your great help to me!

But this time, I only had time to go to the bank and withdraw the cash. I should have withdrawn more..."

"No, no, no, that's enough, that's enough." Karen quickly comforted him.

"I... I didn't bring my business card. My name is Piaggio, Piaggio.Adams . Where is my business card? Where is my business card... Do you have it? I hope to contact you to discuss it in the future."

"I do not..."

"Yes, yes."

Uncle Maissen on the side immediately took out a business card and handed it over, with " Imles Death Care Company" printed on it.

Piaggio took the business card and said with a smile: "I will visit you at the address above in the future. Thank you again."

Saying,

Piaggio bowed to Karen again.

Karen, who was holding a large wad of bills, immediately returned the gift.

immediately,

Piaggio "took" her wife's hand and left again.

Karen counted out a thousand rupees and prepared to give them to old Darcy later.

Karen handed the remaining money to Maissen .

  Maissen just smiled, pushed the money back, and said:

"Keep it for yourself."

"Don't you have to pay it to the public?" Karen asked.

It is true that money is a lot, but compared with life, life is definitely more important.

If this income is handed over to the public: "Hey, Dis, did you see that, not only can I cook, I can also make money! So please don't kill me!"

"He already said, what kind of fee is yours...oh, the consulting fee, that's yours, just keep it, remember to keep it, or I can take you to the bank to open an account for you and deposit it tomorrow."

"Thank you uncle."

"You're welcome, you're welcome." Maissen stretched out his hand, pulled Karen's shoulders, and asked, "You just said to that...that Piaggio, right? I heard everything you said to him. Although I didn't understand a little, But I can feel that you opened him up very well.

Why didn't I know you could talk to people? "

The former "Karen" was an autistic person. How could he talk to others?

"I saw it in the book and learned some things."

"Oh, that's it. I'll discuss it with your aunt after we go back, and then our family can develop another project, just like this time, psychological counseling or psychotherapy.

You know, those families who have lost their loved ones are very sad and need someone to comfort them. "

oh,

Karen understood what Maissen meant;

In fact, in his previous life, in his world, high-end funeral parlors would have psychological counselors to provide psychological counseling to the relatives of the deceased.

"Can you do this?" Maissen continued, "I mean, you don't have to force it."

"sure, no problem."

Karen answered simply out of her professional confidence.

"That's great. You know, every time I see those grieving family members, I feel so sad..." Maissen clutched her chest.

"Uncle is so kind..."

"Because I know that people will be irrational in that kind of mood and will be more willing to spend money than usual, but I don't have enough ways to earn their money. When I think about this, I feel really sad."

"… " Karen .

"Do you really want to give old Darcy a thousand rupees?" Maissen asked.

"Yeah." Karen nodded.

"Okay, I'll give it to him." Maissen took a thousand rupees and went inside to find old Darcy.

inside the glass wall,

Old Darcy used an iron hook to pull out a gash in Mr. Mossanen 's belly.

It is then pushed into the incinerator.

Karen saw Maissen approaching old Darcy. Old Darcy was a little surprised at first, then laughed, turned around, took off his hat and bowed to Karen outside the glass wall.

At this time,

Ron also wandered out and lit a cigarette to relax.

"Ron."

"Well, is something wrong, Master Karen?"

Karen took out 500 rupees and handed it to Ron.

"This money..." Ron was a little confused.

"The gentleman just gave it to everyone who saw it."

"Really? Thank you, Master. Thank you, Master."

Ron happily put the money in his bag. He had no wife and was living on a monthly basis. Even after receiving his monthly salary, he had to pay off the famine caused by last month. This extra five hundred rupees was enough for him to live on a monthly basis. It's been two cool nights in the tavern.

Karen asked:

"By the way, Ron, did the government call you to collect Jeff's body?"

Ron was completely unprepared and answered directly:

"No, that morning we were supposed to go to Huashuiwan Nursing Home to receive Mr. Mossanen , but when we passed by Mink Street... No. 125 or 130, anyway, we found him frozen to death next to the trash can on the street in front of him. Jeff.

We could only send Jeff back first and then pick up Mr. Mossanen . The welfare form was also applied for by Mr. Maissen afterwards. "

really!

Karen's mind immediately recalled what Uncle Maissen said when he drove past the townhouse in front of No. 128:

"However, her family encountered a problem the day before yesterday. She asked me for help, so I helped deal with it... She and her husband are looking for a new house and are preparing to move..."

so,

The uncle was helping his first love home,

Disposed of a body!

Wait a moment,

Karen suddenly realized a problem,

had "seen" some scenes on the bodies of Mr. Mossanen and Jeff respectively ;

  Mr. Mossanen is unwilling to be cremated. This was proved to be true by Aunt Mary. Due to religious beliefs, Mr. Mossanen resists cremation.

And if what I saw from Mr. Mossanen is true,

Then the woman she saw at Jeff's place, who only had one pair of legs and one face, wasn't it also... real?

Karen's mind immediately flashed back to the scene on the second floor she saw when she passed that house, those legs and those red high heels!

so,

Uncle's first love home,

There is a...monster living right now!