When it comes to the Coffin Guy of Huayang County, many people knew of him. His given name was Li Guan, and it was said that when he was born, his father Li Shouyi had wanted to name him "Coffin," a reflection of his profession. Working at the mortuary and dealing with coffins regularly, and being an illiterate man, he thought the name fitting.
It was Coffin Guy’s mother who objected, and after a long dispute, they finally settled on the character "Guan" for his name, thus he was named Li Guan.
Yet, neighbors and others had called him Little Coffin Guy from a young age because of his father’s work at the Mortuary. People found it unlucky, and children were scared, so he had few playmates growing up. This, coupled with his naturally introverted and depressed disposition, made him even more reclusive and reluctant to interact with others.
The Coffin Guy had never received an education. His father, thinking that the monthly silver from the mortuary was substantial, brought him to work at the Mortuary at the age of nine. There, he learned to handle the dead and truly earned the name of Coffin Guy.
As he grew into an adult, when Coffin Guy’s father fell ill and passed away, he naturally took over his father’s position, becoming the second from the Li Family to work at the Mortuary.
By the time he was eighteen, his mother had matchmakers speak for him in marriage proposals. Hearing that he was involved with the Mortuary, many were afraid to marry into his family. However, unable to resist the ample monthly silver from the Mortuary, and the Li Family having saved a considerable sum through years of frugality, had a substantial family wealth and could offer a significant dowry, so eventually, someone agreed to marry him.
In the end, the one who married the Coffin Guy was a girl from Xikeng Village with the surname Zhang. The girl from the Zhang family was also quite pretty, fair and clean, with delicate brows and almond-shaped eyes—Coffin Guy took to her at first sight.
It is said that the Li Family provided fifty taels of silver as a dowry. After Madam Zhang married into the Li Family, life was fairly peaceful at first, but eventually, it became less so.
Coffin Guy was of average appearance, short, and worked at the Mortuary; how could he draw anyone’s attention? If it wasn’t for the substantial dowry, Madam Zhang would never have married him.
As time went on, Madam Zhang began to grow restless, dressing ostentatiously and looking down on Coffin Guy in various ways, causing the Li Family to endure constant quarreling.
Though Coffin Guy was not eloquent, he loved his wife dearly and was extremely patient with her, to the point where even his mother said it would get better once they had a child.
Strangely enough, three years into the marriage and Madam Zhang still hadn’t borne any children, which gradually made Coffin Guy’s mother’s demeanor towards her less generous.
Madam Zhang, accustomed to being arrogant and rude, and to the usual compliance of the Li family mother and son, didn’t become humble when faced with their impatience but instead became even more overbearing. She was bossy towards Coffin Guy and hurled abuse at Old Madam Li.
As if that weren’t enough, one day a rumor spread through the neighborhood that Madam Zhang, taking advantage of Old Madam Li’s illness, had brought a man into the house, and Old Madam Li discovered it.
The gossip about the Li Family and the scandal was the talk of the town. Old Madam Li passed away gravely ill, and it was said that Madam Zhang had angered her to death. Before the traditional mourning period had ended, Madam Zhang had run away. Everyone said she had eloped with her lover, at any rate, nobody knew where she had gone.
There were rumors that she had passed through the city gates and others claiming to have seen her in another place, but she was never seen in Huayang County again.
And so, Coffin Guy became a solitary man, even more sullen than before. He moved to the Mortuary and returned home only occasionally.
Even so, his house was never burglarized, not because it was poor and undeserving of theft, but because nobody dared to rob the place. After all, it belonged to someone from the Mortuary, and it was shrouded in bad luck.
Upon hearing the teahouse matron’s account, Wufu wore a look of sympathy on his face, but inside, he felt as though a pot of oil had begun to furiously boil. It seemed a visit to the Li Family or the Mortuary was in order!