Chapter 6: Chapter 6: The Actor "Master Yang, there’s something going on at my home, I’ll stop here today." Eager to go back, Lou Yi went over to ask the steward for leave. The Jia Family steward, Fatty Yang, came over to check his results and said in a surprised tone, "Not bad, you actually chopped down six trees, even better than Cheng Chen." "Why didn’t I notice before that you’re so capable?" Fatty Yang’s tiny eyes, like yellow beans, scanned Lou Yi up and down a few times. "Before, I wanted to save my energy, but now I understand that the more I save, the hungrier I get." Lou Yi had long thought of an excuse, creating a false image of his previous laziness. "That’s right, only hard work can lead to prosperity. Young men must work diligently." Fatty Yang didn’t think much of it and took out a money bag from his chest, found twenty copper coins, and handed them to Lou Yi. "Thanks, Master Yang!" After descending the mountain, Lou Yi quickly headed to Daihe Village. Today is the third day since Cheng Chen’s death, and if all goes well, the burial will take place tonight, so he needs to go help out. At the entrance of the Cheng Family’s mud-brick house, a white cloth was hanging, with people coming and going, mostly villagers from Daihe Village. Lou Yi stepped inside and immediately saw Cheng Sunshi serving soup to those paying their respects. In this world, there’s also the concept of a funeral feast, but it can’t be as lavish with fish and meat as in the previous life. In ordinary households, at most, a bowl of thin porridge is served, accompanied by some pickled vegetables. "Sister-in-law, let me help you," Lou Yi called out. When Cheng Sunshi, dressed in white mourning clothes, turned around, his heart ached. This dry, short woman had much of her forehead hair whitened, her face color dark and gloomy, seemingly aged ten years. "Ah Yi, good." Cheng Sunshi didn’t refuse. Lou Yi then helped to serve porridge, wash dishes, tidy up, and greet guests. Dogwa, with a sky-high ponytail, sat silently on the bed, draped in a white cloth. His once lively eyes had grown dim. Even when Lou Yi tried to chat with him, he remained unresponsive. As night fell, neighbors all returned to their homes, leaving only Cheng Sunshi, her son, Lou Yi, and a few relatives of the Cheng Family inside. Cheng Sunshi chose not to go to the burial ground. Lou Yi and the others began digging a pit in the vegetable garden at the entrance of the Cheng Family, placing Cheng Chen, wrapped in a grass mat, inside. Cheng Sunshi and Dogwa knelt on the ground, silently weeping. "Sister-in-law, take care," Lou Yi didn’t know how to comfort people. He wrapped the few coins he had left in a white cloth and handed it to Cheng Sunshi. "It’s not easy for you." Cheng Sunshi shook her head and pushed it back to him. Seeing her steadfast refusal, Lou Yi said, "Sister-in-law, rest assured, if one day I prosper, I will surely help Dogwa rise to prominence." However, Cheng Sunshi still looked wooden, showing no reaction. Dogwa’s eyes, though, moved slightly, glancing at Lou Yi a few times. ... Returning from Daihe Village to Erhe Village. Just stepping onto the stone bridge, a disheveled man came towards him, resembling a ghost in the middle of the night, startling Lou Yi. "Zhou Fool?" The visitor was Zhou Erfan, a fellow villager who had injured his head as a child and remained crazy. Plus, with his elderly mother gone last year, his life was even worse than Lou Yi’s, wandering around begging and relying on others’ charity to survive. "Hehehe." Zhou Fool foolishly smiled at Lou Yi, drooling at the mouth, mumbling ’hungry’ ’hungry.’ Lou Yi took out two copper coins from his chest and threw them to him. "Hehehe." Zhou Fool laughed even happier and staggered towards Daihe Village. Lou Yi sighed, after all, they were from the same village, hoping he could persist a little longer. Returning home, he picked up a shovel and headed towards the burial ground at the easternmost side of Xinxiang. Even though his strength had increased a lot, Lou Yi was still fully armed, wearing a bamboo hat and a linen robe, fearing the encounter with inexplicable dangers. This world is extremely dense with vegetation, the biodiversity exceptionally rich; it’s not uncommon to hear someone bitten by venomous insects and strange snakes. Without serum, without silver to see a doctor, if it really comes to that, one can only leave it to fate. Lou Yi definitely doesn’t want to have just obtained the Attribute Panel, only to end up dead before his journey even starts. In the burial ground, gusts of Yin Wind blew, the chirping of insects in the grass came and went, occasionally small black shadows could be seen crawling on grave mounds. Lou Yi took a deep breath, humming a tune, began checking if there were any new graves today. And continued digging up a few old graves, finding nothing. In the following consecutive days, Lou Yi went up the mountain to chop trees during the day and went to the burial ground to dig graves at night. His luck was quite good, having not encountered any formidable tigers or leopards, nor been bitten by strange venomous insects or snakes. Just several linen pants were torn, luckily Cheng Sunshi helped him mend them. The pattern of Energy emergence was summarized by him into three main points: First, Energy can only appear on deceased humans, dead chickens, ducks, or pigs won’t do. The second rule is the person cannot have been dead for too long, usually not more than seven days. The third point is that the death must be unnatural, dying of old age naturally doesn’t count. Additionally, there’s another troublesome issue. Not every family buries their deceased in a cemetery; some, like the Cheng Family, simply bury them near their own doorsteps. The whole of Xinxiang, though said to consist of ten villages and eight townships, actually spans nearly twenty miles with dozens of villages. If someone dies, without well-networked information, it might not even be known. Since acquiring energy is very difficult, Lou Yi has only saved up two points until now, still lacking some for the upgrade of two skills. However, the copper coins he saved have already exceeded one hundred coins. On this morning, Lou Yi was preparing to return a shovel to the Gu Family. Passing by the Gao Family’s house, he overheard a conversation between Mrs. Gao and Mrs. Chang while they were preparing vegetables. Mrs. Gao is tall and thin, with a rather thin face, looking a bit harsh. Mrs. Chang, on the other hand, is chubby and fair, indicating she usually eats quite well. "Did you hear? Someone drowned in Tianfang Village yesterday." "My goodness, whose family is it, so unfortunate!" "The second son of the Lv Family." "The Lv Family, ah, now I remember, isn’t that the Lv Family with the scandal? It must have been that son who was involved, right?" "Oh yes, indeed, Lv’s second son was really unlucky..." Lou Yi listened, his lips tugging slightly, but he had already noted down in his mind the words of Mrs. Gao and Mrs. Chang. Arriving at the Gu Family door, the gray wooden door was crisscrossed with textures. ’Knock, knock!’ "Oh, it’s Little Yi." The wooden door creaked open, revealing a wooden-faced man. "Brother Yong, here’s your shovel back, thanks." "No thanks needed, we’re neighbors, just ask again anytime you need it," said Gu Yong. Not far away, Mrs. Gao saw this and laughed sharply, "Yi, why didn’t you come borrow from me?" "Thank you, Sister Gao, I’m done using it," Lou Yi replied. In his heart, he was complaining, when I asked you before, you wouldn’t lend it, and now you’re being all friendly. After returning the Gu Family’s shovel, Lou Yi, as usual, went up the mountain to chop trees. By evening, he had a decent haul of six trees and earned twenty coins. On his way down, instead of returning to Erhe Village, Lou Yi headed to Tianfang Village. In Tianfang Village, there is only one Lv family, which Lou Yi remembered. After a few steps into the village, he saw a house at the entrance draped in white cloth. A stone-brick house, with a small yard framed by white-mud-washed walls, protruding several peach tree branches, indicative of better economic status compared to ordinary families. Standing at the door was a middle-aged man with a worried look, graying at the temples in white clothes, welcoming the neighbors coming to give their condolences and collecting the money offered for the funeral. "Lv First Brother, try to bear the loss." "One must look forward." "Alas, Lv’s second son was such a good person..." Listening to others comforting the eldest of the Lv Family, Lou Yi cleared his throat, adjusted his clothes, and walked briskly forward. "Brother Lv, please accept my condolences!" Lou Yi said, displaying a mournful expression. "You are...?" A look of confusion appeared on Lv’s first brother’s face; he clearly didn’t recognize Lou Yi. "I am Lou Yi, son of Lou Yiwang," Lou Yi explained. "Oh...from the Scholar Lou family," Lv First Brother nodded. Then he thought, aren’t they from Erhe Village? Erhe Village and our Tianfang Village are several miles apart and should have no connections! Before Lv First Brother could voice the confusion in his heart, Lou Yi sadly sighed, "Lv Second Brother, how could he leave just like that." "When I was young, he once bought me candied haws on the street, and later on, he took quite good care of me..." "And now he’s gone, alas..." ’Did that really happen? Why never heard the second brother mention it?’ Lv First Brother thought, of course, knowing better than to speak it out loud. Someone came all this way from several miles away, this sentiment must be genuine! He looked at Lou Yi more kindly and casually accepted the white cloth Lou Yi handed over. Seeing Lou Yi rush into the house in a hurry, it seemed he truly cared for the second brother, wanting to go see him quickly. Lv First Brother thought, absentmindedly opening the white cloth that Lou Yi gave him, and was instantly stunned. Inside quietly lay a single, dull copper coin. ’One... one copper coin?’ ...