PDLP Chapter 63 If you're not dead, you have to pay.
Chapter 63 If you're not dead, you have to pay.
In the early morning, the mist had not yet dissipated from the old streets of Changxiang City when the roller shutter door of Renxin Pharmacy was pushed up with a "whoosh".
Wang Minyu stood at the doorway, holding a stainless steel tea mug with chipped paint, looking at the sky.
Last night's rain was so heavy that the mutated mint plants in the backyard seemed to have been injected with chicken blood, their leaves so thick and glossy.
Guan Shan was squatting in the ground, confronting a stray cat that was trying to steal some mint leaves, while clutching half of a leftover steamed bun from last night.
"Good morning, boss." Boss Liu Yixin approached with huge dark circles under his eyes, holding a few crumpled A4 papers in his hand.
"Good morning." Wang Minyu took a sip of the bitter, strong tea. "Uncle Liu, did you go to the Second Hospital's emergency room again last night? You look terrible."
"I didn't go to the Second Hospital, I went to the law firm." Liu Yixin slammed the paper in his hand onto the counter, as if a huge burden had been lifted. "Xiao Wang, I've thought it through. I'm not opening this shop anymore."
Wang Minyu didn't even raise an eyebrow: "Because of that Audi A8?"
"Is that an Audi? That's a bomb!" Liu Yixin exclaimed excitedly, spitting everywhere. "First, there were gangsters carrying a coffin, and now Zhao Dezhu is smashing up the place. I have two stents in my heart; I can't take this kind of turmoil. I thought about it all night last night. If this shop continues to be registered under my name, I'm afraid I won't live to see the day I collect my pension."
He pushed the contract forward: "Transfer agreement. The house, along with the certificate, and all those old stockpiled licorice tablets in the warehouse, are all yours. I've already calculated the price, 20% off the market price. I just want some peace of mind."
Wang Minyu put down his teacup, picked up the contract, and glanced at it.
The price is ridiculously reasonable, it's practically a giveaway.
"Uncle Liu, you're losing money at this price."
"Losing a little money is nothing, survival is the priority." Liu Yixin waved his hand, pulled out a pack of Hongtashan cigarettes from his pocket, his hands trembling so much he couldn't light the lighter. "Besides, this shop only survives because of you. Anyone else would have been devoured by those bastards from Kangmei long ago. Just consider it a donation to support your uncle in his old age. Hurry up and sign it or not?"
Wang Minyu wasn't being pretentious.
He took out the bank card containing the profits he had made from "harvesting韭菜" (a metaphor for exploiting people) during this period from the drawer, and also took out a pen.
"Sign. But the price will be the market price; I won't take advantage of you." Wang Minyu changed a number in the amount column. "The money will be transferred to you in three installments. Also, you'll still be in charge of the store's finances and miscellaneous affairs. I'll give you a share of the profits at the end of the year."
Liu Yixin was stunned, his eyes slightly red: "You brat..."
"I don't understand taxes, and I'm too lazy to deal with those people at the Industry and Commerce Bureau." Wang Minyu signed his name, handed the contract back, and said, "You handle keeping the flies away, I'll handle the treatment. Deal?"
"Deal!" Liu Yixin took a deep drag on his cigarette, his back straightening instantly.
From this day forward, he will no longer be a fearful boss, but a retired emperor who enjoys the benefits of his earnings.
Just as the two were handing over the "throne," the wind chimes at the door didn't ring, but a cold gust of wind blew in.
Li Siyuan was wiping the counter when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.
He looked up and saw a middle-aged man in a gray jacket standing in the doorway.
The man's face was deathly pale, not in a sickly way, but in a deathly grayish hue.
He walked silently, his eyes fixed on the void, oblivious to everything around him.
"Register?" Li Siyuan asked tentatively.
The man ignored him and walked straight to a corner of the waiting area, finding the darkest spot to sit down.
He sat stiffly, his hands neatly placed on his knees, looking like a terracotta warrior that had just been unearthed.
Su Qing came out from the back room, holding a pair of hemostatic forceps that had just been disinfected.
She glanced at the man, pushed up her glasses, and said, "Boss, this guy doesn't seem alive."
"Didn't you shower?" Zhao Na covered her nose.
"No," Su Qing said coldly, "it's more like... the smell of him feeling like he's rotten."
Wang Minyu fiddled with the pen in his hand and activated the [Aura Observation Technique].
The system panel popped up, but the text on it was gray.
[Patient: Zhou Yi, 42 years old.]
Symptoms: Cottal syndrome (walking corpse syndrome). Severe depression accompanied by schizophrenia.
[Psychological state: Firmly believes that they died three days ago and are currently in a "wandering soul" stage.]
[Harvesting Difficulty: S-rank. (How do you harvest someone who thinks they're already dead?)]
"Interesting." Wang Minyu stood up, picked up his teacup, and walked over.
Zhou Yi sat in the shadows, suppressing his breathing to the extreme.
"Registration fee is one hundred." Wang Minyu tapped the table in front of him.
Zhou Yi slowly turned his head, his eyes moving stiffly, his voice hoarse as if sandpaper scraping against a table: "Dead people... no need to register."
Li Siyuan was so frightened that he dropped the rag in his hand to the ground.
"This is the mortal realm," Wang Minyu calmly sipped his tea. "If you've taken a seat on my turf, you have to pay. I don't care whether you live or die, you have to pay the occupancy fee."
Zhou Yi was stunned for a moment, seemingly having never seen such an unreasonable "judge".
He hesitated for a moment, then pulled something out of his pocket and slammed it on the table.
It wasn't RMB, it was a stack of yellow ghost money.
"This is all we have," Zhou Yi said expressionlessly. "It's freshly cooked and still warm."
Zhao Na let out a short scream and hid behind Guan Shan.
Wang Minyu glanced down at the stack of large-denomination banknotes printed with "Heaven and Earth Bank," and instead of getting angry, he nodded: "The exchange rate is a bit problematic, but I'll accept it as is. So, tell me, how did you die?"
A flicker of confusion crossed Zhou Yi's eyes, which then became empty: "I died from exhaustion. Three days ago, I was working overtime at the company. My heart was beating very fast, and then it stopped. I saw myself collapse onto the keyboard, but no one paid any attention to me. My supervisor was still chasing me for the report, so I kept working on it. Once I finished, I left. Now... I want to find a place to bury myself."
"That makes sense," Wang Minyu commented. "Then what are you doing at the pharmacy? You should be at the crematorium."
"The crematorium won't take me." Zhou Yi lowered his head, looking at his hands. "They said I had body temperature and a heartbeat, insisting I was alive. Quack doctors, all of them quacks. My internal organs are rotting, can't they see that?"
Li Siyuan, who was listening nearby, felt a chill run down his spine.
This is a typical case of Cottal syndrome, in which the patient firmly believes that they are dead or have lost their internal organs and blood.
This disease is a hundred times harder to treat than depression because you can't use logic to convince a "dead person".
"They are indeed quacks," Wang Minyu continued, "Having a heartbeat doesn't mean someone is alive. A frog's heart can still beat for half a day even after it's been removed from its body."
Zhou Yi suddenly raised his head, a glimmer of light appearing in his dull eyes for the first time: "You...you could tell?"
"I can tell." Wang Minyu pointed to his stomach. "Your stomach has stopped working, and your intestines have stopped working too. You're just a walking shell now."
"Yes! That's it!" Zhou Yi trembled with excitement. "Doctor, please... help me. I want to be laid to rest. I'm so tired, living in this world is too exhausting."
"Want to bury it?" Wang Minyu stroked his chin and glanced at the newly renovated medicinal herb field in the backyard.
The soil from the [Basic Herb Garden] rewarded by the system has extremely strong biological stimulating effects. If you buried a person in it…
"We've never done burying people before," Wang Minyu said, setting down his teacup and offering a professional smile. "But since you've been so generous with the ghost money, we can make an exception this time. Guan Shan!"
"Here!" Guan Shan, who was eating a steamed bun, stood up like an iron tower.
"Go dig a hole in the backyard. Dig it to be 1.8 meters by 0.6 meters, and make it deep."
"Alright!" Guan Shan stuffed the last bite of steamed bun into his mouth, grabbed a shovel, and ran to the backyard.
Li Siyuan and Zhao Na looked at Wang Minyu in horror: "Master, you...you're serious? This is illegal!"
"Shh." Wang Minyu raised his index finger. "The best treatment for someone who thinks they're dead is to let them die once. Get ready, we're going to give them a 'funeral'."