"Cripple Li! Your coffin is defective! I want a refund!"
"Nonsense! No one has ever complained about my coffins!"
A figure abruptly sat up inside a coffin, his furious eyes scanning the room for the slanderer. But when Cripple Li saw the man at the door, he was so startled he lay back down immediately.
"My time must truly be up," he muttered. "Why is that penniless ghost, Chen Changsheng, coming to see me?"
Hearing this, Chen Changsheng grinned and walked straight up to the coffin. He looked down at Cripple Li, who had tightly shut his eyes again.
"Cripple Li, you guaranteed that if there was any problem with the coffin, I could get my money back. Are you trying to welch on your promise now?"
Grudgingly, Cripple Li opened his eyes. "No money. You want my life? Take it. If you see anything here you like, just take it and go."
Faced with this utterly unyielding attitude, Chen Changsheng was amused. "Aren't you afraid of me, Cripple Li? You're the one who buried me."
Cripple Li glanced at him. "I'm sixty. The physician says I have three years left, at most. I have no children, no wife, no old sweetheart. Do you think I care about losing—or gaining—three years? Besides," he added, "I knew you'd come back when you bought that coffin."
"Why?"
"I've seen people buy coffins for themselves before. But I've never seen anyone do it as cheerfully as you did." He gave Chen Changsheng another appraising look, then hesitated. "Tell you what, kid. Want to be my apprentice? Room and board included, but no wages. This trade suits loners like you. Learn my craft, and you'll likely never starve. This world lacks for many things, but it's never short of dead people."
Chen Changsheng felt a stir of interest. While he could live a very long time, he could still die—from injury, or, pertinently, from starvation. He'd only planned to stay here temporarily, but the prospect of a long-term meal ticket was undeniably appealing.
"Cripple Li, your terms are pretty stingy. Can't you pay at least some wages?"
In response, Cripple Li simply pulled a copy of the "Classic of Burial" from his robes and tossed it over.
"Look at you, alive and kicking. You'll outlive me for sure. When I die, everything here will be yours anyway. You can see this place is tiny. No other place to sleep. That coffin next to mine will be your bed. Fitting, since you seem to like sleeping in them."
He made to lie back down, but Chen Changsheng stopped him. "Wait. If you're going to teach me coffin-making, why give me this book?"
Cripple Li rolled his eyes. "A man's skills are never a burden. If you only sell coffins, who's going to bring you business? Let me be clear: I handle the complete funeral service package. You've got a lot to learn!"
With that, he shook off Chen Changsheng's hand and settled back into his coffin.
Chen Changsheng looked at the "Classic of Burial" in his hand, then smiled. "Well said. A man's skills are never a burden."
And with that, he climbed into the other coffin. Truth be told, once you got used to it, sleeping in a coffin was far more comfortable than a bed.
...
Seasons turned. Years passed. Eight years slipped away in the blink of an eye.
Chen Changsheng had settled permanently into Cripple Li's coffin shop. His days were spent reading and learning the coffin-maker's trade. Whenever there was a funeral, he could count on a decent meal to improve his usual fare. But these were peaceful times, and such opportunities were few and far between.
As for those ten attribute points? Chen Changsheng had dumped all of them into Defense. Theoretically, if he played his cards right and stayed cautious, he would amass an immensely long lifespan. Therefore, Defense was naturally his top priority.
It's worth noting that Cripple Li did not die in his third year as predicted. After Chen Changsheng arrived, he lived for five full years. But in the end, he still couldn't outlast his apprentice. One night, he lay down in his coffin and never got up again.
...
"Brother Changsheng!"
The shop door was pushed open by a young girl. The noise woke Chen Changsheng, who sat up in his coffin with a resigned sigh. "Niansheng, how many times have I told you? This is a coffin shop. It doesn't look proper for a girl like you to be hanging around here all the time."
Li Niansheng just stuck out her tongue. "I don't care what they say! Let them gossip. Besides, with the plague running wild, who has the energy to mind me? I'm going to make you something to eat. Now get out of that coffin—you shouldn't sleep in it all day!"
Having said her piece, she deftly made her way to the kitchen at the back.
Watching her retreating figure, Chen Changsheng sighed softly. The plague had been raging for a full year now. Li Niansheng's parents, Nianci and her husband, had succumbed at its outset. He himself had overseen their funeral arrangements.
The minimum interval between sleep cycles was one-tenth of his total lifespan. Eight years had already passed since his last awakening; by rights, he could enter slumber again. But this girl was now utterly alone in the world. How could he bear to leave her like that?
Shaking his head, he climbed out of the coffin. Forget it. Sleeping now or later makes little difference. I'll wait until this girl is married and settled.
...
Soon, two steaming bowls of congee were placed on the table. Chen Changsheng and Li Niansheng ate in silence.
Suddenly, Li Niansheng looked up. "Brother Changsheng, are you an immortal?"
"Silly girl, what nonsense are you talking? If I were an immortal, would I have stood by and watched your mother die from the plague? She was a very good friend of mine."
Li Niansheng looked down into her bowl. "Brother Changsheng, I'm fourteen now. I'm not a little kid anymore. You can't fool me about some things."
Chen Changsheng reached out and ruffled her hair affectionately. "What's gotten into you today? It's not that I won't buy you sugar-coated hawthorns, it's that your teeth really can't handle any more sweets. Another day, I'll take you to buy—"
"Nianci was my mother's childhood name."
Li Niansheng's interruption cut him off. Her words made Chen Changsheng slowly set down his bowl.