Chapter 3 – Cemetery Business

These days, if you ask people on the street what business is the most profitable, eight out of ten would answer: real estate. And why not? With the economy booming and prices skyrocketing, housing prices have risen accordingly. Borrowing money from banks, issuing IOUs to construction workers, setting up a sales center, and selling pre-sale properties to recoup costs—as long as you can navigate the relevant departments, the real estate industry is essentially a game of making something out of nothing. Those daring and ambitious real estate developers are all rolling in wealth.

However, for Boss Wang, this answer is outdated. Building houses takes time—a high-rise takes two and a half years to complete. If there’s a break in the funding chain, it could drive someone to hang themselves in an instant. After completion, you still have to deal with picky “consumers.” If you cut corners even slightly, there will be plenty of people ready to complain to the media or petition the authorities. Doesn’t it cost money to smooth things over? Dealing with living people is just too damn troublesome!

Building houses for the dead is different. Acquire a piece of barren land, dig a few holes, slap on some cement, and voila—a spacious tomb that can sell for tens of thousands per square meter. And that’s just the low-end price. For high-end tombs, the price can easily skyrocket to hundreds of thousands. Once the urn is placed inside, only the dead below know whether it’s comfortable or not. Can they come back to complain? The filial descendants spend their money without hesitation, and the cemetery owners make their profits without a worry. Isn’t that a lucrative business?

Who wouldn’t love such a good business? The only problem might be the mysterious “feng shui.”

Standing at the entrance of the cemetery, Boss Wang raised his arm again to glance at his big gold watch: “It’s already 10:30! How long does it take to pick someone up?”

Assistant Song quickly replied, “The car left at nine, but Master Sun insisted on driving around the mountain to check the cemetery’s terrain, so it’s taking a bit longer. He’ll be here soon, very soon!”

Boss Wang clicked his tongue, muttering unwillingly, “How good is this Sun guy anyway? Damn it, the previous ones were all useless. I hope this one isn’t a scammer…”

Assistant Song, of course, couldn’t vouch for him either, stammering, “Well, their studio is quite famous in the industry. Even Boss Liu from Yongye spoke highly of them. But who can say for sure? Why don’t we give it a try?”

“Damn it! If he’s useless too, I’ll have someone smash his studio!” Boss Wang grumbled under his breath but didn’t move, still waiting obediently at the cemetery entrance. He had no choice but to wait. Recently, some strange things had been happening in the cemetery. In this day and age, who in the “construction industry” hasn’t heard some ghostly tales? Especially someone like him, a cemetery owner dealing with the dead. He had thought the location of this mountain was good, but suddenly, complications arose. If he didn’t handle it quickly, not only would it affect future business, but he also felt a bit uneasy. After all, he was just trying to make money. Who wants to invite disaster?

After patiently waiting for another ten minutes, Assistant Song’s eyes lit up as he stepped forward: “Boss! The car’s here!”

At the end of the mountain road, a Mercedes-Benz—the car the company had sent to pick up the master—appeared. Boss Wang instinctively straightened his posture, placing his hands on his protruding belly, assuming the demeanor of a boss. The car screeched to a halt at the cemetery entrance, and the door opened. An elderly man in his fifties stepped out.

At just a glance, Boss Wang’s straight posture shrank slightly, and a smile involuntarily spread across his face. Regardless of anything else, this Master Sun’s appearance was impeccable. He wore a well-fitted traditional Chinese Tang suit, with a neatly trimmed three-inch beard. His hair was slightly gray, but his complexion was ruddy, not at all like someone in his fifties or sixties. His eyes were bright and sharp, and his lean figure, coupled with an indescribable air of dignity, made him seem almost like a demi-god.

“Master Sun, you’re here!” Assistant Song immediately stepped forward with keen insight to introduce the master. “This is our Boss Wang. He’s asked you to take a look at the feng shui of our cemetery…”

Master Sun gave a slight nod to Boss Wang and said calmly, “We were delayed on the road. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Not at all, not at all! Master Sun, you’re too kind!” Boss Wang chuckled, rubbing his hands together. “It’s already past ten. Shall we go in and take a look?”

Master Sun nodded reservedly and gestured to the young man behind him. “This is my assistant, Xiao Wei. He’s skilled in compass readings.”

Only then did Boss Wang notice the person beside Master Sun—a young man in his twenties, quite tall and decent-looking, but somehow unremarkable, like a background character easily forgotten. What caught his attention was the object the young man was holding—a square board with a feng shui compass that had seven or eight inner layers, intricate and unique. When the two looked over, Xiao Wei nodded expressionlessly and shifted his gaze back to the compass.

“Haha, Xiao Wei looks reliable. Good, good!” Boss Wang laughed, purely for the sake of conversation, but he felt a bit more reassured inside. This assistant seemed like the real deal, knowledgeable and with professional tools—much better than those who just spouted nonsense.

Master Sun didn’t respond, smiling faintly as he stepped into the cemetery. Boss Wang and Assistant Song quickly followed, and the group made their way inside.

At this time of year, the weather wasn’t too hot, but as they entered the cemetery, the temperature dropped noticeably. Two rows of pine and cypress trees lined the path, making the passage even more serene and profound. After walking down a corridor of several dozen meters, the entire cemetery came into view. Located on a side peak of Miaotou Mountain, it was quite close to the city, with mountains and water nearby, making the scenery quite beautiful. Although the cemetery wasn’t fully completed yet, the existing parts were clearly meticulously designed. After the corridor, two shimmering “Pond of Rebirth” greeted them, filled with koi of various sizes. Beyond the pond was a standard burial area, with each plot about three square meters, densely packed together, allowing families to erect tombstones. Further up the steps were family burial areas and a nine-story pagoda for temporarily storing urns. These days, many families still had ancestral graves, and it was customary to store the ashes for three years before moving them to the ancestral tomb, so the pagoda business was also quite profitable.

Going around the hillside, the lower area was reserved for independent burial plots, each carefully arranged, catering to the middle class. As for the truly wealthy, they usually sought out feng shui treasure sites for traditional burials and wouldn’t crowd into such economical cemeteries.

Once inside the cemetery, Boss Wang carefully observed Master Sun’s expression, but the master showed no reaction. He merely glanced at the cemetery’s layout and asked indifferently, “Did you hire a designer?”

Assistant Song quickly replied, “We hired a design company for it. It cost a fortune.”

Master Sun raised the corner of his mouth, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. He casually clasped his hands behind his back and walked further in. Beside him, Xiao Wei followed closely. Whenever Master Sun paused, the young man would quickly recite a series of data: “Needle at Zi-Ren, seven fen; main needle at Si-Bing, eight fen; middle needle at Wu-Qian, three fen; sand three, water seven; Xu sand, major star…” Boss Wang and Assistant Song were filled with questions. This was different from the previous “masters.” Shouldn’t he be spouting simple, easy-to-understand sayings like “Better to have the Azure Dragon ten thousand feet high than let the White Tiger raise its head”?

The cemetery was essentially a small hill. After wandering around in a daze for a while, Boss Wang was already drenched in sweat and out of breath. Only then did Master Sun stop calmly and ask, “Did someone tell you that this place is where two rivers meet, with continuous mountain ranges, making it a branch of the East China Dragon Vein? Although it can’t compare to the major dragon veins or treasure sites like Beimang or Tianshou Mountain, it’s still a good feng shui location for burial?”

Boss Wang was startled and quickly wiped the sweat from his face. “Master, you’re absolutely right. Someone did tell me that. I’ve had several people look at this cemetery, and the feng shui masters all said the geography isn’t bad…” Not just the feng shui masters—even his cemetery sales team was trained to use this pitch. The advertising slogans were incredibly flashy.

“Hmph!” Master Sun’s face immediately showed a hint of undisguised disdain. “The feng shui here is indeed passable. The dragon energy is hidden but not exposed, the mountains are beautiful, and the water is abundant. It’s a good place for burial. But what you’ve built is a cemetery—in the past, this would’ve been a mass grave. Proper burial requires consideration of the person, the surname, and the fortune. Burying people of all ages, regardless of how they died, even in a good location, will lead to trouble. Fortunately, most people are cremated these days, so there’s not as much yin energy or malevolent forces, which is why nothing major has happened yet.”

Hearing this, Boss Wang’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t revealed any details to this Master Sun. Checking feng shui was like seeing a traditional Chinese doctor—you had to first extend your wrist for the doctor to take your pulse before you could hear the diagnosis. If it didn’t match the symptoms, who would waste their money? But the previous feng shui masters who came to the cemetery all critiqued the buildings, saying this might be wrong, that might be bad, and suggesting how to fix things to avoid disaster. None of them had ever started by calling the cemetery a mass grave.

However, as the cemetery owner, Boss Wang agreed with this statement deep down. No matter how well-decorated the cemetery was, it was all just the work of a design company. If they truly understood yin-yang and feng shui, and had the ability to alter fate, why would they be toiling away building houses for others? They could just create a lucky home or burial site for themselves and live a prosperous life. All this talk about good feng shui and environment was just sales pitch for the customers. If he really believed it, he would’ve kept this place for his own family instead of developing a barren mountain for such a grim business.

So, whether the burial sites were auspicious or not didn’t matter much, but they absolutely couldn’t be inauspicious! Not only would it affect the burial rate if customers found out, but if something truly malevolent emerged, wouldn’t he, the cemetery owner, also be in trouble? That’s why when strange phenomena started occurring in the cemetery, he immediately panicked and wanted to fix things. But after consulting several “masters,” none could pinpoint the problem. It really made him grind his teeth in frustration.

However… his eyes shifted, and Boss Wang’s face broke into a smile. “Master, you’re absolutely right. You see, I’m planning to expand the cemetery. That’s why I’ve invited you here to see how we can improve it…”

Master Sun glanced around the cemetery and asked indifferently, “Then it depends on whether Boss Wang is willing to share the details with me?”

Tsk, this trick again. Boss Wang immediately became alert. In fact, most feng shui masters had this tendency—they’d first vaguely point out a bunch of problems, then probe for details. Whatever he said would be incorporated into their feng shui theories as solid evidence. But wasn’t this just a scam? A true master should know the real situation without asking. If the problem was this serious, how could they not figure it out? And if a scammer got the details but couldn’t fix the issue, wouldn’t it ruin the cemetery’s reputation…

On guard, Boss Wang immediately laughed. “What details? I just wanted an expert to take a look at our cemetery…”

Seeing his evasive expression, Master Sun chuckled. “No problem. We can wait until Boss Wang is ready to talk.”

With that, Master Sun turned and walked away! Boss Wang and Assistant Song were both dumbfounded. What was going on? Seeing Master Sun leave so decisively, Assistant Song quickly stopped the assistant who was packing up the compass and asked in a low voice, “Assistant Wei, what’s going on with Master Sun?”

The young man named Wei looked up at him in surprise. “If you don’t believe, what’s the point of talking?”

This reply was anything but subtle. Assistant Song was stunned and quickly said, “Whether we believe or not, we still need the master to give us some advice so we can judge…”

Assistant Wei frowned. “What more advice do you need?” He pointed downward. “Didn’t you do some digging over there? I see your new cemetery area was planned long ago, but the location was inauspicious and encountered evil. When you started construction, some living creatures probably died—either fish in the pond or trees by the road. The yang water was too strong, leading to a major misfortune. You’ll probably dig up something there. And that bone pagoda—it’s not well-built either…”

A torrent of words poured out, leaving Boss Wang and Assistant Song both dumbfounded. To cover up the incidents in the cemetery, the newly developed burial area had already been leveled and planted with grass to hide the traces. Many of the previous “masters” had suggested building something there to stabilize the earth’s energy. Stabilize my ass! The dead fish and withered trees had been secretly disposed of, and no one knew about them. Yet this young man had pointed them out one by one. How could they not be shocked?

Boss Wang immediately became anxious. “Wei… Master Wei, what do you think we should do?”

Assistant Wei quickly waved his hand. “I’m not a master—don’t call me that! How to fix it? I don’t know. Probably need to use some ritual instrument or something. It’s up to Master Sun to arrange it. But you…”

He glanced at the two of them, and the somewhat dull young man’s face showed a mix of anger and helplessness. “If your heart isn’t sincere, what’s the point of checking feng shui?”

With that, he picked up his backpack and chased after Master Sun without looking back, leaving Boss Wang standing there in a daze. After a while, Assistant Song spoke timidly, “Boss, I think… maybe we were too disrespectful, and that’s why the master got angry…”

Boss Wang seemed to snap out of a dream and slapped his thick thigh. “Right! Right! We were too disrespectful. Look at how boorish I am… Quick, make arrangements. We’ll go pick him up this afternoon… No, no, I’ll personally visit this afternoon and make sure to invite Master Sun back! Xiao Song, go downtown and check where we can buy ritual instruments and how much they cost. We need to be prepared…”

As chaos ensued on their side, Assistant Wei quickly caught up to the Mercedes-Benz and opened the door. Master Sun, sitting in the back seat, glanced over indifferently. The “honest and dull,” somewhat “socially awkward” young man suddenly smirked slightly and gave a small nod to Master Sun. With just that subtle movement, his demeanor completely changed. However, this liveliness disappeared in an instant, and Assistant Wei resumed his expressionless demeanor, sitting in the front passenger seat. Master Sun looked away, satisfied, and stroked his neatly trimmed, immortal-like beard, closing his eyes to rest.