I Cried at the Chairman's Funeral for Money novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Ledger

On the twenty-first day the clan came to the hall in its best black, sixty strong.

They had come to give thanks to the guests who had given to the dead.

Shen Ke stood before the altar with the hall book open in his hands.

It was a thick, cloth-bound ledger, and every page was signed in the guest's own hand, with the gift written beside the name.

Qin Wanyi had checked it twice.

Under the black tunic, a mark of Hanzhou's mouth sat on his collarbone from the night before, and Hanzhou stood at the urn with his eyes on the book and gave no sign that he knew it.

The Second Aunt sat in the front row among the family, upright and calm, with her ring of keys at her belt.

"The mourner will sing the gifts," said the master of ceremonies.

Shen Ke drew a breath and began.

In the old way, the gift list is sung to a plain, steady tune, one name to a line.

"The eldest of the Gu clan, one hundred thousand yuan. A madam of the silk guild, fifty thousand. A family from Wuxian, thirty thousand."

The elders nodded at their own names.

"The Suzhou Weavers' Association, two hundred thousand. The old loom master who wove the first Gu cloth, twenty thousand."

He sang them all, page after page, for twenty minutes.

At the end of the last page he stopped, and closed the book, and sang the sum.

"One million, six hundred thousand yuan," he sang, "given to the dead by the living, and thanks to every hand."

There was a polite silence.

The Second Aunt rose with a small, tolerant smile and a folder in her hand.

"A beautiful rite," she said. "If I may, the family accounts are in order. I have deposited the condolence gifts in the funeral account, as the Old Madam directed."

"How much?" said Hanzhou from his place at the urn.

"One million two hundred thousand, nephew."

"The mourner has just sung one million six hundred."

"Some guests wrote down more than they gave," said the Second Aunt lightly. "Guests are vain."

"Some guests are here," said Hanzhou.

He turned to the front bench, where the oldest elder sat with his white beard and his stick.

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