Rebirth: Not Being a Waste - Chapter 3

But wanting to leave doesn’t mean he can. Even if he doesn’t want to follow, he can only float around the coffin.

Once all the funeral rites are prepared, they set off. Halfway through, a person silently appears. In his soul state, Zhang Shu nearly cries—that’s his eldest son, his only biological child.

Zhang Qin remains serious, though occasional flashes of grief cross his face. To him, even though his father is a coward, he is still the only one in the family who has truly cared for him.

Wu Liniang rarely scolds him today, likely because it’s a funeral.

Everyone arrives at the burial site in silence, lowering the coffin into the pit that was dug two days ago. Then, they shovel in the dirt, filling the grave.

Zhang Shu’s life ends as a small mound of earth, with a stone tablet marking his resting place. The mourners kneel, kowtow, recite a prayer, and then depart.

Zhang Shu sits beside the gravestone, watching as their figures grow smaller in the distance. A wave of disappointment washes over him—is he destined to remain in this desolate mountain for eternity?

The following year, during the Qingming Festival, the usually deserted cemetery comes to life as families arrive to honor their ancestors.

Bored, Zhang Shu absentmindedly pulls at the three-foot-high weeds on his grave, hoping someone will come to clean it.

He dies just after the winter solstice, meaning he has been here for over a hundred days—perhaps even two hundred. He has lost track of time.

No impermanence messengers come to take him away, nor do any other ghosts appear to torment him. It’s as if he’s the only lingering spirit in this vast world.

Over time, he observes many things—like Wu Laosan, the village head, secretly having an affair with a young woman from the neighboring village. He even discovers a large sum of money hidden away in a remote area.

(Translator’s Notes: Laosan (老三, Lǎosān) is a common Chinese term meaning “Old Third” or “Third Brother,” often used as a nickname or informal title.)

Decades ago, Anning County had been plagued by bandits, until a righteous official finally suppressed them. The infamous bandit leader, Hu Lao’er, foresees his downfall and buries a stash of stolen gold and silver deep in the mountains. But in the end, he never gets the chance to retrieve it, leaving the treasure hidden beneath the earth, never to see the light of day.

Zhang Shu only stumbles upon it thanks to a group of wild boars. They rummage around the mountainside, digging up some of the treasure—only to knock it down into the valley below. Who knows who will end up benefiting from it?

Thinking about these things is a way to distract himself from his own misery. His eldest brother visits at the start of the year and mentions that they are moving to the capital, never to return. In other words, no one will ever visit his grave again.

Or so he thinks.

Just when he has resigned himself to being forgotten, a lone figure appears with a basket in hand.

The man wears a blue tunic, his clothes neat but simple. Time has left its marks on his face, but his warm smile makes him look kind.

Zhang Shu stares blankly.

Little Mujin… He came.

Li Mujin quickly places his offerings before the grave, then pulls out a sickle to cut the overgrown grass, all the while chatting, “Brother Shu, I’m sorry for coming so late. I only heard the news when I returned to visit my father’s grave for Qingming. You’ve been gone for a long time…” He sighs, continuing to trim the weeds. “I saw that your house down in the village has been emptied. No one knows where they went. No wonder no one came to sweep your grave.”

Zhang Shu is stunned. They left too? Could it be that his eldest brother took them away? No… Impossible. His sister-in-law would never have agreed to that.

“But that’s fine,” Li Mujin says with a wry smile. “At least no one will know I came. Otherwise, there’d be trouble.”

Zhang Shu feels bitter. Yes… In the past, even if Mujin merely passed by their house, that woman would have hurled veiled insults at him, acting as if they had somehow wronged her. When, in truth, she was the shameless one.

After finishing the grave cleaning, Li Mujin pours two cups of wine—one onto the earth, the other down his own throat. “Over the years, I’ve often thought about how happy we were when we played together.”

Zhang Shu nods. Yes, those were the happiest days of his life after his parents passed away. If not for the calamity that befell Mujin’s family, he would never have volunteered for that ill-fated marriage, just for the sake of fifty taels of silver.

Everyone knows that the young master of the Wang family is beyond saving. The so-called “warding-off marriage” is nothing more than a desperate gamble. If Mujin’s birth chart hadn’t happened to match, he wouldn’t even have been chosen. After all, sacrificing a child’s happiness for a hundred taels of silver is a deal most poor families can only dream of.

Zhang Shu begs his grandparents, telling them that he and Mujin have grown up together and have long harbored feelings for each other. He wants to marry Mujin as his husband.

But his grandparents refuse. They say the family can’t afford such an expense—there are too many mouths to feed. Where would they find the money to take in someone who would only be a burden?

Zhang Shu kneels at their doorstep all day, pleading to borrow the money and promising to pay it back. But they remain unmoved.

All he can do is watch as Mujin is thrown into the fire pit.

Sure enough, Young Master Wang dies on the wedding day.

The events that follow are predictable.

Zhang Shu still remembers seeing Mujin from afar after the Wang couple passes away—he has finally escaped from that hellhole. By then, he is so emaciated that the wind could knock him over, yet he still wears that familiar gentle smile.

But that smile will never belong to him again.

Li Mujin sits on the ground, talking at length. Before leaving, he glances at Zhang Shu’s grave.

At that moment, their eyes meet—Zhang Shu floating in the air, Mujin looking at the gravestone.

For some reason, Mujin feels a sharp pang in his heart. Tears well up in his eyes. He hurriedly wipes them away and turns back toward the path home.

Zhang Shu sees that tear.

It is the only tear anyone has shed for him after his death.

And at that moment, his soul wavers.

His consciousness grows faint, as if dissolving.

So this is the condition for reincarnation?

Someone has to truly mourn him.