When the Suona Sounds, Every Ghost I Send Off Has to Bow

Qin Xiang, a suona major who is unemployed the moment he graduates, takes gigs playing funeral music on a funeral-services app to pay off his student loans.

The note on his first order reads: Please keep playing until he is satisfied.

After Qin plays a funeral march, three knocks sound from inside the coffin. "You were off-key. Play it again."

From that day on, the dead can hear the suona he plays.

The Great Funeral March sends souls on their way. Crying to Heaven reveals their grievances. The General's Command suppresses vicious ghosts.

Old funeral musicians follow three rules: never play for an unattended funeral, never play for a ghost marriage, and never play a celebratory tune at midnight.

But every gig the platform sends him breaks one of those rules.

They say when the suona sounds, someone's either going to court or getting married.

This time, it's the ghosts in the hall who will kneel to me.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.