Folk Taboos: From the Start, I Guard a Wake and Glitch the Rules

Our trade has three things we won't take on: unidentified corpses, unnatural deaths less than seven days old, and coffins containing the living.

One rainy night, a woman brought me a flimsy coffin. It checked all three boxes.

There was no corpse inside, only wet soil, a red cord, and a child in burial clothes, eyes open.

The child smiled at me. "You've finally come. Lin Shouzhuo said you would."

That was my grandfather's name. And I hadn't seen him in ten years.

My name is Lin Jiugao, and I collect bones.

I take in unclaimed remains, wash them clean, wrap them in white cloth, set up a memorial tablet, and send them home to their native soil. For every set of bones I lay to rest, I learn a craft and shoulder an unresolved obsession.

Only later did I learn that the ancient demon-suppressing steles across the Nine Provinces weren't suppressing evil spirits at all. They were suppressing the debts people owed!