Great Tang: I Run a Funeral Business in Chang'an

[A max-level expert shakes up an entire industry + a goofy ruler-and-minister duo + easygoing daily life]

In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Chang'an's funeral guild has a monopoly. The rules for the dead outnumber those for the living, and the fees are exorbitant, with no compassion in sight.

Song Guici, a top modern funeral planner, transmigrates to the past with a frail, adorable child he picked up along the way and opens a funeral shop in the Western Market that doesn't fit in at all.

You want to tell me about the Ministry of Rites' rules? I'll tell you about end-of-life care and emotional support!

Can't understand those obscure dirges? Modern, plain-language eulogies will make the bereaved family cry their hearts out!

Can't afford a good burial plot? How about a modern “eco-cemetery” with an installment plan!

From communal funeral feasts to living farewell ceremonies, from life-sized, movable paper lamellar armor to scientifically debunking rumors of “hauntings” in powerful families' mansions, Song Guici uses one modern, materialist funeral service after another to send the Tang funeral industry into a frenzy.

Then one day, an arrogant old man who calls himself “Old Li” starts coming to the shop every day to try out “lying in a coffin to clear his mind,” and keeps staring at Song's adorable child.

“Shopkeeper Song, this funeral contraption you call a ‘pulley system,’ if it were used in a siege...”

“Old Li, you're thinking too small! Lie down in this top-quality golden-thread nanmu coffin and close your eyes. You'll realize all that nonsense at court isn't worth a fart!”

The assembled officials are stunned to discover that the decisive emperor of the ages is being kept completely in line in a humble neighborhood funeral shop. He's even secretly booked himself the highest-tier “Paradise Eternal” farewell package!