The White-Haired Ledger

At Chen's Funeral Shop in Gray River City, Chen Jiu counts coffins and never gets it wrong. He has a ledger on his head, too: every bit of warmth that leaks from his heart adds another white hair. The hairs never fade or fall out; each entry is recorded, one by one, on his head. Later, he learns that there's a trade in this world devoted to 'hearing accounts': others can hear the price you've paid. And his ledger has only reached its seventeenth entry.