Delivering food pays five yuan per order, and you still get yelled at by the living. Guarding a corpse pays three hundred for the night, and the dead never leave bad reviews. Zhou Chen chose the latter. On his first night, a new line appeared on the duty roster: "Hall 3, Li Xiulian. Don't let her turn over." He thought it was a prank by a coworker. At one in the morning, he made his rounds. Li Xiulian's head had turned by itself.
Zhou Chen, 28, had been delivering food for three years. His bank balance was 47.6 yuan.
When he saw a funeral home hiring a "night-shift corpse watcher, 300 yuan per day, room and board included, must be brave," he applied.
On his first night, a handwritten line appeared on the roster in the duty room: "Hall 3, Li Xiulian, 72 years old. Keep watch until 3 a.m. Don't let her turn over." He thought it was a prank by the previous employee. At one in the morning, he made his rounds. Beneath the white cloth, Li Xiulian's head had gone from facing left to facing straight ahead.
He turned it back. In the shift handover log, he wrote: "She can turn her head by herself. Watch out next shift."
On the second night, a small line appeared beneath Li Xiulian's entry on the roster: "Thank you. Don't eat the cafeteria's braised pork tomorrow."
Zhou Chen stared at the words for a long time. Then he messaged the man who had hired him: "Brother Liu, don't make a portion of braised pork for me tomorrow."
Lao Liu replied in seconds: "How did you know we're having braised pork tomorrow?"
