Wu Laoda always keeps a dozen thin-board coffins in his coffin shop, never sold to outsiders, reserved solely for his third brother's use. Wu Laoda does not know what his brother does for a living, nor does he ask how many more bodies have been sent off to Torrent's Maw. Every morning he glances at the stove, and if there's less porridge in the pot, he knows his brother has already gone out.
Anecdote · Jiangnan State · Hangzhou