13 Mink Street

Chapter 4 Identity Crisis

"Brother, what are you thinking about?"

Mina, who had just finished treating Karen's nose, saw her cousin staring blankly out the window and asked curiously.

In the past, her cousin had been somewhat withdrawn, perhaps due to his parents' death. After finishing junior high and high school, he dropped out and stayed home, rarely interacting with others.

After his recent serious illness, although he seemed a little absent-minded, he was much more cheerful than before, and she was willing to talk to him.

"Oh, I'm thinking about whether I should continue going to school."

Karen gently rubbed the tip of his nose. The pain was no longer as intense as before. He had a cotton ball stuck in his nose, but it should be easy to remove soon.

Previously, he had been thinking about what had just happened in the basement and the scene in his dream. Was it a coincidence related to his "body" and "mind," or was he truly experiencing a "paranormal event"?

After all, for the latter, the basement had already contained most of the triggering conditions.

But, after all, it was just a dream. No matter how terrifying the nightmare, the palpitations would quickly dissipate upon awakening.

Afterward, Karen was more focused on his future path.

He didn't think that as a "time traveler," he could easily become wealthy and start a successful life.

But as a self-made "hard worker" in his previous life,

he had enough confidence that he could make a decent living in this "new world" with his own abilities and qualities.

After all, regardless of the benefits that the identity of "Karen" brought him, it didn't come with any burdens at all.

That was enough.

"Brother used to hate school the most," Mina said with a smile.

Karen used to be a bit autistic, so he naturally disliked crowded places like school.

"Going to school is important, especially when you're young," Karen said seriously. "Most people, when they grow up and become adults, regret why they didn't study harder and endure a little more hardship when they were young."

"My brother says that in the same tone as Mom."

"Hehe," Karen shrugged. "Mina, get me a glass of water."

"Okay, brother."

His sister obediently went to help pour the water.

Karen opened the window in his room, letting in the fresh air. He took a deep breath, then closed the window again. The wind was chilly.

Turning around, Karen saw his black cat, Pall, had appeared at the head of his bed. It lay there, its eyes fixed on him, its neck occasionally turning as if to survey him.

"Pall, tsk tsk tsk tsk..."

Karen tried to tease the black cat using the universal "sound language" used to tease cats and dogs.

Pall tilted his head, not taking the bait.

Karen stepped forward, and the black cat wasn't afraid. After all, Karen was family. Karen reached out and patted the cat's head.

"Meow..."

Pall turned his head away, seemingly disapproving of the caress.

"Why did Grandpa give you such a difficult name?" Karen muttered to herself. "Pall... Pall, huh? It would have been much more refreshing to call you Pu'er."

The black cat shifted, clearly not thrilled with the similar-sounding "new name."

Mina brought a glass of water over and said, "Mom's calling Dad."

"Hmm?"

This was before mobile phones, and calling someone from a landline was incredibly inefficient.

Besides, if nothing unexpected happened, Uncle Mason would be drifting down some street in his hearse.

After bringing Karen some water, Mina expertly picked up a rag and wiped the windowsill. The Inmerles family originally had two maids, one responsible for cleaning and the other for cooking. However, after Uncle Mason and his family, along with Aunt Winnie and her daughter, returned, both maids were dismissed by Grandpa.

Daily chores were handled by Mina, her younger brother Lent, and her aunt's daughter, Chrissy. Meals were prepared by Aunt Mary and Aunt Winnie in turn.

Since everyone in the family had a "job," Karen was the one with the least time.

This also indirectly demonstrates that Grandpa Des, always awe-inspiring, treated his eldest grandson differently from the others.

At this moment, Grandpa came upstairs.

Mina immediately stood, and so did Karen, holding her glass of water.

Many times, whether a family has rules or not depends not on so-called "family upbringing" or "tradition," but on whether there is someone in the family who commands both awe and fear.

Dis's gaze swept over his grandchildren, lingering on his grandson for a moment. Without saying anything, he pushed open the door to his room and walked in.

The stagnant atmosphere in the air finally cleared with the sound of the door closing.

Karen breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at Mina, noticing she was doing the same thing.

"Grandpa, you seem very busy every day," Karen asked.

"Yes, there's a lot going on at church, and Grandpa's often on business trips," Mina replied.

As he spoke, Grandpa's door opened from the inside, and Grandpa, dressed in "priestly" attire, emerged again, carrying a black suitcase.

"I won't be back for lunch," Dis said.

"Oh, okay, Grandpa," Mina replied immediately.

Dis walked downstairs.

A moment later, Karen saw Grandpa through the window sill as he walked down to the courtyard.

The attire Dis wore clearly bore the allure of religious attire, yet it also seemed somewhat different, giving it a distinctly specific feel.

To outsiders, perhaps, Dis's role as a "priest" would help expand the family business. After all, his status would easily earn the trust of the churchgoers, which would in turn... bring in more business.

But Karen didn't think it was that simple. It wasn't until Grandpa opened the gate and walked out that she suddenly realized the source of that "meaning."

"Our grandfather is a bit like Uncle Nine."

"Brother, who is Uncle Nine?"

"A priest who specializes in catching vampires."

"Oh, is that so? From the play?"

"Yeah, that's right. Mina, do you have to mop everything here?"

"Yeah, and the stairs too."

"Let me help you."

"But what about your health, brother?"

"No problem."

Karen began mopping the floor for Mina, then moved on to the stairs. While changing the water bucket, Karen went to the yard, where there was a large faucet for quick access.

Just then, Uncle Mason drove back in his modified "Nutshell" truck. Ron and Paul pushed down a stretcher with an old man lying on it. Karen saw the white hair covered by a white cloth.

Uncle Mason had already run into the yard, not noticing Karen fetching water in the corner. He ran straight to Aunt Mary.

"Father's looking for you," Aunt Mary said.

"Where's Father?" Uncle Mason's eyes wandered.

It was as if he was feeling guilty about doing something wrong and fearing the reprimand from his elders. Karen, accustomed to her past life, paid attention to these details.

"Father just left," Aunt Mary said.

"That..." Uncle Mason seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then said, "It's okay, it's okay. I'll go look for Father. Maybe he's at the church."

"Well, go ahead."

Uncle Mason immediately ran out, not driving.

Aunt Mary didn't notice anything unusual about her husband.

For her attention was focused on the old man who had just been brought in from the nursing home.

Soon,

she heard Aunt Mary scream:

"Oh my God, there's still s**t on him!"

...

Paul and Ron, who had failed to complete their assignment, were asked by Aunt Mary to clean up the body. Faced with Aunt Mary's anger, they dared not resist.

Paul first moved the stretcher to the basement, while Ron approached Karen.

"Master Karen, I need to borrow a bucket and a mop."

"Let me help you carry it down."

"No, no," Ron twisted his neck. He was tall and somewhat overweight. Although not very old, his beer belly was already noticeable. "We'll take care of it."

Karen smiled and asked, "So why didn't you have the nurse clean that person's body?"

This was supposed to be the job of a nursing home nurse: to perform the initial cleanup of a deceased client's body. Otherwise, it would be unsightly for the family to see their loved one's body still covered in dirt.

"Excuse me, Master." Ron scratched his head sheepishly. "I've made an appointment with the nurse who's in charge of Mr. Mosan to go to the movies in a couple of days."

So that's what's going on...

Ron's face flushed slightly as he continued:

"She said she loves movies and popcorn, and she'll feed me some herself while we watch. So... I don't want her hand, which just wiped the body, to feed me popcorn.

Master, you know, there's something so sweet about couples feeding each other popcorn while watching a movie. In the dim light, when she puts the popcorn into your mouth, you can lick her fingers with your tongue.

Oh, my God, it's so wonderful!"

"Dream on."

Paul's voice rang out. He had already carried Mr. Mosan down to the basement and was coming up to get some plastic gloves and laundry detergent.

"Paul, I know, you're just jealous of me!"

"Jealous of you? Come on, Ron. I don't think any other woman in the world would be interested in you except Mrs. Hughes, the owner of Hughes's Crematorium."

"Nonsense!"

Ron pointed at Paul angrily.

"Mrs. Hughes?" Karen asked curiously.

It sounded like the owner of the crematorium was a wealthy woman. Why was Ron so excited?

"Haha." Paul laughed, then explained, "Master Karen, you probably don't know that before a body is pushed into the crematorium, gasoline is sprayed on it to help it burn. Thin people often need more gasoline, otherwise the bones won't burn. But fat people, the oil in their bodies can help the combustion.

That's why Mrs. Hughes at the crematorium prefers people like Ron because they use less fuel."

"So that's how it is."

"Damn it, Paul! How dare you talk me down like that in front of Master Karen!"

"Come on, let's go downstairs and get back to work, or Mrs. Mary will be mad again."

Ron and Paul bickered as they carried their belongings to the basement.

In the hall, Aunt Mary lit a cigarette, her mood less grim.

Paul had told her the good news: this old man, Mosan, had children, who would be arriving later.

If it wasn't a welfare bill, it meant there was profit; even the lowest-tier package was profitable. Aunt Mary's "salary" also depended on the family's "performance." After deducting expenses, any remaining profits were distributed as allowances to the family.

Aunt Winnie managed the accounts.

This was also why, despite being feared by the family, no one spoke ill of Grandpa behind his back. He was serious, but by no means a stingy or greedy old man.

Karen returned to the second floor to help her cousin Mina clean the furniture.

As she was almost done, she heard Ron and Paul coming up from the basement. They had already cleaned the body, and it was Aunt Mary's turn to take care of it.

Because the family might come in the afternoon to arrange the funeral, it was imperative to make the old man look presentable.

However, it seemed as if there were guests at home. Karen heard Aunt Mary calling downstairs:

"Karen, come down and entertain Mr. Hofen."

Putting down the rag, Karen first searched for "Mr. Hofen" in her mind:

He was an elderly man, a retired university philosophy professor. He had a good pension and lived a comfortable life. He was a good friend of Grandpa's and often came to have tea and chat.

He also had a keen interest in divination and had once given Karen a deck of exquisite playing cards—not tarot cards... but the kind you could play Landlord with.

Karen went to the second-floor kitchen and made a cup of tea. Then, she prepared some simple snacks and carried them to the first-floor living room.

Mr. Hofen was tall but thin;

Thin people often have more three-dimensional features and express emotions more directly.

When Karen saw him,

she noticed that Mr. Hofen's eyes were fixed on her.

Even Mr. Hofen's pet dog, a large golden retriever lying beside him, seemed to sense his master's mood swings and slowly stood up, though he was a little confused, unsure of what had gone wrong.

Until he spotted Pu'er, lying on the stairs, it instinctively seemed to find its interest and tried to get up and go over.

But Pu'er merely glanced at him with his cat-like eyes, and the golden retriever immediately wilted and lay back down.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hofen, my grandfather's out, but I think he'll be back soon. Uncle's already gone to look for him."

Karen put down his tea and said something polite.

Unexpectedly,

At this moment,

Mr. Hofen suddenly reached out and grasped Karen's wrist, his face instantly leaning forward, his breathing becoming incredibly rapid.

In a tone of suppressed yet uncontrollable excitement,

he asked:

"You're not Karen... Who... are you?"

Instantly, a sense of crisis washed over Karen. This crisis stemmed from the fact that the other party had so directly exposed her identity in a single encounter. Karen, who had been mentally prepared for the past two weeks, felt somewhat bewildered.

Karen instinctively took two steps back, trying to distance herself from Mr. Hofen.

As luck would have it, Mr. Hofen, who was holding Karen's wrist, lost his balance and stumbled. He reached for the table, but unfortunately, his support was lost, and he fell forward, hitting his head directly on the edge.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud echoed.

Followed by this,

Mr. Hofen fell backward, his head hitting the tile hard and unimpeded.

"Pah!"

Karen watched the scene in astonishment.

The old man, who had just pointed out his "identity problem," was now breathing out more than he was breathing in.

Furthermore,

a large pool of blood began to flow from the living room tiles beneath his head.

At this moment, Mina, still busy on the second floor, seemed to have heard the noise and shouted from the landing:

"Brother, what happened downstairs?"

Karen licked his lips,

slowly straightened himself, and

replied:

"Mr. Hofen has had a stroke and fallen."