A young Chinese waitress even leaned close to me, touching my bound hand:

"One is for you!"

I smiled at her, exchanging happy glances.

Sighing, I looked at Jia sideways, who smiled at me, then called a waitress to handle her phone. Jun knelt to look at me with genuine care, touching my hair:

"This is the end, young man, and I am...glad you had what you wanted. Let's talk: do you want something done? A little jelly snack? A phone call, or contact someone over the internet?"

I shook my head. "No, but I wouldn't mind a green jelly as a last meal. If you want, do what you like with my past. I bet you have all my passwords..." Jun grinned:

"We have people that will clear your digital footprint, leaving a wilderness hiking message for your last footage to make sure it's not pursued. Same with Jia. No one but people here will know." She called a waitress, explaining the green European sweet woodruff jelly, who rushed off. "She'll bring a small portion." Jun squeezed my cheek lovingly.

I saw Jia talking over the phone in her fetal pose, legs, and hands always immobile, with a few waitresses collecting the offerings except us and piling them into the cart. We were alone, waiting, relaxing. I will not go into details but some waitresses knelt next to me and asked the weirdest questions: How did I come to know "little sister" Jun, how did I accept this fate, from where did I come to this... I could only look like a puppy, Jun chortling as some girls took a selfie with the poor victim, me.

It was a surreal rain of questions. They eventually left, making me ponder the end of my life in the hands of Chinese witches and the unbelievable feeling of submission.

At least, I had Jun spoon-feeding me some green Jell-O as Jia shuddered under Mingzhi's examinations, final pulse and temperature checks (using an anal thermometer of course), the crazy woman having brought even some papers and signed both our death certificates. I guess Chinese customs and bureaucracy went hand-in-hand.

I sighed, relaxing, watching as people burnt money outside, and let balloons float into the air in reverence of death. It was a good day to die: I didn't have to worry about endless things piled upon my poor little soul, about how to run a business I was never supposed to take over or an entire world of nonsense, a future that was bleak anyway, or the burden of a life and education that would eventually go sideways.
Jia stopped talking over the phone, and Jun nudged me: it was time.

We saw a group of Chinese women, large adults wearing traditional, medieval clothes with saffron-and-black designs, lining up around us to lift the trays we were on. Jun stopped them for a brief moment, tracing my cheek with her fingers:

"Well, it's over. This will be the last time I see you." She gave a brief bow: "Goodbye!"

With that, she petted my head before leaving.

I said nothing as she ruffled my hair, and gestured for them to take us away, poor two youths naked, tied and trussed up on plates. My stomach went light when they lifted me and Jia, carrying us amid fanfare, the women themselves laughing and waving to the crowd with us on their shoulders, carried like coffins. Jia was laughing as well as the visitors, returning their loving gazes: I suppose a cheerful goodbye isn't that bad. The last sight of Jun was her cute ass in a skirt, disappearing into the building to take a phone call.

With that, I was dead to her.

I saw outside. People circled the funeral cart, strong women carrying us and sliding our trays inside, closing the lid at the back of the cart and joining the funeral celebrations. I scooched close to the naked Jia, crawling like a worm who looked at me with a bright smile and leaned her head against mine, cheek to cheek. We felt warmth in each other's bodies, and the cart started to move. Straining our heads, we could see the well-wishers march in close, smiling at us, filming us being driven to our graves, some younger members lighting fireworks or playing music. I was around a small, veritable treasure trove. My ass pressed against the feet of a small goddess statue, and Jia was also leaning against a small bundle of fake money, a few silver bracelets, and gold coins, some of them tickling her bare ass and rubbing on her soft tits when the cart shook. We chuckled at each other and the absurdity of it all.

Downhill, the horse cart moved, around it cymbals, reed flutes, and drums beat, an archaic Shang funeral with the sacrificial slaves driven to a small cave inside the hill overlooking the mansion. A mausoleum stood before us, flanked by two small goddess statues: who knew that human sacrifice and cannibalistic rites would be performed inside then the entrance was looking like a house of mercy...

With great fanfare, the troupe received us, ignoring our groans when they lifted and wheeled us inside on trays, together with the gifts. Our treatment was a bit rougher now, women literally carrying me and Jia and putting us inside through a stone corridor, to be laid on a large, marble room. I heard the music drowned out by the deep, cold, stone halls' embrace, as we were literally taken to be buried alive before being sacrificed and prepared as meat. It was deliciously insane, a narcotic pleasure of submitting oneself. Outside, people shouted, and sang, and eventually, I could hear the noise die down, they were leaving. We were carried by burly servant girls in the Chinese Shang era costumes, as meat to be offered, before our beloved leader. When I tried to look at one of the hard-faced women, she ignored me. Apparently, we were just things now.

I realized our fate here when my eyes adjusted: My cock hardened and Jia whimpered, there was a large abattoir here.

Meat hooks, a few woks, a grill, and even an archaic kiln were present, a few wooden beams with cuffs straight out of an old horror movie mixed with BDSM. Two of the women roughly grabbed me by the armpits and lifted me in all my numb, jelly-like muscles from all the lying and drugs. I was untied and told to sit in English, and Jia was untied as well. We were pushed to sit, while the servant women ignored us and kept arranging the offerings from the funeral home.

Jia stretched herself, muscles still too weak. I could see her fully for the first time now. The girl was a creature of beauty. A soft belly, with slight paunch and thick, pale and beautiful legs were present before me like the marble bust of a goddess. Her feet were delicate, large, slightly saggy breasts full and rich with brown, hard nipples from all the public bondage she went through, now sitting next to me.

She wordlessly gave me a hug, and kiss on my lips.

Not a bad way to die, I thought. Our kiss was divine, she hugged me and I was raging to enter her: but we were meant to be virgin meat. Making out in silence, our noses flaring with strained breathing through the kisses, my cock went limp at the footsteps of our executioners entering the tomb.

I saw several dark figures enter the room carrying duffel bags. All Chinese, all female, grown women used to work, cooks by the looks of it. They chuckled at us kissing, ignoring us, set down their bags, and started lining up their tools, eyeing our bodies as if we were animals. In a way, we were: we were meat animals to be offered, right here, and right now.

The one in charge seemed to be a burly Chinese woman in her late 40s, tall and fit, curvy and thick-bodied. She could speak English, at least.

"Aihan," She spoke looking at me. "Whenever you are ready." She eyed my body as if she was a butcher sizing up a lamb. She was right. "Which one of you goes first?" She looked at shivering Jia, who spoke to her in Chinese. Her eyes brightened, and she started to tie her hair and strip off her clothes, taking out an apron.

"That's funny, she wants to see your manhood get cut off first. Hope you have taken drugs, white boy." She smirked, taking out a very sharp knife and smiling gently.

I shivered, about to panic. Was it all going to end like this? I stammered, but Jia looked at me in the eyes, glowing in the lamplight.

"Please. Can I watch? I want to see it."

"But the pain..." I shuddered, yet my manhood was hard.

"For me? Please? Alive?"

Jia's voice was sweet, in earnest curiosity. I'm dead anyway, they'd simply tie me down and dismember me, might as well go out entertaining. Lips trembling, I tried to talk, but both of them were smiling, pointing between my legs.

"Why is this hard if you are afraid?" Both of them spoke the same thing, in perfect, unaccented English. Touche. My erection was raging at the thought, balls straining to explode at the slightest touch. Aihan had stripped entirely naked save for a very exotic loincloth barely hiding her crotch, rich, lustrous black hair poking out of top and sides of her underwear. Her body was muscular, not toned but...could be known as "strongfat" to an observer. Large, slightly saggy breasts, muffintop sides and powerful arms and legs made her look...beautiful, and intimidating.

"I don't strip for you, kid..." She chuckled, toying with a bronze cleaver. "Now...We'll give you a couple of minutes with the lovely Jia here, and then we start." Her voice was cool, not overly cruel, but serious. "You agreed, so..." She was cut short by my poor companion, sitting naked, carefully looking at he groin.

"Can I make..." Jia pointed to my cock. "Play with it? One last time?"

Oh, dear... Aihan pulled my arms back and made me sit on my ass, spreading my legs, I was too weak to resist. The rest of the women were setting up tools, all of them naked with aprons against the splash of inevitable blood, beautiful, yet deadly women surrounding us with...

...no grins, understanding smiles. I even saw the famous food artist I saw on the internet whispering something to Aihan, who was busy donning her apron.

"She has a favor to ask boy..." Aihan spoke with kind curiosity, now in a nude apron, her strong frame towering over me. "She wants to cut your head off, slowly, while she looks at your eyes. Do you think you can take it? You can say no if you want." Her hand held a bronze axe.

I was terrified, to be beheaded like a cartel, or Jihadist video! But the online food idol, in all her glorious nudity, knelt before me, her lovely face in a perfect expression of pleading. She spoke one, simple sentence:

"Please?" She clearly begged me, no force here. "Please. Very special. Once." The girl's lovely, delicate features glowed:

"Please?"

Gulping, I nodded. She almost lit up like a firework:

"THANK YOU!" And hugged me, Jia and Aihan grinning. It was amusing...but now, time to die...and suffer at the hands of deadly, delicate Chinese cooks who would prepare humans just like any other animal. They surrounded us, but dispersed when Aihan spoke to them to set up the oven and hooks. I saw Jia crouch before me, touching my penis with wondrous curiosity.

"Ok?"

I nodded, Aihan watching Jia grasp my penis with curiosity. The girl knelt and kissed the tip, moving her hands up and down. I shuddered when I felt her mouth touch the tip, kissing it. Her mouth was soft when she leaned forward, taking the head inside her soft, wet mouth. Dear god, what a way to go. I shuddered, does it count as sex? Still, I sat back, my heels on my bare ass, Aihan holding my arms back and smiling, tying them with an oiled rope, no doubt to restrain me for the next act. My hands bound, I groaned, leaning back with Jia moving her head up and down on my penis, being sucked off by a virgin, Aihan watching us with an amused gaze. It did not take long, the first time blowjob I would receive from an innocent virgin girl that wanted me castrated for fun. Her teeth tickled my soft cock flesh, and all I could do was groan, the pleasure coming to a soaring height I could barely contain, groaning and thrashing in my captor's arms. Smiling with her beautiful eyes, cheeks bulging, Jia kept moving her head, giving me the last and the best blowjob I could ever have. I felt pleasure filling my soul, Aihan cradling my tied wrists when I could only moan and squeal. Jia loved it, smiling with her eyes with her cock in my mouth.

I could no longer hold it, shaking as the pleasure filled my shaft, dams of my mind breakingas my orgasm came as my last defilement, Aihan grinning when Jia's eyes closed, then opened when I exploded in her mouth.

Panting, I fell on my ass, Jia spitting it out and wiping her mouth with a grin. I shuddered when I saw Jia tying the base of my balls and cock with a rope, pulling as hard as she could, and rubbing my groin with ice.

"Numbs the pain," She smiled, as my legs were seized by two giggling women, Aihan holding me tight. Jia sat up, looking closely at the scene she wanted to experience first hand. Naked and offered, I writhed, spreadeagled, Aihan grabbing a very sharp knife, lining it against my balls, and closing my eyes with her other hand.

"It will be quick." She put the cold blade under my balls, and I nearly orgasmed again at the sheer debasement. Shushing me, she started to cut, and started castrating me. Even under the numbing drugs and ice, I felt the pain, but it was mixed with pleasure. Lost in Aihan's bulk and soft breasts, I squirmed, pleasure and pain mixed on my body, my nipples aching.

A squeal, and many amused giggles filled the throne room.

Jia loved the scene, her killers slowly sawing off the pale, white cock and balls with a quick, precise moves. Soft, pale balls and shaft splitting open with the boy squealing, four women holding him down as they castrated him with quick moves, sawing through the flesh as blood poured down, was darkly amusing. She bit her lips, giggling as the women wrestled him and cut it off, plopping down the grisly trophy down on a bronze tray with a wet sound.

"So that's how castrating goes..." She giggles as the dainty little Chinese vlogger, her soon-to-be killer and cook, smiled back.

"It was fun to watch!"

The boy squealed, shuddering in ghost pain of his severed genitals, not fighting back but shuddering in pain and a ghostly feeling of endless ejaculation, blood pouring from his groin. His idol, our beloved Vlogger knelt naked before him, blood splashing on her lap.

"Come here, let's make it quick!" She smiled, as the poor boy nodded, bleeding, and drunk on pleasure and submission. Jia watched the woman slowly raise the boy, lining the knife under his jugular. Aihan slapped his cheek to force him to open his teary eyes who met the gaze of the beautiful chinese woman, staring at him wit amusement.

"We start now, OK?" She spoke softly, the boy whimpering and nodded. Jia looked closer.

I was dying, now castrated. And I never felt more alive! Her eyes were caring, amused, and a little bit playfully sadistic when I felt a pain on my throat.

She was sawing the knife, her eyes locked on mine.

The pain was immense, my death and sacrifice. The girl started sawing through my pale, soft neck, the pain in my neck overpowering the pain in my groin, my blood pouring out of my throat. Jia hissed, averting her eyes, the girl slowly cutting with my arms held by the grinning woman, I was looking into her eyes. She smiled, cutting across my neck slowly until my vision finally dimmed, my throat opening with breathing becoming impossible. She kept cutting, keeping her eyes locked on my dying orbs with an innocent, curious smile, .

"Goodbye, thank-"

Everything went black.

The boy was dead, mouth drooping, eyes rolling back as blood poured from his head with his slowing heartbeats. The young girl smiled, twisting the head and sawing it off entirely, the body was hoisted to meat hooks and started to get dismembered, blood drained into a large bucket.

"Jia, it's your turn, are you ready?" Aihan asked with a soft voice. "I'll make it quick."

The girl bit her lips, asking for a moment, and nodded.

"Get on all fours and put your head here." Aihan smiled and tapped a chopping block. "I have good practice with the goats back home."

Jia was held tight and made to kneel, and her neck was put on the wooden block. She closed her eyes, mumbling, looking at the goddess statue she was made to kneel before. Aihan stood, with heavy steps before her, grabbing the large, broad-headed Shang axe. Naked, and helpless, Jia closed her eyes, her last sight being the beautiful statue of Nuwa.

"We offer this girl for good fortune..." Aihan mumbled, thinking of her children. "And for the good health of my family, a pure, willing virgin, dear goddess..." With her entire strength, she brought the axe down.

Jia felt a sharp pain, her head rolling before the goddess. When her vision blurred, all she saw was the naked Aihan's hairy pussy under her apron, and the beautiful, benevolent gaze of Nuwa, who was with arms stretched, welcoming her into her embrace.

Sacrificed, she let her consciousness slip away into her arms, perfectly dying in absolute submission, a virgin body dedicated to Nuwa.

"Let's get to work!" Aihan spoke in Chinese, taking out power tools, hacksaws, cleavers, and traditional cooking implements, both lifeless bodies dangling by meat hooks through their feet as slabs of meat. Cooks started taking out the sharpened tools and started. One woman held Jia's corpse by the buttocks and dangling arms as Aihan stuck her serrated bronze knife under the suspended girl's pubis, slowly sawing downwards, splitting the belly open, two girls pulling out the clean intestines: the girl was left hungry for says save for sugary water. Scraping the lining, with a mighty pull, the intestines dropped with a wet slush to the large bronze trough together with kidneys, and with a pull, liver, and other organs. Here, they applied a bit of modern technology, a powered saw split Jia's lifeless ribs, humming as her chest opened as well, lungs and heart pulled out and laid aside. Aihan cleaned the interior organs' residues with a wide, sharp-edged bronze scoop, her assistants cutting the girl's beautiful arms, legs, and torso into small pieces, carrying the plump, limbless slab of beautiful girl's meat to a stone slab and started dismembering with cleavers, opening the limbs from one side to the bone and pulling the meat aside. The vlogger girl, sitting cross-legged, took out a silicon pistol and a golden needle, carefully treating the severed penis and testicles attached to it, sealing the incision with a hot soldering iron before pumping silicon with an injector. She started to craft the grisly penis trophy with a wide smile, curiously poking and laughing as she started to fashion a penis charm for good luck.

Two women were taking the boy's lifeless body apart as well, meaty chunks laid out on slabs while the organs were separated. Taking out skewers, the cooks started to cut long chunks from the torn bodies, sticking handfuls of meat and preparing small shishkebabs, slices of human beef, and large, red, bloody steaks to appease the demons.

Whistling, humming, and drinking cool water to hydrate in the immense heat, strong, naked women chopped, sliced and cooked, frying chunks and slices of human meats as a mouth-watering aroma filled the room. They were used to it, even the dainty Chinese girl smiling as she set up the fully erect penis, filled with chemicals and silicone as a penile idol.

"Boss' soul will be pleased." She then took out a small charm, and lifted the lifeless head of the white boy, looking at the dead eyes. Sighing, she put a small piece of paper to his dead mouth, and put the head to the foot of the grave. Castration and beheading -hurt-, it seemed, a little paper charm for apology to the boy's dead soul...

Removing Jia's virgin pussy and extracting the womb, gluing it was harder, but doable. She had set up a camera, recording the preparation for genitals as good luck charms could be a profitable venture if done secretly and well. Taking a scalpel and pulling Jia's dismembered groin to her lap, she started working, humming in Chinese...


A Few Hours Later...

The ovens were silent, the sound of cooking, cutting, the blows of the cleavers and slicing done, mercifully. The cooking group, strong, loyal women of the organization breathed quietly as the last embers died, dishes complete and set up. Some were fully naked save for sandals, others wore archaic loincloths, a homage to ancient tyrants' eras. It was for comfort and heat: the mausoleum was carefully built with sealed construction and no air recycled save for a ventilation shaft. The women were naked not for any erotic display but for humble peasant comfort, sipping cold water from bottles. The deed had taken several hours and was tiring.

Yet the deed was done. Both girl and boy were sacrificed, dismembered, and de-boned. They had hung the boy and girl's headless carcasses and gutted and had done their work to perfection. Fragrant, delicious plates of meat dishes carefully laid before the small bust of the deceased, the recipes replaced with human meat rather than beef, pork, or chicken. The motherly cook Aihan had outdone herself: a small plate of "pork" buns, but with the boy's and Jia's softest parts filling the dough buns lay on a plate, mouth-watering, yet not eaten: they were to placate the dead and demons. Jia's thigh meat was made into a series of skewers, gracing the right part of the small altar while a similar arrangement of the boy's shoulder meat was stuck like a bouquet of shishkabobs on the left side. A small plate of steaks and roasted chunks were piled as a series of offerings before the altar, one-third of the meat perfectly prepared and offered to the spirits in a generous, carnivore's delight of a smorgasbord. No vegetables were added, just oven-cooked and fried meats laid to appease the evil demons that might torment Mei-Li in her grave, separate from vegetarian meals set on top shelves to placate the good spirits.

The other two-thirds of the meat gathered from both sacrificed bodies was cleaned and bagged to age and marinated for a day when they would be cooked and served at the consolation lunch. Extracted organs were mostly likewise packed, and wheeled away to the mansion's fridge where they were stored except for a few to be disposed of. Gallbladders were burnt, too bitter to eat, the smoke gracing a demon statue.

The boy's silent head, serene in death, was on the left foot of the grave, eyes closed, his beautiful mouth holding a small apology charm for the suffering between the lips, poor boy's castration was painful (though they were certain he enjoyed it and amused Jia). Jia's head was severed as well, her face was smiling even in death, half-closed dead eyes sprayed with preservative and chemical compounds to stay silent for ages without decay on the right corner of the grave. The cooks stood in proud admiration of their deed, clapping hands thrice and bowing before the grave, the silent body of Mei-Li lay within, offerings of delicious food scattered around to placate her soul and her trials. They smiled at one last touch:

The boy's genitals were treated with chemicals, severed clean from his groin, injected with silicon, and nailed with a long golden needle through the tip of the shaft to the base; his beautiful cock would be always erect with proud, hairless, full balls, blessing the gravesite as a virile charm. Jia's virgin pussy was also artfully cut off, set within a small wood frame with the womb as well; the artwork was laid on the other side, perfumed with flowers, both genitals completing male and female spirit, willingly offered. They didn't giggle at the sight or mock it: it was a humble offering, culturally acceptable in their eyes and hearts. The boy had accepted, it was only auspicious.

"I hope their souls are happy and together facing the Yama," Aihan spoke softly, wiping blood from her hands. "I don't mind cooking human, neither am I particularly proud, but this went beautifully." The others nodded along, giving a brief prayer.

"Jia has a husband beyond the grave together with her now, the girl's mother will be satisfied."

The cooks nodded at each other, one of them commenting:

"I wish we had a third one to roast on a spit, but you can't have it all. Maybe the Korean girl next time? She was into this thing and there is another funeral planned next month..."

Aihan shrugged: "Who knows? Do we let them brick up the grave and let the construction crew seal off the vents? They'll pump nitrogen inside to prevent decay." She took a cell phone from her clothes, like the others, the big woman was naked save for a loincloth for comfort in the heat and dark.

"Just a few more minutes." A cook took out a clove cigarette to smoke. "Let's smoke one and light one to satisfy the boss' soul. Mei always loved Djarums." She sighed, enjoying the delicious smoke and fragrant, sharp aroma.

Aihan nodded: "You girls do it, I like the smell but I don't smoke." The women lit one each, and one extra, burying the unlit end to the small, earth pot together with the incense sticks, lighting them all. They bowed their heads, as the one who lit first intoned:

"Big Sister, we bid you goodbye, accept these two souls offered who wanted to be with you. May your passage to Arhat be swift."

They bowed before the bust and took long drags from the black, rich aroma of the beautiful Djarums. After some minutes, each congratulated the other for a job well done, gathered their clothes, and garbage, and left the mausoleum for the cool night air to dress up. Aihan texted the crew to brick up and seal the grave against the ages, well-paid men who don't ask questions and who would almost hermetically seal the structure from the outside.

...

The morning came easily, with happy hums of cheerful Chinese cooks taking the meat out of the walk-in fridge, laying the still bloody chunks on the trays, and preparing the afternoon feast with slow deliberation. Outside, fires were dim, and the hell money burned for good fortune carried their magic into the aether. Knives cut with wet sounds, cleavers struck Jia's beautiful legs and severed joints, and meat hammers tenderized the boy's belly muscles into long, flat strips to be fried with vegetables joining the dishes. None took another glance at the other meats in other hooks and shelves: pork sides, chickens, and the headless, gutted carcass of an overweight, brown-skinned Asian woman hanging by her feet, arms dangling unrestrained. Human meat was a mere culinary ingredient in that society: no one asked how the woman ended up dead in the freezer to be served later, they knew better not to.

"Pass the soy sauce please."
"You think they'll choose Yu-Xi as the new Big Sister?"
"I don't know, I'm just a cook. Get me the deboning knife will you? Girl's legs are beautiful but meat is clinging to the calves."
"I'm planning to take the kids to Hong Kong this summer..."
"Fang is expecting a baby, have you heard?"
"My son's grades fell this year, maybe we should threaten him with this..."
"Careful he doesn't want it!"
"Nah, I have two more."
Women laughed out loud at the last part.

Cooks happily chatted as they worked, used to process human meat as a culinary delicacy, grinding pepper, and mashing persimmons to sweeten the meat. Slices were stir-fried, stewed, soft thigh meat cooked in mouth-watering, sauce-rich bits, to be poured on rice bowls. Cutting and smashing, boiling and frying, pots and trays began filling with steaming piles of delicate meals.

Back in the dining room, the remaining visitors, Yu-Xi and Jun knelt at the low table, everyone having not eaten for a day. Polite waitresses began wheeling the trays full of delicious, hearty dishes, laying out the food in generous portions: steaks, soft sauce-rich human meat chunks on rice, the boy and Jia's blessed, sacrificed meat to be eaten in respect to their offering. One by one, the visitors slowly tucked into the food: small rice bowls with bits of seasoned meat, stews, small medallions of "pork", (read: human meat), and many various Chinese dishes with "human" replacing the animal meat. Jia's beautiful belly was served in soy sauce, sugar, and spices, braised and cooked to perfection, with the crispy, beautiful skin adding a delicious aftertaste. Knives worked, eager mouths bit into the dishes, chopsticks squeezed beautiful strips of meat taken from both youths. Twice-cooked Hui Guo Rou, stir-fried with peppers and garlic after being boiled first was particularly enjoyed, the "meat" being the boy's own belly meat, cut from his lifeless body with the skin on.

The pork meals Indigenous to China were perfectly replicated, merely with human meat where pork was used. Specialties like tea-smoked pork ribs were present: except it was made with Jia's ribs, smoked over tea leaves for a unique aroma, and cooked to perfection. Some offal-made meals were even replicated for the feast: stir-fried "pork" intestines with chili and Sichuan peppercorns were present, as well as the boy's ribs braised in sweet, fragrant sauces. Many other cuts, tiny stew bowls together with rice, hands, and feet treated like pig's feet were present as well. Most body parts were cut into tiny cubes, "pork" chops in sweet and tangy sauces, to be eaten with rice, alone, or vegetable stir-fries.

Yu-Xi waved her hand to the table, and the guests tucked in with respect.

The people, from businessmen to businesswomen ate with deliberate slowness, silence, and reverence. This was a meal to celebrate life and honor the passing of their boss, lady, and leader, not a feast of celebration of earthly desires.

But that didn't mean human meat wasn't meant for culinary joy. Every bite of the two sacrifical youths was to be honored, enjoyed, and eaten with respect. Waitresses bowed, set the dishes, and started distributing the food to each person present, and set up larger pots for people to distribute amongst each other. Soon, small rice bowls were topped with fragrant parts of human meat prepared in the finest sauces, pickled vegetables and human slices carved from two young virgins were mixed in small plates and devoured, and ribs from both people were distributed, one rib for each visitor. Jun had to admit, the boy's thigh meat and rib were particularly sweet and tender. Not a big eater, she enjoyed the meal nonetheless, rolling her eyes when male visitors particularly enjoyed Jia's body parts prepared in sauces according to her gender.

As the people started eating, quiet small talk began: business, succession, family...the like.

"Da jie," Jun politely swallowed the rice with the boy's soft parts topped on the bowl. "I would like to request permission for a pet project."

"What is it?" Yu-Xi softly chewed the lovely bit of meat squeezed between chopsticks, meat seasoned to perfection with sweet sauce.

"Chairwoman of Dalian State Steel prepares a funeral for her mother, who is expectant in the hospital. It's a matter of time. She offered at least a hundred thousand dollars up front if I could procure a similar gift for the event. A male, preferably European like our beloved friend, maybe a girl to complete the balance of the necessary act, same price." She spoke in euphemisms, not out of secrecy but out of respect for the sacred lunch table where they honored the dead. "Plus the favors will be immense if we can have the company working with us. The chairwoman is an honorable sort and would want nothing but to host the couple's act as mercifully as possible if not celebrating both and generously rewarding them before everything is done."

It was a long string of euphemisms for: "I need two young people as human sacrifices to another rich funeral, can I seduce a boy over the internet utilizing fetish content and appealing to his raging horniness?"

Yu-Xi thought as she swallowed the delicious meat, braised and spiced to perfection, giving the soft virgin flesh a most tender, delicate texture and heavenly taste. Considering a moment, she nodded sagely. "Do you have someone for the first part in mind? Then you have my blessing."

Jun nodded, sipping a small shot of rice wine, blessed for the event. "The boy dropped me a name. Hackers say he is...a prospective boy of similar interests and age. Plus, our Korean serving girl, that..." She thought about the prospect, exhaling and holding her nose, eyes closed in thought. "...chef's assistant from the catering company had an immense fascination with the funeral, and couldn't stop asking with excitement. She wasn't disgusted but intrigued. I will consider asking her as well..."

"Go ahead, and have my blessing." Yu-Xi took a small plate of pork buns, full of fragrant mince made from Jia's buttocks, and the boy's shoulder meat. "If everyone present is willing, we should be gracious hosts for our traditions. Make him feel honored and loved, though..." She took a bite, closing her eyes in joy as the bun tore in two in a bite. "...I wish I knew our young man more other than his delicious flesh gracing our table..." She sighed, swallowing.

"It was his wish. I'm sure he enjoyed it until the very end...And he is now together with Jia and your honored mother."

They nodded together, sharing a tiny cup of rice wine and clinking it.

"They honored us and our house." Yu-Xi swallowed. "You may proceed with enticing people. Make sure both are at least semi-willing, it would be very ill of us to stoop to force. And avoid commercializing this quirk of our culture." She went on. "It would open many avenues that would cause our downfall and bring the wrath of people on us. If you have to, keep it as private as possible with a profit margin. There will likely only be enough volunteers for our rites to keep the bare minimum of old traditions. There will be a shrine for Nuwa in Inner Mongolia soon. The shaman wanted a... similar arrangement. "

"Your wisdom matches your mother, big sister..." Jun smiled, eating some of the boy's "pork" chops with a graceful hold of her chopsticks, holding her chin as she chewed and swallowed.

The meal went quietly, respectfully, with hushed whispers and paper lamps floating into the horizon in remembrance of the spirits passing for the event. Everything went in order, just as it should have been. No slurping, smacking, or loud noises were present, whispers, subdued eating, and sighs of happiness. The funeral was over, and now the living honored the dead, sharing the earth's bounty with them in silent, reverent communion. Within three hours, the last of the visitors bid goodbye to the heir apparent of the crime family, and as the last SUV left the compound, Yu-Xi could finally rest, and plan for her succession.

Next week, Jun had put two little memorial stones with careful calligraphy in the gardens, carefully inscribed: two souls willingly offered, they would bring much fortune to the house and the society for years to come. Already a few lieutenants had spoken to her about the samples she had taken, the boy would have his offspring as children in the triad. She burnt a few sticks of incense stuck to the earth before the stones, bowing before the stones in gratitude.

That was not the end of this business: there were many esteemed people needing graves, and old ways were not completely forgotten.