Chapter Fourteen: The War Between Two Women
"Ugly girl! Let go of her hand!"
A hoarse voice echoed in my ears, I struggled to open my eyes and found myself once again in front of that ugly woman. She was still wearing that orange-yellow-green-blue-purple outfit, with the white scarf I had given her still wrapped around her neck.
The sound was made by another woman, who looked older than the ugly witch, but still had a decent appearance, with regular facial features and complexion, only her face was sallow, eyes dull, two yellowish eyeballs seemed to be pressed into glass balls in the eye sockets, emitting a dim, dark light, her mouth was particularly large, the corners of her mouth almost touched her earlobes.
"Mind your own business, this is my territory!" The ugly girl glared at the old woman with her shining eyes, responding rudely.
"You've broken the legal procedure, she hasn't even drunk the Meng Po's soup yet, and you're already giving her a palm reading. Don't you know this will seriously affect the efficacy of the Meng Po's soup? I think you don't take my Meng Po seriously at all! I'm going to report to King Yanluo!" The old woman didn't back down either, shouting in an even louder voice that made me wonder if her throat was torn apart like a piece of cloth. And what she said about King Yanluo made my heart skip a beat - so I was actually in hell, had I already died? And the woman in front of me was the famous Meng Po from legend?
"Hmph, be gone! Do you think you're still the fox spirit from your youth? Do you think King Yan still takes your words as sacred decrees? King Yan has long grown tired of you. Now, young and beautiful women are lined up in pairs, waiting to please him, their waists so slender, their skin so pale, they've got King Yan entranced day and night. What makes you think you're anything special? I heard that just the other day, you cleaned yourself up and offered yourself to him, but did he even give you a glance?"
"Ugly girl!" Meng Po's face suddenly turned red, and she shouted hysterically: "Don't expose the ghost's shortcoming, don't hit the ghost's face, I'm a ghost of this age, how can you say such things? Heaven and earth are witness, only I, Meng Po, am truly devoted to King Yan. Those fox spirits aren't they just coveting King Yan's supreme power? Either they want to get an oily position in the underworld or find a good family to be reborn early. Which one of them is as loyal as me? One by one, those little demons use their bodies to seduce King Yan and absorb his essence, they should all be thrown into the oil pot! ... Ugly girl, we've been together in the underworld for so many years, don't you know my reputation as a ghost? My integrity? I know that over the years, you've also done a lot of work silently, but no matter how the ghost world changes, we ghosts still have to be upright, especially since we're using King Yan's salary to do things, we should follow some professional ethics. You can't abuse your power and violate procedures just for personal gain."
"I abuse my power? Ha, Meng Po, you yourself are covered in filth and can't even clean yourself up, yet you dare to say I'm abusing my power. Don't pretend to be the embodiment of justice. What about your Meng Po soup? Do you think I'm a three-year-old ghost who's easily deceived? I've long known that your soup has no effect whatsoever, and it has nothing to do with me cutting off my hand! Don't think I don't know about the fake ingredients you put in the soup."
"What?! You're spouting nonsense! What evidence do you have? Today, you'd better make it clear to me, my lifelong reputation can't be ruined by your hands!" Meng Po was like a cornered beast, shouting in desperation, her sallow face turning the color of dead fish belly.
"If you want to know the truth, it's none other than yourself. To reduce costs and gain high profits, didn't you mix the urine of those dead people into your Meng Po soup? That new batch of dead souls that came in recently, every single one of them was disembowelled and had their bellies ripped open, not a drop of urine left inside. Wasn't it you who did this? Do you know what you've done? You've broken the laws of the underworld! Even princes are punished equally with commoners for breaking the law, let alone an outdated old female ghost like you. Meng Po, your audacity is astonishing! You made those dead people drink their own urine, can they still forget the grudges from their past lives? You're completely devoid of conscience, your heart has been devoured by the Ox-Headed and Horse-Faced Guards!"
The ugly woman's face suddenly showed a dignified and majestic expression, while Meng Po also showed a guilty look, as if she had been subdued by her. She muttered to herself and lowered her head, losing the intense and oppressive momentum she had before.
"Ugly girl, I...I also have no way out. You know the current situation, the warehouse is short of funds, and the higher-ups don't allocate money, but still want us to achieve results below. What can we use to achieve results? It's not like you're any different from me. This is a completely uninvested business. My Meng Po soup needs how much forget-me-not grass, how many herbal materials? But now the higher-ups prefer flowers over herbs, and all the herbs have been cleared out and replaced with Heaven Flowers imported from abroad. In the past, the roads were full of herbs, but now even if you search through every mountain, it's hard to find a single ghost grass. I really have no way out! I can't just watch as Meng Po soup, this world-renowned brand, is ruined in my hands. My reputation for generations will be destroyed in an instant! The effect of dead people's urine is slightly worse, but the higher-ups like grandeur and large-scale production, so they prefer big productions, big shows, and high yields. To make them happy, this is also a helpless measure."
"Hum! What makes you so happy? Don't give me that nonsense, let's get to the point. You just want to flatter the big boss, don't care about quality, only care about quantity, make him think you're great and capable, so you can continue to climb up, right? That little account in your belly, others may not know, but I do! Others may not understand you, but I know exactly how many twists and turns are in your gut!"
"Ghosts go to high places, water flows to low places. Who doesn't want to get promoted and reused? This is also the normal thinking of ghosts. I've been in the underworld for so many years, it can be said that I'm diligent and hardworking, but just because I don't have a background or money to pave the way, until now I'm still just a small ghost official, not even as high-ranking as Ox-Head and Horse-Face who are now important officials by King Yan's side. Can I be resigned to this? Is it that my ability is not enough or my level is not high? In short, ugly girl, aren't we both ghosts after all? You're also not satisfied with the current situation, always fawning on and flattering the powerful, right? I know, although your appearance is very poor, but your skill in flattering high officials is unmatched! I heard that recently you've been contacting some important officials to try to get connected with the Wang family, your ability is indeed impressive. With this face of yours, it's not easy to have mixed to today's position."
"You!"... Old Mother Meng gave the ugly girl a sharp needle that was neither soft nor hard, and the ugly girl heard her words, got so angry that she rolled her eyes, stuttered and couldn't speak.
At this time, a strange and mournful sound suddenly came from the dark and overcast horizon, like sobbing and wailing, as if the heavy clouds were pressing down on people's hearts, and also like the endless waves rolling in the moonless sky.
