Chapter Thirteen The Old Lady

  "Ah!" I was startled and shrank back, falling under the bed.

  I struggled to get up, but the ground was covered with puddles of water, sticky and slippery. I fell several times, so I gave up and curled up in a ball in the corner of the wall.

  It was only then that I noticed Wang Kun, like an old monk in meditation, hugging his laptop on the bed next door, staring intently at the screen. I tried calling out to him, but he didn't react at all.

  "Stop, don't come any closer..." I shouted hysterically, my whole body trembling.

  The female ghost's dark face suddenly became swollen, her mouth wide open, a long tongue sticking out, and a pair of bulging eyeballs seemed to be staring at me.

  Her mouth opened and closed as if she was saying something, making a "uu" sound. I shuddered all over, this sound was exactly the same as the woman's crying voice in my dream.

  But she didn't seem to have any intention of harming me, standing quietly by my bedside, not pouncing on me. I don't know if it was just my imagination, but her eyes seemed to hold a hint of pleading.

  "Pffft!"

  A faint sound, the female ghost's swollen face suddenly burst! Flesh and mucus splattered everywhere, even onto my face. I quickly wiped my face with my hand, the stench was so overwhelming that I almost fainted.

  Looking at the female ghost again, I was shocked to find that her face was exactly the same as the corpse I had fished out of the river, highly rotten and with all five senses turned into several black holes, and the eyeballs had long since disappeared.

  She lost her lips, but her mouth was still opening and closing, with the two rows of teeth colliding, making a "clicking" sound. Then, she stretched out her own rotten hand that had little flesh left, pointing at me, and the frequency of her mouth's opening and closing became faster and faster.

  "Sister, don't bother me anymore, I'll definitely go back and burn paper for you."

  The female ghost immediately became quiet, and I let out a sigh of relief. Since she didn't really want to harm me, that's good. In rural areas, there is a saying that some ghosts who died without anyone burning paper money for them will have a miserable time in the afterlife, so they will pester others for money.

  I guess this female ghost also wants money, thinking about it makes sense, she was drowned in the river and didn't even have anyone to collect her body, definitely no one burned paper for her.

  I'm really cursed, I just got rid of the vengeful spirit and now I've been haunted by a drowned ghost. For a moment, I wavered and thought that Ren Binghua's previous words might be true, am I destined to be surrounded by hundreds of ghosts?

  If it's really like that, I'm even more pitiful than Tang Seng. He only had 81 difficulties, but I have 19 more than him.

  But the situation seems to be a bit off, Ren Binghua also said that as long as I'm a virgin, I won't be haunted by ghosts. Alright, I admit that sometimes I get impatient and take care of it manually, but does that count as losing my innocence?

  "Sister, hurry up and leave, I'm scared. Tomorrow, tomorrow I'll go burn incense for you, I guarantee you'll have money to spend." I begged with a bitter face.

  I don't know which sentence was wrong, the female ghost suddenly became excited again, her two hands wildly grasped and danced, her mouth also kept opening and closing, and a "woo woo" sound came from her throat.

  I almost cried, and quickly changed my tone: "I know you're in a hurry, so how about I go burn some paper for you later? You can leave now, and I'll immediately go buy hell notes... no, yellow spirit money!"

  "Waaa... save me, I don't want to drown in water, save me..." The female ghost shouted loudly and suddenly rushed towards me.

  I subconsciously wanted to dodge, "Bang" a sound, my head didn't know where it hit. I was so scared that I shouted loudly: "Don't want to, don't kill me, I'll burn paper for you..."

  "Slap!" My face was suddenly slapped.

  As I opened my eyes, I saw Wang Kun had already raised his hand, ready to give me a second slap. Damn it, when did this dead fatso come over? Was he possessed by the female ghost?

  I don't know where the strength came from, but I kicked him hard in the crotch. Wang Kun immediately arched his waist like a shrimp and fell to the ground, wailing like a slaughtered pig.

  "Damn it! I was trying to save you and you kick me!" Wang Kun glared at me with resentment.

  I know this feeling, last time the vengeful spirit possessed me, I took a kitchen knife to chop Wang Kun, and I also thought I was saving him. Done, this guy must have been possessed by a female ghost.

  I quickly got up and kicked him hard, he was cursing loudly at first, but finally yelled miserably: "The sun is high at noon, the Jade Emperor is dry with the Queen Mother! You damn well stop it!"

  Damn it, wasn't he possessed by the female ghost? I stopped and retreated a few steps. Wang Kun rolled on the ground for a while before finally managing to crawl up with difficulty.

  "Jealous, you're just jealous that my baby is bigger than yours, and you actually kicked my baby! Wu Tian, you beast, I'm going to fight you to the death!" Just as he got up, Wang Kun came charging at me like a madman.

  I lifted my foot again, and Wang Kun was so scared that his whole body shook. He immediately covered his crotch with his hand: "Alright, alright Wu Tian, I slapped you earlier, and you've already retaliated. Honestly, I really wanted to save you. Earlier when you were sleeping, you were shouting loudly, probably because of a nightmare. If I hadn't slapped you, who knows if you would have woken up!"

  Is that so? I took a look and there's no water on the ground at all, it seems like the female ghost never appeared. Was the scene just now just a dream?

  Wang Kun grumbled and complained for a long time, saying that I fell asleep again earlier. He thought I was too tired, so he didn't wake me up. Unexpectedly, while I was sleeping, I was tossing and turning on the bed, and my mouth was still talking nonsense.

  At that time, Wang Kun was also scared silly. Finally, after I made too big a move and fell to the ground, he rushed over and gave me a slap in the face, which led to the scene just now.

  I know Wang Kun's temper, he doesn't seem to be telling lies. But that dream was really scary, who knows if the female ghost is real or not?

  I took a look at the watch and it was already past 9 o'clock. I remembered that when I woke up earlier, it was around 7:00, which means I slept for almost two hours again.

  I knew I was in the wrong, so I coaxed Wang Kun for a few sentences and he finally agreed to go out to dinner with me. If he got angry, I wouldn't even have money for food.

  "Fatty, you said that female ghost is real or fake?" I was still entangled in this question during dinner.

  I just told Wang Kun the dream I had, and he grunted a few times without making any comment. But I feel uneasy in my heart and want him to help me come up with some ideas.

  Wang Kun raised his head, still holding a piece of chicken in his mouth, and said vaguely: "It's better to believe it exists..."

  "Alright, don't eat yet, let's discuss this properly. Later, I'll give you all the meat from this big plate of chicken, and I'll just have the potatoes, okay?" I sighed slightly impatiently.

  After Wang Kun swallowed the chicken in his mouth, he immediately regained his energy: "Bullshit, I paid for both the meal and the money. It's only natural that I eat meat and you eat potatoes! This matter, it's better to believe it exists than to take a risk. Wait a minute, I'll give you some money, hurry up and go burn incense."

  I also know the principle of believing in its existence rather than its non-existence. However, after finishing dinner it was already past 10 o'clock, and waiting for me to burn paper by the river would be freaking midnight.

  By the river, I have a shadow and don't dare to go alone. Let Wang Kun accompany me, he is also unwilling, this bastard followed Ren Binghua's ass last night to get close to her, without any complaints.

  Today I asked him to go with me, but he refused, saying he was afraid. In the end, I had no choice but to decide to go again tomorrow, in broad daylight, when my heart will be more at ease.

  After dinner, Wang Kun generously gave me 100 yuan and asked me to buy some yellow paper money. Since we decided to burn it, let's burn the good stuff.

  It's not that the colorful underworld money is bad, it's just that when I went to burn paper for my grandmother before, my mom said those things are worthless in the netherworld, and only yellow spirit money is valuable, it's hard currency.

  I think those hell notes are probably equivalent to Korean or Japanese currency, and the hundred-yuan large denomination printed on yellow paper is more like soft sister money, which is more practical.

  There is only one store on Flower Street that sells these things, and it's often open even at midnight. Sometimes when I go out to buy a late-night snack after 12 o'clock, the door is still open.

  The shop owner was an old toothless woman who didn't smile or talk much, and looked quite scary. When she knew I wanted to buy yellow paper, she seemed very happy.

  "Nowadays, young people rarely know how to burn yellow paper. Buying those useless spirit money is simply going to starve our ancestors to death, it's really unfilial!" The old lady kept grumbling.

  I couldn't help but smile, this nagging power is almost the same as my grandmother's. When my grandmother was still alive, she would often hold my hand and tell me stories that I had heard countless times before.

  She was just telling me that when she married my grandfather back then, the family had a lot of money. Later on, my grandfather became mentally unstable and didn't work, so it was all up to her to take care of the household. In the end, she scolded my father for being heartless and ruthless, abandoning such a big family without even leaving a message.

  After handing over the money and taking the yellow paper, I turned to leave. The old woman suddenly grabbed my hand and stared at me with a dim gaze.

  I felt a bit bewildered and also a little scared, so I asked weakly: "What's wrong? The money I gave you is real, and you didn't make any mistakes with the change either?"

  "That woman is following you, don't drag it out, hurry up and go burn the paper!" The old lady suddenly blurted out.

  A chill ran down my back, instantly making me cold all over. I shakily turned around, but saw nothing.

  "When walking at night, never look back! Go, go, burn paper during the day, she can't receive it anyway and will only be jealous of you!" The old lady said this after releasing my hand.

  Her expression seemed to turn very desolate, no longer looking at me, sitting on the chair in the store, muttering in a very weak voice: "There are not many young people like this, unfortunately, it's all fate..."

  I stood there in a daze, feeling a bit at a loss. Suddenly, I felt a chill on my shoulder, as if someone had placed their hand on it. After hearing the old woman's words, I didn't dare turn around to look.

  The old woman who had closed her eyes suddenly stood up, glared with wide eyes, and scolded loudly: "Shameless thing, get out quickly, cheap woman, even if you're dead, you won't stop!"