Chapter Fourteen: Burning Paper and Sending Money

  Suddenly bursting old lady, a bit too fierce and not quite like words, I'm a little bewildered, is she scolding me or scolding the female ghost? Can she really see the female ghost following behind me?

  However, after the old lady scolded those few sentences, the hand that was placed on my shoulder seemed to have disappeared, and the cool feeling all over my body also dissipated.

  Wang Kun rushed in from outside and shouted: "What's going on? Why are you scolding again?"

  The old woman didn't even give him a glance, and lazily sat down in the chair, muttering something to herself. Wang Kun wanted to say something else, but I pulled him back and signaled with my eyes for him not to speak nonsense.

  This old woman looked a bit dazed, but she was probably the legendary hermit. I took a deep breath and prepared to ask for her advice with great respect, wondering what I should do next.

  "Mother-in-law..."

  She hadn't even finished speaking when she waved her hand: "Hurry up and leave, don't disturb me. This time was still uneventful, but next time, who knows?"

  As soon as she finished speaking, the lights in the store suddenly dimmed for a moment, and when they lit up again, the old woman had vanished without a trace, along with the chair she was sitting on.

  "Grandma, don't go! At least tell me what to do!" I shouted, looking around in all directions.

  She didn't respond. Wang Kun's expression was tense, he pulled at my clothes and urged in a low voice: "Let's go quickly, that old woman is too sinister."

  I was somewhat reluctantly pulled out by Wang Kun, and when I walked out of the store door, I looked back and saw that the old woman had appeared again, still sitting in the chair with her eyes closed.

  "Don't pull me, that old lady is a superior person, I'm still relying on her to save me." I shook off Wang Kun's hand and rushed into the small shop.

  Wang Kun hugged my waist and persuaded: "Everyone has left, what are you going to do? Didn't she say, let's not go disturb her."

  In just a blink of an eye, when I looked back at the small shop, there was no one inside. I rubbed my eyes again, still no one, had I just seen things?

  I followed Wang Kun with a heavy heart, heading towards the rental house. Halfway there, I stopped: "Fatty, come with me to burn paper by the river. That old woman just said that the female ghost is still following me, we need to hurry up and burn some paper."

  Wang Kun hesitated for a moment and stammered: "Let's go tomorrow instead, going to the riverbank at this late hour is just asking for trouble."

  I know he's scared, I'm also scared to death. But after hearing the old woman's words, I worry that if we don't burn paper tonight, the female ghost won't let me off.

  "Never mind, I'll go myself. If something really happens, at least there will be someone to collect my body." I sighed.

  Wang Kun saw that I wasn't joking, and anxiously said: "Don't go, if you really want to go... then I'll accompany you. The two of us can look out for each other. If I go back to sleep alone, I won't be able to sleep soundly."

  This guy is indeed capable of such things. Although he's not very reliable in daily life, at critical moments, he generally won't let you down. But I'm speaking from the heart and not forcing him to follow me.

  We two go together, although we can encourage each other, but if something really happens, it's basically meaningless, and nine out of ten times, neither of us will be able to escape.

  "Alright, don't persuade me anymore, I'll go myself. Your phone is always on, if something happens, I'll give you a call." After saying that, I turned around and left with a carefree attitude.

  At this time, a sentence popped up in my mind: The wind is sighing and the water of Yi River is cold. A brave warrior leaves and never comes back. Bah! What am I thinking about? I'm not even married yet, how can I die so easily?

  "Wu Tian, don't be impulsive, let's discuss it again." Wang Kun rushed over and grabbed me.

  There's nothing much to discuss about this matter, Wang Kun advised me to call Ren Binghua, I'm unwilling to do so, not sure if it's because of my self-esteem or worrying that Ren Binghua's illness hasn't recovered.

  Finally, the fatty patted his forehead, with a look of sudden realization: "Why do we need to go to the riverbank to burn paper? Can't we just burn it here? Anyway, she's just a lonely ghost, without even a grave, so it doesn't matter where we burn it."

  I stared at him blankly, yeah, why didn't I think of that? I had only heard of burning paper at the tomb or where someone died, because the deceased's spirit might linger there.

  Now following this female ghost, she hasn't been buried yet, and the corpse doesn't even know where it came from, it's not necessarily dead in the place we found her.

  What's more important is that the old lady just said it, she was still following me, so I directly burned it for her. Hurry up and take the money to leave, don't bother me anymore.

  I excitedly punched Wang Kun's chest: "Fatty, I didn't expect that your brain would be so useful!"

  Wang Kun glared at me: "Do you want to knock me dead? When did I become brain-dead?"

  I'm too lazy to bother with him, the punch I threw earlier didn't even use any strength, it was like scratching an itch for him, but he's still pretending to be seriously hurt, dramatically rubbing his ample chest.

  The two of us found a relatively quiet alley, first used a hundred yuan to print the yellow paper money, and then drew a circle on the ground and burned the paper inside. The purpose of drawing this circle is to prevent other ghosts from taking away our "money", so that the female ghost can take away all the money we burned for her.

  "Sister, we don't have any grudges against each other, so why bother me? Just take the money and leave quickly, buy whatever you want. I'm just a poor wretch, why must you make things difficult for me..." I muttered to myself as I squatted on the ground.

  These are all learned from my dad, when I was a kid, he took me to burn paper for our ancestors, it's this process, and just like that, chatting with my great-grandfather and great-grandmother, they say the other side can hear.

  Later, my dad left home and never came back. When it was time to visit the tomb again, it became a matter for me alone. As a woman, I shouldn't be visiting the tomb, and my grandfather's mind wasn't working well either. Generally, I would go to the cemetery alone to burn incense paper, and I was already very familiar with the process.

  Wang Kun didn't come over, standing far away, smoking a cigarette, occasionally turning his head to glance at me. This matter had nothing to do with him in the first place, and I didn't want the female ghost to bother him again either.

  When it was burned halfway, a gust of wind suddenly blew by, and the fire almost went out. I quickly used the remaining yellow paper to block the wind, afraid that the wind would blow the burning yellow paper out of the circle.

  The surrounding light suddenly dimmed a lot, the temperature dropped sharply, and the sound of "drip drip" water also suddenly appeared beside my ear. All these changes are telling me that the female ghost has arrived!

  I couldn't help but shudder, and when I looked up, the female ghost's figure was already standing in front of me!

  Her body had been dripping with water, and a large area of the ground was wet. To be precise, it wasn't water, but rather the mucus produced by her rotting flesh.

  The familiar stench once again filled my nostrils, and I was afraid of provoking her, so I didn't dare to cover my nose with my hand. I could only secretly hold my breath and pretend to be nonchalant.

  The female ghost this time did not turn into a terrifying appearance, but looked pale and stared straight at the fire.

  I struggled to suppress the fear in my heart, my voice trembling: "Big sister, I've already burned the paper, please spare me..."

  The female ghost didn't make a sound, standing quietly there. To be honest, her face looked quite good-looking this way. If she were still alive, she should have been a beauty.

  After I burned all the yellow paper, she suddenly bent down and scared me so much that I almost fell to the ground in a sorry state.

  However, she didn't rush over, but instead bent down to pick up the money. I took advantage of the opportunity to shrink back a bit and slowly got up, preparing to sneak away so that after she picked up the money, she wouldn't turn around and deny knowing me.

  "Ah......"

  I had just turned around when the female ghost shouted and grabbed one of my feet. I lost my balance and fell to the ground with a thud, struggling desperately. I had already burned paper money for her, why wouldn't she let me go?

  In the midst of panic, I saw the female ghost's face turn very unsightly, her other hand constantly clawing at the ground but grasping nothing.

  She finally gave up and glared at me with a furious expression: "You... deceived me?"

  Heaven and earth are my witnesses, how dare I cheat her? The yellow paper money I bought is the best, and everything was done step by step. As for why she didn't receive the money, I don't know where the leak occurred either.

  Do I have to go to the riverbank to burn paper? Or should I go to the police station, find her body and burn it directly beside the body?

  Her hands grew stronger and stronger, tightly grasping my two legs, her fingernails deeply pinched into my flesh, bleeding all over the floor.

  Seeing the blood, the female ghost became even more frantic, holding me upside down and tossing me around. I was tossed about seven or eight times, my head also knocked against the wall, almost getting knocked out.

  "Wu Tian, hold on, I'm here to save you!"

  Wang Kun didn't know where he found a brick, and he rushed over with the brick, smashing it onto the female ghost's head. Obviously, the brick was useless, and the female ghost casually threw me to the ground, dodged the brick, and slapped Wang Kun to the ground with one palm.

  I don't know if Wang Kun was scared silly or if the female ghost used some kind of trick on him, but he lay motionless on the ground. The female ghost's hand reached straight for Wang Kun's chest.

  I rushed forward, struggling to get up and kicked the female ghost's buttocks. The female ghost stumbled, almost fell, and her hands grabbed towards Fatso's thighs.

  "Ah, damn it! It hurts so much!" Wang Kun cried out in agony.

  I let out a sigh of relief, not being killed directly was already a blessing. At this time, the female ghost suddenly looked terrified and pulled out her hands, both of which were emitting smoke, as if they had been burned to black.

  He looked down and saw that Pangu's pocket was torn, with a handful of loose change inside. Could money really harm the female ghost?

  I hastily pulled out the money I had found to buy toilet paper from my pocket and threw it at the female ghost. Sure enough, she backed away with a fearful face, her mouth still making some resentful "woo" sounds. I was delighted but also very worried, as I only had three or four more bills in my pocket, not enough to throw many times.

  "Fatty, run quickly, don't mind me, I'll stop her."

  I held the money and confronted the female ghost, but I didn't dare to get too close. She took a few steps back, but was about to step on Wang Kun.

  Wang Kun's constant painful cries, gritted his teeth and stood up, said fiercely: "We two take the money together and throw it on her body, then run separately, if we continue like this, definitely neither of us can escape."