Volume 1 Chapter 2: Ghost Girl
After taking over the ghost shop for three years, I deeply understand what it is like to live a life that is not normal. Every night, we open at the beginning of Zishi (23:00) and close at the end of Choushi (3:00) in the early morning, because this period is the active period of ghosts. If we open earlier, there will be no customers. If we close later, after 3:00 in the morning, the roosters will almost crow, and it is also the time for ghosts to go back.
I got home at around 3:00, and I had to wash the blood off the ghost teeth I got, and boil them with potion for two hours before I dared to go to bed. Otherwise, after the ghost teeth leave the ghost body, they will lose their spiritual power and disappear at dawn. I boiled them into black liquid with special potion, which is the raw material of black pearls. I put them in a sealed jar, and when I have enough solution of 100 ghost teeth, I can refine them into pearls and exchange them for cash. Because this thing is of unknown origin and has been in stock for a long time, I can't sell it in the right way, and I can only find a buyer on the antique black market. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about this, my father has already left me a way.
After finishing all these things, my mother prepared breakfast for me at seven in the morning. I ate and then went to sleep. I slept until four in the afternoon and then got up to have lunch. I suspect that my father's early death was related to this abnormal life.
Today is the first day of October, Ghost Festival, which is a traditional festival. People in both the north and south will worship their ancestors on this day. Some people who cannot return to their ancestral tombs to worship often burn paper money at the crossroads where they live. It is said that there are money houses in the underworld that are responsible for receiving money and property. As long as your descendants burn and send it to you, they will give you the ghost money and items according to the registered catalog.
But it is just a folk legend after all. It is unknown whether the money houses in the underworld are so responsible, whether they take kickbacks or embezzle money. Unless you actually go to the underworld, you will understand everything.
The business in the store is not very prosperous, with an average of one or two customers every day. Today is a festival, and the ghosts will be busy collecting sacrifices, so there will probably be no customers. I hesitated whether to go or not. Finally, I thought that if I didn't go, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night anyway, so I might as well go to the store to read some books and think about some spells.
Go out through a dark alley, and then you will reach a small street. Turn east for 50 meters and you will find my shop. This was originally my old house, but later the town carried out some kind of town planning and demolished the old house, leaving only two storefronts. The door of the shop is still an old-fashioned wooden board, and there is no plaque on it, for fear that the words "ghost" would scare people. When the shop door opened, it was just a piece of wood, basically a gap of more than half a foot wide, just enough for ghosts to come in. People in the town knew that our shop was not doing an upright business, and no one dared to approach it at night.
As soon as I sat down in the store, I heard the sound of high heels outside. Every time I heard this sound, I couldn't help but feel excited. After three years, I still haven't found a partner. How can I not desire a woman? But forget about female ghosts.
A slim woman in white clothes appeared outside the door. Her face looked particularly pale under the light in the room, but her lips were red and her eyes were full of spirit.
I sneered, picked up the book from the table and started reading, ignoring her.
"Why is the door only open a crack? How can customers come in?" the woman said outside.
"If it's a ghost, it will find a way to get in." I didn't look up.
"Oh" the woman leaned sideways and just squeezed her head in.
"Why is there no sign outside? It made it so hard for me to find it." The woman rubbed and squeezed her body in pain and complained.
I still stared at the page, raised my right index finger and pointed diagonally upward behind me. There was a plaque hanging on the wall, with black words on a white background: Ghost Story Specialty Store! A line of small words in the lower right corner: No strangers allowed!
"Then I've found the right place. I've been feeling unwell lately. Give me some medicine."
"You've entered the wrong door. If you feel unwell, you should see a doctor. We don't accept strangers." I said coldly without even raising my head.
"What do you mean strangers or acquaintances? Don't you want to make money from it?" The woman was unhappy.
"The money here is like ghost money. Go away. I don't argue with women, especially women wearing high heels."
"What's wrong with wearing high heels? Are ghosts not allowed to wear high heels? Let me tell you, I'm also wearing stockings, look..." As she said this, she lifted up her long beautiful legs and was about to put them on the table.
I glanced at her and couldn't help but feel my heart pounding. I quickly waved my book to knock her legs down: "That's enough, you're not acting like a ghost, get out now."
"What's different?" She was stunned.
"The lips are too red. Ghosts don't wear lipstick."
She said "Oh", turned around and squeezed out of the door. But not long after, she came back again, this time with black lipstick on her lips. In the dim light, coupled with her pale face, my God, this is more terrifying than a real ghost.
"Hehe, it's okay this time, right? You believe I'm a ghost, right?" She grinned, and there was really a creepy feeling in her smile.
I almost fainted, looked into her eyes and said, "If a ghost had eyes as bright as yours, it would probably be able to revive itself."
"Oh, I see." She left again.
I looked up at the door and thought to myself that this woman must be a girl judging by her voice. Where is she from and why is she here making trouble in the middle of the night? Just as I was thinking about this question, I didn't expect her to come back again. I wanted to wipe off the foundation on her face and decide whether to take her out and beat her up or have sex with her after taking a look at her appearance .
"Is it like it this time? Haha, haha!" She got a pair of fake eyeballs from somewhere and put them in her eye sockets, and kept grinning foolishly.
"It will look more like it if you put away the shadow." I was both angry and amused.
"Uh..." She lowered her head and looked for a long time, and finally took off her fake eyes before she could see the shadow on the ground clearly, then turned around and squeezed out of the crack in the door.
It was totally puzzling. I just wanted to get up and close the shop door when I saw her squeeze back in again. This time she was very fast, beyond my expectation.
"Are you kidding me? How can I not look like a ghost? You shouldn't do this to torment others. You asked me to hide my shadow. Is that something a human can do? Show me how to hide it!" The girl put her hands on her hips, looking aggressive.
I almost broke out in sweat and said angrily, "I didn't ask you to pretend to be a ghost, but you insisted on making trouble. Do ghosts in your house have shadows?"
"Oh, right, ghosts shouldn't have shadows. But, there are no ghosts in our house. I've never seen one, so how do I know what a ghost looks like?"
This woman was really troublesome. I was about to kick her out when I suddenly looked behind her, my eyes lit up and I said, "Okay, then I'll show you what a real ghost looks like. Come in." I shouted the last sentence behind her.
The girl was so frightened that her whole body trembled. She turned her head tremblingly and asked in a low voice: "You...you are not trying to scare me, are you?"
"Why would I scare you? Aren't you going to pretend to be a ghost? If a ghost comes, why are you afraid?"
