Coming out of the Guan Yinli Police Station, I stood dazedly at the entrance for a while. In the hot afternoon breeze came the sound of someone selling hot and sour noodles not far away. After a moment’s hesitation, I walked over in that direction as if possessed by some ghost.

All in all, the situation wasn’t too serious. As the shop manager, I received a thorough lecture and was released. Before leaving, a police officer patted my shoulder and said meaningfully: “We at the station know about your house situation. If you’re really worried, you should trust the people’s police around you. Don’t engage in these feudal superstitions. Remember to download an anti-fraud app when you get back… You’re young, don’t become a big sucker who gets deceived.”

At 2 PM, I returned to No. 29 carrying hot and sour noodles. All the morning crowds had dispersed, and this area had once again returned to its desolate appearance where even birds wouldn’t lay eggs. Only the flower baskets set out in the morning still stood there forlornly, with the thin paper talismans on top fluttering slightly in the breeze.

Because of this morning’s opening ceremony farce, all the staff of Huangliang Yimeng were taken to the police station, which naturally included Han Sha who was performing the ritual.

In other words, this ritual that had been prepared for two days was never completed at all.

I couldn’t even manage to sigh anymore. With a heart like dead ash, I opened the door, pulled out a chair that should have been occupied by a customer, and began eating the blazingly spicy hot and sour noodles I’d just bought.

I hadn’t taken more than two bites when Song Nanshi came in from outside. I instinctively looked up, and after less than two seconds of eye contact, she frantically rushed over with tissues.

“Boss, don’t be sad! That police officer didn’t say anything harsh!”

Song Nanshi clumsily pressed tissues against my face, but her words came out strong and forceful: “They asked me why I came to work at the shop and whether I’d been deceived. I said you pay us wages, so even if it’s being deceived, you’re the one getting scammed! You’re the big sucker, not us!”

“…”

That cherry-small mouth really could say things that even ghosts couldn’t bear to hear. My brain heated up, and before I could speak, tears suddenly streamed down.

What the hell.

They say even dogs won’t eat Yu Jiang’s mandarin duck hotpot, but as a genuine Yu Jiang native, I’m such a weakling that I’d cry even eating spicy snacks as a child. In elementary school, my sister tried to toughen me up by secretly taking me to eat skewered hotpot, and the next day I ended up bedridden for half a month with gastroenteritis. After that, even someone as stubborn as Bai Liu didn’t dare let me touch any form of chili pepper.

However, when a person’s luck turns bad, even drinking cold water can get stuck in your teeth. Originally, I was eating the hot and sour noodles just to vent my frustration. Eating slowly would at most make my eyes water, but who knew this interruption would cause a mouthful of chili to go straight down my throat. I instantly burst into tears.

Failed at opening shops seven times, got reported and taken to the police station on the eighth try, and now I can’t even eat a bowl of noodles without crying like an idiot—the big sucker turned out to be me!

The more I thought about it, the more indignant and sad I became. Plus, the hot and sour noodle vendor was really too generous with the chili—he could have just given me a bowl of peppers, but he insisted on adding a little noodles to it. The more I cursed, the more I coughed; the more I coughed, the more I couldn’t stop crying. In the end, I looked like I’d just finished mourning at a funeral.

“Boss, are you really okay?”

Song Nanshi was patting my back helplessly beside me. As someone who cares about appearances, I couldn’t stand being so embarrassing in front of a beautiful woman. I immediately grabbed half a pack of tissues to cover my face, but before I could react, my shoulder sank and I fell directly into a warm embrace.

“I’m sorry, boss. I… I’m not very good with words…”

Song Nanshi hugged me very nervously. I guessed she’d probably never hugged a living person like this before—she was truly breaking new ground on me: “What I actually wanted to say just now was thank you for taking me in. I want to keep working here. Your cake really is delicious, and others will like it too after eating it.”

Because she didn’t wear makeup, Song Nanshi also had no perfume, only a faint smell of alcohol. I was slightly stunned, hazily remembering that years ago in a hospital room, there had also been someone with this scent who had hugged me.

“I really want to eat cake.”

That’s what she had said to me then.

The memory in my mind gradually became clearer. I took a gentle breath and pushed away the blushing Song Nanshi, helplessly wiping my face: “I’m fine, just choked on the spice… Could you pretend you didn’t see anything just now? I’ll treat you to cake as hush money.”

Anyway, all the inventory prepared for today’s opening couldn’t be sold. I sighed and got up to get cake.

Rather than spending money buying things I can’t eat anyway, I might as well figure out how to consume what I’ve made… The cost of this probably equals forty bowls of hot and sour noodles.

Being this poor, even fifteen yuan is precious. I cursed myself for being such a spendthrift, gritted my teeth, and placed the plate in front of Song Nanshi. Just then, Han Sha returned, carrying two huge plastic bags.

“Met a delivery guy on the road. When he heard our place was a haunted house, he didn’t dare deliver, so he gave me twelve cups of milk tea.”

After a trip to the police station, Han Sha remained calm. He leisurely picked out a red bean milk tea, inserted a straw, and handed me a note—a slip written by someone from the milk tea shop.

“Been in meetings all along. I already know what happened. Drink something sweet to calm down. I’ll investigate what went wrong later. If I find out which bastard screwed you over, I won’t let him off. —Sister.”

After reading the note, my nose immediately felt sour again, but this time I absolutely couldn’t lose face in front of Han Sha again. I vented my emotions on the milk tea, puncturing three cups at once and inhaling them like a storm. After slowly calming down, I asked: “Old Han, the police station didn’t give you trouble, did they?”

Han Sha shook his head: “At first they thought I was running a scam, but you only paid me wages without giving me extra money. Those police officers have dealt with fraud cases involving tens of thousands before. After hearing what salary you’re paying me, they figured no scammer would be as pathetic as me, so they let me go.”

At least nobody got hurt—

I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like I’d escaped disaster. But then Han Sha made some hand gestures, and his expression suddenly became grave. He looked up sharply at the ceiling, scanned around, and finally fixed his gaze on the bathroom direction.

“This is bad.”

As soon as Han Sha spoke, my big sucker radar immediately went off: “What now?”

“Don’t come upstairs yet.” Han Sha frowned and stood up, directly grabbing the peachwood sword nearby, as if facing a great enemy: “The ritual wasn’t completed, and a whole crowd of people came this morning. It’d be strange if nothing happened next.”

“You mean…”

I stared wide-eyed, thinking what kind of cursed luck this was. After a morning of chaos, I ended up in the police station, not a single customer came, but other things got excited instead. It seems the 288 yuan incense I burned was still too cheap.

Han Sha didn’t have time to explain to me. He went straight upstairs with the sword. Afterward, the second floor remained completely silent until five minutes later, when a faint sound suddenly came from the bathroom direction. When I listened carefully, I was instantly chilled to the bone.

It was actually a woman’s crying.

My hand trembled as I asked Song Nanshi sitting beside me: “Did you hear that?”

Song Nanshi nodded and said quietly: “The most common sound in funeral parlors is crying. Once when I was working late at night, I heard crying from the morgue. My master told me that next time I encounter this situation, just don’t interfere. It could be people who couldn’t come during the day secretly bribing security to sneak in, or it could be… things we shouldn’t see.”

Hearing her say this, even though it was broad daylight outside with temperatures near thirty-five degrees, cold sweat still broke out on my palms.

What was happening on the second floor?

What was the Daoist dealing with?

I couldn’t help but let my imagination run wild. Just then, Han Sha suddenly called my name from upstairs. Song Nanshi and I looked at each other, then simultaneously stood up and carefully walked toward the second floor.

The woman’s crying hadn’t stopped, coming intermittently from the deepest part of the second floor. Just as we stepped onto the last stair, the crying suddenly stopped, and I immediately heard another chilling sound.

It was an extremely heavy breathing, and it clearly belonged to someone I knew. I gasped and rushed forward two steps to the bathroom door. In the dim darkness, I saw the Daoist kneeling rigidly beside the bathtub, both hands in the tub, holding the peachwood sword in reverse grip with the tip pointing at his own throat!

“Ugh…”

Han Sha let out extremely painful groans from his throat, as if being strangled. His hands trembled constantly, cold sweat covered his forehead, and the distance between his throat and the sword tip kept shortening.

“Brother Han!”

Song Nanshi went to pull him, but as soon as her hand touched Han Sha’s clothes, she shrank back as if electrocuted. I turned on the light and discovered there were two very obvious bloody handprints on Han Sha’s black cotton shirt, right at the shoulder positions. At first glance, it looked like someone behind him was pressing down on his back, forcefully pushing him toward the sword tip.

Something was standing behind Han Sha, pushing him forward.

My heart trembled, but this clearly wasn’t the time to be afraid. Seeing the peachwood sword about to touch Han Sha’s throat, Song Nanshi and I each grabbed one side and forcefully turned Han Sha’s body around. In that instant, the deadly force seemed to suddenly disappear. Han Sha’s body went limp, the peachwood sword dropped into the bathtub with a clang, and he collapsed to the ground, gasping heavily.

“Let’s get out first!”

The bathroom had no other exit. Knowing that thing was definitely still there, I immediately pulled Han Sha up from the ground without another word. The three of us hurriedly evacuated the bathroom, then I followed the same method as before, untying the red rope from the Daoist’s hand and directly tying it to the door.

“Cough… Why did you come up?”

Han Sha caught his breath after a while and slowly recovered, helping me secure the red rope: “The situation was too dangerous just now. Even I couldn’t handle it. Fortunately, Xiao Song has a hard fate, otherwise if you had come up alone, there would have been big trouble.”

I stared at him in bewilderment: “What do you mean why did we come up? Didn’t you just call me…”

Before I finished speaking, the hair on the back of my neck suddenly stood on end.

Thinking back to Han Sha’s condition just now, how could he have called us upstairs from the stairway! And he only called my name alone!

Seeing my expression was wrong, Han Sha suddenly understood: “Did you just hear me calling you?”

My mouth opened and closed, confirming his guess. Upon seeing this, Han Sha clicked his tongue and his expression immediately turned ugly. He had us go back downstairs first, and as soon as we went down, I discovered that He Jian had also returned.

“They kept you talking for so long?”

Song Nanshi didn’t expect He Jian to be the one questioned longest by the police: “You’re just a recent college graduate. Were they worried you were being deceived?”

He Jian scratched his head awkwardly: “Yeah, they even made me download an anti-fraud app. But I already explained things for you, boss. Because this area used to have some illegitimate businesses, the police officer was worried I might go astray… But he said as long as it’s not illegal activities, they won’t interfere. He also told me the stairs here are steep, so be careful not to cause any personnel injuries…”

Before he finished speaking, He Jian seemed to suddenly notice the bloodstains on Han Sha’s clothes and his eyes widened: “No way, speak of the devil! While I wasn’t here, did you secretly have ghost incidents behind my back again?”

Young people with good kidneys and strong yang energy are just different—they’re always more excited than scared about these things. He rushed over wanting to get a closer look at the handprints on Han Sha’s clothes, but just then, someone knocked on the glass outside.

Two fashionably dressed girls poked their heads in and asked cautiously: “Boss… is the situation with you serious? Are there still cakes to eat?”