Summer clothing is worn thin, and I felt those fingers were slender and cold, like a woman’s. I instinctively shuddered, and before I could react, my entire body had darted behind Han Sha.
“Um…”
When I poked my head out from behind the Daoist, I discovered it was actually a girl a head shorter than me. I didn’t know when she had arrived—she had absolutely no presence, sitting in a corner position, which is why neither Han Sha nor I had noticed her.
Surprisingly, the girl was very pretty, with both a face and figure, though her clothes were extremely dark and somber.
The pitiful thing about being attracted to looks is this: once the other party’s appearance passes muster, even if she’s a female ghost I’d still think we could be friends. Seeing her timid appearance now, I immediately forgot everything that had just happened on the second floor and went forward to chat with her: “You are?”
The girl came up and shook hands with me: “My name is Song Nanshi, I’m here for the interview… You said professionally qualified—I used to do mortuary cosmetology. Would that work?”
I opened my mouth, looking down at that clean, pale hand, thinking about how this hand usually worked on sewing up corpses. “No way” was already on the tip of my tongue, but meeting the girl’s naturally beautiful eyes that barely needed makeup, when I opened my mouth, the words automatically changed to:
“Besides that professional qualification, do you have any other skills that would suit a dessert shop?”
The girl blinked, thought for a moment, then suddenly took off her bag. On it were several ceramic figurines resembling sunny-day dolls, snow-white but each with different clothes and expressions, chubby and looking very cute.
The girl said: “I can’t make desserts, but I like to paint these for practice in my spare time. Would that work?”
Practice…
My scalp went numb, and I nearly dropped the doll on the ground. Before I could offer any evaluation, two more knocks came from the door, and a fairly tall male student poked his head in: “Boss, are you hiring here?”
Who could have imagined that such an unreliable job posting could actually attract people, and all of them attractive with good builds? My heart couldn’t help but turn cold: “You’re not also connected to the funeral industry somehow… your family runs a crematorium?”
The male student shook his head: “No, my name is He Jian. I just graduated this year and don’t have work experience, so I thought I’d try my luck. Boss, do you think someone like me would work?”
I was speechless. Contemporary college students dared to come to this kind of job posting—their horoscopes must be really strong. I asked again: “Why would a proper college student want to work at my place?”
He had already walked in as he spoke, scratching his head embarrassedly: “Boss, it’s not like you’re doing anything improper here. My family situation is special—I want to stay local in Yu Jiang but can’t work overtime, so I couldn’t take any of my previous offers.”
“Can’t work overtime?”
“My dad had an accident before and can’t move his lower body. My mom’s health isn’t great from taking care of him, and she doesn’t sleep well at night. If I come home late, I’ll disturb their rest, but renting outside is too expensive… I want to visit them often while saving money to help support the family, so when I saw you offered meals and accommodation, I came.”
The male student definitely benefited from his looks, especially for someone like me who’s attracted to appearance. With that kind of pure college student baby face, saying these things made it hard not to feel sympathetic. But this was my last time opening a shop after all—I couldn’t be lenient in hiring just because I wanted to play the father figure. I asked: “So how do you think you meet the hiring standards?”
The male student said without blinking: “When I was little, my dad and I were in that accident together, but I’m standing here fine now. Everyone says my fate is incredibly strong. Don’t you think so, boss?”
I opened my mouth but couldn’t speak.
I suppose even someone who’d killed fish at RT-Mart for ten years would find it hard to be heartless facing such a face saying such things. I consoled myself—this was what Bai Liu had said before, to find good-looking young men and women who could attract customers externally and suppress female ghosts internally. Looking at them would be pleasing to the eye, so it wouldn’t be a loss overall.
At this moment, I was deeply reflecting on the undeniable fact that I was attracted to looks. Just as I was thinking of hiring both of them with a wave of my hand, as if he could read minds, the Daoist suddenly interjected coldly: “This house is too sinister and evil. Are you sure you want to continue hiring people to open a shop with it?”
Obviously, he was reminding me at just the right time about what had just happened. I had to put aside the other two people first and ask: “What exactly was upstairs?”
The Daoist said calmly: “Should be a woman who died from bleeding. If I had stayed in there, I would have bled non-stop like her too. If you had gone in just now, the situation would have been worse.”
Thinking of the tenant who committed suicide three months ago, I felt a chill shoot up my spine: “You saw her?”
The Daoist nodded: “I saw her when I first arrived. She was standing at the stairway. Lucky you slept downstairs last night, otherwise you might have suddenly died by bodily explosion in your sleep.”
“Bodily explosion?”
Song Nanshi, who hadn’t spoken until now, suddenly interjected: “That kind of situation is very rare. I’ve only heard my master mention it before, but that was from being blown to pieces—very hard to fix, can only barely piece together.”
“…”
Was this the destruction of humanity or the downfall of morality, that could make your 37-degree mouth speak such cold words?
Thinking that just last night when I was passed out drunk on the first floor, behind the frosted glass on the second floor was such a bloody face coldly staring at me, I couldn’t help but shudder again and ask: “So you said she left—where did she go? Will she come back?”
“Don’t know.” Han Sha shook his head wearily. “Living people stimulate them. With more people, the situation gets worse. She’s gone now, but that doesn’t mean she won’t return in the future. This house’s situation is more serious than I thought.”
Hearing this, even a materialist iron-blooded warrior would have liver tremors. Who could have thought this house would be so difficult to deal with? I could only place my hopes on the Lin Zhengying before me: “Is there a way to cure it completely? People really did die here before—that’s why I required strong horoscopes in the job posting.”
Han Sha frowned and thought for a while, then said with difficulty: “So you really provide meals and accommodation?”
I was shocked: “So you’re still talking to me about the interview now?”
Han Sha nodded matter-of-factly: “Normally, having me do this kind of work costs money too. Your house has big problems. Wouldn’t hiring me as long-term staff be more cost-effective for you? Or would you rather find me every time there’s a problem?”
He spoke seriously, and at first glance it even sounded reasonable. However, I’d been scammed too many times—I immediately heard that this Daoist was wholeheartedly trying to find a job at my place. I decided to test his abilities further.
I asked deliberately: “How do I know your professional level? I haven’t studied Daoism, and you can’t perform a five-thunder strike in front of me. If I keep you and this house’s problems never get better, can I give you a bad review?”
Hearing this, Han Sha was slightly stunned, then nodded knowingly without changing expression: “True, our industry doesn’t have Dianping reviews. I might not be able to solve your house’s problems, but what I can’t solve, my colleagues couldn’t do either. If you want to see my professional level, let me read your physiognomy instead.”
“Huh?” I was dumbfounded.
But the Daoist’s hands had already come up. His hands were large with strong fingers—good hands for kneading gluten.
Han Sha felt along my eyebrows down the bone structure. When he reached the sides of my nose, I smelled a faint medicinal scent on his fingertips.
The Daoist pondered for a moment, then said with certainty: “Your mother died early, you don’t get along with your father, and there should be another woman in your family—intelligent and wealthy, divorced once… If she’s not your wife, then she’s your older or younger sister.”
Why don’t you just report Bai Liu’s ID number directly!
I was dumbstruck and couldn’t help asking: “How did you figure all this out?”
Han Sha glanced at me: “If I told you, wouldn’t you be able to make money off me?”
I was speechless, so he continued feeling my chin, using one hand to turn my face this way and that, like he was molesting an innocent. Finally, the Daoist suddenly made a puzzled sound and said strangely: “Why do you insist on buying this haunted house to open a dessert shop? With your fate pattern, if you did business related to chili peppers, it should be more…”
“Alright, stop reading!”
My brain heated up, and I quickly broke free from Han Sha’s hands, rubbing my face and saying, “Okay, okay, I know you’re capable. What follows is personal privacy territory. I usually only keep my social media visible for three days—don’t get handsy with me in the future.”
Although I didn’t know how he figured it out, this wasn’t something I hoped would come to light. I couldn’t help but regret this performance. Obviously, keeping a Daoist in the shop wouldn’t be bad for me—even if he was useless, he could serve as atmospheric support for the haunted house, which would be enough for me.
I sighed: “This shop is very important to me. If you can help me…”
Before I finished speaking, footsteps came from the stairs again. That handsome guy who came for the interview came downstairs swinging his hands. Seeing the three of us looking up in unison, he couldn’t help but freeze, then became sheepish: “I drank too much water this morning and borrowed the restroom. Boss, that’s okay, right?”
Only then did I belatedly realize this kid had quietly run upstairs to use the bathroom. Seeing He Jian’s hands were all wet, my blood pressure spiked instantly. I stared and said: “You opened the upstairs bathroom door?”
He Jian looked confused: “Wasn’t there no one inside anyway?”
I gasped, thinking this wasn’t just a strong horoscope—this was straight-up horror movie protagonist constitution, specifically going wherever he shouldn’t. The Daoist had already rushed up and grabbed the handsome guy, examining him front, back, left and right, asking: “You don’t have anywhere bleeding, do you?”
The young man’s face reddened: “I’m still young, I don’t have that kind of problem.”
The Daoist asked again: “Did you see anything?”
The young man looked completely puzzled: “Just… the restroom was a bit dark. Bro, were you bleeding from the nose up there just now? I saw it—you bled quite artistically in the bathtub.”
But Han Sha was as if facing a great enemy, relentlessly grabbing him with the attitude of someone about to leave: “It could also be internal bleeding. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
So He Jian patted himself all over but still shook his head: “I don’t feel uncomfortable anywhere. I just feel like I can finally find a job this time—my heart’s beating pretty fast.”
During the standoff, Song Nanshi walked over. She carefully examined He Jian’s face, which immediately made him stiffen. This really couldn’t be blamed on He Jian—after all, this girl looked at people differently from any other girl I’d seen. She got impossibly close, not just breaking social safety distance but practically pressing against his nose to count his eyelashes.
“There should be no internal bleeding.”
Song Nanshi made her judgment after looking for a full minute: “Facial capillaries are very full. Even if there is bleeding, it’s not serious and won’t be fatal.”
Only then did I realize this girl’s profession was applying makeup to the dead—she was most familiar with people’s complexions. Of course, even if she got close to dead people, they wouldn’t dodge either.
Of course, He Jian didn’t know Song Nanshi’s profession. He immediately stepped back several paces, his face flushed red, stammering: “Wha-what’s going on? I really don’t have that kind of problem! Besides, do you have such high physical requirements for employees here?”
“So that’s how it is.”
The Daoist who had been observing He Jian suddenly understood. He nodded to himself and asked: “This young brother, are you a virgin?”