Over the following week, the shop’s business became absurdly good.
Not only did all the set meals I made sell out every day, but people even started making advance reservations. Under these circumstances, Huangliang Yimeng felt like it was about to enter Yu Jiang’s top 500 restaurants at any moment. So on Sunday evening, after Han Sha finished calculating the daily revenue, I immediately ordered another kitchen mixer on the spot.
“Xiao Song, it’s time to beautify something other than corpses.”
I patted Song Nanshi’s shoulder, exhausted to half-death: “You’re meticulous in your work. Help me out from now on, and I’ll teach you how to make these few kinds of cakes in the shop.”
Song Nanshi’s eyes immediately lit up. The more I got along with her, the more I felt this girl was like a big dog – a retired corpse-detection dog at that. She said with inexplicable excitement, “Boss, will you personally teach me?”
“Is there anyone else in this shop who can teach you?”
I was in a good mood as I picked off a small bit of dishwashing foam from her hair: “There are only four of us in the shop, we can’t work in shifts, and everyone’s pretty tired. So I want to make every Monday a day off from now on. Everyone take a good rest tomorrow – those who should rest should rest, those who should go home should go home. Come back Tuesday and we’ll work hard again.”
As I spoke, I took out two gift boxes from the refrigerator – one Basque cheesecake, one fresh cream chiffon.
“Boss, how did you know I like cream?”
He Jian’s eyes went wide, finding it unbelievable that I could see through his tastes. I thought to myself that this kid frowned every time he saw customers not eating the fresh cream that came with the canelé – his preferences were written all over his face. If I couldn’t even tell that, I shouldn’t be in business.
I smiled: “This cake would sell for over two hundred yuan in the shop. Take it home to honor your parents – eight inches, enough for your family of three.”
Speaking, I handed the other Basque cheesecake to Song Nanshi. Seeing her face instantly turn red, I quickly said, “It’s very high in calories and you’re eating alone, so I didn’t dare make it very big. It didn’t take much effort either. If you like it, I’ll make it for you again next time.”
“Thank you, boss! You… you’re the best!”
Song Nanshi bowed and, clutching it like a precious treasure, directly rushed upstairs. Thinking about the situation in the second-floor bathroom, I was about to stop her, but Han Sha gave me a cool glance: “Her birth chart is as hard as reinforced concrete. It’s not at the point where you need to worry unnecessarily.”
Obviously, Han Sha’s tone wasn’t very pleasant, and he made no effort to hide the reason.
I sighed, thinking that the stereotypical impression of Daoist priests being ethereal and otherworldly was really unacceptable. The one in my shop was a true modern working cultivator, perfectly combining idealism and realism – collecting money while risking his life, and still not forgetting to fight for basic employee benefits in front of the boss.
“How could I forget you?”
I helplessly handed Han Sha the last huge box from the refrigerator: “You mentioned last time that your daughter’s health isn’t good and she can only eat light things, so I made three kinds – yogurt Basque, yogurt chiffon, cocoa banana brownies… I’ve taken care of sick people before. I know they easily get food cravings but can’t eat high-sugar, high-fat foods. Eating these can at least satisfy some cravings.”
“You…”
Han Sha looked at me with considerable surprise: “When did you…”
I said helplessly, “When else could it be? Of course I squeezed in time to make these for you all when I was busy as hell. Let the little girl try them soon and ask what she wants to eat. I’ll try to satisfy her next time.”
Regardless of anything else, the big sister hadn’t caused trouble this week. Although this was essentially thanks to my frequent red envelopes, after all, Han Sha was the one putting in the effort.
I smiled: “Go home to see your daughter tonight. Even if the little girl doesn’t usually live with you, going a week without seeing her father is unreasonable. Things have been stable here for a week – she won’t ride roughshod over me the moment you leave.”
I patted him, really unable to hold up and preparing to wash up and sleep. But then Han Sha, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly called out to me. He untied the red cord from his wrist and said solemnly, “I won’t be here tonight. Wear this for now, and don’t wander around the house at night… It’s not like the evil ghost in this house doesn’t exist just because I’ve performed rituals for a few days.”
“…”
I shivered, and my sleepiness instantly disappeared by half: “It wouldn’t just pick on me alone, would it? Has this big sister taken a fancy to me or what? I’m not the most delicate-looking among us!”
Han Sha stared at me for a moment, then said coolly, “I calculated before. Your ending up with this constitution may not necessarily be your problem – it could be your family’s problem. After all, people who deal with money often walk by the river – how could they possibly not get their shoes wet?”
Afterward, the Daoist really didn’t stand on ceremony with me. He left to see his daughter, and I looked at the red cord he left me. I didn’t know how long he’d worn it – the cord’s color had become dull, and hanging in the middle of the red cord was a copper plate with a small character “wan” written on it.
That night, because no one was performing rituals in the house, I clutched the red cord all night but still couldn’t sleep soundly.
Obviously, as long as this house’s problems weren’t solved for even one day, operating a shop here meant living in constant fear that the big sister might dance right up to my face at any moment. And to solve this problem, I could only find a way to dig up the historical reasons why No. 29 kept having frequent accidents.
Early the next morning, Han Sha hadn’t returned, and He Jian had gone home to see his parents too. Song Nanshi, as usual, was preparing to make her beloved chili sauce mixed rice for breakfast when I grabbed her and disgustedly put the chili sauce jar back in the refrigerator: “You two both like eating this – what’s so good about it? I’ll take you to eat something good.”
With just the two of us left, no matter how hard her birth chart was, I didn’t dare be careless. The two single dogs dove into a coffee shop together, ostensibly for me to treat her to morning-noon-afternoon tea, but actually to pull Song Nanshi along to research excavation posts about No. 29.
Ever since Huangliang Yimeng became popular, news that No. 29 was a haunted house spread like wildfire, and all kinds of excavation posts started flying everywhere. I’d been fattening up for a week and could finally binge-read to my heart’s content.
Song Nanshi and I divided the work and quickly found many posts of unknown authenticity. Compared to those Bai Liu had released before, these were obviously much less reliable – some people even claimed that beneath No. 29 was a mass burial ground…
Please! When I was little and my sister dragged me around everywhere, this area of Guan Yinli was filled with elderly people playing mahjong very comfortably, picking their ears and chatting. Where was all this deep water and hot fire I’m experiencing now?
After searching for a while, Song Nanshi called out to me: “Boss, look at this.”
I leaned over to look. There was an anonymous answer that said:
Young people today are really bold – one dares to open this kind of shop and others dare to go there, even making it an internet celebrity spot. Anyway, if it were me, an old native of Guan Yinli, I wouldn’t dare… That house is as evil as it gets. I personally saw the previous tenant who rented the house being carried away in a body bag. At that time, the deceased’s brother was chasing the ambulance, crying and running. Who knows how long this current one can survive. Everyone says four people died in this house before and after, but it’s actually far more than that. When it was still a residential area, there was a fire that burned people to death. The original site of No. 29 sits on top of ruins…
My back went cold.
Compared to those mystical answers, this one’s credibility was obviously unusual. Like typical horror movie conventions, an old house that kept having incidents – its problems might be buried deep beneath the foundation.
However, faced with this situation, what could I do? Just because Alipay became sentient doesn’t mean you’d stop using it, right? It can make money! Could I really just tear down the house?
My heart sank. I wanted to find a few more people online to verify the fire rumors, but inexplicably started hitting walls frequently. After working until afternoon, I still hadn’t obtained more useful intelligence.
It seemed I was destined to be this huge sucker.
On the way back, I was in an explosive mood. Song Nanshi very thoughtfully bought me milk tea, but at this point, eating sugar could no longer save the Chinese people, nor could researching materials save No. 29. Thinking about going back to continue living the life of working during the day and being tormented by the big sister at night, my heart was full of despair.
Everyone had returned by dinner time.
When I told Han Sha about the fire, he wasn’t surprised at all. I was shocked: “Don’t tell me the big sister appeared in your dreams?”
Han Sha took a bite of his takeout noodles and said coolly, “Does this even need dream appearances? Of the four previous tenants, two died in the bathroom, two died on the stairs. Based on my past professional experience, ordinary unnatural deaths at most result in deep resentment toward one place in the house. Since No. 29 has two focal points, that means the other party had fled before – either being hunted by someone or encountering some kind of accident. He had no choice but to run upstairs from the staircase and was finally trapped to death on the second floor.”
When he put it this way, I immediately thought of the excavation post I’d seen today.
After Guan Yinli was completely transformed into a commercial district, it actually adopted the style of the original two-story Western-style residential buildings, and even the overall internal structure wasn’t much changed. The reason for tearing down the old buildings was purely for overall aesthetics and some electrical and drainage issues.
In other words, No. 29 originally should also have been a two-story building.
My heart trembled. So… the person who was originally burned to death might have been unable to escape to the first floor via the stairs and was finally trapped to death in the second-floor bathroom?
This would explain why the Guan Yinli authorities immediately sent people to perform rituals the first time they heard about incidents at No. 29.
Han Sha spoke as if he could read minds: “If they had properly performed rituals before reconstruction, it wouldn’t have come to this. But later the vengeful ghost killed again – grievance begets grievance, and it became much more difficult to remove.”
The more I thought about it, the more my head hurt. There probably weren’t many bosses running legitimate businesses in the world who had my kind of trouble – having to choose between life and money. I was about to ask Han Sha if he had any remedial measures, but suddenly, a muffled woman’s voice came from above our heads.
My heart went cold.
Once again, right under my nose, No. 29 was being haunted!
This time, before Han Sha could even get up, He Jian had already said viciously, “I want to see what thing dares to possess my body.” Then, like an agile leopard, he quickly climbed up the stairs.
“Xiao He, don’t be rash!”
My brain heated up.
Last time we encountered this situation, we only got through it thanks to Han Sha using his noseblood. Now that big sister on the second floor had obviously completed a super evolution and could even forcibly possess virgin males – when she made a ruckus, it was completely incomparable to before.
Han Sha yanked the red cord off my wrist: “Don’t come up first – coming up would just add to the chaos.”
After saying this, he also ran upstairs. I originally wanted to follow, but Song Nanshi firmly held me back: “Boss, you should leave it to Brother Han to handle. If anything happens to you, we… we’ll all be out of jobs.”
I could say that in my entire life, I’d never felt my responsibility as “concrete” as I had recently.
The time spent anxiously waiting downstairs was as torturous as waiting for one’s wife to give birth, except that the surprises this house brought me were far more complex than simple “boy” or “girl.” Various horror movie scenes were flashing before my eyes like a revolving lantern when finally He Jian shouted from upstairs: “Boss, you can come up! But… you need to be mentally prepared!”
“…”
Sweat instantly broke out in my palms. This was truly a case of “spare the rod for three days and the child will tear the roof off” – it had only been quiet for how many days?
Under enormous pressure, Song Nanshi and I walked upstairs and immediately saw Han Sha standing in the bathroom with an ugly expression. He faced the bathtub direction, holding a burning yellow talisman in his hand, drawing patterns in the air while murmuring rebirth mantras.
Song Nanshi carefully glanced at me: “Boss, should I go check the situation first before you…”
“I’d better do it myself. Every brick and tile cost me renminbi… what’s the worst that could happen?”
I steeled myself mentally and walked to the bathroom doorway. A fishy smell hit me from the enclosed space, and just then He Jian finished fishing something out of the bathtub and stood up. When he turned around, I felt every hair on my back stand on end.
No. 29 had given birth – given birth to a bloody mass of hair.
Author’s Note
Can’t see clearly
Author
2022-05-10
Today is the last day of the first stage. Thank you all for accompanying me through the first stage and voting for Huangliang Yimeng. If you like this story, please accompany me to run to the end.