I used the day's business earnings to respectfully see off the two hooligans.
However, in the middle of the night, there was a haunting in the courtyard at the alley entrance!
One of the hooligans got up to use the toilet. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a hanging ghost sitting on his shoulder. Its bloody tongue was dangling right in front of his face. He immediately let out a shrill scream and wet his pants.
The other one was even worse. The hanging ghost directly dragged him to a big locust tree in his own yard and hung him up with his own belt. If his family members hadn't heard the ear - piercing howls, he would have long been taken as a substitute by the ghost.
These two guys usually caused trouble, doing petty bad things. Although their crimes didn't deserve death, they were really annoying. Their families couldn't control them, and the police were also at a loss.
When their families found out that both of them had encountered something evil in the middle of the night, they immediately realized that they had offended something!
Fortunately, the hooligan who had wet his pants was still somewhat lucid. He told everyone that they had extorted money from my incense and candle shop.
The elders of their two families immediately called Aunt Xu's house at night, begging her to intercede with me and spare their two good - for - nothing kids.
Aunt Xu received the call in the middle of the night. Hearing the continuous howls on the other end of the phone, she realized that I hadn't been timid during the day but had actually set a trap for them, discreetly punishing these two rascals.
On the phone, not only the families of the two hooligans were begging for mercy, but the hooligan who hadn't fainted was even willing to kowtow to Aunt Xu through the phone, urging her to quickly plead with me to save his life.
As long as he looked up, he could see the hanging ghost in mid - air waving at him...
Aunt Xu was kind - hearted. She led the two families with gifts to knock on my door that very night.
I casually tossed two small yellow talismans folded into triangles to them, then picked up the gifts for apology and went back into the house.
When I woke up the next morning after a good sleep, Aunt Xu had already spread the story of how I had punished the evil and promoted the good, punishing the two rascals, far and wide.
She also mysteriously ran into my shop and told me that the two guys had burned the yellow talismans and drunk the water. Now, although they couldn't see the hanging ghost, they could still occasionally hear the sound of a ghost's gasping.
I grinned and told Aunt Xu that they were just scaring themselves due to a guilty conscience.
People who did a lot of bad things always thought that ghosts would take revenge. In fact, the sky was clear and the earth was vast. There were no such things as ghosts. It was just self - scare!
Aunt Xu didn't believe my words at all. She insisted on taking a dozen of my small triangular yellow talismans, saying that she would give them to her relatives at home for protection against evil.
...
Aunt Xu knew that I had a vengeful nature.
Now that Wu Mingyu had embarrassed me so much, she was afraid that I would really do something scary to take revenge on her.
Actually, Aunt Xu also had her own selfish motives. What if I also hung a hanging ghost on a tree!
Who would dare to rent her house in the future?
How could I not know what was on her mind? I pursed my lips and showed an innocent smile.
"Aunt Xu, for Granny Wu's sake, I won't bully her granddaughter!"
Saying this, I yawned slightly and pointed to the inner suite. "I didn't sleep well last night. I need to catch up on sleep today. I still have to go and visit my grandpa later, and then I have to go to the ghost market tonight!"
"Oh! Xiao He, don't overwork yourself."
Aunt Xu patted my arm and said with a bit of concern, "If there's anything, just tell auntie. We'll definitely help if we can!"
After seeing off the kind - hearted landlady Aunt Xu, I simply closed the shop door.
I went into my room in the inner suite to sleep.
The front of our shop was a small storefront of more than twenty square meters. The four solid - wood counters and two large solid - wood display cabinets were left by the former owner of the tasteful Tibetan - Buddhism shop.
A Tibetan Thangka curtain of the Yellow Wealth God separated the living room at the back.
The space next to the shop used to be a small tea - room. Inside, there was a boat - wood tea table, tea chairs, and a complete set of Kung - fu tea sets, which looked very valuable.
My grandpa didn't understand elegance. He piled those elegant things in the corner to gather dust and transformed this small space into a kitchen.
There were two doors on the back wall of the small kitchen. One led to my grandpa's bedroom, and the other led to mine.
My room was very small, less than five square meters. It only had a bed and a small wardrobe. Even the table where I usually wrote and drew talismans was folded and placed beside the bed. The only advantage of this room was that it had a small door leading to the yard and a small window.
Just as I was about to lie down for a good sleep.
A scream came from the small window facing the compound, followed by a bunch of people chattering and making a ruckus.
I sighed and grabbed a pillow and covered my head.
"Du Xinghe, you're playing tricks on me!!"
I heard Wu Mingyu's shrill scream getting closer and closer until it reached my window. She started pounding on my window glass.
Along with the "bang, bang" knocking sounds, her angry voice came in. "Don't pretend to be dead. Restore my room to its original state! Hurry up!"
"Xiao Wu, your room was locked properly. How can you blame others?!"
It was the landlady Aunt Xu's voice.
"It's definitely her! The things in the room are exactly the same as the list she sent me. Do you really think it was my grandma who bought them herself?"
Wu Mingyu shouted, "Du Xinghe, if you keep pretending to be dead, I'll smash the glass!"
I was really annoyed by the noise. I had to sit up from the bed, pull open the curtain, and faced Wu Mingyu's big face.
"Go ahead and smash it..."
I was prone to irritation when sleep - deprived. At this moment, I was barely holding back my anger. I glanced at Aunt Xu who was following behind and said, "Aunt Xu, you saw it. Just ask her to pay for it if it's broken."
"... I'm going to the police station to report you for burglary."
Wu Mingyu was so enraged by my nonchalant attitude that her anger soared.
"Sure! Go ahead!"
I found that getting some sleep today had become a luxury. I simply got out of bed, slipped on my shoes, and opened the door.
"Wu Mingyu, have you no conscience at all! You took the money from Granny Wu's land rental in her hometown and forced her to pick up waste in the middle of the night! When something happened to the old lady, you didn't even want to buy the things for her funeral! Are you even human?!"
"You're talking nonsense!!"
Wu Mingyu was stunned for a moment but still refused to admit it. "That old hag didn't have a single cent!"
"Oh?!"
I suddenly leaned half of my body out of the door and got my face right next to Wu Mingyu's. I said coldly, "Do you want to confront your grandma in person?!"
Suddenly, a cold wind blew through the compound, and everyone's hair stood on end.
Wu Mingyu was startled by me.
My face was always pale, almost transparently white. Now that I hadn't slept well, the dark circles under my eyes made me look extremely gloomy.
"Don't try to scare me!"
As Wu Mingyu spoke, she subconsciously looked at the sun in the sky. Thinking that it was broad daylight, I couldn't pull off any tricks. "Call her! Call that old hag out right now and ask her if she really had to buy all this junk from your shop!"