While speaking, he pointed at Tian Guoqiang and others behind him, his eyes squinting into a pair of extremely annoying, thoroughly despicable slits, wearing a smug expression. Tian Guoqiang and the others couldn’t bear to look, turning their faces away. If it weren’t for their hope of getting some free sunflower seeds, they might have rushed forward and beaten the hell out of this bastard with a wok.
“Hehe,” Chen Bighead was long accustomed to Liu Dashao’s personality and didn’t take offense. He simply lowered his head and quietly asked, “Kid, tell your uncle, how much did you win?”
“Three yuan!” Liu Dashao whispered back.
“Tch, impressive! You’ve got the style of your Uncle Chen back in the day. Just for that, I’ll give you a 20% discount on the sunflower seeds—just 1.1 yuan!”
“Thanks, Uncle!” Liu Dashao hurriedly replied, though his mind grumbled, “Hmph! Stingy old miser, as tight as a penny-pinching rooster. What good is a 20% discount? Why not just give me a few packs for free?”
If he had known that his kind-hearted discount would earn him curses, Chen Bighead, who was smiling cheerfully at the moment, would probably have smashed his big head against the Liu family ancestral hall!
Liu Dashao quickly took out a handful of loose change from his pocket, spat on his fingers, and counted carefully before handing several crumpled bills to Chen Bighead.
“Count it, is it enough?”
Chen Bighead happily reached out to take his first transaction of the day, but when his sharp eyes glanced at the bills, his hand visibly hesitated. His smile faded, replaced by a mixture of seven parts shock and three parts anger. His gaze fixated on the handful of money in Liu Dashao’s hand.
“What’s wrong?” Liu Dashao asked, puzzled. He couldn’t figure out why Chen Bighead suddenly looked like that—had he had a fit, or was he having a seizure?
After a moment’s hesitation, Chen Bighead picked out several bills from the pile, waved them in front of Liu Dashao’s face, and pushed the rest back.
“I don’t want these.”
“Why not?” Liu Dashao was utterly confused. What the hell was this old guy up to?
“You check it yourself!” Chen Bighead’s face darkened as he glared at Liu Dashao.
“What am I supposed to check?”
“Ahh, Master Dog, you…” Goudan, who was sitting closest to him, suddenly cried out, pointing at the money in Liu Dashao’s hand, his eyes wide with shock. Everyone followed his finger and looked over. Upon seeing the wad of cash, they were all startled—but Liu Dashao himself still had no idea what was going on.
“Damn it, how could you pull out a bunch of ghost money in broad daylight? It’s creepy!” Xiaomazi shoved Liu Dashao and cursed.
“What? Ghost money? These are all my secret winnings from last night! Where would I get ghost money from?”
Liu Dashao looked down at the money in his hand, let out a shriek, and immediately threw it to the ground, hopping back in fear. On the floor lay several crudely printed bills, but instead of portraits of great leaders, they bore the face of King Yama. Below was a line of tiny calligraphy: “Underworld Bank.”
Ghost money—real ghost money!
The four of them stared at each other in shock, and the atmosphere that had just begun to relax froze once again.
Meanwhile, shop owner Chen Bighead stood there, smirking coldly. He was now fully convinced that these four good-for-nothing brats had conspired to play a trick on him.
After a long silence, Tian Guoqiang finally stepped forward to break the tension. “Master Dog, you really went too far with your joke. It’s not easy for Uncle Chen to run a shop—why would you try to cheat him with ghost money?”
“I… I really didn’t! Don’t you believe me?” Liu Dashao’s face turned a deep red, his neck veins bulging. He was clearly very agitated. He wanted to defend himself, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t explain the whole story. To be precise, even at this point, he himself didn’t understand how the real money in his pocket had turned into colorful ghost money overnight.
Tian Guoqiang, being the oldest among the four and having been influenced by his village chief father’s observation skills, could tell at a glance that Liu Dashao’s expression wasn’t faked. He realized something must have gone wrong.
He quickly shot warning glances at Goudan and Xiaomazi, who were whispering nearby, signaling them to keep quiet. Then he turned back with an apologetic smile to shop owner Chen Bighead, apologized, and paid the remaining amount from his own pocket, settling the payment and offering further apologies. Originally quite upset, Chen Bighead couldn’t really say anything more—after all, it’s hard to hit someone who’s smiling at you.
“Master Dog, maybe you were just too nervous today and accidentally grabbed one of these by mistake?” After handling everything, Tian Guoqiang pulled Liu Dashao aside and patted his shoulder.
“No way! I did go to burn paper offerings at my family’s ancestral graves earlier, but I only brought paper and gold ingots, no ghost money. Besides, why would I carry this unlucky stuff around in my pocket?” Liu Dashao replied.
“Alright, don’t think about it too much. It’s all over now.” Tian Guoqiang didn’t want to dwell on the subject and tried to change the topic with comforting words.
“But you have to believe me!”
“Okay, okay, I believe you, I believe you…” Tian Guoqiang nodded.
“But…” The word had barely left Liu Dashao’s mouth when a sudden realization struck him. A chill ran up his spine, cold sweat poured down his skin, soaking his cloth shirt to his body.
“Dog, what’s wrong with you? Why do you look so pale?” At this moment, Liu Dashao’s face could truly be described as pale as yellow paper—completely devoid of color, causing Tian Guoqiang to panic.
“Could it be… could it really be…” Liu Dashao didn’t hear Tian Guoqiang at all. His voice trembled as he muttered repeatedly. Finally, he covered his face with both hands and whispered to himself, barely audible: “Was that kid who sold lanterns really a ghost? Was he really a ghost?”
“Big brother, buy a lantern.”
“Wuwuwu…”
“Big brother, buy a lantern.”
The scenes from last night’s journey home vividly replayed in his mind like movie reels—scene after scene, the first time, the second time, the third, the fourth…
This feeling wasn’t just physical fear—it was a deep, soul-shaking terror!
“If you don’t tell me where you live, I’m leaving.”
“Okay… over there.”
Where was “over there”? The dialogue stuck at this line, and Liu Dashao’s ten fingers slowly parted. Following his memory, facing the direction he had stood and the way the little boy had pointed, he slowly opened his eyes.
That… that hillside—how could there possibly be any houses there? Looking at the vague outlines in the distance, Liu Dashao almost burst into tears. That was his mother’s graveyard!
Realizing this, Liu Dashao froze completely. Ten seconds later, a chattering sound emerged. Tian Guoqiang was puzzled, wondering what the kid was up to now, when he saw Liu Dashao slowly remove his hands from his face—and lift his head.
Tian Guoqiang, Goudan, and Xiaomazi all jumped in fright.
Liu Dashao’s forehead was deeply furrowed into a “川” shape, his mouth twitching upward in an unnatural way, as if he were both laughing and crying. The chattering sound came from his mouth—his upper and lower teeth clicking together. Then, in a voice on the verge of tears, he said, “Qiangzi, I’ve run into an evil spirit.”
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