The fat man was so scared that he almost wet himself, his face pale as he trembled and turned to Lu Qingjia—
“Jia, Jia Jia, am I not going to wake up anymore?”
“If I don’t wake up, remember to burn more things for me during the festivals and Qingming and Zhongyuan. You’ve seen how the prices are in the underworld; burning paper once a year definitely won’t be enough. From now on, the quality of my ghost life, whether it’s rich or poor, all depends on you, my brother.”
Lu Qingjia smiled and said, “Well, humans and ghosts are on different paths; I’ve done my best.” With that, he was about to walk in another direction.
The fat man quickly hugged his thigh and cried, “You heartless ghost~~~”
Lu Qingjia dragged the more than a hundred pounds of meat to the edge of the bridge, kicked the fat man down, and then turned and fell down himself.
When he woke up, the morning sunlight had already filtered through the gauze window.
The fat man suddenly sprang up from the bed, feeling all over himself: “Alive, still warm!”
That meant his money hadn’t been stolen at all. Seeing Lu Qingjia ignoring him and getting up to wash up, the fat man finally realized.
If this guy wasn’t sure of himself, he wouldn’t have thrown away that fake money bag without even looking at it; it was just that he was too concerned.
As he breathed a sigh of relief, the fat man pulled over the small box that Lu Qingjia had brought with him, which contained a pile of paper-making tools for precaution.
Although they hadn’t really used them, it wasn’t surprising that this guy looked down on the old woman with the pockmarked head.
Coming fully armed, only to find that the enemy could be killed with a single spit was somewhat disappointing.
But none of that mattered, because the fat man suddenly found several stacks of money under a pile of paper-making props, which was the twenty thousand from that man and the several thousand they had on them. In the corner, he also found a Rolex watch.
Even back in reality, the watch hadn’t turned into paper; it was clearly the genuine one that Lu Qingjia had bought for a few tens of thousands.
But wasn’t this supposed to be given to that man? How did it come back?
The fat man hurriedly ran to the bathroom door, calling out to Lu Qingjia, who was brushing his teeth: “How did you do it?”
Lu Qingjia was at a loss for how simple-minded this guy was, so he said, “How many times did that bag end up in my hands?”
“Twice.”
“Since the second time I opened it was fake, when did I switch it?”
“The first time.” The fat man answered, but still couldn’t piece it all together: “What about the watch?”
Lu Qingjia looked at him, wiped his face, and resignedly said, “Let’s talk while we have breakfast.”
Today, the kitchen made deep-fried dough sticks, crispy and fragrant. The soy milk was ground by hand using a stone mill, and there was no need to waste manpower; young guests used to city life would try their hand at the stone mill in the garden, occasionally leaving a bucket of soaked yellow beans nearby, ensuring someone would grind them.
While eating breakfast, Lu Qingjia said, “You should have realized that the owner was a pawn, right?”
The fat man nodded.
“This is actually just a common scam, relying on the victim’s greed and the dramatic setup arranged by the scammers to draw people into their rhythm without time to think.”
“Once someone truly develops a greed for that lost money, from the moment they try to retrieve it from the ‘owner,’ they will start to feel guilty, and in that instant, they fall into the other party’s rhythm. I just didn’t expect that you, not wanting to be greedy for that money, would still fall for it.”
The fat man mumbled, “I was just watching you get involved, so I didn’t think much about it.”
Lu Qingjia continued, “The money in the bag the scammers first gave me was real. After suffering losses twice, they should have realized I’m not like you; I’m much more cunning and cautious, so they had to invest heavily from the start.”
“In such cases, when the money is in one’s own hands, it greatly reduces the victim’s vigilance.”
“When it comes time to pretend to distribute the money in the dark, the illusion that the matter is about to end will lower one’s guard to the minimum. At this moment, the ‘owner’ comes back, and in a panic, under the cover of light, that person switches the prepared fake bag with the bag containing real cash, and the victim, distracted by the ‘owner,’ won’t notice this moment.”
“Thinking the bag is still the same bag, then the other party hurriedly stuffs the money dropped by the ‘owner’ into the wallet, and as usual, to appease the victim’s heart, hands the bag over to the other party.”
“In reality, this action increases the stakes of the collateral. I guess they must have special means to accurately find you, or rather, the holder of your soul currency. I already felt someone was watching me when I bought the watch.”
The fat man exclaimed, “When? How did I not know?”
Seeing Lu Qingjia looking at him with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Fool, don’t struggle; giving up is also a kind of bravery,’ the fat man momentarily doubted whether he was really suited to be a person.
“Knowing all the assets I had, they just happened to prepare the right amount of funds. If I had less, I definitely wouldn’t have bet the watch.”
“When he took out the withdrawal slip, I also noticed; the time was just a few minutes ago. What a coincidence.”
The fat man nodded repeatedly: “So you knew from the start that they were scammers, and you played along. When that guy relaxed your guard by giving you the bag the first time, you switched the money? What about the watch?”
“When I settled the bill, I had the paper person give me another paper Rolex as a bonus.” Lu Qingjia smiled: “You wouldn’t think I’d make no preparations after realizing I was being watched, would you?”
He spent tens of thousands, and a mere few dozen for the paper watch was no burden at all; even the fat man, his companion, didn’t notice, so that man naturally wouldn’t suspect that Lu Qingjia had already switched to a fake watch.
After hearing this, the fat man could only lament the dangers of the world; it was tough to get by even in the underworld these days.
Lu Qingjia ignored him; the only role this guy had now was to be a laborer.
As summer was coming to an end, the weather wasn’t as hot anymore. Lu Qingjia had started a themed festival a couple of years ago, collaborating with nearby businesses and hotels.
Through the publicity from the previous two events and the rave reviews from participating tourists, it had become an activity that many young people in the city looked forward to.
This year’s preparation plan had also been set early, and now they were starting to set up. The popularity was good for attracting sponsors, and this year the funding was relatively ample, so the scale was naturally larger.
The entire scenic area was busy lately; even at night, battling wits with ghosts, they were still on the go during the day.
When the evening came to a close, Lu Qingjia went out to a grave on the back mountain, standing there for a long time with an unclear expression before returning home.
The fat man hurriedly served him rice: “Where did you run off to? I’m starving to death.”
While eating dinner, he flattered, “Jia Jia, I don’t have to go tonight, right?”
Lu Qingjia said, “It’s up to you.”
The fat man’s expression of joy hadn’t even blossomed when he heard Lu Qingjia say again, “After suffering so many losses, even if the other party is stupid, they know I’m not an easy target.”
“I remember you said you could already see that old woman in reality, right? Are you sure she can’t come out now?”
The fat man shivered; right, although the ghost market was full of ghosts, as long as he hypnotized himself to stay calm, at least there, whether it was ghosts or paper people, they wouldn’t intentionally scare him.
Thinking this way, staying by Lu Qingjia’s side was the safest.
The fat man looked dejected: “When will this life come to an end?”
That night, the two of them were the same as yesterday. The fat man watched Lu Qingjia fall asleep, gently called out to him a couple of times without getting a response, confirmed he was asleep, and then closed his eyes to prepare for sleep.
However, in a daze, he suddenly heard a noise coming from under the bed, like a knock on his heart.
The fat man jolted awake—
“Knock! Knock!” The clear, slow knocking sound came again from under the bed.
The night wind blew in through the window, lifting the white gauze curtain, and he could vaguely see the shadows of leaves outside the window.
What was originally a cool and pleasant environment outside suddenly seemed filled with ghostly shadows.
“Knock! Knock! Knock!”
The fat man’s hair stood on end, his blood ran cold, and goosebumps covered his entire body.
He cautiously extended half his body, slowly peering down to look under the bed.
What met his eyes was a head covered in sparse hair, like a pockmarked old woman, as if sensing the fat man’s gaze.
That head slowly lifted, revealing a face covered in wrinkles like orange peel, with triangular eyes shining with resentment.
The two faces locked eyes, and the pockmarked old woman slowly grinned, revealing a mouth full of black teeth and the stench of rotting rat meat.
The fat man’s scalp went numb, his eyes nearly bulging out as he watched the old woman slowly crawl out from under the bed.
Her figure hunched, limbs like withered branches come to life, she let out a creepy laugh towards him.
“Ah————”-
Lu Qingjia had been waiting in the dream for almost half an hour without seeing the fat man, and he wasn’t anxious; instead, he simply left the spot.
Tonight, he didn’t roam around gathering information under the guise of shopping; instead, he found a crowded square, sat in a place with a good view, and observed the ghosts coming and going.
The ghosts appearing here were all those living stably in the underworld, not lacking for food and clothing, with all sorts of professions.
White-collar workers, salespeople, civil servants, technicians, ghost messengers.
Ghost messengers!
Lu Qingjia discreetly observed the patrolling ghost messengers nearby. They wore uniforms resembling ancient constables, looking completely out of place in the modern atmosphere of the square.
They didn’t carry swords at their waists but had something resembling a police baton.
These ghost messengers had arrogant expressions, and the pedestrians passing by tried to keep their distance. In the crowded square, wherever the ghost messengers appeared, a small vacuum zone would form around them.
Lu Qingjia saw them casually ordering late-night snacks at fast-food and beverage shops, taking things without paying, while the shop owners smiled and fawned over them.
It was evident that although the underworld kept up with the times, many rules were still different.
For example, there was no prohibition on gambling, drugs, or vice here, just like the slogans on cigarette packs before, because these things no longer harmed health; instead, they created jobs and tax revenue. Lu Qingjia even saw various drug packaging for sale next to cigarette cabinets everywhere.
For instance, although there was a concept of reporting crimes, one absolutely couldn’t equate ghost messengers with real-world police; their power and deterrence over the ghosts in the underworld were probably similar to that of feudal society a thousand years ago.
Lu Qingjia sat for a long time before getting up, seemingly casually strolling through the city, deliberately visiting some dark and dilapidated areas.
Sure enough, he saw many homeless ghosts gathered, looking disheveled.
They didn’t have the same posture as normal people, with severed limbs, rotten guts, half a head hanging with a tongue, swollen faces—various forms of death were present, prohibited from appearing in front of the prosperous.
Seeing Lu Qingjia, who looked like an ‘upper-class person’ in neat attire, these ghosts flashed with envy and greed in their eyes but did not attack.
Lu Qingjia understood very well that this restraint wasn’t due to the high moral character of these ghosts; it was simply that they couldn’t or didn’t dare to.
Lu Qingjia walked up to a few ghosts huddled together for warmth, who still looked somewhat presentable, holding a dozen beers in his hand: “Can we chat for a bit?”
Seeing the beer in his hand, these ghosts welcomed him with open arms.
A group of them chatted for a long time, and when the beer was finished, Lu Qingjia got the information he wanted and stood up to leave.
This time, he directly took a taxi to a place, and after the driver dropped him off, he left with an ambiguous smile.
Standing at the intersection, he could feel the entire street was different, filled with an atmosphere of temptation and desire, with billboards and storefront posters that were bold and unseen in the living world.
Sensually dressed women danced in glass windows, with all sorts of styles on display.
Lu Qingjia ignored several madams trying to solicit customers, walking past until he finally saw a massage parlor where a drunken ghost messenger was carefully welcomed inside.
Lu Qingjia’s face revealed a hunting-like smile as he followed into the shop.
The author has something to say:
Ghost messenger: Danger!
Fat man: Did you just forget about me?
