Chapter 101

Gu Feiyin, filled with excitement and anticipation, lifted her stone bed. Back in the day, she was worried about ghosts raiding her lair. She felt that the rooms in this pit were all unsafe-wide open and easily accessible to any wandering ghost. Finally, she came up with a brilliant idea: she decided to dig another pit beneath her stone bed. After all, she spent most of her time lying down anyway. This arrangement would make it convenient for her to keep an eye on things, and from then on, she could proudly claim she was a little ghost sleeping on a bed of gold and silver.

She spent years digging that pit, chipping away at it bit by bit every day. At night, she would sneak out to dispose of the dirt. Eventually, she managed to finish it. Once it was done, she hid most of her wealth inside. Some of it was loot she had acquired after devouring other little ghosts and raiding their pits. All these treasures, pieced together, amounted to a considerable fortune.

Now, with her newly acquired Riverside Villa added to the mix, she could afford to slack off for decades.

But when she lifted the stone bed and jumped into the pit, she didn’t see the golden mountain and silver sea she had dreamed of. Instead, the ground was sparsely littered with a few small trinkets. Scattered on the floor were some Gold Ingots and Paper Money, so sparse that they didn’t even cover the ground.

She was dumbfounded. What had happened?

“Xiao Yan? Xiao Yan! Did someone rob our pit?”

“Xiao Yan?”

“Xiao Yan?!”

“Xiao Yan-!!!”

Xiao Yan?

Xiao Yan had long fled. She had lived among humans for decades without needing money. A random outfit or designer bag could cost tens of thousands, and that was considered cheap. The more expensive ones could run into hundreds of thousands or even millions. How could she resist dressing herself up beautifully? Then there were those days when returning cultural relics to the nation was all the rage. At the time, she was still in university, part of a scholarly family, walking the elegant goddess route. She was a campus celebrity, and in her quest to maintain an air of mystery, she donated a significant portion of her treasures in one go.

As for the items she kept for herself, each had been with her for ages, and she couldn’t bear to part with them. Long Black Straight Hair didn’t have such concerns, though. After all, she had been struck down and scattered into oblivion. Donating the treasures in both their names was a way to ensure she would be remembered.

Through this back-and-forth, most of the pit’s treasures had been squandered. Squandering them was one thing, but Xiao Yan never expected Long Black Straight Hair to return!

She dashed out in a panic, floating far away in an instant. From the forest, she faintly heard a heart-wrenching scream, filled with despair and pain. The cry startled the birds in the woods, sending them flapping away.

The beautiful ghost shivered, muttered “Amitabha” under her breath, and floated away even faster, disappearing into the forest in no time.

Long Black Straight Hair, this is our final farewell.

…

Old Man Wang’s granddaughter was having her full-month celebration. He invited relatives and friends to join the festivities, and of course, the neighbors weren’t left out. The banquet stretched from one end of the street to the other, creating a lively and bustling scene.

Old Man Wang’s granddaughter was a beautiful baby. Though she had endured some hardships, she had finally passed the danger phase. While she was smaller and darker than other babies her age, her features were well-formed. Her big, round eyes were dark and bright, and she would blow bubbles and smile whenever she saw someone-utterly adorable.

Little Wang loved playing with his baby sister. He also enjoyed telling her stories about their uncles, aunts, grandmas, and sisters, describing how amazing and powerful they were-stronger than Ultraman, capable of defeating villains and lifting cars, true heroes!

Of course, every time he told these stories, he would secretly remind his parents and grandparents not to mention anything extraordinary. They were mere mortals and couldn’t understand such things. But his sister was different. She was just like him-rescued by their sister-so she must be extraordinary too!

The only problem was that his sister was still too young. She couldn’t even talk yet, needed to be fed every meal, and spent twenty out of twenty-four hours sleeping. He barely had any chance to help her recognize their “organization” and hoped she wouldn’t grow up to be an ordinary mortal.

Xiao Wang had noticed this phenomenon several times. Every time he wanted to intervene, he would suddenly recall the moment the car was moved out of the way that night. The words of protest would die in his throat, and he could only turn a blind eye. Fine, fine. If there really were demons and ghosts in this world, they had saved his wife and daughter, so they probably weren’t bad, right?

But were there really demons and ghosts in this world? This question had plagued him so much that he had pulled out handfuls of his hair, worsening his already precarious middle-aged balding situation.

Meanwhile, Little Wang was still by his sister’s crib, whispering, “Sister, sister, when you can walk, I’ll take you to meet our sister.”

“Grandpa, when will my sister grow up? Can she grow up faster?”

Old Man Wang chuckled and rubbed his grandson’s head. “Time passes day by day, and your sister will grow up day by day too. If she grew up all at once, you’d miss out on a lot of fun.”

Little Wang replied, “But I want my sister to grow up quickly. I want to take her to meet our uncles, aunts, grandmas, and sisters, and Ghost Lady! I don’t want to wait anymore.”

Old Man Wang wanted to say he wished he could meet them too, but alas, he couldn’t see ghosts.

…

The full-month celebration for the baby went off without a hitch. All the guests left satisfied, and when the night grew quiet, Old Man Wang set up a few small tables in the courtyard downstairs. The tables were laden with chicken, duck, fish, and meat. He lit several candles and burned Paper Money in a metal basin. The gusts of wind blew through, making the entire house feel eerie and cold.

Little Wang knelt beside the fire, his chubby cheeks glowing pink in the fierce flames. His eyes sparkled with joy, like burning flames themselves. He pointed to the left and right, directing the obedient, rhythmic flames, and said, “Grandpa, grandpa, our sisters are here!”

Old Man Wang nodded happily. “It’s good they came. I went to the riverside to invite them several times for this full-month celebration and thank-you feast.”

He looked around. Though he couldn’t see anyone, the cold air around him made him feel their presence. He was overjoyed, his face blossoming into a smile.

At that moment, the woman in red ghost was crouched by the baby’s crib, her twisted, pale, stiff face breaking into a smile. She murmured softly, “Little cutie, little cutie…”

The Ghost Lady, flaunting her freshly done nails, said, “Are you summoning souls? Be careful not to scare the child.”

The woman in red ghost’s voice softened a notch as she replied, “This is already my gentlest tone. Surely it won’t give her nightmares, right?”

The Neighbor Miss, who had been hopping around just moments ago, now stretched her neck to peek inside. When she saw the little girl’s drowsy, cherubic face, her previously cold expression softened. The Old Lady, clutching a broom, stood frozen to the side, staring blankly without saying a word.

The ghost maid said, “Everyone, tone down your ghostly aura a bit. We don’t want to harm the child.”

At these words, the Ghost Lady, along with the woman in red ghost, the Neighbor Miss, the Old Lady, and the Middle-aged Female Ghost, all restrained their spectral energy. They straightened their backs and held their breaths, fearing that a single misstep might frighten the child.

The baby, blissfully unaware of the little ghost heads gathered around her, blew bubbles in her sleep, her tiny fists clenching and unclenching as she slumbered peacefully.

…

Meanwhile, Xiao Wang, his wife, and Granny Wang were far from enjoying such tranquility. The three of them crouched by the door, peering out into the night. But no matter how hard they looked, they saw nothing-just an empty, desolate yard. The chill in the air made them shiver as they hugged their arms tightly.

“Did you see anything?”

“No…”

“Neither did I. My dad’s condition is getting worse.”

Xiao Wang didn’t respond. Though he wouldn’t admit it aloud, he couldn’t shake the unease in his heart. Ever since his father and son started acting strangely, peculiar things had indeed been happening. For instance, the inexplicable appearance of fish and shrimp in their home, the two Gold Ingots that had materialized out of nowhere, and the fact that every time his father brought chicken, duck, or fish to the river, the food would return completely devoid of any meat flavor. These odd occurrences had been piling up recently, and no matter how much he tried to make sense of them, he couldn’t come up with a reasonable explanation.

Even his wife had mentioned a bizarre dream she had while sitting in the car. In the dream, she was in labor, stuck in a traffic jam, when she heard countless voices chattering around her, saying they would move the cars to clear a path for her. “The dream was so surreal. Moving cars? Even TV dramas wouldn’t dare show something like that.”

Xiao Wang had been stunned at the time. The dream matched the scene he had witnessed. Could it be that he hadn’t imagined it?

Because of these lingering doubts, when his father insisted on hosting a banquet that night, Xiao Wang hadn’t firmly opposed the idea. In fact, he had even spoken a few words in support. After all, his father was stubborn and getting on in years. If they upset him to the point of harming his health, what then? Besides, it was just a dinner party-what harm could it do?

And so, here they were.

Granny Wang sighed and said, “Forget it. Let the old man do as he pleases. I’m going to bed.”

Xiao Wang’s wife, too, couldn’t hold out any longer. Her body hadn’t fully recovered, and taking care of the baby had left her utterly exhausted. She returned to their room to sleep, leaving Xiao Wang alone by the window, staring out into the night. He was determined to uncover the truth behind all these mysteries.

Feeling restless, he decided to go downstairs to investigate. But just as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw a white figure descending from the sky. The figure twisted into an eerie posture, with limbs stretched forward and dangling unnaturally. Her long, straight black hair cascaded down, her pale face exuding a chilling aura, and her pitch-black eyes darted around wildly.

The oppressive, forbidding energy emanating from her was enough to make anyone shudder in fear. Xiao Wang froze on the spot.

He watched in stunned silence as the Long-haired Woman sat down at a nearby table, her mouth curling into a sinister smile. To his astonishment, his father and son seemed overjoyed by her presence. His son even ran over, calling out excitedly, “Sister! Sister!” Could this “sister” be the legendary “sister” they had been talking about?

Xiao Wang hesitated, his foot hovering mid-step. He stared at her, rubbing his eyes furiously, convinced that he must have imagined seeing the Long-haired Woman flying. But in the next instant, he saw something even more bizarre: the entire roasted chicken on the table suddenly floated into the air. A drumstick was torn off by some unseen force and hovered toward the Long-haired Woman’s mouth. She opened her gaping maw, took a big bite, and with a flick of her head, tore off a juicy chunk of meat.

Xiao Wang: “…???!!!”

He was utterly dumbfounded. The chicken leg was flying? But why weren’t his father and son the least bit surprised? His son was even jumping up and down with excitement, exclaiming, “Sister is amazing!”

Amazing indeed…

And that wasn’t all. That night, Xiao Wang witnessed not just the chicken leg flying, but also duck legs, fish, and even pieces of meat floating around the table. The food danced in the air, moving back and forth, leaving him utterly speechless. He sat there, slack-jawed, completely at a loss for how to react.

What was going on? Ghosts? Were ghosts real? And why did these ghosts seem particularly fond of his father and son?

…

Xiao Wang didn’t sleep a wink that night. Even when he finally dozed off in the early hours of the morning, his dreams were haunted by the terrifying image of the Long-haired Woman opening her gaping maw to devour him piece by piece. He tossed and turned, crying out in his sleep until he was finally woken up by his mother and wife.

Rubbing his eyes, he asked weakly, “What’s going on?”

What could possibly be more important than the revelation that ghosts were real? And why did these ghosts seem to have a special fondness for his father and son?

Granny Wang was clearly agitated. “Something’s really wrong. Come and see! Quickly!”

Xiao Wang’s wife looked equally shocked and bewildered. Half-awake, Xiao Wang got up and followed them. What he saw left him utterly stunned.

Beside his daughter’s cradle was a pile of treasures: Gold Ingots, gold rings, longevity locks, hairpins, earrings, and even small toys. They were scattered all around, glittering in the morning light, dazzling to behold.

Granny Wang quickly asked, “Did one of your friends send these?”

Xiao Wang’s wife added, “These must have cost a fortune. Our baby is so young-there’s no need for so much. Which of your friends sent them? See if we can return them. If not, we’ll have to prepare return gifts next time.”

Xiao Wang swallowed hard, a shocking thought forming in his mind. Could it be… them?

Old Man Wang and Little Wang seemed entirely unfazed. What did this mean? It meant their Little Girl was simply too lovable. Heh.