Chapter 11: Fierce Ghost, Fierce Ghost, What Time Is It (Eleven)

◎Huangquan Chicken Farm◎

Yu Qing had been busy all the way until the afternoon of the next day, and only then did she finish dealing with all the sudden concerns.

Good news, because the landlord had not found a suitable tenant, she could stay for a few more days. Bad news was that the installment repayment day had arrived; every month Yu Qing had a minimum repayment amount, otherwise the debt-collection calls would come endlessly.

After finishing paying the money, she had to immediately start earning next month’s living expenses.

Passing through the bustling and noisy main street, walking past the lively and prosperous world of the living, Yu Qing found that only a day had passed, and she already somewhat missed that strange place.

The green rain there, the chickens she raised had just started laying eggs, and also her fierce and evil ghost neighbor.

By the time she returned home exhausted, Yu Qing suddenly remembered one thing. Yesterday, she left in a hurry and had not left a message for the ghost neighbor. What if he returned to the house at night and found that she was not there?

She had a kind of intuition. If she disappeared, the ghost neighbor would probably come looking for her.

It was not that Yu Qing was overthinking, but because on the second day after she moved from the hall to the 18th floor, when she went downstairs, she found the hall had been turned completely upside down, and even near the building there had appeared those large footprints.

Yu Qing thus knew that he had come to look for her that night.

At this time, it was already very late. Yu Qing hurriedly grabbed her coat and went out.

When passing by the grocery store that was about to close, Yu Qing stopped. She remembered that the flower vase on the ghost neighbor’s windowsill was broken and missing a corner.

Yu Qing bought a pretty colored flower vase.

When paying, that familiar order popped up again. Yu Qing thought about it, and it seemed that no one else would take it anyway, so she conveniently picked up a delivery.

Just like that, Yu Qing arrived at the entrance of Huangquan Community.

Unlike a month ago, Yu Qing was already very familiar with this place. She knew that at night there would be many resentful spirits appearing in the bushes, so she did not approach directly; instead sat by the roadside waiting for the slender shadow to return home.

…

At midnight, the slender ghost appeared. Thinking that he still had to go feed the chickens today, the tall figure walked slower and slower.

Very soon, the slender ghost saw Yu Qing waiting by the roadside.

The slow ghost shadow immediately started walking briskly.

But he was too tall and big, and moving was always heavy. Yu Qing, who had short legs but was very agile, quickly chased behind him, like a small bright yellow tail that could not be shaken off.

She was already completely unafraid of him, even dared to talk to him directly.

Yu Qing chased and asked, “Last night, did you go looking for me? Sorry, I forgot to leave a message.”

A hoarse voice came from four meters high, carrying a tone of incredulity. “How could it be?”

Strictly speaking, this was their first conversation, but they were not strangers to each other. So, although the tall and thin ghost shadow spoke slowly and strangely, the communication was still very smooth.

“Can I come here to find you again in the future?”

“No, can not.”

“But do you not order takeout every night…”

“Not me.”

“Then who?”

“Ate.”

Yu Qing and the slender ghost stared at each other wide-eyed for a while.

She understood. What he meant was that her customer had been eaten by him.

Yu Qing found that as long as she tried to chat with him about something else, like whether it had rained recently in this place, how the weather was and such small talk, the tall and thin ghost would pretend that she was too short and he could not hear.

But when she asked him can or cannot, he suddenly could hear again.

Just like that, with all the “cannot” and “no,” very soon, they arrived at building 18.

Yu Qing thought that today was no different from before. Just like before, he had tacitly allowed her to hide from the resentful spirits under his protection and tacitly allowed her to live next door to him.

Now, following him back to building 18, it was also a tacit approval for her to come to this place in the future.

But she did not notice that today the ghost looked much calmer and more composed than usual. He did not suddenly lean over to scare her. He even said a lot more to her than all the previous threats on the wall combined.

Yu Qing noticed that he had stopped.

Under the moonlight, the slender ghost lowered his head to look at her. “From now on, do not come again.”

Under the hazy moonlight, even the faceless face did not seem so ferocious and terrifying anymore.

Yu Qing had not yet realized that this was him saying farewell to her.

The slender ghost said, “Wait until you are dead, then come here.”

Maybe if she turned into a homeless, resentful spirit, he would kindly take in her soul.

Death meant no more changes, lying under a big tree becoming a tombstone, the outside world changing drastically, but they possessed eternal silence. For them, a tree changing its direction of growth, a flower occasionally falling, was already an amazing change.

Even the tiniest change would take the slender ghost many years to digest.

And Yu Qing’s existence was like a tsunami.

Just getting used to the breathing of the living made it hard to sleep in the dead-silent night.

Rejecting her continued approach was to avoid getting burned and staying away from the candle flame. After experiencing warmth and liveliness, eternal silence again would make the nights lying among dead trees unbearably cold and lonely.

But his nights were still so long.

Very quickly, Yu Qing was picked up like a kitten and carried out.

Carried out along with her were the delivery jacket she had hung to dry on the 18th floor and the crossbody bag left in the room.

This time, she had no way to chase after him again, because in that world of the dead, countless resentful spirits had already crawled out from the wild grass. Under the moonlight, the fluttering fireflies had drawn a line between life and death.

He slowly thought.

Of course, saying to take her in after she was dead was to fool a child.

The living were forgetful. Maybe it would not take ten or twenty years. After one week, she would soon forget this strange tale. Not to mention when she died fifty years later.

But what if she still remembered?

The slender ghost did not think any further.

…

Yu Qing chased the fireflies for two steps, but in the end, she did not cross the path full of resentful spirits.

If he did not tacitly allow it, she would not possibly be able to step into this strange place alive.

She stood there a little dazed for a while and only after a delay did she understand the meaning of his words.

Wait until you become a ghost after death, then you can come here.

Translated, it meant a tactful way of saying “do not come here while you are alive.”

Yu Qing was not stupid. After a brief daze, she reacted. She no longer tried to walk inside, but instead picked up the crossbody bag on the ground and walked toward the main road where she had come.

Maybe ghosts really did not like others disturbing their rest.

Yu Qing had shallow kinship. Back then, she had thought of ending everything because she had no attachments and no one would care about her life or death. She always felt she was like wild grass growing by the roadside.

After growing up, she had never again had anyone care where she was going.

So when thinking that the ghost neighbor might worry about her and go looking for her, Yu Qing immediately run over and even brought that pretty flower vase.

But it seemed that she had self-importantly disturbed someone.

And her eggs, egg drop soup, and little wildflowers.

After all, when people go to a cemetery, they always walk lightly and lower their voices, out of respect for the dead they never speak loudly. Someone like her, frequently disturbing a ghost, was probably very impolite.

As she walked, she sat down under the flickering streetlight.

She took out the planner from the crossbody bag that had been thrown out with her and crossed out one item after another.

It was hard to say what mood it was, probably disappointment.

Suddenly, with her head down, Yu Qing heard a rustling sound. In front of her, a takeout bag was handed over.

Seeing she did not react, that ghost hand clumsily stuffed the takeout bag into Yu Qing’s arms.

The ghost shadow was tall and big. When squatting down, the shadow directly covered her and blocked the streetlight.

She instinctively hugged the takeout bag. When she looked up, she saw that he was squatting in front of her without her noticing.

Just now, when picking up Yu Qing, the tall and thin ghost shadow felt that she seemed even lighter. After just one day out, she had become even thinner and smaller.

That ghost hand suddenly patted her head.

He said to her, “Do not deliver anymore. From now on, eat it yourself.”

Since her grandmother passed away in high school, no one had cared whether she was hungry or full.

Yu Qing froze for a moment.

Only after a while did she realize that she had been patted on the head.

The force was a bit strong. Yu Qing felt she had been pressed down by several centimeters.

She watched as the ghost disappeared at the entrance of the community.

He still had no facial features, his face was blurry. When smiling, it revealed a terrifying crack.

But Yu Qing inexplicably felt that when that cold ghost hand patted her head, it was strangely gentle.

…

Yu Qing never went to Huangquan Community to disturb him again.

In the past, Yu Qing had persistently approached him because she did not know it was a kind of disturbance.

Although the ghost neighbor looked gloomy and difficult to get along with, every time she smiled at him, he would glare at her. But he would deliver chickens to her every day, kindly take her in, and protect her from being eaten by resentful spirits.

Yu Qing felt he was a bit like a bad-tempered big black cat, slapping away anything that tried to approach him.

But he would still carry a mouse over and try to feed you.

Yu Qing always wanted to thank him in her own way.

But if he did not like it, she would not disturb him again.

However, Yu Qing did not give up on thanking him. She only postponed her plan.

Yu Qing thought that she had no attachments in this world and would probably not get married or have children (mainly because she had to pay off debts for thirty years and could not afford it), at most she would make a few good friends, and when the time came, move into a nursing home with them, hand in hand.

Living out her life like this, decades later, she would find a lawyer to make a will, buy a piece of land near Huangquan Community in the dense forest to be her grave, and plant the entire forest full of small white wildflowers.

That way, after dying, she could float out, sit on the tree branches, and wait for that tall and thin ghost shadow to wake up.

Then say to him, “Surprise!”

Would that not be a perfect plan?

Yu Qing was worried she would forget about this. She carefully wrote the plan down, copied more than ten scheduled emails, and planned to send them to herself once every five years.

Yu Qing also did not sentimentally refuse that midnight order, because she really needed the money. Relying on this extra income every night, she had not ended up sleeping on the street, but had moved to live in an urban village.

The security here was worse, the place was much smaller, and the windowsill could not even hold a vase.

But life still went on in the bustling world.

…

The chicken laid one egg, two eggs, three eggs…

The eggs piled up, those underneath had gone bad, and he had to often pick out the bad ones to throw away.

But after throwing away the bad eggs, the chicken would lay new ones.

Fortunately, there was no rooster here. Otherwise, this strange place would soon become a Huangquan chicken farm.

He really did not know how to deal with it.

He had no choice but to go to the world of the living.

It was another rainy day.

The slender ghost left the haunted place for the first time.

Holding a chicken.