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◎ Withered Little Wildflowers ◎
Yu Qing thought she might be trapped in this haunted place for a lifetime.
There were no ferocious man-eating monsters in this haunted place, only a ghost neighbor pretending to eat people.
After the initial fear, Yu Qing found him a bit… strangely cute.
Except for the date being altered daily, it seemed quite nice to just keep living here.
Maybe after a long time, Yu Qing would start to miss the colorful living world, the developed internet, the rich entertainment, the convenient life. But only ten or so days had passed. The time was still short. Now it was the warm summer season and the harsh winter had not yet come, so everything was perfectly fine.
Occasionally, Yu Qing would also worry. How would she get through winter when it came? In Linchuan City, it was very cold when it snowed. This haunted place seemed to be much colder than the outside temperature. Even if she had warm clothes, there was not enough firewood to supply her for an entire winter.
But because it was so long ago, when Yu Qing occasionally took it out to think about, she quickly forgot it again.
That huge blow a few months ago caused Yu Qing’s life to suddenly fall to rock bottom. It was as if she were a mushroom soaked in a heavy downpour, her head gradually unable to hold up and drooping down.
During the time she lived in the ghost tale, her heavy mushroom head seemed to have dried out a little bit.
It was as if she had briefly hidden inside a fairy tale and become Little Red Riding Hood in the story, only needing to take the little chicken out to pick mushrooms every day.
The only difference was probably that the one living next door to Little Red Riding Hood was the wolf grandmother.
Little Red Riding Hood would actively knock on the door every day, but the wolf grandmother not only would not open the door, but also baring teeth would throw her out.
On the fourteenth day, the egg Yu Qing gave to the ghost neighbor was once again viciously rejected.
A big “x” was drawn on the wall.
But Yu Qing had heard from her grandmother before, when knowing a person, do not look at their surface, but look at what they actually do.
If it was another person, perhaps under such obvious rejection and warning signals, they would keep a respectful distance from the dangerous neighbor.
But little animals are naturally able to recognize and get close to those who are good to them. They would persistently bring over nuts, flowers, and warmly place them at your door.
Yu Qing completely ignored the warning on the wall, continuing to diligently help him change the water for flowers, and put a bowl of egg drop soup in his corner.
Yu Qing planned to try tomorrow to insert three incense sticks, to see if this way the ghost neighbor could eat them.
Although there were no incense sticks here, burning branches could temporarily substitute.
If only there were electricity here, and she could purchase things from outside, then she could try burning paper money, burning villas.
…
The slender ghost vaguely had a feeling: Yu Qing seemed to be trying to get close to him.
At first, Yu Qing was somewhat afraid of him; every day when he returned, she would nervously hide behind the door. But after two or three days, this cautiousness quickly disappeared.
This morning, when watching the rain, Yu Qing seemed to have noticed his existence, but she was not only not afraid, she even tried to quietly move a step towards him.
At night, when returning home, the slender ghost found Yu Qing holding a very suspicious notebook by the fire, writing plans.
The notebook looked very strange, probably something she had picked up again from some hidden corner. It looked like a notebook left behind by some kind of vengeful spirit called “Pen Fairy” by the living.
The pen was also a nearly bald pencil.
Yes, because of the continuous rain lately, Yu Qing’s farming plans in this place were put on hold. Recently, she had been wholeheartedly studying her next-door neighbor, even starting to write a “Quick Guide to Ghost Neighbor” plan.
As soon as Yu Qing heard footsteps, she immediately put out the fire and secretly hid the little notebook.
But she did not know that once she fell asleep, the ghost shadow next to her immediately turned into a human shape and stretched out its head to peek.
Yu Qing wanted to start by doing small things like cleaning and delivering flowers, step by step getting closer to her ghost neighbor.
Getting close was only the first step, followed by gradually starting to talk, first asking about easy topics like the weather; after a week, trying to invite him over for a meal; after a month, inviting him to take walks, pick mushrooms and wildflowers; the goal was to be able to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the ghost neighbor by the end of the year.
Yes, Yu Qing felt she could not leave, and only she and the ghost neighbor were left as companions in this haunted place. This was only the plan for the first year; later, there were plans from the second year to the fiftieth year written only as titles without further content.
The slender ghost slowly closed Yu Qing’s little notebook.
There was no need to wait until Yu Qing died and became a resentful spirit to pester him; she was alive and already planning to annoy him for fifty years.
…
The fifteenth day.
The slender ghost was eager to return to a peaceful life.
As time passed, the space Yu Qing occupied grew bigger, and yesterday she even moved back a nightstand. If she stayed any longer, he could only sleep on the ceiling of the eighteenth floor.
But he heard Yu Qing muttering: If only it were possible to install light bulbs and electric fans on the ceiling.
The slender ghost gloomily thought: Then where would he sleep?
However, the time to chase away this small intruder had come, but the ghost in the darkness did not move.
Soon, dawn arrived.
The slender ghost’s route was a straight line of three points: the dense forest, building 18, downstairs. He had to take advantage of the ghost month to eat more resentful spirits to grow stronger, and digesting those resentful spirits required longer sleep.
For the first time ever, the slender ghost did not return to the dense forest before dawn.
…
Yu Qing woke up.
This morning it finally stopped raining!
Yu Qing planned to go downstairs to pick some mushrooms.
After such a long time of rain in this haunted place, many mushrooms sprouted. Although the green rain was suspicious, the mushrooms that grew tasted very good and were very fragrant when stewed with chicken.
She passed by the little wildflowers on the windowsill.
She did not notice that under the little wildflowers, there was also a shadow.
When she walked past, the shadow slowly followed her.
She passed by the swamp in the hall.
Passed by the tied-up little chicken.
She followed the little path outwards, and the world was no longer silent, and the chirping of birds gradually came.
The dark, bluish sky gradually became clear and bright.
The dead silence of the world slowly faded behind her, and the colors of the living world rushed in.
The black shadow slowly followed her.
Yu Qing thought about the difference between poisonous mushrooms and edible mushrooms, and reached the end of the path.
Under the dazzling sunlight, this silent haunted place opened a road leading to the outside world.
…
Landlord: I reported it to the police, I really reported it, do not lose hope!
Countless missed calls, many messages and texts, from familiar shop owners, cousins, relatives who had not been contacted for 800 years… even the police. The phone chimed and buzzed nonstop, countless messages eagerly popping up.
“There seems to be someone over there! Go take a look quickly.”
Not far away came the wailing sound of a siren, and the police car that stopped nearby immediately sealed off the area completely.
Everything from the living world, noisy and chaotic, rushed toward her, quickly pushing and pulling her forward.
Yu Qing only had time to look back once at that haunted place.
In the dark depths of the dense forest, a slender ghost stood quietly.
He watched her being surrounded and disappear onto the road leading to the living world.
…
The living are troublesome.
The dead only need an obituary to announce to the world and then have no more worries forever. But the living who go missing for fifteen days are listed as missing persons and repeatedly questioned about the cause and process of events. The landlord sends messages begging you not to die, relatives send messages to inquire, one by one, explanations are given, and you have to repeatedly say:
“Yes, yes, yes, I am not dead, I really am not dead.”
“What? A certain woman delivering food has been missing for fifteen days and is now dead? No, n,o no, that is fake news!”
When you open the door of the rental house at midnight, after fifteen days without closing the windows, the result is that all the clothes inside are soaking wet, and there is water on the floor.
Yu Qing hurriedly gathered the clothes and closed the windows. It was already three o’clock in the morning.
She collapsed on the bed and fell asleep, vaguely feeling around in her pocket and pulling out a mushroom.
Just like Alice falling into the rabbit hole, returning to the busy reality, Yu Qing almost thought she had just had a very vivid dream.
Only after falling asleep, thinking she was still in that haunted place, did she subconsciously think:
Why did the ghost neighbor come back so late today?
Right, tomorrow I need to bring him mushroom soup.
…
In that haunted place, the slender ghost was in a standoff with a chicken.
Yes, Yu Qing forgot to bring her companion.
He knew Yu Qing treasured this chicken quite a lot. When it was windy and rainy, even climbing eighteen floors, she always made sure to tie up the chicken.
Once, he overheard her talking in her sleep: egg, egg, lay eggs.
Oh, how to raise a chicken again.
The slender ghost had no choice but to hold the chicken, hang it by the tree so the chicken could eat bugs, and while he ate the resentful spirits, the chicken pecked at bugs beside him.
After feeding the chicken, the slender ghost returned to the eighteenth floor.
He threw away Yu Qing’s small bed and nightstand that took up space; the only thing he did not throw away was the flower placed on the windowsill.
But because no one changed the water today, the little wildflowers had already begun to wither.
Once the living’s breathing disappears, the whole world seems to have suddenly pressed a mute button. Death should be like this, withering, silent. The slender ghost had spent so many years in this dead silence; after only hearing breathing for a few days, it was impossible to change this long-standing habit.
Thirty thousand one, thirty thousand two…
The night was truly long.
Arya[Translator]
૮꒰˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა ~♡︎