Chapter 12: Fierce Ghost, Fierce Ghost, What Time Is It

◎ Country Ghost Enters the City ◎

The black ghost shadow stretched long, merged into the shadows of the world, merged into the shadows of street trees and buildings at night. The slender ghost crossed the suburban highway, walking toward the city.

The world of the living had many rules. For example, there was a warning light. The living had to line up, wait for a certain light to turn on, then walk. Very much like a rules-based strange tale.

The slender ghost observed for a while. Cautiously lined up with the pedestrians.

No one noticed that the shadow on the ground had suddenly grown larger.

But while the slender ghost could turn into an inconspicuous shadow, the chicken being led could not.

So from afar, people saw a chicken waiting at the traffic light.

The chicken crossed the bustling streets. Red light stop, green light go. Even strictly walking on the crosswalk.

Truly a civilized chicken.

It would stop in front of glass display cases. When passing balloon vendors, it would curiously observe for a while. In front of brightly lit high-rise buildings, would stop the longest.

In the eyes of the slender ghost leaving the haunted place for the first time, Yu Qing should be living in a world full of sunshine and flowers. Because small wildflowers needed to bathe in sunshine and rain to bloom. In dark places without light, they would gradually wither.

But a ghost’s imagination was still too poor.

The slender ghost had always thought, as long as the living ate meat, they could be full. But through the glass display cases, he discovered that the world had all kinds of ice cream, desserts, cakes, all kinds of beautifully shaped foods.

In the high-rise buildings, everyone lived in fine steel and glass boxes. Solid buildings did not need to worry about wind and rain. Even the temperature was constant. By comparison, the broken and leaking Building 18, where rain sometimes drifted in, was a terrible environment.

The slender ghost stood under the streetlamp for a long time, leading the chicken.

That haunted place was actually so broken and desolate.

…

Finding Yu Qing was not difficult. She had previously picked up the pen fairy’s notebook to use as a planner and carried it away in her crossbody bag. All he had to do was follow the trace of resentment to find her home.

If the little wildflower was living comfortably and happily in the world of the living, the slender ghost would probably return the chicken and quickly leave.

After all, if he did not need to worry about her starving thin, or being bent by wind and rain, there would be no need to frequently check whether she was alive. The slender ghost would probably only come out quietly to visit her once every ten or twenty years.

But unlike the imagined little person living in a fine glass box, Yu Qing was actually living a bit poorly.

The city was indeed bustling and lively. But Yu Qing had moved to a low-rent urban village. It was like a corner forgotten by the prosperous world. There were no high-rise buildings, only alleys and low single-story houses. Her rental room was very small. Only a narrow window. Inside, a lot of things were piled in a messy way.

The slender ghost tried to stick his head through the window. But it was too small. He got stuck.

The slender ghost originally intended to back out.

But unlike those constant-temperature glass boxes, in the hot and humid summer, in the small rental room, only an electric fan was spinning. On the small bed, Yu Qing in her sleep was tossing and turning from the heat. When the ghost entered, the room temperature immediately dropped. Yu Qing’s brows relaxed, she turned over, her breathing became long and steady.

The ghost paused for a moment, did not move.

While maintaining this stuck-in-the-window posture, the ghost looked around Yu Qing’s small and crowded home.

The ghost hand curiously poked her fluffy toys, repeatedly pulled the curtain chain.

Stretched his neck to look at the photo on her table. Was this her memorial photo?

Oh, the living did not call it a memorial photo.

Touched her moving electric fan. When the fan suddenly began to click-clack and jerk, the ghost hand swiftly withdrew, cautiously observed the sleeping Yu Qing, and found that she had not woken up.

Played with the curtain chain the entire night.

Today was a cloudy and rainy day. The sun was blocked by thick clouds. The slender ghost was not a resentful spirit that would turn to ashes upon appearing in the daytime. He did not return to the haunted place but quietly stood under the shadow of the eaves.

He saw her get up early, cook noodles, and eat. After hesitating for a long time, she still did not add an egg.

The ghost thought: No wonder she liked that chicken so much.

He watched her ride that little electric scooter and put on her helmet.

Then, he slowly followed behind her, pretending to be the shadow of a building.

But in reality, no building’s shadow would suddenly stick out its head curiously.

This was just an ordinary day in Yu Qing’s life.

As usual, she rushed to deliver breakfast orders during the morning peak, hurriedly picking up and delivering orders.

When picking up orders, some delivery riders would rely on their height and strength, noisily crowding together. Often weaker riders would miss deliveries because they could not push through the crowd. But Yu Qing relied on her small size and agility to slip through and suddenly appear in the front row, raising her hand: “Last four digits 0223, here to pick up!”

Then, under the jealous gazes of others, she would be the first to rush out of the store.

The shadow of the building behind her suddenly stretched long: Oh, she is a little cute.

The wind blew and rain fell. Everyone was running home.

The slender ghost thought: Time to go home. The living will die if they get caught in the rain.

Even chickens need to be led under the eaves when it rains.

But when it rains, the delivery fee increases.

Even so, after several trips back and forth, her clothes would get wet and her shoes would get soaked.

The little yellow helmet went against the crowd, continuing toward the store, picking up orders, putting on a raincoat, and continuing to charge into the heavy rain.

The slender ghost watched her for a long time.

But it was daytime, so he had no way to shield her from the rain.

It was time to eat.

Yu Qing did not think of this at all. After the lunch rush, she finally had some free time. She stood in front of the store hesitating for a long time, and in the end chose a simple egg fried rice.

As it got later, Yu Qing hurried home.

She took off her jacket, hung it on the coat rack, walked to the window, and seeing the rain outside, let out a sound of surprise.

Wasn’t it supposed to stop raining at night?

She was very tired. Yu Qing soon fell asleep, without even hanging up the washed jacket.

…

It was time to leave. Originally he had come just to take a look and return the chicken.

But the slender ghost had not left for a long time.

It was said that the living would die if caught in wind and rain or if they did not eat properly. If he waited ten or twenty years to visit her again, would she have starved to death, died of exhaustion, or died from the rain, becoming a small narrow tombstone?

The ghost hand poked Yu Qing’s face and found that she had fallen into a deep sleep from exhaustion.

He compressed himself as much as possible and squeezed into Yu Qing’s small room. The cramped space immediately became even more crowded.

Yu Qing’s account book was spread open on the table. The ghost peeked at it: The number in the balance column was pitifully small.

The word money appeared frequently throughout Yu Qing’s day in her conversations with shopkeepers and with others.

The slender ghost finally discovered something: Yu Qing seemed to be very short of money.

And he seemed to have a lot of money.

If she had money, would she no longer have to brave wind and rain?

In the morning, Yu Qing was very puzzled.

She remembered buying only five eggs. But when she counted while cooking noodles, the number seemed off. She suspiciously looked at the eggs: When did eggs start dividing, and could increase the more you ate?

But she had no time to think about it. Since she had gotten up later than usual, she quickly finished her noodles in a few bites, and hastily grabbed the jacket hanging by the window.

Clearly, she had completely forgotten that she had not hung the jacket up the day before.

But when Yu Qing opened the door—

Damn it. Who scattered paper money in front of her door?

…

In the rush of an ordinary day, Yu Qing kept wondering if she had offended some neighbor and was being targeted for revenge.

But soon, Yu Qing found that things were taking a strange turn.

At noon, when she wanted to buy a hand-grabbed pancake, she reached into her pocket at the stall and pulled out—paper money.

She switched to another pocket—still paper money.

Yu Qing had no choice but to use mobile payment.

While resting and waiting for orders, she glanced at her phone screen and suddenly noticed that the shadow of the building behind her had moved.

Yu Qing thought it was an earthquake and was startled.

But in the next second, through the reflection, she saw the shadow of the building leaning over, about to peek at her phone.

Yu Qing silently closed her phone.

Fortunately, after seeing so many ghosts, she was no longer surprised.

All the way, Yu Qing resisted the urge to look back.

Ever since she learned that the ghost neighbor did not like to be disturbed, Yu Qing had no intention of approaching him again. After all, she did not want to cause him trouble.

She was a little worried she had misunderstood. After all, the ghost neighbor looked like a horror movie big boss. If he was passing through on the way to destroy Linchuan City, what would she do?

Yu Qing had all sorts of chaotic thoughts the entire day.

When she returned home at night, Yu Qing found a chicken tied to her door.

She quickly chased after it but did not see the familiar figure.

So it was just to return the chicken.

Yu Qing, leading the chicken, felt troubled. Her small room was already cramped. Keeping a chicken would be a disaster. Selling or eating it, she could not bear to do.

Yu Qing thought for a moment and said to the air: “I cannot keep a chicken here. Could I trouble you to take care of it for a while?”

In the dark night, there was no response.

Yu Qing tied the chicken to a utility pole and returned home.

After a while, she opened the window. Sure enough, the chicken was gone.

It was probably him who led it away.

Yu Qing thought this should be the extra chapter after the end of the story, where the author explains the follow-up of the chicken and can quickly wrap it up. Nothing would change. During her lifetime, she would probably never see that ghost neighbor again.

But in the following days, Yu Qing found that the eggs in the basket were increasing the more she ate.

Could it be that helping to raise the chicken came with an egg delivery service?

Local non-rainfall supernatural events also became more frequent.

When she heard the weather forecast, Yu Qing belatedly realized that it had rained that night.

When she held an umbrella, hearing the rain sound becoming smaller and smaller, she knew he had come.

But Yu Qing never looked back, pretending not to notice him.

Yu Qing was very confused. What exactly did he come to do?

That night, Yu Qing lay down early, planning to pretend to be asleep. Logically speaking, after finding out that this eccentric ghost came to her house every night and secretly followed her, Yu Qing should have been afraid. But strangely, she did not feel nervous or scared at all, only curious.

Afraid of giving herself away, she even covered herself with the quilt.

She heard the sound of the electric fan being turned off.

Yu Qing: “……”

There were many ways to murder her. This was too insidious.

While confused, the surrounding temperature quickly dropped.

Yu Qing was stunned for a moment.

The narrow small room was very stuffy and hot.

The slender ghost sat by her small bed, his tall body curled up, keeping a stiff and awkward posture to avoid touching her. But on his blurry face there was no displeased expression. He quietly acts as her air conditioner for the whole night.