When Hao Cheng opened her eyes again, she no longer needed to worry about the necessities of human life because ^[1]“she had become a perceptionless puffball” – it means that she had transformed into something insubstantial and without consciousness, like a formless breeze or a ghostly presence, … Continue readingshe had become a perceptionless puffball.

Being hit on the head by a flying plate in a hotel accident was already tragic enough, but what was even more unfortunate was that she transmigrated into a world without phones, computers, or WiFi. And to make matters worse, she couldn’t move more than ten meters away from a scholar with the same name and surname as her.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t communicate with the scholar at all. She could only silently follow behind and watch as this other Hao Cheng, a scholar, lost both parents within a month, had no money for their burial, and had to borrow money from relatives.

The relative initially cried out: “It’s not that I don’t want to lend you money, but our family is also having a hard time. Your cousin needs money for her education, and I have to save up for your younger brother’s dowry. Look at the clothes I’m wearing, take this hairpin, don’t mention borrowing money among relatives. Consider it my heartfelt gesture for my brother.”

The scholar, being thin-skinned, thanked him for the hairpin and was then pushed out, watching as the gate closed in front of him. Hao Cheng sneered from above as the uncle who came out specifically changed into luxurious clothing. He even threw away his precious gems and pearls, and took out the simplest silver hairpin to deal with it, a hairpin that was hardly worth anything.

In the following days, the scholar sold valuable items from home to bury her parents. That same evening, she was invited out by the village belle.

Hao Cheng was forced to watch this date unfold. It wasn’t the tenderness and affection she had imagined. Instead, the village belle came to break up with the scholar.

The latter, a delicate and handsome man, spoke in a soft voice even when saying cruel words: “I know you’ve been good to me, but kindness alone won’t feed us. Let’s end this here. In a few days, I will marry the daughter of a wealthy family. Take this money, let’s bury the past, and move on.”

The scholar pleaded desperately, but the village belle left without looking back, leaving the scholar under the moonlight, clutching the money, lost and confused. Hao Cheng looked at the measly amount of silver coins, less than half an ounce, hardly worth the hairpin the scholar had bought for the village belle as a token of love.

It was too tragic. Both parents dead, relatives selfish, lover getting married to someone else, and she was not the bride. Hao Cheng sighed deeply, but she was just a puffball (ghost), unable to comfort the scholar. She had originally thought that the scholar would be motivated to strive for success and reach the peak of life, returning to face these people.

But the result was that the scholar found a hemp rope, stood on a stool, and hanged herself. However, the rope broke, and the scholar fell to the ground. Hao Cheng approached and saw that she was still breathing.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Now the scholar should be able to let go of everything, turn hatred into motivation, strive for success, and come back to confront these people.

But after waiting for three days, the scholar was barely breathing. Instead of anyone else, the only one who came was the wealthy but heartless uncle of the scholar.

The uncle didn’t come to save her; he came because he heard that his niece had not been seen in the village for several days, hoping to take advantage of the situation. The soundproofing of the wooden door of the house wasn’t very good.

The sharp voice said to the servants in the house: “I reckon that useless waste has hanged herself. When we go in later and see her corpse, wrap her up in straw mats. Then find the house deed and land deed.”

The lower voice of the woman clearly belonged to one of his servants: “But, sir, if she’s dead, can you inherit these things?”

The man chuckled: “My niece is quite pitiful. With her parents dead, I’m her only relative. I’ll take care of her affairs. Funeral expenses are expensive, of course, they’ll come from the house deed and land deed of her family.”

“But even if you sell these few things, it won’t be enough for a burial.” The valuable things in the Hao family were all sold by the scholar to give her parents a decent burial.

The man didn’t care: “Who said anything about a decent burial? Just roll her up in some old straw mats, throw her on the mountain, and later we’ll say she was eaten by wild animals. We’ll save money on the coffin, have a white wedding, invite people from the town, and we’ll definitely make some profit.”

Stealing from the dead, how despicable. Despite Hao Cheng being mentally prepared, she was still shocked by the despicable remarks of this stingy uncle. She went to look at the scholar lying on the ground again, but it was too late, the anger overwhelmed her, and her last breath was gone!

This time, Hao Cheng approached the scholar a little closer and was sucked into her body by a strange force. When she opened her eyes again, her light body became extremely heavy, and her neck was still burning with pain.

She tried to move her fingers, luckily, she had enough strength to lift her hand. Hearing that people were about to come in, she struggled to get up, moved a stool behind the door, grabbed a rolling pin, and stood behind the door.

The door was indeed pushed open with great force, but with the stool in front, Hao Cheng wasn’t crushed by the door. When the woman’s head came in, she directly swung the rolling pin, knocking the person unconscious from behind.

Having been a cook for so many years, she still had experience in handling a rolling pin.

The woman suddenly fell, and Kou Qing, who was outside, looked over, facing his niece’s pale face, and he could still see the clear bruise on her neck.

Hao Cheng stood in the shadow, revealing a sinister grin: “Uncle, you’ve made me suffer so much. My parents specifically sent me here to inform you.”

A gust of wind blew through the empty space, as if a cold wind brushed past, Kou Qing shouted, “Ghost!” and immediately ran away with his short legs.

After the cheap uncle fled in panic, Hao Cheng laughed for a while, releasing the frustration left by the original owner in her heart. She uncomfortably raised her collar to cover the marks on her neck.

Neighbors who were alarmed looked over, and Hao Cheng stepped out into the sunlight, smiling awkwardly at them: “Aunt Dong, thieves broke into my house just now. The male thief ran away in fear, and the other one, I knocked her unconscious. I haven’t eaten much these days, feeling weak. Could you please call the Village Chief over?”

She had observed the original owner for many days. Although Aunt Dong had a rough personality and wasn’t particularly kind-hearted, she wasn’t a bad person, and she should help in this matter. Moreover, if there were thieves, it wouldn’t benefit anyone in the village.

Sure enough, she sent her daughters over to help Hao Cheng guard the thief, and brought some food and water for Hao Cheng to fill her stomach.

When the Village Chief was called over, the woman on the ground also woke up, but she had been tied up and couldn’t move easily.

The Village Chief looked at Hao Cheng: “What’s going on?”

Hao Cheng, now restored, explained: “I haven’t been out of the house these days. Two thieves outside, thinking I wasn’t home, were about to break in. I caught them off guard, knocked one unconscious, and the other male thief ran away. I was also exhausted at the time. The neighbors also saw it. Aunt Dong is kind-hearted, so she called you over.”

The Village Chief turned to Aunt Dong, “Is that what happened with the Dong family?”

The latter nodded. When she looked over, the woman was indeed lying at the door.

The Village Chief pondered for a moment: “Since that’s the case, tie up this thief and hand her over to the authorities.”

Hao Cheng was weak, but there were plenty of strong women in the village, so they weren’t afraid of the thief running away.

But someone recognized the thief: “Isn’t this person from the Li family in town, the one married into the Kou family?”

Kou Qing was Hao Cheng’s uncle, and also a person from this Xinghua Village.

Hao Cheng showed an extremely sorrowful expression, and when others asked her with concern, she hesitated for a while before saying, “I just remembered, when I heard the male thief’s voice before, it sounded a bit like my uncle.”

Soon Kou Qing was called over. The servants did wrong, and the master had to take responsibility.

At this point, he also realized that Hao Cheng wasn’t a ghost, so he wasn’t as afraid.

Kou Qing’s eyes turned, and he questioned Hao Cheng: “What happened to this person from my house? I heard that my niece hadn’t been out. I sent someone to check on her, afraid that something might happen. As a result, when we entered the house, we found her hanging. Unexpectedly, after we rescued her, she suddenly picked up the rolling pin nearby and hit our servant. I’m just a man with little strength, so I ran away. If you don’t believe me, just look at Hao Cheng’s neck. Isn’t there a mark there!”

He sneered, “I think it was our servant who was knocked unconscious and dragged to the door by her. I don’t know about it. Saving a person’s life would end up being bitten back. Who dares to save others in the future?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Hao Cheng went from being a victim to a suspect. The Village Chief looked at Aunt Dong, who said, “I heard a ghost scream at the time, and then I saw Hao Cheng and the woman who had fallen at the door. Whether the person was dragged over by her, I don’t know.”

Everyone looked at Hao Cheng, and her collar was pulled down, revealing the clear marks of being tied up on her neck.