A light drizzle fell for half the night, and unsurprisingly, the next day, villagers went up the mountain in groups of three or five after work to pick mushrooms.

Zhang San, a notorious lazybones in the village, tried to blend in with the crowd, but because he didn't bathe from winter to summer and the stench he emitted was too unbearable, he was driven away by the villagers.

Zhang San walked along a deserted path overgrown with weeds, cursing and swearing.

He thought to himself: Fine, I won't follow you. I'll pick them myself, three baskets of mushrooms, and that'll drive those meddlesome women crazy.

Holding his breath, Zhang San picked up quite a few mushrooms, and walked deeper and deeper into an unfamiliar area.

It was not entirely unfamiliar, as there were obvious signs of lightning strikes on the nearby rocks that had rolled down.

Zhang San cursed his bad luck. He had almost finished picking the mushrooms and was about to turn around and go down the mountain when a casual glance made him notice a corner of inconspicuous red hidden under the rocks.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhang San walked over and carefully cleared away the rubble. The outline of the coffin that was revealed startled him so much that he fell to the ground with a thud.

As he lowered his gaze, a glimpse of dazzling golden yellow caught Zhang San's eye out of the corner of his eye.

He hurriedly but cautiously crawled over and peeked out, picking up a solid gold hairpin.

Zhang San didn't recognize the hairpin the woman was wearing, but he recognized the gold!

With trembling hands, he bit down, leaving a shallow tooth mark. It was indeed gold. Zhang San was almost dizzy from the sudden windfall.

He suddenly sat up straight, his eyes burning with greed as he looked at the wooden coffin, muttering to himself, "There must be something good inside."

Then, disregarding everything else, they went to open the coffin and retrieve the treasure.

His fervor overwhelmed all fear of the unknown. Once he had all the gold inside, he planned to buy an apartment in the city, a respectable job, and marry the village beauty…

Thinking of this, Zhang San grinned maniacally, then suddenly spat out, "Now that I'm rich, who would want to marry a country bumpkin? Aren't fashionable city women more attractive than village beauties?"

As his hand touched the red coffin, a woman's delicate laughter suddenly emanated from within.

Hehehe!

Hehehehe!

Zhang San's mother cried out and fell back to the ground, backing away on all fours, her gaze towards the coffin filled with horror.

His face was visibly pale, and his lips trembled uncontrollably: "There's a ghost!"

With a piercing howl, he no longer cared about treasure or fortune, and scrambled away on all fours...

After running a distance, out of the area struck by lightning, Zhang San slipped and fell several times on the muddy mountain path. His head was spinning, and his hands and feet ached...

Yet, one could still hear the woman's unique laughter from within the coffin: "Hahaha! Hehehehe!"

Zhang San, who had fallen and scraped his feet countless times along the way, finally reached the familiar path and collapsed on the ground, completely certain of his fate.

The woman's laughter was definitely not a hallucination caused by excessive fear.

It really exists!

Zhang San, convinced he had seen a ghost, lay there for a while, trying to catch his breath. Confirming no evil spirits were following him, he was about to lean against a tree to get up and go home…

On this trip, not only did he encounter something evil but fail to retrieve the treasure, he also lost the basket of mushrooms he brought into the mountains. Just as he was feeling devastated and full of regret, he felt something strange with his right hand as he reached to support the tree trunk.

Upon closer inspection... it turned out to be the gold hairpin that he had brought down from the mountain, and he hadn't lost it while running all the way; he was holding it tightly in his hand.

Zhang San was both happy and afraid.

The good news is that he sold the hairpin on the black market, and he will be able to live a life of plenty for the rest of his days.

What I fear is that if I take someone else's gold, the filth inside the coffin will come after me...

Zhang San returned to the dilapidated mud-brick house with a mix of fear and excitement. After his parents died, his older brother and sister-in-law, in order to get rid of him, willingly moved and built a new house, leaving the old house to him.

Zhang San, clutching the gold hairpin like a thief, huddled in the corner of the kang (heated brick bed), his mind in turmoil. In the end, poverty and destitution triumphed over his fear.

He decided to wait one night, and if the thing came after him before tomorrow demanding the hairpin back, he would consider himself unlucky and return it.

If he doesn't come... then don't blame Zhang San for robbing the rich to help the poor.

People are barely surviving, so dirty things aren't that scary!

With this feeling in mind, I stared wide-eyed from dawn till dusk, and then into the next dawn.

The first rooster crowed in the village. Zhang San, who had been on guard all night, collapsed onto the kang (a heated brick bed), laughing so hard he was convulsing. Nothing happened. Nothing happened all night.

Even the heavens and that unknown female ghost were helping him.

On this day, the villagers of Shanggong saw a crazy-looking Zhang San.

On this day, Zhang San exchanged his gold hairpin for something he might never have seen in several lifetimes.

The poor are most likely to lose themselves when they suddenly become rich. Within a day, many people will notice that something is wrong with him.

Zhang San, the poorest and slovenly man in the village, went to the city and not only returned with a brand-new bicycle, but also with all sorts of nice things hanging on the handlebars...

He slammed his fist on the table and demanded of the brigade leader that a new house be built for him.

Undisguised flaunting of wealth attracts those with ulterior motives.

After being repeatedly beaten and interrogated by the village hooligans, it soon became no secret that he had found the hairpin at what time, where, and where.

The scoundrel was skeptical of the female ghost who was making eerie laughter, suspecting that he was spreading rumors to intimidate them in order to monopolize the treasure.

Zhang San, his face bruised and swollen, cried more bitterly than if his own father had died, swearing that he had not told a single lie.

Some of the hooligans, who believed a little, took advantage of the night and went up the mountain with torches.

As soon as the others left, more than a dozen burly men emerged from the bushes, all looking at the leader of the brigade. "Uncle, should we follow?"

Recalling Zhang San's confident assertions, the brigade leader pondered for a long time. "Go, go and bring those boys' relatives to the ancestral hall."

We won't go up the mountain yet. You all wait here. Once they return, regardless of whether you found anything or not, bring them to the ancestral hall for questioning."

So, without encountering any eerie ghosts with their laughter, the four hooligans who had reaped a bountiful harvest descended the mountain and were immediately dragged to the ancestral hall by the prominent clansmen of the village.

The ancestral hall is now empty except for one room, which contains three chairs, where the brigade leader and the clan elders sit.

Inquire about the journey up the mountain and what you gained.

Those who can be scoundrels, regardless of their abilities, are all tough as nails; the four of them refused to say a word.

It wasn't until their closest relatives were dragged into the house and kicked and shoved that one of them finally couldn't take it anymore and handed over what he had gotten from the mountain, revealing what had happened.

It turned out that the four of them went up the mountain according to the route Zhang San had given them, found the red coffin, and found several pieces of gold and silver scattered near the coffin.

Whether it was because they didn't touch the coffin or because there were no ghosts at all, they didn't hear the eerie laughter that Zhang San was talking about.

Some suggested opening the coffin, believing there would be even more valuable items buried inside.

It was getting late, and Zhang San's words were rather eerie, so the four of them decided to come back tonight to prepare and open the coffin tomorrow morning when the sun was high in the sky.

I never expected... I never expected to be detained by the clan as soon as I got back.

Hearing that the coffin hadn't been opened, the captain's expression was a mixture of joy and regret...

The gold, silver, and jade artifacts that the four men had picked up were confiscated by the brigade, and the men were locked in the woodshed.

The captain looked at the two elders with a conflicted expression and asked, "Should we report this?"