Ghosts don't want to be reincarnated

Today is the first day of the new year when the gates of hell open.

Tian Baozhu started to feel it in the morning. The ground was shaking slightly from time to time. Knowing that there would be fluctuations when the Ghost Gate opened, Tian Baozhu was much calmer than the first time she encountered the Ghost Gate opening.

After helping Meng Po, Tian Baozhu and Hei Wuchang returned to their farming work today.

Walking on the road to the underworld, they saw many ghosts still wandering around, seemingly in no hurry at all.

"The Ghost Gate is open today, why do the ghosts seem so leisurely?" Tian Baozhu wondered.

"There are far fewer ghosts lining up to reincarnate today." Hei Wuchang replied to her. He was also surprised that the opening of the Ghost Gate today was abnormal compared to previous times.

In the past, the ghosts would gather impatiently, forming a long queue. Today, as I walked along, I saw that the queue was not long, and the ghosts came sparsely.

Outside the reincarnation team, there are many more ghosts strolling leisurely in the ghost market, by the Forgetful River, on the Yellow Spring Road, and by the experimental field of the red spider lily.

You can also see some ghosts gathered in groups, striking the classic tourist photo pose, with their arms outstretched to form a heart. They don't enter the flower fields, but simply take photos by the roadside. Tian Baozhu doesn't bother them, and even hears them say, "Look, the flowers here are starting to wilt. While they're still in full bloom, let's check in and send a photo to our families on earth to reassure them."

She also saw the ghost of the retired old man, whose activities were no longer limited to the flower fields.

Tian Baozhu greeted him and he said, "I still like to go shopping in the ghost market. Look, I found this great treasure."

It is a birdcage held in the hand.

He said, "This is no ordinary birdcage. It was made by a famous master craftsman. When I was little, I really wanted a beautifully crafted birdcage. It didn't matter if it had a bird or not; I loved the beauty of the cage. I traded some wine for it, but I don't really like wine. My family always brought it down for me, and I was so happy to get it for something I loved."

Tian Baozhu asked another question, "Grandpa, when will you be reincarnated?"

"Oh, I can reincarnate anytime. The thought of reincarnating, starting over, and having to do a lot of work makes me lose motivation. If there were more leisure and entertainment, more flowers and plants in the underworld, I wouldn't want to reincarnate anymore."

Tian Baozhu was shocked. Since when did ghosts stop wanting to reincarnate?!

Tian Baozhu said, "Grandpa, you can't think like that. Don't you long for life on earth?"

"Now I can look at red flowers every day, no one cares about me, and there are these sober ghosts to chat with me. It's so lively. This is what we call a leisurely life. Life in the underworld is also very happy now."

Some are satisfied with the human world, while others are dissatisfied. Those ghosts used to be numb, with no choice. Now they are much more awake, their consciousness is active, and their thoughts and ideas have become more diverse. Tian Baozhu couldn't say whether his thoughts were right or wrong.

They went to work, and Tian Baozhu said goodbye to the old man. Looking at him carrying the bird cage he had exchanged for and strolling somewhere else, Tian Baozhu thought: The old man seems to be very happy here. I didn't expect that there are ghosts who don't want to reincarnate.

※※※

Tian Baozhu and Hei Wuchang returned to their farming work. The helpers reported to them that the Yellow Springs Road had been reclaimed and they could plant red spider lilies on the newly reclaimed land.

Tian Baozhu planned to plant most of the bulbs she harvested in the new plot, leaving the remaining tenth unplanted and giving it to Meng Po. It was Meng Po's willingness to lend her the seeds that allowed her to grow a continuous field of red spider lilies along the Yellow Springs Road. Now that the seeds had yielded new bulbs, she wanted to repay her debt.

They sowed the seeds according to the procedure, and the helping employees were familiar with the process and worked quickly. Before noon, they had planted all the seeds in the new land and completed the watering and fertilizing work.

Tian Baozhu carried a bag filled with red spider lily seeds and wanted to deliver it to Meng Po. At first, Tian Baozhu said that she could carry it and could deliver it by herself, and Hei Wuchang also agreed with her idea.

But before leaving, Tian Baozhu casually said, "I wonder if there are many ghosts queuing up today", which made Hei Wuchang concerned, and he planned to go with Tian Baozhu.

"Woof woof." The vicious dog also followed.

"Will you come with us, little dog?"

Tian Baozhu thought that the puppy originally lived by the Wangchuan River, and it must have some feelings for the place.

"Woof~" the vicious dog replied to her, as if saying, I will ask her to plant more red spider lilies beside the Forgotten River.

※※※

The two men and the dog walked to Naihe Bridge. Tian Baozhu held a large bag in one hand, Hei Wuchang shared one bag, and the vicious dog also carried a small bag on its back.

As I walked along, all I saw were ghosts wandering around, and no queues were seen.

Tian Baozhu: "It ended really early today. I didn't see any teams before noon."

Hei Wuchang: "It's not like it ended early, but it seems that there are no ghosts queuing up..."

The two were silent for a moment, because what Hei Wuchang said was the fact right in front of them.

What will happen if a ghost doesn’t want to reincarnate?

At the Naihe Bridge, they saw several employees of Meng Po, who were sitting around a vat, scratching their heads and discussing something intensely; Meng Po, who was in charge, was lying on the railing of the Naihe Bridge, with her head buried, motionless, ignoring the anxious noise beside them.

The atmosphere was not right, Tian Baozhu walked over quickly, but before she could ask about the situation, the employees rushed to complain.

Something terrible has happened! The ghosts don't want to be reincarnated anymore, and for the first time in a thousand years, Lady Mengpo's Mengpo soup is left over.

They didn't know what to do with the leftover soup. Originally, it was Lady Mengpo who was to make the decision. However, after Lady Mengpo personally handed the Mengpo soup to the last ghost who came today, she just sat on the railing and didn't say a word.

When the subordinates saw Tian Baozhu and the others coming, they asked them to step aside and explained the situation.

Tian Baozhu and her employees said that they would deliver the seeds today, and they also wanted to ask Meng Po to help them find golden nanmu seedlings, but it seemed that now was not the right time.

She and Hei Wuchang could understand why Meng Po was so depressed and devastated. As an assistant, she felt bad seeing the Meng Po soup made from the ingredients she had spent so many days searching for was left behind, not to mention Meng Po herself, who had watched ghosts reincarnate for thousands of years.

Tian Baozhu patted Mengpo's shoulder, trying to say something comforting: "Mengpo, think about it this way. There's still some Mengpo soup left, which can be used next time. You don't have to rush to find herbs. This is also a good thing..."

"Not good." Meng Po's voice trembled, as if she was about to sob in the next second.

"Every time I see them reincarnate, I feel like I'm being reborn myself. They don't need to reincarnate now, I've been abandoned."

Meng Po was in a depressed mood. Tian Baozhu originally wanted Meng Po to help her find golden nanmu saplings, but now she couldn't bring herself to say it. She decided to wait until Meng Po calmed down.

Tian Baozhu said, "Don't be sad yet. Let's do more to persuade them. Maybe the ghosts were just busy having fun and forgot. Next time before the ghost gate opens, we should ask the ghosts to line up and remind them more often."

"Hmm." Meng Po only replied, and then said, "Sorry, sister, please let me be quiet."

Tian Baozhu felt that her comforting was a mess, but she couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Now that things had come to this, she should pack up her things first.

She asked Mengpo's staff to scoop out the remaining Mengpo soup, put it in bottles, and seal it tightly. Some employees cleaned the boiling pot and returned it to the temporary staff rest area, while others took the bottles of soup back to Mengpo's dormitory.

She let the vicious dog go back to the red spider lily experimental field, and she and Hei Wuchang carried bags of bulb seeds to Meng Po's dormitory, and also sent Meng Po back to the dormitory together.

After finishing all the arrangements, she and Hei Wuchang returned to their respective dormitories.

After closing the door, Tian Baozhu sat on the bed in a daze, wondering what had happened today.

The ghost doesn't want to reincarnate, and Meng Po's faith is shattered.

Either of these two things would have been difficult for her, but they happened at the same time.

"Little girl, this may be caused by the flowers you planted." The old man's words echoed in my ears again.

Was it her fault? Was it her farming that caused the ghost's transformation?

No, her mind is so confused. She just wants to be quiet and not think anymore.

…

※※※

In the middle of the night, Tian Baozhu was awakened by the shock.

She didn't know when she fell asleep. The continuous tremors made her run out of the door. Outside the door, she saw Hei Wuchang also running out.

She had only experienced the Ghost Gate opening once. She knew that it would be accompanied by fluctuations, but could it vibrate continuously for such a long time? Moreover, it was not the time for the Ghost Gate to open, so how could there be fluctuations?

She asked Hei Wuchang: "Senior, has the Ghost Gate's meeting ever developed to the point of an earthquake?"

"No, there will be a little vibration, but it won't be this big and this continuous. It's the first time in all these years that there is a vibration when the Ghost Gate opens." Hei Wuchang had just finished answering when he heard a sharp dog bark coming from the direction of the experimental flower field.

They looked out the window nervously, only to see white fog rising outside. Even the bright light of the fluorescent grass that usually shone in the dark was obscured by the fog.

Earthquakes and white fog, strange phenomena that have never appeared when the ghost gate opens, appeared in the dark middle of the night.

"Did you hear that just now? There was a puppy screaming over there in the experimental flower field."

"I heard it. It doesn't usually make such loud noises when it's exorcising ghosts. Could something formidable have entered..."

"The puppy barked once and then fell silent. I'm worried about it... No, I have to go see what happened!"

Tian Baozhu hurried downstairs, and Hei Wuchang followed her silently.

It was so quiet. There was no sound around the dormitory building late at night, and only the sound of their footsteps echoed in the corridor.

Each of the eighteen floors was as quiet as if it were sound asleep. Tian Baozhu had never imagined that walking down in the dark night would be so scary. It really felt like walking gradually towards the hell below.

She didn't have much energy to give to the summoning bell, so the light seemed to be swallowed by the darkness. The brightness was much weaker than before, only illuminating the visible range of more than one meter in front of her eyes.

As they descended from the second floor to the first, the fog grew thicker. As they walked outside, it even covered their heads. They couldn't see anything in front of them. The ordinary roads and the nearby ghost market were all obscured by the fog.

"This is unusual! Come closer to me."

Hei Wuchang's voice became tense, and Tian Baozhu couldn't help but get nervous. She quietly pulled Hei Wuchang's sleeve. Hei Wuchang glanced at her sideways. Tian Baozhu wanted to let go, but he said, "Follow me closely, don't lose me."

She didn't let go and nodded. They were ghost messengers and had their own weapons. If anyone took the opportunity to cause trouble, they could deal with it. Hei Wuchang had been in the underworld longer than her, and he would give her good guidance if they encountered any situation.

Thinking of this, she gradually calmed down.

As soon as they walked out of the staff dormitory, the ground began to shake again almost at the same time, as if someone had set up an obstacle to prevent them from leaving.

"It's so unusual, with the white fog and the earthquake. It's so dark, there's nothing we can do. Let's wait until the sun rises to see what's going on."

Hei Wuchang asked Tian Baozhu and him to return to the dormitory building, and the shaking stopped immediately.

"Are we going back?"

"Let's go up a few floors. The fog is too thick here. If we inhale too much fog, we will become abnormal."

They walked up to the fourth floor. The fog was thinner than below and did not rise any further, so they sat down on the stairs.

The staircase was narrow, and sitting side by side was a bit awkward. Tian Baozhu felt so close that she could see the length of Hei Wuchang's eyelashes, and a single movement of her arm could brush his sleeve. Hei Wuchang seemed to notice her movements, and he tried to move away slightly to create some personal space between them, but his left side collided with the wall, making a dull thud.

Uh...they just sit there and wait until dawn?

Tian Baozhu felt a little uncomfortable and she planned to say something to break the awkwardness.

What topic should I talk about? Tian Baozhu thought for a moment and asked:

"The Ghost Gate is open today, but the ghosts are unwilling to reincarnate. What do you think, Senior? Is it good or bad for the ghosts to stay and not reincarnate?"

"Ghosts don't reincarnate... I can't tell right from wrong."

Tian Baozhu was surprised: "Didn't you always want me to reincarnate quickly?"

"Yes, that was my initial thought. I no longer have any hope for reincarnation, but you do have a chance. I hope you can reincarnate quickly and not be bound by the 'work' in the underworld. But your stay has changed the underworld, allowing me to see a life that was previously impossible in the underworld. I don't know if I'm just wishful thinking and projecting my thoughts onto you. But I still want you to understand that the underworld itself is not a place where you can stay for long."

Hei Wuchang affirmed her contribution to the farming work in the underworld. Tian Baozhu felt warm in her heart. He had always appreciated her efforts.

But when Tian Baozhu remembered what Old Bai Wuchang said at that time, "The worst ending in the underworld is disappearance", her heart couldn't help but wrench in her throat again.

"Senior, you said you had no expectations of reincarnation, so have you ever thought about leaving?"

"All the time. Before I was mistaken for the Black Impermanence."

"Why didn't you leave?"

"I no longer have the qualifications to leave. I fell into the River of Oblivion and lost the qualifications to reincarnate."

"ah?!!"

[This year, it's said that a few unlucky souls missed their steps on the rotten bridge planks and fell into the River of Oblivion, losing their chance to reincarnate.]

Even if it's only half a chance, you still have to fight for it desperately and struggle to grab a glimmer of hope, right?

[It's okay if it's later. Those ghosts don't need to wait a while. I wonder how many people will fall off this broken bridge today.]

In a flash, several flashbacks gave Tian Baozhu answers to all the questions she had about Hei Wuchang.

She finally understood why he was angry about that employee's dereliction of duty, why he cared about the repair of the Naihe Bridge, why he cared about the golden nanmu, and why he was rushing her to reincarnate...

He had been caught in a heavy rain before, so he wanted to hold an umbrella for those who came after him.

But when he talked about his experiences, he always spoke lightly.

Tian Baozhu suppressed the sadness that was welling up in her, pulled up Hei Wuchang's sleeve, and said softly:

"Let's wait for Meng Po to recover her mood, and then let her take us to find the golden nanmu seedlings, okay?"