Chapter 24: Retirement Day 24: I am at best a kind female ghost...
"bump!"
The old lady in the previous house narrowed her eyes and pointed to two to make three. The card she threw out hit Sang Qiqi's heart. She excitedly picked up the twenty thousand and threw away the useless cards, then turned to look at Jingyu in the next house.
Jingyu's left hand was groping for the cards, a meaningful smile playing on his lips. He raised his chin slightly and gestured over Sang Qiqi's shoulder, "I suggest you look back first."
Sang Qiqi turned around and followed Jingyu's gaze in confusion. She didn't know what was going on until she saw it. As soon as she saw it, she heard a sharp explosion.
In the corner, Li Yucheng, startled by Sang Qiqi's body temperature, was momentarily at a loss. He subconsciously turned to glance at the icy coffin in the center of the mourning hall, then turned back to Sang Qiqi. A myriad of strange thoughts raced through his mind. After a few seconds, he slapped his forehead, thinking he might be overthinking, influenced by the atmosphere of the mourning hall.
He exhaled, put his hands on Sang Qiqi's shoulders, and pushed her twice more.
Sang Qiqi still didn't move at all!
Li Yucheng: “…”
Something is wrong. This time, something is really wrong.
Who could sleep so soundly while lying on their stomach? He tried so hard that he almost pushed half of Sang Qiqi's body out of the table, but Sang Qiqi still didn't wake up!
Li Yucheng swallowed nervously and walked to Sang Qiqi's front with his hands and feet together.
Sang Qiqi was sleeping, her face buried in her arms, slumped over the table. It was impossible to see her face clearly. To check on her, Li Yucheng silently said, "I'm sorry," then poked Sang Qiqi's forehead with a finger of his right hand, struggling to prop her head up. Gazing at the girl's closed eyes, he seemed to have made up his mind. Mustering his courage, he carefully placed two fingers of his left hand under Sang Qiqi's nose.
Sang Qiqi: “!!!!”
Not daring to hesitate any longer, she threw away all the cards in her hand, kicked the stool away, and ran towards herself. The wind caused by her fast speed hit Fu Rui's face who was sitting opposite her. The wobbly stool hit the table leg with a bang, shaking the whole mahjong table.
As soon as Sang Qiqi's ghost entered her body, Li Yucheng's two fingers completely fell under her nose.
Pop.
Before he could feel his breath, a hand patted Li Yucheng's forearm.
Li Yucheng shuddered all over, and the finger that was supporting Sang Qiqi's forehead curled up and released Sang Qiqi's forehead.
But Sang Qiqi's head did not fall off.
She rubbed her forehead, which was hurt by the poke, yawned loudly as if she had just woken up, and asked vaguely, "What's wrong?"
Li Yucheng: “…”
Wake up, wake up.
His pounding heart finally calmed down when he met Sang Qiqi's open eyes. He didn't have the nerve to tell Sang Qiqi, "I saw you weren't moving for a while and thought you'd been gone for a while." He smiled awkwardly and said, "It's nothing. I just saw you sleeping facing the air conditioner vent and was worried you might catch a cold, so I wanted to suggest you change your position."
"Oh, I'm in good physical condition, but thank you anyway." Then he added, "It's just that my temperature is a little low."
Li Yucheng thought to himself that it was more than just a little low.
As a medical student, he offered two friendly reminders: "A low body temperature may cause blood circulation disorders, decreased immunity, and endocrine system imbalances, so you still need to pay attention to it."
But that's not the point.
The key is that it is easy to scare others to death.
Sang Qiqi: "...Okay."
Sang Qiqi was fine, so Li Yucheng relaxed his tense mood. He rubbed his heart, which had just been frightened, and continued to look for the air conditioner remote. Sang Qiqi, on the other hand, changed her angle and continued to lie down. The ghost emerged from her body and returned to the mahjong table.
The three ghosts at the table were discussing Sang Qiqi's acting skills just now.
Jingyu: “Deliberate.”
Old lady: "I can't see clearly. When will you burn my reading glasses for me?"
Fu Rui: "...quite talented."
Jing Yu looked at him with disdain, as if he didn't expect Fu Rui to say such nonsense to cheer Sang Qiqi up.
Fu Rui touched the tip of his nose and thought back to when he first started learning acting from his professor. The professor's face was clearly full of doubt about the world and life, but when he was feeling down, he would still pat his shoulder and comfort him against his will, saying, "Actually, you're quite talented. You see, I only mentioned it to you once, and you won't glare anymore."
That's not talent at all, at best it's just the ability to understand what people say.
Thinking of this, Fu Rui couldn't help but smile.
Sang Qiqi overheard the conversation between Fu Rui and Jing Yu and rolled her eyes at Jing Yu: "As an outsider, please don't point fingers at us insiders."
Jingyu wasn't angry at all, and said in a long tone: "Okay, if I don't order, is this still playable?"
He threw a mahjong tile towards Sang Qiqi.
Sang Qiqi lowered her head and opened her pocket of chips. It was packed with chips. She had made enough money, so she waved her hand decisively: "I don't want to play anymore."
This will prevent her from getting too carried away by the fun and not noticing anyone checking her breath.
The four ghosts got together to count their money. Sang Qiqi won the most, and Fu Rui lost the most.
"I'll treat you guys to a midnight snack tomorrow night." Sang Qiqi patted her pocket and said generously.
"Okay, remember to notify me when the time comes." After saying this, Jingyu carried the mahjong table here and then carried it away.
"Wait!" Sang Qiqi hurriedly called out to the others and turned to Fu Rui, "Do you want to go back to my shop to rest? If you want to go back, you can go with him. He's also an employee of our underworld and can guarantee your safety."
Fu Rui thought about going to the underworld to queue up for reincarnation and thought he would have plenty of time to rest, so he declined the offer and continued to follow Sang Qiqi. After Jing Yu left, he asked curiously, "Are Mr. Jing and Ms. Sang colleagues?"
Fu Rui just came to Sang Qiqi's funeral service today, and she hasn't realized that Jing Yu is the owner of the haunted house next door.
Sang Qiqi nodded. "Yes, but he's from the department next door, the executioner of the Third Hall. He's the best at picking out ghosts' eyeballs and bones. His technique is superb. He can slice them into as many pieces as he wants, and each piece is of a very uniform thickness. He's the hall's hallmark!"
Fu Rui: “?”
Sang Qiqi didn't notice Fu Rui's gradually stiffening expression. She touched her chin, feeling a little strange. "There are quite a few ghosts sent to the Third Palace for punishment, but the number of executioners in the Third Palace is relatively small. Jingyu is so busy every day that he doesn't even have time to sharpen his knives. How can he have time to run a haunted house in the mortal world?"
Besides, the haunted house business doesn’t seem to be doing very well, and it definitely doesn’t make as much money as the underworld.
After all, Jingyu is different from her. She always ranks last every year, but Jingyu is the best employee of the Third Hall, and the bonus he gets is enough for her half a year's salary.
I can’t figure it out, and I’m too lazy to think about it.
It was still a long time before dawn, and Sang Qiqi put aside Jingyu's affairs and dragged the old lady to talk about village gossip. After the old lady finished, it was Fu Rui's turn to talk about entertainment gossip. Sang Qiqi listened with gusto, quietly roasting some sunflower seeds for the two of them, and they chatted while they ate.
A few hours later, when daylight fell, all the relatives and neighbors of the Li family, under the auspices of Sang Qiqi, offered incense to the old lady. The old lady sat on the side with Fu Rui, pointing fingers at her weird relatives. Fu Rui listened carefully and occasionally responded with a few words, which made the old lady like him more and more.
She is about the same age as her eldest grandson Li Yufeng. Fu Rui is good-looking and has a good temper. She is the favorite of mothers and grandmothers.
The old lady patted Fu Rui's shoulder and said with a smile, "Xiao Rui, my eldest grandson bought me a super luxurious villa with three floors. It's boring for me to live alone. If you don't mind, we can live together. We can also ask Boss Sang to hire a nanny and a housekeeper. They can take care of our food, clothing, housing and transportation, and even play mahjong with us. Next time we play mahjong with Boss Sang and Boss Jing, we can empty their pockets!"
Fu Rui suppressed his laughter and nodded.
He quite likes Mrs. Li. The old lady's personality is a bit like grandma's, but she is much more lively than grandma.
Fu Rui thought that if he had not died, and could have always been by his grandmother's side and fulfilled his filial duties, perhaps his grandmother would have gradually cast off the heavy burden she was carrying and become like an old lady.
However, there are no ifs anymore.
After the incense-burning ceremony, Fu Rui took Sang Qiqi, now free, to their old apartment. Fu Rui had bought an apartment in a prestigious affluent area of northern Beijing, citing privacy as a key consideration. After dodging security guards, they finally reached the door, only to find it open. A cleaning lady emerged, carrying a large pile of cleaning tools. Inside, a male figure stood by the sofa, answering a phone call.
The sound was intermittent.
"Well, I'm at Fu Rui's apartment right now. If you're not feeling well, don't come over. I just asked the cleaning staff to come and clean the house. I'm still in Beijing North and will come to see you in a couple of days. Then I'll take you to his hometown to burn incense for him."
Although the man was standing with his back to them, Fu Rui still recognized him from his familiar voice and back: "It's Li Cheng. He should be calling Teacher Hou."
Sang Qiqi hid in the corridor and sighed, "I feel like a thief."
Fu Rui floated back and couldn't help but pursed her lips and smiled when she heard this: "I'm sorry, Boss Sang."
He also began to follow the old lady and call Sang Qiqi "Boss Sang".
Sang Qiqi glanced at him and quietly waited for Li Cheng to leave. However, the talented director seemed quite free today. After the cleaning staff left, he stayed alone for nearly an hour before slowly rising from the sofa, propped up on his knees. He walked to the door and quietly looked back at the various trophies displayed in the alcove. After several tens of seconds, he turned and left.
The elevator doors closed and began to descend.
Sang Qiqi and Fu Rui also walked out of the safety passage.
At Fu Rui's prompt, Sang Qiqi opened the door and quickly ran to the study. In the second drawer under the desk, he found a stack of postcards signed by Fu Rui. Sang Qiqi asked him, "Do you want to take them all?"
Fu Rui nodded and said, "Then you can ask Xiao Xing or Li Yucheng to give it to another fan. It will just become waste if it stays in this apartment anyway."
Upon hearing this, Sang Qiqi found an iron box in the house and put all the postcards in it. When she passed by the living room, she found that Fu Rui was standing in the same place as Li Cheng just now, and their gazes were also in the same place.
"I'll make you a similar trophy and burn it for you? Although it definitely won't be the same one as before." Sang Qiqi suggested.
Fu Rui laughed and shook his head: "Don't bother, the trophy is not that important to me, I enjoy the satisfaction that the performance brings me more."
-
The journey from the apartment to the funeral home required crossing many streets, and the distance was a bit far. Sang Qiqi rode a shared electric bike with Fu Rui sitting behind her. Following Fu Rui's instructions, she turned the bike into a small alley.
Buy fried chicken tenders.
Sang Qiqi returned to the funeral service center with a big bag of snacks, feeling satisfied. She removed the sign hanging on the door handle, opened the door wide, and waited for business to come.
After a few minutes, someone came, but it was Xing Xiwei and her sisters.
Xing Xiwei pushed the door open and walked in. She glanced around the room and spotted Sang Qiqi, who was sitting at the cashier watching a play and eating chicken strips. She greeted her warmly and then said bluntly, "I thought you weren't going to open the shop today. Is your funeral director here?"
Um?
Sang Qiqi asked them to sit down and said, "How did you know I was going to preside over the funeral?"
"It's trending on the search list." Xing Xiwei's sister took out her phone and handed it to Sang Qiqi. "We were still reading the comments on the way here. Sister Qiqi, take a look."
Sang Qiqi pushed all the snacks in her hand to them and glanced down at her phone screen.
This is a marketing account submission, the post is anonymous, and it says: Bobo, I'm here to submit my work, I hope it's accepted! Today I went to an elder's funeral with my parents, and unexpectedly saw Sang Qiqi at the funeral! I initially thought Sang Qiqi was a relative of my elder, but it turns out she was the funeral director! Oh my god, my brothers and sisters said she even cleaned and changed the clothes of the deceased herself. She really does the job! [Photo][Photo][Photo]
The three photos are of Sang Qiqi squeezing among aunts and grandmothers to stack gold ingots, Sang Qiqi sleeping in a corner, and Sang Qiqi holding up her mobile phone from the crowd.
[? ]
[It's really Sang Qiqi! Holy crap, I thought she just sold paper figurines and urns, but she even hosts funerals?]
What a coincidence! I was at the funeral, one of the first people there. I saw Sang Qiqi and the host family carry the deceased into the coffin. Honestly, I didn't like Sang Qiqi before, but she was so serious. Everything at the funeral was arranged so neatly, and she even presided over the incense burning this morning! She really is serious about this job, not just trying to attract attention or engage in marketing!
[She also found the thief who stole the old lady’s money for the host family, hahahaha]
[Yes, yes, that's what happened in the third photo. The old lady's savings were taken away by her youngest son before she died, but the youngest son and his wife refused to admit it. Finally, Sang Qiqi found a recording of the conversation between the couple.]
[Ah…it’s about this. It turns out Sang Qiqi is in our town. I just heard this gossip from my mom/wipes sweat]
[Who doesn’t know how beautiful the urns in Sang Qiqi’s shop are? Come and see them! !]
[Have you all been gushing over Qiao Tianyi's acting lately and stopped paying attention to Sang Qiqi? A few days ago, Jiang Zhen, the host of the Li Zi live streaming platform, visited Sang Qiqi's one-stop funeral service. The paper figurines and urns there were so interesting! Here's the link to the screen recording; click on it if you're interested.]
[Hey, I bought a lot of paper-cuts and am waiting for delivery.]
[So many compliments for Sang Qiqi? Isn't this just marketing?]
[Qiao Tianyi fans, get lost! Your brother's acting is terrible, so why don't you just come and eat other people's melons?]
Xing Xiwei bit a piece of bread and moved closer to Sang Qiqi, whispering, "Sister Qiqi, I checked for you. After this trending search came up, your Weibo followers increased by 20,000."
"Yeah, yeah. I also watched the recording of that anchor named Jiang Zhen. A lot of people in the comments praised your paper crafts for being so interesting."
Sang Qiqi listened to the two girls' chattering conversation, a smile curling her lips. After returning the phone to Xing Xiwei's sister, she pulled out her own phone and checked Weibo. Sure enough, she saw hundreds more private messages.
However, most of these private messages were from Qiao Tianyi's fans, greeting her family as usual.
"Thank you for telling me this news. Someone asked me to give you some things."
"Are you going to give us something?" Xing Xiwei pointed at her face and exchanged a glance with her little sister, her eyes full of curiosity.
Sang Qiqi glanced at the man sitting beside them, quietly listening to their conversation, and smiled: "Yeah, wait a moment."
She turned and took out the tin box from the drawer under the cash register, then walked back to Xing Xiwei and the others. Facing their curious gazes, Sang Qiqi opened the tin box, revealing a stack of postcards inside. The postcards were face-up, with some simple hand-drawn designs on them, looking quite ordinary at first glance.
Xing Xiwei didn't understand.
But before she could ask, Sang Qiqi had already turned over the postcards.
On the writing page that should have been blank, the two words "Fu Rui" were signed in a flamboyant style in black pen, and there was a very simple sentence below: Thank you for your love, I wish you peace and a worry-free life.
Xing Xiwei was stunned when she saw the black signature. She stared at the two words blankly and didn't blink for a long time.
As a fan of Fu Rui, Xing Xiwei has seen his autograph.
That was three years ago, right after she finished her college entrance exams, and Fu Rui happened to be in a new movie. Movie releases always have roadshows. Xing Xiwei didn't get tickets for the roadshow at the Beijing Cinema, but she did get tickets for the movie in the capital of the neighboring province.
She had put a lot of effort into getting tickets and trying to convince her parents, but her luck wasn't great. At that time, there were cases of minors going missing after traveling alone, and her parents, worried about her safety, forcibly canceled her trip.
The night after the roadshow ended, she sat alone in her room and browsed Weibo.
The Weibo super topic is full of fans at the roadshow showing off their materials and posting videos.
She clicked on all the videos one by one and saw that some fans were happily interviewing Fu Rui, and some fans were lucky enough to go on stage to hug Fu Rui and get his autograph and blessings.
Later, she stared at the signature for a long time and began to wonder - if she were present this time, would she also be lucky enough to do so?
But there is no answer to this question.
Xing Xiwei also had no chance to see Fu Rui again, because the movie released when she graduated from high school was the last movie Fu Rui made before his death.
A year later, when the new movie was still in preparation, he left them forever in a car accident.
Her fingers pinched her thigh, and the thin fabric could not block the intense pain, but it was this pain that forced her thoughts back.
After a long while, she finally asked in a hoarse voice, "Where, where did it come from?"
She had seen the signature from three years ago countless times, so she could naturally tell whether the signature in front of her was real or fake.
Sang Qiqi held her face in her hands, thought for a moment, and replied, "Fu Rui asked his friend to preserve it before he died. It's authentic, don't you want it?"
"Yes! Of course!" It was Xing Xiwei's sister who spoke first. The little girl cried and laughed, "Fu Rui's autograph is out of print. I dream of getting one!"
Xing Xiwei blinked hard, holding back her tears, and smiled broadly at Sang Qiqi, "I want one too. I'll keep it as a souvenir and absolutely won't lose it."
Sang Qiqi nodded, stuffed the iron box into Xing Xiwei's hands, and told her what Fu Rui had said: "Then you can give the rest to his fans, is that okay?"
"Really?"
"certainly."
"No problem!" Xing Xiwei hugged the iron box tightly. "I have a lot of Brother Fu's fans on WeChat. We even set up a group. Every month, everyone donates a little bit of their salary or living expenses to Hope Primary School or people in need, as far as they can. The sisters in the group are all die-hard fans of Brother Fu, so it won't go a wrong way to give it to them."
"Okay, thank you for your hard work."
The two girls were clearly thrilled to receive Fu Rui's autograph. They held Sang Qiqi's hand and repeatedly said, "Thank you, Sister Qiqi," and "I love you, Sister Qiqi." Sang Qiqi's ears were buzzing, and she quickly sent them home.
Watching their backs disappear from her sight, she tilted her head to look at Fu Rui, who was also staring at the girl, and teased with a smile: "Actor Fu has set a good example. Your fans are all kind girls too."
Fu Rui curled her lips and nodded, adding, "You are also a kind girl."
Sang Qiqi took a bite of the cake and said, "At most, I'm a kind female ghost."
-
Sang Qiqi stayed in the store the whole afternoon, but Fu Rui went to the old lady's funeral first to chat with the bored old lady.
During the journey, a kid knocked on the door of the storage room. Sang Qiqi pushed the door open and saw that the various paper-made fishing rods and urns customized by the netizen named "Kaqimo" were ready.
She contacted Kaqimo, but he said he was busy today, so Sang Qiqi asked him to come tomorrow afternoon.
Just after setting the time, a shrill horn beeped outside the door, carried by the wind to Sang Qiqi's ears. Sang Qiqi didn't take it seriously. Huaishui Street wasn't very spacious, and some residents weren't very well-mannered, so traffic jams and pedestrian jams were common. Sang Qiqi even brought a small stool to the door to sit and watch the two drivers spitting and bickering, which was very exciting.
After beeping for a long time but no one came, Jingyu took out his cell phone and sent a WeChat message to Sang Qiqi with only two simple words on it: Come out.
Sang Qiqi: “?”
She walked out with a frown, and immediately saw Jingyu and... the black tricycle he was sitting in.
Jingyu rode the tricycle in a circle in front of Sang Qiqi. The tricycle made a "ku ku ku" sound. When it passed the speed bump, Jingyu was shaken so much that he flew off the seat. The whole tricycle almost fell apart with a clang.
After patiently watching for a while, she finally couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"
Jingyu: "Let me show you this little tricycle."
Sang Qiqi: "Boss Jing, business at this haunted house is so bad that you've been relegated to using a tricycle for transportation?"
Jingyu looked at her quietly, a smile slowly rising from the corner of his mouth: "Who told you this is mine?"
Sang Qiqi immediately had a bad feeling. Sure enough, the next second, Jingyu patted the tricycle and, with a smile, dropped a bombshell: "Here, this delivery truck approved for you by the underworld. It's a completely used, seventh-hand truck. It's been through three car accidents. It's been through the back of a Porsche, the head of a truck, and even took to the sky shoulder to shoulder with a bicycle. It's known for its experience and indestructibility. Get it today at a special price of 880, plus a bucket of pink paint and a cat-ear helmet. How do you like it?"
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