Chapter 2 He Zhao stood up and went to clear the dishes and money; she had thought she wouldn't earn any money today...
He Zhao stood up to clear the dishes and collect the money; she had thought she wouldn't earn any money today. She found it somewhat unbelievable that the white rice could actually be sold. But the moment she saw the banknotes, He Zhao was completely taken aback.
Because this paper money is ghost money.
Although they are different worlds, some things are still roughly the same, and He Zhao even knows a little about what the coins look like. In short—it's impossible for them to have the words "Heaven and Earth Bank" printed on them.
At this point, He Zhao hadn't realized what was happening and only thought he had been tricked.
"Damn it! I was worried about that old lady, wondering if she'd caught a cold or been bullied! And she's so mean, giving me ghost money! What bad luck!"
He Zhao cursed for a long time, but the system remained completely silent, leaving her bewildered. Suddenly, another possibility occurred to her: could that old woman... really be a deadbeat?
Thinking about it carefully, it's not impossible. That old woman looked really strange. In the dead of winter night, dressed so thinly, she bought a bowl of white rice for ten yuan, which she thought no one would ever buy.
And thinking back, the old woman's face was rather pale, she didn't look like a healthy person.
Most importantly, in her final act, the old woman threw down a 10-yuan coin in the form of ghost money. Good heavens, this was the smallest coin in He Zhao's life he had ever seen.
The banknotes at the Heavenly Bank are all in large denominations, starting at a hundred million. Yet, the old woman gave him ten yuan. But no matter how you look at it, something about the old woman is off; maybe she really is a ghost! And the system definitely knows too; it taught me that the final step—sticking the chopsticks upright—isn't that just dead man's food?
Thinking of this, He Zhao felt terrible. The ten yuan that was originally on the table seemed particularly cold, as if it could take his life at any moment.
She shuddered and immediately called out to the system: "System, you damn bastard, come out here! What on earth is going on? That old woman isn't human! She's giving it to a ghost! What use is this ghost money to me? I can't possibly use it to eat! How am I supposed to make money? I can't make any money at all!"
Without a second thought, the system immediately replied: "Yes, host, the customers you are dealing with are not living people, but the dead, vengeful spirits. While eating rice, they can recall the most delicious food they ate in life, which gives them great comfort. As for the coins you earn, the system's shop will buy them back at a 1:10 ratio. That is to say, you earned 10 yuan of ghost money from this transaction and also gained 100 yuan of usable real-world currency."
Hmm… a bowl of white rice, and you can earn 100 yuan directly. Even though He Zhao was a rich girl, she couldn't help but sigh: this is truly a very profitable deal. He Zhao thought about it for a while, and finally agreed hesitantly. After all, she only had less than 500 yuan left in her pocket.
She thought about what the old woman looked like and felt that it wasn't unacceptable; at least the old woman still looked like a human being.
But the next day, He Zhao started to regret her decision and began cursing the system. The other ghosts looked absolutely unlike anyone else, nothing like the old woman. He Zhao wasn't usually afraid of ghosts, but when they were actually in front of her, she was genuinely terrified!
The first ghost that arrived on the second day looked quite different from others.
It was a puddle of mud, emitting a foul stench, unbearably so, like fermented kitchen waste from a sewer. He Zhao had to wear a heavy mask and stand nervously behind the food cart, serving rice to the mud.
After the muddy mess left, she clung to the food cart, thankfully managing not to vomit immediately. Even so, she still gagged several times and vomited some bile.
She encountered all sorts of bizarre and unsettling ghosts after that. Even earning two thousand yuan in one night couldn't soothe her wounded heart.
By 1:30 a.m. on the third night, the situation had worsened. She didn't know what magic the white rice had, but it was clearly attracting ghosts, making them flock to her stall. Most of the ghosts were confused, just like the old woman on the first day, only able to babble words like "hungry," "cold," "painful," and "help me."
But some ghosts are clearly intelligent. They react differently. Moreover, like the ghost in front of him, it turned its completely empty eyes and stared straight at He Zhao. He Zhao even saw a hint of drooling in its eyes.
It doesn't want to eat; it clearly wants to eat itself!
He Zhao swallowed hard, and couldn't help but ask the system in his mind, "You'll protect me, right? Like in those novels, restaurant owners have protective mechanisms, like being invincible in the restaurant! You have that kind of mechanism too, right?"
[I'm sorry, host, I'm just a late-night stall system and have no combat abilities. If you encounter any ghosts that attempt to harm you or vandalize your stall, please handle it yourself.]
"?"
No, does she seem capable of handling this?
He Zhao had lived for over twenty years and hadn't seen a single ghost in her original world. But after only three days in this wretched world, she's been seeing ghosts every single day! And now this lousy system is telling her she has to figure out how to deal with the ghosts' antics herself. Is this system even human?!
What is she going to do to deal with those troublemakers? With her kind and gentle mouth that's always cursing people out of turn?
Realizing that the system was far more unreliable than she had imagined, He Zhao's legs went weak. She wrapped her down jacket tighter around herself; it was a cheap one the system had given her. Her own down jacket, which cost around ten thousand yuan, had never been worn and just sat at home; the system hadn't even thought to bring it over for her.
At this moment, He Zhao truly felt a sense of utter despair.
Even more outrageous, the male ghost who had been drooling over her actually planned not to pay after finishing his meal! He Zhao immediately perked up. How dare someone try to dine and dash in front of her!
He Zhao was about to curse, but then she thought again that the person opposite her wasn't human, so she could only sit down miserably. In her mind, she drew a little person on the ghost opposite her and cursed it to be hit by a car and die as soon as it went out.
He Zhao wrapped herself in her cheap down jacket, strongly suspecting it was filled with substandard cotton, and sat on her small plastic stool, waiting for dawn. Her stall started at ten o'clock and ended when the sun came out; after all, once it was light, her ghost customers would be going to find a place to sleep.
Even in the dead of winter, dawn doesn't break until very late, around six o'clock, before you can see the first hint of light. He Zhao stamped his foot, afraid that he would freeze into an icicle before the ghosts could overturn his stall.
After 3 o'clock, the number of customers decreased. He Zhao sneezed, hoping no more customers would come. Making money was important, but these days, life was more important. But just then, a rather terrifying-looking customer sat down opposite him. Its appearance was unrecognizable; pieces of skin clung to its face, ready to peel off at any moment, and its body was pitch black.
It opened its mouth, and its hoarse voice sounded like a leaky organ, which was particularly unpleasant to hear.
"Please, please give me a bowl of rice."
He Zhao made no unnecessary movements and served it a bowl of rice. Ever since he learned that his guest was a ghost, He Zhao had stopped putting the rice in the rice cooker to keep it warm. After all, they ate it cold anyway, and using the rice cooker to keep it warm would just waste electricity.
When the rice was brought to the guest, it stretched out its hands, which were also the same, with skin hanging down as if they might fall off at any moment. It used these hands to grab the chopsticks and began to slowly pick at the rice and eat it.
He Zhao had nothing to do but wait for her guests to finish their meal so she could clear the table. However, her guests always ate very slowly, as if they were carefully chewing every grain of rice before swallowing. While watching her guests, she noticed out of the corner of her eye—someone was coming.
This was truly a strange thing; someone actually came to her place. He Zhao thought it was a person, not a ghost, because—she was wearing a down jacket. Most of her guests wore inappropriate clothing; she had never actually seen anyone properly wearing a down jacket before.
This alone wasn't enough to determine whether the other person was human or ghost. So He Zhao observed carefully and saw that the little face was fair with a rosy glow and looked very energetic, which confirmed that the other person was alive.
She is still a very good-looking living person.
He Zhao didn't know if this was a comparison, after all, she hadn't seen many living people in the past few days. She set up her stall at night and slept during the day, so she almost never had the chance to see people; the only ones she could see were ghosts. And those ghosts were all so incredibly ugly. The one with no skin on its face today was ugly to a certain degree, but the other ghosts were usually just as unsightly.
Compared to that, the living person on the other side is absolutely stunning.
Looking closer, He Zhao suddenly realized: even compared to these ugly ghosts, the woman opposite him must be beautiful.
What's most striking is her short hair, which only reaches her jawline and is cut very thin, making it look a bit chilly in this weather. However, her hair is very neat and gives off a dashing and heroic feeling at first glance.
She was wearing a black down jacket, and her face was somewhat obscured by the streetlights. Only when she got closer could her beautiful face be seen. Her eyebrows weren't thin; they were even thicker than He Zhao's, and their dense shape didn't look like they'd been groomed, giving them a very strong and defined appearance. Below them were a pair of bright eyes, their gaze intense, resolute, and tinged with a hint of wariness.
Before those eyes, even the other well-shaped facial features paled in comparison.
He Zhao felt her heart pounding. She had to admit, she really liked this woman's appearance. She knew she was a lesbian, but she never expected that she would fall in love with this type at first sight.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com