Chapter 47: The Black Family's Department Store
Before entering the Hei Family's funeral ceremony, N said, "Just because there are ghosts inside doesn't mean this shop is haunted."
In N's words, the places where funeral supplies are sold, especially large-scale funeral areas like Wax Plum Street, are filled with the atmosphere of death and ghosts. Although the blue-painted xun cannot be seen, it is everywhere.
Tu Lanxun asked, "Why?"
Liu Maosheng can answer this question: "Because not every ghost has someone to pay tribute to."
In areas where the sale of ghost money and offerings has become an industry, it is as attractive to ghosts as a hungry person seeing a hot restaurant.
In particular, some bosses who run this kind of business will light incense regularly and burn paper offerings in batches to prevent them from attracting wandering ghosts and harming people. In fact, this is just to buy peace of mind.
But who can resist an open-air buffet?
This is also the real reason why the funeral supplies store can live in peace with the ghosts.
"Are there a lot of ghosts? I haven't seen any." Tu Lanxun said.
N raised an eyebrow. "I encountered four or five on the way here. Maybe they looked so real you didn't recognize them. But it's understandable that you couldn't see them."
Although Tu Lanxun didn't think seeing ghosts was a good thing, he was still angry.
N had no interest in science education, so Liu Maosheng took over and explained it to her. Finally, she understood. There are three common ways for a living person to see a ghost.
Either the ghost is powerful enough and voluntarily appears in front of a living person - but this situation is rare. Due to the existence of the Fourth Treaty, if a ghost is seen and interacted with by a living person, and the living person continues to live, the ghost will be severely punished by the rules.
"Usually, only those who want to harm others would do that. When they show up, they are already prepared to silence you," said Liu Maosheng.
Tang Pengan does not belong to the first category, because Teacher Liu borrowed Tang Guangming's shell, so he is not directly seeing ghosts with his eyes.
The second type is external influence, such as if the living person is very special or holds special objects, ghosts may also be seen.
Liu Maosheng took a sip of water and continued, "You probably belong to the second category, because Nan—N is by your side. He influences you and wants you to see what he sees, so you can see it."
There is also a third extremely special situation, which is when a living person is dreaming or in a near-death state. In this case, the living person's spirit bypasses the physical body and sees another spirit.
Tu Lanxun said, "Oh, then Uncle Liu, aren't you afraid of the Fourth Treaty?"
"I was scared at first." Liu Maosheng couldn't explain it clearly, "But N is fine with you, and I'm fine too." He looked at N as he spoke, and N didn't seem to know the reason either.
The car was turned off, and the man and two ghosts got out of the car and stood straight. N suddenly turned around and forced a fake smile, "If you're scared, I can make you unable to see the ghosts in the store. After all, they..."
He fell silent, looking coldly and indifferently towards the door of the store. The atmosphere suddenly became tense, as if he was waiting to scare Tu Lanxun. She dared to say that this man's bad behavior had nothing to do with his death. Maybe he was just that annoying when he was alive.
but……
Tu Lanxun took a look and said in a trembling voice, "One of them had a broken neck, and the other only had half a face."
"What?" N frowned.
Tu Lanxun said, "I saw it."
A strange thing happened. Although N covered Tu Lanxun's eyes, she still saw the two ghosts in the Heijia Mingji Department Store clearly.
This cannot be said to be N's fault.
She can see by herself, without relying on N's vision, she can see ghosts.
N walked forward and whispered, "Then don't let them know you can see."
Tu Lanxun followed and decided to blame N for the incident, "It's all because I've been with you for too long..."
Heijia Mingji Department Store is a large and serious paper-making supplies store.
"Big" means the store is wide and deep, and "serious" means it sells all sorts of paper things, including touch-screen phones made of cardboard, paper stretched sedans, and a mountain of gold paper ingots placed in a basket shaped like a sailboat.
Except that the air in the store was very cold and the dark wooden counter was as high as the blue-painted eyebrows, making it look like a pawnshop in a ghost story, everything seemed normal.
At least none of the products on display have anything to do with the golden mirror.
"Hello, customer." A head popped out from behind the counter. It was a pale young man. He jumped out and almost collided with the half-faced ghost next to him. "What would you like to see?"
The young man was about twenty years old and very energetic. He wore a tight T-shirt with a logo printed on it, tight jeans, a pair of loafers with flattened backs, and a golden walnut string on his hand.
Tu Lanxun confirmed that this person could not see ghosts, because he was standing right next to a ghost with half a face, and was kissing the ghost on the cheek all the time, which was disgusting.
Half of his face was shaved with a ghostly green scalp, and his expression could not be seen clearly, because his half face was not a complete half of the face skin, but half of the face made up of pieces of his entire head, which were all drooping and curled up, and his scalp was folded in front of his forehead like bangs.
Only one cloudy eyeball remained, the nose was cut in half, the upper lip was nowhere to be seen, one side of the lower lip was connected to the cheek, and the other side hung on the chin, with the hideous red flesh leaving canine-like grooves between the broken skin.
It is obvious that this ghost was killed by a dog bite.
Tu Lanxun tried hard not to let his eyes fall on the ghost and smiled at the young man: "Just looking around. Do you have any daily necessities?"
The young man deftly dragged out a cardboard box and sorted out the things one by one: towels, toothbrushes, soaps, shampoo, miniature sofas and coffee tables. Most of them had imitation trademarks of popular brands on the market. These knock-offs were all made of paper.
He swished the skewers together and asked, "Is that enough? If not, there's more."
Tu Lanxun pretended to pick things out, not even asking in the mirror. That would be foolish. She looked for a long time, then took a set of towels, a toothbrush, and a bar of soap. Frowning, she asked critically, "Is there anything better?"
"Yes, sister!" The young man answered in a mercenary manner. He was very good at dealing with difficult customers, and being difficult usually meant having money.
So Tu Lanxun was naturally led into the inner room, which was brighter than the outer hall. The colors were white and wood. Large, light and bright tiles were laid on the floor. A set of mahogany sofas was placed against the wall with a tea tray on it. On the wall hung a piece of incomprehensible cursive calligraphy with a brush.
It looked like a VIP reception room in a rural setting, but the moment Tu Lanxun stepped inside, his heart sank.
The brighter and more spacious inner room had a different atmosphere than the gloomy outer hall, a heavy air that made the soles of one's feet cold. The coldness of the tiles penetrated through the soles of shoes, penetrated into the soles of one's feet, and surged upwards.
Tu Lanxun pretended to be interested in the decoration here. While the young man went to the warehouse to pick up goods and the two ghosts were in the outer hall and had not come in, she glanced at N and Liu Maosheng.
N's voice entered her ears: "The air is heavy with death, heavier than the street outside."
"Is there the scent of a golden mirror?" Tu Lanxun asked through gritted teeth.
N shook his head and said he didn't feel anything.
Maybe the Heijia Mingji Department Store just happens to have the same name as the Black Forest Department Store?
If the golden mirror was released by a store to harm people, it should be returned to its owner after hunting souls outside.
Are they in the wrong place?
The young man pulled out a trailer from the warehouse, on which were placed real gold- and silver-plated items, each of which looked like an antique work of art, as well as luxury bags with workmanship that were so realistic, from platinum bags to white tri-color glazed bags. If it weren't for the fact that they felt like paper, they would look just like the real thing.
"These can't be displayed outside, but customers have been placing orders non-stop." The young man said mysteriously, "You can't tell anyone."
Tu Lanxun picked up a pastel-colored paper vase that looked like something from a Qing Dynasty emperor's collection, as seen on national treasure appreciation shows. The price tag was enough to buy a low-end sedan, and the young man highly recommended it: "Everyone wants the deceased to live in luxury in the afterlife, especially those wealthy individuals who lived a life of luxury in their lifetime. Who hasn't dreamed of being an emperor?"
Yes, there were even dragon thrones and phoenix crowns among that pile of high-end goods.
Tu Lanxun was amazed by the sight, but he didn't forget the purpose of his trip. He asked proudly, "Are there any other ornaments? I want something more exotic."
She looked so intimidating that the young man thought he had a big client. He picked out another pile and carefully placed them on the coffee table, introducing them: "Yes, yes, yes, please judge. This is a one-to-one replica of the Queen of England's crown. That one is paper ivory, and there's also..."
The young man spoke rapidly, while N waited quietly to the side, wandering around like a wandering ghost who had accidentally sneaked in. He said lazily, "There's something wrong with the paper-made objects he's bringing out now."
Tu Lanxun's breathing slowed down a beat, his expression unchanged, and he didn't move his hands. He pointed to a dark statue in the far corner and said, "Let me see that."
It was a bronze imitation lynx statue, inlaid with gemstones, almost identical to the poster on the front page of the high-end Black Forest department store, except that it had a papery sheen.
The young man's expression suddenly changed, and he said decisively: "Sorry, this is out of stock!"
Tu Lanxun showed great interest in it, but also became anxious. "Why isn't it in stock? Isn't this one? Even if it's not available, can I order one?"
"I can't do it anymore." The young man looked greedy, and his refusal was very decisive. "The master who made this one doesn't want to do it anymore. It's already been ordered and will be shipped tonight."
Tu Lanxun pestered for a few words, and N gave her a look, indicating that he had discovered something. She finally left in disappointment, and only bought the paper towels and toothbrushes she had bought before, as well as the queen's crown, which was very expensive in the pile of expensive paper products, because N said that the money was his.
Back in the car, they slowly drove away and found a hotel on the other edge of town. Tu Lanxun booked a standard room, quickly went upstairs, closed the door, and asked, "What happened to those paper-made artifacts?"
Towels, toothbrushes, and crowns were all placed on a bed. N said, "Ordinary items are fine, but the expensive ones at the end are a little weird."
The Paper Queen's Crown was so light that Tu Lanxun hesitated to touch it, waiting for N to explain. Liu Maosheng also stared at it with a frown. N said, "This thing is filled with a strong aura of death. If a living person touches it, they will be haunted by the death aura. If you burn it for a dead person, that person will also encounter bad things... if their soul is still alive."
In other words, expensive paper offerings are actually bait, specifically designed to lure wealthy people who want to give the deceased a luxurious life?
Tu Lanxun asked: "What bad things happened?"
N placed a hand on the paper crown and said slowly, "There's a suction mechanism inside it that specifically absorbs souls and transforms them into... you could think of it as nutrition, replenishing whatever it's directed at."
Since it is a thing, it is unlikely to be a living person.
Having one's soul sucked out will bring about a series of sequelae, which for the living are blurred memory, auditory and visual hallucinations, mental disorders and even paralysis.
For the dead, it means the weakening or even annihilation of the soul.
Tu Lanxun felt a chill on his back. Since ancient times, when people burned memorial items, they only worried about whether the deceased could receive money and clothes, but no one had ever thought about what if the delivery route was open, but what was burned and sent was a "bomb" that would harm the ghost?
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