The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, 8:25 p.m.
Shen Jiannan works in the suburbs, working in two shifts. The night shift ends at 8:15 pm. He hurriedly packs up and goes to the bus station, just in time to catch the last bus on No. 11.
I said to my roommate: "I just got off work and am waiting for the bus. See you at the hot pot restaurant later. You can order first." Just after I finished speaking, I saw the 11th bus coming. I thought I was lucky today.
The driver pulled over.
Shen Jiannan bought a ticket. There were not many people on the bus today, so she found a window seat and sat down.
Soon they arrived at the next stop. Shen Jiannan lowered his head to read a novel on his phone when he suddenly felt a little cold. He looked up and saw an old woman next to him, her face pale and trembling as she walked. She kept muttering as she walked, "You stinky bitch, you slut, you bitch! My son married you, you should be beaten to death, you heartless bastard, and now you don't even burn some paper for me..."
Shen Jiannan had good intentions to lend a hand, but when he heard that, he curled his lips and lowered his head to play with his phone again.
After stopping twice, more than a dozen people got on the bus and it became crowded.
Shen Jiannan sneezed, and her temperature suddenly dropped sharply. The aisle handrails around her were full of people. She looked out the window and saw that the route was wrong. She shouted, "Master, this is the wrong route? Have you changed the route?"
No one responded.
Shen Jiannan stood up from her seat and said to the woman standing in front of her, "Please move aside."
"Okay." The woman's voice was cold and stiff.
Shen Jiannan didn't notice it either. When she stood up, she accidentally rubbed the woman's arm, and immediately got goose bumps, cold and hard. She looked back and saw the woman sitting in her seat, her long black hair blocking the side of her face. Perhaps she noticed her gaze, raised her head quietly, and asked, "Do you want to sit?"
"No, thanks." Shen Jiannan couldn't describe the feeling, as if he was being stared at by a snake. He quickly walked to the driver's side. The conductor was also there, with a grim expression on his face and something clenched in his hand.
The driver looked familiar; Shen Jiannan knew him from riding Bus No. 11 frequently, but the conductor was a stranger.
He must be new here.
"...Xiao Xu, don't be afraid, stay calm."
Xiao Xu was a new trainee ticket seller. He had a fanny pack slung over his waist and trembled in tears as he whispered, "Master Lin, Master Lin, money, money."
Shen Jiannan wondered what happened to the money. She saw the ticket seller open his waist bag, revealing a stack of red, green, and yellow paper money. Shen Jiannan's pupils shrank. It was paper money for the dead. She remembered the woman from before, and the pale old lady, and couldn't help but glance back.
The people in the carriage slowly and stiffly looked over.
All of them had pale and gloomy faces.
Shen Jiannan thought about what the old lady said about burning paper, and his mind started to light up. Could this, this car be full of that?
"Master, can you pull over?" She heard her voice trembling.
Driver Lin's sweat dropped down, "I'll try--" The second group of people who came up were all without touching the ground. They were not human at all. Thinking that today was the Ghost Festival, his heart was beating fast. Xiao Xu also found that the fare he received had turned into ghost money.
"Who wants to come down and see me?"
A cold breath suddenly sounded beside Shen Jianan's ears, and a female voice said in a dark and eerie voice, "Are you the one who wants to get off? I'll get off with you."
Shen Jianan couldn't help but scream, and shook his head tremblingly, "No, no."
Xiao Xu was so scared that he didn't dare to cry or look around.
The ghost girl sighed, "It would be so much fun if we could ride together."
After a while, Shen Jiannan's phone rang. It was her roommate. She was about to answer it when a man's head popped over. The man had bruises under his eyes, and his pale face also turned blue with a glowing blue light.
Shen Jiannan was so frightened that he trembled and quickly cut it off.
"Why don't you answer it?" said the male ghost.
Shen Jianan didn't dare to answer. After a long while, the male ghost finally sat down.
The entire carriage was silent, with only Xiao Xu's soft sobs. After an unknown amount of time, a man's voice rang out, "Master, why hasn't he arrived yet? You're driving further and further off the track. I took a nap—"
The sound stopped abruptly.
Driver Lin saw the male passenger sitting in the last row through the rearview mirror. Sitting next to him was the old lady who got on the bus first. She took out her eyeballs and was wiping them. The male passenger was frightened and his eyes widened.
"ghost--"
The screaming started.
"What are you yelling about? The route has changed. If you are carsick, come to the front. No noise is allowed in the car." Driver Lin shouted.
The male passenger woke up and thought about what had just happened. He was surrounded by ghosts, staring at him. The male passenger's back was sweating, and he dared not scream anymore. These were all ghosts. Who knew what would happen if he was exposed?
It seems that the driver and conductor at the front of the carriage are human beings.
The male passenger wiped the sweat off his forehead, plucked up his courage, walked through a line of ghosts and came to the driver's side.
The entire carriage was split in two. The back half was crammed with ghosts, their faces pale and green, their eyes grim and dark as they stared forward. In the front, the living people huddled together. Shen Jiannan looked at the driver, her face mournful, her expression almost as frightened as the female ghost behind her.
"What should we do?"
Driver Lin had never encountered such a situation before. He was trying to look calm just now, but in fact his back was all wet. If he didn't think of a way out, would these few living people have to die here?
no.
Find a way, ghost, ghost——
Got it.
Driver Lin suddenly remembered the Master Lu that Wang Yue'e mentioned.
The young driver, Lin, had left a lasting impression. When they first met, he told her to go to the Haishan intersection if she had any questions. Wang Yue'e didn't believe him at first, but the next day, she took a day off and later came to work to talk about Master Lu's help in finding her daughter's soul.
"Go to Haishan."
The male passenger looked at him in confusion and asked, "Why are we going to Haishan? It's so remote there, you must be..." Ghost.
Is the driver possessed by a ghost?
The car was driving very fast, going further and further away from the road, even the street lights were gone. Xiao Xu and Shen Jiannan cried and took a few steps away from the driver. But there were ghosts all around them, so they didn't dare to get any closer.
It’s over, it’s over, I’m going to die.
Driver Lin's forehead was covered in sweat, his entire hope pinned on Master Haishan Qingzhuanwafang Road. He glanced ahead at the bridge, feeling hopeful, and said, "We'll soon cross it. Once we cross it, everything will be fine..."
As the car drove onto the bridge, all the passengers who were originally sitting in the back stood up and moved to the front of the car. The female ghost said unhappily, "Why are you moving so far away when we haven't even started playing yet?"
The bridge, which was originally dark and deserted, suddenly had lights on on both sides and many paper-made cars appeared.
When driver Lin saw it, he panicked.
The male passenger collapsed, holding his head and saying, "Let me off the bus, I want to go home, ahhhh."
The car was cold and scary, and the lights outside the window seemed unreal. Shen Jianan and Xiao Xu were also exhausted. They hugged each other and cried until they almost fainted. When they looked up, they saw ghosts everywhere.
Can't survive.
That’s all.
"...What obstacles are there in the darkness? Accepting this Dharma food, you will ascend to the heavens and reach the Purple Star. Your blessings and virtues will be high and majestic. The food you offer will make you pure. All your actions will be fulfilled. I will save you from the sufferings of the three evil realms and grant you the blessings of the nine mysteries..."
'jingle'--
The sound of ringing bells and a male voice reciting words seemed to come from far away, yet seemed to be very close. Driver Lin's mind cleared up for a moment, and he quickly crossed the bridge and drove towards the main road. There were sporadic lights at the intersection, and ghostly shadows were everywhere.
"Is it wrong..."
After a night of ups and downs, Driver Lin was truly terrified he'd taken the wrong road and was on the verge of collapse. Then he heard the ghosts surrounding the car suddenly become excited and say, "There's actually a sacrifice going on."
"Hurry up, hurry up, there's nothing to eat if it's too late."
"The old woman's eyes are about to fall out. Do you know how to respect the elderly and love the young?"
"They are all ghosts. Who are you trying to scam here? Get out of here."
There was a flurry of chatter, and in an instant all the ghosts in the carriage dispersed.
Driver Lin, using the headlights, could clearly see the scene of ghosts surrounding the road ahead. A young man was surrounded by ghosts, holding a bell in one hand and chanting a spell. There were incense sticks and fire basins on the ground. The ghosts who had gotten off the cars were now lined up...
"No, it's okay?" Shen Jiannan also saw it.
"Let's go quickly and turn back." The male passenger screamed in despair.
"Look back."
When the male passenger turned around, he saw paper-made cars and floating ghosts on the road behind him, and he almost peed himself.
'Dongdong'.
There was a knock on the car door.
Several people shuddered and looked towards the door in horror.
Lu Cijiu was startled by the people inside and knocked twice, and the car door opened.
"Is it really you? Master Lu? I was so scared. I finally see you." Driver Lin got out of the car first. He was as excited as if he had met a relative. He held Lu Cijiu's hand tightly with both hands.
"release."
Driver Lin subconsciously let go of his hand, and saw a tall man standing behind Master Lu, staring down at him coldly. The cold sweat had not yet disappeared, and he looked at the master stutteringly.
"Don't be afraid." Lu Cijiu finished speaking, and seeing the three people behind him didn't believe him and looked panicked, he couldn't help but say against his will: "Gong Xichao, my friend, he's a very nice person."
Gong Xichao snorted coldly.
Lu Cijiu: What's wrong with the eldest son? I can't ask him to introduce my eldest son to me. He's got a bad temper, so why not argue with the elementary school monk?
Several people got out of the car. Shen Jiannan looked at the hundreds of ghosts on the roadside, shivering and not daring to move forward.
"It's okay, they are not evil ghosts, otherwise you would have been dead long ago." Lu Cijiu reassured them.
Several: ...didn’t feel relieved.
The ghost girl chewed on the incense sticks and said casually: "There is an old ghost in your car. I thought you didn't mind giving me a ride. I wanted to take a ride and look around for food."
"I died suddenly while playing on my phone. I saw that woman playing with her phone and wanted to warn her the whole time." The dark-eyed male ghost kindly explained, "I told you to answer the phone. What are you afraid of?"
Shen Jianan: ...You don’t know what I’m afraid of.
The old lady who got on the bus first grumbled, "My eyesight is not good, so I'm on. It's no big deal. Young man, your gold foil is really good, and the smell of incense and candles is also good. Give me some more..."
"No, I won't give it to you."
Gong Xichao had a stern face.
The old lady was immediately furious and howled, "Young people nowadays look so polite, but I, at my age, have to give them a hard time just to eat. They are disrespectful to the elderly, and sooner or later they will be struck to death."
"I make 4,800 this year." Gong Xichao glanced at the old lady impatiently, "If you respect the elderly, kowtow to me."
Old lady: ...
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