The conditions were the same as before. I had to live in the Ghost House to prove that it was harmless, but the price was very cheap. Wu Jian was even willing to help me pay the price, which made me feel like this turn of events was somehow a miracle.
After handling some paperwork, Wu Jian and I walked out of the government building.
"It's three days until move-in and the building hasn't been decorated. How will you live?" Wu Jian frowned. He fought for a long time about the matter of my actually living in the building, but the local authorities were insistent that it was mandatory.
I shrugged, happy about the purchase. "Don't worry. I'll just pick a room and live in it. If we don't live there to prove that it's safe, how will we convince any decorator to come in and help us?"
Wu Jian nodded. "I'll help you."
I shook my head and refused. Lately, Wu Jian was spending all of his time frantically investigating the life-seeking doll. He'd lost weight just since we'd last met. I didn't want to add any other worries to his life. Plus, he'd already found some clues to show that he was on the right track with his investigation. Several children who had been killed on that beach had been identified.
I parted ways with Wu Jian, grabbed some things from home, then went to the Ghost House. My mother wasn't happy with this move, but she deferred to Witch Yan's opinion on the matter. After all, Witch Yan agreed that I should move into the building.
When I arrived, I looked around the second floor and found a complete room with a bed. There were several pieces of broken furniture scattered throughout which I stacked up on one side of the room. Then I went to the other rooms to hunt for intact pieces to replace the broken items. Finally, my room was sorted.
I shook my sore arms as I left my room. I was surprised to see the building all lit up, then shortly remembered that I'd never been on the second floor while the Ghost House was in business.
Do I really want to see what this looks like? I thought.
Just as I finished my thought, a crisp voice spoke in my ear. "Xiao Rui, thank you for helping me to clean the room."
I turned and saw a beautiful woman in a black cheongsam with golden peonies looking at me with a smile. I knew who this beautiful woman was, but I wasn't as familiar with her as Lulu was.
"How are you, Sister Kiki? I recently bought the Ghost House and am moving in. Looks like we'll all be neighbors!" I smiled.
"Well, that's all fine, but you can't live in my room. There would be such gossip!" Sister Kiki covered her mouth and giggled.
"Ah." I was stunned, but then I thought about the fact that I slept at night while she slept during the day. What would be the harm of sleeping in a ghost's room? It's not like we would be having sex.
"Anyway, you can't stay in my room," Sister Kiki said matter-of-factly before quickly leaving.
Well, what do I do now? As I thought, I saw Yan'er going downstairs. I rushed forward and asked her bluntly if I could live in her room. However, just then I saw the long shirt person looking at me with a gloomy face, and I rephrased my question to ask which room I could sleep in.
Yan'er seemed surprised, though mostly at my decision to buy the Ghost House. I told her that I felt a bit proud and also like I was in a dream.
Yan'er rolled her eyes then said, "You can live inside the room on the right." I nodded and thanked her, then realized I'd have to come back tomorrow to sort the room out.
The residents of the Ghost House soon spread the word that I'd bought the building. They all came forward to congratulate me; some of them joked around with me, calling me the landlord and telling me they needed my help.
I respond with a smile, saying, "Where? Where? Too many requests!"
I moved to actually do my job when Sister Hua came down and fixed her calm gaze on me. I hurried to help carry water for tea.
Tenants control everything. The landlord is useless, I thought. I realized how true this idea seemed when the idea of dinner came up. I was to pay the dinner bill not just for the usual group of ghost girls, but for many other residents as well. After all, as the residents said, if I could afford the Ghost House, surely I could also afford a meal? I agreed, they cheered, and I held back tears.
It wasn't even 1 o'clock when we arrived at the usual night market stall. I went up to the boss and joked, "Boss Shi, are you still busy?" We'd been here so many times that I knew the boss's schedule by now and he knew ours.
When the boss saw me, he was stunned and asked, "Come so early today?"
I nodded. "Yes, today we're celebrating my move into the Ghost House. We've got more people than usual." I'd brought the subject up to see if the boss might give me a discount. After all, today we had a lot of ghosts and because we were celebrating, we would be eating a lot of food for a long time. I hoped that the boss would be kind and give me a discount for bringing such business to his stall.
However, once I finished speaking, the boss quickly congratulated me and then immediately went to the two tables with other guests. I overheard him say in a serious tone, "Sorry, my friend has been in an accident. I must go to the hospital immediately. No need to pay tonight."
My heart dropped. It seemed there would be no discount tonight if the boss was giving away free meals to clear the stall for my group. The people at one of the other tables looked at me with sympathetic eyes, clearly moved by the boss's mention of the hospital, and insisted on paying for their food. I crossed my fingers that the boss would feel a similar level of sympathy for me.
The other table seemed to have drunk a little too much and had no intention of paying. The boss was just intent on getting them to put the alcohol down. However, before the boss could persuade them to leave, one of the Ghost House regulars rushed over and began playing with a small puzzle on the table.
The ghost ended up doing the boss's work for him. After seeing the puzzle move, one of the drunk men peed his pants and they all quickly rushed out of the stall without paying. The rest of the ghosts took this as their cue to sit down and begin shouting orders at me. Each food order was like a stab in my heart.
Watching the boss busy himself cooking our order, I turned to Sister Hua and asked, "Sister Hua, didn't you say last time that you would bring the boss's relative to see him?"
Sister Hua didn't answer until she finished sucking the meat off of her kebabs. She nodded and said, "Well, I'll see." Then she reached for another kebab on the table but realized the plates had been cleaned while I distracted her. She looked at me grumpily, then loudly shouted, "I need more kebabs!"
Another knife to the heart, I thought, clutching my chest.
There was not a single empty table in the stall. Because we'd arrived early, the usual late night crowd of people was still showing up, and the boss was waving them away with his hand saying that he was done serving food for the night. However, the tables were all covered with kebab sticks and chopsticks.
Their hearts must be as broken as mine.
Just then, a couple breaking cars broke the silence of the night.