A Single Flower Of The Village - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The bright moon hung high in the sky as a black shadow leaped down from the roof of the drum tower.

Pa—

One of the front paws of a calico cat stepped right into the bowl of pickled chili fried rice in Lu Shouqiu’s hand.

After hard work frying a bowl of rice, she had only taken two bites before it smashed onto the ground to feed the Lord of the Soil.

Seeing that things had taken a turn for the worse, the culprit quickly fled, its figure as agile as lightning, vanishing into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

She stared blankly at the fried rice on the ground for half a minute before reacting, placing her hands on her hips and roaring angrily in the direction where the cat had disappeared: “Calico! You better die out there and never come back!”

She was the only one living in the drum tower, and the rice was only made for one person. The food that fell on the ground couldn’t possibly be picked up and eaten. She stamped her feet in hatred and, with extreme reluctance, went out and walked toward the Ghost Village, where the lights were beginning to rise.

The village was built against the mountain, with stilt houses connected in rows. The surrounding mountains overlapped, and the terraced fields connected seamlessly, merging into streams that were crystal clear to the bottom, where swimming fish chased and played in the water. After nightfall, the stalls lit with lamps stretched as far as the eye could see.

The gates of the farm were wide open, and living people who came for late-night snacks entered the Ghost Village by twos and threes along the dirt road to the left. However, the living did not know that the owners running the stalls were ghosts. They only knew that this place not only had all kinds of snacks but also many novel gadgets, and everything was high quality and low price, so a lot of people came here to spend money at night.

The Ghost Village was just one of many attractions on the farm. Walking to the right from the main gate would lead to the Immortal Market, whose fame ranked alongside the Ghost Village. The fruits, vegetables, fresh food, rice, and grain sold at the market were highly popular. Everyone from ordinary civilians to wealthy businessmen and high-ranking officials liked to come here to shop, buying so much each time that it filled their cars.

The market opened during the day and dispersed at dusk, while the Ghost Village was exactly the opposite, opening at night and closing its stalls when the sky turned white.

Deep within the farm, there were also highly efficacious places like the Earth God Temple, the Wealth God Hall, the Marriage Tree, and a medical clinic that could bring the dying back to life. That old doctor was practically a medical saint alive, capable of curing any illness, and people seeking medicine and consultation lined up in long queues every day.

The drum tower was situated right in the center of the farm, facing the Ghost Village and the Immortal Market from afar. It belonged to a “three-managed” yet “three-unmanaged” zone—Lu Shouqiu could manage ghosts, immortals, and living people, but these three could not manage her.

The stupid donkey she raised had run off to who-knows-where, and without a mount, having to walk to the Ghost Village made her very displeased. She was even more resentful toward the calico cat that had flipped her rice bowl.

Only when she reached the entrance of the Ghost Village and smelled the aroma of food wafting out did her mood improve a little.

The stall owner selling handmade local black pig sausages cut half a sausage that a living customer wanted. This was steamed ripe on a steamer basket, bursting with juice in one bite. There was also cured bacon, with fat and lean alternating. The fatty parts were dried until they were crystal clear, sliced very thin with a knife, and didn’t taste greasy at all. Whether eaten plain, paired with rice, or dipped in chili water, it was excellent. No matter how much stock was prepared, it would all be sold out that very night.

Seeing Lu Shouqiu, the stall owner revealed a naive smile and greeted her warmly: “Qiuqiu, how do you have time to come over today? Freshly steamed sausages, want some?”

A few living customers stood in front of the stall, biting into their half-sausages held on bamboo skewers. Hearing this, they all turned their heads.

The girl behind them was wearing casual Miao ethnic clothing, her long hair braided and draping to one side. The silver collar around her neck and the silver ornaments on her ears gleamed brightly under the moonlight. As she raised her hand to brush away the stray hairs on her forehead, several silver bracelets on her wrist collided, making a melodious ding-ding-dang-dang sound.

She moved her beautiful, well-proportioned calves beneath her pleated skirt, stepped closer to the stall, and bent down to carefully choose from the steaming basket.

From the side, her eyelashes looked long and curled, her nose was round and small, there was a small mole at the bridge of her nose, her naturally red lips were pursed into a line, and her two dark eyebrows were slightly knit.

Everything looked delicious, which one should she choose?

“Today’s cured bacon is also very good, all from black pigs, want a bit of everything?” The stall owner’s gaze was loving, clearly liking her very much.

Lu Shouqiu, who was torn and didn’t know what to choose, had her eyes light up. She stood up straight, nodded vigorously, and pulled money from her small crossbody bag to place into the small basket set on the table.

All stalls and shops in the Ghost Village had such a drum-shaped basket woven from rattan, specifically used for cash. Of course, scanning codes for payment was also accepted here.

The living gave RMB, which the ghosts would later have to convert into underworld currency through Lu Shouqiu to deposit into their personal accounts. It was more cost-effective than the Bank of Heaven and Earth, as banks charged a handling fee.

“I want the leaner parts.”

The crisp, bell-like voice sounded like heavenly music to the ears of the living. It wasn’t until Lu Shouqiu left with her sausages that they snapped out of it, asking the stall owner who she was, saying she was so good-looking and had such a pleasant voice that it would be a pity if she didn’t enter the entertainment industry.

Even though she had steamed sausages and cured bacon to eat, Lu Shouqiu was still brooding over her bowl of pickled chili fried rice that she hadn’t managed to eat much of. When frying it, she had specially added a lot of chameleon plant, which was very fragrant, and it had just been stepped away by that broken cat. If she couldn’t fill this regret tonight, she definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep when dawn broke.

The Ghost Village had stalls selling fried rice right ahead. She walked quickly inward while eating to avoid the crowd.

The spicy scent drifted into her nose, and the stall owner was shouting vigorously to attract customers: “Hey~~ delicious pickled chili egg fried rice, pass by and don’t miss it, add one yuan and there’s crispy pork lard dregs too!”

Pickled chili was made by chopping red thread chilis and ginger together, mixing them with salt and high-proof liquor, and putting them in a jar to ferment. The taste was on the sour and spicy side and very pungent to the nose, suitable for stir-frying dishes and rice.

Before frying, it was first sizzled with hot oil to remove the raw taste of the chili, which would make it taste more fragrant.

Crispy pork lard dregs were a very famous local snack, fried from marinated pork cubes. They were divided into soft dregs and crispy dregs, which could be used for fried rice, hot pot, or tossed noodles/rice noodles. Almost every food stall had them prepared.

The iron plate was heated up, and home-pressed peanut oil was poured on. First, a large scoop of bright red pickled chilis was thrown in to sizzle, then two or three local chicken eggs were cracked, and finally, rice cooked until the grains were distinct was added, flipping and frying everything together continuously.

The small bowls lined up next to it contained chopped green onions, chameleon plant, crispy pork lard dregs, shredded potatoes, shredded kelp, and roasted chilis. You could add them if you wanted. Except for the crispy pork lard dregs, everything else was free.

Lu Shouqiu finished the food in her hand in two or three bites and told the stall owner to add chameleon plant to her portion like crazy.

The stall owner handed her the fried rice, which had so much chameleon plant that the rice couldn’t even be seen, and additionally used a brown paper bag to pack two large scoops of crispy pork lard dregs, “Take this as a snack. Granny Hua is also open tonight, she has your favorite fiery stir-fried chicken blood and sour cabbage tossed with chameleon plant. Take advantage of the fact that there aren’t many people right now and go quickly. When the night gets deeper, there will be more people and you won’t be able to line up.”

Some stall owners in the Ghost Village were very willful, opening their stalls based on their mood, the weather, and the lunar calendar. This Granny Hua was one of them. She didn’t lack money. Her descendants in the human world were filial, burning a lot of paper money to her during Qingming, Double Ninth, and the Ghost Festival.

Other ghosts of the same age didn’t have her good fortune. There were several old ghosts who were extremely poor, having no money to prepare for the New Year and needing to borrow loans from Lu Shouqiu.

Granny Hua made a mean sour cabbage, and the tossed chameleon plant was the signature dish of her stall, with the fiery stir-fried chicken blood as an accompaniment. Lu Shouqiu loved to eat both, so she held her fried rice and rushed to Granny Hua’s stall at top speed while eating.

Business at the stall was booming, and the arm of the young worker in the back tossing the wok to fry the chicken blood was almost smoking from the exertion.

Granny Hua had a grumpy face as she urged customers to order quickly, “There are only a few dishes, does it take this long to consider? Are you eating or not? If not, move aside, next one!”

Lu Shouqiu squeezed through, “Granny, I want a portion of fiery stir-fried chicken blood and a portion of sour cabbage tossed with chameleon plant.”

She held her fried rice, her mouth shiny with oil, and her two eyes stared straight at the basins of sour cabbage stalks and chameleon plant on the table.

This was her life, she liked it to pieces.

Granny Hua immediately beamed with joy, “Qiuqiu is here,” blocking her hand that was trying to put down money, “No need to pay, Granny is treating you.”

Lu Shouqiu then stuffed the money back into her bag, raised both hands over her head to make a big heart shape, and smiled radiantly, “Granny Hua, love you~”

Who could refuse a happy little sweet pea? Didn’t you see that Granny Hua was so happy that the wrinkles on her face bloomed? She turned back and shouted to the wok-tossing worker to add more chicken blood to Lu Shouqiu’s portion.

The chicken blood at Granny Hua’s stall was all fresh stock requested from the market. First, the chicken blood was placed in cold water over a slow fire until there was no blood scum and it had just coagulated, then scooped out, which could guarantee the freshness and tenderness of the chicken blood.

Ginger slices, celery segments, garlic slices, Sichuan peppercorns, and dried chilis were the main ingredients for the fiery stir-fried chicken blood. Stir-fried over high heat in hot oil for a dozen seconds, it could be plated, tasting spicy and numbing, and the chicken blood was very tender and smooth.

Lu Shouqiu felt that she had bought too little fried rice, it wasn’t enough to eat.

There was also a large portion of sour cabbage tossed with chameleon plant, using crisp and tender sour cabbage stalks cut into strips about the size of chopsticks and an inch long, tossed with chameleon plant that had been soaked in salt beforehand, sprinkled with large handfuls of chili and minced garlic. You could also add a few tender leaves of chameleon plant. This was the sales champion of the small stall, and customers in line would all order a portion.

She carried her two portions to a small table, squatted on a low stool, and couldn’t wait to scoop a large spoonful of fried chicken blood to mix into her rice. It was spicy, fragrant, and numbing, satisfying to eat. The spicier it got, the more she wanted to eat. Taking another bite of the sour and spicy tossed chameleon plant, she hadn’t come over in vain tonight.

She was an evil ghost, living by consuming human resentment, but that didn’t stop her from liking delicious food. Usually, she made her own food in the drum tower and rarely came to the Ghost Village night market. If it weren’t for the calico stepping over her rice bowl today, she wouldn’t have come over. She still had work tonight, and once she was full, she had to rush back to the drum tower.

The farm prohibited outside vehicles from entering, and there was an eye-catching sign at the entrance. Regular living visitors knew this rule, but there were also an absolute few who wanted to make exceptions and force their way in.

Since the old security guard at the gate retired and went home to take care of himself last month, Lu Shouqiu hadn’t recruited anyone new. Tonight, there was no one on duty at the main gate, and two outside cars parked at the intersection again, blocking the entry and exit of the shuttle bus.

The shuttle bus was a special vehicle used by the Underworld to ferry dead souls. Its appearance was no different from an ordinary car in the human world. The driver and co-driver were the Black and White Impermanence—Fan Wujiu and Xie Bi’an. The two got out of the car to check the front of the car that had almost crashed. Thank goodness, fortunately, nothing happened. This was a new car and hadn’t had time to get insurance yet. If it got broken, they would have to pay out of their own pockets to fix it.

Xie Bi’an, who was in white clothes, adjusted his wristband, revealing “Catch Sight of Wealth,” and rushed up to argue with the owner who parked blindly, “Hey, what’s wrong with you guys? Don’t you know outside vehicles are prohibited from entering? And you even parked in the middle of the road. If there’s a crash, you bear the primary responsibility and have to compensate.”

Fan Wujiu, who was in black clothes, stood guard by the rear seat door. Inside was the soul that needed to be ferried tonight, a young man who died of illness. Keeping guard was to prevent him from getting out of the car and coming into contact with the living.

“There were no parking spaces outside, so we parked inside. Didn’t you see the road while driving, crashing straight into us?” That car owner also felt distressed about his precious car, checking the rear of the car several times.

Official business was more important. Xie Bi’an didn’t lower himself to the same level as this kind of person, telling the other party to quickly move the car away.

That person was reluctant, stalling and taking a long time before finally moving out.

Because of this matter, after reaching the drum tower, Xie Bi’an complained to Lu Shouqiu: “When are you going to hire someone to guard the main gate? How many times has blind parking happened this month? Delaying the ferry means having to work overtime, and there’s no overtime pay. Our boss is extremely stingy.”

Lu Shouqiu had already changed from her casual clothes into ceremonial dress. She stood at the door, the silver ornaments on her head swaying with her movements, making a melodious clashing sound, her voice crisp, “I haven’t found a suitable person yet, just endure it. It doesn’t delay things for more than a few minutes. Don’t have such heavy resentment, young man.”

“Let’s start quickly.” Fan Wujiu urged, he was anxious to go back and report.

Lu Shouqiu glanced into the car through the windshield, then reached out her hand to Xie Bi’an, palm up, “The farewell words from relatives.”

Farewell words were the words spoken by relatives and friends to the deceased’s tablet/photo during the funeral according to custom, such as: “have a good journey,” “go in peace,” “don’t worry,” and the like.

Before the Black and White Impermanence brought the soul onto the shuttle bus, they would write down these farewell words to hand over to Lu Shouqiu. If there were unfulfilled wishes during life, they would also explain them together, so as to let the deceased rest in peace.

Xie Bi’an transferred the firefly light on his fingertip over.

The more relatives and friends mourned and the more farewell words were spoken, the larger and brighter the firefly light would be. Tonight, this soul’s firefly light was the size of a longan fruit, very good indeed. Before, some souls’ firefly lights were only the size of a grain of rice, looking quite pitiful.

From the longan-sized firefly light, Lu Shouqiu heard the words of a younger brother to his deceased older brother: “Mom and Dad are healthy, don’t worry about us, brother, have a good journey.”

“Get ready.” Lu Shouqiu turned and went upstairs.

Soon, the large cowhide drum at the top layer of the drum tower made a dong sound, followed by the floating and distant tune blown from the Lusheng. It guided the soul to its resting place. The firefly light merged into the dazzling Milky Way, and the melodious singing reached the Ghost Village. All stall owners subconsciously looked toward the dirt road below the village that led deep into the farm.

At this time, the road surface was sprinkled with moonlight, and red Lycoris radiata flowers bloomed on both sides. A silver-gray small sedan flew past, leaving a bright remnant shadow.

Lu Shouqiu held the calico cat that had returned home, watching the shuttle bus leave, and sent it off softly: “Parents are healthy, all is well, do not miss them.”

The soul had been sent off, and tonight’s work ended successfully.

There was still time before dawn. She had nothing to do and decided to take a walk outside the farm to scout for a suitable candidate to guard the main gate.

She had taken a fancy to one before, a female, in her early twenties, working as a security guard in an office building, with a look that seemed hard to get along with.

Well…

She was indeed hard to get along with, especially fierce. She treated Lu Shouqiu like a psycho, and every time Lu Shouqiu squatted at the office building to suck resentment, the other party would wave a riot baton to make her beat it quickly.

She had to think of a way to abduct the person back, preferably without needing to pay a salary while having her guard the main gate willingly.

Ruan Jingluo felt that she was just a jinx plagued by bad luck. Two days ago, during her night shift, she encountered sexual harassment. She fought with the other party on the spot, and the processing result was that she had to compensate ten thousand yuan because she broke the guy’s bone. If they didn’t settle privately, the other party would sue her.

She said the other party sexually harassed her but couldn’t produce evidence. After being questioned a few words at the police station, the matter was considered over. If she wasn’t satisfied, she could find a lawyer to slowly bicker with the other party, but she had no money and no time cost. This loss, whether she wanted to eat it or not, she had to eat it.

Her monthly salary after deducting social security was less than two thousand in hand. She lived frugally in the cheapest small single room partitioned on the rooftop. It hadn’t been easy to save a bit of money, and now even compensating all of it wasn’t enough.

As the morning light dimly appeared, she slumped her head and squatted by the roadside eating a five-yuan portion of glutinous rice.

Glutinous rice was hard to digest and filling. Inside, there were pickled radishes, chameleon plant, crispy pork lard dregs, peanuts, fried peas, green onions, and fried dough sticks. Adding salted egg yolk or sausage was a separate price, which she couldn’t bear to spend.

Such a basic portion of glutinous rice could keep her full for a whole day. She wouldn’t need to eat lunch or dinner. If she was really hungry after getting off work, she would just use a small electric pot to make a poached egg. Anyway, she controlled her daily food money within 10 yuan.

Within her lowered line of sight, a pair of loafers suddenly appeared, the toes of the shoes featuring complex Miao embroidery patterns.

“Eating this again?” Ghosts were afraid of sunlight, so Lu Shouqiu held an oil-paper umbrella to prevent herself from scattering into soul and spirit. She had seen this living person buy glutinous rice sold by roadside stalls more than once. Although it was delicious, one couldn’t stand eating it every day, wasn’t it tiring?

Seeing clearly who came, Ruan Jingluo swallowed the rice in her mouth, completely not wanting to pay attention.

This woman didn’t know where she came from. Every Monday early morning, she sat at the entrance of the office building staring at the people entering the building to work, looking like a pervert. The security office always received complaints asking to drive the person away. She had driven her away several times, but it was of no use at all. The leader even scolded her for not being able to handle such a small matter, a complete waste, saying that a female being a security guard was just inferior to a male, which made her want to give him a punch at that time.

Her coffin money was completely compensated away, and Ruan Jingluo’s mood today was terribly bad. She had a black face the whole time, full of deep resentment, desperately stabbing voodoo dolls of her leader in her heart, with resentment soaring to the sky above her head.

Lu Shouqiu took a deep breath, feeling satisfied.

She squatted down, joyful like a child, and asked with a grin: “Are you unhappy?”

A mouthful of big white teeth dazzled Ruan Jingluo’s eyes. She moved a bit to the side, continued to gnaw on her glutinous rice, and said in a bad mood: “None of your business, beat it, don’t block me from eating.”

She was still wearing her security uniform—a dark blue shirt, black long pants, and a leather belt cinching a section of slender waist. Her rolled-up sleeves revealed her wrist bones, and her slender fingers were holding the glutinous rice to take large bites. Her cheeks on both sides puffed out like a squirrel hoarding goods for winter, except that those Husky eyes with naturally obvious lower sclera made her look completely unrelated to being cute. She looked at everyone like looking at dog shit. Even if she didn’t mean that, others felt her gaze was looking down on people, her character unyielding and wild, difficult to manage.

This broken appearance made her suffer all kinds of hardships on her growth path. She was bullied at school, and before finishing her first year of high school, she dropped out because she couldn’t bear being isolated. She left her hometown to come to Yunqian to work. Because she wasn’t eighteen yet, many places didn’t dare to take her for work. The first two years were lived in a way that could be described as worse than pigs and dogs, and it wasn’t much better now.

“Your resentment is so heavy.” Lu Shouqiu spoke the truth.

Ruan Jingluo looked at this young lady who didn’t know whose family raised her and had a sick mind, and was laughed into anger, “Let you work day and night for a month to get a salary of one thousand eight, get sexually harassed and still have to compensate the beast twenty thousand yuan back, if you don’t have resentment, I’ll be convinced.”

She had no friends, didn’t want to listen to that gang of people bragging and telling dirty jokes at work, and didn’t want to go to food stalls to gulp down yellow urine with them after work. Full of resentment and grumbles with nowhere to vent, and unable to digest it herself, she was pitiful enough to have to talk to a psycho now. Her life was already a whole set of tragedies.

Lu Shouqiu quickly calculated the account and found that she wasn’t even willing to give one thousand eight, so it should be very hard to abduct the person.

“Would you consider a job with board and lodging but no salary?” she asked tentatively, her gaze expecting the other party to nod, yes, yes, as long as there is food and housing, money is an external object, not important.

Ruan Jingluo rolled her eyes upward, “A psycho would consider it.”

Lu Shouqiu was not a person who would give up easily. If this road didn’t work, she would change to another one, and she could always abduct the person back to be her free labor. She decided to first get close to her, make a friend, and later fleece an acquaintance, “Let me treat you to a meal, how about stall hot pot? I know a shop that is especially delicious.”

She smiled particularly radiantly, her eyes curved into crescent moons, giving off the feeling of a warm and happy bean, but Ruan Jingluo only felt she was sick. Who would treat a stranger to a meal for no reason, she definitely harbored bad intentions.

“Do I look like a person who is that easy to fool?” Ruan Jingluo pointed her finger back at herself, “Want to fool me to some deserted small alley, knock me out, and smuggle me to Northern Myanmar to harvest my kidneys, right? No way, my two kidneys were harvested a few years ago to exchange for an Apple phone, your gang is one step late.”

Lu Shouqiu was greatly shocked that the other party actually misunderstood her as a bad person. Her eyes widened huge, showing an innocent expression of ignorance, feeling aggrieved for being wronged, “The streets are full of cameras, what can my small body fool you out of.”

“Who the hell knows, you squat at the main entrance every day staring at others, who wouldn’t take you for a psycho.”

Lu Shouqiu’s eyeballs rolled around twice, “I have a legitimate reason for that, and I didn’t hinder you guys, why call me a psycho, so angry~”

“Yue…” Ruan Jingluo felt nauseous to the point of almost throwing up the glutinous rice she had just eaten, “Beat it, don’t disgust me.”

Lu Shouqiu grabbed a corner of her sleeve, shaking it to act spoiled, “Let’s go, go eat stall hot pot, anyway you’ve already clocked off.”

Ruan Jingluo pulled back her sleeve, “Not going, I’m going home to sleep.”

That small single room that was as hot as a steamer basket wasn’t her home, but it was also the only place in this city that could shelter her from wind and rain. Having pulled a night shift and unluckily encountered sexual harassment and faced compensation money, she was now annoyed and sleepy, and wouldn’t go to eat some hot pot with a psycho. That wasn’t something a poor ghost like her could afford to eat.

“My treat.” Lu Shouqiu indicated she was very generous.

Ruan Jingluo stood up, “None of my business.”

Her temper was really not good, and her guardedness was also really heavy, completely not trusting anyone. Lu Shouqiu followed behind the other party, shaking her head silently, feeling like no road could work, what to do? She hadn’t dealt with the living face-to-face for a long time. If she had known this earlier, she should have had the old security guard help her scout the next candidate before he retired.

“Do you still want to play tailing?” Ruan Jingluo was very impatient.

The unsatisfying life had already shaped her into a person with a very heavy hostile aura, otherwise, when she was on duty, she wouldn’t have punched the guy just because his salty pig hand put his arm around her waist. This woman behind her who was acting weird and had an abnormal mind had already jumped on her minefield several times.

Lu Shouqiu clamped the umbrella handle between her neck and shoulder, crossed her hands into fists to rest against her chin, and begged pitifully: “I don’t want to eat hot pot by myself, just accompany me to eat, we can count as half-acquaintances, right? Having met so many times, I’m really not a bad person.”

Well, I am an evil ghost, bleh~~

Ruan Jingluo suppressed her anger, gritting her teeth, “What good person would eat hot pot just as dawn breaks, which shop is open now, do you even have a bit of common sense as a normal person!”

“It’s open,” Lu Shouqiu tilted her head, smiling harmlessly, “that shop is open twenty-four hours a day.”

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