New Times, New Hell

Chapter 53 - Ghost Market

In order to better celebrate the Ghost Festival garden party, Luofeng and Amazing Future specially let everyone off work two hours in advance on this day. At 4 PM, all the people in the office instantly disappeared. They were headed straight to the garden party.

Because Yu Zhengdu still had work to do regarding the system, he stayed an extra hour. When he finally finished what he needed to, he immediately called Peppa. “Peppa, where are you? Gege will take you to the garden party.”

Only to hear Peppa answer heartlessly from the other end, “Gege, Georgie, me, and the guilong and them have already made plans to play together. You don’t need to come find me anymore.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

He suddenly understood the pain of old fathers in regards to “being unable to keep daughters around when they got older”. Even though Peppa was only five years old……

“Alright,” Yu Zhengdu acknowledged. He warned, “Then make sure to stay safe. Don’t randomly hurt passersby. If you run into bad people, you definitely need to tell your geges. Do not, under any circumstances, deal with them yourself……”

Peppa obediently listened to him finish speaking, then crisply responded, “I know, gege. I will be a good child, I won’t randomly kill anyone……”

Yu Zhengdu sweatdropped, only to hear the creepy voice of a young boy sound from the other end of the line. “Don’t worry gege. We know that if we kill people, we won’t be able to turn into little pigs and will have to turn into mice……”

Yu Zhengdu: “You are?”

The little boy: “I’m Georgie.”

Yu Zhengdu wiped his forehead. “……Okay, Georgie. Then be good and have fun.”

Yu Zhengdu hung up, still sweating. He glanced around the empty office and suddenly felt a sensation of loneliness. He thought to himself, I must be the legendary empty nest youth, right……

Possibly because he had gotten used to working shoulder to shoulder with Shang Que, at this moment, Yu Zhengdu instinctively thought of the other. I wonder if he’s at the garden party or not yet, Yu Zhengdu pondered. He opened WeChat and sent Shang Que a voice call request.

“Deng deng deng deng deng deng——”

The familiar ringing sounded from behind him. Yu Zhengdu felt slightly surprised as he turned his head to look, only to see that Shang Que had appeared at an unknown time and was sitting in a chair nearby. His legs were crossed and one of his hands was elegantly holding up his chin. The other was scrolling through his phone. When he saw his WeChat light up, he reflexively looked up and coincidentally made eye contact with Yu Zhengdu.

Shang Que’s eyes were very deep, like bottomless pools of icy water. But his pupils were completely dark. There was no light in them at all; they reflected nothing.

But in this moment, Yu Zhengdu felt that he could see his own reflection in them.

Yu Zhengdu burst into unexpected laughter. He put his phone back into his pocket and crinkled his eyes to ask, “Waiting for me?”

Shang Que nodded and stood up. He didn’t even need to ask. He only smiled and tilted his head to gesture that they should leave. “Let’s go. We can go to the garden party.”

The garden party was much more crowded than Yu Zhengdu had expected. Originally, he thought that there would only be a limited number of event-goers since this was an unpopular festival held in a remote location with minimal promotion.

But the beautiful, intricate, grand, and unique design had attracted practically everyone who worked nearby. Several people couldn’t help immediately sharing what they were seeing on their WeChats and summoning their friends to come too. This caused a new influx of people to arrive.

When Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que got to the garden party, people were already squeezed shoulder to shoulder. The noise was deafening.

The seventh month of the year. Underworld energy was at its strongest; the border between the two realms was at its weakest. The Ghost King of Luofeng Mountain cast an enchantment so that anyone who stepped on this piece of land, whether living or dead, would be able to see both worlds.

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que first strolled through the ghost market. The whole way, they could see tourists bargaining with ghosts of different shapes and sizes, completely unafraid.

“This little porcelain jar is quite intricate.” A female white collar worker held up a white porcelain jar the size of her palm. She asked, “What is it for?”

“It’s a cinerary urn,” the vendor answered while he molded some clay. “It’s a replica of my own cinerary urn. Blue-and-white porcelain: it’s lowkey but luxurious. You deserve to own one.”

White collar: “……”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

“Wow, this head is so big.” Two little girls held up their phones to take a picture of one of the vendors on the side of the street.

Yu Zhengdu looked over upon hearing this. The vendor’s head truly was big. It was at least three times the size of a normal person’s head. There was a large vat placed in front of his stall. On the side was a handwritten wooden sign: Wild Earthworms.

The vendor noticed the little girls taking pictures and very cooperatively made a peace sign. He smiled and said, “Because I’m a big-headed ghost ah.”

Little girl: “Your headpiece is so realistic. Did you make it or buy it?”

Big-headed ghost: “It’s my own.”

Little girl: “Can we take a picture with you?”

“Yes.” The big-headed ghost held onto his own head and very familiarly said in advance, “But you can’t take this opportunity to try and yank my head off.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

After the two little girls finished taking their picture, they directly stood off to the side and started choosing which ones they were going to post.

At this time, a middle aged man walked over and peeked into the vat. His eyes immediately widened. “Oho, your worms are so fat. They must be farmed?”

“Absolutely not. They’re completely wild; natural with no additives.” The big-headed ghost grabbed a fat worm from the vat that was still wiggling. This scared the little girls standing off to the side so much that they shrieked and ran off.

The man looked on in disbelief. “You must have half a vat? It’s impossible to get so many wild worms.”

The big-headed ghost said, “How is it impossible? Wild graves are moist and unpopulated. There are lots of earthworms like this there. I caught all of these this morning. See, they’re still alive.”

As he spoke, he shook the worms around to prove that he was telling the truth.

“Hey hey hey, I won’t argue about this with you anymore. I’m just buying them as fish food.” The middle aged man pulled out his phone after saying this. “Get me half a catty. I’ll pay with Alipay.”

“They really are wild. If even half of one isn’t, I’ll let you party on my grave,” the big-headed ghost promised while he weighed and packaged the worms. “Here, scan this code.”

“This garden party is quite interesting. I’m going to head home and tell my wife to come take a look too.” The man picked up his bag of worms and left, pleased. According to his words, he appeared to be a local who lived nearby.

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que finally scooted in closer. Yu Zhengdu asked the boss, “Hello. How’s business been?”

“Hi Boss Shang, hi you two.” The big-headed ghost was someone who caught on quickly. He eagerly greeted the two before smiling and saying, “Business isn’t so great. Only a few people who enjoy fishing have come over. The girls all stay far away. But my earnings tonight are enough for me to buy a new set of clothes.”

Yu Zhengdu nodded. “That’s good.”

The big-headed ghost very gratefully said, “It’s a good thing that Luofeng gave us this chance to join the night market. And even provided all of us with a payment code. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to do business at all.”

The Internets of the Underworld and mortal realm weren’t connected. Yu Zhengdu realized that many people now used mobile payment methods, so with great insight, he had organized for Lu Lingxi to give the vendors a payment code linked to an account belonging to a mortal. After the garden party, Luofeng would calculate everybody’s earnings and provide the service of purchasing items from the mortal realm and burning them.

Yu Zhengdu glanced at his vat of worms, piled on top of each other and still wiggling around. He felt goosebumps appearing all over his skin. He asked, “You haven’t taken this opportunity to sell some illegal products, right?”

“I wouldn’t dare.” The big-headed ghost patted his chest. “All of our products need to pass Luofeng’s strict inspections. Only those that fulfill the regulations of the mortal realm can receive a vending license.”

As he spoke, he pulled out his license from under his arm. On it was Luofeng’s verification stamp. “See, it has no harmful side effects for living beings. Meets the First Degree of Safety in the Underworld.”

This set of safety degrees had been created by Lu Lingxi. She had worked at Luofeng for several years, so was much more familiar with the regulations of objects between the two realms than Yu Zhengdu.

Upon seeing this, Yu Zhengdu nodded, relaxed. Only to see the big-headed ghost eagerly grab a single use bowl and fill it halfway with earthworms. He handed them over. “Here, try some. I grabbed these from my grave. Guaranteed no additives. The texture is soft and they have high protein content. They can also increase your masculinity……”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Shang Que pushed it away with his hand. He expressionlessly said, “Just eat it yourself.”

“Okay.” The big-headed ghost didn’t try to force him. He picked up a fat earthworm himself and slurped it up. “They’re really very delicious. I’m not lying.”

Yu Zhengdu felt sick seeing this. He hurriedly turned around and made to leave. However, because he wasn’t paying attention, someone passing by ran into him. He almost fell and shouted, “Ao——” in surprise.

“Be careful.” Shang Que grabbed onto his hand in a timely manner and tugged him back.

“Thank you,” Yu Zhengdu thanked after finally managing to regain his footing.

“Let’s go. We can look up there.” Shang Que took the chance to hold onto his wrist. He pulled on him to continue walking forward.

“Uh……” Yu Zhengdu looked at his wrist that was still trapped in the other’s hand. A strange feeling flashed through his mind; he thought that this posture seemed a bit overly intimate, but what surprised him was that it didn’t annoy him being in this position. He hesitated, but ultimately didn’t break free. He only followed along with tiny steps.

This was the first time the Underworld was openly celebrating the Ghost Festival in the mortal realm. Luofeng’s employees had an abundance of motivation, so prepared several different projects. They had even hired a large number of ghostly temporary workers, training them and organizing them to be able to achieve festivities on such a scale.

Simply walking along the ghost market, Yu Zhengdu saw several strange products. Cinerary urns and mini coffins were common. There were also those selling gravestones and sharing the most popular graveyard disco playlists.

Of course, there were normal products too, such as outfits and handmade crafts, as well as plenty of street food. But the street food here was different from other places. They were mostly vegetarian, like cooked unshelled proso millet, flower oil pancakes, vegetable medley dumplings, etc. Yu Zhengdu hadn’t even heard of several of them. Many tourists also hadn’t. They curiously bought some to try.

Shang Que explained them one by one to Yu Zhengdu. “These are all foods that were used as sacrificial offerings during the Ghost Festival in the past.”

Yu Zhengdu nodded and casually bought a few pieces of flower oil pancake to share with Shang Que.

Soon after, the two of them reached the end of the road. After exiting the ghost market, what appeared before them was a wide wooden bridge. It was very long. This piece of empty land obviously had its limits, but the other end of the bridge was hidden in a sea of darkness. From this side, one couldn’t tell where the bridge led at all. This caused slight sensations of fear to creep into people’s hearts.

There was an extremely tall pole standing at the bridgehead. On it, three lanterns made of white paper swayed in the wind. Upon further inspection, one could tell that there were three large characters written on them: Bridge Over Troubled Water.

“Ah, this bridge seems to be made of paper?” There was a hesitant couple at the bridgehead. The girl had only just taken a step onto the surface of the bridge when she hurriedly drew her foot back again in horror.

The boy patted her back. “That’s just the way it looks. Otherwise, it would’ve fallen a long time ago with the amount of people crossing over it.”

But the girl still wasn’t convinced. “Aiya, it’s so dark on the other side. I can’t see anything at all. How about we don’t go over.”

The boy: “What are you scared of? There are so many people walking in that direction.”

The girl furrowed her brows. “Don’t you think they look very strange?”

Many silhouettes could be seen on the Bridge Over Troubled Water. Some people walked further away while others drew closer. But all those that stepped onto the bridge seemed to naturally be covered by a strange atmosphere. From faraway, they appeared almost expressionless: their gazes were empty, as if they were zombies. This made onlookers tremble in fear.

Shang Que explained to Yu Zhengdu, “It is easy to be a human, but hard to conduct yourself in a humane manner. The Bridge Over Troubled Water is what separates the mortal realm and Underworld. Walking across the Bridge Over Troubled Water is like experiencing life and death once. Those on the bridge are possibly rethinking all that has occurred in their lives so far.”

Yu Zhengdu came to a realization. He took two steps back. “Then let’s not walk across. I don’t think it’s time for me to rethink my life yet.”

Shang Que looked at him in amusement. “This isn’t even the real Bridge Over Troubled Water. The Underworld energy is just affecting mortals a bit is all.”

That couple was still arguing. The boy said, “You’re overthinking it. That’s the lighting causing illusions.”

The girl pouted. “But I still think that it’s really very scary.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the girl suddenly widened her eyes. She pointed at the bridge in horror and screamed, “Look, what is that——”

Following her screeches, faint sounds of a suona could be heard from the other end of the bridge.

Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help looking over too, only to see a bridal procession dressed in historical attire suddenly appear on the wide bridge. That procession was extremely large, slowly appearing from the darkness on the other end of the Bridge Over Troubled Water and becoming visible.

There were four female servants leading the way. Their hair was tied up in two small buns. Two held lanterns and two carried baskets. Behind them were people playing the suona, hitting the gongs, holding up umbrellas, carrying dowry chests, etc.

As the procession got closer and closer, those people’s faces became clearer and clearer. The sounds of the suona and gongs got louder and louder too. They entered onlookers’ ears, causing their eardrums to ring. But this scene that was supposed to be quite cheery gave people an inexplicably strange feeling.

Yu Zhengdu took a closer look and finally discovered why it gave off such a strange aura.

The bridal procession’s movements were completely in sync. They were so synchronized that they seemed like wooden people and didn’t look alive at all; their faces were as pale as paper, but were covered with heavy makeup, making them appear similar to mannequins painted over. Their faces were expressionless and there was no light in their eyes. In comparison to the bright red outfits they wore, this contrast was even more obvious and creepy.

Even more bizarre, as they walked, they threw white paper money. The paper money flitted through the air, appearing like white butterflies in the night sky.

This cross between a joyful procession and a funeral gave people an eerie feeling at first glance.

As the procession got nearer, the end of it slowly completely appeared from where it was originally hidden in the dark.

That was a red palanquin carried by eight bearers. The eight bearers all had different appearances. Some had green faces and fangs, some had open wounds flowing with blood on their heads, and there was even one whose face was split in half while his entire body was covered in blood. They, like the rest of the procession, were expressionless, carrying the palanquin and steadily making their way out of the darkness.

There were flowers tied on all four corners of the palanquin. It was extremely luxurious. A corner of the red curtain gently lifted with the evening wind, almost as if seducing onlookers to step closer and get a better look.

The procession gradually walked forward. Under the horrified gazes of onlookers, they arrived at the end of the Bridge Over Troubled Water. Then, the sound of the suona suddenly stopped. The foremost person raised his voice and shouted, “The Ghost King is escorting his bride—— Mortals stay away——”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Shang Que: “……”

The girl in the couple had long since gotten so frightened that she had hidden herself away into the boy’s arms. She cried, “Let’s hurry and go back. I’m so scared——”

Only to see the curtain of the palanquin carried by eight bearers get drawn back. The heads of two girls popped out. They excitedly waved at the couple and shouted, “Ah Yi, you guys are here too? Do you want to get into this bridal palanquin with us?”

The couple: “……???”

Especially the girlfriend who had almost gotten scared out of wits. She turned to look at the two girls in the palanquin, expression bewildered. In a daze, she asked, “How come it’s you guys?”

Shang Que couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He dragged the first person in the procession over and asked, “What are you guys doing?”

As soon as that person saw Shang Que, they hurriedly started smiling ingratiatingly. “Hello Boss Shang. This is our creative event——the Ghost King escorts his bride. You don’t even know how many little girls want to pretend to be a ghostly bride once in their lives. Our business has been the best this entire evening.”

As if to prove that what he was saying was the truth, several tourists off to the side swarmed over and excitedly asked, “May I ask, can we do this as long as we pay?”

“Yes, yes.” That person very familiarly pulled out his payment code. He smiled and said, “Fifteen minutes for one round, only 200. At most, three people can sit in it at the same time. And we have special workers who can follow along to take photos throughout the entire fifteen minutes. We guarantee that we will preserve your most beautiful moment.”

Yu Zhengdu patted Shang Que’s shoulder meaningfully. “The Ghost King has quite good fortune in love affairs tonight.”

Shang Que: “……”

The author has something to say:

Shang Que: Tonight I’m going to start feasting!

All the other ghosts: I’m inviting everyone to come party at my grave tonight!