Grabbing the mooncake box, now heavy with the shady thousand bucks that should've been mine, I stepped away from her door. No joy came with this sudden cash grab of eleven grand–just a heavy feeling of dread settling in my chest, like the air around me had turned thick with unease.
The daughter-in-law's story was a dead end: her old mother-in-law had carried some scallions upstairs, found a stack of cash at my door, brought it home like a prize, and then kicked the bucket that same night. The only thing that stood out was the look of pure terror frozen on the old lady's face, her eyes wide open like she'd seen something straight out of a nightmare.
Back in my room, I picked apart the whole thing until the creepy vibes were impossible to ignore, like a shadow slowly creeping across the floor. After getting some time off work, I grabbed a cab to Spirit Lane–our city's spooky strip of funeral shops and fortune-tellers, where the air always smells like incense and secrets. I picked the least sketchy-looking place and walked in to find an old shopkeeper who kept his eyes shut the whole time I was talking, like he was listening not just to me but to the echoes of my fate.
"Kid,"he finally said, his cloudy eyes snapping open,"you know why ghost money showed up at your door?"At my confused shrug, he sipped his tea with maddening calm, the steam curling around his face like a snake."The old lady's paying her debt."
"Debt?"My voice cracked, the word sticking in my throat like a splinter."I never lent her—"
"Fate meant that cash for you. Her taking it p*ss*d off…certain folks. So she's paying you back in funeral money."His casual words sent chills down my spine, each syllable like a drop of ice water.
When I pressed him about where the money came from, his lips curled like a dried-up persimmon, wrinkled and knowing."This cash buys more than stuff, kid. It buys destiny itself."At my blank stare, he leaned in, his breath smelling like old herbs and decay."Life-redemption silver. Your life's earnings, handed to you early. Spend it all, and death comes knocking."
My teacup shook in my hand, the liquid inside rippling like a disturbed pond."You're saying someone's trying to kill me?"
"Not exactly."He refilled my cup, the act almost ceremonial."They're giving you your life's earnings upfront. Use it all, and your time's up."
Desperation made me spill everything and slap five hundred bucks on the table, the crisp bills shining under the dim light. The old man's beard twitched as he pocketed the cash, his fingers moving with the precision of someone who'd done this a thousand times."The one who set the trap has to undo it. Make the architect tear down their own snare."
His ritual involved willow leaves soaked in bloody water, a talisman with ancient scribbles, and instructions for burning paper offerings at midnight."Burn mourning notes when you do this,"he warned, cutting off my question."Think about it–why was it only the dying old lady who saw the money? Your enemy's woven dark magic into your home."
The idea of underworld imps delivering the cursed cash chilled me to the bone, like the cold had seeped into my very marrow. Even though I was still skeptical, I followed his instructions–setting up the ritual box as the shadows grew longer, the room getting darker by the minute.
By twilight, I was drifting in and out of sleep, phantom voices mixing with TV static, their whispers unclear but menacing. I woke up to pitch-black darkness, broken only by funeral candles next door–their flickering light painting the hallway in eerie shadows. The air was thick with the metallic smell of something big about to happen, like the whole world was holding its breath, waiting for the inevitable.
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Glossary (Sorted by logical importance in the text)
1. Redemption Silver
This is a super deep-rooted taboo in folk occult stuff. Basically, it's like turning a person's lifetime wealth into actual silver through some secret rituals. It's kinda like a "life-for-cash" deal. Once the person spends all that money, it means their life's been totally swapped for wealth, and boom–they're gone. In the story, you see this crazy transformation between regular cash and ghost money, which ties into the whole "using real-world money to buy your way in the afterlife" thing.
2. Ghost-guiding Money for the Netherworld
This isn't your average ghost money. The cash the old lady grabbed was special ghost-guiding money with some "underworld-crossing" mojo. It's got this "marking the prey" trick. The creases and cinnabar marks (you can tell from the shopkeeper's reaction) can confuse the underworld ghost messengers about who's alive. It's a spin on the "Five-Ghosts Transporting Wealth" technique from *The Book of Lu Ban*.
3. Spirit Lane
This is a weird part of town where the living and dead kinda mix. All the shops there open at noon and midnight–not your usual hours. The old shopkeeper keeps his eyes closed, but it's not because he's blind. He's given up normal sight to get this "nether pupil" thing, which lets him see the debts and fates of both the living and the dead.
4. Willow Branches Soaked in Virgin's Blood
This is a big deal in exorcism rituals. In Taoism, willow branches are linked to the Ghost Star. When you soak them in a virgin's menstrual blood, they turn into a ghost-beating whip. The text says to soak them for 45 minutes, which matches the cycle of the Star of Prosperity in the Big Dipper. This is key to breaking the "Redemption Silver" contract.
5. Talisman for the Departed
The talisman the old shopkeeper made is packed with secrets. The three hooks at the top are for the Three Pure Ones, but they're written backward. The character "Jian" (which stands for a ghost's form after death) suppresses "Shu," which is all about using ghosts to cancel the contract. This talisman has to be burned during the Yin hour when the sun and moon are both out, using the chaos of yin-yang to reset everything.
6. Funeral Candles
The creepy flames from these candles do two things: they're a death warning (the shadows show ghost messengers coming to take lives) and they're also the key to fixing the problem. These cold flames are "yang within yin," creating a mirror image with the Talisman for the Departed that the main character's about to burn. This sets up the whole "stealing and replacing the life register" thing.
7. Debt Cycle
This is the main idea in this chapter. The old lady's death isn't random–it's part of a "cause-and-effect" thing. She took the Redemption Silver meant for the main character, which started the "transfer of the victim" effect. This underworld debt transfer needs two things: a blood connection (like daughter-in-law and mother-in-law) and contact at the end of life (within six hours before death).
8. Evil-Conjuring Formation
This is a sneaky setup by the bad guy in the main character's house. By burying the "Four Yin Objects" (probably shroud thread, grave soil, ash-mixed salt, and corpse oil) at the corners, the house turns into a "fake yin house." This lets the Redemption Silver cross the line between the living and the dead. The "burning of mourning papers" the shopkeeper mentioned is just a trick to fool the formation by making it look like a funeral.
9. Minor Ghost Messengers
These are the low-level ghost workers who carry the Redemption Silver. The whole "only the dying can see the money" thing comes from the "hidden-aura barrier" these messengers have. Unless you're...
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