Under Tao Hua Ying's comfort, Yin Yin quickly quieted down.
Yin Yin stopped crying and looked around with teary eyes.
It was lively here, and Yin Yin liked liveliness. However, her mother had never allowed her to go to crowded places in the past because such places were too filled with yang energy. With Yin Yin's fragile soul, she couldn't withstand such strong yang energy.
So, seeing the liveliness here, Yin Yin suddenly felt happy because she sensed that the "people" here, like her, had no trace of yang energy on them.
The yin energy pervading the air made her feel at ease and comfortable.
"Is this... the Ghost Market?"
Tao Hua Ying realized where she was.
Legend had it that there was a Ghost Market in Chang'an, a paradise for the dead and a forbidden zone for the living. Tao Hua Ying had brought her daughter here from afar to protect her.
Seeing so many "fellow beings" around, all living as they did in life, Tao Hua Ying suddenly showed a relieved smile.
She picked up Yin Yin and said gently, "Yin Yin, it's very safe here. Shall we live here from now on?"
"Okay~"
Yin Yin's voice chimed like silver bells. As Tao Hua Ying held her daughter, she felt as content as if she possessed the entire world.
The Ghost Market had its own set of survival rules. There was no currency here; the hard currency was anything that had an effect on ghosts, such as offerings from the world of the living, or the yang energy and essence of blood from living beings brought into the Ghost Market by other ghosts.
Periodically, the Ghost Market would open to the outside world, allowing the ghosts living there to trade with the living and earn a substantial amount, ensuring they wouldn't have to worry about maintaining their souls for a long time.
Initially, Tao Hua Ying found a job at an inn in the Ghost Market. Although the work was hard and menial, the yang energy she earned was enough to sustain her daughter's soul.
At that time, she lived a miserable life and hadn't yet revealed her later charming and alluring side, so no one paid her any mind.
Life was simple yet happy, and the mother and daughter finally had a period of peace.
However, good times did not last. Not long after, the Ghost Market welcomed an unwelcome group of guests.
They were the underworld envoys from the Underworld, messengers responsible for soul-snatching under the command of the Black and White Impermanence.
When ordinary people die, their souls unconsciously sink into the ground, finding the Yellow Springs Road themselves, and eventually reincarnate. However, ghosts with grievances had a chance to remain in the mortal world, and it was then that the envoys would capture them and escort them back to the Underworld.
Most of the ghosts in the Ghost Market belonged to the latter category.
Logically, the appearance of underworld envoys in the Ghost Market would be a devastating blow to it, as all the ghosts there would be taken away.
But that was not the case. Due to the Ghost King Shi Jing, the master of the Ghost Market, the envoys turned a blind eye to it, which allowed the Ghost Market to take shape.
However, the reason for the envoys' arrival this time was that Shi Jing had been neglecting his duties, resulting in three hundred ghosts on the list of those to be captured remaining uncaught for the year.
Therefore, the envoys set their sights on the Ghost Market, demanding that Shi Jing hand over three hundred useless ghosts within three days to fulfill his duty.
Shi Jing, of course, would not offend the envoys and immediately agreed, then dispatched his subordinate fierce ghosts to conduct a census.
Those ghosts without power, without background, and of little use to the Ghost Market were to be captured by Shi Jing and given to the envoys to complete his task.
Upon hearing this news, Tao Hua Ying was filled with despair, as she knew her daughter would undoubtedly be on Shi Jing's list.
She was an outsider, lacking power and background, belonging to the lowest stratum of life in the Ghost Market, a natural sacrifice.
To prevent her daughter from being handed over, Tao Hua Ying tried every means possible, eventually pleading with the innkeeper.
The innkeeper was an old ghost, from roughly the same era as Tao Hua Ying. Legend had it that he was a scholar in a certain year, served as a minor official for a few years, and was eventually killed by rebel soldiers. His soul, by chance, entered the Ghost Market, and he had diligently managed the inn for several hundred years to establish it.
This old ghost kept eleven wives in the Ghost Market, but most of them were not attractive, some even missing limbs. Those who were slightly better looking were already occupied by more powerful ghosts.
Hearing that Tao Hua Ying had a request, the old ghost immediately harbored wicked intentions and proposed that Tao Hua Ying become his concubine. Then, Yin Yin would be their daughter. Although the old ghost was not strong, he was still an innkeeper, and Shi Jing would at least give him some face.
After all, there were plenty of ghosts without background in the Ghost Market, so why insist on capturing the daughter of an innkeeper?
Tao Hua Ying resisted internally, deeply conflicted. However, seeing her daughter's innocent and pure face, she gritted her teeth and agreed, but with one condition: the promise would only be fulfilled after her daughter was safe.
The innkeeper was overjoyed and even bought a small toy for Yin Yin on the spot, coaxing the little girl to call him "Daddy."
But Yin Yin clearly remembered what her father looked like. Her father was not this ugly, shriveled old man in front of her, so Yin Yin refused to utter the word.
The innkeeper became enraged by this and, in a fit of anger, snatched back the toy he had given Yin Yin. Yin Yin did not understand why she had angered the innkeeper, but she said nothing, burying herself in Tao Hua Ying's arms, tears streaming down her face.
Tao Hua Ying kept comforting her, her heart aching. However, to prevent her daughter from being handed over, the mother and daughter had to appease this shameless and lecherous old ghost.
"Yin Yin, you must call him Daddy."
After returning home, Tao Hua Ying sternly instructed Yin Yin.
Yin Yin turned her back and said indignantly, "He's not my Daddy! My Daddy doesn't look like this!"
"You stubborn girl, why don't you understand!" Tao Hua Ying said in exasperation, picking up a willow branch to spank Yin Yin's bottom.
Yin Yin, who usually feared being spanked, seemed to have eaten the wrong medicine today. She gritted her teeth and refused to yield, even with tears welling up in her eyes.
Suddenly, Tao Hua Ying stopped, dropped the willow branch, and hugged Yin Yin, bursting into tears.
Even after living for several hundred years, Tao Hua Ying could not understand why, in this vast world, there was no place for her and her daughter.
Why did her daughter have to sacrifice her appearance and compromise herself?
"It's all my fault, Mom... It's all my fault for not being able to protect you..."
Tao Hua Ying wept uncontrollably, holding Yin Yin. The spanked Yin Yin, however, wiped away her tears, cupped her mother's face, and comforted her, "Mom, don't cry."
Looking at her daughter's innocent and pure face, Tao Hua Ying felt immense guilt.
Yes, her daughter just didn't want to call a stranger an old man "Daddy." What was wrong with that?
...
Soon, three days passed, and the day of the handover arrived.
Tao Hua Ying settled Yin Yin at home and went alone to meet the innkeeper. The innkeeper had already prepared a red dress for Tao Hua Ying as a wedding gown. Tao Hua Ying put on the red dress, shedding the hardships of the past years. It was only when she walked into the room that her true beauty was revealed.
Her eyes held a captivating glow, blooming like flowers.
Tao Hua Ying possessed fox-like eyes, naturally enchanting and alluring. However, over the years, as a mother and burdened by constant toil, she appeared slovenly and always kept her head down, which prevented people from noticing her beauty.
Now, because of this red dress, she finally had a semblance of her former self, revealing her resplendent appearance once more.