Hearing complaints and angry voices from outside.
My heart was filled with tension.
Even a little fear.
I was afraid that thing would charge in, extend its pale human hand, and drag me out from under the altar.
I held my breath in nervousness, not daring to breathe for a long time.
Only when my face turned red did I dare to exhale and inhale slowly…
After the old man’s voice disappeared, the temple fell silent for a long time.
The black cloth shoes pacing in front of the paper bowls also vanished.
Around one in the morning.
Several coughs sounded above my head again.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
These coughs were very loud.
In the silent old temple, they were particularly jarring.
It sounded like a phlegm stuck in his throat, making one feel extremely uncomfortable.
After these coughs, I saw a pair of red cloth shoes approach again through the gap beneath the yellow cloth.
There was no sound, still on tiptoe.
The moonlight shining into the temple made it hazy.
But the red color was eye-catching.
It should be a woman’s feet, not the previous person.
She stepped closer to the altar, and finally, the toes of the two red cloth shoes extended into the gap under the yellow cloth.
Seeing these two pairs of red cloth shoes, I quickly shrank back.
But inside here, there was only so much space, and I had very little room to move.
The thing outside just stood there.
After more than ten minutes, a middle-aged woman’s voice rang out:
“Who’s down there! You’ve been occupying the space for so long, why haven’t you left?”
Her voice was somewhat deep and a bit thin.
There was a hint of annoyance in her tone.
Hearing her speak suddenly, and clearly addressing me.
I quickly responded as Master Gu had instructed:
“A seller! Just staying for one night and leaving.”
As soon as I finished speaking, the middle-aged woman said, “Oh,” and the red shoes that had stepped into the gap under the yellow cloth retreated.
Then, I saw her tiptoe away to the side.
After she left, I didn’t even exhale in relief.
The middle-aged woman’s voice sounded again from another side of the temple.
“A seller, said he’d leave after one night.”
She seemed to be talking to someone else, but her tone carried a hint of complaint.
I pricked up my ears and listened quietly.
It was clear that there was more than one unclean thing in this room.
I guessed there were at least three.
The one coughing incessantly on the altar above my head.
The one in black cloth shoes who said they could only look but not eat.
And this woman who spoke to me…
Afterward, the temple fell silent again for a while.
Around one-thirty in the morning.
Those black cloth shoes once again appeared before the two paper bowls.
His silent footsteps could only be seen pacing through the gap.
Finally, facing the direction of my altar, he suddenly spoke:
“Seller, how do you sell your goods?”
His voice was hoarse and old, it was that old ghost.
I had been highly tense the whole time.
Now, hearing the question, I also responded immediately:
“Rice for money, eggs for medicine. Money only old money, medicine only old medicine.”
But as soon as I finished speaking.
The unclean thing outside let out a cold snort:
“Hmph! Occupying my house, bringing a fierce woman outside, and selling things so expensively.”
After speaking, he walked away…
Hearing this, I shivered.
I felt as if I were constantly testing the boundaries of courting death.
I was very afraid that the yellow cloth in front of me would be flung aside by him.
And then I’d be thrown out…
However, while I was trembling with fear.
I heard two “ding ding” sounds, like coins dropping on the ground.
Before I could look down and see, I saw an old coin roll in through the gap under the yellow cloth and stop by my hand.
Immediately, a white hand reached into the black paper bowl containing the glutinous rice and grabbed a handful.
A few seconds later, a “crunch crunch” sound echoed through the temple, the sound of chewing rice.
It was very dry, crisp, and unpleasant to hear.
But at this moment, I quickly picked up the old coin.
I couldn’t see the pattern, but it was much smaller than the ghost-beating money.
It should be similar to a copper coin with a hole in the middle, and it felt very cold in my hand, like a piece of ice.
As soon as I held it, another old coin rolled under the altar.
And precisely, it rolled to where my hand was.
The next second, another white hand grabbed a handful of glutinous rice from the black paper bowl.
Then the second chewing rice sound appeared in the temple.
“Crunch crunch” sounded from both sides simultaneously…
Damn it, this sound was deadly.
If I hadn’t forcefully controlled myself and constantly told myself not to be afraid, to hold on, to survive.
I felt that I might have broken down…
As time passed, cold old coins “ding ding dangled” and rolled in.
The eggs in the black paper bowl for selling eggs also decreased one by one.
Then I saw dark things being casually thrown into the bowls.
I didn’t dare to reach out and grab them, so I didn’t know what that so-called “old medicine” was.
But judging by the appearance, the number of unclean things in this temple.
Definitely exceeded my previous guess, more than three.
Because many times, I didn’t see shoes.
I just saw human hands suddenly appear to grab rice and take eggs.
And they flashed by, disappearing quickly.
Now there were five or six places making chewing rice sounds.
There were also some subtle “slurp slurp” sounds, as if they were eating eggs…
From the sounds, unclean things were standing in all directions of the temple.
Although I didn’t see them eating rice and eggs.
But these sounds made me imagine their eerie appearance as they ate with relish.
I held ten cold old coins in my hand.
All ten eggs outside had been sold.
Listening to the “crunch crunch” of chewing rice and eating eggs outside.
My heart felt like a cat being teased, filled with apprehension.
I truly wished time would pass quickly, quickly reach morning.
Then I could take the goods back to Master Gu to report.
But who would have thought that at this moment, the pair of black cloth shoes reappeared before the altar.
I could clearly feel a wave of cold air surge.
Immediately, the old man’s hoarse voice rang out:
“Seller, the fierce woman outside is looking for you. All the goods are sold, you should leave now!”