My 1978 Hotel

Chapter 56: Hungry Ghost Legend and Letter of Introduction, Village Craftsman
Han Fujing and Han Wangshi's eyes widened as fear washed over them like a tide. "That sound, no... it's impossible..." Han Wangshi trembled, pointing at the flickering white light in the window.

Han Fujing was clutching the edge of the bed with both hands, his lips trembling. It was a ghost fire, a ghost fire, it was a ghost fire, my mother really came back.

"Mom, don't blame me..."

Han Fujing was so frightened and guilty that he seemed to be on the verge of collapse. Han Wangshi even knelt on the bed and kowtowed continuously. She was an uneducated old woman and it never occurred to her that all this was fake.

"Mom, I was wrong, I was wrong..."

"...Mom is hungry, daughter-in-law, your meat smells so good, give it to me..."

“No…no…no.”

Han Wangshi rolled her eyes and fainted. It was too scary. The flickering ghost fire approached the window little by little, and the sound was getting closer and closer. Han Wangshi thought that this was her mother-in-law coming to seek revenge on her. At this moment, her brain was numb, even a little illusory, and she had no ability to distinguish whether the sound was real or fake.

Han Fujing watched his wife faint, and with a vengeance, he picked up a nearby hatchet and chopped at the window, scaring even the flickering will-o'-the-wisp fire outside. "Hack you to death, hack you to death!"

"Ugh."

A sigh was heard, and from afar a voice seemed to come. "Auntie, it's time to go."

"An Yue..."

With a bang, Han Fujing lay on the ground. The window was quiet, without a sound, leaving only adobe and wood chips on the ground.

Outside the yard, Li Feng received a message from Gao Cheng that the patrol team had already headed back and would reach the dam entrance in four or five minutes.

"Pack up and leave quickly."

After putting away the fishing rod and line, Li Feng and Gao Ju trotted back home and turned on the air lights. Li Feng continued to write the manuscript, no, copy the manuscript. Outside the door, Han Anbing, the leader of the militia patrol team, passed by and took a look.

This Li Feng really doesn't know how to save money. The light is so bright, it's such a waste of oil.

"what."

"What's going on?"

Han Anmin's face changed and he immediately picked up the gun on his back. "Anyu, go take a look." The three members of the patrol team quickly ran towards the dam.

"gone?"

"gone."

Gao Cheng nodded. "That sound just now seemed to be from that house."

"It's fun to watch."

Li Feng chuckled, thinking Han Wangshi was unmoved. Now it seemed he'd overestimated it. Perhaps he'd been frightened at the time, only just realizing it now. The next morning, the news spread throughout Hanjiaba.

"Last night, Han Laoliu's mother went back to look for him and his wife."

"Really?"

"That's right. In the middle of the night, Han Laoliu's wife ran out of the house screaming. An Bing and the others saw it with their own eyes. She kept saying, 'Mom, I was wrong!' She even rolled over and kowtowed."

"Serves him right. He usually throws tantrums and calls out to gods and ghosts, but now he's brought his mother back."

"Oh, but it's not just that. I also heard that Han Laoliu's mother was brought back by An Yue."

"You know what I meant by that. It's been so many years, and I was afraid that the old lady couldn't find the way home, so An Yue sent her back. Haha, you deserve it. You bullied other people's children, and now you're done for." Aunt Big Foot clapped her hands.

"No."

The women talked more and more excitedly, while Han Fujing's family was the only one who stared at each other. "Da, why don't you hire a maid?" Han Angui whispered. They were almost scared to death last night because of this guy's trouble.

"Nai is back!" Han Angui almost collapsed to the ground when he heard it.

"Please, please... please come quickly."

Han Wangshi had her hair disheveled. When she heard about the idea of inviting a witch, she quickly agreed. However, she couldn't help it. When she thought about the ghost fire jumping yesterday and her mother-in-law shouting that she was hungry and wanted to eat her flesh, she started to tremble all over.

"How about buying some incense and candles to burn for grandma?"

Han Angui's wife whispered that after all, he was a relative, and it would be a bit too much to ask a witch to kill him.

"I'm afraid it's difficult to send." Han Angui also knew about his parents and grandmother. Starving to death is not something that can be easily forgotten.

"Go and ask for help. Ask for help from the witch Wang."

Han Fujing took a few puffs of his pipe. "This time it's not just your grandma, it's also Anyue..."

"That short-lived little slut..."

Han Wangshi nearly jumped up and cursed. "Your grandma's been gone for so many years and never came back, and yet you've brought this short-lived little slut back. Ask Goddess Wang to behead her. I wonder if she'll still make trouble..."

Han Wangshi's crazy look was so scary that Han Mingfu was a little afraid to get close to his grandmother.

"Go and invite them now."

Han Fujing looked at his wife and gritted his teeth. "Tell Wang the witch to give her more money and ask her to come over quickly."

"I understand."

"Don't let anyone see you."

Han Fuguo particularly disliked this set of feudal superstitions. All day long, the Han Fujing family told others that it was caused by rats, and there was no ghost or monster involved.

"Now we can have some peace and quiet for a while."

Li Feng had no idea that Han Wangshi was actually trying to exorcise ghosts. "Tomorrow morning, I'm going to send my manuscript. This is a good excuse to go out for a walk and inquire about the situation in the surrounding production teams."

"As for the stuff we brought here, let's put it aside for now until we understand the full extent of this crackdown on speculation and profiteering."

Although Li Feng had been there several times, he didn't know much about the surrounding situation. He did know a group of speculators in the county, but the county had been cracking down on them lately, so it was best not to go there if possible. At this time, the policies of previous years were still in place, and the household contract responsibility system would be implemented in two years.

Back then, policies were much more relaxed. Even with the emergence of futures traders in the mid- to late-stage economies, speculation was almost nonexistent. But that's no longer the case; policies remain very tight. Regularly, there's militia training and patrols. Even the kids like Mingliang have summer assignments: school assigns them to stand guard, patrol intersections, and so on. If a stranger shows up in the brigade, it takes less than five minutes to notify the brigade officials. Without a letter of introduction, they're usually taken to the police station. Hanjiaba is a mountainous area, where food and shelter are a concern, so these things aren't as strict.

Otherwise, Gao Cheng and Gao Ju, who had no household registration and no letters of introduction, would have been sent to the commune and imprisoned long ago.

"Don't worry, boss."

After all, Gao Ju and Gao Cheng were wandering around. They went back these days and looked up some information about the times. They both decided to become craftsmen.

Even though all production teams are now wary of strangers, they still have to live.

During the slack season, craftsmen such as those who mend pots, sharpen knives and scissors, make barrels, and barbers can move around among the production teams as long as they have a letter of introduction from the production brigade and the commune.

"It's easier to get a letter of introduction from the Hanjiaba Brigade."

As for the letter of introduction from the commune, Li Feng planned to ask Han Anjun, the assistant to Deputy Secretary Wu of the commune, for help. "The situation is unclear right now, so I can't go to the county town. I'll go visit the surrounding production brigades first to get a clearer picture of the situation."

I went back to check, but couldn't find the exact location. After all, the place name has changed a bit since then. I can only determine the approximate location, which is near the southern part of Dabie Mountain.

"Dong dong dong."

"Who?"

Li Feng nodded to the two of them, then stood up and opened the door.

"Uncle Fuguo, please come in and sit down."

Li Feng looked and saw that they were Han Fuguo and Han Futian. Why did these people come?

"How's the manuscript going?"

Han Fuguo looked around the room and found a lot of new things, such as new soap, new towels, and new shoes. Where did this kid get so many things? He hadn't noticed before, maybe this kid got some of his royalties and bought them secretly.

"Fortunately."

Li Feng smiled and pointed at a stack of manuscripts. "I've written two already. I'll revise them today and mail them to the commune tomorrow morning."

Han Futian took a look and saw that the boy had written quite a lot, probably dozens of pages. "That's quite a lot."

"good."

Li Feng said with a smile. "I've been busy lately, so I just wrote down a few things and that's it."

"what?"

"Why did you write down such a trivial matter as a quarrel?"

Han Futian glanced at the top manuscript, which described the incident of Han Wangshi bullying Daya. It was written quite vividly. This was Li Feng who spent a lot of time thinking about it. The writing was not very good, but it was enough to scare Han Fuguo and others.

"Just write something."

Li Feng casually crumpled up the manuscript and stuffed it into his pocket. "By the way, Uncle Fuguo, I heard that this family is making trouble again. What's going on?"

"It's nothing."

Han Fuguo thought to himself, this kid must be writing down some rumors he heard. If outsiders knew about the mess that Han Fujing's family had done, the entire Hanjiaba would be laughed at.

"But I heard Mingliang say something about a starving ghost coming back to settle accounts with someone."

Li Feng looked at Han Fuguo with a smile. "Uncle Guofu, I think this is quite interesting. Maybe I can write a novel about it and become famous all over the country."

"Nationally famous?"

Oh my god! Han Fuguo shuddered with fear. That wouldn't do. The whole country knew about Han Fujing's family affairs. Well, even though it was a matter of starvation, it was still shameful.

"Mingliang is talking nonsense. Don't believe everything you hear."

Han Fuguo planned to go to Han Fujing's house later and give him a thorough explanation, especially to ask Han Wangshi to stop making trouble and come back to ask for food, as feudal superstitions were not acceptable.

"Oh, that's a pity." Li Feng didn't say anything more. Anyway, it would cause some trouble for Han Wang's family.

"I came here this time to tell you something."

Han Fuguo got down to business, repairing the house. It hadn't rained recently, so that wasn't a problem, but the house still needed repairs. "You've written a manuscript, haven't you? You've been paid to take advantage of the lack of work in the brigade lately, so you can hire someone to help fix the roof."

"The team will approve some reeds and straw for you."

Han Fuguo said, "You need to make the adobe yourself. Also, make more adobe bricks while the weather is good. Then, when you have some free time in the fall, tidy up the yard."

"got it."

"You know nothing."

Han Fuguo was a little angry when he saw Li Feng didn't care and responded. Look at this kid, the roof is still translucent. Now he uses new things. Look, he uses a glass cup to drink tea. He must not know how to save money.

Li Feng was a little speechless. Why did he get so angry just by talking about it? Really, this old man. "You should pay more attention to this matter. Although it hasn't rained for more than half a month, you can't be sure when it will rain."

"I understand."

"Just keep it in mind."

Han Fuguo glanced at Gao Jue and Gao Cheng, who were standing beside him. These two cousins, now wearing new clothes, weren't exactly good people. "Okay, I'm going back."

"Uncle Fuguo, wait a minute."

Li Feng thought about the letter of introduction. "I need to trouble you with something."

"What's the matter? Tell me quickly."

“That’s it…”

Li Feng told Han Fuguo about Gao Ju and Gao Cheng's plans to go out and earn money. "Getting a letter of introduction is easy. Okay, come get it at my house after dinner." He also has some cooking skills, so he's not lazy at all.

(End of this chapter)