Courtyard House: Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) Traded for an Aircraft Carrier, the Whole Count

The two days following my return from the rocky outskirts of Beijing were uneventful. Meanwhile, the sweet potato field, treated with wasteland technology, was quietly brewing a storm at an astonishing pace, and in the courtyard at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang, another storm concerning humanity was also arriving as scheduled.

On the evening of the third day, the setting sun was like blood.

A dark green jeep, typical of that era, didn't stop at the alley entrance, but instead dumped the person on the roadside not far from the police station. Jia Zhangshi was "released" and brought back.

For Jia Zhangshi, who was used to a life of luxury and whose only activities were taking painkillers and sewing shoe soles, seven days of detention were like the eighteenth level of hell. Her once flabby body visibly sagged, her cheeks became sunken, her cheekbones became high, and her already mean-spirited triangular eyes now shone with a wolfish green light, so sinister that no one dared to look directly at her.

As she hunched over and stepped into the courtyard, she looked like an old, large rat crawling out of a ditch.

As soon as they entered the Intermediate People's Court, they heard Banggeng's heart-wrenching cries coming from his own house: "I want to eat meat! I want to eat white flour buns! This cornbread hurts my throat, I won't eat it! I won't eat it!"

Jia Zhangshi's heart tightened, and she staggered as she pushed open the door.

Inside, the stove and pot were cold. Qin Huairu sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) with red eyes, holding half a cold, hard mixed-grain steamed bun, trying to coax the hamster. Sha Zhu was still locked up in the security office and hadn't been released yet. Without the net bag lunchbox that the long-term meal ticket had brought back, the Jia family's standard of living instantly plummeted from "moderately well-off" to "utterly impoverished."

"Mom...you're back?" Qin Huairu burst into tears when she saw Jia Zhangshi.

Normally, Madam Jia would have scolded Qin Huairu for being useless, but at this moment she was so hungry that her stomach was sticking to her back, and she didn't care about putting on airs as a mother-in-law. She rushed to the table, grabbed the half-eaten cornbread, and stuffed it into her mouth, choking until her eyes rolled back.

Having finally caught her breath, Jia Zhangshi's anger finally flared up.

"Where is that damned, childless bastard?" Madam Jia gritted her teeth, her voice hoarse as if rubbed against sandpaper. "If it weren't for that little beast Jiang Chen, would I be suffering like this? Would my precious grandson be starving?"

She didn't reflect at all on the fact that she was in jail for throwing a tantrum and disturbing the peace. In her twisted logic, the whole world owed the Jia family, and Jiang Chen was the biggest creditor.

Qin Huairu was startled and quickly covered Banggeng's mouth, lowering her voice: "Mom, keep your voice down! Jiang Chen is a big shot in the security department now. Even an old man has fallen into his hands. We can't afford to offend him..."

"Can't afford to offend him? Bah!" Upon hearing this, Madam Jia's anger flared even more, and she became even more emboldened. "Is there no law in this world? Can he kill me too? This old woman's life is on the line; let's see if he dares to take it!"

She shoved Qin Huairu away abruptly, rummaged through the cabinet on the kang (heated brick bed) and pulled out a pair of half-finished shoe soles. She then found a tattered futon and stormed out the door.

It was rush hour, and the residents of the compound were gradually heading home.

Instead of going anywhere else, Jia Zhangshi plopped down at her own doorway, facing the only path to the backyard. She sat cross-legged, holding the thousand-layered-soled needle in her hand, and rubbed the silver tip of the needle against her scalp. With a "sizzle," the needle pierced through the thick layer of cloth.

"God is blind..."

While pulling hard on the hemp rope, Jia Zhangshi began to mutter in a drawn-out, sarcastic tone.

"Let those heartless, short-lived bastards become officials, bullying us orphans and widows... This family is wiped out, aren't they afraid that their children will be born without an anus, and that no one will break their bowls when they die..."

The voice wasn't loud, unlike the boisterous shouts of the past. Instead, it carried a deliberate sense of suppression and gloom, like the hooting of an owl in the dead of night, yet it was just loud enough for everyone who passed by to hear clearly.

Jiang Chen, who had just pushed his bicycle into the yard, happened to stumble upon this scene.

Seeing Jiang Chen return, Jia Zhangshi's actions became even more ruthless, stabbing him with the needle as if she were holding not the sole of a shoe, but Jiang Chen's heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

"Some people, though they're human, do inhuman things, driving their neighbors to their deaths. Just wait, there are gods watching over you, they'll get their retribution sooner or later! They'll get hit by a car when they go out, choke to death while drinking water, and at night... hehe, watch out for vengeful ghosts coming to claim their lives!"

His eyes were filled with such venomous resentment that they were almost dripping with malice.

Jiang Chen stopped in his tracks.

He stood in the center of the courtyard, one hand on the handlebars, his gaze as calm as a stagnant pool, coldly fixed on Jia Zhangshi.

There was no anger in his eyes, he didn't even see her as a person, but rather as a corpse, or a pile of garbage about to be disposed of.

Jia Zhangshi felt a chill run down her spine under that gaze. Her hand holding the needle trembled violently, and the curses she was uttering involuntarily stopped for a moment. It was the instinctive fear that a creature feels when encountering a natural enemy.

But soon she realized that Jiang Chen was just standing there, not hitting anyone, and not calling for security like before.

"Give up? Are you scared?" Jia Zhangshi's wishful thinking resurfaced. She was convinced that Jiang Chen was now a cadre, had his pride, and wouldn't dare to argue with an old woman like her in public.

So she cleared her throat and raised her voice two octaves: "Oh dear, people with guilty consciences just don't dare to utter a sound. Everyone, look at this, this is the high-ranking official who's driving his neighbor to his death..."

The neighbors all lowered their heads, as if they hadn't heard anything, and hurried back home, afraid of getting their hands on this nasty plaster.

Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze, a barely perceptible smile curving his lips.

To argue with such a shameless shrew in the street? That's beneath you. Only a fool like Zhu would do something so stupid.

For this kind of old hag who doesn't listen to reason or the law, but only talks about feudal superstition, you have to communicate with her using a "language" she can understand.

Without saying a word, he pushed the cart straight through the middle courtyard and back to the backyard.

He closed the door, shutting out the nauseating buzzing sound from outside. Jiang Chen parked the car, poured himself a glass of cold water, took a slow sip, and then sat down at the octagonal table.

"Since you enjoy feudal superstition so much, and like cursing people to be possessed by ghosts..."

Jiang Chen tapped his long, slender fingers lightly on the table, his eyes flashing with a playful yet ruthless light, like a hunter setting a trap.

"If I don't grant your request, wouldn't I be letting down your 'sincerity'?"

He closed his eyes slightly, and his consciousness instantly sank into the depths of his mind.

The blue system interface unfolded before his eyes. Jiang Chen skillfully brought up the store's search bar and, without hesitation, typed in two words:

"Haunted".