Ghost on the Construction Site?

"Forget it."

Staring at the building not far away, Shen Qing hadn't yet decided what to do, so he shook his head and turned to leave.

"Little Shen, here to see your big brother again? How come you didn't come by these past two days?"

Before he could turn around, Uncle Zhang, the gatekeeper lying by the entrance smoking, noticed him.

"Uncle Zhang."

Shen Qing smiled and explained, "Things have been a bit busy lately, so I couldn't come every day."

Uncle Zhang exhaled a ring of smoke and nodded, "That's true, you're still young, your career is more important."

"But, Little Shen,"

Uncle Zhang lowered his voice, beckoned Shen Qing over with a mysterious air, and signaled for him to come closer, "What about that ghost haunting the apartment complex next to yours?"

"Ghost haunting? I haven't noticed anything these past two days; it was probably just a stray cat making noise."

Shen Qing laughed it off to brush the question aside. A ghost? It was entirely the sound of some ancient person picking a lock—how was he supposed to explain that?

"I know you young people don't believe in this stuff, but take this."

As Uncle Zhang spoke, he pulled two yellow talismans from his pocket and handed them over. As a professional, Shen Qing could tell at a glance that these were useless.

But since the other party meant well, he could only accept them.

"Thanks, Uncle Zhang."

After chatting for a while, Shen Qing walked to the front of the second residential building. Looking up at the window of his brother's apartment on the second floor, he figured since he was already here, he might as well go up and take a look.

He strolled up, still lost in thought, and reached the door to twist the handle. It wouldn't budge.

"No one home?"

Shen Qing muttered to himself, skillfully retrieved the key from behind the couplet, and opened the door. The room was empty, and a note was stuck to the refrigerator.

"Busy with work at the construction site. I've been coming home late these past two days, and your sister-in-law had something to take care of and went back to her parents' house, so find your own way for dinner!"

Looking at the note his brother had left, complete with an emoji, Shen Qing was stunned.

Overtime at the construction site was normal; to meet deadlines, they had to work through the night.

But his sister-in-law going back to her parents' house...

It wasn't just because of the two brothers; his sister-in-law's own family favored sons over daughters, and she had a poor relationship with them. She wouldn't go back there easily.

"If she goes back, they'll just start arguing again, and Big Brother isn't even with her."

Since no one was home, Shen Qing could only lock the door, put the key back where it belonged, and leave.

"I was planning to discuss it with her—tell her I have a girlfriend and ask her to help me pick out some clothes."

He didn't have the time, and besides his sister-in-law, the only other girl he could ask for help was...

"Are you there?"

Passing by the neighborhood supermarket, Shen Qing suddenly slapped his forehead.

"Almost forgot, I need to go to the mall for clothes, but I haven't bought toiletries yet."

He turned and walked into the supermarket, quickly buying a toothbrush, towel, and other toiletries. Finally, he stood in front of a section for women's personal products, hesitating for a moment.

The last time he had contact with this stuff was using it as a shoe insert during military training.

"Damn, they even have day-use and night-use types."

With the colorful packaging, various brands, models, and materials, Shen Qing was a bit bewildered.

He simply bought a few of the major brands and walked toward the checkout under the strange gazes of surrounding customers—well, it might have been Shen Qing's imagination; life doesn't have that many spectators.

He was just fulfilling his duty as a host, considering everything as thoroughly as possible!

The sky had gradually darkened. In the Peace District, a certain construction site was brightly lit.

The roar of concrete mixers was intermittent. Jiang Cheng was mixing the concrete at his feet, sweat and dust dripping from his temples.

"Brother Jiang, it's only just nightfall and some of the brothers are saying they're feeling dizzy again. Isn't it too dangerous to keep working like this?"

A worker wearing a yellow hard hat walked over, looking nervous, and handed him a cigarette.

"This is the third one this week. They all say they saw a figure flickering on the roof, but when they went to check, there was nothing there. Old Wang tripped and fell yesterday because he was scared—is there really something out there?"

Several workers nearby cast their gazes over.

"Don't talk nonsense."

Jiang Cheng stopped what he was doing and tucked the cigarette behind his ear. "There's no such thing as a ghost. Old Wang's incident was just an accident; it was likely caused by exhaustion. When it's time to rotate shifts and rest, you have to do it. You guys need to pay attention to your rest, too. Once this rush is over, it'll be fine."

"Don't worry, everyone's overtime pay won't be shorted. If that Skinflint Zhao doesn't pay up, I'll go ask him myself."

Seeing this, the workers nodded subconsciously. Getting paid was what mattered most; it was the modern era, after all—where would ghosts come from?

Besides, they were well aware of the truth.

It wasn't just Old Wang; the others who had been suffering from blurred vision lately were simply overworked. To earn a bit more money, they kept working when they should have been resting.

"Damn it, so much to deal with."

After the workers walked away, Jiang Cheng scratched his head vigorously. His phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket, and he answered it without even looking at the screen.

A woman's voice, muffled by sobbing, came from the other end of the line.

"Foreman Jiang, Old Wang is about to go into surgery... The hospital is pressing us for payment again. Even for the initial deposit, we need ten thousand yuan; we really can't delay it any longer. And then there are the hospital fees...

What did the boss say about the compensation? We really are at our wits' end..."

"Sister-in-law, don't you worry."

Jiang Cheng interrupted, "The compensation will definitely come. I'll transfer twenty thousand to you first to cover the costs, and I'll go talk to the boss about the rest of the compensation again."

After hanging up, Jiang Cheng immediately transferred twenty thousand yuan, even though he had less than thirty thousand left in his account.

When a worker gets injured and the boss refuses to take responsibility, as the foreman who brought the team out, he couldn't just stand by and watch them suffer in the hospital. He had no choice but to pay out of his own pocket.

Once the transfer went through, Jiang Cheng immediately dialed Skinflint Zhao's number. It took three attempts before the man finally picked up.

"Hello, Foreman Jiang."

Skinflint Zhao's impatient voice came through the phone, "Didn't I tell you? The client is slow with payments lately, and cash flow is tight.

Just wait a little longer; I'll definitely get you the money!"

"No, Skinflint Zha—"

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath, nearly blurting out the nickname, "Boss Zhao, wait any longer?! Old Wang is the only breadwinner in his family. Now that he's broken his leg, how can you expect them to wait?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end.

"Foreman Jiang, it's not for me to say, but he's not even a relative of yours. Why are you so anxious? I told you, not a cent will be missing!"

"Fine, I'll transfer ten thousand to you now. That's that."

The call cut off.

On the other end, a bald middle-aged man tossed his phone onto the sofa after making the transfer and couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, money—I'm short on cash too, you know."

He was counting on this project to turn his fortunes around; he had already sunk so much of his own capital into it that he was practically broke.

And now, just as they were nearing completion, this mess had to happen. People were saying it was haunted, and a worker had even gotten scared and fallen, ending up in the hospital.

"That department is useless, too. They came once and didn't find a damn thing.

If they had, maybe no one would have broken their leg yesterday... Damn it, if you ask me, they're just scaring themselves. And now look at this mess!"

With an injury incident on his hands, he was even more afraid to report it to the authorities, lest he invite a mountain of trouble from the government.

"Damn it, just stalling."

Jiang Cheng stared at the disconnected phone, took the cigarette from his ear, and clicked his lighter several times before it finally lit.

He took a deep drag and exhaled, his face full of helplessness.

"Otherwise, Wan'er wouldn't have had to go back to borrow money, only to come back empty-handed and get scolded on top of it."

Ten thousand yuan—what the hell is that supposed to cover? It's no different from charity; he's just hoping this ten thousand will keep them quiet for a while.

When all they were asking for was what was rightfully theirs.