Side Story: Old Wang's Resentment

Once he left the funeral home, the oppressive feeling vanished.

Chen Miao glanced at the sky. There was still some time before nightfall, so he hurried back to the office.

Sitting at his desk, Chen Miao took a while to calm himself.

It wasn't as though he had never done anything similar before. When he presided over memorial services, some families had their own customs and rules. He would arrange everything as requested, then follow the proceedings.

Perhaps because he was dealing with an actual ghost this time, it felt completely different.

Only after calming down did Chen Miao open the book.

The first page he looked at was [Author information].

The current status field had changed.

"Haunted by resentment" had gone from "seven days" to "six days."

Chen Miao felt a little relieved. At least his efforts hadn't been wasted.

He kept turning the pages until he reached [Side stories].

"Chapter 1 · Side story · Old Wang's Resentment"

"After I helped Qian Xiaomei with her makeup, I gained some inexplicable insight into the world!"

"Perhaps things I don't understand really do exist beyond the limits of my knowledge."

"Not wanting to favor one over the other, I decided to do something for Old Wang as well."

"But although Old Wang and I had been coworkers, I didn't know what he liked. After some thought, I decided to make offerings to him as a way of seeing him off."

"Money was tight, so the offerings I prepared for Old Wang were rather meager, but at least I observed all the proper rites."

"After making the offerings, I left the cold storage room."

"That night, I had a dream."

"I found myself in a cramped space. It was freezing, and I felt as though I had sleep paralysis. I could only look around, unable to move at all."

"I didn't know how much time passed in the dream. When I woke up, I discovered that I had caught a cold and felt somewhat weak."

"I thought the dream had been a one-off, but over the next few days, I kept having the same dream!"

"Each time I woke, my health deteriorated a little more."

"Fortunately, the dream stopped after just six days, but by then my body was already a wreck."

"Suddenly, I remembered the offerings I had made to Old Wang six days earlier."

"Perhaps Old Wang resented me for not giving him a decent meal."

The text ended there.

Looking at that last sentence, Chen Miao thought of the four incense sticks.

If I use those four incense sticks, could they really clear away all six remaining days?

Even reducing it to a day or two would do. Chen Miao could manage two nights without sleep, but any longer was beyond him.

Still, the incident itself had taught Chen Miao something.

Some folk beliefs really did work.

As for why the peach-wood sword and talismans he had bought earlier hadn't worked, Chen Miao thought it probably came down to their "quality" and the kind of situation he had encountered!

The peach-wood sword and talismans he had bought either hadn't met the necessary standard, or hadn't been made of peach wood at all!

Chen Miao had seen peach wood on the exchange list. That meant it was useful, but apparently it had to be "century-old peach wood"!

Exchanging for this "century-old peach wood" cost a full two qian of Yin Virtue!

Chen Miao couldn't afford that yet.

Aside from quality, Old Wang's situation differed from Qian Xiaomei's.

Old Wang's resentment wasn't actually fatal. As long as Chen Miao stayed awake, he could avoid dying. Encountering Qian Xiaomei, however, meant certain death.

That suggested Qian Xiaomei was more vicious than Old Wang.

Things like the incense ash from the Old Mother Shrine had also taught Chen Miao another lesson: he had to use the right remedy for the problem. Otherwise, it might have the opposite effect.

He checked the time.

The hour of the Rooster had already passed. If he wanted to make offerings to a ghost again, he would have to choose either eleven that night or the following afternoon.

Chen Miao thought it best to settle this sort of thing sooner rather than later.

Closing the book, Chen Miao got up to prepare what he would need that night.

By eight that evening, Chen Miao was already in the cold storage room.

He had arrived early partly to honor his promise to his eldest uncle to watch over the cold storage room, and partly to keep anyone else from wandering in by mistake.

Chen Miao didn't know whether someone offending Old Wang would lead to another mishap, but he had to prevent it.

After all, the resentment was currently clinging to Chen Miao.

If Old Wang really got angry, Chen Miao would be the first to suffer.

Time ticked by.

As eleven approached, Chen Miao locked the cold storage room door from the inside, then silenced his phone.

What came next must not be interrupted.

Once everything was ready, Chen Miao washed his hands before preparing to begin!

The earlier offerings to Old Wang were still there. Chen Miao left them untouched and brought over a new table, placing it in front of the stool.

He had chosen a table because there were quite a few offerings this time.

The water Chen Miao had brought this time was bottled mountain spring water from a shop outside. He often saw this brand on television, and its advertisements claimed it was brought straight from nature.

As long as the advertisements weren't lying, mountain spring water would naturally be better than tap water.

Besides the water, Chen Miao had also gotten some joss paper and gold and silver paper ingots from Sister Li.

Along with the apples, he had added three bananas and three oranges.

Chen Miao had replaced the white rice with Five-Grain Rice, specially made by the cafeteria cook. It was a steamed mixture of rice, millet, red beans, mung beans, and black beans. Chen Miao had paid fifty yuan to have that one bowl prepared.

Five-Grain Rice was an offering for hungry ghosts. Old Wang had probably died on an empty stomach, so it was just the thing.

All of this was meant to satisfy Old Wang.

Of course, these were only finishing touches. The most important things were still those four incense sticks!

Chen Miao opened the book, took out the incense sticks, and began the ritual.

Holding the incense in his left hand, he lit it and placed it in the incense burner.

The smoke from the four sticks of Jiangzhen Incense rose in clear, straight lines, but after barely ten centimeters, it began to spiral.

Chen Miao froze for a moment, then looked away.

After bowing twice, Chen Miao burned the joss paper and paper ingots inside the circle on the floor.

Once he had finished all of that, Chen Miao began waiting again.

Twenty minutes later, the incense had burned out. Chen Miao lowered his head and quietly backed out of the cold storage room.

No looking back, no saying goodbye!

Once outside, Chen Miao opened Notes on Achieving Divinity in the Mortal World to the author information section.

Current status: Haunted by resentment (one day)

Chen Miao's heart lurched when he saw that the resentment hadn't disappeared.

Then he noticed there was only one day left, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Just one day. That's fine. I only have to hold out a little longer.

He turned to [Side stories]. The earlier portion was unchanged, but the section about the offerings had changed.

"..."

"Although money was tight, I still prepared a lavish meal for Old Wang and observed every proper rite."

"When the incense sticks burned, their smoke formed a spiral above the incense burner. It was truly uncanny."

"After making the offerings, I kept watch in the cold storage room and slept there that night."

"That night, I had a dream."

"I found myself in a cramped space. It was freezing, and I felt as though I had sleep paralysis. I could only look around, unable to move at all."

"I didn't know how much time passed in the dream. When I woke up, I discovered that I had caught a cold and felt somewhat weak."

"After that, nothing else happened."

"Thinking back to how I saw Old Wang off last night, perhaps he had come to visit me."

So long as he made it through tonight, everything would be over.

Closing the book, Chen Miao took a sip of strong tea and began looking up folklore on his computer.

Two years after graduation, he had forgotten much of what his teachers had taught him.

Now he needed to recover that knowledge.

Time slipped by unnoticed.

As the sky began to brighten, Chen Miao looked away from the screen.

He opened the book and turned to the side story.

"..."

"Although money was tight, I still prepared a lavish meal for Old Wang and observed every proper rite."

"When the incense sticks burned, their smoke formed a spiral above the incense burner. It was truly uncanny."

"Death snuffed out a life like a lamp, leaving a wisp of smoke to disperse."

"That night, I couldn't sleep."

"Somehow, something belonging to me seemed to have grown another qian heavier."

[Chapter 1 · Side story · Old Wang's Resentment completed. Gained Yin Virtue (one qian), gained Old Wang's memory fragment, gained "Six Jiangzhen Secrets."]