Inside the living room of Room 1804.
An enormous spirit tablet altar held offerings to all sorts of yin deities. A little red lamp cast a faint glow, just enough to illuminate half of Ren Ye's and the Old Woman's faces.
The room was dim and filled with the particular smell of decay that clung to the elderly, difficult to describe yet undeniably there.
The Old Woman gave Ren Ye an indifferent glance, then walked to the bedroom doorway and bent down to sit on a little folding stool.
Her eyes were cloudy. Picking up bamboo rods and brightly colored paper with her wrinkled hands, she slowly began assembling a little paper figure. "What's an inspector doing here?"
"Wang Dàniáng, I'd like to buy some funeral offerings. Joss paper, clothes for the dead, candles, things like that. Basically, anything you'd need for the seventh-day rites." Looking at her, Ren Ye steeled himself and answered.
"Then buy the seventh-day A Package." Without even raising her eyelids, Wang Dàniáng listed its contents with practiced familiarity. "The A Package has everything. Strong men, lusty women, fancy cars, designer watches, mansions, servants... Burn a whole package, and you'll be living above the rest in the Underworld."
Holy shit, even this stuff comes in packages? Now I want to burn a set for Comrade Daguo.
"All right, I'll take three." Ren Ye thought for a moment, then asked quietly, "Ma'am, how much?"
"150 gold coins a set. For three, I can give you one percent off."
"How much?!"
Ren Ye asked in disbelief.
"Heh."
Wang Dàniáng kept her head down, working on the paper figure, and sneered. "Even an outsider with skills has trouble getting things done here. The ghosts in this building only accept things made by this old woman. They wouldn't dare accept