Chapter 4: Soul-returning Night
The man trembled, and after a long while, he squeezed out a voice from his throat as if choking on phlegm: “Mom, how did you”
“Your mom wax! But no relationship, I put resurrection armor on her, so she came back to life!”
Jiang Ce said with a sleazy grin.
He originally didn’t know the deceased’s address, but relying on the wooden fish left by the monk, he successfully summoned the deceased’s ghost by adding the deceased’s name during the recitation of scriptures, and after tentatively telling the ghost that he needed to find the ring, the ghost started acting on its own.
Jiang Ce then followed all the way here.
When he discovered that the ghost had come straight to her home, Jiang Ce was so furious his lungs were about to explode.
What did this mean? It meant the ring was right at home all along, never taken to the funeral home, and he hadn’t even touched it—how could he have stolen it?
Clearly, this family was the thief crying thief, trying to blackmail him.
Originally, he planned to film a video as proof while finding the ring right there in their home and calling it quits, but seeing the man still being so unreasonable and relentless, he couldn’t hold back anymore.
No more pretending! Cards on the table! Not only did I steal your mom’s offerings, I even brought your mom here!
“Old woman, go see where you dropped your ring.”
No sooner had he spoken than the ghost started moving.
This movement was no small thing; the man, who had still been harboring some luck, was scared out of his wits.
As the ghost moved, the stifling heat of the summer night vanished in an instant, replaced by a bone-chilling cold.
Looking at the old woman’s ghost with its ashen face, dazed expression, and stiff movements, the man rambled incoherently like he’d taken fake medicine:
“It’s real? It’s real! Ah!!! Mom! How did you come out?!”
The man let out a strange yell and ran backward like a madman, not knowing what he tripped over, he fell flat on his face hard, ignored the pain, got up again, rushed into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut.
The woman, hearing the noise, opened the door from the little boy’s bedroom to check, and ran right into the old woman’s ghost coming toward her.
Compared to the man, she fared even worse—her eyes rolled back, she let out a muffled grunt, and toppled straight to the ground.
The little boy poked half his head out, first seeing Jiang Ce leaning against the doorframe, head tilted, watching with keen interest, and only then noticing the old woman’s ghost right in front of him.
After Jiang Ce’s personal test, the old woman’s ghost was scary but posed no threat at all to the living—this he had already verified on some petty thief who stole money from a blind beggar’s bowl on the way—so he wasn’t worried about any real trouble, at worst just some psychological trauma, but then again, in this era rampant with mental health issues, whose mind didn’t have some problems?
So no big problem.
Jiang Ce hadn’t seen the little boy before, but that didn’t stop him from continuing; if kids were to be indulged just because they were children, such kids were destined for relative failure in the future.
To Jiang Ce’s surprise, however, the little boy wasn’t scared at all; instead, he puckered his lips and started crying sadly.
“Grandma, did you come to see me?”
He rubbed his red eyes and reached out with his other hand to grab the old woman’s ghost’s sleeve.
He seemed completely unaware it was a ghost, or even if it was, he wanted to touch it without hesitation.
Even more shocking to Jiang Ce, the ghost that had been like a robot all the way, only moving on command, actually stiffly raised its hand toward the little boy.
Jiang Ce was startled and immediately moved to stop it, but just as he lifted his leg, he put it back down.
Because the old woman’s ghost merely placed its hand on the little boy’s head and gently stroked it slowly, nothing more.
“Grandma.”
The little boy sobbed uncontrollably, pulled a ring from his pocket, and held it out to the old woman with both hands:
“Did you come to get your ring back? I just wanted to think of you often. Mom and Dad won’t let me go out and talk, but I’m really really still an honest child. Please don’t be mad.”
Jiang Ce watched this scene with a complicated expression, then sighed, saved the video on his mobile phone, and called out: “Let’s go.”
No sooner had he spoken than the old woman’s ghost withdrew its hand and left with Jiang Ce.
As if that tender moment had been an illusion; it was still that wooden, mechanical ghost.
“Grandma—”
The little boy knelt on the ground and wailed loudly.
Jiang Ce, who had reached the elevator, paused, then returned to the door.
“Your grandma says as long as you’re honest, you’ll always be a good child, and she’ll come see you again.”
With that, he gently closed the door, regardless of whether the little boy had anything else to say.
It was less that he didn’t give the little boy a chance and more that he didn’t want to hear it.
For Jiang Ce, who was unfamiliar with all this, it was just extra trouble.
At the residential community entrance, Jiang Ce turned to look at the dazed old woman, took out the wooden fish, and began reciting the sutra of rebirth.
“If there’s really a Pure Land, at least you’ll have a chance to see your grandson with joy, so he won’t be too sad.”
With the sound of the wooden fish and the recitation, the old woman’s ghost gradually faded and finally vanished from the spot.
The wooden fish sound stopped. Just as Jiang Ce was sighing to himself about being such a great philanthropist, he heard someone upstairs push open the window and curse: “You tapping your mom’s wooden fish? Wait there, I’m coming down to kill you!”
Jiang Ce’s face instantly darkened.
This was no different from being deep in afterglow after jerking off during home quarantine online class only to be suddenly called on by the teacher to answer a question—or finding a lump of rat shit wrapped in maggots while drinking soup—utterly nauseating!
Granted, Jiang Ce was wrong first for making noise late at night, but hadn’t he stopped already? And in a civilized society, was that any reason to spew such ravings? Couldn’t he just talk nicely?
Clearly spoiled, never beaten down by society!
Jiang Ce narrowed his eyes, counted the floors of the open window, took a deep breath, and yelled at the top of his lungs: “Unit 1, 302 big brother’s wife is cheating hot! The kid isn’t his! He’s a cuckold slave! Single guys in our community are in luck hot!”
He shouted and ran, the whole motion seamless.
The social bro, who was just bored and wanted to act tough in front of his wife and kid, was dumbfounded—people nowadays weren’t just this bold, they could spew slander just like that?
No need to think, Unit 1, 302 would definitely be remembered forever by the community.
And sure enough, lights in dozens or hundreds of homes flicked on instantly, as people at windows asked each other who the tough guy in Unit 1, 302 was.
Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night; only Jiang Ce, deep hiding his merits and name.
Back home, the first thing Jiang Ce did was repent before the Buddha statue worshiped at home.
But this Buddha statue was different from those outside—its right hand wasn’t in the flower-holding mudra but making a six, and the Buddha, who should have been solemnly majestic, had a smile like Maitreya Buddha.
After recounting the slanderous act, Jiang Ce earnestly gazed at the statue.
“Buddha, I’m very regretful. I committed the fault of lying, which monks should not do. If you forgive me, give a six and smile with me.”
Then Jiang Ce nodded devoutly: “I understand. Amitabha. From now on, I’ll step it up!”
With that done, Jiang Ce finally finished his daily cultivation of Buddhism routine, then edited the video he’d shot at the old woman’s home—the part where the little boy pulled out the ring and said it was all slander by the deceased’s family—and sent it to the funeral home leader.
“Now you should believe me.”
Once everything was settled, he finally pulled out the Great Shamatha the monk had left him from his pocket and studied it seriously.
The more he read, the more shocked Jiang Ce’s expression became.
Though it was just one character different, compared to those scriptures solely on shamatha, he couldn’t understand a single word of this Great Shamatha.
Just as he thought it was some supreme heavenly book, he paused, as if discovering something.
“Fuck, I was holding it upside down.”
