"The thing that the old woman had just placed on the table, the moment she turned her head, magically appeared on the bed the very next second!" The storyteller narrowed his eyes and stroked his white beard.
The villagers below listened with fearful expressions. The more timid children were held tightly in their parents' arms, their eyes brimming with tears.
The storyteller lowered his voice and raised an eyebrow. "And that kerosene lamp, just as it was lit, it went out the next second."
An older woman's voice trembled, "My house was like that yesterday too."
The storyteller nodded mysteriously. "Then that makes perfect sense."
The older woman asked fearfully, "Makes sense how?"
The storyteller smiled. "That means a ghost has entered your house!"
Hearing this, the woman cried out, "Then what should I do?"
The storyteller spoke slowly and methodically, "For ten coins, I can guarantee the peace of your household."
Upon hearing this, the woman immediately calmed down and picked herself up from the ground.
"Then I'd rather just let it stay in my house."
She had no money to give, only her life.
Being poor was far more terrifying than a ghost, and besides, that ghost hadn't actually killed anyone yet.
The storyteller kept calling out after her, "How about five coins? Would five coins work?"
Watching the woman's retreating figure as she walked away with her basket without looking back, the storyteller shook his head helplessly.
Trying to make a little money from these people was truly harder than ascending to the heavens.
He continued, "This ghost also feeds on the essence of food. Food that has been smelled by the ghost will become completely tasteless, because its essence has already been sucked away."
The audience below whispered, "Why is this ghost so wicked?"
"We need to invite a Daoist priest to take a look. We can't just let things go on like this."
A man picked up a peach from the table, took a bite, and furrowed his brows tightly. "Why does this peach have no taste?"
As if realizing something, he exchanged a glance with the person next to him, and both of their faces instantly turned pale.
Ji Zhaoxi watched them, sitting on the windowsill, and guiltily wiped her mouth.
She couldn't help it; the peach just looked too delicious. She really couldn't resist.
But she had only sucked the essence from two of them, and it just so happened that these two men picked up those exact two peaches.
That's right, all the things the storyteller had just mentioned were the fruits of her hard labor.
Ji Zhaoxi's identity in this world was a wandering ghost. Her sole mission was to routinely frighten the villagers and then wait to be killed by the male lead, Xie Qingyan.
She had been floating around this village for many years, yet the Daoist priest who was supposed to kill her still hadn't arrived.
Ji Zhaoxi started wandering around Qingxi Village again. Suddenly, she spotted a sneaky-looking man.
Ji Zhaoxi recognized him. He often broke into other people's homes to steal silver, specifically targeting elderly women's houses, taking advantage of their poor mobility.
As a ghost, she decided she would do a good deed and rid the people of a menace for once.
Ji Zhaoxi floated over to his side and blew air at him. The man's face immediately changed; a cold sweat broke out on his back, and he felt a chilling sensation spreading all over his body.
"Who... who! Who's there?!" the man looked around fearfully, his voice trembling incessantly.
Ji Zhaoxi didn't speak; she just kept blowing cold air at him.
The man froze again. He looked around in confusion and rubbed his arms.
"Strange."
Why had that eerie feeling disappeared?
Ji Zhaoxi was dumbfounded too. Why wasn't her blowing working anymore? She continued to blow at the man.
But he walked briskly, showing no signs of being affected at all.
In the end, Ji Zhaoxi blew until her cheeks ached, but the man still had no reaction whatsoever.
She tried to climb onto his back to scare him, but she couldn't get on no matter how hard she tried; she would bounce back the moment she got close.
Ji Zhaoxi stared blankly at the man's back.
"What's going on?"
Wasn't she a ghost?
The Cicada Ghost in the tree witnessed everything, and its mouth twitched.
Did this stupid ghost not know that the Daoist priest had arrived? Still blowing and blowing over there—soon her own life would be blown away.
"Young master, may I ask how to get to Squire Zhao's apple orchard?"
Suddenly, a cold, clear voice came from behind.
Ji Zhaoxi turned her head to look and saw a Daoist priest in robes looking toward her direction.
Ji Zhaoxi was startled by him.
The Daoist priest seemed not to see her at all and walked right through her.
As soon as the man saw the Daoist priest, his eyes lit up. "Daoist Master, I know where the orchard is. I can take you there."
"But could you come to my house first?" the man pleaded tearfully. "Daoist Master, the peach tree in my yard was full of fruit last year, but this year the fruits are all shriveled. It must be that female ghost sitting on the peach tree combing her hair in the middle of the night, scattering all the spiritual energy."
Ji Zhaoxi couldn't help but retort, "Female ghosts don't need to comb their hair, that's a rumor!"
She looked at the Daoist priest along with the man, trying to seek an explanation.
The Daoist priest had no expression on his face. He nodded, "Young master, there is no need to panic. I will go with you to take a look."
The man quickly wiped his tears. "Daoist Master, please follow me."
Ji Zhaoxi floated alongside the Daoist Master and couldn't help but speak up, "Actually, you don't have to go. This guy's peach tree was dug up in the middle of the night from the old lady's house on the west side. He's even worse than a ghost like me."
But the Daoist priest seemed completely unaware that there was a ghost beside him, calmly following behind the man.
Ji Zhaoxi blocked the Daoist priest's path and waved her hand at him. "Can you see me?"
The Daoist priest walked right through her. Ji Zhaoxi looked at his back in utter confusion, then hurriedly floated after him.
She muttered softly, "Aren't you Xie Qingyan? How can you not even notice a little ghost like me?"
Ji Zhaoxi blew on his hair. His hair fluttered, but he still had no reaction.
Ji Zhaoxi wanted to go scare the man in front again, but she couldn't get near him at all.
The Cicada Ghost in the tree kept observing them. "Why is that stupid ghost getting close to a Daoist priest? Was she an idiot when she was alive, too?"
The Mantis Ghost next to it shook its head. It had no interest in that stupid ghost whatsoever; it was only interested in the Cicada Ghost beside it.
The Mantis Ghost asked politely, "Can I take a bite of you?"
The Cicada Ghost turned pale with fright. "Are you crazy? You've already become a ghost, why do you want to eat me?"
The Mantis Ghost lowered its head in disappointment. "But I have a craving."
When it wasn't a ghost yet, but a real mantis, it would eat many cicadas every day, filling its belly to the brim.
And with this Cicada Ghost chirping away in the tree every day, it couldn't stop drooling.
The Cicada Ghost quickly ran away when the other wasn't paying attention.
Some mantises just wouldn't behave, even after becoming ghosts!
It ate it before when it wasn't a ghost, and now that they were both ghosts, it still wouldn't let it off!
They finally arrived at the man's house. The man immediately led Xie Qingyan to his peach tree. Sure enough, the tree was covered in shriveled fruits.
"Daoist Master, please take a look for me," the man said hastily.
Xie Qingyan quietly plucked a fruit. Ji Zhaoxi sucked the essence from the fruit in his hand.
"Blegh, blegh, so nasty." Ji Zhaoxi wrinkled her face and quickly ran away.
Xie Qingyan pondered for a moment. "Young master, could you give me a pair of shears?"
The man was taken aback for a second, then hurried off to get them.
Xie Qingyan took the shears and pruned away the dead branches, withered leaves, and the overcrowded young shoots from the tree.
After Xie Qingyan finished pruning, he handed the shears back to him. Young Master, if you prune the trees this way from now on, by this time next year, they will bear fruit as abundantly as they used to.
Ji Zhaoxi nodded in agreement. Please trust in science. Do not go blaming everything on female ghosts.
The man was stunned. Daoist Master, was it not because the female ghost brushed away the tree's vitality while combing her hair?
Xie Qingyan shook his head. It was an issue with the dead branches.
The man scratched the back of his head. So that was it. He really thought that female ghost had been haunting him.
