The pregnant woman spoke slowly: "Boss, I want to buy four candles."
Her eyes were different from the man's beside her.
Ma Shu had mentioned before that there were many types of yin creatures.
For ordinary people, the simplest way to judge a yin creature was by looking at its eyes:
Pale gray eyes meant a fierce ghost;
Blood-red eyes meant a ferocious evil;
Eyes similar to living people meant an ordinary yin creature.
At this moment, the woman at the door had blood-red eyes…
"No candles left," I refused nervously.
But then a shocking scene unfolded:
The blood-soaked pregnant woman actually lifted her foot and stepped into the shop!
With each step, a bloody footprint appeared on the floor.
The counter wasn't far from the door—
A mere five or six steps, and she stood before me.
The temperature around me plummeted suddenly,
Chilling to the bone.
The pregnant woman stroked her belly with one hand and slowly raised the other,
Pointing to the candles on the counter behind me: "Young boss, four."
Master had said that with the lantern hung,
Normal yin creatures wouldn't enter the shop.
If a yin creature forced its way in, don't confront it—
Sell it whatever it wants,
But you must charge.
Doing business with ghosts requires "money and goods exchanged clearly,"
No debts between yin and yang.
If you let a yin creature take goods for free, you're giving away your own fortune.
So I stopped refusing, turned, and took four candles from the counter.
"Hello, the candles are two yuan each. Four cost eight yuan total," I quoted.
The pregnant woman's bloodied hand fumbled in her skirt pocket.
After searching for a while, her blank expression turned irritable: "Where did my money go…"
No money?
I couldn't sell without payment.
Would she just rob me?
As I worried,
The pregnant woman stared blankly at me and said:
"Young boss, I need to send my child on the road first.
There's no time left.
Lend me the candles on credit."
Master hadn't told me I could extend credit.
I didn't dare act recklessly when dealing with ghosts,
So I said: "I can't. We each have our rules."
The pregnant woman fell silent,
Just standing there at the counter.
A strong smell of blood filled my nostrils.
Blood dripped down her legs, forming a sticky puddle on the floor.
I feared she might attack,
But after a while, she said slowly:
"I can do something for you.
Lend me the candles,
Don't stop my child from leaving."
…A female ghost doing something for me?
My heart skipped at the thought.
"What can you do for me?"
The pregnant woman seemed to read my mind.
She said: "The person you hate—I'll punish them for you."
A name flashed in my mind: Yang Lei.
After graduating college, Yang Lei had gone home to inherit the family business.
Now he was the owner of Anyang City's largest hotel chain.
As a mere wage laborer,
I could never get revenge on him myself.
But a ghost…
The thought barely formed before I crushed it.
Making a deal with a yin creature to help me get revenge—
Would that violate the sect rules?
I wasn't sure.
So I refused again.
The man at the door spoke up then,
Saying to the pregnant woman: "No time left. Hurry on the road."
A tearful expression flickered across the woman's stiff face.
She slowly turned and walked out of the shop.
I let out a breath of relief.
Thankfully, she'd followed the rules and hadn't resorted to force.
By the time she reached the door, the bleeding had worsened—
A terrifying sight.
The chubby man muttered: "The birth is coming. You must hold on."
The pregnant woman curled up in pain, struggling toward the darkness with great difficulty.
Halfway there, she seemed unable to hold on,
Collapsing to the ground with cries of agony.
The man urged her beside her, repeating:
"Give birth. The child can't leave if you don't hold on."
I stood at the counter, watching.
My heart ached for her.
What did "the child can't leave" mean?
The woman curled in pain but kept crawling toward the darkness,
Leaving a trail of blood behind her.
The man chanted repeatedly: "Hold on… it's too dark… can't see…"
Intellectually, I knew I shouldn't interfere.
But my actions betrayed me: "Are candles that important to you?"
The man said slowly: "She's a erocious evil and can't leave.
But her child can.
With candles, the journey is faster."
Putting his words and the woman's together,
I understood:
The pregnant woman had become a erocious evil,
Unable to proceed to the afterlife like normal spirits.
But her child could—
On the condition that she sent the child off before it was "born."
I didn't think long.
I turned, grabbed four candles from the counter,
And handed them to the man and woman.
They were overjoyed, their faces stretching into stiff smiles.
The candles lit automatically in their hands,
But the flames were green.
I sighed: "I don't know if helping you is right. Hurry on your way."
The man drawled: "Young boss, thank you… good people get good fortune."
He bowed to me,
Then ran forward holding the candles, as if spotting something.
In a few large strides, his figure vanished.
The pregnant woman also crawled forward with her candle:
"I see it now. Baby, you can go…"
Soon, she too disappeared.
Peace returned.
I plopped down on the stone steps outside the shop,
Wondering if I'd done the right thing.
Master had warned repeatedly before leaving:
Never let ghosts owe you, or they'd take your fortune.
I had bad luck, weak ties to family, poverty, and loneliness—
I'd never had much fortune to begin with.
As I sighed, an aunt walked up the street.
I tensed,
Thinking: Please don't let another ghost ask for credit!
But when she drew near, I recognized her—
She was the owner of "Li's Traditional Shroud Shop," a friend of Master's.
Master had mentioned her before leaving,
Saying if I ran into trouble these three days, I could ask Aunt Li for help.
Like Master's shop, hers was one of the few on this street that did business with yin creatures.
She must have seen what happened, because she asked: "You let them credit the candles?"
I nodded: "Yeah… they looked too pitiful."
Aunt Li frowned:
"There are too many pitiful wandering spirits.
How much fortune do you have to lend away?
Sigh… no wonder Lao Zhang took you as a disciple. You're just like him—tough exterior, soft heart."
I was surprised: "Master often lends candles to yin creatures too?"
Aunt Li said: "Otherwise? Your master has great skills, but he's too soft-hearted.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be… at barely over fifty. Sigh, never mind!"
Her words sounded like complaints,
But they were filled with concern.
I latched onto the key part: "You said Master is barely fifty… what about him?"
I grew anxious.
Was something wrong with Master?