After Getting A Job in the Nether World, I Became Famous - Chapter 1.2: The Smell of Ghosts
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- After Getting A Job in the Nether World, I Became Famous
- Chapter 1.2: The Smell of Ghosts
The cigarette in Cheng Haidong’s mouth immediately lost its fragrance. He cursed and then said, “How could your village do this? Renting us a room that someone just died in… Which room did he live in?”
“Lao Song, hmm… he used to live in the room toward the east.”
“No need to scare them, young people don’t believe in these kinds of stuff now, and the room has been empty for a few days already, he died in his son’s house…”
“We’re not supposed to be talking about this anyways…”
The women started talking one after the other, saying that although the person lived there, he didn’t die there. However, he did live there before, and it was just a couple of days ago.
The room in the east was the one Cheng Haidong was living in. With all the things in that room, could that be items left behind by the old man? He uncomfortably bit the cigarette butt and looked towards Lan He, only to find him still staring at the chicken feet. “Hello? You still there??”
“Yeah,” replied Lan He as he didn’t even look back. “Go check with the film crew to see if they have any other rooms. If not, you can switch rooms with me.”
His tone was very casual, and for a second, Cheng Haidong wondered if he was worrying too much, but after deliberating for a while, and felt like it was better to be safe than sorry. He went to the film crew to request a change, but the management team was too busy making other arrangements right now and sent him away.
Lan He was a man of his word and insisted to change rooms with Cheng Haidong, making Cheng Haidong even more embarrassed. After all, he was 1.8 meters tall and was much bigger than Lan He, it didn’t sound right for him to be more afraid than Lan He. “I don’t think we need…”
“Achoo!” Lan He sneezed again, “It’s alright, let’s just switch.”
As the old saying went, “face the fearful with no fears and its fearfulness disappears”. Lan He seemed to be completely unafraid.
 “Then, thank you bro. Did you catch a cold? Make sure to be careful!” said Cheng Haidong embarrassedly
Cheng Haidong moved to Lan He’s room. This room wasn’t designed to be a bedroom, and he didn’t know what it was used for either. There were only a lot of home-grown tea leaves, as a lot of people in Yantang Village grew tea.
The rooms that the film crew rented were very simple, and there was only a steel bed, but a person like Cheng Haidong who was already used to the industry was not picky about this at all.
The only inconvenience was that to go to the restroom, they had to leave the house and go out.
There weren’t many street lights in the village, as the only light source was a lonely dark yellow light bulb in the yard. In the quiet surroundings, Cheng Haidong wasn’t sure if everyone else was already sound asleep, but vaguely, he could hear the sound of drums in the distance.
It was the dirge from the mourning hall. Other than that, there was absolute silence.
Cheng Haidong got goosebumps all over his body as he comforted himself not to be scared by death. After turning around and seeing the lights in Lan He’s room still on, he felt much better. He quickly used the restroom and then climbed back onto his bed.
I need to sleep, still have to move bricks tomorrow.1Move brick is a term used to describe a job that requires a lot of hard work and only receives very low pay
Cheng Haidong was half asleep when he suddenly felt a chill on his body. His hands moved around, trying to turn the temperature of the heater higher, but suddenly, he heard an old man coughing violently, “Cough! Cough cough!”
He woke up immediately. However, he couldn’t open his eyes and felt that his whole face was numb. Where did the coughing come from? Am I dreaming? Or is that just a passing villager?
Cheng Haidong suddenly realized that there was no heater in the room at all. It was probably because this room didn’t receive good lighting during the day and was a bit chilly, but it shouldn’t be this cold… The coldness was piercing his bones and it was only getting colder.
Although his eyes were closed, he could feel an indescribable sense of darkness, as if there was something covering his head.
Ding. The sound came from the tea set moving. Woosh. The sound of pouring tea. Creek. The sound of the bamboo chair.
The sound seemed to be coming from inches away from him. Although they were everyday noises, they made his hairs stand. He wanted to get up and cry for help, but he felt that his body was too heavy to move. His head was completely empty as he couldn’t recall any of the film crew’s names. Nothing came out of his mouths.
Knock knock.
Suddenly, the door was knocked on.
The whole world suddenly became bright, and Cheng Haidong felt like he was just drowning. His senses got back to him as he opened his eyes and actually woke up.
He could feel that his whole garment was completely socked from sweat, and the violent beating of his heart was ringing in his ears.
Just now…
“Lao Cheng?”
It was Lan He’s voice.
Cheng Haidong moved his 180 jin2Jin is a unit of weight measurement in China. 1 Jin is about 1.1 pounds body and quickly got down from the bed to open the door. The moment he saw Lan He, he almost cried. “Brother, this room is…”
Haunted!
But he didn’t dare to say the last word. It was known that one shouldn’t speak these kinds of words during the night. After experiencing what had happened, he didn’t want to anger the ghosts further.
He had heard many stories like this in the past, but this was the first time he actually experienced it.
Just now, the state of being unable to wake up didn’t feel like a normal nightmare. He suddenly thought about the myth about “Ghost Press”,3This is basically a folk name in some parts of China to the word ‘sleep paralysis’ – when you have a feeling of being conscious but unable to move even though he wasn’t even sleeping in the old man’s room.
Wait, didn’t they say that old people usually don’t sleep a lot? Could the ghost of the old man be drinking tea in this room instead of sleeping?
How embarrassing, how unfortunate me! Why did I change rooms in the first place!?
“Did you have a nightmare? I heard you talking in your sleep, it was very loud,” said Lan He, “Do you want to come to my room?”
“No thanks!” What if the old man had enough tea and went back to his bedroom?
“You shouldn’t stay in your room either, for real. You saw what happened right?” said Cheng Haidong with a pale face. He was standing at the door with Lan He, yet he was still feeling creeped out, “I’ll go sleep with Lao Chen.”
Lao Chen was another cameraman in their group who was living in the same courtyard as them. He was just like everyone else, but more importantly, he practiced martial arts before. He heard that a person like him had a lot of Yang energy and wouldn’t be bothered by ghosts.4In China, Yin could represent negativity, darkness, and ghosts. The Nether World referred to before is also known as the Yin World. On the other hand, Yang represents the opposite, positivity and brightness. Ghosts (yin) wouldn’t want to be with a person who has a lot of yang energyÂ
“Okay, sure… Achoo!” Lan He stepped back.
“You should really be careful, don’t catch a cold.” Cheng Haidong said as he thought to himself, I guess Lan he is quite brave… he didn’t seem to be concerned at all after hearing what happened to me… maybe he just thinks of it as a normal nightmare. After the kind reminder, Cheng Haidong left to knock on Lao Chen’s door. After getting scolded, he was let into the room.
Lan He watched him leave and then waved his hand in front of his face.
When he was little, his grandfather took him to a distant aunt’s funeral. He asked his grandfather if his aunt would come back, and his grandfather replied, “Seven days after a person dies, they will come back to visit. Your aunt will come back to visit you.”
“What if I was sleeping? How would I know if my aunt came back or not?”
“Just use your nose. If you smell ashes of burnt paper offerings, that means your aunt is back,” replied Lan He’s grandfather.
Translated by: UnderTheMoon
Edited by: Summit
- 1Move brick is a term used to describe a job that requires a lot of hard work and only receives very low pay
- 2Jin is a unit of weight measurement in China. 1 Jin is about 1.1 pounds
- 3This is basically a folk name in some parts of China to the word ‘sleep paralysis’ – when you have a feeling of being conscious but unable to move
- 4In China, Yin could represent negativity, darkness, and ghosts. The Nether World referred to before is also known as the Yin World. On the other hand, Yang represents the opposite, positivity and brightness. Ghosts (yin) wouldn’t want to be with a person who has a lot of yang energy