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墨書 Inktalez
Zhou Fujun was in trouble; her child was missing.
Her husband, lost in despair, could not focus on work. In the midst of searching with no leads, they had no choice but to vacate their rented home and leave Purple City. They sent Zhou's body back to her hometown, which was one reason why Ye Chenfeng and Ding Li were unable to find the grieving mother.
Driven by an unyielding obsession, Zhou's body was buried back home, yet her spirit lingered in Purple City, reluctant to depart.
Ye Chenfeng urged her to reveal the child's birth date for a fortune calculation, but inexplicably, it resulted in a hexagram of despair.
Despair—there were no traces to be found.
Xiao Qiang was controlled by an invisible force, a power beyond imagination. This was the first opponent Ye Chenfeng encountered in Purple City—a strange and sinister force lurking in the shadows, with ill intentions.
Unable to find any trace of Xiao Qiang's spirit, Ye Chenfeng comforted Zhou Fujun, urging her to remain calm. They would wait for good news and the right moment.
In the vast heavens above, three feet above one's head there are deities.
Evil entities remain evil, no matter how profound their energy may be; one day they will inevitably reveal their true form under the light of day.
With hope in her heart, Zhou Fujun left the Paper Craft Shop as night fell.
Ye Chenfeng hurriedly locked the door and went to the Farmers' Market to buy some prepared food before rushing home.
Just in time, Ding Li had finished cooking and was watching television while waiting for him.
Ye Chenfeng briefly shared Zhou Fujun's situation with Ding Li, who was deeply moved and began to weep.
"You know how it is; there are many things I don’t want to tell you. When I do, you just cry."
Ye Chenfeng felt frustrated; he missed the old Ding Li, who was as simple as a glass of plain water. Back then, although her personality was a bit reclusive, she wasn't as melancholic as she was now. She cried at the slightest provocation, and he dreaded seeing women cry.
Watching her in tears made Ye Chenfeng lose his appetite, so he left the dining table and sat down on the sofa in the living room. He casually picked up the Purple City Daily and skimmed through the Evening News. One piece of news caught his attention.
On a certain date, a traffic accident occurred on Ximen Road, resulting in the death of a woman who had crossed the street. In the accompanying photo, a car was shown alongside a woman lying in a pool of blood, with a street vendor nearby.
The vendor caught Ye Chenfeng's eye.
Ding Li emerged from the kitchen after tidying everything up. Ye Chenfeng waved her over and said, "Come look at this."
"What is it?"
Ding Li had been sad earlier, likely reminded of her own background—an emotional trigger.
Zhou Fujun had children but didn't cherish them, ultimately leading to her own demise.
She longed for her child, but the child did not want to be with her.
"Look at this woman at the stall."
The vendor was skin and bones, with bulging eyes that Ding Li still vividly remembered. "Yes, that's her. She looks like someone who's sick."
"Sick?"
Ding Li affirmed, "Yes, definitely sick."
"She will be setting up her stall there tomorrow, right?" Ye Chenfeng said, referring to Sunday. This woman should be selling her goods at the market.
Ding Li nodded and replied, "That makes sense. There are usually a lot of people on Sundays; she should definitely be there." As she spoke, she looked at Ye Chenfeng with a curious expression and asked, "Are you going to the Paper Craft Shop tonight?"
"Yes, I’ll go. It’s good to take a look. Since we’re in this line of work, we can’t avoid it, so it’s better to face it head-on."
"Alright, you go ahead."
Ye Chenfeng took out a piece of talisman paper and asked Ding Li to recite a spell called the Calmness Spell with him.
Ding Li struggled a bit with the pronunciation, but when she heard that reciting the Calmness Spell could help her fall into a peaceful sleep, she became interested.
When Ye Chenfeng left home, Ding Li was still fiddling with the talisman. She was watching TV and got so emotional that tears streamed down her face uncontrollably, nearly using up an entire box of tissues.
Ye Chenfeng was reluctant to spend his Sunday at home.
He didn’t like seeing Ding Li cry. In his heart, there was only a small space for such emotions. Unfortunately, Ding Li was quite sentimental and would cry at the drop of a hat; he was truly tired of it.
Walking through the night, surrounded by familiar sights and scents while strangers brushed past him, he cherished this hard-won tranquility and enjoyed the space of being alone.
To his surprise, there was someone standing outside the Paper Craft Shop.
A customer?
The Paper Craft Shop typically catered to ghosts in the evenings.
Few living souls appeared at the shop's entrance, unless there had been a recent death in the family, forcing them to come buy some necessities.
Ye Chenfeng approached and realized that the visitor was none other than Li Xin.
"Hey, what brings you here..."
Li Xin smiled and said, "Are you surprised to see me again?" She walked up to Ye Chenfeng, still smiling, and casually gazed into the deep night ahead. "You're the person I know best around here. I was feeling bored and thought I'd come by to see if you might suddenly show up."
Ye Chenfeng opened the door and joked, "And here I am, just as you predicted?"
Li Xin laughed like a silver bell. "Looks like my predictions are spot on! Maybe I should consider becoming a fortune teller?"
"A woman fortune teller?" Ye Chenfeng stepped inside, with Li Xin following. They moved in sync, like a loving couple who had reached an understanding.
"Why not?" Li Xin entered the room and unceremoniously took a seat, her eyes wandering around as if everything delighted her.
"Of course not! A woman fortune teller would throw the spiritual world into chaos. Women can at most be shamans or mediums," Ye Chenfeng said as he poured himself a glass of water. "Had I known you were coming, I would have brought an electric kettle. This is just yesterday's cold water."
Li Xin took the glass and couldn't hide her happiness as she said, "Cold water is great; it saves me from burning my mouth." Then she deliberately took a big sip and smiled sweetly.
Ye Chenfeng chuckled and teased, "You didn't come all this way just for a sip of cold water, did you?"
"Of course not! I'm here to tell you a story."
"I love stories, but it depends on what kind of story you're going to tell."
Li Xin smiled, her smile intoxicating.
Ye Chenfeng doodled absentmindedly, not even realizing when he had picked up a pen, making random marks on a piece of paper.
"What are you drawing?" Li Xin asked, standing up to look at the paper. This brought her close to Ye Chenfeng, allowing them to catch each other's scent. There was something about him that she found endlessly fascinating.
What it was, she couldn't quite figure out.
Did all men have this quality? No, Li Xin knew that many men carried different scents; some were unpleasant and made her want to steer clear at the first whiff.
But the scent emanating from Ye Chenfeng was the most comforting fragrance she had ever encountered. It warmed her and gave her a profound sense of security, along with a hope that he would belong to her completely.
Ye Chenfeng noticed that Li Xin's gaze felt somewhat strange.
Yet he couldn't decipher it or understand what lay within her thoughts.
"Ye Chenfeng, don't you think these cold, lifeless paper crafts are a bit unsettling? How about we go watch a movie to relieve some of this tension?"
He rarely went to the cinema, maybe just twice a year.
The first time was with Ding Li to see "Soul Departed for 366 Days," and the second time was for "He Yi Sheng Xiao Mo."
Watching movies wasn't his favorite pastime. Poor Ding Li had cried uncontrollably after both films, sympathizing with the female lead and resenting the male lead's heartlessness and the missed moments in time.
Li Xin's invitation to watch a movie surprised Ye Chenfeng a little.
"What type of movies do you like?"
"I enjoy bloody ones, those filled with violence and excitement."
Ye Chenfeng couldn't help but smile to himself, thinking it was rare for a woman to like such films. She and Ding Li were from completely different worlds—one gentle, the other fierce, both on the surface and within.
The latter was not easily hurt; those who were often had fragile emotions.
If the two women were compared, Ding Li would surely suffer.
Seeing Li Xin still waiting for his response, Ye Chenfeng chuckled, "Movies aren't really my thing; they're just a bunch of fake stuff, illusions meant to deceive people."
"How mundane!" Li Xin persisted, saying, "Come on, I haven't watched a movie in ages."
"Wait, weren't you here to tell me a story? Why are you suddenly thinking about going to the movies?" Ye Chenfeng showed no intention of getting up. He felt a bit annoyed but hid it well.
Li Xin giggled and said, "The stories I tell are best enjoyed while watching a movie."
"That sounds too troublesome; I think I'll pass on listening." Ye Chenfeng was resolute, giving no ground to Li Xin. This frustrated her, but she couldn't express it openly, so she forced a dry laugh and went to pour herself a glass of cold water.
Taking a sip of the cold water sent chills down her spine, making her shiver involuntarily.
Outside, the night was thick; the sky was exceptionally dark tonight, so dark that one couldn't see their hand in front of their face.
Inside the room, the two sat in silence for a while, both enduring the quiet discomfort.
"Would you like to hear my story?" Li Xin finally broke the silence and spoke up.
Ye Chenfeng thought that after such a cold atmosphere, Li Xin would leave on her own, but he didn't expect her to still be in the mood to tell a story.
With Li Xin present, those who sought help from the Ghostly had not shown themselves.
When Ye Chenfeng visited the Paper Craft Shop at night, there was always a wind chime hanging at the entrance.
The wind chime served as a sign.
It indicated that help could be found here, and it also acted as a lure for spirits.
The wind chime remained still, showing no signs of movement whatsoever.
Li Xin began her story—
Once upon a time, there was a family with five children.
In an era where food was scarce and clothing inadequate, no one had the time to care for anyone else. The children were like wolves, driven by hunger, willing to eat anything that wasn't poison.
Among the five children, the smallest was a girl.
The oldest child was also a girl.
She possessed great strength and was the right hand of her parents. Thus, she was deeply favored by them, and they obeyed her every word.
The parents were busy with farming, preoccupied with every opportunity to earn money outside, leaving the household under the rule of the Big Girl, who governed this family of seven.
That year, the Big Girl turned seventeen.
Unable to resist the words of the Matchmaker, the parents sent the Big Girl off to be married.
It wasn't just sending her away; it was marrying her off.
After a lifetime of hard work, they dispatched their daughter as if she were a beggar.
In their eyes, a girl was nothing but a liability.
With the Big Girl gone, the remaining children proved to be of little help.
The Second Son still had his mental issues.
Not long after, the Third Son passed away due to a sudden illness.
Then, a sense of crisis filled the home.
The parents began to argue, each fight growing more intense than the last. After each argument came a beating; they didn't harm each other but instead unleashed their pent-up anger on the children.
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