A Guest in a Ghost House

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 The Old Woman in the Shroud Shop
It was the first time I had seen a shroud shop in a busy business district, but then I figured that only those who opened such a shop would dare open up so close to the ghost building.

Although the ghost building was scary, it was practically a tourist hotspot because of its popularity, and many young boys and girls even took photos with the haunted house in the background.

I hesitated for a moment and came to the conclusion that if I wanted to find out something about the three photos, the shroud shop was probably a better bet for getting some information than the watch stall.

As soon as I approached the door of the shroud shop, the quiet voice of the old lady in the store could be heard, “They just take photos. Those people just love taking photos!”

At the mention of photographs, I felt my heart grow cold. I glanced at the people still taking photos and forced myself to ask the old lady, “Excuse me dear elder, what do you mean about the photos?”

The old lady glanced at me with her muddy eyes and continued to swat at the flies.

Judging from the reaction of the old lady, I knew that she heard what I had just said, yet she still didn’t reply. For a while, I also didn't know what to say to her. If it was the other shop, I could pretend to buy something and exchange a few words with the vendor, but the key point was that this was a shroud shop, meant to supply people clothes for mourning.

Fortunately, the old lady spoke first, “Young man, come in and take a seat.”

I nodded, glanced at the wreath and shroud on the wall, and walked into the shop slowly.

The old lady pointed to a stool and asked me to sit. She then picked up a funerary golden paper ingot and handed it to me.

I wanted to cry, but held back my tears and took the gold ingot. I suddenly realized that the old lady was treating me as a customer. I noticed that her gold paper ingot was of high quality. When my family members died, I had seen a lot of funerary golden paper ingots. However, none of them was as delicate as this, which looked like so genuine.

The old lady nodded with a smile, revealing her toothless mouth, “Buy some, please. These are only available in my shop, It’s something they would want.”

They? I was startled by the old woman's words, but quickly realized that “they” referred to dead relatives.

So I explained, “Dear elder, I didn’t come here to buy golden paper ingots”

The old lady shook her head, “Are you certain you didn’t come for them?”

Of course I hadn’t come for them! It was never my intention to come for them! I could no longer understand what the old lady was talking about.

⋯

I came for them.

⋯

Who were “they”?

⋯

“They” want golden paper ingots?

It felt like something had clicked and my eyes drifted in the direction of the ghost building.

The old lady must have noticed my glance, as she said with smile, “That's it. I was beginning to think I was getting too old and had gotten it wrong.”

Although the street was less than 3 meters away from where I sat, was full of people enjoying the nice day with the sun high in the sky, I still felt cold all over my body. My teeth were quivering and I couldn’t speak for a moment.