In the dim candlelight, Aunt Yang’s face was smeared with blood, her eyes flashing with a fanatical gleam as she swung the knife, chopping at something with a “thud-thud-thud” sound.

Thanks to Luo Huai, Qian Duoqun quickly accepted the “fact” that his stomach was uncomfortable from drinking cold porridge.

Qian Duoqun had endured hardship before, often going from one meal to the next without regular eating, so his stomach wasn’t in great shape. However, fainting from pain like this was a first.

“Thanks to your plant ash, I didn’t expect it to work so well. I’ll buy some at the pharmacy to keep on hand,” said Qian Duoqun.

Zhong Jiudao hurriedly stopped him: “I’m not a professional doctor, I was just in a hurry to seek medical treatment. I think the real effect came from the hot water, not the ash. You should just eat normally and drink plenty of hot water.”

“Hot water tastes so bad…” Qian Duoqun muttered, rubbed his stomach, and then fell silent.

After this incident, Zhong Jiudao realized how troublesome it was to have normal people and vengeful spirits in the same film crew, and he needed a solution.

Simply having protective talismans was not enough. Talismans could only prevent the spirits from actively harming humans, but the spirits were crafty and could deceive humans in all sorts of ways— making it truly impossible to guard against.

“All the props are ready, but the actors aren’t, and the script also needs some revisions. Lao Qian, go find the actors and crew; Luo Huai, go back and wait for instructions. Once the actors are ready, we’ll hold a script reading, and after the crew is in place, we’ll officially start filming,” Zhong Jiudao hurriedly told them.

Qian Duoqun was indeed busy. He had to manage Zhong Jiudao’s crew and also run errands for many small production teams. Although he wasn’t involved in big-budget productions, he was important in these smaller-scale projects.

“Alright, I’ll get to work. That truck I rented can stay here as a utility vehicle for you,” Qian Duoqun said, tidying up to leave.

Before leaving, he suddenly remembered something and ran to the nearly transparent Aunt Yang: “It’s my stomach, not your food. Your cooking is amazing. You absolutely must become the crew’s chef! I’m still waiting to eat your signature crispy pork belly.”

Aunt Yang gratefully said, “Thank you, Mr. Qian. I thought I might lose this job.”

Qian Duoqun said, “Not at all. Just call me Xiao Qian.”

Zhong Jiudao: “……”

Leaving Aunt Yang in charge of the crew’s meals guaranteed that the crew would live another 20 years less after three months!

“I’ve called a car. Xiao Luo, where are you going? I’ll take you,” Qian Duoqun said to Luo Huai.

Luo Huai hesitated for a moment, glancing at Zhong Jiudao with a complicated expression.

“What’s wrong?” Zhong Jiudao’s heart tightened, worried Luo Huai might doubt what had happened earlier.

Luo Huai swallowed and said cautiously: “Filming is about to start soon, right? Could I stay here?”

He feared Zhong Jiudao would refuse, so he hurried to explain: “I’ve graduated, I don’t have much money, and I don’t have anywhere to stay for now. I’ve been staying at friends’ places, but since my friend has joined the crew, I can’t stay there anymore.”

“No problem. The house is so big, you can stay here,” Qian Duoqun jumped in before Zhong Jiudao could respond.

“Really? Thank you, Qian Ge!” Luo Huai said happily.

Zhong Jiudao: “……”

Seeing Zhong Jiudao’s uneasy expression, Qian Duoqun pulled him aside and whispered: “It’ll take at least two or three days to gather all the actors and crew. The contracts haven’t even been signed yet. During this time, let him stay here. What if a better crew with higher pay comes along? No one can offer lower pay than ours!”

Seeing Zhong Jiudao still hesitant, Qian Duoqun raised his phone: “The car I called is here. Let’s go! Don’t worry, Xiao Luo—the house is rented and it’s huge, stay wherever you want!”

With that, Qian Duoqun dashed off, leaving Zhong Jiudao and Luo Huai.

In the huge villa, only Zhong Jiudao, Luo Huai, and a group of… “power sources” remained.

Zhong Jiudao rubbed his temple and said to the innocent-looking Luo Huai: “Come with me, I’ll show you your room.”

“Thank you, Director Zhong!” Luo Huai said gratefully.

Seeing Luo Huai’s expression of “I hit the jackpot,” Zhong Jiudao sighed quietly—this silly pure person thought he was clever.

Since the villa’s malicious spirits hadn’t been fully pacified, Zhong Jiudao didn’t want Luo Huai staying too isolated, so he gave him the room next to his own bedroom.

“You’ll stay here. I’ll give you the script soon. Study it carefully and try not to go out,” Zhong Jiudao instructed.

“Got it!”

After settling Luo Huai, Zhong Jiudao quickly installed the printer Qian Duoqun had delivered, printed a fresh copy of the script, selected the parts for Luo Huai’s role, and handed it to him.

He hoped Luo Huai would stay in the room studying lines instead of wandering around.

Fortunately, Luo Huai was obedient. Once he got the script, he stayed in his room. Zhong Jiudao closed the door and vaguely heard Luo Huai happily say: “This room is really nice!”

The room was indeed nice—the villa had been a mansion back then. Each bedroom was large, with full bathrooms and hardware facilities comparable to a five-star hotel, and the décor had period-specific features.

After settling Luo Huai, Zhong Jiudao started managing the house.

He first bought some fresh ingredients to prevent the crew from having any more food-related issues.

Then he began a large-scale talisman placement, protecting most areas of the villa with spells to prevent situations like Luo Huai running into Steward Lin while moving luggage.

No matter whose territory these vengeful spirits claimed, Zhong Jiudao drove them all into the cinema room. Since these unsophisticated ghosts from the old society loved watching movies, let them spend the next three months there.

But watching movies consumed a lot of power, so Zhong Jiudao told them: if you want to watch, that’s fine, but you have to figure out the electricity yourselves. Steward Lin was currently working hard to generate power for everyone, but he was even weaker than the Western-dress female ghost. In less than five days he would scatter, so everyone should consider who to use for electricity after Steward Lin was gone.

The ghosts were stunned; they didn’t expect that Zhong Jiudao, a master exorcist, could come up with such a vicious scheme.

In the past, there had been unscrupulous exorcists who commanded ghosts. They would subdue some vengeful spirits and use them to fight other spirits. To make their subordinate ghosts very powerful, these exorcists would use various methods to enhance the ghosts’ strength and bind them with contracts. Alongside military deterrence, they still needed to coax and provide for them.

Who had ever seen a master like Zhong Jiudao? Not only did he use them ruthlessly, he also devised a malevolent plan to make them kill each other—truly a master more malicious than the fierce spirits themselves!

Among all the ghosts, only Aunt Yang, who cleaned the rooms, had an exceptional status. She had made Qian Duoqun eat the food she cooked, and not only was she not punished, she was given a role that was already preassigned.

This role was conceived by Zhong Jiudao when he saw Aunt Yang looking at Qian Duoqun eating with a face full of happiness. He realized that she had a certain obsession with feeding people, so he asked about her cause of death, thinking: perhaps she starved or overate?

Aunt Yang, however, said: “I ended my own life.”

“What happened?” Zhong Jiudao asked.

Aunt Yang showed a nostalgic expression: “Master, aren’t you curious why there are so many vengeful spirits in this house?”

“You were brought here by someone,” Zhong Jiudao said. Being the most talented master exorcist, he could naturally tell that these vengeful spirits did not originate from this haunted house. Instead, another exorcist had gathered these malicious ghosts found elsewhere and forcibly placed them here, creating such a haunted house.

“Exactly,” Aunt Yang replied, “Back then, the world was in chaos. One day, our sect sent masters to pacify the region. Ten disciples went out; nine died in battle. The remaining master went a little mad and, wishing to avenge his brothers in the sect, devised this scheme.”

The master found more than thirty vengeful ghosts across the land, and at the cost of all his own magical power, forced them to create such a cursed mansion to help him take revenge.

After the master was devoured by malevolent ghosts, his soul was utterly destroyed, and these vengeful spirits, having helped him take revenge, were trapped by a contract within the mansion, unable to leave.

It turned out that the master had long known that using spirits to harm people violated the natural order. He had already erred once in seeking revenge and could not afford to make the same mistake again. So, when the vengeful spirits consumed his soul, he secretly set a contract, confining them within the cursed mansion so they could not harm anyone outside.

“As for me, my death was very simple,” Aunt Yang said. “It was just an ordinary household dispute. The favoured Second Madam forced me to poison the First Madam’s food. I failed, and she beat my ten-year-old son to death. I grieved for my child and, unable to avenge him, I had no choice but to take my own life.”

At this point, Aunt Yang’s expression suddenly turned strange: “Who knew I hadn’t fully died? I remained in the mansion, thinking constantly about making one more meal. So, in the middle of the night, I went to the small kitchen and made a bowl of the Second Madam’s favourite lotus seed soup, and brought it to her.

“She wept bitterly, begging me to let her go. But all I wanted was for her to eat a bowl of lotus seed soup—what ill intent did I have? In the end, she still couldn’t resist and ate the bowl of lotus seed soup. Then her whole body foamed at the mouth and gradually went cold. Seeing her like that filled my heart with such joy.”

Aunt Yang smiled with tender kindness: “Master, I truly enjoy watching people eat the food I make. Acting or not doesn’t matter—please, you must let me be in charge of the crew’s meals.”

Zhong Jiudao ignored Aunt Yang and busily wrote in his notebook. From Aunt Yang’s account, he gained a new understanding of a character in the script and began revising the related plot and writing a new character bio.

By the time Zhong Jiudao finished the character bio, it was already dark—close to the agreed audition time with the ghosts.

Zhong Jiudao temporarily removed the kitchen’s exorcism talisman and said to Aunt Yang, “You’ll start the audition. Aunt Yang, just act naturally; follow your truest inner desire and cook a meal.”

“Thank you, Master.” Wearing plain clothes, Aunt Yang slightly bowed, then walked toward the kitchen.

Zhong Jiudao hadn’t had time to discard the previous ingredients, and he couldn’t bear to let Aunt Yang use the new ones for the audition, so he gave her the heavily yin-infused ingredients to freely work with.

Aunt Yang took out a block of frozen meat, her expression brightening. She ran her fingers over the texture of the meat, then swung a cleaver, striking heavily.

“Thud! Thud! Thud!”

In the quiet night, the sound of chopping meat echoed through the villa.

Luo Huai, who had been too excited to sleep after reading the script, heard the noise. Curious, he pushed open the door and saw the villa completely dark, with only a faint light in the kitchen on the first floor.

He tiptoed downstairs, hiding behind a supporting beam to spy on the kitchen.

He saw an extremely beautiful woman, like a white lotus, wearing a white qipao, holding a candle.

In the faint candlelight, Aunt Yang’s face was covered in blood, her eyes showing a fanatical intensity, swinging the cleaver “thud thud thud” at something.

Director Zhong sat at the dining table, quietly watching Aunt Yang.

Aunt Yang tenderly stroked the blade, then looked back at Zhong Jiudao: “Master, what dish would you like? Vegetarian or meat—I can make anything.”

“I don’t want to eat anything,” Zhong Jiudao said calmly.

“Just taste one bite, just one.” Aunt Yang lifted a bowl, filled with mangled meat, “It’s delicious.”

Luo Huai: “……”

The scene was so horrifying he couldn’t help but hiccup.

The hiccup alerted the three “people” in the kitchen—white qipao, Aunt Yang, and Zhong Jiudao—who all turned with serious expressions.

Luo Huai covered his mouth, trying to pretend he didn’t exist, but couldn’t stop himself from hiccupping again.

 

Translator : DarNan