Chapter Ch58.1 - Nightmare
Chapter Ch58.1 - Nightmare
translator: baumkuchen
Although the members of the film crew had been full of confidence, that confidence soon took several hits from the other villagers. When they entered the courtyards of the other villagers, they were roughly chased out before they could even open their mouths. Some didn’t have attitudes that were as bad, but they didn’t lend them anything either. They didn’t even want to talk to them, simply waving their hands vigorously.
“What’s the matter with these people?” This was the first time the celebrity filming this show had received this kind of treatment. Holding the only bag of rice he had managed to borrow at the entrance to the village, he complained, “Isn’t it just borrowing a little something, why are their attitudes so poor?”
“Maybe this place is too rural, and they don’t watch television, so they don’t recognise you,” the production staff member consoled, “Otherwise they definitely wouldn’t be treating you like this.” The person before him was the popular newcomer in the entertainment circle after all. His name was Jiang Buhuan, and he was extremely popular. Wherever he went, he was sure to attract crowds of fans. Them coming here, such a remote area, had been to avoid the fans, but who knew that the people here wouldn’t buy into it to this extent, actually making it impossible to film.
“Then what should we do, Xiao Huan?” The production staff member said, “How about we go back and discuss changing locations with the director?”
“Heh, just for that, I don’t want to change locations,” Jiang Buhuan said, “Don’t they have fields? Take me there to take a look.”
The production staff member nodded.
Following that, the group went to the fields.
At this time, spring had just begun, so most of the spring crops had just been planted, only having sprouted fresh, tender buds. They clearly couldn’t be eaten. However, one family’s field was a little special. Jian Buhuan even saw some freshly grown tomatoes in it. The tomatoes were the sizes of fists and were a bright red, looking very delicious. He said, “How strange, how are there tomatoes in this family’s field?”
The staff member said, “I don’t know. Maybe they used row covers?” He too found it strange. This family’s field stood out from the others. It looked like all their vegetables had grown very well.
“I’ll try one.” Jiang Buhuan reached out and plucked one, casually wiping it off before shoving it into his mouth and taking a bite. After that bite, an amazed expression appeared on his face. This tomato was too delicious. It tasted even better than many specially supplied tomatoes. The fruity taste was incredibly strong, and it was just the right amount of sour and sweet. It could absolutely just be eaten like a fruit. “It’s delicious.”
“Is it?” The staff member asked, curious.
“It’s incredibly delicious,” Jiang Buhan said, “It tastes too good, I’ve never had such a delicious tomato before.” As he said this, he plucked another for the staff member.
The staff member took a bite. Following that, the same amazed expression as Jiang Buhuan’s appeared on his face. The tomato was indeed incredibly delicious.
“Let’s just pick these,” Jiang Buhuan said, “We’ll go tell this family after, and pay them after filming’s over.”
“Alright.” The staff member agreed.
So the group picked a bag of tomatoes as well as a few other vegetables, and happily returned to where they were staying, utterly unaware of what unforgivable crime they’d committed.
Lu Qingjiu originally thought that after not being able to borrow anything, they would probably come back to find him again, but after not seeing their figures reappear that entire evening, thought that they had found some way to talk over the villagers, and stopped worrying about this matter.
Who knew that that night, the Bai Yuehu who returned from the fields would be exuding a subtle pressure all over, the look in his eyes extremely dark.
“Hu-er, what’s wrong?” As the parent of this family, Lu Qingjiu naturally needed to care about the health and happiness of the members of this family. “Why are you so upset?”
Bai Yuehu said coldly, “I’m missing twelve tomatoes, one head of cabbage, and two cucumbers.”
Yin Xun had already been scared off by Bai Yuehu’s aura and was hiding in the house. He peeked out to watch the ruckus.
Lu Qingjiu instantly understood. He said, “They went to your fields?”
Bai Yuehu said, “En.”
Lu Qingjiu frowned. He knew how protective Bai Yuehu was over his food, and also felt like these people’s behaviour was rather unacceptable. He said, “I’ll talk to them.”
“No need,” Bai Yuehu said coldly, “They’re going to leave.”
Lu Qingjiu, “They’re about to leave already?”
Bai Yuehu, “If they don’t leave, then they can just wait for their deaths.” He was serious.
Lu Qingjiu, “But……”
Bai Yuehu said, “Mm?”
Lu Qingjiu said, “They don’t look like they’d taste very good.” The hair of the celebrity who’d come had been mostly dyed, if he ate him, would he get poisoned?
Bai Yuehu’s brows furrowed. He seemed to somewhat agree with Lu Qingjiu’s words. Under normal circumstances, he would only eat the things he liked, such as the fatty wenyao, conglong, as well as the Lu Qingjiu before him who looked absolutely delicious. Of course, for the latter, he couldn’t quite bear to do so, after all, if he ate him, there wouldn’t be another.
“Furthermore, they’re all celebrities. If they die, would the police show up at our doorstep? It’s such a big group of people.” After thinking about it carefully, he felt like eating them wouldn’t be very suitable.
Bai Yuehu said, “En.” He naturally had ways of making these people disappear unnoticed, but Lu Qingjiu’s words held some truth as well. The main thing was that that group really didn’t look like they’d taste very good. Currently, his quality of life had gone up, so he naturally didn’t want to eat that much junk food.
Just, who knew how Jiang Buhuan, who thought himself the sweetheart of the masses, would feel if he found out he was being called junk food……
“And I think there’s something a little strange about them coming to Shuifu village,” Lu Qingjiu said, “It’s as if someone deliberately brought them here.”
Bai Yuehu didn’t speak. Rather, it was Yin Xun who was standing off to the side who spoke up, “It is very weird. Before they came, they didn’t contact anyone in the village, but they look like they really know the village. Could it be that the Liu family told them about here?”
Lu Qingjiu felt like there was something a little off about this.
“And a lot of people died in the Liu family home,” Yin Xun said, “Their family had four brothers, and three all died inside. Afterwards, when the children of the only one who remained, the youngest, died, we all said that it was because of bad fengshui……”
Lu Qingjiu vaguely remembered this matter. At the time, he was still very young. The oldest brother of the family had died in an accident. It seemed like he had accidentally fallen from the second floor while fixing up the house. Originally, that height wasn’t very high. If you directly jumped off, at worst you would sprain a foot. But that person had actually managed to break his neck.
“It sounds like a ghost story.” Lu Qingjiu said.
“Yeah, it’s really scary.” Yin Xun, this mountain god, was also very unpromising. “Afterwards, the Liu family moved out, and the house was left empty. No one entered after that.”
Actually, there were many of such empty old homes in Shuifu village. All the young people had left to work. Most of the people left in Shuifu village were all old. People like Lu Qingjiu who had grown up here and chose to come back in the end were few and far between.
Lu Qingjiu said, “I hope it’s nothing.” Even though he didn’t really like the noisy production crew, it wasn’t to the point that he wanted them to lose their lives. He planned on going to find some time later to talk to that group and tell them to not pick Bai Yuehu’s crops. Otherwise, if his family’s fox spirit really got angry, he wouldn’t be able to stop him.
After spring had started, it didn’t get as dark as quickly. Even past seven, the sun was still hanging on the edge of the sky, dyeing the sunset bright red. The bugs which had disappeared for the entire winter let out crisp chirps from the grass patches next to the roads.
Lu Qingjiu brought Yin Xun with him to the Liu home. He saw the lights in the Liu home were still bright, with all kinds of shooting equipment arranged out in the courtyard. There were several celebrities eating together, surrounded by staff standing around filming them.
Lu Qingjiu knocked on the door, causing everyone’s gazes to fall on him.
“Sorry, you can’t come in here.” Seeing that it was a villager, there was immediately someone who came up to stop them.
Lu Qingjiu didn’t have any plans on entering either. He just said, “I don’t want to come in, I just wanted to ask, was it you guys who picked the cucumbers and tomatoes from my field?”
“Yes, we picked a few.” There was immediately someone who replied, “But we didn’t pick a lot, if you sell them, how much is it per jin, we’ll pay you in RMB.”
“No need,” Lu Qingjiu said, “I’ll let it go this time, please don’t pick them from now on.”
“Can your family finish that many tomatoes?” However, some people became dissatisfied. “We can’t even buy them at the market price? Or even a little higher than market price is fine as well.”
Lu Qingjiu smiled. He didn’t get angry. “The tomatoes are grown for my family to eat.” This year, with the income from the hair growth water, he hadn’t planned on selling his crops anymore. The extra tomatoes could be used to make tomato sauce, or dried tomatoes, there were a lot of ways to eat them. Adding on Bai Yuehu’s stomach which was like a bottomless pit, there was no concern whatsoever of being unable to finish them.
“Then sell us some.” The person speaking was clearly very interested in Bai Yuehu’s tomatoes, still advising them, “We don’t want too many.”
“No,” Lu Qingjiu refused firmly. He said, “We’re not selling the tomatoes. If you want to eat them, I’ll have to trouble you to go buy some from town.”
“What are you being so haughty for, isn’t it just a few tomatoes?” Seeing Lu Qingjiu not fold for any of their methods, that person’s embarrassment seemed to turn to anger. A hint of rage appeared in his voice. He seemed to still want to say something else, but someone grabbed his shoulder.
“Sorry, it was me who picked them.” The celebrity who’d come to borrow rice that morning showed his face. It was Jiang Buhuan. “I didn’t know they were your family’s. I even wanted to pay you after the program, since you’re not happy, then nevermind, how much are they, I’ll pay first.”
Lu Qingjiu said, “No need, just take those as me treating you.” He raised his hand, and pointed at the old building behind them. “Do you know the history of this house?”
“History?” Jiang Buhuan was stunned.
“About five or six people have died in this house in the past,” Yin Xun spoke up from next to him. “They were all accidental deaths. This can be considered an inauspicious place. Who was it who contacted you and let you stay here?”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Buhuan was a little startled. “I don’t know, this was all handled by logistics.”
“I suggest you all move out sooner rather than later,” Lu Qingjiu said, “This home is truly inauspicious.” After he finished, he left with Yin Xun, leaving behind the cast and crew with subtle looks on their faces.
baum: hey guys, I’m back!
sorry for disappearing on you all for so long orz, but exams + projects were hell. I was pulling weeks of sleeping at 3am and waking up at 7am, and I just couldn’t take translating on top of that
my bad for not informing you guys though!
anyways, on this chapter: man does that tv crew piss me off. first of all, they just waltz into people’s properties without permission and don’t expect to be kicked out? and second, they steal and expect people not to get mad? wth
then when they get confronted they act so rude about it >:(
but also I love how LQJ’s actually started considering just eating people as an option and not just rejecting it outright lmao