"Be more careful, don't catch a cold." Brian Carter thought that Ashley Grant was really bold, as if he hadn't listened to a word he said—probably just thought he had a nightmare. After giving his worried advice, Brian Carter went to knock on Old Brooks's door, got scolded, and was finally let inside.

Ashley Grant watched him leave, then waved his hand in front of his mouth and nose.

When he was very young, his grandfather took him to attend the funeral of a distant aunt. He asked his grandfather if the aunt would come back. His grandfather told him that on the seventh day after death, the soul returns, and the aunt would come back to see him.

He said, what if I fall asleep, how will I know if the aunt came?

Grandfather said, then just smell—if you smell the scent of burnt paper ashes, it means the aunt has been here.

Chapter 2: Piling Up a Hundred Mountains of Gold and Silver, Burning Ten Thousand Sheets of Underworld Cloth

The next day, the sunlight gave Brian Carter some courage. He exaggerated his experience and told everyone about it, sighing that if it hadn't been for the bold and big-hearted Ashley Grant waking him up, who knows what would have happened.

Everyone was shocked to learn that he had experienced sleep paralysis in the room of the deceased old man. Soon, the story of a photographer encountering a ghost last night spread quickly through the crew.

The director's decision to cancel the filming schedule hadn't caused much of a stir last night, but today, it seemed as if the director had sensed something strange all along. The ancient charm of Yantang Village turned into an eerie, ghostly atmosphere overnight.

The director was quite unhappy, feeling the villagers were being dishonest—renting them this house when he had wanted to show respect for the deceased. Thinking there weren't many days left, he called Brian Carter over to comfort him and arranged for them to move to the room next to his own.

The crew had hired villagers to cook and even act as extras, so the news quickly spread from the crew to the whole village, and the villagers inevitably started gossiping.

After his ghost encounter, Brian Carter looked much paler, but still insisted on gossiping, "The whole village is talking about that big item you mentioned—the gold and silver banners. They say they're shoddily made, so they can't stand upright. The old man didn't leave because of this. You say he was angry with his children and grandchildren, so go find the real culprit, why come after me? Does he take me for his grandson..."

Ashley Grant wasn't surprised after hearing this; in fact, he understood. He had gone to offer incense to the old man yesterday, and the incense had a musty smell.

Also, all the joss paper was made from yellow paper. Nowadays, a lot of joss paper is printed on recycled paper, but there are still many who use the old-style yellow paper, so that's not unusual. But he noticed the stamps on the paper were blurry and the workmanship was quite rough.

What kind of stamp? This traditional joss paper requires a special stamp, hammered onto the yellow paper to imprint the coin design.

In ancient times, craftsmen were invited to the house to do this, and there was even a profession called "coin stamper." Now, you can buy it or stamp it yourself, but only with the imprint does it count as "money." Otherwise, it's just like a document without an official seal—just a piece of waste paper.

So, a considerable portion of the joss paper burned was just ordinary yellow paper, which couldn't circulate in the underworld.

Ashley Grant had also wondered why they were willing to buy gold and silver banners but stingy with incense and joss paper. Now he knew the banners were also carelessly made, which at least made everything match in style.

……

Because of Brian Carter's incident, the crew was abuzz with discussion. Even after wrapping up at around eight that night, they were still talking about little ways to ward off evil, like putting a knife or money under the pillow.

Although they finished work for the night, it was far from just rest—everyone still had to communicate and prepare for the next day's work. Brian Carter also went to their boss's room, while Ashley Grant stayed in his own room to prepare for tomorrow's scenes.

Around midnight, Ashley Grant finally heard Brian Carter returning to the courtyard, and didn't know who he was whispering with out there for a while.

The house had almost no soundproofing. After the voices stopped, the sound of the door opening in the next room was slow to come. At first, Ashley Grant thought Brian Carter had gone to the bathroom, but then felt something was off and went out to check.

He saw Brian Carter sitting on the steps in the courtyard, back to the door, head down, doing who knows what.

"Dongzi?" Ashley Grant called out as he approached, but Brian Carter didn't respond. When he got closer, he smelled the familiar scent of burnt paper ash, quickly reached out to push Brian Carter, and saw his eyes were dull and lifeless, as wooden as a block of wood.

Ashley Grant cursed under his breath, looked around and saw no one, then helped Brian Carter into his own room. Brian Carter could walk, but had no awareness at all, as if his soul was gone.

Ashley Grant could smell, mixed in with the paper ash, a faint scent of cheap, moldy incense—something he recognized. He knew it must have been Brian Carter being taken away by Old Man Song. Just yesterday, Brian Carter had sleep paralysis, his spirit already weakened, and today he was taken away completely.

Ashley Grant's grandfather was a tailor who ran a paper effigy shop—in this context, "clothes" refers to all paper offerings made for the dead, from large items like gold and silver banners and paper effigies, to small things like joss paper, all of which had to be made.

Being in this line of work, he often dealt with matters of ghosts and spirits, and people said he "ate the food of the underworld," since all his business was related to the afterlife.

Ashley Grant had grown up immersed in this, and knew that if he didn't bring Brian Carter back, he might end up a fool for life.

Although he always believed in keeping the worlds of the living and the dead separate, and not meddling in underworld affairs unless necessary, Ashley Grant couldn't just watch his buddy lose his soul. He quickly searched the room.