Literary Master: Starting with Refusing to Be a Child Star

The Achievements of Chapter 65, "The New Year's Goods Shop"

"The collection of suspense novels by Early Spring Tea is now available. I heard there are two new works that haven't been published yet. I just bought them. Do you want to read them later?" Cui Hao, who likes suspense, asked his friend Lao Tang, who prefers science fiction.

"You'll see for yourself, I don't like watching suspense."

"Tsk tsk tsk." Cui Hao felt bored. He had watched a few issues of Science Fiction World and could say that the science fiction content was not as good as the fantasy content. It should have been renamed Fantasy World a long time ago.

He plopped down and lingered in front of his old friend, engrossed in reading "The New Year's Goods Shop." He didn't know why the book was called that, but reading it made him feel as happy as if it were New Year's Day.

Does this title mean that there will be one book every year from now on? If so, then after a few years, "The New Year's Goods Shop" will be considered a suspense IP.

Although Cui Hao had considered reading the other pieces again, the two newly published works were undoubtedly more tempting, so he opened "Monkey's Paw".

The cold, detached writing style immediately transported him to the Western world. The war in the background was merely an embellishment, and the monkey paw in the name was mentioned repeatedly to reinforce the theme. Just when the story seemed to be unfolding, it abruptly ended, leaving Cui Hao sweating with endless fantasies about what would happen next.

If everything is clearly stated, it won't be scary. The essence of horror stories is letting the reader scare themselves.

"Monkey Paws" is undoubtedly a model in this regard; at least many years later, Cui Hao could still recall the ugly monkey paws in the story.

Making a wish and having it fulfilled isn't a new concept in suspense films, but "Monkey Paws" delivers a brilliant answer.

Seeing his friend's ecstatic reaction, Old Tang shook his head. He would never stoop to suspense novels; science fiction was the ultimate.

But those were teas made in early spring...

Old Tang, who has a penchant for science fiction, not only read all of Early Spring Tea's science fiction works, but also privately read several suspense novels.

The real reason he no longer reads early spring tea suspense works is not because he doesn't want to, but because he's afraid—afraid that the author will find his suspense works are more popular and stop writing science fiction in favor of focusing on suspense.

What will sci-fi fans eat then?

Unaware of his friend's twisted thoughts, Cui Hao had already begun reading the next chapter of "The Old Corpse in the Countryside."

"This is yet another work with a completely different style. Is there any suspense genre he can't write?"

When Cui Hao said this, he was both genuinely shocked and trying to pique Lao Tang's interest.

"Alright, alright, give me the extra one you bought."

Old Tang finally couldn't hold back any longer. After all, the science fiction works of Early Spring Tea have achieved such good results so far, with one being included in textbooks and the other gaining fame abroad. He didn't believe that the author would stop writing science fiction in the future.

Moreover, there are probably many people who, like him, enjoy science fiction and are now reading Early Spring Tea's suspense works. He alone cannot fight against the prevailing trend.

Anyway, diversity in literary works is always a good thing, Lao Tang convinced himself.

Just as Cui Hao opened "The Old Corpse in the Countryside," Old Tang reached over and took away another sample copy.

The two sat side by side on a park bench. "I feel like this story, 'The Village Corpse,' must be really scary."

"I want to see just how scary this thing can be." Old Tang said defiantly, but his movements as he turned the pages unconsciously became lighter.

The beginning of "The Village Corpse" is simple, even a bit rustic—a young man who works away from home returns to his village for the Spring Festival and finds that the village's elderly people are dying one after another, their deaths bizarre. The villagers are tight-lipped about it, only saying, "They're old, it's time for them to go." The young man doesn't believe in ghosts and goes to the old house at night to investigate.

"A typical rural folk horror trope," Old Tang muttered, trying to bolster his courage. Cui Hao completely ignored him.

But the tea from early spring clearly doesn't follow the usual formula. The young man discovered that decades ago, a woman named Ah Xiu in the village was falsely accused of adultery and drowned in a pond. Since then, every ten years, seven people in the village would die, all in the same manner as if they had drowned—even if they died on a dry bed.

"Damn it," Cui Hao muttered under his breath. He read the passage about Ah Xiu being thrown into the pool, where she smiled at the man who had betrayed her before she was tied to the stone. The author described that smile as if it were right before his eyes.

Old Tang's breathing rhythm changed. The young man found the last surviving old man who had participated in the drowning. The old man had gone mad and lived in a mud-brick house behind the village, talking to the wall all day. While the young man was recording, the old man suddenly turned his head and said in Ah Xiu's voice, "The ten-year period is almost over, one more person is needed."

At that moment, the young man heard the sound of water behind him.

With a "thud," the book in Old Tang's hand fell to the ground. Cui Hao secretly glanced at it and noticed that Old Tang's forehead was covered in a fine layer of sweat.

"What's wrong? Are you scared?" Cui Hao asked in a low voice.

"What's there to be afraid of? It was just a slip of the hand."

But the real nightmare begins. The author doesn't directly describe Ah Xiu's ghost, but rather uses the young man's perspective to depict the "sound." The dripping sound at night, from a few drops to a continuous stream, eventually makes the entire old house seem submerged. The young man lies in bed, feeling the bedding getting damp, and smelling the scent of water plants in the air. He opens his eyes and sees a face on the ceiling—not a monstrous, fanged monster, but an ordinary woman's face, wet and smiling at him.

The book also features illustrations that Luo Jinnian commissioned Chu Qingning to draw.

Cui Hao felt his back press against the chair back, and a chill crept up his spine.

He wasn't unfamiliar with horror novels, but the tea from early spring was truly remarkable: for example, when Ah Xiu's ghost appeared, all the wells in the village gushed water at the same time; the water was clear, but there was hair floating at the bottom of the wells. Also, when young people were running away, they found that the muddy path beneath their feet had turned into soft mud, so deep that it went up to their ankles, as if something was pulling them down from below.

"Did this author really encounter ghosts before?" Old Tang's voice was hoarse. He didn't get an answer because Cui Hao was completely immersed in the story.

The story reaches its climax. The young man discovers that the so-called "ten-year period" isn't about Ah Xiu killing seven people, but rather that one person from each generation of the seven families involved in the drowning must die, until the bloodline is exhausted. The last remaining mad old man is actually the grandson of the whistleblower; he's feigned madness for thirty years to avoid Ah Xiu. But after the young man appears, Ah Xiu shifts her focus—she no longer waits for the old man; she wants the young man to fulfill the last quota for her.

Before the old man died, he told the young man a solution: find Ah Xiu's remains, change her name, erect a new tombstone for her, and call her by her new name. Then she will no longer know who she is, and her resentment will disappear.

The young man did as he was told. He dived to the bottom of the pool and touched the skeleton chained to the ground. When he brought the skeleton to the surface, he discovered that it was covered in carvings—words used to hurl insults at Ah Xiu by the villagers during her lifetime. Each word was carved with a broken bone. With over seventy fractures, she had miraculously survived.

Old Tang gasped for breath; the reading had brought him to the brink of pain.

Beneath its suspenseful exterior, *The Village Corpse* tells the story of a woman who is exploited and humiliated by the entire village. The so-called "ghostly murders" seem more like a twisted way of seeking justice for Ah Xiu, a justice she never received in life. The young man ultimately changes Ah Xiu's name to "Ah Sheng," meaning to be reborn. He places a tombstone by the pond and kowtows three times.

On the last page, the young man looked back as he left the village.

A figure waved at him and then sank down.

This is the story of "The Village Corpse".

"It truly lived up to expectations," Old Tang exclaimed, feeling as if he had watched a realistic movie while engrossed in reading it.