Those Years I Employed Non-Humans as Actors - Chapter 6.2

First of all, he purchased a bunch of new ingredients, lest the staff would fall sick after eating something they shouldn’t.

And then, he started drawing talismans on a mass scale. Luo Huai had merely been moving the props when he bumped into Steward Lin. To prevent similar incidents from occurring, Zhong Jiudao decided to put up protective talismans all around the villa.

Regardless of where their territories were originally located, Zhong Jiudao drove every single ghost into the theatre. Since these ignorant old-era ghosts liked to watch movies, he would just let them spend the following three months inside the theatre.

But this was an activity that consumed a lot of electricity.

Zhong Jiudao told them that they could watch as many movies as they wanted, but they had to solve the problem of power consumption by themselves. Steward Lin was currently working hard to generate electricity for everyone, but he was weaker than the female ghost in the dress—the previous power bank. In less than five days, his energy would be depleted. And so, Zhong Jiudao encouraged them to decide on which ghost would step up next once Steward Lin was out of commission.

All the ghosts were flabbergasted. They didn’t expect that Zhong Jiudao, a celestial master, would actually come up with such a vicious scheme.

In the past, they had encountered ghost-tamer celestial masters who subdued ghosts in order to use them to deal with other ghosts. To make the ghosts under their command become more powerful, this type of celestial master would employ various methods to increase the strength of the ghosts while simultaneously binding them with a restraining contract. It was a revolving cycle of carrot and stick.

But this was the first time they met a celestial master like Zhong Jiudao. Not only was he unscrupulously using them, he even came up with such a sinister ploy to make them kill each other. This man was truly a celestial master who was even more wicked than evil spirits!

Among so many ghosts, Aunt Yang, who was good at cleaning the house, was the only one with a stable status. She brought harm to Qian Duoqun by making him eat her cooking, yet on top of being exempted from punishment, she was actually given a role in the movie without needing to audition!

Zhong Jiudao came up with this role after seeing the way Aunt Yang looked at Qian Duoqun while he was eating the food she made. He found that Aunt Yang had an obsession with feeding people, so he asked about the cause of her death. Could it be that she died from starvation, or from eating too much?

“I committed suicide,” answered Aunt Yang.

“What happened?” Zhong Jiudao asked.

Aunt Yang’s expression turned nostalgic. “My lord, have you ever wondered why there are so many of us in this villa?”

“Someone gathered you guys in this place,” said Zhong Jiudao. As the current most talented celestial master, he could naturally tell that instead of originating from this villa, these evil spirits must’ve been brought together from various other places by a ghost-tamer celestial master in order to deliberately create this haunted house.

“Precisely,” Aunt Yang replied, “The world was very chaotic back then. There was a sect of celestial masters who took the lead in suppressing the invading forces. Out of the ten disciples who went, nine of them died in battle. The only surviving celestial master went mad with revenge and came up with this plan for the sake of avenging his fellow disciples.”

After gathering more than thirty evil spirits from all kinds of places, that celestial master asked them to fortify this haunted house and help him take revenge at the cost of his entire spiritual power.

The celestial master was then devoured by the evil spirits, his soul scattering. But after they completed his revenge on his behalf, these ghosts were then bound in place by his contract, making them unable to leave the villa.

As it turned out, the celestial master was fully aware that by using these ghosts to harm the living, he was going against the way of heaven. He had already committed a great sin for the sake of his revenge. He didn’t want to commit another one. Thus, when the ghosts devoured his soul, the celestial master secretly made a contract to trap them in the haunted house, preventing them from roaming around to harm humans.

“As for me, the cause of my death was very simple.” Aunt Yang said, “It was just the usual inner chambers¹In the old days, it’s a common thing for males from rich families to have multiple wives/concubines. Inner chambers fight refers to the competition between these women to win the husband’s favor. fight. The favored second lady forced me to poison the first lady’s meal. Because I failed, she beat my son, who was only ten years old, to death. I was deprived of my child, yet I had no way to avenge him, so I could only choose to kill myself.”

At this point, Aunt Yang’s expression suddenly turned very strange. “Who could’ve known that my soul didn’t pass on to the afterlife? I remained in that mansion and couldn’t stop thinking about cooking another meal. Thereupon, in the middle of the night, I went to the kitchen and made a bowl of lotus seed soup that the second lady liked the most, and sent it to her.

“She wept bitterly, begging me to let her go. But I only wanted her to eat a bowl of lotus seed soup. Was there anything wrong with that?”

“In the end, she failed to drive me away and ate the soup. Then she started foaming at the mouth, and her body gradually went cold. Seeing her in such a state filled my heart with great delight.”

Aunt Yang put on a benign smile. “Lord celestial master, I really like to watch people eat the food I cook. It doesn’t matter whether or not I could get a role in the movie, I only ask that you let me be responsible for the crew’s meal.”

Zhong Jiudao ignored Aunt Yang in favor of furiously writing down in his notebook. After listening to Aunt Yang’s story, he was burning with inspiration for one of the characters in the script. Right now, he was making changes to the relevant storyline and adding in new details to the character’s background.

By the time Zhong Jiudao finished writing, the sky had already turned dark. It was almost the agreed time for the audition with the ghosts.

Zhong Jiudao temporarily took down the ghost-repelling talisman in the kitchen and then said to Aunt Yang, “Let’s start the audition with you, Aunt Yang. You can just act as yourself, follow the truest desire in your heart and cook your meal.”

“Thank you, my lord.” Aunt Yang, who was dressed in plain clothes, gave him a slight bow before walking towards the kitchen.

Even if it was an audition for his own movie, he was reluctant to let Aunt Yang use the ingredients he had just bought this afternoon. Fortunately, he hadn’t thrown away the ingredients left behind by the previous owner, so he gave all those food with extremely heavy Yin energy to Aunt Yang and let her do as she pleased.

Aunt Yang took out a piece of frozen meat with a joyful look on her face. She brushed her fingers along the meat to find the direction against the grain, then picked up a cleaver and started chopping down on it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The loud chopping noise echoed in the quiet villa.

Luo Huai, who couldn’t sleep because he had gotten too excited after reading the script, heard the sound and curiously opened the door. The whole villa was pitch dark save for the dim light coming from the kitchen on the first floor. He quietly walked downstairs and hid behind the pillar, peeking at the kitchen.

In the kitchen, there was an incredibly beautiful woman who looked as though she was an incarnation of a white lotus flower. She was dressed in a white cheongsam, holding a candle in her hand.

Under the faint candlelight, Aunt Yang’s face was covered with blood. There was a frenzied look in her eyes as she continued to swing down her knife, hacking on something.

Director Zhong was sitting at the dining table, silently watching Aunt Yang.

After lovingly stroking the edge of her knife, Aunt Yang turned her head towards Zhong Jiudao and asked, “My lord, what kind of dishes would you like to eat? Be it vegetable or meat dishes, I can cook everything for you.”

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

“Just one bite. Just one bite will do.” Aunt Yang picked up a bowl, revealing a bloody mess of minced meat inside. “It’s very delicious.”

Luo Huai: “…”

The sight was simply terrifying. Luo Huai was so frightened he involuntarily let out a hiccup.

The sound alarmed the three ‘people’ in the kitchen. The woman in white cheongsam, Aunt Yang, and Director Zhong simultaneously turned around, gazing at him with grim expressions.

Luo Huai covered his mouth, trying to erase his sense of existence, but he uncontrollably let out another hiccup.

Translator: zgw

Editor: AngeAngela