"So those fourth-grade paper clothes at Anshou Hall were also made by you?" E Hongjuan said with admiration.
"I heard that fourth-grade paper clothes are as durable as real fabric, lasting centuries without wear. They can even adjust their size automatically, perfectly protecting the ghost's form. A single fourth-grade garment is worth thousands of ungraded paper clothes!
It's just a shame they only release a few pieces each day, each in different styles, and they sell out instantly. Master Song, could I buy a set from you? Just the most basic version—no patterns or decorations, just a top and pants?"
"I don't make plain, undecorated paper clothes anymore," Song Miaozhu said.
"Ah…" E Hongjuan's face fell. "Then anything fancier would probably be beyond my budget."
Seeing how genuinely she liked them, Song Miaozhu softened. They'd crossed paths, after all, and that was fate.
"A fourth-grade plain top and pants cost 150,000 hell coins each, totaling 600,000 RMB. Available in red, green, purple, yellow, black, or white. If you want them, I can make a set and burn them for you tomorrow."
"Thank you, Master Song! I'll take a bright red top and deep purple pants!" E Hongjuan said eagerly. "I'll transfer the money right away!"
She turned to Zhao Mumu. "Master Zhao, please tell Captain Li to transfer the full 800,000 to Master Song. Sixty for the clothes. The rest is for one six-petal Grade-One Golden Lotus, nine Grade-Three ingot charms, ninety Grade-Two ones, and spend the rest on as many Grade-One and lower-rank ingots as possible!"
Zhao Mumu, though already aware of Song Miaozhu's ancestral underworld shop, was still stunned by the prices. "They're that expensive?"
She glanced at the shelves, filled with gold ingots, golden lotuses, and small paper garments. Even though she could now see spirits clearly, she still couldn't see yin energy or spiritual qi, let alone sense the aura within these objects. "To me they all look the same. Are they really that different in quality?"
"Of course there's a difference!" E Hongjuan explained passionately. "Higher-grade ingots hold more netherlife energy and shine brighter. Higher-grade lotuses store purer yin energy, making absorption easier!
As for paper clothes, low-grade ones are obviously paper-thin. Ungraded ones tear at the slightest ghost exertion. Only fourth-grade clothes are like real garments!
Master Song's fourth-grade clothes are one-of-a-kind in Fengdu! Many ghosts can't even get their hands on them! Master Zhao, hurry and tell Team Leader Li! This price is a steal—once this chance is gone, it's gone!"
She could never compete with others for these Grade-Four sets with only 300,000 hell coins on hand. And without the compensation money from the living world, she wouldn't be able to afford them at all.
She'd died early, without committing any real wrongdoing, so her assigned hell lifespan stipend was decent. It was enough to stay in Fengdu until reincarnation, with a bit left over every few months for cheap incense or candles.
But graded paper clothes were beyond her means, and ungraded ones barely lasted. Securing a fourth-grade set meant never worrying about clothes again.
"Are you sure about red and purple? Isn't that too flashy?" Zhao Mumu asked.
"The bolder the color, the longer it lasts in the underworld. When I reincarnate, I might even resell them for extra hell coins to enjoy my final years!"
Zhao Mumu: "..."
She really couldn't make sense of underworld fashion, but she respected it. She relayed everything to Captain Li exactly as E Hongjuan said.
Team Leader Li was equally shocked.
"So Master Song wasn't exaggerating—these offerings really are worth this much in the underworld?"
He paid the money with a bewildered expression, then followed the shelf instructions to buy the ingots and golden lotus. Curiosity got the better of him. "Master Song, what's the actual difference between first-grade and ungraded ingots?"
"Let me put it this way. Say your feelings for a deceased loved one are worth 1,000 hell coins. An ungraded ingot that I make can only carry ten coins. You'd have to burn a hundred just to send your full sentiment across.
Now, if you're burning printed paper money—one of those 10-billion ones—it might not even carry half a cent's worth of actual underworld currency. And the ghost lifespan it holds leaks over time. Once that lifespan is gone, the money devalues too.
But if you burn a Grade-One ingot, the lifespan it holds never leaks. Just one is enough to carry your full 1,000-coin sentiment straight to your loved one's side."
Zhao Mumu was hearing the real technical breakdown for the first time. "So all those people burning printed paper notes are basically letting their ancestors starve in the underworld? Each bill carries less than half a cent's worth—an entire bundle wouldn't amount to much!"
She'd thought her master's praise for Song-made ingots was just old-fashioned thinking. But it turned out to be true.
"Exactly," said E Hongjuan. "I heard from other ghosts that if they get those printed bills, they still have to go buy empty money molds to transfer the lifespan over. Otherwise, every extra second they hold onto the bills, they lose value."
Captain Li noticed Zhao Mumu staring into space again, her expression shifting. He quickly asked, "Master Zhao, what did E Hongjuan say this time?"
Zhao Mumu repeated it all.
Captain Li went silent. Thinking back to all the ancestor offerings they'd burned before—he suddenly felt very guilty.
"Master Song, I'll take five—no, ten Grade-One ingots!"
Each of these tiny things cost 200 yuan, more than a full bag of paper notes. But they were worth it. He was planning to head straight to the ancestral tombs after this, burning one or two per grave.
"Miaozhu, I'll buy some too." Zhao Mumu decided she'd go home and explain the real rules of underworld currency to her family. From now on, all their ancestor offerings would come from Song Miaozhu.
Originally, Song had prepared this batch of high-grade paper crafts based on the amount of compensation E Hongjuan received. Since she chose to buy the Grade-Four Paper Clothes, her remaining budget for other items was limited.
But then Captain Li bought a few more, and Zhao Mumu ended up clearing out the rest. Even the lower-grade items E Hongjuan hadn't wanted, like the ungraded Paper Clothes and golden lotuses—Zhao Mumu bought them all.
After seeing them off, Song Miaozhu closed the shop, rode her little scooter back to Xiaozhu Hill, and found even the logistics team from the SEIU had sent her WeChat messages—they wanted to buy her high-grade paper crafts too.