A haunted apartment for 500 yuan a month—would you dare live there?
On a Shanghai housing website, this rock-bottom listing went live on day one and hit the local trending list by day two.
When Lian Xia scrolled past the ad, she'd just been kicked out by her landlady.
She could hardly believe the listing was real, so she'd rushed over with her bags that very night. Behind her stretched a long queue, thinning out under the intensifying sun.
Clearly, these days nobody was scared of ghosts—only of being broke.
A middle-aged man with a camera on his shoulder grabbed her arm, flashing a professional smile. "We'd like to interview this unfortunate soul—ah, I mean, this tenant. How does it feel to rent a haunted house?"
"Do your cameras have beauty filters?"
"No, we just pixelate faces."
Lian Xia turned on her heel and walked away.
"Hey! Pretty lady! Don't go!"
Fortunately, the woman ahead of her had just finished the viewing, and it was her turn next. But that middle-aged woman, who'd been rosy-cheeked before, now had a face as white as a sheet and limped out, prompting genuine concern in anyone who saw her.
As she passed, the woman shouted back with surprising vigor, "Renting a room to a corpse—utterly cursed!"
Her voice was so loud it echoed off the walls.
Lian Xia couldn't help but take a step back. Honestly, she was a little spooked.
Ahead, the old man showing the apartment stood at the gloomy stairwell entrance and called out, "Little miss, if you're not going to look, move along—there's still a long line behind you!"
"I'll look, I'll look! Hehe."
Under the blazing sun, the heat brought two patches of flush to the girl's cheeks.
She carried bags on her shoulders, tucked under her arms, strapped to her back—like a refugee fleeing disaster, she had no other choice at the moment.
Besides, she was already here...
She followed the old man up to Room 4, fourth floor of the old walk-up. Room 404.
The old building was indeed shabby, but the location was excellent—close to supermarkets and the subway, convenient for work. And stepping inside, Lian Xia liked it even more.
The room was a spacious twenty square meters, with its own bathroom and kitchen. Simply furnished, it seemed a female tenant had lived here before—a small floral cover still draped over the TV.
A light breeze stirred the curtains, and sunlight streamed through the window.
It wasn't scary at all—rather, it had a cozy little charm.
If anything was wrong, it was the bed board in the inner room, which had a large hole broken through the middle and clearly couldn't be used.
"Huh, what happened to this bed board?"
"The lady before you, the one who came to look at the place, stomped on it. I told her at the time..."
The old man began rambling about how he'd warned that woman the place was haunted, but she refused to believe it, stomping and jumping on the bed board until she provoked whoever was there. When the board broke clean through, she fell flat on her back!
Lian Xia: "..."
The wise don't speak of supernatural forces.
As far as she was concerned, this was clearly the combined result of damp, termite-riddled wood and a heavy-set woman. How could anyone blame it on ghosts?
It was 2020—even animals weren't allowed to become spirits anymore!
So she cleared her throat. "The bed board's unusable. How about 400?"
True courage means renting a haunted house and bargaining down the rent.
The old man was stunned. "You're still trying to haggle?"
This girl wasn't simple—she had the nerve to shortchange even a ghost. Maybe this could actually work!
"450!"
"Deal!"
Downstairs, the old man waved dismissively at the long queue, signaling that the apartment was taken, better luck next time.
The crowd erupted in complaints.
...
...
Today was her birthday, so she went to the night market downstairs and bought some vegetables and eggs. The vegetable vendor, seeing her simple attire, even threw in a few mushrooms of indeterminate variety.
The night market's offerings were cheap but not exactly quality, though she wasn't picky. She also picked up a small cake along the way.
A few steps down the street, a young man poked his head out with an enthusiastic pitch.
"Looking to buy something, pretty lady?"
Lian Xia had been about to refuse, but a fragrance from his doorway caught her attention.
It was a dreamcatcher—ashen silver, with mismatched dangling beads, glittering strands, and fluffy feathers attached.
It had an ugly-pretty quality. Call it tacky and it had some charm; call it pretty and it seemed a bit low-rent...
But when the wind blew, it would probably look lovely!
"How much is this?"
The boy scratched his head and pointed to the crimson banner above the door.
Everything ten yuan, everything ten yuan.
The price matched her shoestring budget perfectly.
"Great eye, sis. This thing's been soaking up incense—it's the real deal."
To prevent her from changing her mind, the boy plucked the dreamcatcher down and handed it to her. It was cheap, sure, but it had a smell—fragrant and stinky at the same time.
Next door was an incense shop, the source of that sweet-stinky scent. A wall of incense burners, high and low, was stacked to the brim. The boy fished one out from deep inside and tossed it carelessly into a plastic bag. "This is solid copper—you'd get more than this price selling it as scrap. Add two bucks and I'll throw in the burner, deal?"
After some back-and-forth, Lian Xia came away with the burner and a fistful of incense sticks like a bunch of green onions.
Just as she was about to leave, the boy pointed mysteriously behind her. "Hey sis, you don't live over there, do you?"
In the distance, the old walk-up building stood with sparse lights. Lian Xia's scalp went cold. "Why?"
"Don't worry, I'll teach you a trick. You do this..."