After my grandmother passed away, I inherited her paper money store. My family's paper money would be used during the Halloween Festival or when any family had a funeral.

When it was time to settle the bill, the daughter of the neighbour, who had just graduated and was unemployed at home, was jealous of me. She seemed to really dislike what I was doing right now.

“Paper money used to send condolences, right? Other people sell it for two dollars a pack. But why do you sell it for thirty dollars a pack? You're really black-hearted!”

I took a deep breath for a while. Then I explained to them that the ancient paper money requires a specific straw paper, boiled and ground pulp and fumigating incense. These processes need to cost, otherwise, people couldn’t use them in the underworld.

However, under the urging of the neighbour's daughter, those who ordered paper money have asked me to refund the difference in price. Under no circumstances, in order to keep the cost down, I could only change the paper material and reduce the incense fumigation process.

But I didn't expect to be rumoured to make black money and reported for using toxic materials. This incident was even broadcast live on the Internet. Everyone angrily accused me of disrespecting the dead.

The impact of this situation made my husband lose his job. On the other hand, my daughter dropped out of school because she was teased there.

All of this made me feel even more frustrated and scared. With the overwhelming online violence coming at me, I chose to drink the pesticide in my hand.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw that the people, who were offering sacrifices to their ancestors were instigated by the neighbour's daughter to buy cheap paper money.  It was true that these paper money were cheap, but they were all made of recycled paper used in public restrooms. For me, burning them to the ancestors would bring retribution.

——

“Carmen Celeste, you are also too heartless. These days you have made so much black hearted money!”

“Making money from the deceased, aren't you afraid of retribution?”

Looking at the village secretary in front of me and this group of righteous indignation of a few young faces, I couldn't help but be stunned. I then realized that I was reborn.

In my previous life, after my grandmother passed away, I inherited her paper money store. My grandmother was an inheritor of the ancient method of making paper money. With her ingenuity, she opened this paper-making shop.

The people of the old generation said that after making offerings with the paper money made by my grandmother, the ancestors of the family would be blessed. The future generations also would have smooth sailing.

Since I was a child, I followed my grandmother to learn how to make paper money in the old-fashioned way. Later, after I gave birth to a child, I inherited this craft from my grandmother.

A pack of paper money costs thirty dollars. The price had been the same for several years. Even in recent years, the general environment was not good and the cost of raw materials has increased, but also did not say to increase the price.

Until the day before the Halloween Festival, Xaviera Willowbrook, the youngest daughter of my neighbour who had just graduated and was unemployed at home, came to me. She brought a group of young people to my door. They accused me of earning the old people's black money.

Xaviera said, “Auntie Carmen, this paper money is nothing, but the worst quality of straw paper. Not even comparable to the paper used for wiping one's ass.”

One of Xaviera's gang also said, “A pack of this quality of paper is only two dollars. But you're selling it for thirty dollars, Auntie Carmen? Do you really think we're dumb and idiot?”

Looking at them with an incomprehensible look, I patiently explained, “This is the ancient method of paper money. It is made of special grass, ground into pulp, dried by hand and then offered with incense and stamped. These kinds of paper rituals are burned, in order to send over to the deceased relatives.”

They all remained silent in shock. I still stared at them gently at this moment.

“Not to mention that this is not counting my labour costs. Each bundle of paper money has to be smoked with incense in front of the divine phase. And when the village holds funerals, I will also send some incense and candles. You have to know that paper money without incense offerings can't be used in the underworld at all.”

As soon as I finished speaking, I was pushed by Xaviera.

Xaviera asked, “What era is it now? Why are you still engaging in such feudal superstitions? To be honest, we are all from the same village. Nowadays we are talking about materialism, okay? To put it bluntly, these sacrifices are just the spiritual support of the living.”

They all listened to Xaviera's words carefully. It made Xaviera even more confident.

“You make black money from the elderly, Auntie Carmen. Then now you have to make up lies to amuse the dead. Are you cheap? The cost price of this is only a few cents. If you still have some conscience, you should return the difference right now.”

I turned cold at this moment. I then refused her unreasonable demands, but they quietly videotaped it all and published it on the internet.

They even ran to my husband's school to go on a rant about me using feudal superstitions to make money. Under pressure from public opinion, I could only return the difference in the deposit.

I chose a different paper material with a relatively stronger flavour and no spices. I always ensured that the ancient method of boiling paper to ensure that the paper material was non-toxic and harmless to the human body.

However, Xaviera still refused to let me go. She accused me of cheating consumers and leading several people to burn my paper money to the ground. The smell without added spices was not so good. The smoke was relatively stronger, but it could be non-toxic and harmless to the human body.

Unfortunately, Xaviera accused me of disregarding the lives of others and slandered me for blaspheming my ancestors by recycling unclean paper in a small workshop to use for paper money and blaspheming the ancestors. She also asked me to pay triple times the compensation.

I refused her request. It made them dramatize all this on the Internet, saying that I did not respect the deceased, that I cheated the elderly of their money and denounced my black heart.

In this case, the situation was still the same as my previous life. Everyone blamed me and made my life miserable.

After the severe pain that had just hit my body a while ago, I finally dared to make a plan. I still saw Xaviera still blaming me. She kept asking me to return the difference. On this occasion, I firmly agreed to her request.

“Okay, I'll return all the money to you, Xaviera.”

A few hot-blooded young men were stunned. Maybe they thought my reaction seemed a bit too nice for them.

After all, they didn't think it was possible for anyone to spit out again what they had eaten into their stomachs. A bunch of prepared tricks suddenly had no place to use. They were like deflated leather balls.

Xaviera looked at my eyes with a bit of disbelief. She had inquired. Then she knew that the villagers had all paid a deposit, which was not a small amount of money.

“You're as good as your word, Auntie Carmen. The elderly at home have difficulty walking and are too lazy to make a trip. In this case, you'll just return the money directly to us now.”

I looked at her softly. I then returned the paper money without saying a word.

“Let me say this first, Xaviera. I will return this money fully refunded to you. All paper money orders for this year will be cancelled.”

There were many parties and workers involved in making this paper money. The workers not only had to use stone grinders to grind the paper into pulp, but they also had to bring the paper money to be offered to the gods as well as offering incense and reciting scriptures.

Sometimes I still deliver goods to each household. If there happened to be a funeral in the village, I would help with the funeral process.

No one wanted to do something that was seen as bad luck for others. But for me, what I did was based on humanity as a fellow villager.

I would help people who need help as much as I could. Many people in the village did not understand the taboos and customs surrounding funerals. That was the reason I sometimes had to lead funeral ceremonies.

I didn't realize that in the eyes of this group of young people, it became the lips of the trickery. In the end, my family and I went on a desperate path. Hearing what I said, all the young people could not help but stand there in a daze.

Tomorrow was the Halloween Festival. It was simply too late to buy paper money elsewhere. If the elders of the family knew about it, they wouldn't slaughter them.

The village secretary smiled at me. He then tried to smooth things over.

“Carmen, we'd better use your family's paper money first. Tomorrow is the Halloween Festival. Let's not hurt the harmony among the villagers. In this case, just now Xaviera also said that the cost is only a few cents, you can sell it to everyone for two dollars.”

I looked at him with a hint of sarcasm in my eyes. The cheapest toilet paper in such a large package was more than two dollars.

The village secretary was close to crashing his abacus beads into my face. They just forced me to buy and sell as they wanted, trying to make me do business at a huge loss. This situation would only make my family and my business end up in a suspicious mess.

I shook my head decisively. “No, I disagree with what you say. I can't run a business that way. Sorry.”

Xaviera instantly transformed into a messenger of justice once again in this situation. “You're really over the top, Auntie Carmen. Just because we expose your lies on the internet, it makes you break the contract, too dishonest, right?”

I looked at her with amusement. Xaviera asked, “Aren't you the ones who promised to refund the money?”

I then replied briefly, “Mobile banking transfer, money and goods are settled. If you think it's unfair, you can call the police.”

I knew everyone was in trouble. If the elders of the family knew that they had returned all the paper money for tomorrow's ancestor worship, they would definitely be embarrassed.

The village secretary frowned, “Mrs. Carmen, the villagers trust you and order paper money from you every year, right? You've made so much money for so many years, but people didn't say that they'd let you spit out the money from before.”

One of the young men nodded his head busily, “It's almost like you're just looking for a step-down. Isn't that so? Being a woman has to be honest!”

I couldn't help but smile sarcastically. “Integrity? You're the ones who returned the money. You're the ones who returned it and bought it again. How can it be so good? I really can't sell these two dollars a pack of paper money.”

They were shocked. They instantly turned their eyes to Xaviera.

“Xaviera, what should we do now? Tomorrow we will worship our ancestors. Aunt Carmen's family is the only one in the village that sells paper money. Everyone is in a hurry to use this paper money!”

The others were getting more and more panicked. “Yes, if my mom knows that I returned the paper money, she will have to pull my tendons and skin me alive.”

One of them asked Xaviera briefly, “Where did you see these two large bags of paper money?”

Xaviera's eyes carried a hint of a triumphant smile. She finally cut to the chase.

“Don't worry, guys. A new paper money shop has opened at the east entrance of the village. It's my high school classmate who came home to start his own business. He told me how much he bought.”

They listened to Xaviera's words carefully. 

Xaviera continued her words, “Two dollars for a big bag! There are also paper-tied airplanes, cell phones, cars, etc. All items there are very cheap.”

Someone frowned. “Such cheap paper money, is it decent?”

Someone slapped him hard on the head. “What's decent or not? It's not simple things, Xaviera. These crooks, they want the mentality of people like you!”

Xaviera smiled and looked at everyone. “It's just something to burn, so it's okay. Don't worry, guys. This store is a partnership between me and my classmates.”

She tried to convince the crowd. “We have connected with the paper mill. The paper made by this paper mill can even reach the edible level. It is all guaranteed. If you are not sure, you can see it here. There are all kinds of test certificates. It's not like some people's small workshops, there is not even a decent certificate. Who knows whether the things made are poisonous? If the deceased does not rest in peace, the living will not be at peace.”

She gave me a smug look as if I had done something shameful and had to nail me to this pillar of shame. A few of the young men thought it made sense. They transferred the deposit to her on the spot. Xaviera was joyfully ready to pick up the goods.

“Wow, you're so on trend here, Xaviera!”

“I'm going to burn several cell phone refrigerators and check dollars for my grandpa!”

A trace of irony flashed in the corner of my eyes. They didn’t know this kind of paper money would not reach their ancestors after burning. When the time comes, the ancestors would have no money down there. Then they would be the ones who suffer retribution.

I closed the paper-making store. The disputes of the past life were finally dealt with cleanly. On the other hand, I was also prepared to be blamed by my daughter and husband. For them my heart was guilty.

But it turns out that what I thought was wrong. My husband and daughter actually made me calmer and more sincere about all of this.

My husband, Benedict Romanov, said, “It's okay, our family doesn't lack that little money. In fact, I have always wanted to persuade you to stop running our paper-making shop. After all, young people nowadays don't pay much attention to weddings and funerals.”

I was touched by my husband's words. I took a deep breath and felt relieved.

“These people, they are all very smart, my love. They also are actually stingy and calculating. Let's not settle anything with them, okay? After all, the general environment is bad now. So, everyone wants to take advantage of it.”