New Times, New Hell

Due to the attention brought by the technology summit, Jinglu’s future product sales have ushered in a new peak. In addition to the part of sales contributed by netizens and fans, the most important sales growth comes from high-level people in the technology circle, especially It is the social circle of Jiao Shanlan, Zhao Ruola and others. Everyone is curious about the magic of having a singer who is highly respected by Jiao Shanlan, and also attracting Zhao Ruola to work for the company's products.

And most of these people are financially well-off, and they don't care about the cost when buying things, and many of them simply buy the whole set back.

Looking at the rising turnover, the whole Luo Feng has been beaming recently, only Shang Que, who has made rapid progress in MBA courses and financial knowledge learning, cannot laugh heartily.

The company earns a lot, but correspondingly, the expenses are getting bigger and bigger, especially after Zhao Ruola joined, not to mention her astonishing salary, the operating costs she calculated alone make Shang Que a ghost king My heart is heavy, and I can't be a ghost with peace of mind.

The most important thing is that now Shang Que can analyze that Zhao Ruola's algorithm is correct.

Their entire framework is for the long-term. Not only can they not make do with many things, but they have to do better than big factories. This is doomed, and the cost will never be lowered.

In this thriving and undercurrent atmosphere, the time entered the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and then Luo Feng's three living employees discovered that the ghost colleagues who were originally beaming seemed to be depressed overnight.

Yu Zhengdu had been working in Luo Feng for a while, and had a good relationship with these ghost colleagues, so he secretly went to Kang Jin to find out about the situation.

Kang Jin also sighed, and looked around. After making sure that Shang Que was out of sight, he took off the wig and explained to Yu Zhengdu while fanning the wind: "Isn't the Hungry Ghost Festival coming soon..."

Yu Zhengdu grabbed his wig and put it back expressionlessly: "That's not why you hurt my eyes."

Zhao Ruola just happened to pass by, and was taken aback when she saw this, and said with a look of being deceived: "Didn't you say that there are no bald people in our company?"

Yu Zhengdu replied calmly: "He is not human."

Zhao Ruola: "...you are right."

Kang Jin nervously made a "shh" gesture: "Keep your voice down, the boss has warned me, don't let him see me take off my wig."

Zhao Ruola nodded, covered her eyes and floated away: "It's best not to be seen by me again."

Kang Jin straightened his wig sadly, and asked Yu Zhengdu: "When will we develop the hair transplant technology in the underworld..."

Yu Zhengdu ignored him and asked, "What happened to the Ghost Festival?"

Zhongyuan Festival, also known as Diguan Festival, Shigu Festival, etc., is called "Meng Lan Basin Festival" in Buddhism, but among the people, it also has a more widely spread name-Ghost Festival.

According to legend, this day is the day when the magistrate pardons sins. The underworld will open the gates of hell. Ghosts leave the underworld to take exams.

No matter how you look at it, this is a great festival worth celebrating for Yin Hun, and the colleagues shouldn't be so depressed.

Kang Jin slapped his thigh, and said angrily: "I won't talk about ancient ghosts, just say us socialist ghosts, we usually abide by the rules of the underworld, and don't dare to wander in the society of the underworld. It's hard to spend a festival, you can Live a day in the world openly, but look at the attitude of the people in the world, hiding from us is like hiding from ghosts..."

Yu Zhengdu couldn't hold back his argument: "It's true that you are hiding from ghosts..."

Kang Jin balked for a while, and corrected embarrassingly: "I mean, it's like hiding from evil ghosts and bad ghosts. It's really too unfriendly to law-abiding good ghosts like us."

"It's a rare day in a year that we can go to the streets openly, and we want to feel the joy of being alive again, but when it comes to Ghost Festival, the shops close early, and passers-by go home early. At night, people come and go on the road. There are still only us dead ghosts, no different from the underworld..."

The more Kang Jin talked, the more wronged he became, and he felt quite sad about being squeezed out by the mortal world.

But Yu Zhengdu finally understood, this is the difference in thinking caused by poor communication between the underworld and the underworld.

The ghosts in the underworld used to be people who lived in the yang world. They have nostalgia for the yang world, especially their relatives who are still in the world. Simply put, they have a homesickness complex. Therefore, they naturally hope to return to their homeland during festivals, especially this kind of festival in the underworld. , Reminiscing with the "folks" and re-experience the life of the hometown.

But for people in the yang world who have no memory of their previous lives, the underworld symbolizes death, gloom, and ghosts. Coupled with cultural influences, strangers have a natural fear of another world. They are used to going home early, and the atmosphere of folk sacrifices is getting weaker and weaker, especially in big cities like Fucheng, many young people don't even know about the traditional customs of the Ghost Festival.

Gradually, Ghost Festival has become the most deserted folk festival.

Yu Zhengdu can understand this situation, after all, before joining Luo Feng, he was also one of those young people who didn't stay outside during the Ghost Festival...

He comforted Kang Jin and said: "You don't need to be so sad. People don't deliberately squeeze you out. The main reason is that they don't communicate with each other and don't know you well. Your folk image is not very good. Everyone will be a little scared when they mention it..."

Kang Jin also knew that this was not the fault of the world, so he could only turn to scold those black sheep who usually endanger the society: "If it weren't for them, our reputation in Yangjian wouldn't be so bad!"

Yu Zhengdu shared the same hatred with him, and scolded those bad ghosts. Kang Jin felt better after it was over, but it only treated the symptoms, not the root cause, and the depression in the office and even the whole underworld was not relieved.

When it was time to get off work in the evening, Yu Zhengdu was still thinking about it, when Shang Que brought Peggy to him and said, "Hungry Ghost Festival will be in two days, let's go buy some new clothes for Peggy." .”

Peggy circled happily: "Going shopping."

When Yu Zhengdu saw Peggy, he bent his eyes and took her other hand: "Go, buy a few more sets this time."

After Zhao Ruola joined Luo Feng, the correction speed of some original problems in the book of life and death has been significantly accelerated. According to the current progress, it is estimated that it will not be long before Peggy's reincarnation result can be calculated.

Thinking that she might be reincarnated into some kind of small animal in the next life, Yu Zhengdu just wants to hurry up and buy her a few more small skirts.

But after hearing what he said, Peggy didn't show a look of ecstasy, but pulled his fingers and raised her neck and asked: "Brother, I only need one skirt, can you give me the rest?" friend George?"

Yu Zhengdu let out a "pop": "Your friend's name is George?"

Peggy nodded: "He doesn't have a name, I named him this."

Yu Zhengdu: "..."

He was very busy some time ago, and he didn't have time to communicate with Peggy for a long time. Seeing that she had made many friends and was willing to share things with them, he was very moved, so he knelt down and asked, "Why do you want to give it to George?" Woolen cloth?"

Peggy said: "He is an orphan, no one burns clothes for him anymore, he is very envious that I have clothes to wear, so I think..."

Yu Zhengdu nodded: "No problem, then we will buy more. You can have a few more skirts, and George has them too."

Peggy clapped her hands happily: "That's great."

Now Peggy is no longer a little girl who only watched Peppa Pig, but a little girl who reads all kinds of cartoons. The little clothes she chooses are the most popular styles among children. When she finishes choosing, Yu Zheng After Du paid the money, the paper-making shop was turned into an on-site one.

During the paper break, Peggy couldn't hold back her excitement, and pulled Yu Zhengdu to talk about her holiday plans: "Brother, I have an appointment with George and other children. We will go swimming together on the day of the Ghost Festival." Paradise to play..."

After she finished speaking, she looked a little disappointed: "But George said that during the Ghost Festival, the amusement park will close very early, and we can only play until nine o'clock at most."

At nine o'clock, the ghost's day has just begun...

Yu Zhengdu was also troubled by this matter today. Hearing this, he glanced at Shang Que: "Are there any activities in the underworld during the Hungry Ghost Festival? Such a big festival, if there are no celebrations, it will easily cause social conflicts."

Shang Que shook his head and said helplessly: "Since ancient times, the activities in the underworld have mainly come from human celebrations. Now the ghost festival has a bad image in Yangjian, and there are fewer celebrations. There is no way to do it."

Yu Zhengdu watched Peggy excitedly trying on a pumpkin outfit, and a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and said, "Why don't we hold a celebration by ourselves?"

Shang Que turned his head, with a puzzled look in his eyes.

Yu Zhengdu pointed to Peggy's clothes, and said seriously: "I just remembered that Halloween in foreign countries is similar to Ghost Festival? But Halloween is very lively. Not only are everyone not afraid, but they are also more and more active. Participate, why our ghost festival can only be associated with eerie horror?"

Shang Que thought about it carefully, and it seemed to be the case, but he said, "I think, I'm afraid everyone can't treat Ghost Festival like Halloween."

"That's okay, the most important thing is to let the friends in the underworld feel the festive atmosphere, which will help maintain a good social order." Yu Zhengdu already had several plans in his mind, and looked at Shang Que with a smile, "Let's hold Luo Feng's own garden party."

Shang Que looked into his bright eyes and smiled slightly: "Okay."

Yu Zhengdu took out his mobile phone and started searching: "Let me see what's interesting..."

Shang Que suddenly asked: "Do you want to see the world of the underworld 1000 years ago?"

***

Time passed quickly, and it was the day before the Ghost Festival in the blink of an eye.

In the evening of this day, a square near the Fucheng Development Zone Science and Technology Park, which had always been deserted, was bustling like never before.

The development zone used to be a suburb of Fucheng, surrounded by an urban-rural fringe area. In recent years, it has gradually developed after policy tilts, but it is still more sparsely populated than several old central areas. The Science and Technology Park is the most densely populated building complex in the development zone. Next to Kaifa Avenue, the houses on both sides of the avenue have been demolished, but new buildings are still under planning. Apart from a few office buildings and a shopping mall, there is a large area of ​​open space to be built.

Due to the incomplete development, this area is usually sparsely populated after get off work, and it is extremely deserted.

But this afternoon, it was uncharacteristically here. Many people who worked nearby did not go home after get off work, but were attracted to come here, whispering and praising each other.

"When was this built? Did I pass by yesterday afternoon?"

"I saw it when I passed by in the morning, but I was in a hurry to go to work, so I didn't look carefully. What is this?"

"That's what I did last night. It's too powerful."

"What's the matter, as long as you have money, you can build a mansion overnight. Have you never heard of the speed of socialism?"

"My relatives work in the mall, and they told me that there is a company over there in the science and technology park that held a ghost festival for their employees. They rented the square in front of the mall, together with a few vacant lots nearby."

"What the hell? Ghost festival garden party? Aren't you afraid of bumping into ghosts?"

"I don't know if I'm afraid of bumping into ghosts, but the arrangement of their garden party is also very good. I have been to many playgrounds. To be honest, many professional playgrounds can't do this!"

"No, it's not only well done, but also unique. What kind of scenes are these? I've never seen it before..."

"There are words on it, let me see, Poqian Mountain, Naihe Bridge, Wangxiang Terrace... Sigh, why does it sound like the place below?"

"Is it really built for the Ghost Festival? It's so interesting."

I saw that the square in front of the shopping mall was connected to a large open space nearby. Overnight, magnificent and continuous ancient buildings, pavilions, pavilions, market restaurants, and everything were extremely elegant, even if they were just standing on the ground. Looking from the outside, the extremely realistic feeling still hits the hearts of the people.

Outside the market, more scenes that have never been seen before have attracted more people's attention, such as the magnificent high platform, the long and wide arch bridge, the mountains piled up with countless paper-wrapped gold foil and silver ingots...

Some of the onlookers couldn't hold it any longer, grabbed his friend's arm and said, "Why don't we go in and have a look?"

"But Ghost Festival is coming soon, why don't we go home early?"

"What are you afraid of, haven't you seen so many people here? It's so lively, even ghosts dare not come out..."

"OK then."

This garden party, which is said to be organized by a certain company, adopts a fully open form. Except for their employees, all passing tourists can come in and out at will. Therefore, many people who were attracted by the building complex at first and came to take a look at it ended up Couldn't help but walked in.

"This garden fair seems to have different themes in different places. Let's take a look at this first." Someone looked up before entering the venue, and saw a huge archway at the gate, with two big characters written on it: ghost city.

"Ghost market? Is it a seller?" The people in the same company couldn't hide their excitement, and they dragged their companions into it.

After walking inside, the tourists' eyes widened, and their exclamations became more and more one after another.

The scene of the ghost market seems to be a replica of the ancient city, with song houses and restaurants on both sides, and vendors pushing small carts to sell things on the side of the road. The difference is that the streets here are full of floating white lanterns. Not all of the heads and roadside peddlers look like normal people. There are quite a few fake ghost makeup with tongues sticking out, eyes gouging out, fangs, and blood all over the body, making this area extremely lively. The busy downtown adds a lot of eerie feeling, but the streets full of tourists and noisy voices neutralize this eerie feeling.

Unexpectedly, there is a sense of unstoppable excitement and eagerness in people's hearts.

From time to time on the road, the exclamation of tourists can be heard:

"Wow, this man's head is about to fall off!"

"This makeup technique is a bit awesome!"

"Wait, I'll take a picture to make an emoji - the real head fell off."

It was not enough for the person who took the photo to talk, he stepped forward and gave the peddler a hand on the head, and discussed, "Brother, can you hold your head, so that the photo will be better."

The big brother whose head was supported: "..."

It’s rare to be able to play with strangers on Ghost Festival, so he hugged his crumbling head with both hands: “You shoot.”

Another person next to him came over and said, "I will perform a show of strangling myself with my own intestines, do you want to take pictures?"

Several tourists waved their hands again and again: "This kind of emoticon package will be blocked if you send it out."

The man had no choice but to murmur aggrievedly: "Why do people like to search everywhere, but don't like to search for intestines..."