I Took Revenge On A Young Girl Who Slandered Me In My Previous Life

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 blackhearted!”

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 papermaking 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 oldfashioned 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 nontoxic 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 nontoxic 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 hotblooded 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 stepdown. 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 papertied 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 papermaking 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 papermaking 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.”

My daughter, Jeannette Romanov also told me her opinion, “Yeah, Mom. Your craftsmanship is so good. Why don't we open another store, like handmade flowers or something? These people have no manners at all, Mom. It's obvious that you're doing it for their own good! They still don't believe in you, Mom. So, it's their bad luck if their grandparents don't bless them!”

Benedict and Jeannette didn't think it was bad luck for me to do this work in the first place. They were proud of me.

I nodded. Then I felt a twinge of satisfaction in my heart.

I said in my heart, “No need to grind and cook by hand, boil paper pulp in the smoke, or be smoked to tears. Who doesn't want the years to be quiet?”

Unfortunately, I just didn't want my grandma's hard work to go to waste. However, I didn’t have any choice. When my daughter was older, I would teach her alone. I wanted our tradition to not be lost and forgotten.

After that, I began to focus on my family. But then a few days later, Xaviera did something that made my jaw drop.

Xaviera not only changed the specifications of the paper money, she also printed a lot of dollar plutonium notes and some kind of maids and male models. She even presided over the funeral in the village randomly. It made the whole funeral become a largescale disco scene.

“This is all a new type of way. Who does not want their funeral to be lively? The times are progressing well!”

The elders looked at the inappropriate funeral and frowned. However, Xaviera's series of behaviors were well received by the young people.

Many people praised her for being able to come to terms with things and her whole person being truthful. Xaviera's eyes were filled with pride.

“That's not true, doing business is all about a conscience. Those who have survived should be even better, besides, those who have passed away want to see themselves remembered in a unique way!”

The young people have expressed their approval of this approach. They agreed because it was not only lively but also saved a large sum of money. Some of the older ones raised their hand to ask questions.

“Isn't this treating the ritual as nonsense? Can people walk in peace?”

But seeing the price, compared to the traditional funerals that invite funeral people and priests. They also blocked their mouths that wanted to express their opinions. They praised Xaviera for being conscientious and capable.

Xaviera explained, “Don't worry, I will charge whatever the cost is. I will help everyone, my fellow villagers. My uncles and aunts have watched me grow up. I won't do anything wrong. Unlike some old women, they make money from everyone in the name of worshipping their relatives. If their ancestors knew there was such an unfilial descendant, they would have to lift the coffin.”

She spoke with righteous indignation, inciting the emotions of many young people. A group of young people stood up and scolded me, even cursing my ancestors.

I ignored them. I just pointed at the paper money on the ground and the unknown stains on the side.

“Xaviera, are you ignorant of prices? Don't you understand the price of goods? Nowadays the worst sanitary toilet paper is eight dollars a pack. Where did you get these two dollars a pack of paper money? It can't be some kind of unclean paper, right?”

I was trying to control my emotions right now. “What you burn to the gods and old ancestors can't be unclean, Xaviera.”

Everyone was stunned. Nowadays the cost of paper has risen. Thinking of the recycling of sanitary products that was reported in the news not long ago. They had a nasty chill, especially those who were in the catering industry. About how the price of paper was, they knew very well.

A hint of sinister flashed under Xaviera's eyes. Soon she methodically smiled and explained to everyone, “We are directly connected to the paper mills and printing factories. Look, this is our business license! Uncles and aunts, don't worry. You've seen me since I was little. Surely you already know what my character is like. I'm doing all this just to help you be more practical.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They then turned around and accused me of being of bad character.

A flash of sarcasm crossed the bottom of my eyes. I naturally remembered these two factories from my previous life. One recycled used sanitary products from public toilets for reuse and the other used toxic lead ink for printing.

The Willbrook Family had always taken advantage of the village. There was bound to be something fishy when things went wrong with good intentions. But anyone who asked around a little would know that these two factories were already struggling to make ends meet.

I asked in my heart, “How could they possibly make conscientious goods?”

However, after being reborn I do not want to be a good person anymore. The experience of my last life made me choose not to say anything more. Now that I have reached this point. I had already done my best to be kind.

As for the first thing I did when I came back from rebirth, I burned the paper money at home to my ancestors and gods. If it wasn't for their blessings, I wouldn't have had the chance to start over again.

However, in this life, Xaviera's paper money and unique funeral manoeuvres were deeply loved by the young people. She even became an internet celebrity or we called an influencer.

Many people ordered her paper money. They also booked her to conduct funerals.

The Willbrook Family's old and dilapidated small tiled house instantly turned into a small house within a month. Many people even said that since they used Xaviera's paper money, the grandmother who hadn't seen them for many years came to their dream.

Of course, it was not possible. If the money was not in place every year and so many evil things were burned, isn't it annoying? Waiting for the future, not to mention the grandmother, the old ancestors would have to dream to scold them.

These days, Xavier's orders were in short supply, but on my side, there was no one around. My grandmother's craft has not been passed on after all. If it wasn't for the continuation of this nonheritage technique, I wouldn't be doing this kind of business at all.

Looking at the paper store, I wondered whether to sell a little something else and change into a DIY.

Just as I was thinking about it, a young guy approached me. He wanted to order a large quantity of handmade paper money.

I pointed in the direction of Willowbrook's house. “You can order it over there.”

“Auntie Carmen, I'm here specifically to see you.”

The young man asked me for my luggage. I realized that he was wearing a priest's robe under his coat.

“My master said that only your grandmother, Monica Celeste can properly make paper money that circulates in the underworld, Auntie Carmen. But unfortunately, Grandma Monica has passed away. Now only you can inherit this tradition.”

“Whether it's a Buddhist temple or another temple and hall, incense and offerings are needed. As the saying goes, money can make the devil work. No matter if it's in heaven or on earth, we all need money, especially when we perform rituals, we need a lot of paper money. The paper money made by Grandma Monica is recognized by this heaven and earth.”

The young man told me his name was Jonathan Gibson. He was the twentyeighth generation of the priest Eugene Gibson from Sagrada Aparecida Hall.

When my grandmother taught me how to make paper money, it was all by hand. I even had to burn incense and make offerings for seventyseven or fortynine days before I could use it.

Once I suggested that we could now use advanced technology to manufacture in bulk, but I was rebuked by my grandmother and punished by kneeling in front of the god for a day and a night. It turned out to be so.

Whether it was in heaven, on earth, or on the ground, counterfeit money was very much rejected. However, I looked at Jonathan in front of me, it made me think that he was one of Xaviera's gang.

Nowadays, young people were not concerned about this. But Jonathan seemed to understand something. He winked at me.

“Auntie Carmen, if you don't trust me, we can make a contract. I will sign it right now. Don't worry, if we break the contract, we will compensate for your loss tenfold.”

I was silent for a while. I didn’t believe what I heard.

“Grandma Monica has passed away. I know you are the only one who knows how to make ancient paper money. So, please help me. It will be a good deed.”

Hearing this and thinking of my rebirth, I agreed to this. The orders from the Sagrada Aparecida temple and monasteries were large. My family's finances improved a lot at once. All of this was the result of the skills that my grandmother taught me and passed on to me.

I bought a lot of things for my home and even redecorated the papermaking shop. But when I came back from shopping, I saw Xaviera and her gang again.

They looked at Jonathan, who was picking up goods at my papermaking shop. Their jealousy was written all over the bottom of their eyes.

“Hey, bro! The paper used in this papermaking shop are all threeless products, unlike us, who are all connected with raw material factories and have proper business licenses.”

“How expensive can paper be? She sells a pack of paper for thirty. It's simply a book of profit. Let's talk about conscience. I never make blackhearted money. We are all of the same age, right? We all know that this thing is just to send the thoughts of the living.”

I can't help but laugh in anger. I suddenly stepped forward.

I coldly said, “Xaviera, do you know who these paper money are burned for?”

Xaviera answered, “Isn't it just burned to the dead people?”

She suddenly saw the priest's robe on Jonathan. He stood up in front of her. She couldn't help but her face turned pale.

“Xaviera, do you dare to use your paper money and take it to the gods to make offerings?”