Chapter 22: Idle Chatter in the Haunted House

  Du Qingqing's phone: "Nicky...". Briefly introducing what happened.

  "Boss, I sell my labor but not my life. Mainly... my stomach hurts. It's burning. Maybe I'm not used to the food in the cafeteria."

  "You've been cheated by Mr. Know-it-all until you're fed up with it, and yet you still make so many excuses?"

  "Boss, this Liu Meng is obviously trying to trick you. If the deal was that simple, Wan Shi Tong wouldn't have dragged it out for so long. Don't fall for it."

  "Never mind then." Du Qingqing hung up the phone, bought some food, grabbed her camera and drove to her ancestral home.

  As she stood in front of her ancestral home, Du Qingqing's body immediately broke out in goosebumps. She clenched her fists for a long time before pushing open the door and calling out softly: "Yu Ming?" Her voice was so small it seemed like she was afraid of being heard.

  "Where are you?" Du Qingqing took two steps inside and kicked a small stone on the ground, rushing out of the ancestral house. Du Qingqing dialed Yu Ming's phone number and surprisingly got through. As soon as it connected, she loudly asked: "Where are you?"

  "Miss Du, why are you so angry?" Yu Ming said: "I'm having tea with the villagers."

  "What?"

  "You go south on the highway for eight kilometers, and there is a natural village." Yu Ming took a tractor to the natural village. He was eloquent and quickly got along with an old man. The old man was a stay-at-home elderly person, someone accompanied him to chat, fixed the light bulb and so on, he was very happy.

  Du Qingqing got off the car and saw Yu Ming drinking tea with an old man under a big tree. After introducing Du Qingqing to the old man, Yu Ming said: "The old man said that place was originally a gathering point for village tombs. The house was built for the tomb keeper in the early days. During the Republic of China era, a filial son expanded the house and lived there for three years to observe mourning rituals. Later, during a special period, the house was allocated to poor peasants, that is, the rich man's residence. It has been like this until now."

  Du Qingqing lowered her voice and asked: "What's the point of asking these questions?"

  Yu Mingdao said: "I can't just stand there in a daze."

  Du Qingqing said: "You stay up with me tonight and watch for ghosts together."

  "Are you kidding me?" Yu Ming asked.

  "It's settled then."

  "Where are you going to stay tonight?" The old man heard and said seriously: "That house is not peaceful. The filial son I mentioned earlier hanged himself in the house. The older generation said that the tombs on the mountain were not cleaned, so everyone moved into the house. Our village's only strong young man returned from his relative's home one day and walked along a small path, passing by that house. He saw lights inside and went in to take a look, but ran out after just one glance."

  "What did he see?"

  "The female ghost, with a pale face and blood-red lips, wore a red dress. When she turned her head, the dress slipped off her shoulders, and she smiled strangely at the man, saying: 'You've come.'"

  "It's said that the red-clad female ghosts are the most ferocious. They wear red clothes and, at midnight on the seventh night after their death, they become vengeful spirits with no place to rest. On nights when the moon is dim, it's when their evil energy is at its strongest."

  The old man exclaimed in surprise: "Young man, you've studied this!"

  "Hearsay." Modest and humble.

  "Tonight is the last night of the month, are you really going to move in? Miss, are you ill?"

  Du Qingqing's lips turned blue and her face was pale. She shook her head repeatedly: "No, no."

  Bid farewell to Lao Bo's home, Du Qingqing drove to the ancestral house trail. Took a look at Yu Ming: "Aren't you afraid?"

  "According to the rules, ghosts don't harm people in front of them, and they won't now either. Actually, I'm quite interested in seeing a ghost." Yu Mingdao said: "Right, don't believe the red-clothed female ghost, she can't withstand scrutiny."

  "Why?"

  "In the original old version, the red-clad female ghost referred to the red-clad bride. It was the bride who died on her wedding day. Later, Taoist priests included women who wore red clothes and committed suicide in order to make money."

  "How did you know?"

  "When I was in middle school, the women in the surrounding villages were popular for drinking Le Fruit water. There weren't enough people, so a Taoist priest would fill in for a summer vacation. I learned some inside information." Yu Ming took out a clove of garlic: "Old man got it, use it to plug your nostrils."

  "Why?"

  "Ghosts are afraid of garlic."

  "I remember vampires are afraid of garlic."

  Yu Ming thought: "Indeed, behind every legend there is a bit of factual basis."

  Yú Míng got out of the car with some food and withdrew some gasoline, Dù Qīngqīng's mood calmed down a bit. She followed Yú Míng into the ancestral house. Yú Míng brought over the remaining dry firewood from the kitchen. Dù Qīngqī wiped clean a chair, looked at the spirit tablet and felt a chill in her heart. She asked: "Yú Míng, what if there really are ghosts, what should we do?"

  "I'm ready." Yu Ming took out a stack of talismans: "I learned this when I was an apprentice Taoist priest. And also cinnabar, yellow paper..."

  Du Qingqing saw Ming take out this thing and couldn't help but laugh: "You really plan on catching a ghost?"

  Yu Ming said "do it" and took the glue and talisman to stick on the door position. Then he used a brush to draw a symbol with cinnabar on the edge of the door.

  Although it's unclear whether Ming Hu's antics had any effect, they did manage to lift Du Qingqing's mood a bit. She also started actively searching the kitchen for usable utensils.

  The sun slowly set, and Du Qingqing turned on all the lights that could be turned on. However, upon closer inspection, some of the bulbs were damaged. Only the light in the main hall was still relatively bright. There was a pile of firewood in the great hall, and Yu Ming lit it with gasoline. Du Qingqing brought out a blanket to spread out in front of the fire.

  As the weather gradually darkened, Du Qingqing's heart began to feel uneasy. Yu Ming, on the other hand, was very calm. Drinking cola and tea, eating crackers and cured meat. He also pulled out a deck of cards: "Want to play cards?"

  Yu Ming's attitude gave Du Qingqing a lot of confidence, and the two began to play a game of "Escape Card". A type of poker similar to "Fight the Landlord". After playing for a while, Du Qingqing thought of a question: "Yu Ming, were all these things prepared in advance?" Poker, yellow paper, brush, cinnabar, cigarettes, etc.

  "Uh-huh."

  "Did you plan on staying here overnight today?"

  "This, yesterday you didn't stand up for me when I was criticized. I thought Li Fuxi would get into trouble and you would definitely blame me." Yu Ming said honestly.

  "You think I'll make you stay up all night, so you're prepared, huh?"

  "So to speak."

  "After all that has happened, asking you to keep watch is an unreasonable demand, and you are perfectly justified in ignoring it. Take Nie Qiu for example, he didn't want to come, and I didn't force him either."

  "Miss Du, you should have said so earlier." Yu Ming said: "Otherwise, let's go back now? It's only 9 o'clock, we can still make it."

  "I'm not afraid, what are you afraid of?" After adapting to the environment for a long time, Du Qingqing found that she still had a lot of courage. Du Qingqing changed the subject: "Yu Ming, what's hanging from your neck?"

  Yu Ming took out the red string from his neck and said: "Jade pendant."

  "Do you believe in Buddhism?" Du Qingqing saw that Yu Pei was a Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy).

  "I don't have a precise faith." Yu Ming explained: "This jade pendant has a very complicated origin." This was the only thing that Yu Ming brought down from upstream when he 'floated' down. It wasn't any kind of token, Uncle had appraised it before, it was just an ordinary jade pendant, with ordinary carvings, and an ordinary Guanyin image. Yu Ming didn't want to discuss this topic, and said: "I found that Mr. Du's father is very supportive of our company." He remembered the time when Old Man Du sent them money.