Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
I ran out of Silly Er’s house flailing under the hot sun, my clothes were once again soaked in sweat.
Coming back home, my aunt was preparing lunch. When she saw me, she became slightly stunned; she asked, “Where’s your blindfold?”
I was panting as I took out my blindfold from my pocket. As I was about to put it on, my aunt spoke, “You take a bath first. You’re drenched in sweat.”
I didn’t tell her about Silly Er in detail, but I couldn’t help but ask her, “Aunt, have you heard about the village chief ‘s family? About… Silly Er.”
She turned back to the stove and continued cooking, “I heard.”
“Don’t you think this is strange?”
“It is really strange, but it has nothing to do with us. You quickly go to the bath. It is almost time for mealtime.”
“Oh.”
After taking a bath, I put on the blindfold again.
After the meal, my aunt hurried to work again.
She worked in a factory in town. The factory processed disposable tableware, and the salary was calculated on a piece-by-piece basis. However, my aunt would not work too long every day in order to take care of me. The town was not far from the village. It was reachable within ten minutes when riding a bicycle. Most of the time, she would come back to cook for me at noon. Our life was very decent and as a plus, we had a few acres of land at home.
Aunt occasionally helped people with necrogamy. She was quite famous around the village and outside the village too.
But my father hadn’t seen me since I was born. Since we were in the same village, I would occasionally see him. However, every time we met by accident, he would act as though he had seen a ghost and ran far away.
According to my aunt, my father was a timid person since young. Everyone in the village called him Ji Dadan [1]. Of course, this nickname was because he was the opposite of the meaning.
I had never asked my father to accept me. After all, I’m a person with a bad omen. It was reasonable that he was afraid of me and avoided me.
Two days later, there were rumors of dogs going missing in the village. The village was not big, and rumors had soon become well-known.
That night, while I was watching TV and my aunt was cooking, Old Wang’s wife next door suddenly came.
She came to borrow eggs. They came to our house to borrow things usually, but they never returned what they borrowed.
Aunt felt irritated and said, “There are no more eggs. I’m thought about buying more, but I haven’t had time.”
Wang’s wife didn’t think too much, and smiled, “Ji Li, have you heard that the village had a few missing dogs in the middle of the night? There is some very disgusting news about it.
“What’s up?”
“I heard that some people saw those dogs at the village chief’s house, but they were all peeled and their bodies were dismembered.”
I looked at Wang’s wife; I trembled as I heard the details.
Aunt’s expression changed, “Really?”
Wang’s wife said, “I heard it from the rumors going around. Everyone in the village knows about it. I feel that this situation is very evil.”
She didn’t seem to be lying, and there were indeed some rumors in the village recently. I could vaguely feel that this matter was connected to Silly Er. It had to be related to the ghost attached to Silly Er.
I didn’t know who the ghost was. What was the origin? How could he think of stealing dogs, and dismembered the bodies?
That was simply just too cruel. I felt chills creeping up my backbone just by thinking about it.
Wang’s wife chatted with my aunt about something else before hurrying home to cook.
After she left, I sneaked out and took off the statues on the courtyard door.
I didn’t know if Ming Si would come tonight. If he came, I wanted to ask him why this skull ring was not effective for Silly Er. I also wanted to ask about the ghost in Silly Er ‘s body.
Right after eating, I went to bed, earlier than usual.
Aunt burned incense and went back to bed after praying to Bodhisattva [2].
The house was quiet, and the whole village was also surprisingly quiet. Occasionally, there would be a rush of footsteps outside, and then, it would quickly become calm again.
The dogs in the village were missing so I hadn’t heard the dogs barking for the last couple of nights.
I stared at the window in a daze and the thought of Ming Si occupied all my heart, hoping that he would appear soon.
However, before Ming Si arrived, a female ghost with disheveled hair came in.
The ghost was wearing a white skirt, and her long black hair blocked most of her face. She floated in silently. Through the hazy moonlight, I could only see a touch of white slowly approaching me.
I closed my eyes and shrinked myself into the corner.
The bed creaked a few times and I could feel something climb onto the bed.
My throat was dry, my shoulders were trembling and my right eyelid started twitching. An ominous hunch flooded my heart.
“Ji Sixi.”
A distant female voice came from right behind my ear. A cold hand squeezed on my shoulder. I screamed in shock, and the hand suddenly retracted.
‘Pa!’
I heard the sound of light turning on, and then the door was pushed open.
I opened my eyes slightly, as tiny as I could. As the light outside the room penetrated into the room, I could see my aunt standing in the doorway, looking at me nervously.
“Sixi, what’s wrong?”
I looked around, and the trace of the female ghost was no longer visible.
Feeling relieved, I sat up from the bed, drenched in cold sweat.
“It’s okay. I had a nightmare.”
I pretended to be calm. If I told my aunt that scary things had come in, she would definitely go to the door to check the statues. With that, Ming Si would also be stopped outside the door.
Aunt looked at me in suspicion for a while and asked me, “Shall I sleep with you?”
“No need.”
“Are you sure?”
I nodded and saw her turn around to close the door. I stopped her, “Aunt, how can I find Elder Brother Ming Si?
Aunt looked speechless and suddenly smiled, “Why do you need to see him?”
“I… I just want to see him.”
“Are you not afraid of him?”
“I still am.”
But, compared to those terrible and horrendous things, Ming Si was the most beautiful ghost I had ever seen. He had never scared me, I thought he was harmless, and I had married him. I knew that he would not hurt me.
The thing about the skull ring was not clear. How would I feel at ease? Silly Er was stealing dogs and killing dogs now, maybe one day he would do something even more outrageous.
Aunt hesitated for a moment and murmured, “Go to bed early. Don’t think about it.”
I didn’t speak. She just closed the door and soon, the sound of the lights turning off came, and the whole house sunk into darkness again.
It was not yet nine o’clock in the evening, but it felt as though it was midnight.
There was an unspeakable chill in the room, which made people tremble.
I pulled the thin blanket from the corner of the bed to cover my head. I felt so hot, drenched in sweat, yet I didn’t dare to look out.
“Sixi, Sixi …”
Who is calling me again?
This time the volume was very soft, seemingly coming from outside the house.
I was feeling that the sound was familiar, and there was a crackling sound from the window.
Someone was throwing small pebbles at the windows of my room.
“Sixi, come out soon. It is Chubby Boy.”
Hearing this, I slowly poked my head out of the quilt, and the cry became clearer. It was indeed Chubby Boy’s voice.
I looked around. The light in the room was very dim, and the outline of the furniture was only faintly visible, but there was nothing scary.
I got out of bed instantly. Then, I took a flashlight from the bedside cabinet and sneaked out.
Chubby Boy was really in the yard.
And he was not alone, Lin Xiao and Zi Yang were also there.