“Dong… dong… dong…”
A continuous muffled sound came from above my head… like an old person knocking on the ground with their cane. I swallowed and looked at Mo Wei.
“You heard it too, right?”
He nodded and looked at the double staircase that led from the first-floor hall to the second floor.
“Let’s go up and see if it’s a ghost or a human.” Mo Wei walked towards the stairs. After what happened just now, my courage, which had swelled up because of Tunshe Nalin, had already shrunk by half. I subconsciously grabbed the strap of his backpack with the copper coins hanging on it and followed him to the stairs.
“Will this staircase collapse?” I looked at the black and shabby stairs in front of me that had fallen into disrepair and were obviously burned by fire. I was afraid that there would be a big hole if I stepped on it.
“It shouldn’t be.” Mo Wei raised his leg and stepped on it, pointing at his feet. “Look here, there are rock bricks underneath for support. Traditional old houses in southern Jiangsu are all like this.”
I shone a flashlight and found that the holes in the wooden stairs under his feet did reveal interwoven stones. I tried to step on them and immediately heard a series of “crunching” sounds under my feet, which was terrifying. Suddenly, my wrist was tightened and was held by a hand wearing a sports watch. Mo Wei smiled at me: “Don’t be afraid, Teacher Qin Ran, I will protect you. I was born on a good Bazi[mfn]Bā Zì, also known as The Four Pillars of Destiny, is a system of Chinese astrology used to analyze a person’s fate, personality, and potential life path. It is based on the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, which are paired and assigned to a person’s birth year, month, day, and time of birth.[/mfn] and have a strong yang energy, that’s why I dare to do this job.”
“…Thank you.” The warmth from my wrist made me feel at ease, so I held his hand in return and walked up, asking him, “By the way, what is a good Bazi?”
“There’s a lot to say about this. It’s related to the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. It’s calculated based on your birth year, month, and time. For example, I was born after Grain Rain, which is a Kuaigang day. Not only is the earth strong in my destiny, but the fire element is also very active. The month stem reveals Ding fire[mfn]Represent the Yin (passive) aspect of fire[/mfn], and the earth and fire are mutually beneficial, with great power, just like Emperor Kangxi.” He talked nonstop, “Oh, by the way, when is Teacher Qin Ran’s birthday? I’ll calculate your birth date and Bazi for you later?”
I was stunned for a moment and smiled: “No need, I don’t believe this.”
I was abducted and sold. My birthday is the day my adoptive parents bought me from an auction house in Southeast Asia. My real birthday has long been buried in that lost childhood memory. How can I calculate whether my birth date is good or not? But looking at the situation where I have encountered ghosts one after another, my Bazi is probably not the kind that naturally has strong yang energy.
“Teacher Qin Ran, how old are you this year?” He asked again.
I was a little distracted and answered absentmindedly, “Twenty-five?”
“What twenty-five?” He laughed. “You’re not sure about your own age? Could it be that you are really a thousand-year-old fox fairy?”
“Huh?”
With a “crack”, I stepped on empty air, and one of my legs fell into the hole of the stairs. Mo Wei quickly grabbed my waist and stopped me from falling. I lay in his arms, raised my head, and looked at the face of this sunny boy up close. I saw that his ears were visibly red. Thinking of what he said just now about the thousand-year-old fox fairy, my heart skipped a beat.
…It can’t be, right?
I pushed his arm away and tried to pull my leg out by holding onto the stairs, but I felt my ankle was stuck. I glanced down unintentionally, and my hair stood on end.
The woman with the pale, slender hands, adorned with a gold and red carnelian bracelet, was holding my ankle as she helped me put on my boot, which was about to fall apart.
“Dear Jia’er is back… Mother will help you put on your shoes.”
“Ahhhh—” I kicked off the boots and scrambled upward, rolling as I went.
“Hey, Teacher Qin Ran, your shoes!” Mo Wei shouted in surprise, rushing up and grabbing my arm. “What happened? What did you see?”
“There’s a ghost at the bottom of the stairs, a female ghost.” My teeth were chattering as I grabbed onto his collar. “I’m not joking.”
“Really?” Mo Wei raised his eyebrows, looking excited. He held me and patted my back. “Wait here, I’ll go down and get your shoes back.”
“Don’t go!” I grabbed his collar tightly. “I can do without the shoes.”
“How can that be?” He glanced down at my feet. “Look, you’re injured.”
Only then did I realize that my socks were stained with blood.
He set the camera aside and gently lifted my foot to examine it. When he shone the flashlight on it, I saw that a wooden splinter had embedded into the sole of my foot. Only after he pointed it out did I feel the intense pain.
“Teacher, hang in there.” He said, and then quickly grabbed the splinter and yanked it out. I couldn’t help but cry out in pain. He immediately blew on my foot, then took out a Yunnan Baiyao band-aid from his backpack and carefully placed my foot on his knee.
“Teacher, your feet are so delicate.” He remarked.
Seeing him smiling with his head down and about to put the band-aid on me, I felt a headache and snatched the band-aid from him: “I can do it myself, please help me pick up my shoes, thank you.”
Watching Mo Wei’s figure disappear downstairs, I rubbed my temples—damn, I can attract trouble even in this remote mountain forest. Could it be that my birth chart is cursed with the peach blossom calamity[mfn]Something about a love affair[/mfn]?
“Dong, dong… dong, dong…”
The sound of the cane hitting the ground started again, coming from behind me and getting closer and closer, as if an old person with a staggering gait was walking towards me.
Goosebumps appeared on my skin, and I turned to look up the stairs, my pupils shrinking.
The second floor, which was originally empty and dark, became brightly lit and extremely gorgeous. A woman wearing a pointed hat, colorful robes, and long white hair stood at the top of the stairs. She held a peculiarly shaped long staff in one hand and stomped slowly on the floor. She raised the other hand and pointed her index finger with sharp nails at me.
“Yiyiyi—”
The figure let out a sharp, owl-like screech and curled her index finger with a beckoning motion.
In an instant, clumps of bloody flesh emerged from her side, squirming and condensing into several twisted and struggling human shapes. Like skinned zombies, some missing arms and legs and some without heads, they all slowly crawled towards me.
“Return to your roots… return to your roots…”
I was so terrified that my whole body froze, unable to move, and I watched helplessly as those humanoid figures crawled toward me. Suddenly, right in front of me, there was a “crack” sound, and a pair of pale, slender hands, adorned with golden and jade bracelets, reached up from the hole in the stairs. Then, a head with black hair, like a bloodied woman whose skin had been stripped away, crawled up. In front of me, she opened her arms wide, her spine arched and exposed, and let out a wild, cat-like hiss: “Hehe… Hehe…”
I curled up into a ball: “Don’t… don’t come over…”
“Teacher Qin Ran!”
I shuddered when I heard a shout from behind. I blinked, and there was no figure in front of me. It was pitch black above the stairs, and there was nothing there. There was no sign of cracks on the stairs in front of me. Mo Wei rushed up and shook the boots in his hand: “I picked up your shoes. And this… look, this is a woman’s bracelet, right?”
I looked at his palm, it was a gold-inlaid red chalcedony bracelet.
—It was exactly the same as the one worn by the female ghost.
“Don’t pick up random things!” I was shocked, but he smiled and put the bracelet into his bag. “I’ll ask a master to try to summon the soul when we’re back. Maybe we can find out some details of the past. Teacher Qin Ran, do you have yin and yang eyes[mfn]Basically, eyes that can see ghosts[/mfn]? I didn’t believe it just now, however I believe it now. The one you saw must be the owner of this bracelet.”
I shook my head, too distracted to answer him. I felt my ankle tighten and almost jumped up. Then I found that it was Mo Wei holding my foot and helping me put on my shoes.
I collapsed and let him do what he wanted. I couldn’t help but replay the female ghost’s actions in my mind. She helped me put on my shoes and stood in front of me. It seemed that she didn’t want to hurt me…
“Try it. Can you still walk?” The young man’s strong arm passed through my underarms and half hugged and lifted me up.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, I felt a sharp pain. I shook my head, but at this moment, I heard the sound of birds flapping their wings from the second floor, and my nerves jumped.
“Wait, I still want to go up and take a look.”
“Are you sure you can still hold on? You look so scared. Let me take you back first.” Mo Wei put the camera into his bag and picked me up horizontally. Unexpectedly, the zipper of his bag was not zipped up, and something fell to the ground with a “pop” and lit up.
I looked down and saw that it was his cell phone… the screen saver was a picture of my silhouette.
—It was also a snapshot, the background was the exhibition hall of my last art exhibition.
He stepped on the phone.
“I… still want to go and take a look.” I pretended not to see, broke free from his arms, and limped up holding the railing. However, Mo Wei laughed behind me as if to ease the embarrassment, “Hey, I’m just here to film, but Teacher Qin Ran, why do you look so frightened and still insist on going into this haunted house? Don’t tell me you’re doing it to look for your friend? This place gives off such creepy vibes—no way he’d spend the night here!”
There was another “puff, puff” sound, getting closer. I took a few steps up to the second floor, raised my flashlight, and shone it toward the sound. There, deep on the second floor, hanging from the ceiling, were long black banners. A faint light was seeping through them, and it seemed like there was a figure inside.
My heart started to race. I took quick, erratic steps toward the black banners. Suddenly, a flurry of bird wings rushed toward me, and something large and heavy slammed into my chest.
I fell down onto my backside, only to discover that the creature in my arms was the red-headed vulture. It gently nipped at my fingers with its sharp beak, rubbing its head against my palm as if affectionately purring at an old friend it hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Brother Vulture? What are you doing here?” I was both shocked and delighted. I hadn’t expected this seemingly proud bird to actually be fond of me. “Is Tunshe Nalin here?”
With a “whoosh,” it flew toward the hanging black banner. The wind it stirred opened a gap, allowing me to instantly see clearly. There, with his back to me, stood Tunshe Nalin. Surrounding him were numerous candles, their flames casting light on the ground, where blood-red, mottled symbols covered the floor, forming a strange magical circle that encircled him.
In front of him was a table, upon which lay a spirit tablet and a small incense altar.
“Tunshe Nalin…”
As soon as I made a sound, he turned around. In that instant, a strong gust of wind blew, lifting the black banner and his robes and long hair. The spirit tablet and incense altar in front of him were knocked to the ground with a loud crash, shattering into pieces. He immediately knelt down, gathering the white ashes from the broken altar, but the ashes were swept up by the wind and rushed straight at me. I couldn’t dodge in time and inhaled them, causing me to cough violently.
“Cough, cough… Tunshe Nalin… What are you doing here?”
I stepped back, covering my mouth and nose, just as he suddenly looked up and got to his feet.
Beneath the blindfold of black cloth, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly and unexpectedly curled upward.
“Qin… Ran… It’s you. It’s really you.”
“Teacher Qin Ran!” Mo Wei’s voice came from behind as a pair of hands helped lift me up. “Is he your friend? F*ck, the floor…”
My body felt weightless as he suddenly swept me up in a horizontal hold, dashing toward the stairs. Taken by surprise, I didn’t grasp what was happening until we reached the first floor. “What are you doing, Mo Wei?”
“F*ck, what kind of creepy friend do you have? He’s in this haunted house summoning the soul! No wonder you’ve been seeing ghosts! If we don’t leave now, we’re going to get possessed!”
