C2 Inside the House of Ghosts

The Old Madame Liu was gone? My grandmother was so scared that she almost fell on the ground. My mother started crying and my grandfather kicked my father, "You were still fine yesterday, but you're gone now?" My father quickly said, "No, we didn't find anyone when we went to her house, and her wife wasn't there either. I don't know where she went." My grandpa looked at me who was crying, my grandma and mom with tears in their eyes and said to my dad, "Let's go. Let's go home and ask. There will definitely be people who will know." My father hurriedly agreed, and the two of them went out with lanterns in their hands.

The villagers also asked around, and were finally able to find out that Old Madame Liu and his wife went to the neighboring village to find out about their son-in-law's home. My grandfather and father borrowed two bicycles from him and directly went to the neighboring village, and before they left, they also troubled my village's fat aunt to come to my house to accompany my grandmother, mother, and me, who was crying non-stop.

Aunt Pang was the head of the women's department in our village. She was short and strong, like a big top. When she came to my house, she saw that it was dark, so she came in and asked, "Why don't you light the lamp? What are you doing in the dark? Why do you know how to pass by?" When my grandma heard that it was Fat Aunt and not my grandpa, she knew what had happened. "Sister, did my family's old man go out to find Sister Liu?" When Aunt Pang entered the room and saw that my mother was hugging me, I stopped crying. I was still pulling gently and came over to rub my little head. "This kid is fine. Why did my elder brother and Tie Cheng say he was so scary?" My mom said, 'You don't know about Fat Aunt. She was crying so much just now that it was so loud that it sounded like it was breaking. When you shouted outside earlier, she stopped crying just like that.' Aunt Pang said, "Your family's Tie Cheng went to the Liu family's shop. He said that Old Madame Liu went to his son-in-law's home and would be back soon. Don't be anxious." When Aunt Pang came along, my mother and my grandmother weren't so scared anymore. The three women started to talk about family matters.

Aunt Pang said to my grandma, "Big Sis, why is your house so dark? This light doesn't seem to be as bright as my family's lamps. It's not like this normally." My grandmother was also puzzled. "That's right. I don't know what happened today. It was fine yesterday." At that moment, my mother exclaimed, "Mom, what's wrong with this child? He looks like he's going to lose his temper." My grandmother rushed to bring me over, and I saw that my face had turned green, as if someone were pinching my neck, "What the hell is going on, come on," she said, straightening me up, but it was no use, I closed my eyes tightly, and the sight of me about to faint terrified them.

At this moment, the sound of footsteps and voices came from outside. Hearing that there were quite a few people, my grandmother was delighted. "My old man is back." As she spoke, she quickly ran out of the brick bed. Strangely, no one heard her as soon as she went out, which made my grandma mutter in her heart, "I heard the sound, but why is there no one here". She went back into the house, and my mom and auntie both asked, "Where's the person, the Old Madame Liu is here?" My grandma also doubtfully said, "No, there's no one outside." The three of them seemed to have suddenly thought of something and fell silent. After a moment of silence, Aunt Pang finally spoke first, "Big sister, your child is so scary like this. Let's not go out when we hear a sound we don't recognize. Who knows what it is?" My grandmother and my mother were silent, the atmosphere of fear surrounding the three of them, the lamp flickering as if in tune with the atmosphere, far from being as bright as usual.

At this moment, a shout came from outside, "Why are you not turning on the lights? Hurry up, Sister Liu is here." It was my grandfather's voice, and my grandmother was overjoyed. "Oh, oh, oh, old man. You're finally back! You scared the three of us to death." My grandfather introduced him, "This is Sister Liu's son-in-law, also surnamed Liu. Upon hearing about our family's matter, he hurriedly followed along, luckily he brought Sister Liu here on his motorcycle, if not he would have known when we would be able to return." My grandmother welcomed them in.

Old Madame Liu looked at me, then rolled over to look at my back. He said with a serious expression, "How about this, all of you go to the warehouse for a while and prepare some hot water for the bath. Don't get too hot. The rest of them quickly agreed to go out and make preparations. Needless to say, their lights lit up as soon as they left.

Old Mrs. Liu had her son-in-law strip me off and lift me upside down. She looked at the birthmark on my lower back and said, "This girl is getting more and more dishonest. She starts to be a human when she has no chance to give birth. It's a matter of time." With that, she pulled out the hairpin from my hair. The hairpin was made of wood, and it could be twisted apart at one end until there was a silver needle in it. Then, with extreme speed, she pointed out the word "press" on the birthmark on my waist. After stabbing, my face finally turned rosy and I quickly fell asleep due to exhaustion.

The Old Madame Liu told Kun Zi to carry me to the storage room, where everyone prepared hot water and a red rope. The Old Madame Liu took me and placed me in the water, and at this time, the word "pressure" on my waist slowly revealed its red color. Then, she tied a knot on my body with the red rope.

"Alright, carry the child back. It's already so late, rest!" With that, the Old Madame Liu let out a heavy sigh. My grandfather asked, "Big Sis, is that enough?" The Old Madame Liu replied, "This can only guarantee a few days of nothing happening. But don't worry, this child and I are fated to be together. We definitely won't ignore him. Kun'er, let's go." My grandparents hurriedly sent them off. Aunt Pang quickly said, "Bring me along as well. I don't dare to leave by myself."

When we arrived at the door, Old Madame Liu said to my grandparents, "You two are too old. Come in later. Wait at the door before you go in." My grandfather asked, "What's the matter, Big Sis? Why can't you come in now? Old Madame Liu said: "Your little girl is a demon. She attracted countless of wild ghosts and all of them ran to your house. Otherwise, how could your child be like this? The lights in your house that are filled with Yin energy have not been lit. Now that the girls have stopped, these ghosts will return to their original places. " When my grandma cried out "Mama!", she shouted in a bad voice, "Son, daughter-in-law, hurry up and bring your child out." Old Madame Liu laughed: "What are you afraid of? Your family members do not have any Yin Qi, they cannot attract ghost, I'm just afraid that if you two were to clash with each other, it would be easy for you to get into trouble." While saying that, my parents carried me out. My father asked, "What happened, Mom?" After standing at the door for a while, Old Madame Liu said: "Don't be scared, this time the house is clean. Hurry and go to sleep, my parents are already tired, your parents might not be able to hold on any longer." With that, the three of them left while my family entered the house in fear. The room felt bright, and the family could finally rest in peace. After the night's experience had made them tense, and soon, snoring sounds could be heard.