Elbow Open

Hearing the sound, Chen Miao turned around and saw that the person was only wearing a tattered gray dress, with messy hair covered in straw that covered most of her face, revealing only a pair of timid eyes. Only from her withered figure could one vaguely make out that she was a woman.

She reached out and grabbed Huang's arm tightly, making muffled cries, but it was impossible to understand what she was trying to say.

Huang, the executive, was startled by the sudden appearance of the person. He stared at her with wide eyes. The courtyard was already pitch black, with only Ding Dayong holding a candle for illumination, so he couldn't see the woman's face at all. Her clothes and hairstyle made her look a lot like Sadako.

The series of frights caused him to faint immediately. Chen Miao reached out and caught Huang, the executive, who was about to fall to the ground, grabbing his collar without making direct contact.

Seeing this, the woman immediately let go of him, then patted Chen Miao's shoulder, still trying to say something incoherently.

A hint of malice flashed in Ding Dayong's eyes. He glared at the woman, then pretended to be anxious as he helped the unconscious Huang executive up, saying, "Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I've scared Huang executive."

Chen Miao put Huang's arm around his shoulder and said calmly, "He's too timid."

Ding Dayong seized the opportunity and pretended to be angry as he pulled the woman back, saying, "You damned woman, how could you come out looking so disheveled? You're scaring people."

"Go back! Go back now!"

He pretended to scold her, but he didn't dare to delay for a moment as he pulled her back.

The woman seemed very afraid of him. She didn't dare to resist when he pulled her and let him drag her into the main room. She just stretched out her hands and grabbed wildly in the air in the direction of Chen Miao.

Beside Chen Miao was an unconscious executive surnamed Huang. He couldn't get away to stop Ding Dayong's violent actions, but he said in a deep voice, "I don't think she did it on purpose. How could you treat a girl like that?"

"Let her go!" His authoritative and unquestionable voice rang out, and Ding Dayong immediately released her. The woman leaned against the door frame of the main room, tears streaming down her face, but she never had the thought of running away or resisting.

Ding Dayong hurriedly explained, "This is my wife. She had a high fever when she was young, which made her brain confused. She is also mute and acts crazy. She frightened Executive Huang. I'm really sorry."

Chen Miao spoke each word clearly and forcefully, “You don’t even have the most basic respect for people. Apologize to her.”

Even though Ding Dayong was unwilling, he didn't dare say no because he still had to cooperate with Jin Xuexiao. He could only pull up the woman who was leaning against the door frame and said through gritted teeth, "Wife, I'm really sorry, did I hurt you just now?"

As he spoke, he brushed aside the woman's long hair that was covering her face. The woman stared at him with a look of fear and timidity, not daring to move an inch.

Ding Dayong whispered in her ear, as if giving a command: "Go inside. If you dare to run out again, just try it."

Separated by distance and shrouded in darkness, Chen Miao couldn't see the expressions on their faces, but he knew in his heart that someone like Ding Dayong would not easily let that woman go.

The woman seemed to have something she desperately wanted to say but couldn't bring herself to say, which made him think of human trafficking and imprisonment.

Before Ding Dayong could even come to see them off, he led Executive Huang out the door. The driver, who had been waiting outside, was startled to see them emerge like this. "What...what...what happened to Executive Huang?"

"Which factory manager dares to hit someone?"

Chen Miao put his arm around Huang's back and continued walking forward. "No, Huang is afraid of ghosts and fainted from fright."

"Scared to death? Afraid of ghosts?" The driver looked puzzled. He walked beside Chen Miao, holding a flashlight to light the way for him. "Take him back and let him rest. There are no hotels around here. Luckily, when I brought Huang last time, a villager was willing to let us stay in their old house."

"I cleaned the empty room for you this afternoon, so you can just go and move in."

"Thanks."

The moonlight climbed to the treetops, and the wind rattled against the glass, making occasional noises. Chen Miao tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He was a light sleeper and the image of that woman's pleading yet terrified eyes kept replaying in his mind.

Annoyed, Chen Miao scratched his head and sat up abruptly. The next second, he shouted at the dark foot of the bed, "Come out!"

However, there was no one in sight at the empty foot of the bed. He lit a cigarette, the scarlet ash between his fingers standing out starkly in the darkness.

"I can see you, come out, stop hiding."

After a while, with only half a cigarette left in his hand, he exhaled a wisp of smoke and stated directly, "The one who's been hiding in the wall opposite me, come out."

"Don't wait for me to come and rescue you. I'm a ghost too. I can see you, and I can also walk through walls and burrow underground."

The ghost, which had been hiding in the wall, poked its transparent head out and looked at him cautiously. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

“I told you, I’m a ghost too.” Chen Miao said, demonstrating his abilities. He stretched out his hand and passed it directly through the headboard behind him, with half of his forearm embedded in the wall. “See, what you can do, I can do too.”

"Ghost... a ghost!" The cowardly ghost that had poked its head out immediately scurried back into the wall, shouting, forgetting even to run away in its panic.

Suddenly seeing the red bricks in front of him, he remembered that he had been dead for a long time and breathed a sigh of relief, "I've forgotten that I'm a ghost too."

Chen Miao looked at her, who was about the same age as him, and said, "I want to ask you some questions."

The coward completely emerged from the wall and floated to the foot of his bed. "Ask away. I died a few years ago, so I know a bit about what's been happening in this village recently."

"How did you die?" He stared at the bespectacled girl in front of him, whose face still looked like that of a student. "Did you originally live in this village?"

The coward shook his head, recalling his origins, and couldn't help but shed large tears of blood. "My home isn't here, and I don't remember how I got here. But I'm sure of one thing: my parents aren't here, and I've never lived here since I was little."

"I'll remember."

"Do you know anything about Ding Dayong's family? Did his wife marry into the family willingly?" Chen Miao's eyes dimmed, and his tone grew colder and colder, eventually becoming ruthless.

"No, I've met that woman. She's very beautiful. Ding Dayong brought her back."

—

After several days of intensive work, the machines in the factory were finally repaired and are now operational again.

Early in the morning, Huang, the senior executive, and Chen Miao, led by Ding Dayong, visited each household one by one. Strangely, almost everyone agreed to return to work at the factory, and their answers were remarkably similar.

"Oh, now that it's fixed, I can't possibly not go, out of respect for you."

“I wouldn’t have gone if it weren’t for all the contributions you’ve made to the village.”

"You've already come to my house and told me, how can I not go?"

After a whole day of back and forth, all the replies I received were in agreement to work in the factory. There was no difficulty whatsoever, and they agreed very easily.

On the way back, Huang, the executive, sighed, "This is too easy. I prepared a whole bunch of things to say, but I didn't need to use any of them."

Ding Dayong said with a smile, "Yes, probably because we're all from the same hometown and don't want to make things difficult for each other."

Huang, the executive, patted Ding Dayong on the shoulder, feeling half relieved. "Then, Director Ding, you should arrange for production to start as soon as possible and get that batch of fabric out of production."

"Tomorrow, we'll start tomorrow," Ding Dayong replied hastily, his eyes crinkling with laughter.

Chen Miao interrupted their conversation, "This agreement was far too easy, so easy that it's as if they never intended to strike in the first place."

Ding Dayong's smile froze, and his lips twitched. "Mr. Chen, you're exaggerating. Senior Manager Huang has been aware of the villagers' strike and their daily visits to my door."

“Look at me, I’m hiding at home and I don’t dare to go out at all. How could they be faking a strike? If it weren’t for the two of you accompanying me to ask door to door, I wouldn’t dare to do this by myself.”

Chen Miao smiled and said nothing more. As he followed them to each household to persuade them, he noticed a strange sign: he had never seen a young woman in any of the village households, and even the children playing in the mud were all boys, being watched by their grandmothers as they ran around.

The absence of young women, coupled with the abundance of children, created an unsettlingly harmonious atmosphere. Recalling what the coward had told him a few days prior, Chen Miao felt a chill run down his spine.

As the group walked back from the village entrance, a car horn sounded, and all three turned around to look.

A black minivan pulled up, and Yu Xi got out, waving to Chen Miao. "I saw you guys from far away. So, are they willing to go back to work at the factory?"

Upon hearing her voice, Chen Miao ran towards her as fast as lightning, "Sister, what brings you here? Go back quickly."

“Jin Xuexiao hasn’t been too busy lately. I’ve delegated some trivial matters to Assistant Liu. Since I was able to spare some time, I thought I’d come and visit.”

"Sister, you don't need to worry about what's going on here. I'll take care of it for you. You should go now."

Yu Xi didn't understand what he meant. She had been feeling uneasy, which was why she came to check on him. "It's alright, I'm already here."

Knowing the situation here, and adhering to the principle of helping as much as she could, she brought a lot of clothes and rice with her when she came this time.

Villages in mountainous areas are generally isolated, with poor geology and low grain yields, so Yu Xi provided them with these necessities.

The moment she stepped out of the car, Ding Dayong's lingering gaze never left her, scrutinizing her from head to toe. He smiled and stepped forward, extending his hand. "This must be President Yu, right? It's an honor to meet you."

Seeing that Yu Xi was about to take his hand, Chen Miao took two steps forward and used his shoulder to push Ding Dayong away. After succeeding, he pretended to be innocent and said to Yu Xi, "Oh dear, sister, I didn't mean to. I suddenly tripped and accidentally bumped into Director Ding."

"Director Ding won't blame me, will he?" He turned to look at Ding Dayong, giving him a 'stay away from her' look.

Ding Dayong said with a forced smile, "How could I blame Mr. Chen?"