Chapter 3: Urban Supernatural Fiction (Red and White Comedy) 03: Water Ghost…
There are not only the sounds of gongs and drums, but also the sounds of suona with very strange tunes.
The noise and bustle of people's voices mixed together like bubbles of boiling oil in a wok.
However, amidst the festive sounds, there were faint cries, which sounded resentful and made the listeners feel particularly irritated.
It's so noisy, and someone is urging her to get up?
What is this all about?
Song Qingqing opened her eyes and sat up. The room was pitch black and she couldn't see her hand in front of her face.
The faint cold aura lingering around her gradually dissipated, as if it had never existed in the first place.
Song Qingqing sat there angrily. For a moment, her bad temper overwhelmed her fear of having such a nightmare. She sat on the bed like a little pufferfish for a long time before her anger subsided.
Once you wake up, it’s hard to go back to sleep.
Song Qingqing took out her cell phone and turned on the screen. The dim light from the screen made her face look a little pale. She looked at the time carefully.
It was four in the morning and it was almost dawn, but I couldn't sleep.
Song Qingqing got out of bed and prepared to go out for a walk.
The door of the house in Zhaozhuang looks quite shabby and makes a creaking sound when opening and closing.
After taking a few steps, Song Qingqing seemed to step on something. She lowered her head and found that there was a red envelope under her feet.
She bent down and picked up the red envelope, perhaps someone had lost it.
There was no name written on the red envelope. Song Qingqing opened it and poured the contents into her palm and counted them carefully.
I discovered that they were several banknotes and a small piece of paper cut into the shape of a human. On the back of the paper were the year, month, and day written in red, and there was even a small lock of hair tied with a red rope.
Song Qingqing stuffed the red envelope back into her pocket, planning to ask about it when she met the people from Zhaozhuang during the day.
Unexpectedly, not long after I walked out of the house, I met Grandma Li. She was carrying a basket in her hand. I didn't know what was in the basket, but it must be quite heavy. She was trembling when she walked.
However, Song Qingqing was a little scared to go out at this time in the early morning, and she didn't dare to go up and talk to him.
She stood there and watched for a while, and saw that Grandma Li tripped over something and almost fell to the ground.
The girl, who was always soft-hearted, pursed her lips and was a little hesitant.
She also has to gain everyone's favor, and I don't know if the old lady is considered an NPC in the mission world.
After hesitating for only a few seconds, Song Qingqing trotted over and said, "Grandma, are you busy before dawn? Let me help you get it."
As she spoke, Song Qingqing reached out to the basket in Grandma Li's hand.
Grandma Li reacted very quickly and was about to knock down the hand that Song Qingqing extended, but when she raised her eyelids and saw that it was her, a sharp light flashed in her cloudy eyes. She smiled kindly and handed over the basket.
"It's Qingqing. You're such a sensible and good child." Granny Li narrowed her eyes and smiled. "I heard your classmates call you that. Can an old woman like me call you that?"
Song Qingqing took the basket and was surprised by the weight in her hand.
"Of course, but grandma, what's in your basket?"
Granny Li smiled and lifted the floral cloth covering the basket, revealing the neatly stacked gold ingots and yellow paper inside. Of course, the gold ingots were also made of paper. The real weight should be the large basin of chicken blood and a freshly killed chicken.
Song Qingqing froze for a moment, pursed her lips, and remained polite.
Granny Li seemed to notice her unnatural reaction, but she didn't say anything. She covered the flowered cloth back and said, "Today is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. We have to go to the Zhaozhuang cemetery to burn something."
"If you're scared, just go back and be obedient."
As she spoke, Granny Li was about to reach out to take back the basket. Song Qingqing glanced at the old woman's withered hands and wrinkled skin, pursed her lips, and finally whispered, "It's okay, I'll go with you."
Song Qingqing accompanied Grandma Li to the cemetery, only then did she realize that she was really talking about a cemetery.
Looking around, there are many graves and tombstones, which looks like a cemetery.
Grandma Li walked to a tombstone in the corner and stopped. She skillfully sprinkled chicken blood on the yellow paper and gold ingots, then slowly lit them while muttering something.
Song Qingqing didn't understand it, but it felt like the dialect of this area.
The waiting time was a bit boring, and seeing that Grandma Li looked extremely serious when burning paper, she didn't want to disturb her, so she started to observe the tombstone.
I just found out there was a very old photo on the tombstone. It didn't look like the black and white photos of today's era, and the portrait was very blurry.
But from the delicate and beautiful eyebrows and eyes, one can vaguely guess that the owner of the photo must be a beauty, and probably has red lips and white teeth, with the lips being darker in color.
There was no inscription on the tombstone, not even a name or anything, only a string of times, probably the time of death or birth of the tomb owner.
It was four o'clock in the morning, and the sky was still dark. The pale moon was particularly cold.
Suddenly a cool breeze blew, bitingly cold.
A hint of coolness seemed to brush past my earlobe, as if dew had dripped on it, making it a little cold and damp.
Song Qingqing touched her earlobe with a confused look on her face, but there was nothing there.
On the way back, Song Qingqing thought for a long time and finally took out the red envelope from her pocket to show Grandma Li.
"Grandma, why don't you take it and ask who in the village lost it?"
Unexpectedly, Granny Li just glanced at the red envelope and said with a smile: "This is the custom in the village. Whoever picks it up with destiny will own it."
"Qingqing, you are blessed."
blessed?
Before Song Qingqing had time to think about it after returning to the room, she heard Zhou Yun and others calling her outside. She was planning to take a closer look at the contents of the red envelope when she heard them say that they wanted to go to the stream between Zhaozhuang and Wencun to play. It just so happened that the weather had been extremely hot in recent days.
Seeing that no one responded after she called Song Qingqing several times, Zhou Yun thought she was not coming, so she prepared to go with everyone.
Song Qingqing was so scared that she just put the red envelope on the table and walked out.
The additional task required changing the predetermined ending of the companions. She remembered that in the plot outline, one of the companions died because of something that happened here, and after returning to school, he died in the Danming Lake on the university campus.
There's something in the stream, probably a horror story about a drowned ghost looking for a replacement.
Song Qingqing sighed. Of course, she couldn't just tell her classmates that there was a ghost in the water and that everyone should not get too close to the water.
Fortunately, it seemed that the students who came to play by the stream had no intention of going into the water. Song Qingqing sat under the shade of a tree, weaving grass rings, and did not forget to mutter to herself to remind everyone.
“Don’t swim in unfamiliar wild waters during the hot summer.”
She spoke slowly and softly, like a dumpling dipped in flour.
It made everyone laugh and cry.
Even the dark shadow that had been waiting patiently under the water began to grit its teeth.
Song Qingqing was distracted for a moment when she saw Li Wei, who was sitting by the stream and put her feet into the water to cool down, sliding down without a sound.
It slid down very quickly, leaving only the slightly swaying grass in its place.
Song Qingqing suddenly stood up and rushed over quickly.
There were a few bubbles that disappeared quickly on the surface of the water, and Li Wei's hands were stretched out before she sank.
Zhou Yun noticed Song Qingqing's panic and followed her, shouting, "Someone fell into the water, come here quickly!"
Song Qingqing tried hard to grab Li Wei's hand and could feel the sinking force coming from her body.
The force was so great that she could hardly hold on.
The instinct for survival made Li Wei's knuckles turn white. She choked on a lot of water when she opened her mouth. She cried in panic, but in a trance she saw a hand as thin as a child grasping her ankle tightly and pulling her down. The skin was a swollen deathly white.
There was a bone-chilling chill in my ankles.
The feeling of fear suddenly overwhelmed her whole body. She kept kicking her legs, trying to kick away the strange existence.
Fortunately, everyone reacted very quickly and pulled Li Wei up together. The girl lying on the ground was pale and couldn't stop choking on water.
One of the thick-skinned boys couldn't help but sigh, "Weiwei, have you gained weight? It took three or four of us to pull you up here."
Li Wei was so scared that her eyes turned red and her face turned pale. She was about to say something but choked on her saliva.
Zhou Yun was so angry that she kicked him, "What are you talking about? Everyone knows that Li Wei is a dancer."
"I'm afraid you boys are no longer capable!"
The boy who was scolded smiled foolishly. He just felt strange about it and didn't mean it seriously.
The black shadow that just flashed by, and the black handprint on Li Wei's ankle.
Song Qingqing confirmed that she was definitely not mistaken.
Unexpectedly, something went wrong. Song Qingqing pursed her lips, hugged Li Wei and patted her back soothingly. She was still shaking.
It seems that I have to keep an eye on Li Wei after returning to school, otherwise she might really drown in Danming Lake like the original plot.
I don’t know if I can ask the young Taoist priest Lin Hanchuan to help Li Wei. Otherwise, if the handprint of this water ghost is not expelled, there will probably still be risks.
After all this trouble, no one was in the mood to play anymore. Plus, it was almost noon and the sun was scorching, so they just went back.
At night, Li Wei, who was frightened during the day, did not dare to sleep alone. She asked Song Qingqing in a trembling voice: "Qingqing, can I sleep with you tonight? I'm scared..."
Li Wei has always been a quiet person. Some people in the club had joked before that she never talked to anyone, but now she took the initiative to ask Song Qingqing for help, which showed that she was really scared.
Moreover, Li Wei also knew that even if she said there was a water ghost, everyone had grown up with a scientific education, so how could they believe her?
Song Qingqing noticed Li Wei's pale face, looked at her with her soft, moist almond-shaped eyes, raised her hand and touched her forehead, "Of course, have you had the ginger tea?"
Li Wei responded softly and lay down quietly on the inside of the bed.
Song Qingqing couldn't sleep yet, so she took out the red envelope and looked at it again. She stared at the date and year, feeling as if she had overlooked something.
A flash of inspiration came to his brain, which had a very long reflex arc.
Song Qingqing suddenly thought of the tomb where she accompanied Grandma Li to burn paper in the early morning.
She tried hard to recall whether it was the birthday or death anniversary on the tombstone, and suddenly realized that the two strings of numbers were exactly the same.
The girl felt a chill creep up her slender back, her fingertips trembled slightly, and she almost couldn't hold the red envelope.
Seeing that the girl had been sitting on the edge of the bed for a long time without moving, Li Wei also sat up and saw the red envelope in her hand at a glance.
The girl's fingers are white and slender, and the bright red envelope is hard not to notice.
"Qingqing! Where did you pick this up?!"
Li Wei reached out and grabbed the red envelope and threw it on the ground. If the window hadn't been closed, she would have thrown it directly out of the window.
Song Qingqing didn't dare to pick it up and turned to look at Li Wei.
"Is there anything wrong with this red envelope? I asked Grandma Li, and she said it's a local custom and a blessing."
The girl's voice was soft, but a little uneasy.
Li Wei couldn't help but hug her head, unwilling to recall the past. Her hometown was Xiangyun Ancient Town, so she naturally knew what the red envelope meant, and also understood what she encountered during the day. However, she moved away with her parents when she was very young, so she hypnotized herself into forgetting these things.
Only then did Li Wei realize that coming to Xiangyun Ancient Town might have been a mistake from the beginning.
Grandma Li is not the landlord of the B&B in Zhaozhuang at all. The old woman is clearly a matchmaker.
Li Wei stared at the red spot on the ground for a long time, then came to her senses and looked at Song Qingqing.
She was wearing a beige long dress, with her long black hair draped over her shoulders. She looked weak, harmless, clean and beautiful.
She didn't even know what this custom was, yet she was forced to get married by that damn matchmaker. If she told anyone about it, it would probably scare her to tears.
"Weiwei?"
Song Qingqing felt a little nervous as she was staring at her, so she reached out and gently tugged at her sleeve.
It's so soft that it makes people feel sad.
Li Wei suddenly grabbed Song Qingqing's wrist and pushed her inside, saying, "You sleep inside tonight."
"Go to sleep."
Song Qingqing was startled by her sudden and huge reaction. She lay on the inside, looking at the back of Li Wei's head with a blank look.
Seeing that Li Wei didn't want to communicate, I didn't ask any more questions.
Late at night, in a dark room, a young man slowly appeared beside the bed. He lowered his head, staring at the person on the bed with his empty, dark eyes, and his wet hair kept dripping.
Just when the young man was about to reach out, the bedside twisted for a moment, and a figure in a red wedding dress sat quietly.
It raised its slender, pale hand toward the young man, who was covered in water.
The red veil covered its face so that the boy could not see its expression, but he instinctively began to tremble in fear and suddenly disappeared on the spot.
There was still an unpleasant, damp, earthy smell in the house.
The tall bride stood up and lowered her head as if looking at Song Qingqing who had fallen asleep outside at some point.
The girl was sleeping very well, with her long, curled eyelashes closed, her skin as delicate and white as porcelain, and the red ribbon still wrapped around her wrist.
It seemed to laugh.
However, when it saw the red color on the ground, the air around it seemed to become colder for a moment.
His bony fingers moved slightly, and the red envelope that was originally thrown in the corner flew out of the window like garbage.
The gongs and drums I heard last night are even louder and louder tonight.
The noise kept Song Qingqing awake and she woke up again.
This time she had just woken up when she was dragged forward by several women whose faces she could not see.
The sounds around were extremely sharp and long, making it difficult to hear what these people were saying, and the sounds were so irritating that they hurt the eardrums.
Before Song Qingqing could react to what was happening, she was pushed into a courtyard.
The door not far away seemed to be waiting for her to open it, and the warm yellow light of the candle shone through the window paper.
Someone is waiting for her.
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