Zhao Zhaodi suddenly opened her eyelids, her cloudy eyes filled with bloodshot veins, and gripped Zhao Jiadi's wrist tightly.
"Old Zhao, I'm scared... It's him! It's my deceased husband's vengeful spirit coming back for revenge!"
Her voice trembled, choked with sobs: "He must have found out about us, found out Shikai's identity... Otherwise, how could so many things just vanish into thin air? No human could do that! It's a ghost... It must be a ghost!"
As she spoke, she shrank deeper into the covers, her shoulders trembling like leaves falling in the autumn wind.
These past few days in the hospital, it's less about being sick and more about being terrified—
The police searched the house thoroughly, even looking into the cracks in the walls, but they couldn't find a single clue.
She couldn't think of any other explanation besides ghosts haunting her.
Thinking back on my life more carefully, the man I feel most sorry for is my deceased husband.
Perhaps Zhao Shikai asked Old Li to perform a ritual, but instead of taking away Ye Nian'an's children's luck, he summoned back her deceased husband's soul.
The spirit of another person came to the house and discovered the secret between Zhao Zhaodi and Zhao Jiadi. That's why he was so angry and used this method to scare himself.
A cold sweat broke out on Zhao Jiadi's back.
It would be a lie to say I wasn't afraid; they moved everything out of the house so thoroughly.
It's something that no human being could possibly do.
What if it really is the master's ghost returning for revenge...
There's no point in just emptying their belongings to scare them.
Ghosts are so powerful, you could just kill them directly, right?
But now Zhao Jiadi has to hold on. If he becomes afraid like Zhao Zhaodi, then Zhao Zhaodi will be even more desperate.
If this continues, even healthy people will be scared to death!
"Don't talk nonsense, there are no ghosts..."
"Of course there is!"
Zhao Zhaodi suddenly raised her voice: "He must hate me! He must hate me for letting him down!"
QQ—
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Comrade Zhao Zhaodi, someone is looking for you."
As if pricked by a needle, Zhao Zhaodi suddenly shrank into the quilt, covering her head completely, and said in a muffled voice, "I won't see anyone! I won't see anyone!"
Ever since the news of the Zhao family being emptied out spread, her children came to her door and, knowing that she had secretly pleaded with Ye Nian'an for mercy, they berated her mercilessly.
After that argument, the children never came to see her again; their hearts were broken.
Originally, I went to the hospital just to pressure them, to make them sympathize with this old woman and forgive me.
This time, they seemed determined, but the emotional wounds they inflicted, coupled with the lingering effects of being frightened, made things even worse.
"Comrade Nurse,"
Zhao Jiadi forced a stiff smile, the wrinkles around his eyes crinkling into a deep knot: "The old lady just recovered from her fever these past two days and hasn't quite regained her strength yet, so she's probably not in a good position to see the young masters of the Zhao family... Could you please go back for her?"
He rubbed his hands, which were numb with cold, fearing that the Zhao family's children would come to make trouble again.
"It's not a member of the Zhao family. It's a comrade named Shi Fangfang. She said she has something very important to ask you."
"Shi Fangfang?"
Zhao Jiadi was taken aback, his brows furrowing into a knot: "This name sounds very unfamiliar, we... don't know it."
He turned to look at the hospital bed, his eyes full of confusion.
Zhao Zhaodi then peeked out from under the quilt, her gray hair sticking to her sweaty forehead like a tangled clump of cotton.
Upon hearing that it wasn't her children, her tense shoulders subtly relaxed, her Adam's apple bobbed twice, and her chapped lips moved slightly: "Old...Old Zhao, let her in."
Zhao Jiadi was still hesitating: "Madam, this is of unknown origin..."
"Let's meet."
Zhao Zhaodi suddenly raised her voice slightly, a faint glint in her eyes: "Maybe...maybe she knows about the house?"
As long as we can prove it's not the vengeful spirit of her deceased husband, as long as we can find some clues about the thief, as long as we can retrieve the diary that holds the secret...
Even if there's only a one in ten thousand chance, she can't let it go.
Zhao Jiadi sighed and finally agreed.
Shi Fangfang walked in, her body shivering with cold. Her cotton shoes left several wet footprints on the terrazzo floor.
Her eyes darted around the ward quickly before finally settling on Zhao Zhaodi's bed.
"Who are you, sir? Why are you looking for my old lady?"
Zhao Jiadi crossed his arms and looked her up and down, confirming that he had never seen this person before, his tone tinged with wariness.
"I...I came here because I heard that your Zhao family's property was emptied."
Shi Fangfang took off her scarf, revealing a sallow face with two red patches on her cheekbones from the cold wind, and her eyes moved slightly.
"Your house... was really emptied out of thin air? The police couldn't find any clues?"
"Do you know something?!"
Zhao Zhaodi suddenly sat up in bed, her cloudy eyes flashing with an astonishing light, like a drowning person grabbing onto a piece of driftwood: "Tell me! Have you seen that thief?"
Shi Fangfang was startled by her agitation and shrank back: "If you say I know who did it, then I really don't know. But my house... my house was also emptied like this before!"
"My name is Shi Fangfang, and I'm Zhang Weimin's wife. Do you remember the Zhang family that caused such a big scene a few years ago and had their house emptied?"
"The Zhang family?"
After hearing this, Zhao Zhaodi and Zhao Jiadi both suddenly realized what was going on.
When Captain Jiang came to take my statement, he mentioned that there was a case a few years ago that was similar to the Zhao family's situation.
At that moment, all I was anxious about was getting the police to find clues and retrieve the diary as quickly as possible.
After the Zhao family's children made such a fuss, I almost forgot about it.
Shi Fangfang's proactive appearance and reminder made them realize that this incident had happened.
"Comrade Shi Fangfang, we know, we know!"
Zhao Zhaodi's voice trembled, and her withered hand reached out from under the covers, trying to grab Shi Fangfang's arm.
"So you came all this way specifically because you have any clues you can provide? Like, what did the thief look like? Did he leave anything behind?"
Shi Fangfang shook her head, her eyes dimming: "I wanted to ask you something too. So many years have passed since my family's incident, and the police still haven't found any clues. No one was home when the theft happened..."
At this point, her eyes reddened.
Only she knows how difficult life is for the Zhang family right now.
Back then, a lot of things were stolen from our house, which almost cost us our lives.
Zhang Weimin is also blindly filial, using his salary to support his paralyzed father and his petty mother.
Shi Fangfang was a temporary worker at the factory, and her wages were not high. She had to keep some money for herself in case of emergencies, and also send it to her family to help her younger brother save for his future wife.
So the combined wages of the two of them weren't enough to feed a family of four. The two children were at the age when they were growing up, and they couldn't even afford a steamed bun.
If we could recover the things that were stolen back then, even just a quilt or an iron pot, it would be enough to solve our immediate problem.
That damn thing, it's a real thief! It practically emptied their entire house!
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