The Haunted Chapter 132 Ghost

Chapter 131◀︎Table Of Contents▶︎Chapter 133

Chapter 132 Ghost

🌺Translated by Nessie 🌺

 

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Read this translated novel at www.theredoaktree.com

 

If they were to use the train tickets and take the train ride, the journey would take them about 20 hours to arrive at Gui Province. Ye Yingzhi decisively told Chi Yan to forget about the two tickets and bought air tickets for themselves instead.

 

On the day of departure, when Chi Yan turned on his phone after the plane landed, he received very unfortunate news. The two masters whom he had invited had received a series of bad omens before departure and decided to decline the business and paid him compensation. 

 

By then, it was too late to invite others. Even if he were to ask other masters again, they might not be willing to take up the job after knowing what happened to these two masters. Chi Yan bit his lower lip. He got more and more anxious as if there were some unknown forces pushing or even forcing him and Ye Yingzhi to embark on this journey. It was obvious that there was also an invisible force preventing others from going with them.

 

He hesitated and looked at Ye Yingzhi, “Yingzhi, why don’t we just go back?”

 

Ye Yingzhi hugged him and walked out of the airport, “We are already here, we should at least play around before heading back, right?”

 

He pointed to the big bag behind him, “Moreover, it doesn’t matter if those two people come or not, we still have so many things. We don’t really know them and they may not be able to protect us during critical times. Who knows, in order to protect themselves, they might just harm others, so it’s okay if they don’t come.”

 

Chi Yan thought for a while and felt that what Ye Yingzhi said made sense.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

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Chi Yan accompanied Ye Yingzhi to the scenic spots that he had visited in the past before returning to the provincial capital. During this period, he was persuaded by Ye Yingzhi and decided to go to Hongtu Village to take a look. Going to Hongtu Village did not mean they had to enter the mountain. After all, there were many villagers in Hongtu Village so there should be no problems. Perhaps they might even find some clues. As long as they don’t enter the mountains, there should be no problem.

 

Just like the old woman who was called a “crazy woman” by the villagers, Chi Yan felt that she knew some information that others didn’t know. And there might be more than one person like her in the village. They might be able to get more information from those other people like her.

 

The first house in the village was having a funeral.

 

There was a simple funeral wake in the small and dilapidated house, with some seasonal fruits being offered to the deceased at the altar. Occasionally, some villagers stopped and stood at the door to take a look.

 

In Chi Yan’s impression, this was the old woman’s residence, because it happened to be the first house right at the entrance of the village. And the house was more dilapidated than the other villagers’, so the impression was particularly deep. He stopped a middle-aged woman who seemed friendly and asked, “Madam, may I ask whose funeral wake is this? I remember there was an old lady who lived in this house. How has she been lately?”

 

“It’s her house,” the woman nodded, “she passed away two days ago.”

 

She had a good impression of Chi Yan as his appearance was clean and beautiful. Since she had time to spare and saw that Chi Yan was interested in finding out what happened, she led him aside and told him all the relevant information she knew.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

It turned out that the old woman’s husband had died many years ago and the couple had no children, so she was alone for many years. The only relatives she had were her husband’s younger brother and his family. But the younger brother and sister-in-law didn’t interact with her very much, and they didn’t care about her. After her death, her nephew gave her a simple funeral. The villagers gossiped that the nephew was willing to do this for her as he coveted the dilapidated house and the two plots of land under her name.

 

Chi Yan sighed when he heard this. He told the woman that he had been to Hongtu Village for holiday before and that the old woman had helped him. He came here again and wanted to visit her, but he didn’t expect that she had already passed away.

 

The people in the village might still have some impressions of what happened that year. At that time, Chi Yan had just graduated from high school and he was in his teens and looked like a big child who had not left home before. But now that he has worked for many years, his appearance was very different compared to that time. Even if some villagers felt that he looked familiar, they wouldn’t be able to recognize him.

 

Since he had already reached the door of the house, Chi Yan asked Ye Yingzhi to wait for him outside. He planned to go in alone to pay respect to the old woman. The villagers were very particular about red and white affairs (‘red’ refers to weddings; ‘white’ refers to funerals). Ye Yingzhi and the old woman had no dealings in the past before, so out of courtesy, he should not enter if he was not led in by the nephew.

 

Unexpectedly, two people were already standing in the mourning hall at this time. One was an old man in his sixties, wearing a cool, breathable and soft black Tang-style suit; the other looked like the old man’s assistant, wearing a black suit. The assistant stood respectfully behind him. Both of them were well-dressed and looked decent, and seemed out of place in this laid-back village, but the old man didn’t realize it. He calmly paid homage to the dead with deep sorrow on his face. They didn’t pay much attention to Chi Yan’s arrival.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

Chi Yan didn’t know who these two people were and their relationships with the old woman, so he did not speak with them. He only bowed before the altar by himself and thanked the old woman silently for telling him about the “ghost” that year.

 

T/N: the Chinese characters used for “ghost” is “伥鬼” chāng  guǐ. A human who was devoured by a tiger became an evil ghost. Thereafter, this evil ghost helped the tiger trick and led others to be devoured by it.

 

After paying his respects, he turned around and was about to leave when he saw a young man standing three steps behind him. The young man was wearing an old-fashioned black sweater, a pair of ordinary jeans, a dark blue cap and a knapsack on his back, looking like a student.

 

Seeing him turn around, the young man took the initiative to ask him, “Do you want to go into the mountain?” His voice was a little hoarse, as if he didn’t talk often, and it sounded bad. Chi Yan frowned, he felt that this voice was familiar.

 

In fact, this young man looked familiar to him.

 

Chi Yan first thought of why he felt that voice was familiar. He remembered that Liu Shun’s voice was also rough and hoarse and it sounded like sandpaper. Wang Sheng felt that his voice was not right at the time, and asked if there was any problem with him. Liu Shun explained that his throat was injured before when he was a child.

 

The memories of that year came back in an instant, and Chi Yan suddenly remembered where he had seen this young man – this dressing was exactly the same as Cheng Tao’s back then.

 

Chi Yan was stunned. That name was stuck in his throat and he couldn’t speak it. He felt cold all over. He tried to see the young man’s face clearly, but he felt as if a layer of mist was covering the other’s face, making him not able to see the other’s appearance and to subconsciously ignore it.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

It was the same back then. After he was being rescued, someone asked him about Liu Shun’s appearance. He tried to remember, but realised that he couldn’t recall or had even noticed Liu Shun’s appearance before.

 

At this time, the young man who dressed like Cheng Tao asked again, “Do you want to go into the mountain? The mountain scenery is very beautiful.”

 

As if in a trance, Chi Yan didn’t wait for the other party to say anything else and answered, “Yes.”

 

The other party nodded, “Tomorrow morning, I will wait for you where you live.”

 

That thing quickly disappeared from sight. Chi Yan felt as if all his energy had left his body and the cold sweat from his spine almost soaked the entire back of his shirt.

 

The old man turned around, looked at Chi Yan and said, “You shouldn’t have promised it just now. If I read it right, that thing is not a human being, but a ghost.”

 

Chi Yan looked at the old man with pain and regret on his face. He cupped his forehead and replied, “I know, but I couldn’t refuse just now…I’ve been here before, and my companions were killed while only I survived. That ghost looked like a friend of mine who was killed in the past. So just now I was like being possessed, I couldn’t help but agree.”

 

Judging from the fact that the old man was able to see the identity of that thing at a glance, and seemed to have a close relationship with the old woman, Chi Yan thought that he should also know some things in this aspect. He could perhaps help him resolve his current predicament. So Chi Yan took this opportunity to tell the old man about his problems.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

Chi Yan was incoherent when he recounted the past, but the old man was very patient with him, “It’s okay, young man, you can speak slowly. Or why not tell me first, what is the relationship between you and Xiuyun? You don’t look like someone from this village, why are you here to pay her respect?”

 

Chi Yan didn’t know who “Xiuyun” was, but he guessed it should be the name of the old woman. He didn’t hide the facts or exaggerate things, he just told the old man exactly what happened in the past, the reason why he came back here, and what the old woman had told him.

 

After hearing this, the old man nodded repeatedly and then took the initiative to tell Chi Yan his own story. When people grew old, they often liked to recall the past and talk about their life experiences to the younger generations. This old man was obviously not an exception.

 

It turned out that the father of this old woman, named Xiuyun was a well-known Mr. Yin Yang (typically referring to a taoist master) in his day. The old man was an orphan. Mr. Yin Yang took him in as an apprentice and raised him since he was a child. Xiuyun and him grew up together and treated each other as brother and sister.

 

Later during the political turmoil, the old man was only seventeen years old at that time. When he saw that things were taking the wrong turn, he ran away with his friends. Since Mr. Yin Yang was a representative of feudal superstition, he was severely criticized by the people around them. The couple couldn’t withstand the abuse and committed suicide. Xiuyun was only fourteen or fifteen years old when she witnessed her parents committing suicide. She was so stimulated and traumatised that she had mental problems since then.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

The old man followed his friends to the present special administrative region (T/N: Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions of China). He was very smart. He quickly became popular in the local area with the skills he learned from Mr. Yin Yang. He was not only rich but also respected. But he had always been concerned about his master’s family. After the situation improved, he began to ask someone to inquire about Mr. Yin Yang’s family. He wanted to take his master’s family to live with him, but he only got bad news about his master and his wife’s deaths. His little sister, Xiuyun had mental problems and had gone missing.

 

During the past few decades, he had not given up on searching for Xiuyun’s whereabouts. It was only recently that he got news that Xiuyun had married and lived in Hongtu Village that he quickly rushed over. But he did not get the chance to see his younger sister for the last time.

 

After listening, Chi Yan persuaded the old man not to feel sad. Unexpectedly, the old man said, “Thank you for your willingness to come and send Xiuyun for her last journey. It is also fate that I meet you. Then boy, I will accompany you to the mountain tomorrow. We will follow that ghost to find the cave. I can try to perform rites for your cousin and his friends outside the cave. This is as a thank you for coming to send Xiuyun off. Just remember, no matter what the ghost says, don’t go into the cave.”

 

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

 

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Chapter 131◀︎Table Of Contents▶︎Chapter 133