"Would there be marks left behind if one is entangled with a ghost?" I asked, looking at my own hand in a strange way.
"How would I know? Besides, haven't you already spent the night with a ghost? In any case, you're experienced." Fatty said a few words and then stopped, and I glared at him, looking at the marks on my arm.
Indeed, Daba's divination had come true. There was no good fortune on this journey back. But with Shanghai nearly in sight, I felt a bit more settled.
At noon, the train reached the station, and everyone bid farewell.
After returning to Shanghai, everything has been peaceful. I haven't had any more dreams at night, perhaps the ghost that was bothering me has already left. My family was busy trying to find a job for me, but I was not in a hurry at all. I spent every day hiding at home, reading the book "Mountain Wilderness Tales". The many stories of monsters and creatures in the book fascinated me more and more, and I always felt like they existed in another world.
After about half a month, it was raining lightly one day when my friend, a chubby man, came to my house with an umbrella. He exchanged pleasantries with my parents after entering the house and then went into my room.
"You've been missing for half a month, I thought you had gone to the border again," he said.
I smiled and replied, but I could see that he seemed troubled. I stopped joking and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Do you have any money there? Can you lend me some?" he muttered. He was a person with a lot of face and his family was well off, so I never expected him to ask me for money. The fact that he was asking me for money seemed serious.
"I haven't started working yet, and I don't have much money. If you urgently need it, I can ask my parents for some. How much do you need?" I asked.
"About five or six hundred thousand," he muttered again. This almost scared me. When I was young, my monthly salary was only a few tens of yuan, and there were not many millionaires in China! The fact that he was asking me for five or six hundred thousand, an amount that my parents couldn't even produce even if they were willing, was shocking.
"What do you need so much money for? Are you gambling or fooling around with women?" I asked in surprise.
"Damn, am I that unreliable?" he suddenly became agitated. I knew he was a very honest person, I was just deliberately trying to get him to tell the truth.
"It's my uncle," he shook his head, "He owes a lot of money for a shipment to the Soviet Union, and now the Russians are chasing him for the debt. The family is trying to help him, but we still lack five or six hundred thousand. The Russians said that if he doesn't pay this money, not only will he not be able to do business in the future, but they will also send people to get him."
In my eyes, his uncle had always been a wealthy man, mainly because he had set up a railway line from Northeast China to the Soviet Union earlier, specializing in trade on both sides. However, fortunes could change, and this time his uncle, wanting to take a big risk, took a big order and suffered a big loss.
"Never mind, I also know you don't have any money. I'll think of another way..." he shook his head and was about to leave when I suddenly remembered something and called out, "Wait."
He was taken aback, and I, holding "Mountain Wilderness Tales," pondered for a moment before saying, "Do you still remember Li Dunzhu?"
"The dwarf?" he asked in confusion.
"I have his phone number here. He's involved in special work, perhaps he can help us get some money. It may be a stretch to get five or six hundred thousand, but even if we can get a few thousand, it would be good."
My explanation was not very clear, and my friend also only half understood.
"Do you remember the ancient temple we visited when we were kids?" I said in a low voice, worried that my parents might hear. Chubby was taken aback, then said, "You mean the one near Li Jiadu? Why do you mention that ancient temple?"
"Li Dunzhu appears to be someone dealing with things related to ghosts and monsters. The ancient temple near Li Jiadu has always been empty and doesn't look clean inside. If we can get something from inside and sell it to Li Dunzhu, we should be able to make some money, shouldn't we?"
I explained things clearly, but Chubby frowned and then shook his head like a drum, saying in a low voice, "No, no! Neither of us has the ability that Dapa has. If it’s really not clean inside, what should we do? Don't put ourselves in danger."
"Hey, are you backing down now? Lately, I've been reading this book called 'Mountain and Wilderness Ghost Stories', it talks about a lot of supernatural phenomena. I don't think we're in such a dire situation. Even if we really encounter ghosts and monsters, I'll go first. What's there to be afraid of? Otherwise, should you just watch your dear uncle die at the hands of the 'Red-Haired Devils'?"
I goaded him for a few moments, and the fat guy, who was close with his uncle since he was young, lowered his head for a long time before finally saying, "How about this, tomorrow morning I'll go with you to the ancient temple to see what's going on. If it's too eerie, we'll forget about it."
They agreed on the time and the fat guy went back home.
Actually, at that time, I also had a hidden motive. At the very least, it was a temple, and where there's a temple, there's the protection of the Buddha. Could it be possible for me to die in a temple? Furthermore, after reading so many peculiar and bizarre creatures in the 'Mountain and Wilderness Ghost Stories', I was itching to verify them. There aren't many supernatural places in Shanghai, and the ancient temple was one of the few options I knew of.
The next day at noon, when the sunshine was at its best, we met at Li Jiadu. The two of us brought along some pieces of red cloth, and the fat guy even put on his grandfather's Buddhist prayer beads.
"I called Li Dunzhu yesterday. Brother Zhu said as long as the stuff is good, it can go for a good price. He even said that if the stuff is top-notch, it could sell for tens of thousands."
I made up the latter part, but when the fat guy heard it, he was suddenly full of energy.
"Let's go, let's go check it out first."
Li Jiadu is the name of a village in rural Shanghai. There's a small river next to the village called Li River, and most people in the village have the surname Li. It's not far from the elementary school where we studied. After school, a group of kids often came here to swim and catch fish. Later, the fat guy moved to the city, and I moved into a public housing, so we lost these opportunities.
The old temple is in the middle of the farmland next to the Li River. It looks desolate, and it's unknown when it was built. It looks very dilapidated. One of the two lions at the entrance has already been half broken. But the sign is still there, it's called Xuanming Temple.
The two of us walked to the front of the Xuanming Temple. It was surrounded by farmland, and when I stood at the entrance and looked inside through the crack in the wooden door, the temple was empty, with not a soul in sight. The entire temple was not big, square-shaped, and you could see a Buddhist statue in the middle of the main hall.
At that time, I couldn't distinguish between bodhisattvas, buddhas, and other deity statues, so I just said, "No one's there!"
"Then let's go in."
The fat guy stood behind me, and with a push, he opened the wooden door. I didn't stand firm and stumbled into the temple. I tried to stand up but somehow didn't know what was happening. My mind went blank, and my body felt dizzy. It felt like heatstroke. I shouted, "Fat guy, I can't stand!"
The fat guy quickly came to support me. I tried to take a step forward, but my legs were weak, like I had no bones. I kept shaking my head and saying, "No, fat guy, help me out."
After we got out of Xuanming Temple and sat under a big tree, I gradually recovered. Actually, it wasn't very hot out, it was just the beginning of spring. I crouched on the ground, and the fat guy gave me a cigarette. While smoking, I said, "Damn, there's definitely something wrong with that temple. As soon as I entered, my legs went weak, and my body shook."
"Maybe there's something unclean inside..."
The fat guy said anxiously.
After thinking for a moment, I replied, "Not necessarily. If there really were unclean things inside, then why are you okay? Or maybe your yang energy is stronger than mine? I think it's possible that the Buddha inside isn't too pleased..."
"What do we do then?"
Even if the fat guy was anxious for money, it was impossible for him to offend the Buddha. I finished smoking and couldn't think of an explanation. I turned back and said, "Forget it. Let's go back first. I'll ask Brother Zhu if he has any solutions."
The first attempt failed. I returned home that day and, back then, the internet wasn't developed. There were knowledgeable people out in society, but I wasn't able to meet them. I asked Brother Zhu, but he couldn't come up with any answers either.
I went to bed full of doubts. But in the middle of the night, something strange happened!
It had been so long since I came back from the train, I thought the matter of encountering the ghosts had passed. But on that night, as I slept peacefully, I suddenly heard disorganized laughter. It sounded like two voices—one deep and hoarse, the other sharp and piercing. I half-awoke and looked over, only to be fully startled!
Right in front of me, two heads were floating in the air. It was the two ghosts I encountered on the train—a horrifying old woman and that eerie child!