Although I didn't suffer any lingering effects, I almost got expelled from school for breaking the rules. Fortunately, my grandpa's connections saved my enrollment.
Later, I asked my grandpa why only I and Li Mao heard the crying that night, and others didn't. Grandpa said that I naturally had a heavy Yin energy, and that the girl who committed suicide did indeed appear. It just happened that Li Mao was going through a rough patch at that time, so it wasn't a coincidence that he saw and heard it too.
After resting at home for over half a month, once I recovered, I returned to school. However, the gentle-looking security guard from before had been replaced by someone else.
At first, I didn't pay much attention, but later I heard students discussing that on the night I fainted, that security guard had hanged himself inside the school premises. Although the school kept the matter under tight wraps, some rumors did leak out.
It was said that the security guard used to be a renowned teacher at the school and had impregnated the girl. Feeling guilty, he stayed at the school, and on the night of the suicide, he too had heard the girl's crying. Unable to bear the torment, he committed suicide by hanging himself.
That was the end of the matter, and even after graduation, I browsed the school's online forum and never came across anything similar.
After getting into university, just before leaving, my grandpa hung a black jade pendant around my neck, saying it would keep me safe. It seemed to work, as during my four years in university, I never encountered anything strange.
After graduating, perhaps it was as the fortune teller said, I had an average life and struggled in every job interview. Some people would ask, with so many job opportunities, why would someone with such an unlucky name choose to work in the wedding industry?
In truth, I had a heavy Yin energy, and only festive work could dilute it, so being a wedding emcee was the best option.
With this understanding, I went for interviews at five different companies, but never heard back from any of them. Not wanting to continue blindly, I put my resume online, and the next day, a wedding planning company called for an interview.
The company was quite small, and I only met the boss once during the interview. He was short, with a slight build and a Cantonese accent. After a few simple questions, he asked me to start working the next day.
I only had one colleague, a woman who also worked as a makeup artist and part-time photographer, named Du Xiaolan. Although her name was ordinary, even a little plain, she was very beautiful and had a good figure. Her makeup skills were top-notch, and I heard she didn't have a boyfriend.
Sometimes joking with her, I would ask why she didn't find a man since she loved doing makeup for men so much. I would say she could even do makeup at night naked.
Du Xiaolan punched me and said, "I thought you were the last good man in the world, but even you have become so despicable."
I was about to retort when the glass door suddenly pushed open, and a man who was almost my age walked in.
Seeing the man, I was puzzled. It was already July, with the heat outside, but he seemed unaffected, wearing a smoke gray long-sleeved sweatshirt and pants.
Puzzled as I was, due to professional reasons, I gave Du Xiaolan a signal to stop teasing me and got up to approach the man.
Du Xiaolan and I had an agreement. I handled the female customers, and she handled the male ones, as women were more convincing with male clients.
The man spoke very strangely, with a constant tone, as if he had just learned to speak. However, the deal was finalized in less than half an hour, a full package for a fee of nine thousand eight hundred.
After signing the contract and paying the advance, the man left, instructing us to come in the afternoon.
I had no objections to this. As we had free time, after loading the equipment into the car, I took out the contract from the front desk and began to read it.
The man's name was Liu Jiguang, and he lived in Sanhe Village, Pingxing Township, Ningshan County. I had never been to this place, so I asked Du Xiaolan to open the computer and look up the route on Baidu Maps.
After she finished cleaning off the makeup from me, as soon as I walked out of the bathroom, Du Xiaolan turned to me and said, "Mingyang, come and take a look."
I walked over and leaned on the chair. Du Xiaolan pointed to a piece of news. The date on it was three days ago, and it reported an accident involving a bus on its way to Pingxing Township.
The bus, which should have seated forty-five people, was carrying over sixty people. The bus lost control when overtaking, flipping into a gully, resulting in the deaths of over sixty passengers.
I didn't look closely at the pictures, as they were too bloody, and asked Du Xiaolan to close the webpage. However, just as she was about to close the webpage, I saw a picture of a body wearing a smoke gray long-sleeved sweatshirt lying on the ground.
Du Xiaolan also noticed, and her face went pale as she turned to me and asked, "Mingyang, does the clothing on this body look the same as the one that man was wearing earlier?"
I frowned and took a closer look. The clothes did look exactly the same, but because the body was face down, I couldn't see the front.
Seeing her extremely uneasy, I smiled and reassured her, "Don't be so suspicious. You can buy this kind of clothing anywhere. Don't scare yourself for no reason."
Du Xiaolan forced a bitter smile and said, "I know, but the way that man spoke was too strange. I just felt a little creepy."
"Maybe he had just recently cured his stutter," I interrupted her and continued, "Even if he really did die, we still have to go there and do our job properly. We've taken his money, so there's no excuse not to do the work."
Du Xiaolan didn't say anything more. At my urging, she packed up the makeup kit and took a few bridal gowns before closing the door and getting into the car with me.
After leaving Xi'an, Du Xiaolan let go of the shadow of that news, enjoying the passing scenery while talking non-stop.
There were no signs of any accidents left on the highway. However, the terrain in this area was indeed treacherous, with mountains on one side and deep gullies on the other. A slight mishap could result in hitting a mountain or falling into the ravine.
After driving for over three hours, we finally reached the area of Pingxing Township. When we entered the first village, we saw dozens of people in mourning clothes kneeling in front of a mourning hall.