Like many farmers, the man was thin and dark. However, his eyes were bloodshot, the sockets sunken, and he had prominent dark circles. His body trembled, as if he could collapse at any moment.
As soon as I saw the man, I was startled. That kind of appearance truly scared me. But I quickly regained composure and respectfully asked, "Is this Liu Jiguan's house?"
The man managed a weak smile and said, "Are you guys from the wedding company? Come inside. My son hasn't returned yet. He told me to settle you in."
The man finished speaking and turned and walked back into the room without another word. Since the real master was not there, I didn't want to make any presumptions about the arrangement. So, I didn't unload any equipment, closed the car door, and followed Du Xiaolan inside.
Liu Jiguan's house was spacious, with two floors in front, two side rooms in the courtyard, a rectangular garden across from the side rooms, and a small room in the backyard with an iron lock on the outside. It should be a grain warehouse or something similar.
As we hesitated, the man came out of the room, arranged our lodging, and then went back into the room without saying a word.
The two side rooms were quite clean, with new bedding and the like. There was even a tall clothes rack by the heated brick bed.
After driving for a long time and just as I was preparing to rest on the heated brick bed, Du Xiaolan came over, kicked me and said, "Mingyang, it's still early. Come out with me for a while."
"I'm not going." I yawned and lay on the heated brick bed.
According to Du Xiaolan's usual habits, she would definitely disturb me and keep me from falling asleep. Surprisingly, today, this girl was quite docile. There was no sound after she left the room.
I didn't know whether she had changed her ways or what was going on and I didn't dwell on it. I quickly drifted off to sleep.
Vaguely, I heard a faint sound of footsteps wandering in the room. I wanted to open my eyes, but my eyelids seemed to be stuck tightly like they were glued and I couldn't open them at all.
The footsteps were very strange, as if someone was looking for something in the room. After wandering for a long time, the sound finally stopped, and a long sigh reached my ears, followed by the sound of something falling to the ground.
I still couldn't open my eyes no matter how hard I tried, and there was no way to move my body. It felt as if an invisible person was holding me tightly to the heated brick bed.
"Sleep paralysis!" This thought flashed through my mind.
I was already surrounded by Yin energy, and had even seen ghosts, let alone experienced sleep paralysis many times. At this moment, I didn't panic. Every time I encountered this situation, I would silently say "Amitabha" and everything would be fine. But this time, before I could finish, I heard a commotion in the room.
There were a man and a woman talking, but even though they were right by my ear, I couldn't make out what they were saying. I could only hear the woman's sobbing and the man's helpless sighs. Soon, the argument disappeared, followed by a chilling laugh. I shuddered and trembled, and suddenly realized that I could move my arm.
I quickly sat up on the heated brick bed, opened my eyes and squinted due to the glaring light. When I adjusted, I saw a woman in her fifties crouching in the corner of the room.
The woman had a very pale complexion, and her bloodshot eyes appeared extremely red. She crouched in place, staring at me without blinking.
I was stunned, I swallowed hard. I hadn't turned on the light before going to bed, and the room was locked, but the light was now on, and there was this incredibly eerie woman in the room, which made me feel afraid.
The woman stared at me for a long time, then suddenly smiled at me and pointed upwards with her hand. I instinctively looked in the direction she was pointing, and saw a coiled hemp rope tied to the beam directly above my head.
Before I could figure out what was going on, the woman suddenly opened her mouth, and a nearly foot-long crimson tongue emerged.
"A ghost!" My brain almost exploded. Since the supernatural event in high school, I hadn't encountered anything like this since, thanks to my grandfather's jade pendant. I hadn't expected to encounter a female ghost here.
Fear engulfed me instantly, and I wanted to speak but found that I could only make "uhh" sounds, unable to produce a normal tone.
I tried to stand up and rush out of the room, but as soon as I stood up, the hemp rope suddenly looped around my neck, lifting me off the ground.
Three feet off the ground, I felt extremely short of breath. I tightly held onto the rope trying to escape, but the more I struggled, the tighter the rope around my neck became, and I couldn't make a sound.
In the midst of my hazy consciousness, I saw that the female ghost suddenly stood up and started walking quickly towards me.
The more frightened I was, the more surprisingly clear-headed I became. Every pore on the ghost's pale face was vividly visible to me, and that tongue hanging from her chin was still slightly moving.
Despite knowing that I was about to suffocate to death, I was still extremely terrified. I struggled violently, and my feet seemed to hit something. After a loud clang, the door suddenly burst open with great force. The female ghost, who was so close, suddenly disappeared, the room went dark, and Du Xiaolan quickly entered.
Almost at the instant the female ghost disappeared, the hemp rope binding my neck vanished into thin air. Before I could catch my breath, Du Xiaolan looked at me in confusion and asked, "Mingyang, are you okay?"
"There's a ghost, there's a ghost here!" I blurted out, looking at her in panic. Anyone would react the same way in such a situation.
I thought Du Xiaolan would be pale, but the look in her eyes as she stared at me was more disdainful. "Do you have a sleepwalking problem? Where's the female ghost in the room? I came in and saw you with your hands holding your own neck. Look, even the hanger has been knocked over!"
I was startled, and it took several seconds for me to react. I realized that my hands were indeed around my neck, but I was not hanging in the air. I was standing solidly on the ground, and the one-meter high clothes rack had indeed fallen to the ground.
"What just happened?" I quickly let go of my hands, anxiously rubbing them back and forth.
"How would I know!" Du Xiaolan gave me a white eye and urged, "Hurry up, Liu Jiguang has already come back!"
I responded and picked up my phone to glance at it. It had only been a little over ten minutes since I laid down on the heated brick bed.
I didn't dare to linger in this room any longer and quickly followed Du Xiaolan upstairs. Liu Jiguang was still wearing the grey long-sleeved sweatshirt and motioned for me to sit down.
This should be the bridal chamber, the room was decorated very festively, with a fifty-inch wedding photo hanging above the head of the bed. After putting on makeup, the bride looked very beautiful. Upon closer inspection, I suddenly felt a sense of familiarity as if I had seen her somewhere before.