"Sorry for making you all rush like this." Liu Jiguang's voice had remained unchanged in tone. Perhaps it was related to what had just happened to me, it sounded very grating.
I was somewhat distracted, thinking about the events that had just occurred, while Du Xiaolan carefully inquired about the details of the wedding. After about half an hour, the questioning was finally complete.
Due to the uniqueness of this family, Liu Jiguang only needed us to perform a simple ceremony, omitting any wedding decorations and the like. I was happy about that since if we had to work late into the night, it wouldn't be finished.
As I watched Du Xiaolan prepare to leave, I asked Liu Jiguang on impulse as we were walking out, "Mr. Liu, when we arrived, why didn't we see any villagers?"
Liu Jiguang's laughter, which was enough to make one's heart race, rang out, "When you arrived, you must have seen. Many villages were holding funerals, and the people in our village all went to attend the funerals."
I patted my head, that's how it was with rural customs, even though neighboring villages, many people still had blood relations. Funerals were very significant events, and it wasn't uncommon for whole families to attend.
My uneasy doubts instantly disappeared, and I rose to my feet. Just as Du Xiaolan and I were leaving the room, Liu Jiguang suddenly stopped us, "Um, my mother has a bit of a mental disorder, so don't be alarmed if you hear anything at night."
He looked very helpless, and I nodded, going downstairs from the second floor. Liu Jiguang's parents' room was right at the top of the stairs, and I could see it as we went past their window.
I glanced inside and it was very dim. With an orange night light casting a glow on the wall, I faintly saw two figures sitting on the bed whispering to each other.
The voices were very low, and being in someone else's home, it wasn't appropriate to linger. It seemed like they noticed us walking past the window, and the man coughed, causing the room to become pitch black, and the light of the night light on the wall was gone.
Arriving at the door of the room with Du Xiaolan, it was almost eight o'clock, and the sky was already darkening. I hesitated at the door, the seemingly real but elusive scene from earlier had scared me a bit.
Du Xiaolan opened the door and turned to say to me, "Mingyang, go rest quickly. Look at you, your eyes are all puffy."
I was stunned and quickly reached up to touch my eyes, which were indeed slightly swollen. For a wedding host like me, my appearance was just as important as a celebrity, and I had always strictly controlled my sleep schedule. There was no reason for my eyes to be swollen.
After rubbing my eyes, I heaved a sigh and was about to wash my face with cold water when, as I was about to put down my phone, I saw a blurry figure suddenly flash past behind me.
This sight scared me so much that I almost dropped my phone, and I quickly turned my head to look behind me. There was nothing behind me, just emptiness.
"I must be too tense." I made up an excuse and tried to force myself to calm down.
"Ah!" from the adjacent room came Du Xiaolan's startled voice. Instinctively, I stood up from the heated brick bed, without even thinking, and ran straight out.
Du Xiaolan was standing at the door of the room, looking extremely terrified at something outside the main door. I turned to look, and the main door was already slightly open, letting a cold breeze whistle in through the crack.
Looking at Du Xiaolan again, I hurriedly asked, "What happened?"
"Just now someone was peeking through the window!" Du Xiaolan pointed to the door and said, "After I found out, as soon as I came out, I saw a figure running outside."
"Stay in the room and don't come out, I'll go out and take a look!" I said, then rushed outside.
Arriving at the door, apart from the lights on at the Liu Jiguang family, there was no light at all. Looking around, under the moonlight, I saw a shady figure standing by the garbage dump.
Without much thought, I quickly ran towards the figure. Perhaps feeling guilty, the figure saw me coming and ran away as if spurred by adrenaline.
As the wind whistled past my ears, the figure's speed gradually slowed down. After running into an orchard, it disappeared.
After searching the orchard for a long time, and not finding anyone, being unfamiliar with this place, I decided to let it go. If I caught the person, even if they were really spying, it would only lead to trouble for myself.
Spitting on the ground, I turned and walked along the path outside of the orchard. But as I passed by an abandoned grass shed, I heard rapid panting sounds coming from inside.
I quickly stopped and looked inside. The moonlight didn't shine into the grass shed, and it was pitch black inside, I couldn't make out anything.
Thinking of the scene I had witnessed as a child, I couldn't help but shiver.
After hesitating for a long time, I finally made up my mind, turned on my phone's flashlight and shone it inside. The shed was only about five or six square meters, covered in dust. Following the rapid panting, I saw a figure wearing all black standing at the back.
The figure had its back to me, panting rapidly and trembling. Anxiously, I mustered the courage and cautiously walked towards it.
Just as I reached the doorway, the figure suddenly stopped trembling and turned around abruptly.
It was a man, around thirty years old, with a thick beard, a dirty face, and looked a bit foolish. Even though I knew he was the madman, his sudden movement still startled me.
Before I could calm down, he suddenly widened his eyes, looked at me with great fear, and loudly cried out something incoherent, which I couldn't understand at all.
Suddenly, the madman let out a piercing laughter, it all happened so abruptly, before I could react, he screamed and quickly charged towards me.
I stumbled and sat on the ground as he ran past me, I quickly got up and shook off the dirt from my clothes. I didn't chase after him, I walked towards Liu Jiguang's house, thinking about what the madman might have been saying.
When I arrived at Liu Jiguang's door, I quickly stopped, the madman's words echoed in my mind and eventually turned into an incomprehensible sentence.
"Ghosts, there are ghosts! This house has no people, it's full of ghosts!"