After enduring until past one in the morning, this time the black cat did not appear, and I got up and went out.
Entering the building, I urgently went upstairs. Arriving at the door of Jiang Xiumei's room, the door was not open, and after knocking a few times there was no response from inside.
Knocking hard again twice, the door behind me suddenly opened, and an old lady came out, looking at me and asked, "Young man, who are you looking for?"
"Old lady, I'm looking for the owner of this house." I expressed my apology, realizing it was not right to disturb others at such a late hour.
The old lady gestured for me to come over, and as I walked over to her, she asked in a low voice, "What is your relationship with this family?"
I was puzzled and said, "No relationship, just met a few times, chatted with her last night, and came over to have another chat tonight."
The old lady's face instantly turned unpleasant, "You said you met this family last night?"
I nodded, "Yes."
"Impossible, absolutely impossible." The old lady shook her head repeatedly, as if she had heard a huge joke.
Her behavior aroused my curiosity, and I hurriedly asked, "Old lady, what do you mean? I don't quite understand."
The old lady leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Young man, go down quickly, and never come here to find your friend again. This house has been abandoned for two years, and a woman committed suicide inside two years ago."
"What?" Although the old lady spoke slowly, I still felt an invisible fist hitting me hard on the head.
I stared blankly at the old lady, she let out a long sigh, and then turned and walked back into the room.
Looking at the door again, I felt that there was a rotten and malicious ghost standing inside, glaring at me with its catlike eyes.
A chill swept over me, and I could not believe this was true at all.
Having lived for so long, I could still distinguish between ghosts and people, and Jiang Xiumei had absolutely no shadow of a ghost. But just now, the old lady's words didn't seem like a joke. Shivering, I quickly turned and went downstairs.
Just as I reached the second floor, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind, "Mingyang, you're here, why didn't you come in?"
It was Jiang Xiumei's voice. I suddenly stopped, turned around, and under the light shining from the room, I saw her standing at the door looking in my direction.
I leaned over the stair railing and looked down, and then I suddenly understood. I had been in such a hurry to see Jiang Xiumei, I had accidentally gone to the wrong floor and ended up on the fifth floor.
Scratching my head, I went back up, entered the room, and there was a very strong fragrance inside, and in the ashtray on the coffee table, there were three extinguished cigarette butts.
"I went to the wrong floor just now, went to the fifth floor, knocked on the door thinking you weren't in, and was about to leave." I sat on the sofa and chuckled.
Jiang Xiumei poured me a glass of water, sat on the sofa, lit a ladies' cigarette, exhaled the first puff of smoke, and then said, "Yesterday was your story, today let me tell you a story."
I sat on the sofa, staring at her without blinking. Jiang Xiumei took a deep drag of her cigarette, extinguished it in the ashtray, and then began her story.
In the early 1950s, there was a carpenter in Xi'an named Jiang Nanfeng. This carpenter had exquisite craftsmanship, attracting the favor of many officials and rich people, who asked him to make a whole set of furniture for them.
Jiang Nanfeng's personality is somewhat quirky, and when it comes to making furniture, it depends on his mood. Sometimes he won't do anything, but at other times, he'll have a sudden burst of inspiration and will even work through the night to fulfill the employer's request.
In his free time, he would sit all day holding a black cat.
This black cat is different from other black cats; it doesn't have a single stray hair on its entire body, even its whiskers are remarkably black. Jiang Nanfeng treats this black cat as if it were his closest relative.
One day, Jiang Nanfeng received a very tricky job – to build a coffin for a very powerful family.
Initially, Jiang Nanfeng didn't want to take on the task, as he had always only worked on things for the living and had never built anything for the deceased, but, being pressured by the family's power and wealth, he reluctantly agreed.
On the first day, he stared at the blocks of Nan wood delivered by the employer's family as if he could see an invisible person lying within them.
The next day, he shut himself in and, as if going mad, began cutting, carving, and assembling the Nan wood. While he was doing this, the black cat that should have been in his arms sat quietly on a stool watching him.
By the third day, the coffin was ready, and the employer came to take the Nan wood coffin and Jiang Nanfeng away.
The story was here, and Jiang Xiumei fell silent, lit a cigarette and said to me, "Time's up, I need to rest now."
I came to my senses and realized that although Jiang Xiumei's story was very short, it had already passed 4 o'clock in the morning without my realizing it.
I rubbed my eyes and found the story quite ordinary, lacking any sense of horror, yet I couldn't help but feel curious about the carpenter.
After saying goodbye, I walked to the door, turned to the black-and-white photo on the wall, and asked, "By the way, the carpenter is one of your elders, right?"
Jiang Xiumei smiled and nodded, and then walked downstairs to her rented apartment. It was still early for work, so I lay down to rest, but my mind was unusually alert, and I couldn't fall asleep at all; all I could think about was Jiang Nanfeng's final fate.
Insomnia is a very bad thing, and I managed to stay awake until after six o'clock with my eyes wide open. It was already bright outside. After washing up, I drove to the building where Du Xiaolan lived.
I waited for over half an hour before she sauntered over with her handbag.
After getting in the car, she glanced at me and frowned, "Mingyang, you didn't go to see that woman again last night, did you?"
I was stunned and squinted, asking, "How did you know?"
She shook her head and said, "I just guessed. Look at your dark circles, they're almost panda-like."
I rubbed my eyes. Having had no sleep for the past two nights, it was very reasonable to have dark circles. I didn't say anything, just smiled and drove to the store.
The weather today was somewhat gloomy, the sun was obscured by dark clouds, and the sky seemed dim, as if it could rain at any moment.
Upon entering the store, Du Xiaolan, with a honeyed voice, said to me, "Mingyang, I'm going to the neighboring store for a manicure. You stay in the store by yourself, there's no business anyway."
"Go ahead," I waved my hand. Without her by my side, I was happy to have some peaceand quiet.
Du Xiaolan chuckled and was about to leave when a man pushed open the store door and walked in. I continued working on the computer, while also giving a professional smile to the man, saying, "Hello."
The man didn't respond, but it was Du Xiaolan who asked in confusion, "Mingyang, did you have a bad night's sleep and now you're having hallucinations? There are only the two of us in the store, who are you saying hello to?"