When I turned to the third page, the content was completely different from the first two. It did not express happiness or celebrate the occasion, but was actually a eulogy.
I threw the stack of papers on the bed and asked Du Xiaolan if she had seen the content. She said she didn't need to as she wasn't speaking. I handed her the third paper, and her expression turned grim. She said, "Mingyang, could it be that Fei Xuemin mistook you for a Feng Shui master?"
I gave her a glare, took the paper from her, and shook my head, "No, if I speak according to this content, the wedding will definitely go awry, and unknowing friends and relatives won't spare me!"
Du Xiaolan asked anxiously, "What should we do?"
"I'm not doing this business!" I said, then called the number on the contract using my phone.
After the call was connected, I signaled Du Xiaolan to remain quiet, and told them about the eulogy and that we would return Fei Xuemin's deposit and leave immediately.
Fei Xuemin fell silent for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter, saying that there must have been a mistake because he didn't include any eulogy in the papers he gave me. He only gave me two sheets, let alone a third one.
I was puzzled by this response and said it was a misunderstanding before hanging up.
Looking at Du Xiaolan, I squinted and asked, "Did Fei Xuemin give you these three papers?"
Du Xiaolan shook her head and said, "No, a little boy came to my door just now and said Fei Xuemin wanted us to follow this speech. I don't know much about this, so I handed them over."
"A little boy?" I was puzzled and asked hurriedly, "So it wasn't Fei Xuemin who personally gave it to you?"
"No," Du Xiaolan nodded repeatedly, looking towards the three papers and shivering, she asked, "Mingyang, is someone intentionally playing us?"
"I don't know," I shook my head, tore the sheet with eulogy into pieces and threw it in the trash, then clapped my hands, saying, "Alright, everything's fine now."
Du Xiaolan smiled and then returned to her room. As I finished watching TV, I yawned. I had chatted with Grandpa for almost the entire night last night, and now I was feeling sleepy.
When I woke up, it was already past six o'clock. The sky was very dark at this moment, as if there was going to be a heavy rain. After having the dinner that Fei Xuemin had booked for us at the hotel, we returned to our room.
Not long after, the sound of rain hitting the window came from outside. I got up and walked to the window, preparing to pull the curtains. As I looked down, I saw a woman in a white dress standing on the opposite horse building.
People around were avoiding the rain, but this woman was standing on the sidewalk, letting the rain fall on her without care. Her face was facing our hotel, but due to the heavy rain, it was impossible to see what she was looking at.
Although it was a bit puzzling, I ignored the woman. After closing the curtains, I lay back on the bed and fell asleep.
I was in a daze and didn't know how long I had slept when a rapid knocking on the door woke me up from my slumber.
I checked the time, it was already two fifteen in the morning. People who have stayed in hotels are very averse to being disturbed at this time, and the only possibility for someone knocking at the door was a woman.
Even though I didn't have a girlfriend, I didn't think I was so lonely that I would seek comfort from anyone. I tried to cover my ears with the blanket to go back to sleep, but the knocking didn't stop, and it even grew louder.
Feeling helpless, I got up from the bed and prepared to open the door to give the person knocking a piece of my mind.
At the moment the knocking started, I angrily flung the door open, but to my surprise, there was no one outside.
Suddenly, I felt a little disturbed. The corridor was empty, so who could be knocking on the door?
Although I've seen many strange things, it was still two in the morning. If a horrific ghost face suddenly appeared, even the bravest person would scream in fear.
I quickly closed the door and became very alert. I hurriedly jumped onto the bed, covered myself with the blanket, and closed my eyes.
I forced myself not to think about those terrifying scenes and just as sleepiness returned, the knocking on the door rang out again. This time, instead of opening the door, I stealthily approached it and looked outside through the peephole.
The knocking disappeared the moment my eye reached the peephole, and the hallway outside was empty, with no sign of anyone.
"Am I seeing things?" I muttered to myself. I can see ghosts, but there was no one outside at this moment, so it could only be someone playing a prank to scare me.
Thinking of the only person who could disappear so quickly before I stepped out, Du Xiaolan, who lived next door, I went to her room. After knocking for a long time, Du Xiaolan sleepily came out.
Seeing me standing at her door, rubbing my eyes, she asked if something was wrong with me, and if I was planning to invite her for a late-night snack at this late hour.
Seeing that she didn't seem to be pretending, I told her to go back to sleep and went to the hotel front desk.
I explained the situation to the front desk and requested them to show me the footage from the corridor surveillance. I thought the process would be complicated, but to my surprise, they agreed readily.
When we arrived at the surveillance room, we started reviewing the footage from 2:10 a.m. I was glued to the screen, afraid of missing any potential person.
As time passed, there was no sign of anyone at my room's door at 2:14 a.m. When it reached 2:20 a.m., the door of my room opened, and on the screen, I could see my head peeking out into the corridor and looking around.
"Sir, are you experiencing hallucinations?" the manager asked respectfully.
I touched my head with my hand. This voice couldn't be a hallucination, but there was no one in the corridor, so I could only treat it as such.
Not finding any suspicious person, I had to awkwardly apologize to them and returned to my room.
The eerie incident made my drowsiness vanish without a trace. I turned on all the lights in the room and stared at the door with both eyes wide open.
After staring for half an hour, it seemed like it was really playing tricks on me, as there was no knocking on the door during that time. I sighed with relief and lay in bed, about to go to sleep, when the sound of 'knock, knock, knock' came into my ears again.
I abruptly sat up, quickly walked to the room door, ready to open it, and then froze in place.
The knocking sound was not coming from outside, but from inside the room.