When Du Xiaolan said this, I felt that something was amiss.
I looked at her and asked her to tell me in more detail. After a moment of silence, Du Xiaolan seemed to summarize her words and then frowned, saying, "Back when he and Bi Ping were raising fish, that thief stole too many fish and ended up drowning in the reservoir. But that's the story they told the villagers, and no one else actually knows if that person really was a fish thief."
As soon as I heard this, coupled with the stunned expression of the drowning ghost upon hearing that he was a fish thief, I slapped my thigh and said, "It seems that this may indeed be the case. If that person wasn't actually a fish thief, but was killed by Mr. Bi and his son and then drowned in the reservoir."
Du Xiaolan shook her head and said, "I don't know, but I feel that Mr. Bi is lying to us."
I pondered for a moment and said, "Why don't we report this to the police? I don't want to get involved in this ghost wedding affair."
"Suit yourself, I'm not taking on this job anyway," Du Xiaolan said, and then fell silent.
I thought to myself that reporting to the police might not be a wise move.
It has been ten years since everything happened. The body of the drowning ghost had long since disappeared, and Bi Ping had also drowned. There was only Mr. Bi left, and he had the final say, whether good or bad.
I didn't mention this matter again. I told Du Xiaolan that we would leave this haunted place tomorrow. Du Xiaolan asked why not today, and I explained that the drowning ghost might harm Bi Ping tomorrow, and since I knew about it, it was necessary to intervene.
Du Xiaolan scoffed at me, saying I was meddling in too many affairs. Bi Ping was already dead, and even if he died again, he would at most be a wandering soul. I was risking my own life.
I just smirked and didn't argue with her.
The boat on the water had disappeared from my sight. After confirming that I couldn't see the drowning ghost, I sighed and gestured to Du Xiaolan, then left the reservoir and headed back to the village.
It was already past four in the afternoon, and as we passed by the fields, we could see people busy on the ground. They seemed not to have noticed us, still engrossed in their own work.
I briefly looked at the laboring people, all of whom were middle-aged and unfamiliar faces in the village.
Du Xiaolan also realized this and asked me about it. I looked at the nearby village and then around, quietly suggesting that these people might be from the neighboring village.
She thought about it for a moment and didn't ask further. Back in the village, Uncle Bi sat at the door listening to Qinqiang opera. When he saw us return, he stood up and asked, "Mr. Yin, has the drowned ghost that killed my son been dealt with?"
I shook my head and said, "No."
He asked again, "When can my son's marriage be arranged?"
"I've looked in many places, but no one is willing to have a ghost marriage with your son," I made up an excuse. For a ghost marriage, I at least need to see the parties involved, but Uncle Bi couldn't see or hear me, so how could I communicate with him?
Uncle Bi sighed, sat back down on the stool, and fell silent.
Ignoring the issue, back in the room, I hadn't eaten all day, and my stomach growled with hunger. But the thought of tasting Uncle Bi's dark cuisine made me feel even worse than going hungry.
Having learned my lesson from last night, I didn't take a shower today and clutched the wooden spike tightly while sleeping. If the drowned ghost came through the pipes, I was confident I could stab it to death.
I slept until after 10 p.m., relieved that nothing eerie had occurred.
Needing to pee, I got out of bed and went to the bathroom. But when I looked at the toilet, I felt uneasy.
The water in the toilet flowed from the reservoir, so it was possible for the drowned ghost to crawl out from there.
After relieving myself, I quickly threw the spike, about an inch long, into the toilet. From the events of today, it was clear that the drowned ghost feared the wooden spike left over the threshold. With it in the toilet, I believed the drowned ghost wouldn't come out.
Solving this problem put my mind at ease, and as I left the bathroom, ready to go back to bed, I was startled to find a skeleton in a bright red phoenix coronet robe on the bed.
Although I knew she was my ghost wife, this sudden sight still jolted me.
My ghost wife sighed. Swiftly, flesh and blood emerged from her eerie skeleton, transforming into the appearance of Du Xiaolan, still donning the phoenix coronet robe.
I knew she had no ill intentions toward me and wasn't as frightened as before. I asked her, "What do you want with me?"
The ghost wife said languidly, "I'm here to tell you something."
"What is it?" I walked over to her, leaning against the wall.
The ghost wife lifted her head and looked directly into my eyes. In that instant, I had a crazy idea; those were Du Xiaolan's eyes, no doubt.
Though the thought seemed insane, I quickly dismissed it from my mind.
Du Xiaolan was in the room next to mine, and my door was firmly locked; she couldn't possibly come in.
After a long silence, the ghost wife slowly got up, looked out the window, and said, "You've been deceived."
"What?" I nearly exclaimed, and after speaking, afraid of being overheard, I quickly covered my mouth and asked, "Who has deceived me?"
"I can't be too explicit about certain things, I can only give you this hint, and you will find out tomorrow," said the ghost wife, looking at me and sighing deeply.
Walking up to the mirror in the bathroom, she carefully assessed her appearance, then turned and asked, "Would you stop being afraid as long as I look like this?"
Although I also felt this way in my heart, I still shook my head and said, "No, as long as you don't suddenly appear, then I won't be afraid."
"Really?" she forced a smile, but it seemed very strained.
I nodded firmly, "Yes."
"You're lying to me." After the ghost bride finished speaking, she sighed leisurely, then said, "Go to the other side of the reservoir tomorrow, there you will find out everything you want to know."
I inquired about what was on the other side of the reservoir, but the ghost bride shook her head, saying that I would know after I went there tomorrow, and then she suddenly disappeared from my sight.
Her words made me ponder for a long time. I had wanted to go over with a flashlight right away to see everything clearly. But it was already late at night, if I encountered that drowned ghost, I wouldn't be able to catch any sight of it in the pitch-dark night.