Chapter 2: Red Cheongsam Female Ghost 1. Xishi Umbrella
After Wu Yu and Yun Yun came out of the alley, they found the street very deserted, and the sky suddenly became gloomy, as if it was going to rain. They suddenly remembered the panicked , the legends told by Xiao Xue, and their experience last night, and they were even more puzzled by the mystery of this area. What they had to figure out now was whether Su Wei was still alive, and whether the mysterious old man was a human or a ghost.
They walked out of the area, which seemed to be built in the Republic of China period. The houses and streets seemed to be lively in an instant. Looking back the area they walked out of, they felt gloomy and desolate, completely different worlds. They felt that what they experienced last night was just like a dream. At this time, they were already hungry, and tacitly walked to the eaves of one of the breakfast stalls on the street. They saw that the busy breakfast stall was almost full of people. Yunyun was sharp-eyed and saw that two people just got up, so she pulled Wu Yu over to sit down.
The boss who made breakfast was a middle-aged fat woman. When she saw the guests coming, she hurried over and asked, "What would you like?"
After Wu Yu and Yunyun looked at the breakfast menu, they ordered two servings each. After eating eagerly, Wu Yu asked the proprietress to come and pay the bill. Suddenly he remembered something and said, "Madam, I want to ask you something. Do you know if anyone lives in the courtyards around that area? Is that area the No. 109 Minxin Road?" Wu Yu pointed to the area where they came out.
The proprietress immediately showed an uneasy expression on her face and said coldly, "I don't know."
Her words were like a bucket of cold water that instantly extinguished Wu Yu's enthusiasm. A feeling of anger choked Wu Yu's throat. He seemed to feel the horror of the old house even more from the landlady's uneasiness.
Yunyun quickly pulled Wu Yu out and said angrily, "Why are you so angry? I just don't want to answer. And you see, I seem to be very uneasy when I hear that..."
As Yunyun was speaking, the pedestrians on the street quickly dodged in all directions. When they looked up, they saw the spring rain falling softly. In an instant, the sky above the black tiles and white walls was covered with mist and rain.
Seeing that it was raining, they hurriedly took shelter under the eaves of a nearby house. Standing under the eaves, watching the spring rain falling, feeling the chill of the Jiangnan water town. In silence, they felt that it was incredible to come to Wuzhen to find the mystery of Su Wei. After a while, they saw someone walking on the street with an umbrella. They suddenly realized that waiting like this was not a solution, so they looked around and suddenly saw an umbrella shop not far away, so they walked towards the umbrella shop under the eaves.
They looked at the name of the store and saw the four characters "Xishi Umbrella Store" written in official script on the plaque, which surprised them. At this time, although it was raining, there were only a few customers in the store. There was only a pretty girl in her twenties looking after the store. Yunyun saw that she was wearing a pure white dress, with a white face, and looked pure and moving. She couldn't help but envy this girl. Many years ago, she was like this too. Wu Yu saw Yunyun staring at the girl in a daze, so he pulled her into the store.
"What kind of umbrellas do you want? Please feel free to take a look. The umbrellas in our store are the oldest and most complete in town ." The tone of voice of this pretty girl is full of the tenderness of a girl from the Jiangnan water town, which makes people's hearts beat fast.
When Wu Yu and Yun Yun entered, they found a dazzling array of umbrellas, more varied than those in Guangzhou. Wu Yu had been puzzled by the name of the store since he entered. He glanced at the pretty girl and found that she was staring at him. He felt strange. He smiled at the girl and said, "Girl, do we know each other?" Wu Yu seemed to think she looked familiar, as if he had seen her there before.
The girl smiled shyly and said, "No, you got the wrong person."
"Miss, I want to ask you, why did you name your store 'Xishi Umbrella'?"
The girl smiled and said, "Sir, I can tell at a glance that you are from the provincial capital, but I don't know where the name of this Xishi Umbrella Shop came from. Legend has it that during the Republic of China, there was a young lady who liked oil-paper umbrellas with Xishi painted on them the most. However, legend has it that the young lady was extremely beautiful, and the people in the town had never seen her. We only know that she often played a beautiful and moving piano piece, and she and a maid would always hold an oil-paper umbrella with Xishi painted on it and walk towards the river on the bluestone street when it rained..."
After hearing this, Wu Yu and Yun Yun looked at her in surprise. Yun Yun murmured, "Then the legend seems to be true." Wu Yu thought that she might know something about the old house, so he asked, "Miss, do you know if anyone lives in that old house now?"
"Don't keep calling me girl, my name is Xiaoqing." Xiaoqing smiled, then looked at Wu Yu in confusion and said, "Why do you ask this, sir? Haven't you heard that the old house is often haunted? How can anyone dare to live there?"
"But we..." Wu Yu wanted to say that they lived there now, but before he could say it, he felt that it was inappropriate to say it.
At this time, Yunyun seemed to like the umbrella, so she walked over, picked it up, looked at Xiaoqing and said, "Xiaoqing, what kind of umbrella is this?"
Xiao Qing suddenly smiled strangely and said, "Sister, you really know what you are talking about. This is the legendary Xishi umbrella. However, since it is said to belong to a dead person and it is an oil-paper umbrella, we only use it as a decoration in our store."
They were even more surprised after hearing this. Yunyun opened it out of curiosity and found that the umbrella was really an oil-paper umbrella with the beautiful Xi Shi depicted on it. Her heart was moved and the more she looked at it, the more she couldn't let it go. She thought that the quality of the umbrella was really very good. It was a product from the Republic of China and was still intact.
Seeing that she couldn't let it go, Xiaoqing smiled and said, "This is already an antique. If you like it, you can buy it."
Yunyun smiled and said, "Xiaoqing is really good at doing business. Xiaoqing, name a price."
Xiaoqing thought about it and said with a smile: "How about 500 yuan?"
Yunyun was a person who cared a lot about face. Since the girl could call her sister, and what's more, she was buying a legendary Xi Shi umbrella, she felt that it was worth the money and said, "Xiaoqing is much smarter than the girls who do business in Guangzhou." Yunyun took out five hundred yuan from her wallet and handed it to Xiaoqing.
Wu Yu thought it was not worth it for Yunyun to spend 500 yuan on something belonging to a dead person, but Yunyun always gave in to Wu Yu in this regard. Wu Yu felt something was wrong. How could these incredible things happen to them? First, there was Su Wei's letter, then the old house, the mysterious old man, the red cheongsam, the Xishi umbrella, and what would happen next? He didn't dare to think about it.
Thinking that Su Wei's death was registered in the newspaper two years ago, he thought that the news must have spread widely in the town, and Xiaoqing might know about it, so he said to Xiaoqing: "Xiaoqing, I want to ask you about someone."
"Who is it?" Xiaoqing looked at him puzzledly.
"It was a man named Su Wei. He died mysteriously in Wuzhen two years ago. It was also reported in the newspapers."
After hearing this, Xiaoqing suddenly fell silent. She thought for a moment before saying, "Xiaoqing still remembers this incident. At that time, the rumor spread like wildfire in the town. It was said that the man was killed by a female ghost in that old house. His face was unclear , but the ID card next to the corpse proved that it was him."
"Xiao Qing, do you know the street and number of that old house?"
"It seems to be No. 109, Minxin Road." Xiaoqing seemed to remember it better than her own home address.
After hearing this, Wu Yu and Yunyun looked at each other in shock and remained silent for a long time.
"Xiao Qing, I want to ask where the post office is?" Wu Yu suddenly remembered this matter. He thought it necessary to go to the post office to find out who sent the letter.
"Go straight down this street, then turn right and there's another side street over there, and you'll see the post office."
After hearing this, Wu Yu stared in the direction Xiao Qing mentioned.
