"Where to?" 

"Of course to the office." 

"No, I won't go there even if you kill me!" I screamed. 

Xiaoguo slapped me twice in the face. My body suddenly stiffened, and I stared at him in a daze. "Stop being so hysterical, okay? Are you feeling better now?" 

I nodded. He said, "Let's go." 

"Are you half asleep or something? Why did you have to go to a place like that?" 

"Just go when I tell you to. I have my reasons. I'm not going sightseeing!" 

Despite my reluctance, he dragged me forward. I clutched my face, which had been bruised from the blow, and I vaguely saw something flash by the office door and then disappear. It was probably an illusion, as the moonlight was so bright that it even reflected off the windows. Xiaoguo dragged me all the way to the office door. I said I didn't want to go in, so Xiaoguo just stood there, staring inside. Sure enough, the office door was open. My face burned, but that didn't stop me from making up my mind. At the slightest sign of trouble, I would run. 

Xiaoguo exclaimed, "Look, look!" 

I looked up into the room. Xiaoguo's flashlight illuminated the portrait, still depicting a well-behaved, respectable woman, posing as if she'd never gotten into trouble. "I think I was mistaken. Just now, I thought that woman came to my bed with ill intentions..." 

"Didn't you see?" 

Xiaoguo looked at me with unusual agitation, as if I were blind, unable to see the truth before me. His face was utterly pale in the moonlight, making his expression somewhat strange, but it seemed quite fitting for the current situation. I examined the portrait carefully. The flashlight was bright enough, and I believed I saw everything I needed to see. 

"Nothing, it's the same as before." 

"Bullshit! Are you blind or something? Look again?" Xiaoguo had to resort to swearing to emphasize his point. 

I looked again, still seeing nothing. "What do you want me to see?" 

"Damn it! Didn't you see that just a few seconds ago, this portrait was completely blank, empty?" he exclaimed. 

I was stunned. This shock was even greater than the one I'd just had in the bedroom. "You mean it's like this person just appeared?" 

"I practically saw her appear up there, like a photo developing." 

"What does that mean?" I was stunned. 

"It means it's really haunted." 

"What should we do?" 

"Let's go in and take a look. This time we've finally seen a real ghost," he said excitedly, his mood probably not unlike "finally seeing the real Buddha." 

This guy is really bold, but I don't want to join in his nonsense. My life is more valuable. After all, I'm a virgin. As the experienced masters say, "a flower that hasn't even bloomed yet." I grabbed his arm with all my strength, grabbed the door with my other hand, and slammed it shut with all my might. 

"Stop it!" I shouted, so loud that it could be heard from across the alley in the middle of the night. 

Xiaoguo looked at me in surprise. "Just a quick look, okay?" He carefully discussed it with me. 

"If you dare to go in, I will castrate you immediately." 

Seeing that I was really angry, he stopped insisting and went back to the bedroom with me. We each fell onto the bed, but no one fell asleep. We were both staring at the door, wondering if that woman would come in again. It was not until dawn that I couldn't hold on any longer and took a nap. 

Xiaoguo took half a day off again today. I didn't dare to go into the office kitchen, so I had to make a bite to eat in the mail room that used to be next to the door. After eating, Xiaoguo and I sat down at the table, both looking worried. "Do you have any other ideas? I see that your superstitious activities haven't worked." 

"I think, if it doesn't work, we have to ask the monks from the Mahayana Temple to perform a ritual, or else we have to get a group of Taoists to come here and perform the Yimakou ritual." 

"Aren't you afraid of being arrested by the Public Security Bureau? Besides, the monks in the Mahayana Temple are typical atheists. They do nothing but sell Buddha statues. They even use recordings to chant scriptures. Do they know what a ritual is? As for Taoists, where can we find them now? Do you think this is a martial arts novel? Is there Shaolin, Beggars' Sect, and Wudang Sect everywhere? You have to remember that this is the Northeast in the new century, not a Hong Kong horror movie. Stop thinking about superstitious activities, okay? If you have money, why give it to monks and Taoists? Why not send it to your wife?" 

"Then I'm at a loss, but maybe the African natives' exorcism rituals will work?" 

"Okay, okay, you've received many years of higher education, why are you obsessed with this? Think of something more serious." 

"Or I'll call home and ask them how they perform the shaman dance?" 

"Can't you just stop talking about this?"