Part 2 Chapter 11: Guarding the House and Waiting for the Ghost
I was so frightened by my own idea that I immediately reported it to Qin Yiheng. But he didn't react much, just turned his head to look at the door, asked me to help pick up the things on the ground, and said, "That's all for today." Without explaining to me, he silently put on his bag and pulled me out of the house.
On the way back, Qin Yiheng seemed to be thinking, and he kept silent. It was not until we both lay down at the hotel that he took out the sketch from his bag, looked at it from left to right, muttered to himself for a long time, turned his head and said to me: "After all, there is a door between us, so we still can't see it clearly. We can only wait until daytime to enter the room and wait until night to see it clearly."
What he meant was that he was still prepared to wait for the ghost in the house. I guessed from his expression that things were not optimistic, and I hesitated. Although this house is cheap, it will definitely not be sold for a while. I can't estimate how much profit it can make for the time being. It seems a bit not worth risking my life for such a small amount of money. But then I thought about it. Which of the houses I bought before was not taken at the risk of my life? In the end, I nodded and agreed, and asked Qin Yiheng what the shadow on the eggshell was and what his next plan was.
When he heard me ask, he actually shook his head and told me that he had come up with the eggshell method out of necessity. According to common sense, this is not a method used in alchemy, but a way used by southern ethnic minorities to treat "gu".
It is said that people who have been infected with Gu will see black shadows on their bodies. The wizards of ethnic minorities can judge what kind of Gu it is by the black shadows; some wizards with strong magic power can tell who the person who infected Gu is by the black shadows. Of course, he has only heard about it and has never seen it with his own eyes. However, according to the current personal operation, this is probably not fabricated out of thin air. Because from the understanding of metaphysics, this Gu is actually a kind of filth, which is invisible and intangible, and eggs have always been a thing to ward off evil spirits, especially when touched by the birthday star. The two are connected through white wax, and perhaps there will be some communication, but he can't figure out why it is.
After Qin Yiheng finished explaining, he yawned, told me to rest quickly, and fell asleep. I wanted to ask more questions, but seeing him like this, I had no choice but to close my eyes.
We slept until the next afternoon. We got up, ate something quickly, went to the supermarket to buy some bread, sausages and other things for dinner, and then returned to the house.
The sun was bright during the day and we opened all the windows of the house, but we didn't feel anything unusual inside.
What surprised me was that when Qin Yiheng pulled the door, he didn't use much strength, and it looked like he opened the door easily. Out of curiosity, I closed the door and tried it myself, and it was no different from opening an ordinary door.
I was quite nervous now, because it was clear that things in the house could be freely brought in and out. But seeing that Qin Yiheng was calm, I calmed down and helped him pack his things.
The room was not small, and there was a bed and some bedroom furniture in it. It looked like no one had lived there for a long time, and there was a thick layer of dust on the bed and the floor. Fortunately, I had the foresight to bring a newspaper, which not only helped me pass the time, but also served as a cushion on the floor at night to avoid getting my clothes dirty.
The things he prepared were actually similar to those he prepared the night before, the only difference being that Qin Yiheng prepared double. He placed two candles in two locations, one closer to the door and one farther from the door, and I didn't know if the other one was a spare. After placing the candles, he took out red paper and started folding something. It was pitch dark last night, and it burned soon after he finished folding, so I didn't see it clearly. This time I finally saw clearly that he folded the kind of paper boat that everyone folded when they were young. The difference was that after he folded the paper boat, he used a knife to cut a hole in the bottom of the boat.
I asked curiously, and he told me that he added this step himself, and did not completely copy the method of looking at Gu. The red paper boat and the broken bottom cabin are used to stabilize the soul in the art of alchemy, just like using the soul-falling stone. Using it to start a fire in the middle is also just in case.
After that, Qin Yiheng carefully took out the box from his bag again, took out two eggshells from it, handed me one, pointed to the candle farther from the door and said, "Tonight you lie behind me, and when I look, if you see anything behind me, remind me immediately."
I heaved a sigh of relief. This time, I finally didn't have to attract ghosts. I lay down behind the candle and felt it in advance. I felt that the posture was very awkward. Even though this room was not small, it was still quite tight for two people to lie down vertically and horizontally. There was still a distance between us. After I lay down, my legs could only be pressed against the foot of the bed in a very uncomfortable way. However, this treatment was not bad. At least it was much more comfortable than running into a ghost head-on.
Everything is ready, all that's left is to wait for night to fall.
It was just after 3pm when we arrived, and it was still a long time before dark. I was planning to chat online on my phone, but I unexpectedly discovered that there were two mice in the room, blatantly trying to eat the bread I put on the floor. I simply picked up a broom to kill the mice to pass the time.
By the time I finished dealing with the two mice, it was almost five o'clock. I ate a bite of dinner and watched the sky outside the window gradually darken.
Qin Yiheng did not act immediately, but waited patiently until it was completely dark. He then stood up, closed the curtains, and instructed me to lie down. Then he turned off the lights, lit the paper boat with a lighter, and lit the two candles. Then he also lay down behind the candle near the door.
Although the lights were off in the room, there were two candles lighting up the room, so it was quite bright. However, the candles blocked my view, which affected my vision. I was afraid that I would miss something by accident, so I could only focus all my attention on Qin Yiheng's back.
I stared at him for about five minutes before I saw him move a few times. Judging from his posture, he must have blocked his eyes with the eggshell. When the truth finally came out, I was quite nervous and couldn't help holding my breath. When I held my breath, I felt my heartbeat magnified several times.
I waited for a while, and the room was dead silent. Qin Yiheng didn't say anything. I was very confused. Was he asleep? I wanted to stand up to see if there was anything wrong, but I was afraid that I might miss something if I moved. After all, I still had a mission to complete. I was quite conflicted for a while.
Just as I was hesitating, a strange sound suddenly sounded in the room.
The sound was not loud, just rustling, but it was very obvious. At first I thought it was another rat, but after listening carefully I felt that it was not the case. The source of the sound was very fixed, and I calmed down and distinguished it. It seemed to come from Qin Yiheng.
"What are you doing?" I asked him in a low voice. As soon as I said this, he immediately stretched his hands back and shook them several times, meaning that I should be quiet.
When he moved like this, my scalp felt numb. Then I suddenly remembered that Xu Chuanxiang had said before that there would be scratching sounds at the door at night. Could this be the noise?
I listened carefully and felt that the sound did not come from the door, but rather something rubbing against the floor. The house was luxuriously decorated, and the floor was made of solid wood, very thick. I tried to scratch the floor with my fingers twice, but my nails were very short and I didn't dare to use force, so the sound was so small that I couldn't even hear it, so I couldn't make any comparison.
But I am sure of one thing, at least this noise is not the same as what Xu Chuanxiang said. Although this sound is very real, the volume is relatively low. It is unlikely to wake up a sleeping person through two doors.
I thought to myself: "That noise must be coming from outside the door?" I wanted to ask Qin Yiheng, but he was closer to the door than I was, but I couldn't make a sound. Finally, I had no choice but to put my ear to the floor to listen to where the sound came from.
I lay down and listened for a while, and I felt something was wrong. It sounded like the noise was coming from this room. The more I listened, the more terrified I felt. Why did it really sound like someone was scratching the floor with their fingernails? There were only Qin Yiheng and I in this room. Could this thing be under the floor?
When this thought came to my mind, I almost jumped up from the ground. It was terrifying to think that there was a filth staring at me from below, separated from me by a layer of wood.
I restrained myself for a long time before I pressed myself to the ground. I wanted to smoke, but I couldn't speak or ask for permission. I could only tap the floor with my fingers to attract Qin Yiheng's attention, and when he turned around to look at me, I would use my expression to ask him what he was going to do.
When Qin Yiheng heard the sound I made, he moved his shoulders, sat up, turned around, and looked serious.
I looked at his expression and thought to myself: "It's over. I feel like the next thing he's going to say is that we're both going to die here tonight."
The result was just the opposite. Qin Yiheng actually lit a cigarette and said, "I've found the reason why the door is hard to open." Then he blew out his candle, pointed at my candle, and asked me to look at it myself, and he went aside to smoke.
After blowing out a candle, the room became noticeably darker.
The environment is quite creepy, but I don't think there will be any danger.
I covered the eggshell and opened my eyes. My head felt numb. Although I had seen this shadow before, I didn't expect it to be so clear when I saw it in the house.
Of course, this clarity is only relative, after all, it is still a shadow, but even so, it is enough for me to make out the general idea. Before, I was outside the door, and because of the angle, I thought it was an animal. Now it seems that this is not an animal, but a person.
The person's posture was extremely strange, with his hands folded across his chest as if he was holding something, and he was leaning against the door with his head tilted. His figure looked like a woman. Other than that, there was nothing else to tell.
I stared at it for a long time, and I forgot to be afraid. Instead, I felt more and more strange. Qin Yiheng said that he found the reason why the door was difficult to open, and it must be related to this female ghost. However, I didn't see from the shadow that the door was pulled, or was she asleep now, and stood up when she woke up? This is too fucking fake!
