Chapter 33 Night visit to the haunted house
Gu Ye came to the gate of the hospital and happened to see 2 young men coming out with ugly expressions. Xia Xiang’s mother hurriedly stopped the car after seeing them, ran down, and asked, “Masters, how is my son?”
The older one said desperately, “I’m sorry, this big sister. Please ask someone else!” After saying that, he walked away as if running away from something.
Hearing that, Mother Xia’s body shook by the shock. Then she looked at Gu Ye more cautiously, as if looking at the last straw that could save her two children.
Gu Ye sighed. He really pitied all the parents in the world, he couldn’t bear this kind of look at him.
A few minutes later, Gu Ye saw Xia Xiang and Xia An in the same ward. Xia An is 2 years older than Xia Xiang and looks physically fitter than Xia Xiang. Lying on the hospital bed, his body is 2 sizes larger than Xia Xiang. Gu Ye couldn’t help but squint his eyes when he saw the grandparents sitting next to Xia Xiang, and then the father sitting alone between the brothers.
Seeing Gu Ye, Xia Xiang’s family members all stood up and asked nervously, “Is it little master Mr. Gu?”
Gu Ye nodded and stretched out a finger, “I only have one request. No matter what I do later, you guys don’t talk or disturb me.”
Grandma Xia asked nervously, “Little master, can my grandson still be saved?”
The corners of Gu Ye’s lips curved up, “Which one are you talking about?”
The old lady said nervously, “Both grandsons also must be saved.”
Gu Ye smiled and said, “Your eldest grandson will be very happy if he hears this.”
The Xia family got taken aback by the remark. There seems to be an underlying meaning in what Gu Ye said. Before they could think more about it, Gu Ye had already gone to see the boys. He looked at Xia Xiang first, and pointed his finger between Xia Xiang’s eyebrows, “One ‘hun’ and one ‘po’[1] were dragged away. Even soul summoning cannot call him back. How did this unlucky kid manage to stay alive until this age?”
Mother Xia’s face turned pale with nervousness. Just as she is about to speak, she got reminded of what Gu Ye said earlier so she held back her tears and tightly closed her mouth.
Gu Ye turned to look at Xia An, and his expression softened slightly, “The brother is fine, he only lost one fragment (po). I will wake him up in a while. Auntie, you can talk now.”
Mother Xia came up and asked, “What about Xia Xiang?”
Gu Ye smiled, “Auntie, you really don’t care for your eldest son?”
Mother Xia worriedly answered, “No, how could I not care?”
“The feeling I got from your family is that the eldest son is not important, while the second son is the treasure. If you guys have been acting like this, have you ever thought about how the eldest son feels?”
Gu Ye looked at the eldest son’s face, “Xia An has not studied well since he was a child, and he is not as good as his younger brother in everything. He is rebellious and disobedient, and he doesn’t like Xia Xiang even more, is that right?”
The Xia family members all changed their expressions, Gu Ye is right.
Mother Xia wiped her tears and said with red eyes, “The palms and backs of my hands are all flesh, how can it not hurt? (meaning, both sides are also important, sacrificing either side hurts the same). It’s just that Xia Xiang has been in poor health since he was a child, plus his eyes are like ‘that’. Our whole family is afraid that one day he will be killed by something, so we care more about him. It may be because of this that my eldest son has resentment. So he became more and more disobedient, and unwilling to communicate with us. Towards the accident this time, we are also at fault.”
Xia Xiang’s father also voiced his regret, “If we had cared more about him, we wouldn’t have made him like this. If he hadn’t gone out with his friends, then he wouldn’t be here in hospital today.”
“When Xia An wakes up, you can try to communicate with him. I think he is a responsible person, but he just lacks love.” Gu Ye held a piece of talisman paper between his hands and asked for Xia An’s birth date characters. After that, he folded the talisman paper into a square and pressed it on the back of Xia An’s head, “Xia An? Xia An?”
After calling twice, Xia An didn’t respond, and Gu Ye frowned, “It stands to reason that it shouldn’t be like this, unless, he doesn’t want to come back.”
“Don’t want to come back?” The Xia’s family members came over nervously when they heard this, and Mother Xia cried, “Is he angry with us and doesn’t want to live anymore?”
As soon as Gu Ye heard the mother crying, he felt a headache, “Calm down first! I think there is another possibility.” Gu Ye looked at Xia Xiang, who had lost fragments of his soul. It has been two days but this piece of sweet pastry (XX’s soul) is still stable and has not been eaten up. There must be a reason.
“He should be with Xia Xiang, otherwise Xia Xiang will not simply lose just 1 ‘hun’ and 1 ‘po’.”
“He’s protecting his younger brother?” At this point, Mother Xia started crying again, and Gu Ye palmed his forehead. He likes the rational type like Mother Zhao and the kind like his little mother who makes other people cry instead when she is wronged. It’s not that women like Mother Xia, who seems to be made of water bad, it’s just that he can’t handle it.
Gu Ye pinched his forehead, “Don’t cry, Auntie, it’s easy to find them. Do you know which haunted house Xia An went to explore?”
Xia’s father comforted his wife and told her to go aside to calm down. He shook his head and said, “We don’t know much about it. I’ll ask his classmates.”
As Father Xia is on the phone, Gu Ye tilted his head and looked around the ward. From the moment he entered the door, he felt something peeping at him. Just now, he felt more obvious that there is not just one ghost here, but several!
Gu Ye clicked his tongue, and said flatly, “Places like a hospital where yin and yang intersect. No wonder you guys dare to come out to prowl during the day. Please draw the curtains and close the door[2].”
The Xia family obediently followed suit. This ward is a special ward, and the curtains are for shading and sun protection. After the curtains are drawn, the whole room becomes dark, almost like it is night.
Gu Ye walked to the shelf at the corner. There is a small vase with several pink artificial flowers in it. Gu Ye sneered with the corner of his mouth and picked up the cinnabar pen. Drawing in the air, a red line appeared and slipped into the vase. The next second, the red line pulled something dark out. Gu Ye threw it on the ground with a swing of his hand, and the black thing turned into a small human figure in the blink of an eye. Just when the little thing is about to struggle, a cinnabar pen is already poking its head.
Gu Ye said with a cold face, “Don’t move!”
Sensing Gu Ye’s killing intent, the black shadow is so frightened that it trembles all over and doesn’t dare to move.
After seeing clearly what this black shadow is, Gu Ye widened his eyes in surprise, “A child?”
The ghost child shrinks into a ball in fright, frightened by Gu Ye’s ferocity just now.
Gu Ye frowned and looked under the bed. He squatted down, reached out, and grabbed another little black figure from under the bed. In order to prevent the ghosts from escaping, Gu Ye drew twice in the air with the cinnabar pen and tied them up, placing them at the corner of a wall.
Gu Ye pointed at them and threatened, “Squat down and don’t move! Whoever moves will be spanked!”
The two little ghosts trembled with fear from Gu Ye’s words, as if the person in front of them is not a human being, but a big devil who could eat people.
Looking at the ghosts, Gu Ye’s expression gradually became serious. He thought that the ghosts who could play the masters around like that are very strong and evil. He was ready for a big battle, but he didn’t expect to pull out 2 young ghosts instead. What surprised him the most is that the limbs of these two children are incomplete which means they already lost their limbs when they were alive. He can still think it’s a coincidence if one of the ghosts is like this. But why are both of them the same?
At this moment, Gu Ye suddenly felt a chill on the back of his head, and a biting cold air suddenly hit him. He swiftly turned around and saw a strange red light flashing through the air outlet of the air conditioner. Raising the cinnabar pen, Gu Ye drew a red line, tied up the kid inside, and dragged it out directly. This kid is obviously bigger than those two and its left arm is deformed. It bared its teeth fiercely, wanting to pounce and bite Gu Ye. Gu Ye grabbed the back of its neck with one hand and drew another red line. He tied it up twice more and pressed it against the wall.
Seeing this ghost child, Gu Ye suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart. This one is also missing limbs.
“Hong Dou, catch those two who ran away.” As soon as Gu Ye finished speaking, the Buddhist beads on his wrist emitted a red light and disappeared in the blink of an eye. After a few breaths, the two little black figures are also brought back by Hong Dou. Gu Ye tied them up with a red line and pinned them to the corner of the wall.
5 little ghosts are squatting at the wall like carrots. Gu Ye looked at these souls with an ugly expression. They were all missing limbs!
At this moment, Xia Xiang’s father finished his phone call, and said in a trembling voice, “Little master, I just asked the family members of Xia An’s 2 classmates. They all said that after their child came back, they fell unconscious like Xia An.”
Gu Ye said solemnly, “No need to ask the classmates’ family anymore. It’s more appropriate to ask them instead.”
But none of Xia Xiang’s family could see these little ghosts. The more they couldn’t see the things, the weirded out they felt. They all stood in the corner by the window with pale faces, not daring to speak. Gu Ye looked at them and pulled out a porcelain bottle helplessly. He collected these little ghosts, stood up, and said, “I will go to that haunted house to find the brothers tonight. Right now, I have sealed their souls so their condition won’t get worse. Just wait for my news.”
The Xia family gratefully sent Gu Ye out, and Gu Ye asked for Xia Xiang’s father’s mobile phone number to keep as a backup.
Just after leaving the hospital, Gu Ye received a message from Zhao Pengyu: [I heard that something happened to Xia Xiang. Did you go to the hospital?]
Gu Ye: [At the First People’s Hospital right now.]
Zhao Pengyu replied instantly: [Don’t move where you are, wait for Zhen* to find you!]
*Zhao Pengyu referred to himself as the Emperor
Half an hour later, Zhao Pengyu rushed to the entrance of the hospital, drenched in sweat. He found Gu Ye eating popsicles at the side, and asked anxiously, “What’s going on? Is Xia Xiang rescued yet?”
Gu Ye shook his head and ate another mouthful of ice to calm down.
The answer caused Zhao Pengyu to be frightened, “What’s going on? Even you can’t do it?”
Gu Ye said calmly, “Xia Xiang and his brother can still be saved. I will go to the haunted house tonight to resolve the matter. They should wake up tomorrow morning.”
“You are going by yourself?”
Gu Ye nodded, “It’s okay, I’m used to acting alone.”
Zhao Pengyu worriedly said, “I’ll go with you. If there’s a ghost, you deal with it. If any human comes, I’ll stop them.”
Gu Ye felt warm in his heart and patted Zhao Pengyu on the shoulder, “I can go by myself. You are not in this profession. There will be things that will terrify you.”
“Then, get a friend in your profession to go with you!”
Gu Ye smiled awkwardly, “Okay, I’ll look for one in a while.”
Zhao Pengyu: “Bah, what gibberish. At first glance, I know that ‘this friend’ doesn’t exist.”
Zhao Pengyu knows Gu Ye’s temperament. From the outside, he seems to be smiling with everyone and doesn’t distance himself, but in fact, it is difficult for others to enter his heart, and he keeps a arm’s-length from everyone. Zhap Pengyu thinks that he and Xia Xiang should be Gu Ye’s only friends. Even so, they are not even friends who Gu Ye can talk about everything to them.
Zhao Pengyu also bought a popsicle at the entrance of the hospital and said while eating it, “I’ll go with you and I’ll bring the equipment with me. Didn’t you say that I have a strong yang energy? When something happens, I will stand forward. ‘One man can hold out against ten thousand’!”
Gu Ye raised the corner of his mouth and said, “If you are willing to follow, just follow then. Thank you.”
Zhao Pengyu smiled and punched Gu Ye on the shoulder, “What thank you? We are buddies.”
Gu Ye went and informed his family. At around 10.00 pm, he took a taxi to the address he asked from the ghost kids. This is a very ordinary alley, and the people living in it are also very ordinary. Walking from the entrance of the alley to the deepest part, there is a semi-old courtyard house. The two got out of the taxi and Gu Ye looked up at the sky above the courtyard. The bad premonition became stronger.
Gu Ye reminded Zhao Pengyu, “Let’s be careful.”
“I’ll go first.” Zhao Pengyu is tall and thinks he is much more powerful than Gu Ye, whose figure is smaller. He walked over without fear and pushed the door open, “Eh? This door is actually ajar!”
Zhao Pengyu took out the flashlight he had prepared in advance from his backpack and shined it straight ahead. When he saw what was pasted on the door, he got frightened to the point of numbness, “Gu Ye, look. What is that?”
There is a Bagua diagram hanging directly above the door, which is drawn on a yellow base and blood-red cinnabar. From a distance, the cinnabar looks like solidified blood. It makes people feel horrified even in the daytime, let alone in the middle of the night.
“It’s to suppress ghosts. It’s not that no human lives here, but inhuman things have lived here!” Gu Ye’s eyes turned cold, starting to feel murderous.
Zhao Pengyu looked at the records on his phone and said, “I checked the information from the gossip forum this afternoon. This haunted house was built in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and actually has been taken care of. It only got abandoned in recent years, and rumors of it being haunted have never ceased since then. Look at this house number. Starting from the first unit in the alley, the number counted from 001 to 022, 023. But for this haunted house, its number is 24, missing a zero.”
Gu Ye puzzledly asked, “Why?”
Zhao Pengyu doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry at this, “That’s why I say it’s weird! It is said that children’s cries often come from inside in the middle of the night.”
“Children?” Gu Ye pursed his lips and his gaze became cold again.
The whole courtyard is quiet. Under the moonlight, the Bagua diagram emitted a lingering red light, as if it is trying hard to restrain something. Gu Ye took out a piece of written talisman paper from his pocket and said to Zhao Pengyu, “I’m going to destroy the thing that is shielding this house. This will make it easier to find Xia Xiang’s soul. Something unnatural may happen in a while so please stay close to me.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve been mentally prepared for a long time.” Zhao Pengyu sneered and took out 2 sections of wooden swords from his bulging backpack. There is actually a hole in the middle, and the 2 sections can be inserted together to form a complete sword. “With my big precious sword, I’ll finish anyone who messes with me!”
Gu Ye looked at the sword. The 3 words ‘Peach Wood Sword/桃木剑’ are clearly written on it, and he immediately gave Zhao Pengyu a thumbs up in admiration. Zhao Pengyu has an upright aura around him that even ghosts avoid him. Although he got deceived and the wooden sword is actually from an ordinary poplar tree, as long as he has enough dominance, the sword can still fight ghosts.
After Zhao Pengyu braced himself, the talisman paper in Gu Ye’s hand flew up by itself and floated towards the Bagua diagram. It seemed to be lightly floating over, but when it came into contact, there is a BANG and a purple light flashed. Then, the blood-red color on the bagua darkened.
Zhao Pengyu cursed excitedly, “Frck! It’s so awesome! It’s like making a movie!”
Hearing that, Gu Ye is speechless. Is it okay to swear when it gets exciting?
Gu Ye closed his eyes and felt the mixed ghost energy coming from all directions. He raised his hand and pointed at the room next to them, “There! The aura of live soul!”
As soon as Gu Ye started running, Zhao Pengyu quickly followed, carrying his bulging bag and peach wood sword. He ran into the room immediately and almost bumped into Gu Ye’s back. The room is empty, like a warehouse. There are some white things on the floor in front, which seem to be pieces of something but they can’t see clearly what it is. Zhao Pengyu shined the flashlight at it and instantly turned pale with fright.
“Don’t be afraid, it’s fake,” Gu Ye walked over, picked up a human-looking arm, and shook it at Zhao Pengyu, “The plastic arm should have been removed from a mannequin.”
Zhao Pengyu finally let go of the breath stuck in his throat, and cursed fiercely, “Crazy! Putting these broken limbs here to scare people huh!”
Gu Ye brought the arm over and said, “Shine the light at the edge of the opening.”
Seeing that, Zhao Pengyu wanted to curse even more, “It’s purposely destroyed, not wear and tear. Why would anyone destroy so many mannequins? Got nothing to do after eating (too much free time in hand)? And they even did it so realistically?”
Eh? Look, are they mostly children mannequins?” Zhao Pengyu discovered the problem and asked, “Why destroy children’s mannequins?”
Gu Ye’s expression darkened, “To scare the children. This is the consequence for disobedience.” After Gu Ye finished speaking, he suddenly sensed a live soul running past from outside. He stood up and gave chase.
Zhao Pengyu caught up from behind, “Is it Xia Xiang?”
“Not sure.” Gu Ye ran a few steps and saw a dark shadow entering a room in the blink of an eye, seems to be holding something in its arms. He ran after the figure to enter the room. As soon as he opens the door, he is greeted by a bloody face. Gu Ye got startled and subconsciously took a step back. Looking at it again, he saw a mirror smeared with blood, and the face he saw just now was his own.
Gu Ye angrily pulled the mirror down and smashed it to the ground. Then he went forward to stomp on it and said, “Hong Dou, smash all these creepy things here!”
Hong Dou floats out. She looked at Gu Ye’s angry look with a smile and replied gently, “Okay.”
Gu Ye suddenly felt that his violent temper was suppressed, Sister Hong Dou sure has an inexplicable power to soothe people’s hearts. Watching Hong Dou search out a lot of these things from the house, Gu Ye laughed angrily, “How many bad things have these bastards done to be so afraid of ghosts knocking on the door at night?”
“Gu Ye! Come!” Zhao Pengyu shouted softly outside the door.
Gu Ye went out to take a look and saw that Zhao Pengyu had pried open the window next door. Inside is a bedroom with many small beds, all bunk beds.
“There are signs that children have lived here.”
Gu Ye climbed inside first, “Go in and take a look.”
The two of them jumped in from the window and walked around the small beds. There is a small door at the end. When they opened the door and saw what was in the next room, they both got shocked. Zhao Pengyu was so frightened that he jumped on the spot, “Frck Frck Frck!! AHH AHH AHH AHH!!”
“Shh!” Gu Ye held him down, “Keep your voice down, we are breaking into a private house here. There are people living next door, so be careful of them calling the police!”
Zhao Pengyu pointed at the scene in front of him with a pale face, “Why not call the police?! Or you want to save it for the New Year*?!”
*common sarcasm, in case y’all don’t get it.
What is in front of them is not a living room at all, but a large graveyard. Who would build a graveyard in the living room?! Looking at the edge of the graveyard, there are more than a dozen tombstones of various sizes piled up together. Zhao Pengyu didn’t dare to look at the view anymore. He gave the flashlight to Gu Ye and held up his wooden sword with both hands, ready to fight anyone who came.
Gu Ye squatted down with a flashlight to look. “This tomb belongs to a large family in the Qing Dynasty, a clan. This tomb was built by a descendant of this family. Later, the area got converted into a residential area so the later generations bought it and built houses on it.”
Zhao Pengyu’s hands were trembling as he asked, “Who told you?”
Gu Ye chuckled, “It’s written on the tombstone.”
Zhao Pengyu still feels weirded out and scolded, “Are they sick, building a tomb in the house! There are also traces of people living around this tomb. Crazy ah, sleeping here?!”
At this time, a black shadow flashed past. Gu Ye pointed at the black figure, “Hong Dou, catch him quickly!”
Zhao Pengyu turned pale, “Who is Hong Dou?”
Gu Ye patted Zhao Pengyu and comforted him, “Don’t be afraid, no one can hurt you here. You have lived with your uncle for so many days (in the main residence) so you are shrouded in purple qi. What are you afraid of?”
Zhao Pengyu looked at himself, “What purple qi?”
“It’s a kind of treasure that you don’t know how to use on your body. You just need to know that ghosts don’t dare to approach you.”
When Zhao Pengyu heard this, he immediately puffed up his chest. Just when he was about to brag, he heard a “da-da-da” sound coming from above his head. When he looked up, he saw a little man hanging on the beam, swinging back and forth.
Zhao Pengyu gasped, almost pulling back all the courage he had just mustered up. At the same time, he pulled out his phone to call the police.
Gu Ye took a photo with a flashlight and said calmly, “There’s no ghost aura on it, it’s a puppet.”
Zhao Pengyu got really annoyed by now, “Are they sick?! Why did they hang a puppet up there?!”
Gu Ye looked at Zhao Pengyu’s face and felt a little regretful. He shouldn’t have brought Zhao Pengyu with him. Things that are common to him are frightening to ordinary people.
Zhao Pengyu looked at Gu Ye with admiration, and felt a little distressed, “Dude, what kind of training have you received since childhood? Why are you not afraid at all?”
Gu Ye smiled, “I’m used to it, it’s fine.”
Hearing that, Zhao Pengyu sympathized with Gu Ye even more. How could anyone get used to this kind of thing? He would believe it more if Gu Ye said he got used to them from being tortured.
At this time, the puppet on the beam of the house suddenly fell down by itself and fell to the ground with a slap. A pair of dead fish eyes stared straight at them, then blinked.
Zhao Pengyu really couldn’t believe that it was just a puppet this time, “This doll is quite realistic and can even blink.”
“Emmmm…” Gu Ye’s expression is complicated. He felt a bit embarrassed to say that there was a wisp of ghostly aura on the puppet the moment it fell down.
Zhao Pengyu stabbed the puppet with his wooden sword. Just when he is about to say a few words about this puppet has all its limbs, the unexpected horror arrives. The doll stood up straight, turned 360 degrees in a circle, and then ran away.
Zhao Pengyu’s mind is full of thoughts: It ran away… ran away… ran…
In his 19 years of living, Zhao Pengyu has never been frightened like this before. Even when the ghost bride came knocking on his door, he had never been so scared. Classmate Zhao Pengyu became furious from the shame and anger. He caught up with the puppet with the speed he used to chase basketball, jumped up, and kicked the puppet.
“Everyone dares to scare Laozhi huh?! You guys just won’t stop?!”
Gu Ye palmed his forehead. He actually made such a violent friend, how terrible!
…
Raw word count: 6045 (whole chapter)
Zhao Pengyu: You actually think I’m violent, have you not look at yourself?!
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[Banana: Took me quite some time to translate this chapter lol. I must admit, even though it’s not that scary, it still makes me jump when my phone suddenly make noises when I’m translating. It’s the month of Hungry Ghost Festival after all, and I’m doing this at night T^T]
[1] For more information about ‘hun’ and ‘po’, click on the wiki link I attached. If you are lazy to learn the concept, then you just need to know that Chinese believe a person’s soul is made out of 10 fragments – 3 hun and 7 po. You can’t be lacking either one of the fragments or your soul will be incomplete.
[2] There’s actually another way to interpret the sentence but Banana dunno which one is correct unless we can hear it verbally. The word ‘troublesome’ and ‘please’ is the same chinese character, the meaning differs depending on how it is placed in a sentence.
The second interpretation is “Such trouble. Draw the curtain and close the door.” Banana didn’t pick this because it sounds rude and I don’t think Gu Ye will be rude at this moment.
