Haunted House Past: My Female Ghost Can't Possibly Be This Cute (Part 2)
Riding the minus-fifty-floor elevator all the way up, it finally arrived at the first floor.
The elevator doors opened. Stray cats napped on the ground, spring sunlight spilled across the pavement. The first-floor courtyard flowers were in full bloom.
It was a spring I had never seen before.
My buddy was not happy about it. He hadn't dreamed at all.
Nothing at all!
I guessed maybe because I was the one cooking?
So the next night, my buddy absolutely insisted, nothing could stop him from taking a turn in the kitchen.
Burnt steak, rock-hard broccoli, half-cooked rice, a water-boiled fish tragically murdered in the pot...
Word had it that late that night, once again at exactly 4:44 AM, he jolted awake.
He sighed his way out of bed to take a leak.
18
That year, there was a scam going around: door-to-door cockroach insecticide sales.
Sunday afternoon, my buddy was working overtime at the company.
I had nothing to do at home, so I booted up StarCraft and tried to teach the little sister how to pull off a zerg rush.
Just then, a middle-aged woman knocked on our door.
She showed me a notice stamped with an official red seal, something about the municipal pest control department requiring every household to pay five hundred yuan for cockroach treatment.
I didn't think much of it. Paid the money, then went back to my zerg rush.
The lightbulb flickered twice.
She seemed upset.
What's wrong?
Then it hit me. Rat poison was only twenty-five yuan. How could cockroach insecticide cost five hundred?! What kind of cockroaches were these? Was this a municipal project or a biohazard crisis?!
I panicked. That was our food budget for the entire week—all three of us!
I bolted out the door, but the woman was already gone.
I stopped an old grandpa. Sir, did you see a middle-aged woman? Wearing an armband, kind of chubby?
The grandpa pointed me in a direction. I ran three blocks, but she'd vanished without a trace.
I trudged back home, deflated. Timidly, I said to the little sister: I didn't catch her. She can really run.
No sound from the apartment.
Still mad?
I took a sip of water, then spat it right out.
She didn't go chasing after that woman too, did she?!
Once more I ran out the door, scanning the area in bewilderment. Suddenly, I heard a stream of cursing coming from the stairwell.
I crept up the stairs, following the sound. Sure enough, I spotted the woman again, cursing at the air with everything she had.
Middle-aged women, it turns out, possess combat abilities far beyond expectations. The profanity was positively unprecedented—every crude word imaginable flying out of her mouth.
Finally, she hawked a few loogies: You think your little ghost wall trap can hold me? I'll curse you to death!
Then it clicked. The little sister had used her powers to trap the woman in the stairwell, only for the woman to unleash a torrent of abuse back at her.
I pictured the little sister cowering in a corner of the stairwell, clutching her head, trembling.
Rage surged through me. The woman opened her mouth to keep cursing, and I grabbed her arm, glaring.
She froze.
"Shut your mouth," I said. "Keep the money. Now shut up and get out."
The woman scratched me black and blue—she was a scratcher AND a screamer.
But at least she left, still muttering curses. I sat down on the steps, feeling utterly pathetic.
I didn't know where the little sister was hiding. I could only speak to the empty air, trying to comfort her.
"We can always earn the money back."
"Safety's what matters."
"If something happened to you, we'd be so worried."
"Hey, are you still there? Still there?"
No sound from the stairwell. She'd probably gone home already.
Feeling foolish, I patted myself off and started down the stairs.
The exit to the stairwell had disappeared.
I froze.
I walked down several flights of stairs—I should have reached the first floor by now.
I turned around. The floor number behind me still read six.
I took off one shoe and left it in place. Then kept walking down, around the corner—and there was my shoe, waiting for me on the next landing.
I was still stuck on the sixth floor.
Well, I was caught in a ghost wall too.
I put my shoe back on, thoroughly confused.
Had I said something wrong?
Little girls' tempers are really hard to read.
Then it hit me. I said tentatively: "Your ghost wall... impressive! That woman wasn't even in your league! You totally won by playing dirty."
Okay, the flattery was a bit transparent.
"Let me tell you, that woman was absolutely terrified. Her cursing was pure desperation." I added: "Just a little more and she would've coughed up our five hundred yuan. Well done!"
She really had been waiting for me to praise her.
I felt my hand, suddenly tugged by a girl's grasp.
I turned around. The exit was right behind me.
19
I held up my hand and gave my buddy a detailed account of the afternoon's adventure.
He gazed reverently at my hand, sighing in wonder.
I said: I feel like your next move is going to be licking it.
My buddy sighed: Our food money is gone. What now.
Let's go borrow some.
Borrow again? My classmates are about to block me.
Same here...
We sat there sighing.
The living room was filled with materials my buddy had brought back from the company.
That winter, the company had organized a business expo.
Yes, a company on the verge of bankruptcy, spending big money on an expo.
In retrospect, this was probably its final flail before death.
The company had prepared a batch of raffle prizes. First prize was a compact Bluetooth speaker.
Some brand I'd never heard of, but it looked kind of cute—like a pink brick.
Our place was close to the venue, so all the materials, including the prizes, were temporarily piled up at our apartment.
After making several loan-request phone calls, both of us exhausted, we collapsed on the couch.
I couldn't help sighing: I wish the little sister could give me a shoulder massage.
My buddy said: Shut up, we just replaced the lightbulb.
Then I remembered—the landlord had said his daughter loved listening to Stefanie Sun's songs when she was alive.
I connected the speaker to my phone via Bluetooth and opened Stefanie Sun's album.
No singing came through.
It couldn't be broken already—we just bought it.
My buddy kept skipping tracks. Finally, music started playing. It was Stefanie Sun's "Encounter."
"I hear, winter's departure"
"I wake up, in some year, some month"
When it reached "Meeting you is the most beautiful accident," the speaker stuttered.
"Meeting you, you, is the most beautiful accident."
Two "you"s.
My buddy and I exchanged a look. He teased: "Those two 'you's—no particular order, right?"
I didn't hesitate: "Me first."
"Me first."
"Me first."
"Me first, me first, me first. Period, period, period."
20
Actually, I'd blurted out: Do you like it?
I felt sure she must really love this little speaker. Even when we weren't home, she'd have music to keep her company.
The volume adjusted itself upward. The bright, clear accompaniment was like a little girl happily saying:
I like it.
But my buddy and I fell into awkward silence.
Remembering that jaw-dropping price tag.
Two broke guys who couldn't afford it even if we emptied our pockets.
A feeling came over us—like poor old fathers who couldn't afford their daughter's birthday present.
On the day of the expo, my buddy and I ran around busy, serving tea and water.
During a smoke break, my buddy handed me a stack of raffle tickets.
I paused.
He grinned: A lot of guests left early. I kept the tickets.
Huh? Left?
Probably figured out the company was sketchy.
I shook my head in amazement. What fearless revolutionary optimism.
Unfortunately, not a single one of those tickets won.
Not even the consolation prize.
While cleaning up the venue, my buddy nudged my arm.
I said: What?
After the new year, let's get different jobs.
Huh? You're not going back to school?
We're seniors already. No classes left, just need to submit our theses.
Then... let's find something that pays better.
Yeah. Save up. Buy the speaker.
21
That winter arrived. Heavy snow fell everywhere.
Every morning, I'd see the railway workers, breath clouding in the cold, working on construction at street level.
"They're building a subway," my buddy said while we waited for the bus. "After this, we won't have to squeeze onto the bus for our commute."
My buddy and I made arrangements with our respective universities.
As long as we finished our theses, we could stay in this city for work after the new year.
Like a couple of old fathers, we excitedly planned what we'd do once we had money.
Get a proper folding screen for the living room, install a TV, set up a proper entertainment system.
Maybe she could even learn to crawl out of the TV like Sadako and scare us occasionally.
If she could actually climb out of the TV, that'd be incredible.
We'd have to take her shopping for clothes, reunite her with her dad. Then maybe save up for her college fund, her dowry... getting ahead of ourselves. Looking back at this nearly-bankrupt company, our meager savings, and this drafty old house...
It didn't feel quite so cold after all.
22
One weekend, I groggily woke up and found the landlord had come.
He was talking to my buddy.