Chapter 6: The Disappearance of the Night Watchman

  I remember my grandfather saying that when he was in the Beiyang warlord, one night the soldiers all fell asleep early, leaving two people on guard. However, the next morning when everyone woke up, they found that the two guards had fallen to the ground and were sleeping, with their arms above them and legs spread apart, looking like they were tied up. Their expressions seemed to be awake but also asleep. At that time, even if the guards fell asleep, it was punishable by the highest level of punishment. If the enemy launched a surprise attack while they were sleeping, it would have led to the destruction of the entire army.

  At that time, the officer kicked two night watchmen with a bad face, but they didn't wake up. Finally, he slapped them hard on their faces and woke them up. Later, through the two soldiers' words, it was known that they were suffering from "ghost pressing bed". I imitated my grandfather's way of slapping Dazhuang's face twice, and Dazhuang shouted "Ah" and jumped up, almost knocking me to the ground.

  Before I could even speak, Da Zhuang covered his face and said, "Damn it, Grandpa, Han Xiao Ke, what the hell are you doing hitting me?" He then made a move to come over and slap me twice.

  Seeing this momentum, I retreated two steps. "Damn it, Li Donghai, didn't you know that you just got 'ghost pressed bed'? If I hadn't slapped you twice, you would definitely be a living dead person who can't open his eyes, speak or move."

  "Come on, even if you hit me once, it's enough, but you have to hit me twice, both times with all your might. When you hit me the first time, I woke up, and just as I was about to open my eyes, you hit me again. Are you taking advantage of me when I'm down?" Da Zhuang's eyes were wide with anger, looking like he wanted to swallow me whole.

  As for the two slaps, it wasn't intentional, I just heard Grandpa say that two slaps would be enough, but unexpectedly this kid was knocked out with one slap, and as for the remaining slap, it could only be considered a waste. It's not like I could ask him to come back. Thinking of this, I changed the subject: "Hey, I said, okay, who knew you'd wake up so quickly? By the way, wasn't it you who knocked me out from behind last night?" I paused for a moment and continued: "The extra slap I gave earlier can be considered as payback for your ruthless move on me last night. Why did you knock me out? And how did you get infected with this ghostly curse? What happened last night?"

  "Damn it, you still have the nerve to say that. I reckon if I hadn't knocked you out last night, you'd still be charging forward into the gunfire. If you were alive during the War of Resistance against Japan, you would definitely be a fine young man resisting fascism. That was one hell of a scene last night!"

  Hearing this, I couldn't help but feel curious "Aren't you an atheist? How come you believe in ghosts now?"

  "Last night, I knocked you out and wanted to take you away. I thought that damned thing would continue on its own, and I'd bring you back. It seemed like a good idea for us to part ways with it, but who knew that as soon as I took a few steps with you, that damned thing caught up! What bad luck! Seeing it catch up, I quickly led you along the same route we came from." At this point, Da Zhuang glared at me and said, "You're really heavy!"

  I let out a sigh and told him to continue, Da Zhuang patted his body and found no cigarettes on him, then took out another pack from the cabinet, lit one up and took a deep drag. "When I was carrying you and running away, my speed wasn't slow either, but that ghostly thing was even faster than me, several times it blocked my way."

  Hearing this, I asked "Was she just blocking your way and didn't do anything else?"

  "What's wrong with you, kid? She didn't do anything, what's going on, you still want to have an unfinished romance with her?" Da Zhuang snorted.

  When I heard this, I couldn't help but feel very strange. If the female ghost was a wandering soul, she wouldn't go after people and get entangled with them. If you say she's a malevolent spirit or a vengeful spirit that harms people, then she had several chances to kill me and Da Zhuang, but she didn't make any move like that, which left me completely baffled.

  Seeing me silent, Da Zhuang thought I was angry "Hey ~ Little Ke comrade, brother just made a joke, why are you still angry?"

  "You go on." I don't have time to fool around with Da Zhuang now.

  "Da Zhuang took a drag on his cigarette. 'That thing kept chasing me, I kept running, and several times I bumped into her. Finally, she stopped chasing when we reached the gate. When I sent you back home, your parents had already left for work. I used the key from your body to open the door, carried you to bed, and then left. After returning home, I slept until now.'"

  My parents are indeed doing business, and they leave for out-of-town business trips around 5 am every day, so I never get to see them when they come back.

  After listening to Da Zhuang's statement, I roughly knew what happened after Da Zhuang knocked me unconscious that night. If the female ghost was a malevolent spirit, then at this moment, neither of us should be in Da Zhuang's house; we should already be in the morgue. So, the female ghost must be a wandering soul. But if she is a wandering soul, why does she have to chase after Da Zhuang who has me with him? Is there something going on? If there is something going on, it must be an injustice or some unfulfilled wish that I don't understand. Thinking about this made my head ache.

  Suddenly, I remembered the old man who advised us not to work here. "Dazhuang, do you still remember what that old man said? He said that in the past, those who worked night shifts at this hospital all quit."

  Dazhuang nodded and stomped out the nearly extinguished cigarette butt on the ground. "Ah, I remember, what's up?"

  I looked down at the cigarette butts all over the floor. "Let's clean up the house in two days, it's too messy." I paused and said, "That old man said that no one who used to work night shifts in this hospital is working anymore, so those people who are not working must have also found out about the female ghost in this hospital. Maybe they know what's going on, why don't we find them one by one, maybe we can discover something."

  "After hearing what I said, Da Zhuang leaned in and said 'I'm telling you, why are you so curious about everything? Just because you insisted on following me last night to see what was going on, I almost didn't wake up when I got back. Now you're researching this again, do you want to be a ghost catcher or something?'"

  After hearing Da Zhuang's words, I feel quite sorry for Da Zhuang. If I hadn't come to see what was going on with Da Zhuang today, perhaps he would have had to spend his whole life as a living dead person who can't open his eyes, speak or move. "I owe you an apology for this matter, and this time I'll take care of it myself."

  Dazhuang patted me on the chest and said, "Damn it, you're so sentimental! What I meant by that wasn't what you thought. Even if you can study it thoroughly, it's useless, and it won't change anything." Seeing my determined look, Dazhuang said, "Alright, I'll go with you, just to show some sympathy for the people."

  Looking at Da Zhuang's appearance, I knew that this old fellow was unwilling to let me take risks alone because of his sense of justice, and I couldn't help but feel a warmth in my heart.

  That afternoon, Da Zhuang and I came to Furi Hospital again. To find those who used to work the night shift at this hospital, we had to find that old man first. Only he knew the addresses of those people from before. At this time, Da Zhuang and I arrived at Furi Hospital just to ask where the old man's home was.

  The middle-aged man at the gate was introduced by Old Han to work. Through the address told by the middle-aged man, we came to the door of Old Han's house.

  Looking at the worn-out wooden door, which was no better than the big and strong family's broken gate, I took a deep breath, walked forward and knocked on it. After all, it wasn't very polite to just show up at someone's home after only meeting once, especially when they weren't familiar with me, and our relationship was merely that of colleagues who worked different shifts. Moreover, the old man had already quit his job and was no longer working there.

  Before long, the door opened and a woman in her fifties stood there. "Who are you looking for?" she asked.

  "We're looking for Old Man Zhang. Is Old Man Zhang at home?" After inquiring at the Furi Hospital this afternoon, we found out that the old man's surname is Zhang and his name is Zhang Qihuahua.

  The old woman looked at us and asked, "The old man didn't come back last night, who are you?"

  After hearing the old woman's words, I couldn't help but feel suspicious. The old man had clearly said he was going home after finishing his shift last night, and it was impossible for a nearly sixty-year-old man to not go home at such a late hour.

  After chatting with the old woman for a few sentences, Da Zhuang and I returned along the original road. "Xiao Ke comrade, do you think that old man will go out to flirt with women if he doesn't return home at night?"

  I glanced at Da Zhuang and said, "I always feel that this matter is not so simple."