Chapter 4: Possessed by a Ghost

  After the old man left, our family of three sat around the small dinner table eating a somewhat tasteless dinner. Whether it's true or not, someone said something unpleasant, and it ultimately leaves a shadow in one's heart. I believe that in every household, there are people who have had their fortunes told and faces read. When they say something good, one naturally feels at ease. But when they say something bad, although one may sneer on the surface, deep down, one can't help but feel some unease. Our family is currently feeling this way - uneasy! Especially my mother, who usually talks a lot, today unusually didn't say a single word at the dinner table.

  "Mom, I'm going out to play for a while!" Putting down my bowl and chopsticks, I threw aside my homework and stood up to say goodbye before heading out. The little friends next door in the alley should be waiting for me to take pictures. Nowadays, I only have three big things to do: eat, sleep, and take pictures. As for studying, that's just something I have no choice but to do.

  "Don't go, wait for me to finish washing the dishes and boil water for you to take a bath. Look at how dirty you are, all day long thinking about playing, playing! Do you dare not let our family worry? Mom's bad mood directly affected my income. Can't go out, can't take pictures of Western paintings, when can I win 100 pieces?"

  Although I had some resentment towards my mother's decision in my heart, under the pressure of years of oppression, I finally chose to surrender. If not, then don't go, finish the homework and rush to watch "The Legend of the Condor Hero" at 8:30 tonight. Speaking of which, Rong'er is really beautiful! In my young heart, I had a crush on the heroine of the TV series.

  It won't take long, in less than half an hour I will have finished my homework for Chinese and math. Well, just finishing it, whether it's right or wrong is another matter! Of course, I also didn't forget the extra "care" from our class teacher. I carefully copied the 8 big characters at the school gate 100 times. For this, I sharpened a few more pencils. The color of these pencils is really nice. Putting the pencils into the small metal pencil case, I sighed to myself.

  At 8:20 in the evening, after finishing all the trivial things at home, my mother turned on the 12-inch black and white TV set at home. There are only two channels, one is the central channel, and the other is Hubei channel, which saves the trouble of switching back and forth. My mother adjusted the channel knob to the central channel, then lowered the volume a bit. Only then did she pull up the curtains, brought a tea cup of tea water to my father, and sat in front of the TV set.

  In the early 1980s, in a small place like ours, only about two or three out of ten families had a TV set. Normally, my mother would never close the door and refuse to let people in. But today was different, she was not in a good mood. So she didn't want to entertain those neighbors from next door who came over to watch TV for free.

  "What did you mean by that long speech? Could something unexpected happen to our Miao Miao?" After peeling a few peanuts and putting them in my hand, my mother turned her head to ask my father who was holding the teapot. In the first decade or so after the destruction of the old society, temples and Taoist temples naturally suffered a disaster. Although the temple buildings were almost all destroyed, superstitious thinking still had deep roots in the minds of ordinary people. Superstition - that's the official definition. However, many things I experienced later proved that sometimes officials are not always right either.

  "What's the big deal? I'll just work a bit harder on Sundays, send him to and from school. Wait till my son is jumping around in front of that old man, see what he has to say then. The only heir of the Lao family following him as a Taoist priest? Don't be ridiculous." Dad said nonchalantly, took a sip of tea, cracked open a few peanuts and put them in his mouth, comforting mom with a carefree attitude.

  "That's what I said, but in my heart... How about we go find that Taoist tomorrow and tell him that we agree to let Mengmeng learn from him? We're just humoring him anyway. When the child grows up, he'll get married and have a job, will he still dare to stop us?"

  "Nonsense, in my life as Jinlong, the worst thing is to ask for help. This time, Lao Dao made a bet with me, wanting me to willingly send my son to be his apprentice. I really don't swallow this tone, and I must win this bet back. I want to see what he's capable of, so sure that my son will get into trouble within 7 days." Old Dad is a stubborn person, you have to stroke his fur in the right direction or he'll explode. Mom's words completely ignited his competitive heart. And of course, the stake is his precious son - me!

  "Stop arguing, the TV drama is starting. What era are we in, still so superstitious." As I watched Rong'er and that annoying Jing'ge who always followed her appear on TV, my little heart couldn't help but feel annoyed. I threw the peanuts on the table and scolded my parents who were discussing something next to me.

  "Open the door, Lou Mengmeng!" Just as I was getting into it, a nasal voice came from outside the door, "Lou Mengmeng, open the door!" Ever since the TV station started broadcasting "The Legend of the Condor Hero", this little girl would come to my house every day without fail to watch TV. And she'd also scrounge up some snacks to eat.

  "Open the door and go, every day you're stuck watching TV. If you put this energy into studying, would your father and I be called to school every now and then to be scolded by the teacher?" Perhaps the old man's words made my mother feel uncomfortable, and for the first time, she scolded me a couple of sentences."

  "Uncle is well, Auntie is well!" The little girl walked in with a neat and tidy appearance, her big round eyes sparkling as she smiled and greeted her father and mother.

  "This girl, she's really pretty! Have you had dinner?" Old Mom pulled over a small stool and motioned for Huo Jingying to sit down, then asked her with great kindness. It made me feel like they were the real family, and I was just an outsider who came to watch TV.

  "After eating, aunt." The little girl suddenly flashed big eyes and was selling cute to the old mom, but suddenly turned her head and raised an eyebrow at me, as if provoking.

  "Come, have some candy!" The old mother didn't know what was wrong with her, got up and walked to the cabinet. She took out a box of candies, picked out two pieces of fruit candy and handed them to He Jingying.

  Watching the little girl triumphantly unwrap the candy wrapper, put that green sugar ball into her mouth, and then sucked it with a hissing sound. I couldn't help but say with a sour tone: "It's not like it's Nine-flower Jade Dew Pill, is it that delicious?"

  "Here, it's yours!" The little girl very generously handed over the remaining candy in her hand. This act of not eating alone and being magnanimous naturally won another round of applause from my mom. And I was left in a dilemma by He Jingying - if I took the candy, it wasn't right; if I didn't take it, it also wasn't right!

  "Tsk, tsk, tsk, this little girl is really pitiful. Mengmeng, how about letting Jingying be your daughter-in-law in the future?" After finishing watching TV and sending away Xiao Yatou, my mother turned around and said to me with a half-joking tone. However, it was destined that she was playing the zither for a cow. At that time, I was more tempted by a piece of hard candy than this snotty little girl.

  Three days passed, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. After three days, the whole family gradually put down their worried hearts. As for Lao Dao's words, my parents unanimously classified them as alarmist talk. My dad rode his Forever 28 bicycle to pick me up and drop me off for three days, but he eventually couldn't bear this torment anymore. In his opinion, a real man should be able to go to and from school on his own without any fuss. A 10-year-old kid still needing to be picked up was not worthy of being the heir of our family!

  "Meow, won and want to hide? Come out and take a photo, I bought another set yesterday. There's Rong'er inside!" A group of kids from the alley came to my door, shouting loudly at my doorstep. As for me "secretly loving" Rong'er, it had already been widely spread among our friends and was no longer a secret.

  "Mom, I'm going out to play for a while!" After finishing the coarse rice in the bowl in two or three mouthfuls, I gave a shout to my old mother on the side. I hastily got up and ran out of the door.

  "Hey, it's really Xiaorong. Fatso, how much did you spend on this oil painting?" I took the painting from a chubby guy at the door and looked at one of them with Xiaorong's familiar smile, asking him with a gulp.

  "2 bucks, huh? I've spent my entire weekly allowance on this. And from now on, call me Liu Jun. If you still call me 'Fatty', I won't let you see the picture of Rong'er!" Fatty Liu Jun snatched the picture back from my hand and said threateningly to me.

  "Hurry up and start, it's almost dark in the alley!" The little buddies next to me were all eager to get a peek from my hand, they didn't have any feelings about Rong'er.

  "Let's go play at the alley entrance, there are streetlights there, and it will be bright even if we play late!" Liu Jun came up with an idea that everyone agreed on.

  Following the little friends to the alley mouth dozens of meters away, I suddenly shivered. Looking up at the sky, the moon had already appeared.

  "Haha, you fatso lost again! Rong'er is mine now! Come on, come on!" From the alleyway came a group of kids shouting and cheering, with one voice in particular being the loudest.

  Unconsciously, the clock hand had already pointed to 22 o'clock. On the road, except for us and a few children who were still taking pictures, there were no other pedestrians. The moon gradually became hazy, and the wind at the entrance of the alley blew up in waves, sweeping the paper scraps and sand on the road and hitting our bodies and faces!

  "It's too late, let's play again tomorrow!" My companions looked at the dark alley and suggested to me with some fear.

  "Rong'er?" Counting the paintings I had won in my hand, I suddenly raised my head to find a woman wearing a yellow cheongsam standing under the orange-yellow lamp light. Looking at her face, if it wasn't Rong'er, who else could it be?

  "Brother Meng~" In a daze, I seemed to hear the woman whispering in my ear. This one call of "Brother Meng", made me feel lazy all over, not wanting to move at all! Afterwards, I felt something crawling into my body from my nostrils and earholes. Then, a stage faintly appeared in my mind, and I was standing on it wearing a theatrical costume, facing Rong'er!

  "Yi~ya~" I threw down the painting in my hand, I curled up my ring finger, and flew a flirtatious glance at the little buddies on the side. Then, standing still, I started singing "yi yi ya ya". What was I singing? I don't know. All I knew was that those little buddies seemed to be shocked and left me in a daze.