Chapter Five: The Ghost Sings an Opera

  "Look, the king! In the tent, sleeping soundly in clothes. I came out of the tent and walked freely. Lightly moving my feet, I walked forward, standing still in the wilderness. Suddenly lifting my head, I saw the clear moonlight. Gently holding the hem of my good little jacket, I stood by the roadside and sang out loud. And suddenly, my parents had arrived at my side, led by those little friends."

  "Rabbit son, how did you take a Western-style photo and end up with this getup?" Dad's face turned blue and white by turns. At this moment, he had no idea that his precious son was possessed by a ghost. He just felt that in front of so many old neighbors, I came up with this neither-male-nor-female attire, which really lost face for the old Lou family.

  As soon as he finished speaking, my old man, who has always advocated for the use of force to suppress people, was about to come over and give me two slaps on the back of my head. In his words, it's "Let me knock some sense into you!"

  "Uncle, stop!" At the critical moment, it was still Xiao Yu who spoke out to stop Father's slap. Little Yu, wearing a colorful dress made of unknown material, stood in front of Father and stretched out her hand to block this rough man.

  "Alright, alright, go home now. Uncle wants you to be clear-headed today." Dad showed his broad-mindedness towards this little girl who was good at being cute. He gently patted her head twice and spoke warmly to her.

  "Everyone go back, this kid doesn't know what play he's watching and got mesmerized, making everyone laugh!" The old mother, with a mindset of not letting family shame be known to outsiders, was kindly advising the surrounding neighbors who had gathered over. In those years, there wasn't much entertainment, and even doing some exercise was hard to find a place for. Once the sky darkened, most households would close their doors and look for their own fun. Our household finally had this kind of thing happen, and the neighbors didn't sleep all night. In groups of three or five, they surged towards the entrance of the alley, wanting to see the excitement, and tomorrow at work, they'd have something to chat about.

  It wasn't easy to finally persuade that group of people who wanted to sit on the Yellow Crane Tower and watch the boat capsize to disperse. Only then did my mother come forward, ready to drag me back home and hand me over to my father for a good scolding, so I could sober up. Many years later, while watching TV, my mother suddenly asked me, "Son, are those people on stage who are neither male nor female the same as you were when you were possessed by a ghost?" To this profound question from my mother, I had no response.

  "There's no need to make a scene here, you're not afraid of others laughing at us on the street!" The old mother pulled her father's clothes and whispered in his ear. In her opinion, fighting was inevitable, but the location needed to be changed. Once they got home, she would close the doors and windows before continuing the fight.

  "Uncle and aunt, you can't hit Mengmeng. He's encountered something unclean. If you hit him, you might provoke the thing inside his body. Who knows what kind of terrible things might happen." Huo Jingying circled around me three times, then turned back with a serious expression on her small face, saying this to my parents.

  As Huo Jingying circled around me, a strange sense of fear inexplicably arose in my heart. Or rather, the "it" inside my body felt a hint of fear towards Huo Jingying.

  "Ah!" Huo Jingying pulled out a hand drum from behind her waist and tapped it once. The sound of the drum seemed to wake up my thoughts. At this moment, I tried hard to open my mouth, wanting to say something to Dad and Mom. But all that came out was a meaningless "hiss" sound.

  "Ding-dong~ding-dong~" Huo Jingying saw that the drumbeat was effective on me, and immediately took off her small cloth shoes as well. The two strings of copper bells tied to her ankles were exposed, and her delicate feet stomped on the ground, causing the sound of the copper bells to enter my ears. As the drumbeats and bell sounds alternated in a rhythmic pattern around my ears, I began to feel a growing sense of discomfort in my chest. It seemed as though there was a pent-up energy stuck inside me, wanting to find an outlet to release it!

  "What's Ah Sa Ri Ji Xi! Ding ling, tong tong!" I clearly saw the sweat dripping from Huo Jingyan's forehead and her muttering this sentence. I didn't understand what it meant, but I could feel that with each recitation, the suffocating feeling in my chest would dissipate a bit. Gradually, my legs and feet were able to move slightly again. No longer like just now, stuck to the ground like a tree stump, unable to move even if I wanted to!

  "Go back to where you came from and don't come to bother my classmates." Led me into the house, Huo Jingying finally stood in the hall with a pale face and said to "me".

  "I just want to sing a good show, why can't you tolerate me?" I spoke up, but what came out of my mouth was the voice of a lovely young girl. This made the old lady beside me thoroughly convinced that I had really encountered a ghost, and not only that, it had also possessed me. As for the old man, he turned his head around, looking as if he was preparing to beat the thing out of my body.

  "There's a difference between humans and ghosts, if you want to sing opera, go find a deserted place to sing. But since you've possessed my classmate's body, your evil energy and yin energy will cause great harm to his body. I wouldn't have encountered it if I hadn't met him today, but now that I have, if I don't drive you out... the Shamans won't forgive me." Huo Jingying let the sweat on her temples drip down, shook the small drum in her hand, and said to "me" with a stern expression. That's right, she was stern, that's the feeling she gave me at the time.

  "Hehehe~ Little girl, I see you're not as capable as I thought! How is it? Do you feel weak and sleepy? Be a good girl and go back to sleep. After I finish this play, I'll leave here." The thing inside me, or rather, she, was negotiating with Huo Jingying. After all, Huo Jingying's current state wasn't just visible to ghosts, even my parents understood that little girl's abilities were shallow, and she couldn't handle this female ghost!

  "You, sing the opera, spare my son, come to me instead!" My mother walked up to me, trembling and begged! At this moment, I deeply felt my mother's selfless maternal love. She was negotiating with the ghost, wanting to take my place and let that female ghost possess her. Knowing that being possessed by a ghost would cause great harm to one's vitality, but my mother didn't hesitate at all, she stood up for me!

  "Hmph! You think I can just casually possess someone and sing an opera? This thing also requires a bit of fate. If it were really up to me, wouldn't everyone be possessed by 10 or 8 ghosts? Don't disturb me while I'm singing, wait until I finish and I'll naturally leave. If you keep bothering me, I won't be able to sing. I'm warning you, if you continue, I'll devour your precious son in one bite, leaving not even a crumb for you!" The female ghost rotated her eyeballs, threatening the old father and mother, including the somewhat weak He Jingying. You ask me how I know the female ghost is rotating her eyeballs? Damn it, because my eyeballs are also rotating! The female ghost's thoughts were all displayed in front of everyone through me.

  "Uncle and aunt, I'm keeping an eye on Mengmeng here. By dawn, Mengmeng will be fine. However, by tomorrow night, Mengmeng will still be in this state. The show isn't over yet, she won't leave." Huo Jingying very kindly didn't abandon ship, instead she moved a small stool and sat down at the door.

  "How long is she going to drag out this show?" My mother was at her wit's end, and could only hope that the female ghost would finish her performance quickly with a few words, and then leave me.

  "It's hard to say, it depends on how many plays she can sing before she dies. Is she only able to sing one act or a whole play? And who knows how many acts she'll be able to sing in total? If she can sing a lot, I reckon she won't leave until after 10 days or half a month!" Huo Jingying counted on her small fingers as she said this to her mother.

  "What? 10 days, half a month? Then my Miao Miao..." The old mother felt a wave of dizziness wash over her and began to sob while leaning against the five-drawer cabinet. Anyone could understand that if a ghost stayed on one's body for half a month, would there be anyone left afterwards?

  "Call Zhang Sheng, hiding under the chessboard. I step by step, you crawl step by step. Be brave and hold your breath, don't be afraid, this matter is making my heart chaotic......" Ignoring others, the female ghost manipulated my body, circling around the house and singing "The West Chamber" again. My mother saw the female ghost sing again, and at that moment, tears fell from her eyes like rain. And Huo Jingying was clenching her small fists, her face pale as she tried to recover her "magic powers".

  "Red Flag Hotel, you guys keep an eye on this kid at home, I'll go to the Red Flag Hotel once!" Just when everyone was at a loss for what to do, it was still Old Dad who came up with a solution. He remembered what Lao Dao had said before he left: "If within 7 days this kid has any abnormalities, remember to come find me at the Red Flag Hotel!"

  "Ah, ah! Then you go and come back quickly!" Although Mother loves her son dearly, she is only a weak woman after all. Letting her face me alone with the little maid when I'm possessed by a ghost would still make her somewhat afraid in her heart. On one hand, she's responding to Father, but seeing Mother walk to the corner of the house and pick up the broom used for sweeping the floor, she stood leaning against the wall, trembling, holding the broom and staring at me.

  The female ghost in my body didn't care about the two women, big and small, inside the house, and sang her opera by herself. Maybe she was really suffocated for a long time, and once she started singing, there was no stopping. One play after another came out, until my throat became hoarse, only then did she stop!

  "Useless, you've only sung a few lines and your voice is already gone. Never mind, let you rest for a while, and then accompany me to sing again." The female ghost looked down on me with a sentence, and then allowed me to rest my voice with great compassion. To be honest, at this time in my heart, I didn't have any bad feelings towards the female ghost! Maybe it's related to her transforming into Rong'er's appearance before possessing my body?!