Chapter 49: Their Secret II (1)

  There were many candles lit in the room, which allowed me to see everything clearly in front of me. On the wall in front of me, all sorts of colors were painted on it, looking no different from Old Chu's house. And on the sofa in the corner, a black-skirted doll was placed.

  I noticed that the candles in the room were also white, and the whole room had an eerie atmosphere. I remembered the purpose of being here, looked around with my eyes, but didn't see Xiaohui anywhere. I hastily asked the person hiding in the corner: "Where's Xiaohui? What happened to her?"

  That person seemed to be somewhat afraid of the knife in my hand, but after hesitating for a moment, he still walked over, took a piece of paper from the table, wrote a few words on it and handed it to me. I thought to myself, could this person be mute? As I casually took the paper from him.

  It seems that this person who wraps themselves up so tightly that their face can't be seen is a woman. The handwriting on the paper is very elegant, but the content shocked me greatly. It reads: "Don't speak out! She's going to take Xiaohui away, save her!"

  I was startled and immediately forgot the first sentence on the paper, opening my mouth to ask: "Who wants to take away Xiaohui, tell me quickly!"

  The woman obviously didn't expect me to ignore the sentence she wrote on paper and speak directly, uttering a cry of surprise, and immediately stretching out her hand to cover my mouth, but everything was too late. Her hand hadn't reached my face yet, and I had already spoken out what I wanted to say. From her sudden exclamation, I could also tell that she should be an older woman.

  I took two steps back, staring at her tightly and asked: "Who are you? Where is Xiaorui?"

  That mysterious person's body kept trembling, his head constantly turning around, as if hiding something in a corner. I shouted again: "Stop pretending to be a ghost! What happened to Xiaohui? If you don't speak up, I'll call the police!" While speaking, I took out my phone from my pocket.

  That mysterious person kept waving at me, then seemed to make a big decision, slowly taking off his headgear. My eyes were fixed on her every move, and when I saw her take off the hood and reveal her face, I couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise, took a few steps back, dropped the knife in my hand, mouth agape, staring at the woman in front of me with a terrified expression.

  This is the first time I've seen this woman, but I'm sure I won't be mistaken. If this face were twenty or thirty years younger, it would be almost identical to Xiaohua's. This person must be Xiaohua's mother, her mother who has been dead for over twenty years.

  I had thought it was possible that I would really encounter a ghost, but I hadn't expected the one I encountered to be Xiaodui's mother. Although this wasn't my first time seeing a ghost, I still couldn't help but feel scared every time. My two legs were trembling uncontrollably and I could barely stand steadily. I wanted to turn around and run away, but my legs simply wouldn't move. As I watched Xiaodui's mother walk towards me step by step, I finally let out a loud scream.

  Xiao Wei's mom was startled by my loud voice, then she looked around nervously, her face showing a tense and fearful expression, as if afraid that someone would hear me talking. After a while, she turned her head to me and said: "Don't be afraid, I'm here to ask for your help with Xiao Wei."

  When she said this, I let out a loud cry: "It's you! It's you!"

  Yes, this voice is too familiar. It's the voice of that old woman from the Dream Club. I've been searching for the Dream Club for so long and now I finally met her, Xiaorui's mother, whose name is Liu Huifang.

  Although I knew her identity, I still couldn't help but feel afraid. Mrs. Liu also noticed my strangeness and said: "What are you afraid of? You saw her too, didn't you?"

  "This last sentence is a bit inexplicable, I asked: 'Who did you see?'"

  Liu's mother's face turned even paler with fear, saying: "It's her! She wants to take Xiaohua away, help me!" Perhaps she was too tense, after saying these few words, she began to hold back heavy breathing, just like what I heard on the phone.

  Since nothing terrible has happened for so long, my heart has gradually calmed down. Mrs. Liu must be looking for me to help her, she shouldn't harm me, and there are many things I need to figure out from her. I took a deep breath and asked: "Where is Xiaorui?"

  Liu's mother had a tense look on her face all the time, and when she heard me ask where Xiaorui was, her body suddenly shook, looked up at me with a hesitant expression. I was anxious in my heart, and asked urgently: "Where is Xiaorui after all?"

  Liu's mother hesitated for a moment, as if she had made up her mind to a great extent, and said: "You come with me, but please, no matter what happens, you must help me, no matter how scared you are."

  I thought to myself that you're a ghost, but at least for now, you haven't done anything to me, and I'm not as scared as I was in the beginning. So I nodded my head and said, "I agree with you."

  Liu's mother seemed still a bit uneasy, but after thinking about it, she didn't say anything else. She let out a soft sigh and said: "Follow me, I'll show you something."

  I felt a bit strange: you said that Xiaorui was going to be taken away, but why didn't you tell me where Xiaorui is? At the very least, I could take her to report to the police. But I don't know what you want me to see. Although my heart was thinking this way, my feet still followed her tightly into the inner room.

  Liu's mother lit the candle, and the inside was actually very simple, without the messy colors on the outside wall. Liu's mother picked up a box from the table, walked in front of me, and said: "You open it and take a look."

  I was a bit curious and didn't know what was inside, so I opened it up and found that it seemed to be a large piece of cloth, folded up neatly and tidily, without anything strange about it.

  "Take it out," said Mother Willow softly.

  I gently took out the piece of cloth, and Mrs. Liu came forward to help me unfold it. By the light of the candle, I saw clearly what this piece of cloth looked like. It was a window curtain, exactly the same as the one I had seen in my room. But what shocked me wasn't the appearance of the curtain, but rather that on the curtain, I saw the shape of a small child.

  That was a painting painted with a dark brown pigment, although not very realistic, but still can be seen as a child's appearance. I don't know what Mrs. Liu meant by showing me this curtain, and I looked at her in confusion. Mrs. Liu said: "In the past, Xiaorui was exactly the same as this curtain, because it was the imprint left on her body by blood."

  Every hair on my body stood up at once, I almost thought I had misheard, and shouted loudly: "What did you say? Say it again!"

  Liu's mother looked at me with a strange gaze and said: "But she always thought she was still living well, the one who died is me."

  I slumped against the table, yes, I had discovered Xiao Hua's abnormality early on, but I never thought about it in that way. Before my eyes, the little girl from the newspaper seemed to appear again, and I saw the hanging doll once more. Perhaps all along, I didn't dare to admit this outcome. When Liu Mama told me everything, when the last layer of gauze was torn away, I still had no choice but to face it. At that moment, I don't know what my heart felt.

  But suddenly I had a flash in my mind and I exclaimed loudly: "No! You deceived me!"

  Liu's mother was full of differences, I didn't care about her expression, and said loudly: "If what you're saying is true, then Xiao Nuan should still be a little girl by now, it's impossible for her to become a big girl."

  I spoke loudly, because I saw Erniang and Dong Agen's son, they were all the same as when they died, unchanged, no reason why they couldn't grow up normally like a normal person until they reached Xiaorui.

  I think this is the most sufficient reason I have, I couldn't tell who was alive and who was a ghost, those legendary methods no one has verified whether they are true or false, but I really saw two people who had already died with my own eyes, their appearance was still the same as before, I can only use this as my standard for distinction.

  I looked at Mrs. Liu with a sense of pride, wanting to see what else she had to say, but I didn't expect that as soon as I finished speaking, her face suddenly turned pale, and she began to tremble all over, her eyes darting back and forth. I was startled by her reaction and asked, "What's wrong?"

  Liu's mother was clearly frightened, and it wasn't until I shouted for the second time that she heard my question. She grabbed my hand and said, "I didn't deceive you, everything that happened to Xiao Rui is all because of her."

  This is the second time I heard Liu's mother mention "her", and I hastily asked: "Who is she?"

  Liu's mother grasped my arm tightly, her whole body trembling as she said: "That woman with the red teeth!"

  I hastily supported Mrs. Liu and said, "Auntie, please sit down and take a break." I was extremely shocked in my heart, knowing that there must be many other stories behind this, but I didn't dare to ask her. In Mrs. Liu's brief words, too much information had been revealed, but each piece of information was incomplete. All I could do was try to suppress the shock and questions in my heart, waiting for her to calm down before continuing slowly.

  After a long while, Mrs. Liu finally came back to her senses, looked up at me with a sorrowful face and pulled my arm, saying: "Please help me, don't let her take away Xiaorui."

  Actually, I still don't know the whole story until now. All I heard was Mrs. Liu repeatedly asking me to help her, so I could only comfort her for the time being and said: "What do you want me to do?"

  Liu's mother was beaming with joy and said: "You agreed?" I nodded and asked: "Then what should I do?"

  Mother Liu looked around cautiously, as if afraid of being overheard, lowered her voice and whispered to me: "You must never write again!"