The ghost is coming to attack

  I shook my head: "Don't know!"

  "Don't know?" He gave me a glance, and I felt that his gaze was like seeing through me. Then he said: "Is it that you don't know, or don't want to say, or dare not say?"

  I shook my head expressionlessly again and said, "I fell asleep, I don't know anything!"

  "Was it you who did it? You even said that Hong Ning harassed you before, and then you had another argument with her yesterday?" he asked.

  I shook my head and said, "It wasn't me! If you have evidence that proves I killed Hong Ning, I'm willing to take the law!" I spoke clearly, but it was obviously a ghostly act, how could they possibly have evidence?!

  "If you don't listen to advice, I hope you can bear the consequences!" After he finished speaking, he stood up and left. I saw him say something to the prison guard at the 'gate', and then I was also taken out of the cell, with handcuffs on my hands and feet. Suddenly, I felt a little like laughing - could it be that they really took me for a criminal?

  "I demand to see the evidence!" I shouted, I must let someone clear the evidence for me, now Huo Xiaoqi is unreliable, as for An Jia, I still don't quite believe what Yun Li said, what if that was a trick set up by Yun Li? I want to confirm it personally!

  The prison guard pushed me and said: "Go! Something big has happened, you'll have to wait until you're out of solitary confinement before visiting!"

  I'm stupid, it turns out I was locked up! As expected, when I walked on the dark and humid corridor, I found that there were many small doors here, each door had a window above and below, occasionally you could hear some sounds coming from inside the doors, but they didn't sound very good.

  Some were muttering to themselves, talking wildly and incoherently, their voices eerily mournful.

  I was pushed into a very small room, with only one lamp on the ceiling. The room had nothing but a bed, a washbasin and a toilet! I suddenly felt panicked. In this less-than-ten-square-meter space, it was dark and damp. As soon as I came in, I felt a little scared. Knocking on the door, I asked: "When can you let me out?"

  The only response was a maniacal laugh echoing down the corridor.

  "Hao Xiao Ran!" I shouted out his name in despair.

  Nothing! There's nothing, he didn't show up, and I can only sit on that hard 'bed' staring blankly at the lamp above my head. My life has been ruined since the day I married into the Huo family. Schemes, hatred, tactics - those people will stop at nothing, and I even saw a ghost... was it just a dream?

  Every time I calm down, I think, is this just a nightmare?

  Until a hollow 'cave', an illusory voice came from the edge of the 'door': "Thank you!"

  I was startled and jumped onto the bed, only to see a woman in prison uniform standing by the door, her hair tied back in a ponytail, with an extremely pale face. But what I saw through her body was the door behind her. I realized that she was a ghost!

  "You!" I was still a bit afraid, because up until now, all the ghosts I had met were vengeful spirits!

  "I'm leaving now, but before I go, I want to thank you! Thanks for letting me kill Hong Ning with my own hands!"

  I saw what looked like tears in her eyes, and she narrowed them, only to see a blood-red mark on her neck! Until the sound of "thank you" faded away with her figure, until it finally disappeared from sight!

  I still don't understand, lying down, rarely quiet, time passing by one minute and one second, while I sleep in a daze, when waking up, even not knowing what time it is now, looking at the 'door' only to find that someone has put something under the 'door', walking over to pick it up, only then seeing that it's food.

  Is it just edible? I brought it to my nose and smelled it, a strong stench, threw it away, and I burst into tears. Why is my life such a mess?

  "How dare you! I hate you!" I shouted in anger.

  "Hate me? If you hadn't cleverly pushed me away, would you have today? If you had been willing to make a deal with me from the start, how could you possibly have today?"

  Unexpectedly, I saw him floating in mid-air, looking at me, and all I could do was cry, not knowing what to say. He was right, if it wasn't for my own cleverness, believing Wang's wife, how would I have ended up going to the hotel, and getting framed?

  "Yes! I was trying to be clever and cut ties with you, but is that wrong? You're clearly a ghost, yet I'm pregnant with your child. You're clearly a ghost, yet I've found myself starting to care for you. Clearly, we shouldn't be together as humans and ghosts are different paths...and I..." My voice was hoarse from crying out loud, and finally, I buried my head in my knees and sobbed uncontrollably.

  Until his icy hand stroked the top of my head, he said gently: "Don't worry! All the sins you are suffering from now, I will return them one by one. What you need is just to protect our children well."

  I was surprised, I thought he would coldly mock me, but his voice was warm, the kind of warmth that can soothe my heart.

  "Hao Xiao Ran!" I pulled up his hand, actually I really thanked him, although I felt myself too inferior, no qualification to say thank you, I still looked at him seriously and said: "Thank you!"

  It was him, however, who shook his head and said: "What are you thanking me for? It's I who should be thanking you instead. Thank you for choosing to believe in me in the end, thank you for deciding to give birth to our child after finding out you were pregnant with her. I'm the one who ruined your life, but you have to believe me, I'll give you another perfect life!"

  I stared blankly at him, unable to speak a word, never having thought that he would be such a warm person.

  Fortunately, I wasn't locked up for too long before being let out. However, I was transferred to a different cell, and when I was sent in, there were only two people inside, both of whom looked quite old! When I entered, their enthusiasm surprised me, until the oldest-looking 'woman' handed me a cup of water and said: "Are you okay? Were you scared?"

  I nodded at first, then shook my head. She looked at me and said, "Poor kid!" I didn't feel offended; they seemed to be about the same age as my mom.

  "My surname is Li, everyone calls me Sister Li. That's Liu Sister because she has been here for the longest time, so her days are still going well."

  "Is Hong Ning dead?" Liu sister asked.

  I nodded silently. Unexpectedly, Liu sister slapped her own thigh and shouted: "It's really refreshing! That neither male nor female scourge is finally dead! Heaven has eyes, heaven has eyes!"

  "I heard that Hong Ning's death wasn't even the worst, but that fatty's death was almost beyond recognition!" Li Jie sat down beside Liu Jie and said in a low voice.

  I hung my head, looking at the water in my hand. At this moment, I almost couldn't tell who was friend or foe. Although I really wanted to drink it, my heart felt very afraid. Except for Huo Xiao Ran, I didn't trust anyone!

  "Sister! Have you heard? Hong Ning died under very suspicious circumstances!" Liu sister stared at me with wide eyes, looking curious.

  But I was a bit dazed and asked: "What's wrong?" I was worried if that frail 'woman' had said something about me.

  "I heard you got a fingerprint, do you know whose it is?" she said.

  I shook my head, and Li Jie spoke up first: "Don't talk nonsense, Xue Mei has been dead for almost two years, if that's true, isn't it just a ghost!"

  "You don't know, I was doing chores in the kitchen today and overheard the prison guard talking! The two of them were speaking as if it were true, it was terrifying!" Liu's sister said with a flourish.

  "But I whispered: 'Xue Mei Zi?'"

  As soon as I spoke up, Liu sister was like she had been injected with 'chicken' blood, and she said even more forcefully: "Xue Mei, was driven to death by Hong Ning, everyone knows this, what a pity for such a good girl! It's really evil getting its due retribution! Now Xue Mei has come to demand repayment, Hong Ning deserved to die!" After finishing speaking, she even spat on the ground.

  As soon as I heard this, I thought of that 'female' ghost I had seen in the little black house before. Could it be that she was the Snow Sister they were talking about?

  "What does she look like?" I still want to 'get' it.

  Liu sister suddenly jumped down from the "bed", started rummaging through the "drawer" beside the "bed", until she handed me a photo, pointing to a clear-eyed and elegant-looking little girl on it, saying: "It's her, she was only 19 years old that year! What a pity!"

  It was her, the one I met in the small black room. She saw me staring at her and sat down beside me, saying: "Xue Mei has been getting along well with the people in this prison since she first came in! Ah!" She sighed, shook her head and said: "It's really, 'women' are just born to suffer!"

  I looked up at Liu Jie in confusion, and Liu Jie crossed her legs and said: "Xue Mei, a country girl, heard that she met a boyfriend while studying, who knew that man was not human! He actually deceived her into transporting drugs! As a result, she was sentenced to five years, unfortunately, she was ruined by Hong Ning because of her beautiful appearance!"

  "Did Hong Ning kill her?" I asked.

  "It's just the same as murder! Xue Mei was driven to hang herself in the toilet by Hong Ning! A good person, gone just like that! Ah!" This response wasn't from Liu Jie, but rather Li Jie who had been sitting across from me.

  I only realized now, no wonder when I saw her at that time, there was a very obvious strangulation mark on her neck. Also because all of these matched up, my heart suddenly relaxed, because the murderer indeed had nothing to do with the child in my belly, what a relief!

  "Didn't you see anything last night?" Liu sister asked, taking the photo from my hand and putting it back in the drawer.

  She didn't utter a word, and then she said: "I heard that the fat man died miserably, the whole room was stained with her blood! What's even more frightening is that I heard from the prison guard that there were teeth marks all over her body! The scene looked like she had been bitten to death by many people."

  Sister Li listened attentively, I put the cup on the table and leaned back on the "bed", Sister Liu looked at me and asked Sister Li: "Do you know whose tooth marks were found on Pangzi's body?"