Chapter 3: Night Entry into the Mysterious Mansion

  Lao Lu also came from the countryside and worked in the city until he was 22 years old, when he had a girlfriend. The girl was exceptionally beautiful and knew how to take care of people, Lao Lu's heart was overjoyed.

  Although he was just a worker, his ability was sufficient. At that time, he had already become the business manager of a food company and felt that it was better to get married early rather than having too many dreams at night. After getting the girl's agreement, they prepared to return to their village to see their parents. In their place, if there is such a big thing as marriage, they must return to the village to offer sacrifices to their ancestors.

  That day, the two of them didn't buy tickets for a clear train, and instead took the last late-night train. By the time they got home, it was almost dark. His parents were overjoyed, holding his girlfriend's hand and refusing to let go.

  Originally, he was going to bring his girlfriend to the grave the next day, but Lao Lu remembered that he had to meet a client and had to rush back early, so he decided to take his girlfriend up the mountain now. Although his girlfriend said she was very scared, she couldn't persuade Lao Lu otherwise, after all, this kind of thing can't be replaced by someone else, so she had no choice but to follow him with a stiff upper lip.

  Their family's grave is about 7 or 8 miles away from the village, after all, the mountain road is difficult to walk, and when two people arrived at the grave with a flashlight, it was already over 9 o'clock in the evening.

  It was pitch black all around, and only the area illuminated by the flashlight could be seen. The old road found his grandfather's grave and brought his girlfriend to kneel down with him. In fact, he also had goosebumps in his heart, after all, being in a dark and deserted place like this wasn't exactly fun. However, facing such a beautiful girlfriend, he couldn't show his fear, so he started arranging the offerings and preparing to quickly kowtow a few times before leaving.

  The old man was pouring wine on one side and muttering to himself when he felt his girlfriend lightly tug at the hem of his clothes, and he casually replied, "Alright, alright, I'll be done soon."

  Just as he was about to kowtow, he felt his girlfriend pulling him again. When he turned around, he saw that his girlfriend had become a nervous wreck. He thought to himself, "After all, she's just a woman with a small heart, what's there to be afraid of when visiting our family's grave?"

  Then he followed his girlfriend's line of sight and was shocked to find a black shadow kneeling about ten or twenty meters away from them.

  In front of the black shadow was also a grave, vaguely visible beside the tombstone where paper money was being burned. The black shadow was kowtowing repeatedly. Lao Lu was scared out of his wits, thinking that at such a late hour, there were still people here to offer sacrifices.

  Later, he felt that something was off because the person seemed to be shrouded in a black cloth, and had kowtowed continuously for over ten times, whereas usually people only kowtow three times when visiting a grave.

  He picked up the flashlight and was about to shine it, but unexpectedly the flashlight didn't work as soon as he held it in his hand. He was startled and thought this was too strange. He slapped the flashlight several times, but it still wouldn't turn on. Had he really encountered a ghost?

  The old road was urgent, and he started kowtowing with his girlfriend, saying "Grandpa protect grandpa protect." He absurdly thought that if it were really a ghost, his grandfather would still be here and wouldn't ignore him.

  This trick really works, and the flashlight suddenly lit up again. It's probably almost out of power, but the light is extremely dim. However, having some light is better than none at all. Lao Lu was overjoyed and plucked up the courage to go take a look. If it's a ghost, running away won't do any good anyway. If it's a person, he can also keep him company.

  Then the two of them sneaked up behind the man, and Lao Lu asked incoherently: "Auntie Uncle, which village are you from? Why are you still sweeping graves so late?"

  As soon as the words fell, he saw that person straighten up and maintain that posture without moving. Just thinking of asking again, he saw this person suddenly stand up and turn his head around. Lao Lu and his girlfriend were scared silly. He saw that the man's head was particularly big, and what was most terrifying was that there was no face on this side either, a grayish-black mass that couldn't see any facial features at all.

  The two of them shouted "Dad, mom" and turned around to run. They had just taken a few steps when they suddenly bumped into a dark shadow and fell to the ground together with it.

  Lao Lu got up and shone his flashlight, "My god!" This big-headed guy had no face, was rolling around on the ground trying to get up. Lao Lu was also scared out of his wits, kicked the shadow twice with his feet, grabbed his girlfriend and ran for their lives without looking back, rolling and crawling all the way home.

  After arriving home, my girlfriend was so scared and tired that she almost fainted. She frightened the people at home to death, and they kept patting her back and handing her water until the two of them finally calmed down.

  At this time, the door was kicked open with a bang, and two "ghosts" walked in. Old Lu saw it and shouted: "Oh no, they're chasing us home!" He turned around and wanted to run into the inner room.

  Right after that, one of the 'ghosts' spoke up: "Which little turtle egg was it just now? Get out here quick and I'll ask you what you were kicking my old man for?"

  After being scared to death for half a day, I finally found out that they were a couple who kept bees. Beekeepers all wear black mesh hats that cover their entire face.

  The couple had a bee farm not far from the tomb, and that day they sold honey at a good price. The couple was happy and went to offer sacrifices to their ancestors. The woman was so excited that she knocked her head several times, which led to this series of troubles. Later, Old Road's mother even gave them 200 yuan to ask someone to see a doctor.

  The story of Lao Lu was finished, and it made us laugh loudly. Liang Zi was so amused that he couldn't help but tease Lao Lu, saying he had no luck while asking him what happened to his girlfriend later on?

  Lao Lu said angrily: "That woman is so unreasonable, she said I have a nervous breakdown and broke up with me as soon as we got home." This immediately triggered another burst of laughter from us.

  Liang Zixiao laughed and opened the car door, saying: "I'm tired of listening to your nonsense, I'll go pee and come back to sleep."

  He turned around and was about to get off the bus when he suddenly stopped, then shouted: "Quickly look, there's a light!" We all thought he was trying to scare us, so no one paid attention to him. He continued shouting: "Seriously, seriously, it seems like there's a house in the mountains."

  I thought his tone didn't sound like a joke, so we got off the car together and indeed saw a faint light shining in the distance of the mountain. I muttered to myself: "Damn it's really eerie! This old road just finished telling ghost stories, and this light appeared, is it to set off the atmosphere?"

  Others also found it strange because when they got on the bus earlier, it was already dark, but no one saw this lamp light up.

  Liang Zixian went to finish urinating, then returned to the car and took out a flashlight to shine towards the light source. The flashlights we bought were all outdoor specialty ones with very bright lights and long ranges, but they still couldn't make out what was going on with that light.

  Liang Zi said: "I think it's a bit far, let's go take a look, if we can stay overnight that would be best, if not then let's borrow a shovel to bring back and use."

  The old man's face changed as soon as he heard that he had to go: "Why don't I say it or go again tomorrow? It's dark and there's no road, if we get lost, it won't be good."

  Li Zǐ immediately said with disdain: "You old man, you're quite good at telling stories, but how come when it comes to the serious stuff, you're finished? We can't even sleep well leaning on the car like this. Why don't we go over and take a look? Maybe they still have an 18-year-old big sister waiting to get married, just in time to make up for the wife you ran away from."

  I also thought it was unreliable to take the mountain road at this time, but I really didn't want to be cooped up in this car for a night. The old road is just telling a story to amuse us, and now these four big guys are not scary at all.

  Let's go and take a look at the past, see what that eighteen-year-old girl looks like. If she's pretty, we'll marry her back.

  Liangzi found a flashlight for each of us and then went to the trunk to find his 'weapons'. I saw that they were several fruit knives, about 20 cm long, probably used for cutting watermelon. Liangzi gave one to each of us, saying it was to boost our courage, just in case someone's girlfriend had a boyfriend and we needed to defend ourselves.

  We continued in the direction of the light, cutting through the weeds and branches with our knives. After about half an hour, I suddenly saw what looked like a village ahead, with some buildings that resembled houses. I told everyone to quickly put away their knives - four big men walking into a village at night with knives would surely scare people out of their wits.

  Everyone put their knives in their waistbands and walked over to take a look, and indeed they had arrived at a village.

  Liangzi, who was walking ahead, turned his head and said: "I say, this can't be Houbaizi Village, if it is, we won't be able to leave tonight." He then sang: "Don't worry, village girl, wait for me to get the treasure and exchange it for money, I'll come back and marry you."

  I heard him making a ruckus over there, so I told him to keep it down a bit. People in the countryside sleep relatively early, don't wake them up, or they'll think bandits have arrived.

  As I entered the village, I found that there were only a few dozen households in the village. The lamp we saw earlier was shining in the middle of the village, and apart from that, there was no other light at all.

  This thing is quite strange, it's not even ten o'clock yet, although rural areas go to bed early, but in this developed society, a village with only one lamp still makes people feel a bit eerie.

  Liáng zǐ led us in big strides, following the village's small path towards the lights. Before long, we arrived at the front door. I discovered that this family's house was actually two stories high. From the outside, it looked like a grand mansion. I thought to myself, if this wasn't the home of a wealthy landlord from the old society, then it must be the village chief's residence.

  As they approached the gate, they found that it was wide open. Inside the courtyard, a high-wattage light bulb shone brightly, making them squint as they looked up.

  Then I saw a large millstone in the courtyard, and an old man with a thin waist was driving a donkey to pull the mill around in circles. I was wondering why they were still working at this time?

  Liángzi led the way into the courtyard and shouted at the old man, "Old fellow, what time is it now? You're still working so hard. Take a break quickly! The Eighth Route Army has brought grain to visit our folks."

  I thought to myself that this kid was too much, always so unscrupulous. Just as I was about to go over and explain things, I saw the old man stop and look at us. At first glance, my heart skipped a beat.

  This old man looked thin and gaunt, with a slightly pointed mouth and bulging eyes that made people feel uneasy at the sight of him. It was already late at night, and he was alone here grinding something, which made me start to have misgivings when I thought about all the things we had encountered today.

  The old man looked at us a few times, without any surprise at all. He didn't feel anything out of the ordinary about these four old men suddenly bursting in. Then he said in his slow and hoarse voice: "Can't just sit around, kids are hungry, waiting for me to cook them something to eat."