Chapter 4: Before Catching Ghosts (Mid-Autumn Happiness)

  Hua Qi sighed, feeling greatly disappointed in her heart. She hadn't expected Hua Ou to come up with such a terrible excuse. Since she hadn't clarified things properly at Mr. Ma's house earlier, it wouldn't be good to go back and explain now. It seemed like she could only bring it up during dinner tonight; if that didn't work out, she would really have to wait until tomorrow.

  After dinner, Hua Ou went to Mr. Ma's room to see if he needed anything. After knocking on the door and entering, she saw Mr. Ma writing calligraphy at his desk. Hua Ou wasn't interested in ghosts or spirits, so she didn't pay much attention to things related to them either. She couldn't understand what Mr. Ma was writing, but it seemed strange that the paper and ink he used were a bit off, unlike those used by cultural figures on TV.

  But Hua Ou was really not a cultured person and couldn't understand these literary things, standing there dazedly asking: "Let me see if you want to drink some water, do you want me to call someone to brew a pot of tea for you? Or bring some fruit or melon seeds?"

  Mr. Ma smiled and said it was not necessary, then continued to "write" again. In fact, the tea, watermelon seeds and other things had been prepared by Huamei's mother long ago. Rural people are generally rule-abiding, and being inhospitable will be gossiped about, who dares to slack off.

  Hua Ou looked at the tea and fruit on the coffee table, smiled awkwardly, and walked away.

  Hua Ou returned and said that Mr. Ma was studying hard, so several people didn't dare to disturb him. Hua Ou wanted to take a nap, and Hua Qi was bored for a while, so she went back to her parents' house in the same village. Before leaving, she said she would come here for dinner, which was an appointment.

  After Huaji left, Hua Ou drove to the city to buy some food to entertain Mr. Ma. Also, Hua Ou and Huaji usually work in the city and rarely return home, now that they're back, they should cook a good meal.

  Hua Qi then asked her unit leader for leave, saying that she had something to do and couldn't come to work tomorrow. While speaking, she thought to herself that if the boss didn't grant her leave, she would have to ask Mr. Ma to catch the ghost tonight while having dinner, otherwise the boss would be very angry and the consequences would be severe.

  As a result, the boss was very easy-going this time, and once Huaji spoke up, the boss didn't say anything and approved her leave.

  After hanging up the phone, Hua Qi was still thinking. Monday is usually very busy, she is a receptionist and is the face of the company, if she doesn't go to work, there will be no one at the front desk, how can her boss be so kind as to give her a day off?

  The whole afternoon passed like this, Huaji came to the kitchen of Huaou's home when they were preparing dinner, feeling embarrassed, she waited for dinner and busied herself in the kitchen with "Xiao Nainai", while Huaou went to invite Mr. Ma, who had just finished his own affairs, tidied up and came out, after giving Mr. Ma a seat, he started chatting with him.

  While chatting, Hua Ou seemed to say casually: "Tonight, the two of us will sleep in my room. That new house of mine has dirty things, who would dare to go there at night?"

  As soon as Hua Ou said this, Mr. Ma roughly understood what he meant. At noon, he said he wanted to go to that house, but Hua Ou didn't respond, and it seemed like she was afraid.

  Mr. Ma patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, nothing happened last night, which means the ghost won't harm people for the time being, it just wants to scare you. If you're still afraid tonight, that's okay, just send me there and wait for me downstairs, I'll clean up by myself."

  At this time the meal was ready, Huaji brought the dinner table to prepare for eating, hearing Mr. Ma say so, she quickly said: "How can that be? How can we leave you alone in there?"

  Hua Qi looked at Hua Ou again and made a desperate expression with her eyes. She had just asked for leave, and if she could solve it tonight, what would she do tomorrow?

  But Hua Ou ignored Huaji and didn't know if he had received Huaji's signal. After thinking for a moment, Hua Ou said: "Alright, tonight I'll go with Huaji to accompany you, and then Huaji will stay in the car. If something happens, it'll be easy to find someone to help."

  Hua Qi let out a sigh of relief, it seemed he still had some brains after all.

  After the discussion, they started having dinner. In rural areas, when guests arrive, women do not join the table, even if Hua Qi hasn't returned home for a long time. So, Hua Ou and his father accompanied Mr. Ma to have dinner in the east house (in rural areas, the east house is the main house, where guests talk with the host, unless they are very familiar with the host's family, otherwise they usually don't go to the west house). Hua Qi had a small meal with Hua Ou's mother in the west house.

  After dinner, Mr. Ma just took a break and digested his food. He didn't pretend to wait for someone to invite him, but instead proactively said he wanted to go take a look at the house where the accident happened. Hua Ou went to start the car and even remembered to bring Mr. Ma's things along.

  When they arrived at the destination, Hua Qi followed closely behind, but before she could take a few steps, Hua Ou turned around and told her to stay in the car and lock the doors, completely ignoring Hua Qi's expectant gaze. Hua Qi's request was not approved, so she pouted and returned to the car with three backward glances.

  Hua Ou's house was on the fifth floor, not high or low, and it was a bit tiring to climb up. However, Mr. Ma insisted on taking the stairs, saying he didn't trust elevators. Hua Ou wondered if he would still insist on climbing the stairs if they were on the eighteenth floor.

  It was already dark when they arrived at the fifth floor. As soon as they entered, Mr. Ma seemed to sense something and said solemnly: "There's really something in this house, but it's okay, it's not a big deal. However, we need to wait until midnight for the ghost to appear. How about this, Old Hua? Call your daughter up first, she must be bored waiting in the car."

  This made Huaji, who was waiting downstairs, rush to the fifth floor house like a whirlwind after receiving Hua Ou's phone call, of course taking the elevator.

  After entering the house, Huaji kept asking Mr. Ma when to start catching ghosts and what to use, but Mr. Ma didn't say anything. After trying a few times, Huaji felt embarrassed about always being enthusiastic while others were not, so she helped Huao clean up the house instead.

  After they finally tidied up the room to make it look less messy, it was already past 10:50, just a few minutes away from midnight as Mr. Ma had said. They hadn't noticed while they were busy, but now they saw that Mr. Ma had his eyes closed and seemed to be meditating. Huaji thought to herself, "Is he not nervous or scared at all? Or is he really confident?"

  At this time, Mr. Ma also opened his eyes and said, "Finished? Once you're done, start preparing to drive out the ghost." He went to close the doors and windows, turned around and saw Huaji still there, so he said, "Little girl, I think you should go back to the car and wait, I'm afraid you'll be scared." After finishing speaking, Mr. Ma started his own business.

  Hua Qi was about to say something, but Hua Ou said: "I think you should go wait in the car too, you're a girl and your physical condition is weak, if you encounter a ghost it won't be good."

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