Chapter Twenty Overnight

  Su Tong's sofa was a double sofa, although it could sit three people at ordinary times without feeling too crowded, but letting Tang Hao, a man over 180 cm tall, sleep on it would still be somewhat inadequate. It wasn't until Su Tong pulled out the spare quilt from the closet and put it on the sofa that he finally realized this problem.

  "You go and sleep in my room, I'll sleep on the sofa, you're shorter than me." She said to Tang Ao.

  "No, let's put those formalities aside for now and not think about them. I just checked the room again and found that the fluctuations on the compass in the living room are quite strong. Although it was deliberately hidden to make us unable to find it, I think it should be hidden somewhere in the living room. It's definitely not suitable for you to stay in the living room."

  Su Tong was startled, she was really scared. If what had just happened were to happen again, she estimated that she would lose half her life. Looking at Tang Hao's expression, it didn't seem like he was trying to scare himself. But since someone had come over to help with good intentions, thinking only of self-preservation at this time seemed a bit unreasonable. Su Tong asked worriedly: "What if the thing is really hiding in the living room? Won't it do something bad to you while you're sleeping?"

  "I sleep lightly at night, I'm not afraid." Tang Ao was not tense, except for the moment when he knocked on Su Tong's door, his expression was tense and serious, otherwise it was always like this, very calm and composed.

  After he finished speaking, Su Tong didn't know what to say either, and the two people fell silent again.

  "How do you understand these things?" After a moment of silence, Su Tong searched her mind and found another topic to break the silence, which was indeed a question she had in her own heart. "I'm asking you this without any intention of offending you, is there some foundation for this in your family? I've heard that many people who do interior design, especially those so-called masters with big names, often have some knowledge of Feng Shui and other mystical things."

  "I guess it has nothing to do with my family," Tang Ao said with a bitter smile. "I'm an orphan."

  "Ah..." Su Tong felt regretful as soon as he heard him say that, thinking to himself that he was also at fault for not being clear about other people's situations and asking insensitive questions. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't know..."

  "No big deal, it's not like it's an unhappy memory or anything," Tang Ao said with a wave of his hand. "To be honest, I don't remember much myself. A few years ago, I suddenly fell ill and almost died. It was a miracle that I survived, even the doctors at the hospital thought it was unbelievable. But after I recovered, I couldn't recall many things from before. Unless I try to think back, everything feels like a blur, vague and unclear. I can only vaguely remember how I got into college, how I worked part-time jobs and took out student loans, graduated and then worked for others for a few years, saved up money and opened my own small studio... but the details are all fuzzy. I think it's okay this way, it doesn't affect my current life and past things won't become a burden in the future. And after that big illness, I even gained some new insights, so it's all good."

  Su Tong nodded, although Tang Ao said it lightly, she still found it hard to imagine that he had come so far on his own, how many difficulties he must have gone through, and how difficult it must have been. After all, she wasn't a spoiled girl from a wealthy family, but she was also raised under the care of her parents and elders. After graduating from college, she found her ideal job, earned a salary to support herself, and her parents would often boast about their daughter being smart, sensible, and independent, not causing them any worry at all. They praised her so much that Su Tong felt embarrassed in front of their neighbors.

  Now thinking about Tang Ao, Su Tong really felt that she didn't have anything worth praising or boasting about.

  "Am I making the topic too heavy?" Tang Ao looked at Su Tong's complex expression as he sat silently beside him, and asked with a smile. Then he glanced at the time, "It's getting late, you should hurry back to your room to rest, don't be afraid, I'm here. Oh, of course, if you're afraid when I'm here, you can consider taking that fruit knife in and locking the door from the inside. The fruit knife may not be useful against spirits, but it's more than enough for me."

  Su Tong was amused by his serious attitude, and it wasn't until he pointed it out that he realized the fruit knife he had been frightened into throwing away earlier was actually lying on the ground beside the sofa.

  Su Tong got up to go back to her room, but Tang Ao stopped her and pulled out a yellow paper that had been folded into a triangle from his pocket. He handed it to her and said, "Put this under your pillow when you sleep tonight."

  "What's this for?" Su Tong took it over and subconsciously wanted to open it up to take a look.

  Tang Ao immediately stopped her action: "Don't dismantle it, dismantling it may make it ineffective. I also saw this method on an old book from a second-hand book stall. Although I'm not very familiar with it, every step is strictly followed according to the procedure in the book. This thing should be able to help you calm your mind and have a good sleep tonight. If you don't sleep well because of nervous tension after being frightened earlier, and have nightmares or something, that would be terrible. Just remember to put it under your pillow."

  Su Tong nodded and also reminded Tang Hao to rest well at night, then returned to his room and closed the door. Tang Hao sat on the sofa, waiting for half a day without seeing the light in her bedroom go out, knowing that she was probably scared and didn't dare turn off the lights. He changed the direction of the pillow Su Tong had given him, so that when he lay down on the sofa, he could still keep an eye on Su Tong's bedroom. Although he had discovered some flaws in his previous fight outside the door, Tang Hao now felt more confident, and even if he couldn't guarantee a 100% victory over the evil spirit, at least the other side would have some apprehension and fear of him, which was like adding an extra trump card to his hand.

  He lay on the sofa, glanced at the fruit knife on the small tea table beside him, and couldn't help but smile silently. Fortunately, Su Tong didn't really bring this knife into the room, otherwise his mood would definitely be complicated.

  Just now he and Su Tong said, were their own actual situation, including himself as an orphan, relying on his own efforts to get to today, including having had a serious illness, miraculously recovering after forgetting many things before getting sick, but there was one thing he didn't say, afraid that saying it would scare Su Tong.

  For Su Tong, Tang Ao has an inexplicable feeling, and his attention to this female neighbor is so high that even he himself is a little surprised. When did he start to feel different about her, Tang Ao can't say, maybe that thing was also erased from his memory along with many other things before he got sick, but people's bodies often have very strange reactions, maybe because of some reason, people will forget names, forget faces, but can't forget feelings.

  Tang Ao had always hoped to have the opportunity to get to know and understand the girl who lived across from him better, but the two people had never met before. It wasn't easy to make this wish come true, but fortunately, heaven seemed to be helping him. His colleague in the workshop was hospitalized for an IV drip, and Tang Ao went to visit him at the hospital. Unexpectedly, he ran into Su Tong in the elevator, and also saw the "old lady" who had long since passed away but still lingered in the mortal world following behind her.

  What happened next was beyond Tang Ao's expectations. Su Tong injured her foot and he encountered her, his yin-yang eyes vaguely saw a faint black aura surrounding her ankle, and later that night, he saw two black handprints on her ankle. Tang Ao's heart became even more certain, and as a result, he paid more attention to the Su family.

  If it's said that after recovering from the illness, he suddenly became interested in some mysterious things, this was just an instinct. Later, using his free time to study and read relevant materials, he coincidentally found ancient books on this subject at a second-hand book stall, which only satisfied his interest. Until now, he felt grateful for having such extraordinary skills, and unexpectedly got acquainted with Su Tong, even helping her out of danger when she was in a critical situation.

  As he thought of this, a question suddenly popped up in Tang Ao's mind. Su Tong's first encounter with trouble was after their chance meeting, and then it came one after another, never subsiding. Was it his chance meeting with her that helped her out of a predicament? Or were her strange troubles, after all, related to her connection with him?

  Tang Ao had just thought of this, and he laughed again. He was just a person who had some perception of these things, seeing ghosts and dealing with them wasn't something new to him. He didn't think he had offended that lonely wandering ghost, so how could he have such deep hatred for something that would also implicate Su Tong?

  Tang Ao shook his head, reminding himself that this was not the time to be distracted. He sat up from the sofa, crossed his legs, and pinched a finger on each hand, closing his eyes while being vigilant and meditating at the same time.

  Su Tong slept exceptionally well that night, originally worried that she wouldn't be able to sleep due to excessive fright. However, as soon as her head touched the pillow, she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. By the time she woke up in the morning, she felt refreshed and invigorated, with all fatigue from the past few days, including the shock from the previous night, completely gone. Her entire being was revitalized, and she even faintly detected a sweet fragrance.

  Wouldn't it be that I'm actually dreaming? This thought suddenly appeared in Su Tong's mind, scaring her so much that she was petrified. Her good mood just now had instantly turned into nothingness. Hadn't she just had a dream of blue skies and white clouds earlier, only to have it turn into a nightmare later on?

  However, can people smell odors in their dreams? Su Tong vaguely remembered that he had seen an article before, which said that people have no sense of smell when they are dreaming and cannot smell any odor. In that case, he should be awake now and not trapped in a dream.

  But although she thought so, her heart was still not at ease. So Su Tong decided to use the most primitive method to test it out. She stretched out her hand and pinched her thigh hard, hurting so much that tears almost came out, only then did she feel a little more at ease, thinking that she had really woken up.

  Out of the room, the fragrance was even stronger, with coffee and scrambled eggs mixed together. Su Tong sniffed his nose and followed the sound coming from the kitchen to find Tang Wei making breakfast. On the table were two sliced egg and ham sandwiches, two cups of coffee, and Tang Wei was washing a frying pan. Around his neck was the only apron that could be found in Su Tong's house - a pink and white checkered apron with a circle of snow-white cotton lace and a small pocket with a cat head pattern on it. This apron had been hanging in the kitchen since Su Tong bought it, thinking it looked nice, but he never actually used it to cook because he was a complete novice in the kitchen.

  Never thought that this apron would be useful for the first time, and it was actually worn on Tang Ao's body!

  Looking at this tall and sturdy man, with a pink apron with lace edges hanging around his neck that was clearly mismatched with his height and build, the scene was... quite bizarre, yet had a kind of bizarre cuteness to it. Su Tong couldn't help but burst out laughing with a snort as he stood in the kitchen doorway.

  Tang Ao heard the laughter, looked up and saw Su Tong standing at the door, looking at him. He didn't feel embarrassed at all, beckoned to her: "Wake up? Did you rest well last night? Eat something!"

  "You look good in that apron, I think I'll just give it to you." Su Tong sat down and teased Tang Ao with a smile. Perhaps because they had shared some experiences, people could quickly eliminate their sense of strangeness and establish a certain level of trust and connection in a short period of time. Su Tong now felt this way about Tang Ao, although he knew that the two of them hadn't known each other for long and couldn't be said to really understand each other, yet he still had a sense of trust towards him.

  Tang Ao took off the apron and hung it back in its original position, smiling and saying: "That's not necessary, if I want to wear it, it's better to come over here to wear it, so you can see it more conveniently."

  After he finished speaking, he saw that Su Tong's expression was slightly taken aback, seemingly a bit embarrassed as well. He hastily explained: "What I mean is, if you're willing to occasionally drop by my place and hang out with me..."

  "It's normal for neighbors to be close, and there will be opportunities in the future." Su Tong's cheeks were slightly flushed. Although she didn't have much dating experience, it didn't mean she was insensitive in this regard. Tang Ao's actions had already exceeded the bounds of neighborly help. If she couldn't feel it herself, then she would be too foolish. As a girl, she still had her own little pride, but when it came to emotions, she always trusted her instincts. The feeling Tang Ao gave her, up until now, was actually not bad.

  Alright, maybe even better than just okay, so Su Tong is willing to give each other a chance.