At dusk, the setting sun fell into the Xiao family villa from the gray window, giving the gloomy and dark deserted house a strange red light.
Deep in the villa, in what appeared to be an ordinary household room, stood a strangely shaped copper brazier. Talisman paper burned continuously within the basin, making a crackling sound. The flames, gradually devouring the talisman paper, took on an eerie green hue, completely unlike any normal flame.
The slender tongues of flame kept swaying in the brazier, like water plants drifting with the waves under deep water.
However, every time the flame was about to cross the edge of the copper basin, it seemed to be blocked by an invisible object, and could only curl along the wall of the basin, tremble slightly, and then swallow more talisman paper.
The men guarding the copper basin wore solemn expressions, each one intently staring at the flames as if facing a formidable enemy. As the talisman paper dwindled and the flame grew stronger, they would fill the basin with stacks and stacks of talisman paper, bundled like bricks.
There was clearly no wind in the room, but everyone could feel a faint air current lingering around them, bringing a bone-chilling chill.
Teacher Xu turned his back to the crowd and stood in front of the locked storage room door that Fang Qianan and Li Xiu had once found strange.
With his eyes closed and his hands clasped together, he kept muttering low and vague scriptures.
"rustle--"
"Rustle, rustle—"
But as Teacher Xu chanted, an extremely clear and impatient scratching sound came from the storage room that had not been opened for more than ten years.
Faintly, one can seem to hear some kind of whimpering sound similar to howling.
Suddenly, flames blazed up inside the copper basin. Talisman papers painted with cinnabar were filled in frantically as if they were free. However, once they entered the copper basin, it was like snow meeting fire, and they instantly turned into countless snow-white paper ashes.
Seeing the scene before them, beads of sweat the size of soybeans appeared on the foreheads of everyone in the room.
The stalemate lasted for about ten seconds before the flames in the basin gradually faded away.
"Click."
The old and heavy iron lock on the door suddenly made a crisp sound due to the shaking of the door.
Immediately afterwards, the entire room fell into deathly silence.
The scratching sound disappeared.
The cold wind also stopped.
Only then did Teacher Xu draw a sharp breath and stop chanting. He staggered back from the door, feeling shaky.
"Okay, it's okay."
He covered his chest and spoke to the others.
If Li Xiu were here, he would be shocked to see Teacher Xu now. The man who had been so gentle and amiable just a few hours ago now looked as if he had lost too much blood, extremely haggard and pale.
The disciples jumped up, rushed forward and supported the staggering Teacher Xu.
"teacher!"
"Master Xu, is it ready?"
"Are you okay?"
…
Teacher Xu raised his hand and weakly signaled his disciples to be quiet.
He leaned against the wall and paused for a long time before gradually recovering. When he spoke, his voice was as calm and gentle as always: "Nothing, it's been handled."
"Qiming Middle School is a bunch of pig-heads. They were fine before, but now they don't care about the good students. It has become like this. Not only did they kill people, but they also made Master Xu waste his cultivation..."
Some people looked at Teacher Xu's miserable appearance and couldn't help cursing angrily.
"I told you it's fine. And this accident can't be blamed entirely on the school staff," Teacher Xu sighed helplessly, catching his breath. He paused for a moment before adding, "The Xiao family has been raising it since the late Qing Dynasty. Over the past hundred years, they've taken the lives of countless of their own children... How could a demon this vicious and treacherous be kept safe forever if it's sealed tightly?"
As Teacher Xu finished speaking, everyone present immediately remembered the origin of the "things" in the Xiao family villa, and their faces were more or less stained with a gloom that was difficult to fade away.
It was Teacher Xu who spoke first to comfort them, "Don't be too nervous. After all, it's just a form now. We've spent so much money, so much manpower, and so much material resources over the years just to neutralize its ferocity. We still have to trust the government and the people. We must be vigilant in our actions against it, but we must be relaxed and calm..."
After hearing what Teacher Xu said, several people gradually relaxed.
However, just as they packed up their things and prepared to leave the Xiao family haunted house, someone inexplicably brought up the past.
"...But those Xiao family members are truly ruthless. They were truly ruthless. A perfectly healthy child, their own, raised by them for years, right? Even a dog would develop feelings for it, yet they had the heart to sacrifice a human being."
When others heard this, they couldn't help but sigh.
"After all, this isn't a child born in this house, it's just a child brought in by the mistress outside."
"Alas, I don't know what that mistress is up to. The Xiao family isn't a good family..."
…
"Stop talking."
Teacher Xu frowned and interrupted his disciples' chattering.
Standing in the front garden of the Xiao family villa, the man suddenly turned around as if he had realized something and looked at the second floor of the villa.
A gust of wind blew by, and in front of the broken window, the woman's swollen, gray face was pressed against the glass, staring straight at the people downstairs, her turbid eyes filled with only pain and despair.
Teacher Xu just glanced at her indifferently, then turned around and walked out.
Just like the noble lady of the past could calmly abuse the illegitimate child brought back by her husband, the seemingly gentle and kind man was also unusually indifferent and responded to the ghost's silent plea.
...For more than ten years, she has been trapped in this house, repeating the scene of her own death over and over again, from death to the final decaying process.
*
At the same time, in an urban village on the other side of the city, Li Xiu was frowning, trying hard to understand her grandmother's mumbling.
"Grandma, what are you talking about? What did you do wrong?"
When Li Xiu was a child, she once heard her grandmother say that she had given a name to the "brother" under the bed.
If my "brother" were still alive...
His name should be Li Yu.
But I don't know since when, grandma rarely calls "brother" by this name.
It wasn't until tonight that Li Xiu heard the name "Xiao Yu" from his grandmother again. The difference was that when he was young, his grandmother would hold him in her arms and gently tell him the origin of the name "Li Yu", but now, his grandmother only spoke with endless fear.
Li Xiu looked at her grandmother who was obviously unconscious, and the expression on her face gradually became solemn.
To be honest, if it weren't for what happened in the Xiao family's haunted house, Li Xiu would have probably regarded her grandmother's chatter as the nonsense caused by Alzheimer's disease.
After all, a key characteristic of Alzheimer's disease is the development of paranoid delusions in the elderly. But after experiencing so many things that were difficult to explain scientifically, Li Xiu couldn't help but feel a sense of panic.
"Grandma, please tell me, what exactly is wrong?"
Li Xiu suppressed her uneasiness and coaxed her grandmother in a soft and gentle voice.
Grandma stared at Li Xiu blankly, her dry lips moving slightly.
As if out of extreme fear, her voice was reduced to a few vague mumbles when she answered.
Li Xiu didn't hear clearly, so she had to lean forward slightly and get closer.
At this moment, a crisp sound suddenly came from the kitchen.
"Bang--"
Li Xiu was shocked.
Rushing into the kitchen, even Li Xiu was completely stunned.
The kitchen was a disaster.
Pots and pans were scattered everywhere, the faucet was open, the water soaked the ground, and all the fresh and stale food had been taken out of the refrigerator and spread everywhere.
Each ingredient is sprinkled with rice.
What shocked Li Xiu the most was that the jar that had been used to store incense ash was now completely shattered.
The dirty water on the ground completely soaked the incense ash and scattered it, making it impossible to collect it anymore.
As for the crisp sound that Li Xiu heard before, it came from a broken bowl.
It is the bowl that "brother" usually uses to eat.
I don't know where my grandmother put it before, but now it is broken into pieces.
Li Xiu stood there and took more than ten deep breaths before he managed to calm down.
"Grandma, what were you planning to do? The kitchen... is such a mess."
Grandma had calmed down by now.
Hearing Li Xiu's question, she raised her head blankly.
"Li Xiu, you're back?"
The old man said, his eyes full of confusion.
"Why are you leaving school so early today?" She paused and smiled, "Did you make any friends at school?"
A drop of saliva flowed down the corner of grandma's mouth when she spoke.
Li Xiu stood stiffly in the messy kitchen, her heart sinking little by little.
*
Li Xiu didn't continue to ask her grandmother those trivial questions.
Taking a deep breath, the boy turned around and began to clean up the kitchen skillfully.
By the time I finished cleaning up the kitchen, it was already quite late. Luckily, not much was wasted. The only things that couldn't be put back in their proper places were the small jar of incense ash that my grandmother had cherished, and the bowl I'd used to bring my brother's meal...
Wait, food delivery?
Li Xiu stood in the kitchen and suddenly realized where the uneasy feeling that had been lingering in her mind came from.
Today... Grandma didn't urge him to bring food to his brother.
Li Xiu stood there for a moment. He felt his throat dry and his stomach tightened.
He felt a strange uneasiness.
Li Xiu stood at the kitchen door and looked towards the living room.
After experiencing the inexplicable panic in the afternoon, grandma seemed to have forgotten her loss of composure. She was sitting on the sofa with her sleeves rolled up, watching TV attentively.
"…"
Li Xiu looked at her grandmother's calm profile, and after a long time she slowly let out a breath from her chest.
He didn't say much, but turned back to the kitchen, scooped some rice from the rice bucket, and put it in another ordinary porcelain bowl.
There was no incense ash left, so Li Xiu didn't bother to mix the ash with the raw rice this time.
I just hope my brother doesn't mind this, right? Li Xiu said to herself.
Of course, the premise is that the "brother" really exists.
After putting the bowl under the bed as usual, Li Xiu sat tiredly in the dusty and dilapidated room for a long time.
He once again recalled what Teacher Xu had said to him in the afternoon, but his mood now became very subtle.
"If grandma really develops Alzheimer's, I guess she'll have to be sent to a nursing home, right?"
Unconsciously, Li Xiu was looking at the uneven shadows cast by the debris in the room on the ground, talking to himself.
"My grandmother's other relatives don't seem very reliable, so I'm the only one left to support her in her old age. Without a college degree, I simply can't afford to support her in her future with my current health..."
"But if I go to college, I won't be able to take care of her. It's too dangerous to leave grandma alone at home."
"But I don't know how much it would cost to send her to a nursing home... I don't think I have that much money..."
Without receiving any response, Li Xiu's voice gradually became lower.
It seemed as if even he himself realized how ridiculous and weak he was at that moment.
"Besides, grandma will forget me soon, right?"
In the quiet, empty room, the thin boy bent his knees and buried his face in his arms.
"If that's the case, I...will be left alone."
It fell with a faint choked whisper.
The room remained silent.
Although he was reluctant to admit it, Li Xiu found that he had indeed been listening carefully to the movements under the bed.
He waited for a long time, but it seemed that even the mice were unwilling to visit this shabby room tonight.
This silence suddenly brought Li Xiu back to his senses.
He was speechless at his thoughts at that moment.
...In the end, the events in the haunted house shook my materialistic worldview.
Li Xiu sighed, smiled bitterly and returned to his room.
Just like what Teacher Xu said, the only thing he needs to do and the only thing he can do now is to study.
Li Xiu said to himself with gritted teeth.
Then, I made up all the homework that I had fallen behind in the past few days because of my restlessness.
When Li Xiu woke up from her happy study, she realized that it was already early morning.
Li Xiu stretched and yawned.
Just as he was about to go to bed, his cell phone rang at an inopportune time.
The caller ID shows Fang Qianan.
Li Xiu stared at the name on the screen for a few seconds before pressing the answer button.
"Fang Qianan?"
"What are you doing?"
The young man narrowed his eyes and spoke indifferently because of Fang Qianan's meaningless question.
"I was sleeping."
Li Xiu really wasn't in the mood to deal with Fang Qianan, so he responded perfunctorily.
Fang Qianan's response was completely unexpected to Li Xiu: "Isn't the light in your window still on? Did you go to sleep?"
Hearing this, Li Xiu instantly came to his senses.
He jumped up, rushed back to his room, pulled open the curtains and looked down through the window.
With the faint light coming from the desk lamp in the window, Li Xiu looked down and saw the tall boy standing downstairs of his house.
Noticing Li Xiu leaning out, he raised his cell phone, looked up with a smile and waved in Li Xiu's direction.
"Hey, why aren't you sleeping so late?"
At first glance, Fang Qianan looks a bit cool and handsome now.
Of course, the premise is that you ignore the fresh blood all over the head and face of the former school bully, as well as the layers of horrific bruises on his face.
The author has something to say:
Xiao Fang: Hey, why aren't you sleeping so late? Why don't we do something fun? (#^.^#)