Lin Nan gave her a suspicious glance and asked, “Aunt Li, it’s just the few of us here, so there’s no need to keep us in suspense. Just tell us straight.”
Aunt Li sighed deeply before finally speaking. “Lately, I’ve noticed the bed in the neighboring house shaking at night—not only is the sound loud, but it lasts for a frighteningly long time. That’s why I thought there might be a ghost!”
Lin Nan was taken aback. She exchanged looks with Shen Yuer, and for a moment, neither knew how to respond.
What kind of ghost is this—a playboy ghost?
Aunt Li, you didn’t invite us here to exorcise demons; you invited us to eavesdrop!
Suddenly, a serious and earnest voice broke the silence.
“Shaking the bed? Aunt Li, could you please explain in detail? If there are any other specifics, please share them as well. That way, we can analyze the situation better. If there really is a ghost, my sword will show no mercy.”
Huo Yuanyao’s expression was grave as she drew her treasured sword at a slant, her entire demeanor radiating righteous severity.
Then, as if realizing something, she softened just a little, adding, “Well, Lin Nan and Shen Yuer’s swords are hardly any less effective either.”
Lin Nan clenched her fist and feigned a cough. “My sword can be just as deadly.”
“Lin Daoist, please do not belittle yourself. I’ve seen your swordsmanship—the strength, technique, and talent among our generation of disciples, you’re a standout. Though I had hoped to spar with you, unfortunately, there was that accident during the initiation ceremony,” Huo Yuanyao clasped her fists in front of her and quickly stopped Lin Nan’s self-deprecating words.
Lin Nan rubbed her forehead.
Does this woman have anything else on her mind besides swords and cultivation? She didn’t know how to describe it.
So, she could only turn her gaze back to Aunt Li. “Aunt Li, since Immortal Huo says so, why don’t you just tell us what exactly happened?”
“All right.”
Aunt Li put down her bamboo basket and, from somewhere, produced a bag of sunflower seeds and peanuts, handing them to the three women as an invitation to sit down and discuss the matter in detail.
Aunt Li was just an ordinary farmer’s wife. She and her husband worked from dawn till dusk, busy with the daily chores in the fields.
Or rather, the entire Changning Village was busy with such work.
Including Zhang Ergou, who lived next door to Aunt Li.
Zhang Ergou was an old bachelor, taciturn but honest. He toiled away on his small one-acre plot of land every day, occasionally greeting the villagers, but was not difficult to get along with.
The village had tried setting him up with matchmakers, but Zhang Ergou was notoriously unclean and stubborn, and no woman could tolerate him.
It was said that when the matchmaker came to his house in the morning, by noon she had already taken off with the horse cart, afraid to stay even one more second.
This went on for decades—until the week before the heavy fog and wolves appeared.
“From that day on, every night, when my husband and I turn off the lights to sleep, we can hear the sound of Zhang Ergou shaking his bed. The noise is loud and raucous, like birds chirping non-stop, and it goes on for hours. At first, we thought maybe he finally found a good match after a lifetime of repression, so we didn’t bother him. But the dog just got wilder and wilder, and the noise kept me and my husband awake.”
“Hmm, then what happened?” Huo Yuanyao listened intently, though she still didn’t understand why one would shake a bed late at night or what it had to do with a good match. Nevertheless, she was all ears.
“One night, my husband couldn’t take it anymore and went to knock on Zhang Ergou’s door. Guess what?”
“What?”
“The door wasn’t even closed! There wasn’t a light on inside either. My husband walked around inside a few times, shouted out, but no one answered!”
Bang—
A gust of eerie wind swept in, and the door suddenly slammed shut.
Old Li’s whole body jolted, a cold sweat breaking out. He hurried over to the window, took an axe from the wall, and murmured, “Demons and ghosts, be gone.”
Even so, there was still no response.
Old Li fumbled and lit a candle, which finally illuminated the room.
The whole space was neat and tidy, starkly different from Zhang Ergou’s usual messy and disgusting house.
“Looks like Zhang Ergou actually found a good wife. The room is so well kept. I should get my wife to learn from this when we get back,” Old Li thought to himself, even feeling a little envious.
“Wait, hold on. Didn’t I just hear Zhang Ergou shaking the bed? Why is there nothing when I go in? Could it really be…”
Suddenly, a cold sweat broke out on Old Li’s back again. He swallowed hard, gripping the axe while cautiously moving toward the door.
When he was only a foot away, footsteps came from outside.
Then—
Knock, knock, knock—three knocks on the door.
Creak.
Old Li pushed the door open, but outside was empty.
“This is creepy,” Old Li dared not think further. He shoved the door wide open and ran down the path.
The cold night wind blew softly as a dark figure suddenly darted into the corner of Old Li’s vision. In the next second, the two collided hard.
Old Li had had enough. He shouted and, panic-stricken, swung the axe fiercely at the shadow.
“Old Li, what are you doing? Do you want to kill me?”
The clouds drifted away, moonlight gradually spilling down. The shadow faded to reveal a scruffy man whose face was full of anger.
Zhang Ergou.
“Ergou, is it really you!” Old Li cried tears of joy and hugged him tightly, pounding on his back. Having known him all his life, Old Li had never found Zhang Ergou so lovable.
Zhang Ergou pushed Old Li away with disgust and asked, “It’s late at night—how come you’re coming out of my house? What do you want?”
Old Li came back to his senses and hurriedly asked, “Ergou, why aren’t you sleeping at night? What are you doing out here?”
“I just finished fishing!”
Old Li pointed at the fish basket in Zhang Ergou’s hand. “Where are the fish?”
“You…you…”
Old Li saw that Zhang Ergou was about to lose his temper and immediately understood that the night’s catch was probably zero, and he had wasted who knows how much bait.
“Ahem, let’s get to the point,” Old Li lowered his voice and glanced warily at the house behind him. “Ergou, your house might be possessed.”
“Nonsense! What kind of possession? I’m an old bachelor; my yang energy is so strong there’s nowhere for evil spirits to hide. What demon would dare come here?”
Zhang Ergou sneered, but then heard Old Li say, “I hear you and a woman shaking the bed every night. I finally came by tonight to tell you to tone it down. But when I went inside, the house was empty!”
Old Li wasn’t joking. Zhang Ergou grew serious, his mouth hanging open as he looked at his own house. “Impossible! If there really were a female ghost here, would I be out fishing at night?”
“Ergou, how many days have you been out fishing?”
“Just today. I just went.”
“But for the past several nights—yesterday, the day before, and the day before that—your house was shaking!”
“Old Li, you’re joking, right? I was alone for the past few days…”
Before he finished, a sultry, flirtatious voice drifted from Zhang Ergou’s house.
“See?” Old Li pointed.
Zhang Ergou chuckled weirdly, grabbed the axe from the ground, and charged back inside.
“And then?”
Shen Yuer and Lin Nan both composed themselves, putting aside their earlier odd feelings, wanting only to hear the rest of the story.
The follow-up was likely what Aunt Li had really come to ask about.