Village Chief Tian shouted at Liu Dashao, “Run! What are you still standing there for?”
Under the moonlight, Liu Dashao turned around and gave Village Chief Tian an awkward smile.
Seeing the eerie grin on Liu Dashao’s face, Village Chief Tian broke into a cold sweat and asked, “What’s wrong with you? Don’t scare me like that!” He then took several steps back.
Liu Dashao suddenly burst into laughter and said, “Old Uncle, I thought you were braver than me. Looks like you can be scared too! Look carefully—it’s not a ghost, it’s just a paper figure.” With that, he hugged the paper woman to his chest.
Upon hearing it was only a paper figure, Village Chief Tian finally felt relieved. He stepped closer and indeed saw a paper woman in Liu Dashao’s arms. Looking around, he noticed more paper-made items—houses, sedan chairs, and such. Under the moonlight, anyone who didn’t look closely might mistake them for ghosts.
It turned out they were standing beside a newly built grave.
According to rural customs, after a person is buried, paper replicas of gold and silver mountains, sedan chairs with bearers, and golden boys and jade girls are placed beside the grave. These items symbolize that the deceased will have children and servants to accompany them in the afterlife. These items are left on the grave for a while before being burned. Coincidentally, the two had chosen this new grave to rest on.
“Stop fooling around,” Village Chief Tian teased Liu Dashao. “If you like women so much, when you grow up, I’ll introduce you to a girlfriend. Now put down that paper woman—be careful, she might turn into a ghost and come to your house tonight.”
Startled, Liu Dashao immediately pushed the paper figure away and asked fearfully, “Really? You’re not lying to me, are you?”
Seeing that his joke had frightened Liu Dashao, Village Chief Tian suppressed a laugh and exaggerated further, “Why would I lie to you? I heard from the elders that graveyards are filled with yin energy. If a paper figure absorbs too much yin energy and then your yang energy, it might become a spirit. At night, it will follow your scent and come for you.”
Liu Dashao, terrified, asked, “Then what should I do?”
Village Chief Tian burst into laughter and said, “You actually believed me? Do you really think a female ghost would come looking for you? I was just scaring you!”
“Oh, so you were just teasing me! You scared me half to death!” Liu Dashao glared at Village Chief Tian.
Village Chief Tian retorted, “But you scared me too just now!”
“Whatever, whatever, whatever!”
By now, it was late. The silver moonlight bathed the ground, and the cries of crickets echoed all around. After discussing and compromising, the two decided to head home.
Just as they were getting up, Village Chief Tian suddenly heard someone calling his name. His heart, which had just settled, leapt to his throat again. Thinking it was just ringing in his ears, he dug his little finger into his ear.
Seeing this, Liu Dashao said, “Uncle Tian, why are you digging your ears while walking? Be careful not to damage them. My neighbor Wang the Deaf man dug his ears while walking and ended up falling and going deaf.”
Village Chief Tian lowered his hand and said, “Nephew, did you hear someone calling my name? It sounded like it came from far away.”
“Stop it,” Liu Dashao snapped. “Earlier at Lingguan Temple, you pulled the same trick. Don’t you know any new ones? ‘Wolf is coming’ works once, but saying it twice or thrice makes you look like a fool. Besides, in this remote wilderness, who else would call your name besides me? Don’t try to scare me again.”
Village Chief Tian’s face turned red as he defended himself, “I’m not making it up! I really heard someone calling my name—it sounded like Guo Qiang. Otherwise, why would I randomly dig my ears?”
After carefully observing Village Chief Tian for a moment and concluding that he wasn’t joking, Liu Dashao grew serious and said, “Uncle Tian, no matter what you hear, never respond. If you do, your soul might be taken away. Ghosts often mimic the voices of people you know to call you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a distant voice called out, “Tian Guangrong! Tian Guangrong! Where are you? Answer me!”
This time, both of them heard it clearly. Village Chief Tian was so frightened that he stared at Liu Dashao in terror and asked, “What should we do now?”
Liu Dashao cursed, “Damn it! Just got rid of the shadow ghosts, and now the soul-stealing ghosts come. What bad luck we’ve got! Time to run!” He looked at Village Chief Tian, and the two took off running.
As they ran, they could still hear the eerie voice echoing in their ears. It seemed to come from hell itself, never ceasing. Sometimes it called Liu Dashao’s name, sometimes Village Chief Tian’s. Both clenched their teeth tightly, afraid that even a single sound might attract the ghosts.
They didn’t know how long they ran, but eventually, the voices calling their names faded away, and they stopped.
Suddenly, Liu Dashao said, “I remember the elders saying that if you’re lost in the ghost path, you can just pee, and the path-blocking ghost will let you through.”
Still panting, Village Chief Tian replied, “Oh, I remember too! Nephew, you really should have told me earlier. You disappointed the organization’s trust in you! Why didn’t you say something sooner? We ran so far for nothing! What are we waiting for? Let’s pee now!”
“I just remembered it myself,” Liu Dashao said.
At this moment, Village Chief Tian clung to this last hope like a lifeline. Not caring about his dignity anymore, he quickly unfastened his belt and began urinating. Liu Dashao followed suit, unfastening his belt and straining hard. From a distance, it looked like two streams of water rushing out.
After finishing, Liu Dashao felt refreshed. Seeing Village Chief Tian still standing with his back to him, he asked, “Why aren’t you done yet? Didn’t you already go before we entered the graveyard? Are you drinking too much that you have so much urine?”
Village Chief Tian tightened his belt and cursed, “Damn it! If I had known we’d meet a path-blocking ghost, I wouldn’t have peed before entering. I wasted all my effort just squeezing out a few drops—less than a cat’s pee.”
Liu Dashao laughed, “If only we had known earlier!”
Village Chief Tian replied, “That’s true!”
“You look! How come the moon is gone all of a sudden?” Liu Dashao looked up at the sky.
Village Chief Tian also looked up and said, “Strange! Why are there so many clouds suddenly? Even the moon is covered.”
Neither dared to point at the moon. According to old northeastern folklore, pointing at the moon with your finger means the moon is pointing back at you. One moon, two moons, one ear, two ears. Since ears resemble the moon, pointing at it means it points back at you, and your ears might mysteriously rot away.
After looking up for a while, the moon completely disappeared. Liu Dashao said, “Screw it! We need to escape for our lives.”
“Bad news!” Village Chief Tian shouted, pushing Liu Dashao who was still looking up. “Nephew, the path is unclear. There’s thick fog everywhere!”
Liu Dashao looked around. The path was completely obscured by thick white fog. He cried out, “We’re done for! We can’t even see the road anymore!”
As the saying goes, even a rabbit bites when cornered. Enraged, Liu Dashao jumped up and shouted into the night, “Damn it! If you want our lives, come out! I’m right here, waiting for you to gut me! Show yourselves! Stop pretending and acting spooky! I’m not afraid of anything! Even if I die, I’ll become a ghost and haunt you back, making your world dark and chaotic!” He raised his fist, looking fierce and proud.
Village Chief Tian shouted, “Nephew, a wise man doesn’t fight when cornered. Calm down! Let’s just sit here and wait for dawn. It won’t be long now.”
“Easy for you to say! How can I stay calm? We’re worse than ants, being toyed with, not even knowing if it’s a ghost or a human!” Liu Dashao suddenly screamed and fell forward.
Hearing Liu Dashao’s scream, Village Chief Tian quickly got up and asked, “Nephew, are you okay?”
Liu Dashao, lying on the ground, replied, “I’m fine. I must have tripped over something.”
Village Chief Tian walked over, helped Liu Dashao up, and examined what had tripped him. He said, “Look! Isn’t this the bamboo stick I dropped earlier?”
“When did you get a bamboo stick?” Liu Dashao was puzzled.
“Oh, earlier when I saw the paper figure, I thought it was a ghost, so I grabbed it for protection. Later, when nothing happened, I just dropped it behind us,” Village Chief Tian said with an embarrassed smile.
“Oh no!” Liu Dashao exaggerated his pain and cried out, “Uncle, you nearly broke my hand! It’s going to fall off! You owe me at least three packs of Da Tuanyuan cigarettes!”
Village Chief Tian moved closer and gently rubbed Liu Dashao’s hand, asking, “Nephew, are you feeling better now?”
Suddenly, Liu Dashao remembered something and asked, “Wait a second, Uncle. If you dropped the bamboo stick behind us, how did it end up in front of us now?”
Village Chief Tian replied, “Yeah, that’s strange too. I dropped it behind us and kept running forward. How did it get in front of us again?”
They looked at each other and said in unison, “We came back!”
Both felt despair. Liu Dashao sat on the ground, refusing to get up, and said gloomily, “We’ve been running around all night and still can’t get out of this cursed graveyard. I should’ve never followed you down this path!”
Feeling guilty, Village Chief Tian sat beside Liu Dashao and tried to comfort him, “Nephew, it’s too late to regret now. We’re already here. Looks like we’ll have to stay here tonight. Don’t try to find a way out in this fog. Let’s sit and wait for dawn. Once it’s light, we can find our way out. Look at the fog around us—it’s impossible to find the path even if it exists.”
Liu Dashao nodded in agreement and said, “Guess we have no choice. I’m exhausted from all this. Let’s just take a nap.” He leaned against Village Chief Tian and fell asleep.
At this moment, Village Chief Tian was also exhausted from running around all night, but he couldn’t sleep. Looking at Liu Dashao, who was already snoring, he smiled bitterly and muttered, “You sleep so peacefully, but I’m suffering. With your snoring, you might even get carried off by ghosts.”
He recalled his grandmother’s words from childhood—path-blocking ghosts usually don’t harm people; they just trap you in place. That’s why they couldn’t escape no matter how hard they ran. There were no vengeful spirits chasing them. It was all due to their own fear. Their paranoia created illusions. At that moment, they were too scared to think clearly, which was exactly what the path-blocking ghosts wanted. They scared themselves, ran frantically, and ended up back where they started.
As he thought, Village Chief Tian felt his eyelids grow heavy, as if weighed down by lead. He was extremely tired—more tired than after taking sleeping pills. His head nodded forward for a few seconds, then jerked up, only to nod forward again like a chick pecking rice. In his daze, he felt something cold and small touching his face. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw a short child wearing old-style funeral clothes with coin patterns, a landlord’s hat, red cheeks, and a pale face. Seeing Village Chief Tian open his eyes, the little ghost frowned, bared its teeth, and was about to pounce.
“No!” Village Chief Tian shivered like he had been electrocuted.
He woke up with a jolt, his hand slipping from his knee. He muttered to himself, “Thank goodness, it was just a dream. I must be too tired to have such a nightmare.” He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Around him, the crickets chirped merrily in the grass, and the two men’s stomachs growled in the endless darkness.
At that moment, footsteps approached from a distance. Village Chief Tian, tense and alert, nudged Liu Dashao, who was still sleeping soundly on his back, and whispered, “Nephew, wake up! Listen, something is coming toward us!”
Liu Dashao, now awake, listened carefully and said, “Yes, something is definitely coming.”
“Could it be another strange creature?” Village Chief Tian felt uneasy.
“Damn it!” Liu Dashao grabbed the stick that had caused him to fall earlier and cursed, “No matter what it is, I’ll hit it with this stick if it dares to come near us!”
Village Chief Tian pressed Liu Dashao’s shoulder and warned him, “Don’t act rashly. From the footsteps, it sounds like a human. Ghosts don’t make noise when they walk.”
They both turned toward the sound. The footsteps grew closer, each one pounding like a hammer on their chests.
Village Chief Tian shouted at Liu Dashao, “Run! What are you still standing there for?”
Under the moonlight, Liu Dashao turned back and gave a sheepish smile to Village Chief Tian.
The eerie smile on Liu Dashao’s face made Village Chief Tian break out in a cold sweat. He asked, “What’s wrong with you? Don’t scare me like that!” As he spoke, he took several steps back.
Liu Dashao suddenly burst into laughter and said, “Uncle, I thought you were braver than me, but it seems you can be scared too. Look closely, it’s not a ghost—it’s a paper figure.” With that, he hugged the female paper figure in his arms.
Hearing it was just a paper figure, Village Chief Tian finally relaxed. He stepped closer and saw that it was indeed a paper figure in Liu Dashao’s arms. Looking around, he noticed other paper-made items like houses and sedan chairs. Under the moonlight, if one didn’t look carefully, the paper figures could easily be mistaken for ghosts.
It turned out that the two of them were sitting on a newly dug grave.
In the countryside, it was customary to place paper-made items like golden mountains, silver mountains, sedan chairs, sedan bearers, and paper boys and girls beside a grave after a burial. The paper boys and girls symbolized that the deceased would have children and servants in the afterlife. These items were left at the grave for some time before being burned. The two of them had unknowingly chosen this new grave to rest on.
“Stop messing around, nephew. If you like women so much, when you grow up, I’ll introduce you to someone. Now put that paper figure down, or she might turn into a ghost and come looking for you at night,” Village Chief Tian teased Liu Dashao.
Liu Dashao, frightened, pushed the paper figure away and asked anxiously, “Really? You’re not lying to me, are you?”
Seeing that his lie had worked, Village Chief Tian suppressed a laugh and added fuel to the fire, “Why would I lie? I’ve heard from the elders that graves are filled with yin energy. If a paper figure absorbs too much yin energy and then your yang energy, it might turn into a spirit and come looking for you at night.”
“Then what should I do?” Liu Dashao asked in panic.
Village Chief Tian laughed and said, “Do you really think a ghost would come looking for you? I was just teasing you.”
“You scared me to death!” Liu Dashao glared at Village Chief Tian.
Village Chief Tian retorted, “Didn’t you just scare me too?”
“Enough, enough!”
By now, it was late at night. The silver moonlight bathed the ground, and the mournful chirping of crickets filled the air. After some discussion, the two decided to head home.
Just as they were about to leave, Village Chief Tian suddenly heard someone calling his name. His heart, which had just settled, leaped into his throat again. Thinking it might be his imagination, he dug his ear with his little finger.
Seeing this, Liu Dashao said, “Uncle Tian, why are you digging your ear while walking? Be careful not to damage it. Wang the Deaf from the neighboring village went deaf because he dug his ear while walking and slipped.”
Village Chief Tian lowered his hand and said to Liu Dashao, “Nephew, did you hear someone calling my name? It seemed to come from far away.”
“Nonsense,” Liu Dashao interrupted. “You used the same trick at the Lingguan Temple. Crying wolf once might work, but not twice or thrice. Besides, who else would call your name in this wilderness? Don’t try to scare me again.”
Village Chief Tian’s face turned red as he defended himself, “I’m not lying. I really heard someone calling my name. It sounded like Guoqiang. Otherwise, why would I dig my ear?”
Liu Dashao studied him for a moment and, realizing that Village Chief Tian wasn’t joking, said seriously, “Uncle Tian, no matter who’s calling, don’t answer. If you do, your soul might be taken. Ghosts often mimic the voices of people you know to lure you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a voice called out from the distance, “Tian Guangrong, Tian Guangrong, where are you? Answer me!”
This time, both of them heard it clearly. Village Chief Tian was terrified and looked at Liu Dashao in panic, “What should we do now?”
Liu Dashao cursed, “Damn it! We just got rid of the shadow ghost, and now we’re dealing with a soul-snatching ghost. What kind of bad luck is this? Let’s run!” With that, they took off.
As they ran, they could still hear the terrifying voice calling their names, sometimes Liu Dashao’s, sometimes Tian Guangrong’s. They clenched their teeth, not daring to make a sound, afraid that answering would lead to their souls being taken.
After running for what felt like an eternity, the voices finally stopped, and they came to a halt.
Liu Dashao suddenly said, “I remember the elders saying that if you’re lost because of a ghost, just pee, and the ghost will let you pass.”
Equally out of breath, Village Chief Tian said, “Oh, I remember that too! You little rascal, why didn’t you say so earlier? We’ve been running for so long. Let’s just pee and be done with it.”
Liu Dashao replied, “I just thought of it.”
Village Chief Tian, desperate, didn’t care about dignity anymore and quickly unbuckled his pants to pee. Liu Dashao followed suit, and from a distance, it looked like two water dragons.
After relieving himself, Liu Dashao felt much better. Seeing that Village Chief Tian was still standing with his back to him, he asked, “Aren’t you done yet? Didn’t you pee before we entered the graveyard? Did you drink too much and now have more to pee?” He laughed.
Village Chief Tian tightened his belt and cursed, “Damn it! If I knew we’d run into a ghost, I wouldn’t have peed earlier. I could barely squeeze out a few drops when it mattered. Even a cat pees more than that.”
Liu Dashao laughed, “If I knew we’d run into a ghost, I wouldn’t have come here with you.”
Village Chief Tian said, “That’s true!”
“Look, why has the moon disappeared from the sky?” Liu Dashao looked up.
Village Chief Tian also looked up and said, “Strange, why are there so many clouds all of a sudden? The moon’s completely covered.”
Neither of them dared to point at the moon. In the folklore of old Northeast China, there was a legend that if you pointed at the moon, the moon would point back at you, and your ears would inexplicably rot.
After looking at the sky for a while, the moon completely disappeared. Liu Dashao said, “Forget it, let’s focus on escaping.”
“Bad news!” Village Chief Tian pushed Liu Dashao, who was still looking up, “Nephew, I can’t see the path anymore. There’s a thick fog!”
Liu Dashao looked around and saw that the path was completely obscured by white fog. He exclaimed, “We’re done for! We can’t even see the road now.”
As the saying goes, even a cornered rabbit will bite. Frustrated and angry, Liu Dashao jumped up and cursed into the night, “Damn it! If you want our lives, come out! I’m standing right here, waiting for you to cut me open! Stop playing tricks! I’m not afraid of you! Even if I die, I’ll become a ghost and haunt you until the sky turns dark and the sun and moon lose their light!” He raised his fists, looking fierce.
Village Chief Tian shouted at him, “Nephew, don’t be reckless. Let’s just sit here and wait for dawn. It’s only a few hours away.”
“Easy for you to say! How can I calm down? We’re like ants being toyed with, not even knowing if we’re dealing with humans or ghosts. Ah!—Ah!—” Liu Dashao suddenly screamed and fell forward.
Hearing his cry, Village Chief Tian quickly got up and asked, “Nephew, are you okay?”
Liu Dashao, lying on the ground, said, “I’m fine, not dead. I think I tripped over something.”
Village Chief Tian helped him up and looked at what had tripped him. “Look, isn’t this the bamboo pole I dropped earlier?”
“When did you pick up a bamboo pole?” Liu Dashao was puzzled.
“Oh, when I saw that paper figure, I thought it was a ghost, so I grabbed it for protection. Later, when nothing happened, I dropped it behind us,” Village Chief Tian explained with an embarrassed smile.
“Ouch!” Liu Dashao pretended to be in pain, “Uncle, you’ve really hurt me. My hand is about to break! You owe me at least three packs of Da Tuan Yuan cigarettes.”
Village Chief Tian rubbed Liu Dashao’s hand and asked, “Nephew, feeling better now?”
Liu Dashao suddenly remembered something, “Uncle, even if you picked up the bamboo pole, wasn’t it behind us? How did it end up in front of us?”
Village Chief Tian replied, “Yes, that’s strange. I dropped it and we kept running forward. How did it get ahead of us?”
They looked at each other and said in unison, “We’ve gone in circles!”
Both felt utterly hopeless. Liu Dashao sat down on the ground, unwilling to get up, and said dejectedly, “We’re done for. We’ve been walking all night and still can’t get out of this cursed graveyard. If I knew this would happen, I’d never have come with you!”
Feeling guilty, Village Chief Tian sat beside Liu Dashao and comforted him, “Nephew, it’s no use regretting now. We’re already here. It seems we’re stuck here for the night. Instead of wandering aimlessly, let’s just sit and wait for dawn. Once the sun rises, we’ll naturally find our way out. Look around, the fog is too thick. Even if there’s a path, we might not find it.”
Liu Dashao nodded in agreement, “That’s all we can do. I’m exhausted after all this. Let’s just sit and sleep!” He leaned against Village Chief Tian’s back and fell asleep.
Village Chief Tian, also sore and tired from the night’s ordeal, couldn’t sleep. He looked at Liu Dashao, who was already snoring, and thought, “You’re sleeping so soundly, but I’m suffering. With your sleeping posture, you wouldn’t even notice if a ghost carried you away.”
Village Chief Tian remembered his superstitious grandmother once telling him that ghosts who lead people astray usually don’t harm them; they just trap them in one place. He suddenly realized that their fear had created illusions, and their frantic running had only brought them back to where they started.
As he thought this, Village Chief Tian felt his eyelids grow heavy, as if filled with lead. He was incredibly tired, more so than if he had taken sleeping pills. After struggling for a few seconds, his head drooped, but he quickly lifted it again, only to nod off once more. In his drowsiness, he felt something cold touching his face. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw a small child dressed in old-fashioned burial clothes with copper coin patterns, wearing a landlord’s hat, and with red rouge on both cheeks. The child’s cherry-red lips contrasted sharply with its pale face. Seeing Village Chief Tian awake, the child bared its teeth, raised its sharp nails, and lunged at him.
“No!” Village Chief Tian jolted awake, trembling all over.
He woke up, his hand slipping from his chin, and muttered, “Thank goodness it was just a dream. That was close. I must be too tired to have such a strange dream.” He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and heard the crickets chirping in the grass and the growling of their empty stomachs in the endless night.
Just then, footsteps approached from a distance. Village Chief Tian nervously nudged Liu Dashao, who was still sleeping on his back, “Nephew, wake up! Listen, something’s coming toward us.”
Liu Dashao, now awake, listened carefully and said, “You’re right. Something’s coming.”
“Could it be another ghost?” Village Chief Tian was unsure.
“Damn it!” Liu Dashao grabbed the bamboo pole that had tripped him earlier and cursed, “Whatever it is, if it dares to come near us, I’ll hit it with this pole.”
Village Chief Tian held Liu Dashao’s shoulder, signaling him to stay calm, “Don’t be rash. The footsteps sound human. Ghosts don’t make noise when they walk.”
They looked in the direction of the sound, which grew closer and heavier, like hammers pounding on their chests.
Liu Dashao’s eyes flickered, and he slowly lowered the bamboo pole, “Who would come here in the middle of the night like us? Aren’t they afraid of ghosts?”
Village Chief Tian stared intently at the source of the sound, a hint of relief crossing his face, “I don’t know. Maybe! Look, there’s a light. Someone’s coming.”
They looked toward the fog and saw a light approaching, growing brighter and more blinding, forcing them to shield their eyes.
Suddenly, Liu Dashao screamed, “Ghost!”
“What now? What’s going on?” Village Chief Tian quickly removed his hand from his eyes and was startled. Why? Because before him stood a trembling figure, hunched over with a high back, like a small mountain, holding a yellowish lantern. The faint greenish light illuminated half of the person’s wrinkled face, one side green, the other yellow, truly terrifying in the dark night.
Before Village Chief Tian could ask who it was, an angry voice came from the front, “You little brat, you’re the ghost!”
“Ungrateful wretch! I came here to help you, and you call me a ghost!”
Village Chief Tian stared intently at the source of the sound, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe! Look, there’s light. Someone must be coming.”
They looked toward the fog and saw lights approaching, growing brighter. The light was almost blinding, forcing them to shield their eyes.
Suddenly, Liu Dashao screamed, “Ghost!”
“What now? Why are you screaming again?” Village Chief Tian hurriedly removed his hands from his eyes, startled. Why? Because before him stood a trembling shadow, hunched over with a high hump like a mountain, holding a yellow lantern. The lantern’s slightly greenish light illuminated half of the figure’s face—one side green, one side yellow. The wrinkled face, in the darkness, was enough to scare anyone to death.
Before Village Chief Tian could ask who it was, a voice came from the front, irritated and angry, “Little brat, you’re the ghost!”
“Truly a case of a dog biting Lü Dongbin, not recognizing a good person. We came all the way to find you two, and you call us ghosts!”
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