“Ahhh, so refreshing!” Liu Dashao exclaimed, putting down his teacup. He then took a small comb and, squinting at the mirror in the living room, began to groom his hair. As he dragged the comb down, however, he unexpectedly noticed from the mirror a white shadow swiftly passing behind him.
When he looked again, the shadow had already vanished.
“Must be seeing things,” Liu Dashao chuckled to himself, put down the comb, and went to clean the cobwebs off the ceiling.
“Dashao, open up the small room for cleaning; this year’s harvest will be stored inside,” Liu Laoshi’s voice came from outside.
“What? Do I have extra hands or something?” Liu Dashao muttered a curse under his breath, responded with a shout, and gave the duster a couple of half-hearted swipes before rushing off to open the small room door.
This small room was essentially a storage room, narrow but capable of holding a lot.
Yet the door was peculiar—it opened only a little before being blocked, as if something was obstructing it.
“Dad, I can’t open the door! Did you lock it?”
“Lock it? Nonsense! This door doesn’t even have a lock hole; the bolt is on the outside,” Liu Laoshi replied while patching the roof hole from a ladder outside.
“What?” Liu Dashao looked closer and indeed found no lock hole on the small door, and the bolt was open. He guessed that it must have been stuck from disuse. He gathered his strength, focused his energy into his palm, and gave the door a powerful slap.
With a creaking sound, the door opened slightly more—still not enough to walk through, but just enough to stick a head inside. No matter how hard he pushed afterward, the door wouldn’t budge further.
“This is weird! Could it be that old lady hid something in there again?” Thinking so, Liu Dashao stuck his head into the room, hoping to see what was blocking the door.
Though it was still bright outside at dusk, the small room was pitch black, its tiny window tightly shut, letting out not a bit of light.
The floor was covered in dust, and the corners were webbed with dense spiderwebs, seemingly concealing everything. Liu Dashao didn’t think much of it, assuming it was just a natural result of time passing.
He stretched his neck painfully, turning his head sideways to look behind the door.
At that moment, his heart skipped a beat—the space behind the door was completely empty.
There was clearly nothing there, yet the door wouldn’t open. As Liu Dashao was puzzled, a sudden gust of wind came from behind, chilly and eerie. He felt every pore on his back stand on end. The wind was strange, like a woman’s lips exhaling gently by his ear, bringing a slow current and an indescribable peculiar smell. Before he could even identify the scent, the door started closing by itself!
At that moment, his hand was still on the doorknob, and his neck was stuck inside the room. The wind slammed the door shut, pain shot through his hand, and instinctively he tightened his grip, trying to pull the door open. But the force was as if from heaven itself; his meager strength was utterly useless. The door frame seemed to shrink inward! He used both hands and feet, desperately trying to pull his head out.
The strange wind kept blowing, and the door kept shrinking inward, tighter and tighter. Liu Dashao was already oxygen-deprived, seeing stars, his throat tightening. He wanted to cough loudly, but there wasn’t even time for that! Mid-struggle, his peripheral vision caught sight of someone standing nearby. He strained to look, red-faced and neck swollen, almost thinking it was an illusion. A little boy was standing diagonally opposite him, standing straight, barefoot. He could see dust floating inside the child’s body—he was transparent! As Liu Dashao looked at him, the boy happened to lift his head.
Looking closely, the boy’s features were somewhat delicate, his face pale and white. A blue vein protruded across his forehead, his gaze vacant. Liu Dashao was still confused about his existence when the boy suddenly cracked a smile at him. His expressionless face was bearable, but that smile almost made Liu Dashao faint. The child had a cleft lip, and bright red blood slowly dripped from the parted lips, like a child’s runny nose. He reached out to wipe it. The liquid in his hand was transparent. The child’s face was truly terrifying, like a doll with tightly stitched seams. His pupils were turned inward, leaving only a mass of white. Those whites were murky, almost like pus, flowing down together with the blood from the cleft lip.
Goodness! Wasn’t this the same little boy who had sold him the lantern last night? Liu Dashao was so frightened his face almost twisted out of shape. The little boy laughed aloud, a grating, giggling sound. He removed his hand from his lips, reached toward the door, and pushed hard outward, making strange, grating noises with his mouth.
So he was the one trying to shut the door!
The little boy stared straight up at Liu Dashao, his neck nearly at a right angle to his body, pushing the door shut with force.
His parents were working in the yard outside, and Liu Dashao wanted to cry for help, but his voice was as if gripped by an invisible giant hand, unable to utter the slightest sound. He could only keep pounding on the door.
It felt like he had been pounding for half a century before he finally heard Liu Laoshi shouting outside, chatting with Aunt Wang Gui.
No one noticed Liu Dashao was right behind them, his head stuck in the door!
Just as Liu Dashao seemed about to meet his doom, suddenly Liu Laoshi’s footsteps approached the courtyard: “Hey you little brat! I’ve been shouting for ages, asking you to get me a trowel, why won’t you answer me!”
The little ghost’s eyes suddenly widened, then he whooshed away and vanished.
The door swung wide open, and Liu Dashao stumbled into the room. Looking around, it was just the small room he had seen moments ago, and there was nothing dirty or strange anymore.
Liu Laoshi happened to walk into the small room at that moment. Seeing his son sprawled on the floor, he asked, “What are you doing?”
Liu Dashao’s heart was still quivering. Not caring which way was north or south, he randomly bowed a few times and mumbled, “Thank you, Great Immortal Guanyin Bodhisattva, Namo Amitabha Buddha, may God protect me, Amen!”
“Are you okay? Did the door crush your head?”
That question hit the nail on the head—his son’s head had indeed just been crushed by the door.
Liu Dashao seemed not to hear, only looking around, breaking into a cold sweat again. By the entrance, there were clearly a pair of small footprints!
But Liu Laoshi knew nothing. He walked around the room, waving away the dust in the air, and pointed around at Liu Dashao, saying, “You’re unreliable. I’ll just go get the trowel myself! Later, find a broom to sweep this place; it should hold the harvest from an acre of land!”
As he spoke, the semi-transparent little ghost appeared again, standing right in front of Liu Laoshi, still expressionless, staring straight at him, looking somewhat angry.
“This smell is too strong. Open the window for some fresh air. What a salty, rancid smell…” Liu Laoshi spat as he gestured about, his hand passing through the little ghost as if he were made of mist.
Liu Dashao watched in stunned disbelief, finally realizing his father couldn’t see the ghost at all!
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