Last Bus of Route 13 - Chapter 82 - Uncovering the Ghost

Seeing Old Lady Qiu inside the house left me utterly shocked. Where had the little girl gone?

Before I could gather my thoughts, Old Lady Qiu yanked me into the room. Just as I was about to break free and shout, she gestured for me to be quiet with a finger to her lips.

Be quiet? My temper flared instantly. Old Lady Qiu whispered, “Someone’s eavesdropping outside, keep your voice down.”

Eavesdropping? On what? Her words left me puzzled. Seeing my confusion, she continued, “You’re a clever young man, but you can’t quite tell right from wrong.”

I shook off her hand with some effort and said, “I clearly saw you leave with Uncle Zhou. How are you here now?”

Old Lady Qiu chuckled, “What went with him was just one of my Paper Men. I stayed behind to wait for you.”

“Wait for me?”

I was taken aback and asked angrily, “Where’s the little girl? Where have you hidden her?”

Old Lady Qiu shook her head with a smile. “I haven’t hidden her. I don’t know where she’s gone off to play. I have other business with you.”

“Not hidden? You’re the one who told Shuilian to go up the mountain for the ginseng doll to cure her birthmark. Once her birthmark healed, the little girl disappeared. You must have guessed the little girl was the ginseng doll, right?”

Old Lady Qiu laughed heartily at this, then said softly, “What do you mean? You think the little girl who kept visiting you is the ginseng doll?”

Her strange laughter and subsequent question made me feel particularly uncomfortable, as if she were mocking a fool.

I frowned, but before I could speak, Old Lady Qiu continued, “There is indeed a ginseng doll on the mountain, I wasn’t lying. But it’s not the little girl who visits you every day.”

I didn’t trust her at all, suspecting she was trying to clear herself while secretly cooking the little girl.

I glared at her and said sternly, “Stop feeding me nonsense. The night the little girl disappeared, I saw you at the gate. Why were you cutting Paper Men in the middle of the night?”

Old Lady Qiu nodded with a smile, “You saw it yourself, cutting Paper Men to work for me.”

Though I had suspected it, hearing it from her still shocked me.

Seeing my reaction, Old Lady Qiu smiled and said, “I was asked to lure you here to tell you something.”

Her face turned serious as she continued in a low voice, “Recently, a ghost has come to the village. It seems to be looking for you.”

What??

Her words sent a shiver down my spine. A ghost was looking for me in the village?

Old Wu had sent me to Huaihu Village to hide, more precisely, to hide from a ghost. Had Old Tang or Sixth Uncle found me?

But thinking it over, it didn’t add up. Old Lady Qiu was mysterious and eerie. I had no ties to her, so who had asked her to help me, and why should I trust her?

I shouted, “I don’t need your help. Just tell me where you took the little girl!”

Old Lady Qiu frowned at my raised voice and quickly waved her hand, saying, “Keep it down. This room is safe from the ghost, but if you’re too loud, it might hear us.”

Old Lady Qiu spoke with such conviction that, despite my disbelief, the lingering fear of Old Tang and Sixth Uncle left me unsure of what to do.

“The little girl just got held up with something. She’ll be back by tomorrow night. You should worry about yourself instead.”

I swallowed hard. Old Lady Qiu refused to admit anything, and her words were hard to decipher. But the little girl was indeed not in any of her three rooms.

Old Lady Qiu adjusted the red scarf around her neck and whispered, “If you don’t believe me, before you sleep tomorrow night, sprinkle some soot from the bottom of a pot at your doorstep. By morning, you’ll see if there are any footprints.”

Her confidence made me waver a bit. I’d heard of this old trick for detecting ghosts in our village. If someone had died, on the night their spirit was supposed to return, superstitious family members would sprinkle soot at the door. By morning, they’d see the footprints of the deceased.

I thought to myself, fine, tomorrow night it is. If the little girl doesn’t show up, I’ll definitely come back and tear this old hag’s bones apart.

Just as I was about to turn and leave, Old Lady Qiu grabbed me again.

“Young man, the ghost that’s come looking for you is no friendly spirit. Don’t tell anyone about this, or you’ll drag others into it, understand?”

I didn’t respond, shook off her hand, and walked out.

Once outside, I felt uneasy, glancing around suspiciously. Was there really a ghost near me?

Shuilian hurried over to ask how it went. I didn’t mention seeing Old Lady Qiu inside, just shook my head and said I found nothing.

Shuilian sighed and didn’t press further. After escorting her home, I returned to my place.

Lying in bed, I kept replaying Old Lady Qiu’s words in my mind. A ghost had come to the village looking for me!

I remembered Semi-Immortal Xu from Yangcaogou saying there was only one ghost around me, and now Old Tang and Sixth Uncle were at odds.

Who was the ghost lurking around me? Had it really found me?

The candle struggled to maintain its circle of light in the engulfing darkness of the night, but it couldn’t dispel the fear deep within me.

Part of me hoped Old Lady Qiu was telling the truth, that the little girl was fine and would come bouncing back tomorrow to say, “Uncle, can I borrow your mobile phone?”

But another part of me dreaded that she was right because I was scared-scared that the ghost had truly found me!

At dawn, I deliberately gathered some dry, flammable twigs from the foot of the mountain and burned them to ashes in the stove pit at home. When Shuilian came to bring me food and saw this, she curiously asked if I was planning to cook for myself.

I vaguely replied that I wanted to experience rural life.

Shuilian, also downcast over the little girl’s disappearance, seemed more withdrawn these days. Fearing the little girl might avoid Shuilian, I told her I wouldn’t be eating dinner tonight and planned to sleep early, so she didn’t need to bring me food.

Shuilian agreed and went home to rest.

…

The ink-black night descended once more.

I sighed deeply, holding a novel as I lay in bed, trying to act as if it were just another night, though my heart pounded uncontrollably.

Will the little girl show up?

I watched the time slip away nervously, second by second, until at half-past nine in the evening, the sound of the outer door creaking open reached my ears.

I couldn’t keep up the pretense any longer and sat up in alarm.

To my surprise and delight, the little girl really came!

She was still wearing that red outfit, her hair tied into two ponytails, and her big eyes blinked with a lively sparkle as she said, “Uncle, can I borrow your mobile phone for a while?”

I quickly nodded, making room for her. The little girl climbed onto the bed, happily took the mobile phone, and started playing.

I scrutinized the little girl closely, ensuring she wasn’t hurt, and cautiously asked, “Little sister, the night before last, you left suddenly without finishing playing. Why? And why didn’t you come yesterday?”

The little girl lowered her head and whispered, “Someone came into the yard the night before last, and I went out to chase them away.”

Startled, I pressed further, “Who came into my yard?”

She replied softly, “I don’t know them, they’re not from the village.”

Her words sent a chill down my spine instantly!

The ghost really came looking for me!

Was it Old Tang? Sixth Uncle? Or perhaps Tang Yao?

Suppressing my fear, I continued to ask, “Little sister, what did they look like? Can you describe them to me?”

“I didn’t see their face. As soon as I went out, they left. I chased them for a long time but couldn’t catch up.”

“Then what happened last night? Why didn’t you come to find me?”

The little girl tilted her head, showing a helpless expression, and said, “Last night, my grandmother wouldn’t let me go out to play.”

A ginseng doll with a grandmother? An elderly ginseng doll?

I couldn’t help but marvel at the wonders of nature but refrained from asking further, nodding without disturbing her.

It seemed Old Lady Qiu did speak some truth; she hadn’t captured the little girl. Now, it was time to verify the most crucial part.

Around eleven at night, after the little girl left, I hurried to the kitchen, scooped up some ashes from the stove, and spread them evenly at the bedroom and outer door entrances.

Will there be footprints?

After doing all this, I extinguished the candle and lay in bed, pretending to sleep, not daring to make a sound.

I don’t know how long I held out, but I eventually drifted off to sleep in a muddle.

At dawn, Shuilian, perhaps worried I hadn’t eaten dinner last night, arrived earlier than usual.

She opened the door, about to step inside, and I instantly woke up, shouting, “Don’t come in!”

Startled, Shuilian asked from outside the door, “What’s wrong, Brother Li? Are you not dressed?”

“Yes, I’m not dressed. Please wait outside for a moment.”

Obediently, Shuilian closed the outer door again.

Concerned about the ashes at the door, I quickly jumped out of bed and went to inspect them closely.

To my astonishment, there were indeed footprints in the ashes!

The footprints hadn’t scattered the ashes, just lightly imprinted on them in a shallow layer.

A ghost really came! It really came looking for me!

I took a deep breath and sat down heavily on the floor.

Seeing me through the window, Shuilian hurriedly opened the door and came in to help me up, asking, “Brother Li, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

I shook my head, repeatedly assuring her that everything was fine.

The little girl came back last night, and a ghost sought me out-everything Old Lady Qiu said was spot on!

But why is she helping me?

After a quick wash and breakfast, I hurried over to Old Lady Qiu’s house.

She was at the stove, tending the fire, and when she saw me, she gave me a knowing look as if she expected me. I understood her signal-there was a ghost eavesdropping!

Feigning indignation, I said, “Old Lady Qiu, you’re clearly lying. This isn’t over; I need to check that room again.”

As I spoke, I clasped my hands and bowed slightly in a gesture of thanks.

Old Lady Qiu caught on and played along, saying, “You rascal, I’ve already told you there’s nothing in my house, yet you persist. Fine, go ahead and check again.”

With that, I followed her into the room adjacent to the kitchen.

Once inside, I finally breathed a sigh of relief and nervously said, “Granny, please help me.”

Old Lady Qiu chuckled and asked, “Saw the little girl? Saw the footprints?”

I nodded eagerly.

“I did. To be honest, I came to Huaihu Village to hide, but he followed me here.”

“Hmm, this ghost carries a heavy grudge-it’s not easy to deal with!”

I asked anxiously, “Do you have any way to get rid of this ghost, or at least let me see who he is?”

Old Lady Qiu pondered for a moment, then replied thoughtfully, “I don’t know what kind of grudge you have with him, but he doesn’t seem like he’s ready to harm you right away. While I can’t help you get rid of him, if you truly want to know who he is, I do have a way to make him reveal himself.”

I took a deep breath, my heart racing with excitement, and leaned in to listen as Old Lady Qiu detailed her plan for tonight to make him appear.

I was finally going to find out who the ghost was-the one Semi-Immortal Xu mentioned was the only ghost around me.

I was finally going to uncover this ghost!