Chapter 25: Possession by a Fierce Ghost

The graveyard. Just thinking about the graveyard made my whole body break out in goosebumps, because that was where I had an unpleasant memory, and now my second sister was running there again.

At this moment, do not tell me anything about how the world has no ghosts or spirits. After everything that had happened, even my young self felt like my entire worldview had been overturned.

I was scared, really scared, but I could not stop. I could not abandon my second sister. To me, that graveyard felt like a pitch black abyss, and if my second sister ran inside, she would be swallowed whole.

She was indeed running toward the graveyard. After chasing her for a while longer, I was already out of breath when I saw her run straight into the village’s mass burial ground.

In this mass burial ground, no one knew how many generations of villagers were buried there. I heard that during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, many unknown people were also buried here. On ordinary days, unless people were visiting ancestral graves, no one from the village ever came here.

After running into the mass burial ground, my second sister stopped. I also stopped behind her, gasping for breath, about ten or twenty meters away. I really could not run anymore.

Half crouched, I panted heavily. Just as I raised my head and was about to say something to her, I saw her suddenly turn around.

I did not know whether it was the wind dispersing the clouds or something else, but there was now a faint crescent moon hanging in the sky. Because the clouds had not fully cleared, the moonlight was dim and hazy, but even so, I could still clearly see my second sister’s face not far away.

Her expression was strange, looking at me with a half smile that was not quite a smile. Her eyes seemed to contain something very complex. It was definitely not the pure, simple gaze of my second sister. In short, under the moonlight, she looked as terrifying as anything could be.

At that moment, my parents also caught up. My mother half held me, and my father did not even have time to catch his breath before he said to my second sister, “Xiao Juan, what are you doing out so late at night? Come home with Dad!”

My second sister still had that same expression, staring at my father with a wooden, half smiling look, as if she were looking at a stranger, not saying a word.

My father walked step by step toward her while shouting, “Xiao Juan, come on, let’s go home.”

“Hahahaha...” My second sister suddenly burst into wild laughter, a crazed and unfamiliar sound, as if mocking my father’s suggestion.

“Xiao Juan, what are you laughing at?” My mother was already crying. She could not accept my second sister like this at all.

My second sister stopped laughing. She glanced at my father with contempt, then turned and moved again. This time she did not run. Instead, she climbed toward a large grave mound behind her and quickly reached the top.

“Do not come closer,” my second sister said suddenly, pointing at my father from atop the grave. Her voice was extremely unfamiliar, nothing like my sister’s voice at all.

“Xiao Juan, we are going home,” my father insisted, still walking toward her.

“Hahahaha...” She laughed again from the grave mound. Then she suddenly shoved her hand into her mouth and bit down hard. The force was so strong that blood immediately flowed down her wrist.

“Xiao Juan...” my mother cried out.

“Do not touch my daughter!” my father roared in rage, but he no longer dared to move forward.

Seeing my father stop, my second sister finally released her hand from her mouth. She gave him another contemptuous look and sat down on the grave mound. Then something even stranger happened.

My second sister actually began to sing opera while sitting on the grave!

“Good times and beautiful scenery—yet what can be done—heaven...”

She was completely immersed in her own world, singing with full devotion. Her voice was faint and unreal, sending chills down anyone who heard it.

I did not understand opera at all. I only felt that under such an environment, sitting on a grave mound, no matter what she was singing, it would give anyone nightmares.

She just kept singing like that, while my parents and I could only stand guard below.

We felt heartbroken and helpless. Fear was there too, but none of us dared move even a step. Even little me felt that if we left my second sister alone singing there, it would be too painful. How could my parents feel otherwise?

We could only stay there.

The cold night wind kept blowing. The dim moon came and went. My second sister sang with such focus, sometimes even standing up to perform a few gestures. She did not care at all about our suffering in the graveyard.

When dawn finally arrived and the first rooster crowed in the village, my second sister stopped singing. She gave us an indescribable look, then suddenly collapsed on the grave mound.

We were all like tightly stretched strings finally released. We all let out long breaths. My mother even sat down on the ground holding me. She had been standing the whole night without moving, her legs completely numb, held up only by willpower.

My father was no better. He forcefully moved his limbs to regain feeling, then mustered courage to approach the grave mound where my second sister was sitting. He lifted her up, carried her on his back, and started walking home. My mother and I hurried to follow.

My second sister remained unconscious on my father’s back.

My mother touched her and felt her body was ice cold, as if she had just been soaked in cold water. It reminded her of the feeling when she once touched Widow Zhou, and her heart sank as she began crying again.

On the way, we met Old Man Wang from the village. When he saw our family, he walked over with a worried expression and asked, “What happened to your second daughter?”

My parents mumbled something unclear. I did not know how to respond, so I stayed silent.

Old Man Wang did not seem to care much. After listening to my parents, he politely told us to take the child to see a doctor, then said to my father with a very grim expression, “Old Chen, I was keeping watch in the fields last night, and it was not peaceful.”

“What happened?” My father was not really listening, his mind entirely on my second sister.

Old Man Wang did not mind his attitude and continued, clearly wanting to talk. “Starting from midnight yesterday, I kept hearing a woman singing opera. That sound was terrifying, like a ghost. It scared me half to death. Old Chen, did you hear it?”

When we heard this, our whole family felt a sudden jolt.

My father quickly said he did not hear anything, then comforted Old Man Wang a few words before carrying my second sister back home.

When we returned, my eldest sister had already prepared breakfast and was waiting. Her eyes were red, clearly she had not slept all night either.

Only later did I learn that my shout last night had woken her as well. She had originally wanted to follow us, but my father stopped her and told her to stay at home and watch the house. She had been worried the entire night.

Seeing my father carrying my second sister back, my eldest sister asked anxiously, “Dad, what happened to my second sister?”

My father sighed but did not answer. My mother closed the courtyard gate and only said after a long pause, “We will talk later.”

Then my mother told my eldest sister to fetch hot water, and we wiped my second sister’s whole body clean. My father then carried her onto the bed and covered her with thick blankets. The breakfast sat there untouched. No one had any appetite.

In the end, my father crushed the cigarette in his hand and said heavily, “I am going to the township office. We need to find Master Jiang.”

My eldest sister and I were confused and asked at the same time, “Who is Master Jiang?” We received no answer.

That morning, my father went to the township market town. My mother and I followed. She needed to request leave for the children. My second sister definitely could not go to school, my eldest sister would stay home to take care of her, and as for me, my father said something strange, “Master Jiang might be most willing to hear San Wa Er’s voice.”

I did not know who Master Jiang was, nor why he would want to hear my voice. But I did not ask. I did not want to cause trouble at a time like this.

At the township market town, my father found an acquaintance and, after some effort and gifts, obtained permission to use the telephone. He took out a very old piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the office worker, saying, “Comrade, please help me dial this number.”

The old hand-cranked telephone looked mysterious to my father. He had no idea how to use it, so it was best for someone else to help.

The man glanced at the paper and was somewhat shocked. “I did not expect you to have relatives in Beijing.”

Beijing?

My father froze. He never expected that the phone number Master Jiang had given him was actually in Beijing.

At that time, ordinary villagers had no idea how to tell where a phone number was located.