Don't salute recklessly. Zhang Hua, Li Jun, and Lin Biao were childhood friends, growing up together, going to school together, getting into trouble together, and even as adults, they loafed around together, doing nothing but petty thefts and becoming local bullies. One night, the three of them went drinking together. During the meal, they competed to see who was braver, each unwilling to back down. So, they decided to spend a night in a cemetery to test their courage. They agreed and decided to pass through the outer ring road of Tianjin to a place called Hanliushu, where many people rented land for planting trees or building greenhouses for vegetables. Although nowadays most families keep ashes in crematoriums after relatives pass away, there are still many who bury their loved ones' ashes on their own land. One piece of land in Hanliushu was like this (I had been there a few times before, which I will mention in later chapters). In that area, there were dozens of visible graves and many uncared-for, rain-eroded graves that were hard to see, totaling over a hundred, forming a small cemetery. The three agreed to test their courage there; without hesitation, they set off. It takes about an hour to walk from the outer ring road to that cemetery, and since the three had been drinking, they naturally walked more slowly. As they walked, they saw a person ahead, standing straight in a black suit, wearing white gloves. Used to being domineering, the three teased him, saying, 'Hey, big brother, standing guard so late? Really professional!' Then, Zhang Hua imitated the posture of the man in black and gave a not-so-perfect military salute. The other two followed suit, each giving a salute. Without waiting to see the man's reaction, they strode toward the cemetery. After a short while, another person appeared ahead, dressed exactly like the previous one, with the same gloves and posture. Zhang Hua and Li Jun, usually carefree, didn't think it strange for such a person to appear late at night, but Lin Biao was different. He was always a bit more cautious than the other two. Sensing something was wrong, he became more alert. Sure enough, after walking some distance, another person like the black-suited one appeared ahead. Lin Biao began to have second thoughts and said to the two, 'Hey, I drank a bit too much today and my stomach isn't feeling well. Let's go back and try another day.'After saying that, he turned around, ready to walk back. Zhang Hua and Li Jun saw this and refused to go along: 'Weren't you always so tough? Why are you scared now? In the future, don't even say you know us if you can't hold your dignity!' Upon hearing this, Lin Biao was instantly furious. Usually, the three of them feared nothing, but if today's incident got out, how could they still hang around the area? The alcohol rush hit him all at once, and regardless of anything, he strode to catch up with the two, heading toward the graveyard.
So they marched along the way, saluting as they went, and soon reached their destination. Among the three, Zhang Hua had the most to drink. He casually leaned against a gravestone and said, 'I'm not going back today. Let's see who among us is the bravest.' In less than three minutes, he had started snoring. Li Jun did not want to be outdone, and found a gravestone opposite Zhang Hua to lie down and sleep. By this time, Lin Biao had mostly sobered up from the alcohol and began to regret it, but since things had come this far, he didn't dare to go back on his own. He had to sit next to Li Jun, but he didn't dare to sleep, keeping his eyes open and wishing for dawn to come quickly.
Because Han Liushu was near the outer ring road, some lights from passing big vehicles at night could illuminate the area where they were. After a while, seeing nothing had happened, Lin Biao started feeling a bit sleepy. Just as he was dozing off, a big vehicle passed on the highway, and its lights shone right in front of him. The lights were dazzling, instantly making him fully alert. Once awake, he saw a man standing in front of him! Wearing black clothes! White gloves! Staring angrily at him! Lin Biao immediately knew he had encountered a ghost and quickly grabbed Li Jun and shouted for Zhang Hua: 'There's a ghost!'
Li Jun was sleeping soundly at the time and reluctantly got up. Another vehicle passed on the highway, and Li Jun also saw the man in black, instantly terrified, ready to shout at Lin Biao to pull Zhang Hua and run. When they looked toward Zhang Hua, they saw a woman lying beside him, dressed in white, with one leg draped over Zhang Hua, and one hand caressing his face, her expression full of tenderness. At this moment, the vehicle lights had passed, plunging them back into darkness, and they didn't dare move lightly. When the next car light swept by, all they saw was the female ghost sitting on a gravestone, her legs over Zhang Hua's head, eyes wide open in anger, glaring fiercely at Li and Lin!Without saying a word, the two of them grabbed Zhang Hua, ready to run. At this moment, instead of running, Zhang Hua complained that they were disturbing his sleep, shook off their hands, and went back to sleep. Seeing that they couldn't move him, the two shouted at him, “Zhang Hua, stop sleeping, there's a ghost, run!” Zhang Hua ignored them and turned over to continue sleeping.
There was no other way; at this time, Li Jun and Lin Biao could only run by themselves. They stopped worrying about Zhang Hua and ran home. Fortunately, nothing happened along the way. Once home, they dove into their blankets and didn't dare say a word. A night passed in silence. The next morning, as soon as it was light, Li Jun and Lin Biao hurried to Zhang Hua's house and asked his parents whether Zhang Hua had returned last night. Zhang Hua's parents said, “Weren't you drinking with Zhang Hua last night? You never came back; I thought you were together the whole time.” When Li Jun and Lin Biao heard this, their faces went pale—Zhang Hua was in trouble!
They didn't dare conceal anything and told everything that had happened last night. Zhang Hua's parents were extremely worried and quickly gathered neighbors and relatives to rush to the cemetery. Upon arriving, they saw Zhang Hua with his mouth full of weeds, his face smeared with snot and saliva, foolishly lying on the grave from the previous night, occasionally laughing. The relatives managed to drag Zhang Hua back home with difficulty. One neighbor who had some knowledge said, “I think he's possessed, we need to find someone to check, otherwise who knows what might happen.”
When a master arrived at Zhang's house and learned the full story, he sighed, “Sigh, why did you have to provoke it when there's no need! I can only do my best.” After examining him, the master said there was nothing he could do; the female ghost had taken a liking to Zhang Hua and insisted on dragging him down, so they should prepare for the worst. With that, he turned and left. This made Zhang Hua's parents extremely anxious, but since the master had said this, they had no choice but to prepare for the funeral.
Three days later, Zhang Hua passed away… Since then, Li Jun and Lin Biao never lightly saluted strangers again!
Across from the mortuary
One day, over ten of us friends went to a KTV to sing, naturally with some girls. However, one of the girls was very unusual. She didn't talk, didn't sing, didn't drink, and we didn't know whose friend she was since she didn't seem to join in. So I kept observing her from time to time (a purely innocent observation).I noticed that she ignored everyone except one of my friends, but I didn't pay much attention to it; after all, we were just out for fun, and if she didn't want to play, there were plenty of others who would.
When we had played enough and were about to head out, ready to part ways, I secretly glanced at her again. Wow! Is this even human? Her face showed no blood flow, no expression, giving off a creepy vibe; if it weren't daytime, I would have thought I had encountered a ghost again. I had been to a mortuary before and met one of their managers. Because he frequently dealt with the dead, his face was always pale and expressionless, and apart from moving his mouth, he was no different from the dead. So I concluded that this girl must often be haunted by some unclean entity.
To further verify my thoughts, I decided to get closer to this girl. Fortunately, I was also on good terms with her friend, so I used this opportunity to call her friend out and told her I wanted to get to know that girl, asking her to introduce us. She mischievously said, 'Kid, you're out of luck; she already has a partner!' I was speechless and told her to stop wasting time and quickly introduce me—I had serious business! Soon after, she brought the girl over. I extended my right hand politely and said, 'Hello, my name is Wang Jun. Nice to meet you.' She also shook my hand politely and said, 'Zhang Ran.'
The moment our hands touched, I knew I was right: her hand was so cold that it felt almost devoid of any warmth. To further confirm my suspicion, I boldly asked, 'Why is your hand so cold? Are you sick?' She said it was nothing; she had a weak physique since childhood, was always cold, and often required IV fluids. I thought I might have been overthinking it and casually made small talk with her. We exchanged phone numbers and then went our separate ways.
Until one day, it was Zhang Ran's birthday, and she invited us to celebrate at her home. I originally thought there would be many people, but surprisingly, including her, there were only three of us. Her house was on the first floor, with three bedrooms and two living rooms, nicely decorated, though the surrounding environment was not great. Next to the building was a hospital, and there was a vacant lot nearby that hadn't been maintained for a long time, with grass taller than a person. Since we arrived in the afternoon and planned to leave after dinner, and because she was relatively homebound, we spent the whole afternoon just chatting.Zhang Ran told me that this house was very cheap when she bought it because it was not clean. The window of her bedroom faced directly the window of the hospital morgue, and next to the morgue was an empty lot, with nothing but grass. Perhaps because of the morgue, her home was never very peaceful at night. At first, when she had just moved in, on the very first night, she heard someone calling her name, calling her with one single foot, but she didn't dare respond. She also heard the clattering of pots and pans in the kitchen as if they had fallen to the floor, and the bathroom light kept turning on and off. She didn't sleep at all that night, and only dozed off a little after dawn when the strange noises disappeared. In the morning, she checked the kitchen and bathroom, but nothing had happened. When she asked her family, they said it was nothing, so she had no choice but to pretend nothing had happened. Up until now (to be continued)
