Chapter 149: Just My Bad Luck
After staying at Li Mu’s place for a few days, Zhang Hui wasn’t as scared of the place anymore. Looking back, the times he thought he saw ghosts probably just came from his own imagination.
Especially on Monday, he even thought he saw a ghost girl with her head falling off…
But thinking more carefully, maybe it was just a bad dream?
While thinking about all this, Zhang Hui walked up to Li Mu’s bedroom door. That strange smell was even stronger now.
It smelled a bit like the strong chemical odor you get after a house is newly renovated. But Li Mu hadn’t done any renovations lately, and he didn’t have that kind of money anyway.
Zhang Hui carefully placed his hand on the doorknob, but then remembered something Li Mu had told him, ‘Don’t go into my bedroom.’
At first, Zhang Hui didn’t think much of it. It made sense, adults have their own privacy. But now he was starting to feel confused.
What could be inside that you couldn’t even look at?
And why did it smell so strong?
He swallowed nervously and remembered the times he thought he saw ghosts in this place.
“Helping Li Mu take out the trash or something... that should be fine, right?”
He muttered this to himself as an excuse, then slowly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.
The horrible smell instantly got stronger without the door blocking it.
It was so sharp it made his eyes sting.
He stood at the doorway, looking into the pitch-black room, suddenly feeling nervous again.
“It’s okay... Li Mu doesn’t look like a ghost.”
He tried to calm himself, but he could feel a chill on his back.
He reached for the light switch on the wall, groping around until he found it, and turned on the light.
The small bedroom lit up immediately.
Zhang Hui’s eyes widened as he saw a big, foldable, portable bathtub in the room.
He had seen these kinds of bathtubs on short video apps before. He had even thought about buying one, but then imagined himself getting scolded by his grandpa for wasting water, and gave up the idea.
He was sure the bad smell was coming from that tub.
“Maybe Li Mu took a bath and forgot to pour the water out?”
But even if the water had been sitting there for a few days, it shouldn’t smell this strong, like chemicals or rotten stuff.
“Maybe there’s something else in there?”
His curiosity got the better of him. He took a few steps forward and leaned over to look inside the tub.
A pair of lifeless, empty eyes stared straight back at him.
Zhang Hui froze. His pupils widened, his legs shook uncontrollably, and his teeth chattered. Then he fell to the floor with a loud thump.
There was a dead body in the tub and its skin had turned blue.
It was Xiao Jing!
The little girl who had yelled at him to leave that day!
The same ghost girl from his nightmare with the missing head!
His head spun. He scrambled out of the bedroom, falling and crawling, then quickly called the police.
………………………………………
“You might need to see a psychiatrist,” said the honest-looking plainclothes officer, standing in the hallway of Li Mu’s home. He was filling out a report as he talked.
“Our officers went in to check. Aside from a foldable tub, all they found were a few pieces of clothing soaked and starting to rot.”
Zhang Hui was trembling on the steps outside, his face pale. He shook his head and said, “No... that’s not possible. I saw it. It was a ghost…”
“We’ve already called the homeowner to come back,” the officer said kindly. “Maybe it was just a nightmare?”
Zhang Hui’s lips were shaking. “There was a ghost. I’m serious. A real ghost.”
The officer smiled and said, “How about this? If you don’t believe us, why don’t you go in and look again?”
He quickly shook his head and grabbed the handrail beside him, refusing to go back inside no matter what.
Just then, the elevator made a soft ding, and the doors opened.
Li Mu nervously followed behind Yu Fan as they walked out, mumbling,
“I did tell my cousin not to go into my room… Now what do we do?”
Yu Fan suddenly stopped walking, and Li Mu accidentally bumped into his shoulder. Li Mu was about to complain, but when he looked up, he saw a smiling policeman standing in the hallway.
The officer said, “It’s alright. This young man was probably under a lot of stress. He said he saw a ghost, even a dead body. But we checked the place. There’s no body.”
“Huh?”
Why was Uncle Chen Yi here?
Li Mu was confused. He looked over at Zhang Hui, who was still sitting on the steps, anxiously telling Chen Yi that he really did see a ghost. Li Mu suddenly felt a little guilty.
Zhang Hui should have been kicked out that day.
Now look what happened. Did Zhang Hui really get so scared that he went crazy?
Zhang Hui heard Li Mu and Yu Fan walking over. He looked up, his face still full of fear.
Li Mu pretended not to know anything and said gently, “Cousin, what’s wrong? Are you too stressed out from job hunting? Why don’t you rest at my place for a while?”
Zhang Hui immediately shook his head.
“I’m going home. Right now!”
Yu Fan muttered, “He really should go see a doctor. What did you see? Why are you so scared?”
Zhang Hui kept his head down, still shaking a little.
“You don’t get it... There was a body. A really scary one...”
But right after saying that, he saw Xiao Jing walk out of the house, smiling cheerfully and surrounded by a few police officers.
His body froze again. He pointed at her with a trembling finger, his lips shaking.
“Her! It’s her!”
Chen Yi calmly made something up and said, “You said you saw her body, so we invited her over too.”
He nodded at another plainclothes man nearby, who was actually a mortician.
In the last ten minutes, the mortician had even helped put makeup on Xiao Jing. It was really not easy for him either.
Zhang Hui felt like the whole world was lying to him.
Chen Yi sighed and said, “Alright, come with us to the police station and give a statement.”
He pulled Zhang Hui up and added, “Young people these days are under so much stress. What happened? Are you stressing about car installments or your parents forcing you to get married?”
Zhang Hui stayed silent.
Chen Yi handed him over to the only real police officer present.
Once the officer and the mortician took Zhang Hui down the elevator, Chen Yi lit a cigarette and asked Li Mu with a frown.
“What’s wrong with you? You know Xiao Jing can’t be seen by outsiders, so why let your cousin stay here?”
Li Mu answered, “He’s family and came to me for help… I couldn’t just say no.”
Chen Yi blew out a puff of smoke and said, “If you and Xiao Jing hadn’t already filed records with the police, and if they hadn’t called me as soon as they got the report… you’d be sitting in a detention center right now.”
He turned to Yu Fan and smiled, “You two seem to be getting along pretty well. How’s your relationship going?”
Yu Fan grinned happily. “Not bad.”
Li Mu immediately jumped in, “There’s nothing going on between me and Yu Fan!”
Chen Yi just laughed, “I don’t really understand young people these days. But you two do make a good match.”
Even Xiao Jing chimed in cheerfully, “I think Yu Fan would be a great brother-in-law!”
Ignored again!
Li Mu turned and walked back into the apartment.
“Chen Yi, I need another tub of formalin.”
“Be more careful next time.”
“I know!” Li Mu replied grumpily.
After Li Mu walked away, Chen Yi smiled and said to Yu Fan, “Li Mu seems a lot more cheerful these days.”
Yu Fan grinned wide.
“That’s all thanks to me. And thanks again for your help this time.”