The old woman looked at me with a smile. She opened her toothless mouth, saying “You know.”

"What?"

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It seemed like the old woman was going to keep quiet no matter what I said. She slowly continued to fold more golden paper ingots.

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“I gave you more money than you asked for, but you still won’t speak to me. I wasn’t born yesterday; you can’t just rip me off.” It was no use. She just continued to fold her ingots.

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I was getting hungry while waiting around for the sun to go down. Finally, I stood up and picked up my belongings left the store.

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The old woman didn’t want to tell me anything else and I had no idea what else to do. I went back home and put the paper ingots and paper clothes in the box with the letters. After that, I quickly cooked something for dinner.

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After finishing the meal, I sat in front of the computer with a full stomach. The WeChat app was flashing. I clicked it. It was Rujia Buddha who had sent me a message.

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Rujia Buddha: OP, did you visit the house?

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Rujia Buddha: OP, are you online?

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I saw the timestamp. The messages had been sent at noon. So I hurried to reply: “Yes, I was forced to buy some stuff.”

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Obviously, Rujia Buddha was still online. He replied immediately: “Forced to buy stuff? Did you visit the ghost house?”

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I replied: “Yes, I was at the shroud store next to it. That old woman was cunning. She made me buy a bunch of stuff for no reason.”

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Rujia Buddha: “Shroud store? There is no shroud store by the ghost house. The police would never allow that kind of store to exist in the city center.

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I was stunned and quickly replied: “It was next to the ghost house. There was a watch stall on one side and a shroud store on the other side.”

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Rujia Buddha: “OP, you might be drunk. I am in the building opposite the ghost house, the phone store. There is in fact a watch stall, but there is no shroud store. I can prove it”

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Shortly after he sent the message, Rujia Buddha sent me a photo.

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According to the sky, the photo must have been taken just a few moments ago. The street was still crowded. The ghost house stood quietly among many dim street lamps. The building next to it was a dilapidated shack. There was a huge hole in the wall letting in the dim light of the street lamps.

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Looking through its open door, I could see the shack had the same layout as the shroud store.

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I felt a chill run up my spine, and my whole body became cold. At that moment, my blood felt like it was frozen and I could barely move.

​

There was no shroud store.

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WeChat was still ringing. The sound seemed to ring further and further away from me. In my mind I could still clearly see the old woman in the shroud store smile, opening her toothless mouth.

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I stood up, taking out a cigarette with shivering hands after fumbling with the cigarette box for a while.

 

The bag filled with paper ingots was still on the desk. Everything that had happened today had been real.

​

I was getting upset, his picture seemed to mock reality.

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The burning cigarette butt hurt my hand. That’s what it took to wake me up from my stupor, so I went back to the computer. A string of messages from Rujia Buddha had been delivered to my phone.

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Rujia Buddha: “Did you really find a shroud store, OP?”

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Rujia Buddha: “Wait a moment.”

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Rujia Buddha: “I asked around. It seems there actually was a shroud store at the time when the brothel still existed. It was destroyed by the Japanese during the war, though.”

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Rujia Buddha: “I am not certain whether the owner of the shroud store was an old woman.”

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Rujia Buddha: “You might have met a ghost. How exciting!”

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Exciting! I forced a smile. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it exciting. I thought for a moment and chose to answer Rujia Buddha. I told Rujia Buddha everything that happened.

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I needed a person who could listen to me, make me feel alive in the world.

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Rujia Buddha’s reply was strange.

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Rujia Buddha: “Are you serious?”

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Me: “You think I’m lying to you?”

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Rujia Buddha: “No, I didn’t mean that. OP, do you really plan to burn the paper money?”

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Burn the paper money? I immediately became hesitant. The old woman told me to burn paper money. Now, I thought it seemed like a trap, pushing me into a huge web.

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What would happen if I didn’t do it? The image of my mom and Xue`er appeared in my mind. As the only man in my family, could I let them get hurt by those strange things because of my fear?

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Rujia Buddha continued writing after I hadn’t replied for a while.

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Rujia Buddha: “OP, I believe it’s your responsibility as a man to not let your family get hurt. You should go. Don’t worry, I’ll go with you.”

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Me: “You’ll come with me to the ghost house?”

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Rujia Buddha: “Yeah. Don’t you think meeting a ghost is exciting? OMG, although I’m still pretty scared, I will gladly go as a friend, for moral support.”

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Rujia Buddha’s words made me feel like we were just going to explore. It was difficult to understand his train of thought. Many people loved to watch horror movies, but I’d probably be frightened to death if I met a real ghost. I hated having to make such a horrifying decision. It reminded me of the story of Lord Ye, who claimed to be fond of dragons but was scared out of his wits when a real one appeared.

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Me: “Are you scared at all?”

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Rujia Buddha: “A little scared. I’ve been wanting to go in the ghost house for a long time, but I’ve never been brave enough. I was hoping you could help me scratch this off the bucket list.”

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Rujia Buddha was offering me help so he could scratch something off his bucket list.

I didn’t answer him right away. Rujia Buddha continued to write.

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Rujia Buddha : “OP, I don’t think the ghost wants to kill you, judging by the pictures you received and your visit to the shroud store, I think there must be another reason. Are you curious at all?”

It’s said that curiosity killed the cat. However, I had become less scared after talking to Rujia Buddha.

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Me: “Fine, let’s go together.”

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Rujia Buddha: “Um, but don’t trick me or mug me, otherwise…”

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Me: “Never.”

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Rujia Buddha: “Bring the photos. I will wait for you tomorrow night at the phone store opposite the ghost house. The owner leaves at 9 o’clock. We should discuss things clearly then. Alright, it’s time to clock out. See you tomorrow.”

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His portrait went dark before I could reply. I looked at the time on the computer, it was half past nine.

My horror faded away after hearing his jokes. It was still early, so I researched the ghost house.

​

There was a lot of information about the ghost house. Most of them were from others’ posts on forums. It was impossible to find any information from news reports.

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I worked up the courage to go through those posts. Many horrible stories in the forums were pure fiction, but I could discern a small kernel of truth in some of them.

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The story of the ghost house became clearer. At first, the ghost house was indeed a brothel. It was true that many people had been killed there, tortured by the Japanese. It was true that many people who wanted to live in the ghost house died. Nevertheless, there many other stories that proved to be false.

​

The strangest thing was that I found a ground plan of the ghost house in the supernatural BBS titled “Zui Tang Chinese network”.

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The lines were drawn by hand. However, I could make out the whole layout of the brothel.

I took photos of the layout with my phone, thinking it might be useful. It eased my heart and made me feel a lot safer.