What should be a person’s first reaction upon seeing a ghost?
If it were a few weeks ago, I definitely would have turned around and run like hell. But right at this moment, I suddenly understood the mindset of those death-seeking protagonists in horror movies – the ones in remote mansions.
If your house earning seven thousand yuan a day was haunted, could you really run away?
I gritted my teeth, grabbed an umbrella from the entrance, and slowly felt my way upstairs.
This thing was now the only obstacle on my money-making path. Even rabbits bite when cornered. I’d only been open for two weeks and already had such chaos – it was simply too much bullying. It should go out and ask what I’d sacrificed to get to where I am today.
Ever since my last cat café closed, I had become Niuhuru Bai Yang.
Stepping onto the final step, I took a deep breath and poked my head out.
The entire corridor was completely quiet. Since the shop’s business picked up, everyone at Huangliang Yimeng’s sleep quality had improved dramatically. Even Song Nanshi’s room, who used to stay up the latest, had its lights off. The beauty had probably gone to sleep for beauty rest after her bath.
Where did it hide?
I don’t know where I got the courage, but at this moment I was actually determined to dig three feet into the ground to find that thing from earlier. After all, Han Sha had put in so much effort, and logically the bathroom door was still sealed. The main wife big sister in this house shouldn’t be wandering around in the middle of the night. It was hard on her to gather these little ghosts one by one. I didn’t believe that if it was just some small fry, I couldn’t handle it.
The second floor space was narrow, and the red rope on the bathroom door was tied properly. Presumably even if the other party was death-seeking, it wouldn’t charge straight into Han Sha’s room. After hesitating, I decided to search mine and He Jian’s room first.
After all, according to Han Sha’s theory, whoever owned this house would become a target.
I gently pushed open He Jian’s door. The young man had probably crashed completely while playing games halfway through – his phone was pressed under his hand, showing no reaction to my door-opening motion.
In this situation, naturally I couldn’t expect his alertness to defend against other things in the house.
Helplessly, I checked the only place in the room that could hide someone – the wardrobe. But ultimately, my phone’s flashlight only illuminated a small portion of He Jian’s clothes.
For some reason, this kid’s material desires were incredibly sparse compared to when I was his age – like a monk. I remembered when I was his age, I’d bring home baking tools by the boxful, having bought over twenty rubber spatulas alone.
But thanks to He Jian having few possessions, after a quick search I was certain there couldn’t be anything else in the wardrobe, quickly ruling out the possibility that the thing was in our rooms.
No wonder they say people can’t withstand provocation. After repeatedly being defeated by supernatural phenomena in this house, I now felt like playing King of Glory in the canyon and losing twenty matches in a row late at night – afterward staying up until dawn running purely on instinct, fighting with backbone. Win or lose didn’t matter anymore.
I returned to the corridor, originally intending to check my previously vacant room, but under the bright white light, I suddenly noticed that Song Nanshi’s previously tightly closed door was now silently open just a crack.
Instantly, a chill rushed up my spine.
This little rascal even knew to play guerrilla warfare with me.
Song Nanshi’s room was completely quiet. Thinking about how He Jian had clearly superior constitution but still couldn’t escape being possessed by this house, in comparison Song Nanshi’s birth chart, no matter how hard, might not be invincible. At this point, I absolutely couldn’t let this ghostly thing possess a pretty girl again. After all, if it came to physical combat again, someone appearance-focused like me absolutely couldn’t bring myself to be rough with Song Nanshi.
Thinking this, I unhesitatingly pushed open Song Nanshi’s door, while praying in my heart that this girl looked conservative but definitely didn’t have any naked sleeping habits, or I’d really be unable to clear my name even if I jumped into the Yellow River.
Fortunately, when my phone light shone over, Song Nanshi was dressed very properly, curled up in a small ball facing away from me under a towel blanket, only revealing a section of fair arm.
When allocating rooms, us three men had unanimously agreed to give the slightly larger room to the pretty girl. Because of this, Song Nanshi’s room was more spacious than ours, arranged exceptionally neatly, with half-painted dolls she was drying placed everywhere. During the day it was nothing, but at this hour, these little things all reflected ghostly white light under the flashlight, making it hard not to feel chills down one’s back.
My apologies.
By all rights, entering a girl’s room in the middle of the night and rummaging around everywhere was inexcusable. After hesitating, I decided to wake Song Nanshi first. I walked gently to the bedside and was about to shake her, but just as my hand was about to touch Song Nanshi’s arm, I suddenly noticed something very strange.
No matter how I looked at it, her posture was too awkward.
Song Nanshi was sleeping facing away from me. Under normal circumstances, when people are relaxed, their elbows naturally bend. But Song Nanshi’s arm was straight as a stick. Not only that, it was quite unnaturally twisted to the side – from my angle I could actually see her palm, looking exactly like a puppet.
My heart jumped.
In this situation, either Song Nanshi had some special ability and liked doing yoga while sleeping, or…
The one sleeping on the bed with her back to me simply wasn’t Song Nanshi at all.
Oh no!
In horror, I sucked in a breath of cold air. Just as my scalp went numb, I felt a strange breeze brush past my ankle, as if someone under the bed was gently blowing air at my feet.
If the one on the bed wasn’t Song Nanshi, then was the real Song Nanshi under the bed?
Was she trying to warn me?
Thinking this, I couldn’t care about the motionless thing on the bed. I immediately crouched down to confirm Song Nanshi’s safety. But just as my flashlight illuminated under the bed, a pale face with vacant eyes was instantly lit up.
“…!”
In tremendous terror, I couldn’t even scream when someone violently yanked my neck from behind. Immediately after, due to losing balance, I fell directly onto Song Nanshi’s bed.
There was something on the bed too…
By the time I realized this, it was too late. A cold arm pressed down, scaring me into complete convulsions. I opened my mouth to scream, but a soft hand immediately covered my mouth. Then the towel blanket was pulled up, covering my entire body.
“Shh!”
My phone dropped randomly to one side, illuminating Song Nanshi’s face in the darkness.
She wore a thin nightgown, using one hand to firmly cover my mouth while silently mouthing: “Boss, don’t make a sound. It’s right under the bed!”
By this time my whole body was soaked in cold sweat. After staring at each other with Song Nanshi under the towel blanket for a full half minute, I finally realized she might have been awake all along, and had long been aware something was under the bed.
The question was, where had that thing on the bed gone?
Belatedly thinking about that hand on the bed, I couldn’t help looking around.
At this moment Song Nanshi was using one hand to cover my mouth, her other hand gripping the towel blanket. However, as my gaze fell behind her, I discovered another pale hand trying to crawl into the towel blanket!
“That… that thing!”
I breathed in terror against Song Nanshi’s palm. In just two short minutes I was scared until my head ached. But Song Nanshi only glanced back, then unhesitatingly grabbed that hand and pulled it in!
Are you trying to die! Can you not be so brave!
I was completely numb, desperately pinching my thigh, but even so, the hand in Song Nanshi’s grip didn’t disappear. Not only that, she even used that hand to pat my face.
“This one’s fake.”
Song Nanshi mouthed: “My silicone fake hand, for practice.”
I stared at her blankly. Under these circumstances, Song Nanshi actually blushed looking at me, somewhat unnaturally averting her gaze and mumbling: “I was thinking of… practicing nail art before.”
“…”
My brain gradually regained blood flow. I belatedly realized the hand from before was something Song Nanshi had deliberately placed on the bed to make people think it was her arm. As for what she was guarding against…
Thinking of that face under the bed earlier, my back immediately broke out in another layer of cold sweat. I silently asked: “You saw that thing under the bed too?”
Song Nanshi said pitifully: “I felt a bit cold, like when I was bathing that day. I felt something was wrong, so I took out the fake hand.”
I asked: “You thought I was that thing just now?”
Song Nanshi nodded: “It happened before. My dolls in the room would occasionally be moved… I know something comes in at night.”
What exactly was that thing…
The more I thought about it, the more chills ran down my back. But in this situation, the two of us couldn’t keep hiding under the towel blanket forever. We had to find a way to get off this bed.
I tentatively lifted the towel blanket to look outside. The entire room was quiet, exactly the same as when I’d entered. The door was still open, with pitch darkness outside.
It wouldn’t still be crouched under the bed, would it?
I quickly realized with horror that the situation Song Nanshi and I were encountering was exactly what I’d feared most as a child.
Hands and feet completely unable to extend out of the bed, unable even to touch the floor, afraid that things under the bed would reach out to grab us.
Who could have imagined that in 2022, people could still be trapped on a bed!
After hesitating for a long time, I still didn’t have the courage to get off the bed. But having a beautiful woman take risks in this situation really wasn’t my style either. Just as I was conflicted, Song Nanshi seemed to see through my thoughts, saying matter-of-factly in a small voice: “Boss, before when I felt someone coming in at night, it never hurt me. How about I go instead?”
Song Nanshi was truly beautiful and bold. As soon as she finished speaking, she was already heading under the bed. My brain heated up and I tried to pull her back. But Song Nanshi’s center of gravity had already shifted out. With my sudden tug catching her off guard, she toppled unsteadily into my arms.
“Ah…”
The previously calm Song Nanshi had her hands and feet all pressed against my body. Through the thin layer of nightwear, I could even feel her body temperature rapidly rising, her face reddening as if cooked. Before I could even stop her, Song Nanshi had already let out a piercing scream.
Sister! You’re not even afraid of someone under the bed, how can you scream because of this!
My brain crashed instantly. But even faster than my crash was He Jian’s speed. Within five seconds, someone had turned on the light in Song Nanshi’s room. He Jian rushed to the doorway: “Sister Song, what’s wrong with you…”
His words stopped abruptly, followed by Han Sha’s footsteps behind him also stopping abruptly. The two men stared at me from the doorway. Soon, Han Sha rolled his eyes: “Boss, is your next step going to be asking me to sleep with you too?”
“No, it’s not…”
“I already told you, sleeping with anyone is just psychological comfort. Even if Xiao Song’s birth chart is hard, there’s no way to just share it with you.”
“Wait…”
Having previously watched TV dramas with my sister, I often sneered at those idol dramas where people could end up embracing just from casual pulling and tugging. I never imagined I’d encounter something even more ridiculous.
Ghost hunting, but on one bed.
Save me.
At this point I could only look to Song Nanshi for help, but the girl was completely flustered, curled up in a ball with her face buried in her knees, still hugging her silicone fake hand like a toy.
Song Nanshi’s voice was as thin as a mosquito’s buzz: “It wasn’t the boss coming to sleep with me… I was the one who pulled him onto the bed…”
“…”
My vision went dark. I still wanted to struggle and clear my name, but then He Jian seemed to suddenly discover something. He tilted his head slightly, looking under Song Nanshi’s bed, and said strangely: “There seems to be something white down there. Sister Song, is it yours?”