Chapter 3 (2)

  "Damn it, where did this ghost come from? It's just a bit scary!"

  "How scary?"

  "How can I tell you? This place is in a small alley, the house collapsed, it's like an old building from long ago. At midnight, there are often strange noises and ghostly calls."

  As soon as the words fell, a cool breeze seemed to have grown ears and blew in at the right moment. Lin Yuxiang was both cold and afraid, and he hadn't even seen the haunted house yet, but he was already trembling.

  "Dare you go?"

  "I dare!"

  Two people drove to the bottom of Sunset Bridge. It was an old residential area, Lin Yuxiang hadn't been there for many years. The road suddenly became smaller. There were no stars or moon in the sky, making this night sky particularly desolate and cool.

  "Almost there."

  Lin Yuxiang suddenly had ears like a wolf, gathering sounds from all directions. He didn't hear any ghostly cries.

  "In legend, this place once had four farmers who were buried alive by the Japanese and died miserably. At night, they would come out and gather in the haunted house. It's said that these four ghosts are in charge of the life, old age, sickness, and death of the people in this town. Some people have even seen them, with red eyes. That person died after a few days, their whole body turned green, and their brain rotted! How terrifying!"

  Lin Yuxiang's goosebumps rose and fell, the wolf's ears became even more sensitive, only hearing the sound of rustling leaves and wind. A line of ancient poetry came to mind, flooding Lin Yuxiang's memory: "Only heard at midnight, the ghostly lament".

  He listened intently for half a day, and faintly heard the sound of mahjong tiles. This dark and frightening place was exactly where gamblers liked to be, who knows if those four ghosts were also gathering around a table playing mahjong.

  Lin Yuxiang interrupted the topic of ghosts: "There are many people who gamble here!"

  Li Diao Jun: "Yes, don't have too many, just like... " He originally wanted to use the stars in the sky as a metaphor, but then thought that even the stars would be afraid of sullying their purity by being compared to gamblers. So he hastily changed his words: "Too many to count!"

  "Alas, gamblers and ghosts are a perfect match."

  "Great writer, stop playing with words!"

  Lin Yuxiang suddenly thought that the term "gambling ghost" was miscreated, and ghosts would not be convinced because in terms of feeling, the word "ghost" seemed to be a bet, for example, A asked B: "What do you gamble?", B replied: "We give ghosts", grammatically it is still valid. It should be called "ghost gambling" instead.

  Lin Yuxiang was just about to share his clever idea with Liang Yuqun, but saw Liang Yuqun nervously pull the emergency brake and say: "Get off, we're here!"

  Lin Yuxiang was so nervous that he even forgot the "gambler's insight" he used to calm himself down. He stopped the car, locked it up, and looked around at the old houses, asking: "Where did this haunted house come from?"

  "Don't rush, walk into that alley" Liang Yangjun pointed to the black alley behind him. Lin Yuxiang turned his head and took a look, and in an instant, his hair stood on end. The alley was like the mouth of hell, and compared to its darkness, the night outside seemed to want to proudly declare "I am daytime".

  Lin Yuxiang followed Liang Yangjun into the alley, and suddenly found it difficult to take a step, but for the sake of face, he still had to take a difficult step.

  It's so dark that even with your hand covering your nose, you can't see the outline. It's as if all light is timid and doesn't dare to step into this darkness.

  My heart was racing with anxiety, and I didn't know how long I had been walking. Suddenly, my eyes, which had been dull for half a day, caught sight of something and pounced on it like a starving cat spotting a mouse.

  Look carefully at the thing in front of you, Lin Yuxiang's feet were numb. The dilapidated building stood in a large courtyard, half of which had already collapsed, leaving only the stairs. This building was a church before liberation and became a hospital after liberation, and it has been abandoned for over ten years. In short, whether it was a church or a hospital, it was a place that harmed people. The collapse made people's hearts even more vicious. Lin Yuxiang didn't know the history of this building, thinking it had fallen from the sky, which scared him even more. Lin Yuxiang "leaning against the dangerous building", said in a trembling voice: "What's good to take pictures of?"

  "Don't be afraid, just go for it!"

  Lin Yuxiang heard that he had to go upstairs and hesitated without moving forward.

  Li Yangjun said: "Are you afraid?"

  Lin Yuxiang glanced at the haunted house standing in the cold night and was suddenly frightened, saying "Isn't this dangerous?"

  "Where! Look at you, like a mother, go!" Liang Yangjun dragged Lin Yuxiang upstairs. The stairs were actually still tightly connected to the floor, but they looked like they were suspended in mid-air. Just a few steps up, there was a loud creaking and footsteps from above. Liang Yangjun was startled and shouted: "Who?!" Lin Yuxiang's consciousness seemed to have fallen apart, he didn't even make any surprised movements, just standing still on the spot.

  The ghost on the floor was also frightened and jumped four times. Someone opened their mouth: "Who's there?"

  Liang Yangjun's heart finally put down, and he let out a long sigh. Lin Yuxiang's consciousness finally caught up, accompanied by cold sweat all over his body. He heard a Shanghai dialect, and his heart relaxed a lot, after all, it was a human being. Taking a step back, even if it was a ghost above, it was a Shanghai ghost, and giving some money could get rid of it.

  Li Yangjun hesitated and asked: "Is this old?"

  "What? You're Lian Yike!"

  Suddenly, there was a response from upstairs. Lin Yuxiang was shocked and thought that Liang Sujun's social circle not only spanned regions but also extended to hell. The old man appeared at the staircase entrance and slapped Liang Sujun's shoulder hard. Liang Sujun introduced him: "My friend, Lao, from vocational school!"

  "Is he your brother?" The old man asked disdainfully, pointing at Lin Yuxiang.

  "No, my classmate," said Leung Lok-kan.

  Liang Yangjun and the long-haired boy in front of her had been playing together since childhood, from small fights to big ones. He was skilled in martial arts, dominating the neighborhood, unbeatable in town, and his grades were slightly better than Liang Yangjun's, so he was promoted to vocational school.

  Liang Yangjun and he had a deep friendship. However, due to Liang Pei Jun's different path, indulgence in beauty, and poor performance, he was left behind, without a phone or old friends to keep him company. After entering the county town's vocational school, he was busy with fighting, beating people, and cheating, so he had no time to return to the small town. Liang Yangjun and he hadn't seen each other for over a month, and this unexpected encounter naturally made them extremely excited.

  The two of them were enthusiastically exchanging ideas, leaving Yu Xiang feeling isolated on one side.

  We chatted for a while, and suddenly I remembered that I had left something upstairs. I called out: "Kitty, come out!"

  A girl with shoulder-length hair walked out of the upstairs, her face a pure white that the night couldn't swallow, and instead made it look even more tender. Lin Yuxiang's eyes widened so much they almost fell off his face, muttering "Susa"! The girl smoothed her clothes as she came downstairs. Lao stretched out his hand to greet her. Lin Yuxiang took a step forward, only to realize he had mistaken the person - this girl was slightly less beautiful than Susa, and her hair quality was also inferior to Susa's by one level, but still shone brightly nonetheless.

  Lao Jiong is also similar to Liang Yangjun in terms of moral character, it can be seen that he is not averse to women but rather has not yet opened up his emotions, and once he does, it's astonishing. He ran to the haunted house at night, "Unfinished Love between Humans and Ghosts" (Uhaied Melody).

  The girl blushed and lowered her head, playing with her hair.

  Old man: "What brings you to this place?"

  Liáng Yàng Jūn: "Play along, you." Liáng Yàng Jūn pointed at that girl and smiled.

  "It's just mutual PyPy among everyone!" said Lao Dao.

  Li Shu-jun suddenly enlightened, boasting of Lao's elegance.

  Old man: "Still standing there like a fool? Go get some food!"

  "Where?" asked Liang Yangjun.

  "There is a 'night insomnia' old match in the village's memory."

  "Ah-ha! Right! 'Midnight Fast Food'!" Liang Yangjun exclaimed with delight, then invited Lin Yuxiang to say: "Let's go together!"

  Lin Yuxiang originally wanted to refuse, but somehow nodded. Tracing the reason, more than half of it was because of the "cat" of the long-haired old Dan by his side. Therefore, having a beauty by one's side, the decisions made are mostly wrong. No wonder the emperors of past dynasties kept making foolish decrees, the root of the problem lies here.

  Three people chatted and laughed, making the distance on the deserted road seem to shorten. The older "cat" was afraid of being seen and walked with her head down, not even calling out a greeting. Yu Xiang almost wanted to look at her face, and couldn't help but remind her to watch where she was going, lest she bump into an electric pole and die. Although in all of history only men had ever bumped into electric poles while walking, he couldn't bear the thought of that seemingly innocent girl being the first.

  After walking for a while, the four of them arrived at "Insomnia Fast Food". It was the only fast food restaurant in town that operated past 9 pm. Literally speaking, it seemed like after 1 am, it was daytime again. There were only a few people inside, all of whom were hastily grabbing a bite to eat because they were starving from gambling, so it was extremely quiet. From the outside, "Insomnia" looked like it was about to fall asleep itself.

  Four people entered the store, and "Night Without Sleep" suddenly became lively, instantly becoming full of vitality.

  The old man ordered the famous pan-fried dumplings of this restaurant. The four people were all starving and urged the boss to hurry up. The boss then urged the waiter to speed up, while the waiter wished he could slow down time a bit.

  Liang Yangjun recalled past events and said that the first time he was disciplined was because of a fight at Shanghai's "Hao Chi Lai" restaurant.

  Lao showed him consolation. The girl still didn't say a word, fortunately there was a pair of chopsticks beside her to play with, otherwise it would be hard to control her expression.

  After a while, the steamed buns were served. The steamed buns lived up to their name, and when I took a bite, flour still fell off.

  The four of them didn't pay much attention and continued eating with their heads down. Lao He and Liang Yangjun, like most Chinese scholars, had in-depth research on romance, but couldn't generalize it to dining. They didn't know that girls were most afraid of eating dishes like steamed dumplings that required swallowing whole, which also couldn't be slowly savored, or the juice would spill out. Girls always prided themselves on having cherry-like small mouths, and if a cherry-like small mouth swallowed a steamed dumpling, physicists would definitely die from anger, because theoretically, it was only possible for a steamed dumpling to swallow a cherry-like small mouth.

  The old man didn't notice at all, busy eating. The girl's mouth seemed to have learned the trick of China's education system in dealing with problems, only touching the surface without daring to touch the substance. Lin Yuxiang gave her a glance, and she hurriedly lowered her head and continued to gnaw stubbornly, her hair scattered on her chest.

  Just as three people were happy and one was in pain, three more people came in. Liang Yangjun used his elbow to nudge Lao Xia, who looked up and said coldly, "Don't mind them, continue eating."

  Lin Yuzhi didn't know much about the underworld, but those three people were too famous, Lin Yuxiang had to have heard of them.

  These three people have dropped out of school and spend their days provoking and causing trouble. A few years ago, the movie "Wong Fei-hung" was popular, and after watching it, these three people were itching to imitate him, forming a gang called the "Foshan Flying Eagle Gang". To live up to this name, the three of them committed all sorts of crimes, from theft to robbery, and had been in and out of the police station several times. The police officers felt inferior because their martial arts skills were no match for those of the "Foshan Flying Eagle Gang", so they would just detain them for a few days before releasing them.

  "Foshan Flying Swan Gang" is especially good at eating, wherever they go, they eat. Tonight, after watching the video, they plan to have a big meal before causing trouble. The leader of the three people is called Fei Ge, as soon as he enters the store, he loudly asks for pan-fried dumplings.

  The boss knew he was a good eater, so he hastily ordered the waiter to serve him quickly, fearing that if they waited too long, "Foshan Flying Swan Gang" would be so hungry that they would eat the table. The waiter quickly brought up the steamed dishes.

  Lin Yuxiang glanced over and said in a low voice: "They're going up so fast, it's really..." Liang Lvjun gave him a look.

  The guy at the next table slammed his chopsticks and shouted angrily: "Damn it, you're so annoying! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

  Lin Yuxiang's nine words were exchanged for his ten words, and he was so frightened that he didn't dare speak.

  In "Fei Hong Gang", a man wearing sunglasses reminded Fei Ge to take a look at the girl sitting at the next table.

  Fei Ge took a look and his soul flew away. After calming down slightly, he glanced at her a few more times, curled up the corners of his mouth and smiled: "Great! Great horse! How do you think I am?"

  "Sunglasses: 'Cool! Damn handsome guy!'"

  "To what extent?"

  "It's settled!" The sunglasses were at a disadvantage for not studying well, otherwise, boasting "Flying Fart" would definitely have a better flattering effect.

  Lin Yuxiang is doing his "Yuxiang Fu", secretly straightening his hair, wanting to leave a brilliant impression in front of her.

  A paper ball suddenly flew horizontally in front of Yu Xiang and hit the girl's shoulder. She was stunned, looked in the direction, saw three people waving at her, and quickly lowered her head to brush her hair.

  Liáng Yàng Jūn realized the situation and remained silent. Lǎo Bié Liàn was slow to react to the changes around him, still preoccupied with his past love.

  Fei Ge felt that using paper balls was not satisfying, so he upgraded his weapon and picked up a fried bun to throw. The fried bun seemed to have infrared guidance, directly hitting the girl's cheek. She dodged too late, let out an "ah" and leaned into Lao's arms.

  "What's wrong, kitty?"

  "He dumped me!"

  "Damn it! Looking for death!" The old man threw down his chopsticks.

  Lin Yuxiang opposed war, saying: "Forget it."

  That table refused to count, and threw another steamed bun. Lao had been busy lately with romantic affairs, neglecting his martial arts skills, so when he swung his hand, the steamed bun hit his outer garment instead. Liang Lujun also slammed the table and stood up.

  The shop owner saw the situation and immediately turned into a peace dove with Lin Yuxiang, rushing over to say: "Forget it, little misunderstanding, everyone take a step back, take a step back!" The boss couldn't bear for each person to take a few more steps back, retreat outside the store, as long as his store wasn't affected, both sides could use hydrogen bombs if they wanted.

  Fei Ge patted his boss's shoulder, asked for a cigarette, and slowly spat it out, saying: "This is called using a meat bun to hit a dog!"

  The old man heard that he had turned into a dog, and his anger was burning in his chest. He picked up the meat-filled bun and threw it back at him, but unfortunately, his throwing skills were not precise, and it fell far short of the target, reminiscent of the national football team's shooting style.

  The three of them laughed and said: "Little Baldy is really crooked!"

  Lao has done extensive research on Jin Yong's works, after reading them all, his martial arts and intelligence have greatly increased. This time he uses Yang Guo's classic line: "Who is the little bald donkey scolding?!"

  Fei Ge didn't read carefully and suffered a great loss. He raised his eyebrows and blurted out: "Cursing body!" Liang Yangjun and Lao Da laughed.

  Fei Ge blurted out: "Laugh, you damn it! You, long-haired wild dog!" As he spoke, he threw a punch, hating that he wasn't Yang Xiao Ye from Liang Bi's novel who would kill dogs on sight. After finishing his rant, he came to his senses, glared with wide eyes, and slammed the chair, shouting: "Damn it! You're quite good at asking for it!"

  The other two brothers also stood up to help.

  The shop owner pitied the stool that had fallen to the ground, hurried over to prop it up, and said with a sob: "Everyone take a step back, don't quarrel, eat well!" Seeing that his words were ineffective, he added another layer of sobs, and his inner words could not be hidden: "You want to quarrel outside, I still have to do business!"

  Fei Ge cursed at him and shouted: "Get lost, bird brain!"

  Liang Diaojun opened his golden mouth: "Damn it, what are you being so arrogant about!"

  Fei Ge lightly tossed another pan-fried bun, which landed in front of Lin Yu Xiang. Lin Yu Xiang was startled. The girl opposite him grabbed the old man's sleeve and begged: "Let it go, please!"

  The old man waved his hand and said, "This is a matter for men, don't interfere, go to the side!" Then he thought angrily, although our side has an advantage in numbers, but unfortunately one is a woman and one is like a woman, can be ignored. Two against three, it should be possible to compete. Unfortunately, Lao Ping had made too many enemies, and the two students he had accepted also looked at him with hostility. Liang Yangjun was relieved that he only had love rivals, and most of his love rivals were extremely weak, whether in terms of height, weight, three dimensions or having a good figure like Fei Ge, so there was no need to worry about future troubles.

  Fei Ge threw another steamed bun, enraging Lao who was already angry. He fiercely threw the cola over, missing but splashing three people's bodies. Fei Ge wiped his face and raised the stool to hit someone. Lao pulled the girl behind him, Liang Yangjun pushed Lin Yuxiang who was still in a daze, saying: "You go out first, don't get in the way!"

  Lin Yuxiang considered the bigger picture and hastily retreated out the door. Before leaving, he couldn't help but take one last look at the girl, who was being persuaded to give up by her scattered hair, with no time for a deep exchange of gazes with Lin Yuxiang. In the end, he heard a sentence: "Damn it, this horse is fine, let Brother Lu play..."

  In an instant, Lin Yuxiang felt a chill around him, his soul settled, and he found himself already outside the store. Turning his head, he saw Liang Diaojun inside holding a stool, Fei Ge clapping one hand to block, pointing at Lin Yuxiang, another helping hand picked up a stool and rushed over... He was so scared that he took off running, not even caring about his bicycle. After running for a long time, he realized he had already reached the main street, with no one chasing after him, he stopped in his tracks. Under the cool wind, only his shadow accompanied him, the orange streetlights under the dark clouds seemed even more ominous.

  Lin Yuxiang calmed down and paced back and forth, wondering whether he should go back. He looked up at the vast sky, his mood as gloomy and endless as the heavens. He decided to flip a coin to make a decision, but when it landed on heads, he hoped for tails, and when it landed on tails, he hoped for heads - in the end, he just couldn't decide, so he wandered aimlessly along the street, as if surrounded by the sounds of fighting from all sides. As he walked, he remained vigilant, sensing that there might be pursuers behind him.

  He walked for more than half an hour and somehow ended up in front of Susa's house, although he was certain that she hadn't been on his mind.

  Visible thoughts and feelings are not just in the mind but also on the feet, where the heart belongs is where the feet go.

  Stop in tracks and gaze up at the balcony. Susa's home is on the fourth floor, with a warm and cozy table lamp peeking out from the window, its soft light seemingly gentle enough to perform high-difficulty gymnastics moves, leaving Lin Yuxiang enchanted.

  Dazed for half a day, I vaguely saw the shadow moving on the curtains, thinking it was Susa who had discovered and came to open the window to welcome me. Yu Xiang's heart is full of joy, just waiting for Susa to wave at him in front of the window. At this moment, the only regret is that Shakespeare didn't write clearly how Romeo climbed over the Capulet family garden wall.

  A figure stood in front of the window. Closer, closer! Lin Yuxiang's heart jumped restlessly, secretly making a wish to be reborn as a gecko in his next life. He almost shouted: "Quietly! What is that light shining from the window? That is the East, Susa is the sun..."

  The figure got even closer! Lin Yuxiang hated himself again for not having a good relationship with Romeo and the fairy, so he couldn't borrow "Warm Light Wings".

  Just as he was full of hope, the figure suddenly disappeared. The excitement that had been stirred up instantly dissipated into the vast night sky.

  After such a blow, Lin Yuxiang realized that knowing people and faces but not hearts is not as painful as knowing people's hearts but not their faces.

  After wandering around at midnight, Liang Yangjun's aftermath was no longer important. Lin Yuxiang returned home with peace of mind, thinking back to the many trivial matters of the day, and fell asleep unknowingly.

  The next day, the first thing he did was to ask about Liang Suijun's life or death. After finding Liang Lvjun, he saw that he had not lost a single limb and felt relieved. Liang Yangjun said that he estimated that Fei Ge had broken his bones. Lin Yuxiang clapped his hands and said: "Good! This is the end of this person! He deserved it!"