I looked into the storage room of the village chief's house and heard a short scream, I immediately ran over.
I was barefoot and was not careful as I ran towards the scream. A burst of pain struck me as I stepped on something sharp.
But I couldn't stop. I just took in a deep breath and limped slowly towards the storage room.
By the time that I reached, it was already messy and tattered. Chubby Boy sat on the ground and held Big Huang as he cried. Lu Xi and Silly Er were frozen in a stalemate.
There was a huge bloodstain on the ground. While the skinned dogs and mutilated corpses were surrounded by a mass of flies, exuding an unpleasant stench.
I frowned and immediately covered my mouth and nose. Nausea invading me as the stench overwhelmed my senses.
Lu Xi glanced at me and stared back at Silly Er, who was in a stalemate with him. He spoke coldly, "Come with me!"
Silly Er frowned, and his face became unbearably twisted, "Impossible!" He roared and rushed towards Lu Xi like crazy.
Lu Xi showed no change in expression. He withdrew his hand, and immediately swung his arms. A slender black dagger flew towards Silly Er so quick it could barely be seen by the human eye.
Silly Er's movements were stiff. It was too late to avoid Lu Xi's lightning fast attack. The dagger stabbed into his chest and he screamed in agony, falling to the ground. Soon, the ghost possessing Silly Er's body bounced out. It was a skinny man and he snarled at Lu Xi with glaring red eyes.
"You dare to ruin my plan."
Lu Xi had a chilly expression. He was armed with another dagger in his hand and threw it at the man.
The man escaped from Silly Er's body and suddenly his movements became extremely agile, avoiding the dagger attack with a swift flicker.
I widened my eyes and couldn't clearly see how the man evaded the attack. When I could see the man again, he was standing in front of me, grabbing my neck and lifting me up.
His movements were quick and precise and the next thing I knew, my throat began to tighten and I started to have difficulty breathing.
"Let me go."
I kicked and clawed in any way I could, but to no avail.
The man's arm blue veins were swelled up. His pale and bloodless face had cracked teeth, and it was so twisted that I could not bear looking at it.
"Scoundrel, stop any unnecessary resistance. Just die already!" Lu Xi uttered coldly, drew a black sword with a silver flash from his back.
My eyes widened in disbelief. The malicious ghost suddenly swung his hand and threw me away. Disoriented, I couldn't do anything to break the impact as my body was slammed against the wall. The storage room was just a log cabin and so a large hole opened up through the wall
I was thrown all the way out of the cabin and the pain penetrated into my bone marrow.
I thought that I was definitely going to lose my life, or the impact would at least leave half of my body paralyzed. But I had not yet landed on the ground, I was still falling at high speed, approaching the ground, when a pair of cold big hands held me steadily.
I gritted my teeth in pain and opened my eyes to see Ming Si's chilly face.
He picked me up, looked down at me, and opened his thin lips lightly. His words were firm and powerful, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."
I no longer felt afraid but the pain was still pulsing through my body as though my whole body was disintegrating. I had never experienced pain like this since I was young. With my weak body, being smashed through a wall, how could it not hurt?
He hugged me tightly and glanced at my dirty feet, ignoring the fight between Lu Xi and the man in the storage room. Then, he turned away.
At that point, I had already fallen asleep or probably became unconscious. When I woke up, I was already lying on my bed in my room. The pain in my body had dissipated a lot and Ming Si was sitting at the end of the bed, rubbing my feet with a wet towel.
The desk lamp lit the room with a tender light.
I sat up slowly.
Ming Si raised his eyes and looked at me, his eyebrows giving off a hint of mystery. There was no hint of a smile.
"The matter has been resolved," said Ming Si faintly.
I nodded and asked him, "What about Chubby Boy and Silly Er?"
"They are both fine."
I didn't ask in detail what happened because I was so tired.
So I just laid down again, closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep. As I drifted off to sleep, I felt a cold body holding me tightly. It was like the was a piece of ice next to me, making me tremble a little.
That night, a hand patted my shoulder gently, as if coaxing me to sleep.
While I slept, I had a series of ridiculous dreams. There was a malicious ghost in my dream pursuing me while baring his teeth and claws. Lu Xi pierced the male ghost's chest with a sword and Chubby Boy was crying with Big Huang in his arms...
When I woke up again, it was already dawn.
I sat up from the bed, my body tired as if I had fully exhausted it the day before. Thin sunlight sprinkled in through the window, and printed a ray of light on the floor. There were chirping birds outside the window.
I stretched my arms and legs; my body was a little sore.
"Sixi, time to get up."
Aunt's shout came from the outer hall of the house.
I responded, and slowly left the bed to wash up.
Aunt didn't know anything that had happened yet. After breakfast, she left immediately, riding a bicycle to work in town.
I laid back in bed and rested alone as I had nothing to do back at home. As I went back to sleep, I vaguely heard Chubby Boy calling me in the yard so I quickly got out of bed and went outside to find him.
Chubby Boy told me that Silly Er became a fool again. The village chief demolished the storage room, buried the dogs' corpses, and went to each family where their dogs had been missing to apologize.
"What about Silly Er?" I asked him.
He smiled, "He's the same as before. A silly fool."
I breathed a sigh of relief and did not know how the male ghost's fate ended. Since everything was back to normal, I guess Lu Xi had defeated the male ghost.
"Tonight the village chief invited a priest to exorcise the area. Do you want to grab a look?" Chubby Boy asked me.
I shook my head. I still wanted to avoid those types of things, so as to not bring me anymore trouble.
"Just take a look. It will be fine. Take it as an opportunity to drive away the bad luck in you."
I didn't speak. Chubby's face turned bitter as he mentioned his Big Huang in deep regrets, "But my Big Huang is dead. I was still a little late, but it was so strange last night. Silly Er wanted to strangle me to death just like a psychopath. It was so terrifying. And then he just fought against himself fanatically..."
Chubby Boy talked as he enacted the scene. I smiled bitterly in response.
He couldn't see Ming Si and Lu Xi. Hence, in his opinion, it was Silly Er who was punching the air like a lunatic.
That night, the village chief invited a priest to set up an array. I didn't go since my aunt forbade me to go, saying that the priest was a liar who cheated people for money.
Aunt had also taken the time to see Silly Er in the village chief's house in the afternoon and said that Silly Er had no problems at all. There was no need to ask anyone to perform exorcism. However, the village chief refused to listen and insisted on throwing red packets [1] to the cheater.
...
The matter came to an end. The village had restored its peace and Ming Si had never reappeared for a long time. Several cycles of the four seasons passed.
The day had come where I had successfully entered into a key middle school [2] in the town. But when I registered at the school on the first day, I had already become an outcast in the eyes of my classmates.
Many people heard of the rumors in our village. The seven girls in my dormitory were also arguing with the class teacher every day to change the dormitory. An encounter with me was an encounter with a ghost to them!
I was completely isolated.