Crack...
A bolt of lightning struck the old locust tree, exploding upon its branches. Faintly visible at the point of impact were a few flames flickering gently, which, fanned by the wind, soon spread over the entire tree. In the blink of an eye, a raging fire surged towards the sky.
Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief as the calamity was eradicated.
Afterward, I asked my master why he didn't use heavenly fire to burn it that very night. He said the yin energy is heavy at night, fearing the resentment might extinguish the heavenly fire. At noon, under the fierce sun, is when the yang energy is at its strongest in the day. With yang in abundance, yin diminishes. With ample yang energy to sustain it, the heavenly fire grows with the wind, ensuring that all malevolent spirits are burned away, making it foolproof.
...
Two years later, a convoy of more than a dozen large trucks formed a long line as they arrived here amidst the dust and dirt. They said those above had sent them to carry out a literacy campaign, offering unconditional knowledge to all children under sixteen. I was fortunate enough to be one of them.
They requisitioned a large plot of land from a nearby village and set up several large tents. That was where we had our classes. Maybe because I was naturally intelligent, I learned extremely fast and won the teachers' affection.
Our homeroom teacher was a very interesting old man, surnamed Liu. Not only were his classes engaging, but he was also very kind to us kids from the mountains. He would often bring small treats as rewards for studying hard and would even tell us stories when he had the time.
We all called him Old Liu, and he didn't mind the appellation. He would just chuckle and say that a name is merely a label, and as long as we studied hard, he didn't care what we called him.
One day after class, Old Liu told us the story of Sun Wukong defeating the White Bone Demon three times. We listened with rapt attention, our eyes shining with admiration, wishing we were Sun Wukong, the one to strike down the White Bone Demon with his staff.
After the story, a classmate raised their hand and asked Old Liu if there really were such things as Sun Wukong and demons and ghosts in this world.
He smiled and said that you could say there were, or you could say there weren't. They might be fabrications by ancient people, or they might exist between heaven and earth.
His answer was noncommittal, neither confirming nor denying.
After persistent requests from the students, Old Liu reluctantly agreed to tell us a ghost story. He walked to the entrance of the tent, looked around, then drew the cloth curtain down over the entrance to darken the inside of the tent.
Old Liu took his place at the lectern, cleared his throat, and deliberately lowered his voice...
It was a spooky night, pitch black, when a sentinel, suffering from a severely upset stomach in the middle of the night, groggily put on his clothes, tore some paper, and hurried to the dormitory toilet's door.
As he was about to enter, a harsh crashing sound rang out. The sentinel jumped in fright, rubbed his forehead, and cursed loudly. God damn, who the hell closed the toilet door? Making me bash my head into it.
Now fully awake after the collision, the sentinel saw that there was a piece of white paper stuck to the middle of the toilet door with a message: The toilet is broken, please use the external communal one.
With no choice, the sentinel stepped out of the dormitory and headed towards the communal toilet, which had once been a chaotic graveyard before the troops came, cleaned it up, and built the restroom. Since there were toilets in the dormitory building, this communal one was seldom used.
He groped for the light switch, only to find that it wouldn't turn on. Muttering about his bad luck, he felt his way towards the latrine pit.
Once he found his place, he quickly dropped his pants, but just as he squatted down, the sentinel screamed and stood back up because he felt a hand touching his buttocks.
But with his stomach in such turmoil, he braced himself, found another pit in the dark, and squatted down once more. However, that same hand touched his behind again.
The sentinel was terrified. Pulling up his pants, he screamed about ghosts and ran out.
His odd behavior was coincidentally noticed by a patrolling company commander, who called him over and inquired about the situation.
After understanding what had happened, the commander gathered his team, armed with submachine guns and strong flashlights, and entered the toilet, where they quickly discovered the truth. As it turned out, this public toilet was rarely cleaned, causing feces to overflow from the latrine pit, and what was thought to be a ghostly hand was actually a mound of excrement standing tall.
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Psh... The entire class caused an uproar after the story concluded, unanimously declaring it didn't count and vehemently demanding Old Liu to tell a scarier story.
Old Liu had no choice but to raise his hands to signal everyone to be quiet.
After everyone calmed down, Old Liu said he would tell a scarier one, and those students who were afraid could leave school and go home.
What young person isn't full of pride? Who would want to be called a coward by others? In the end, not a single person left.
Old Yang took a sip of water from his cup and looked at us, all focused and intent, then shook his head helplessly.
It was a creepy night, so dark you couldn't see your own hand...
Psh... Change it, change it. Some people started to heckle.
Old Yang gestured with his hands for everyone to be quiet and not to interrupt.
It was a creepy night, so dark you couldn't see your own hand. Xiao Yang woke up in the middle of the night with a terribly upset stomach, groggily put on clothes, and briskly walked to the dormitory bathroom door. Looking at the dim light inside the toilet and thinking about the story his seniors told during the day, a rumor said that every night there would be someone squatting in the second stall, endlessly muttering, "Do you want red toilet paper or white toilet paper?"
Xiao Yang entered the bathroom with trepidation, looked at the slightly ajar door of the second stall, and felt a bit fearful. There's a saying that the more scared you are, the stronger your curiosity becomes. Possessed as if by a ghost, Xiao Yang pushed open the door of the slightly ajar second stall...
Ah!
Xiao Yang let out a big yell, patted his chest, and let out a sigh of relief. There was nothing inside. It seemed he had been a little too timid and let the seniors' trick succeed.
He took off his pants and a stormy battle ensued.
Thud thud thud...
A series of hurried footsteps stopped at the bathroom door, causing Xiao Yang's heart to once again shoot up to his throat. It couldn't be that person, could it?
Suddenly, a pair of pale hands stretched in from under the bathroom door. "Do you want red toilet paper or white toilet paper?"
Xiao Yang screamed out in fear, completely panicked. Could all this be real?
"Hahahaha, Xiao Yang, I scared you to death. How could you go to the toilet alone and not call for me?" The owner of the voice was Xiao Wang, his roommate.
Xiao Yang came to his senses and shouted, "Fuck, Xiao Wang, you trying to scare me to death? Don't you know scaring people can actually kill them?"
In answer, a series of hurried footsteps faded away into the distance.
Xiao Yang finished his battle, wiped his butt, and with pants in hand, went back to the dormitory to settle the score with Xiao Wang.
"Are you sick? Waking me up in the middle of the night and disturbing others." Xiao Wang, who was shaken violently awake, rubbed his bleary eyes and swore.
"Motherfucker, weren't you the one who just scared me in the bathroom? And now you're pretending to be asleep?"
"Do you think everyone's as sick as you? I'm full enough to go scare you for what?"
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