Banquet of a Hundred Ghosts

Chapter 17

Feixiao looked at him and nodded: "It seems that way now, there's more than one person telling the truth!"

"Then what should we do?" Chen Kai asked him.

"Hehehe, another one makes a perfect pair!" Fei Xiao said, pointing at Du Juan and shouting at the man, "Look at yourself, is the person next to you your daughter? She's just in your daughter's body. How would your daughter know you're her father?"

"Who said that?" Seeing someone help her, Du Juan hugged the man next to her tightly. "I knew he was my father from the very beginning!"

“Yes!” Feixiao said, “You came out together, so of course you know, just like this man must know you’re a cat!”

Du Juan looked terrified and couldn't continue her act. She looked up at the man and asked, "Really? You know? You know what I am?"

The man nodded: "I know what you are, but you are still my daughter!" He then cupped Dujuan's face in his hands: "My daughter has grown up so much. When I died, you were just a baby!"

"They're going to hurt me, what should I do?" Dujuan said, sobbing softly. It seems cats are cunning animals, even more so than foxes.

"Go back to where you belong and give my daughter's body back!" the man said softly to her.

"Alright, Dad!" Du Juan looked up at the gaunt man in front of her, her eyes flashing with malice. "Help me kill Zhao Yu before I can go back! Otherwise, your daughter will be harmed!"

"How could you still be thinking about killing people at a time like this!" Chen Kai could hardly believe his ears; this woman was too crazy.

"What else can we do?" Du Juan said, tears streaming down her face. "I died with hatred in my heart. Only this way can the hatred leave this girl's body! Either Zhao Yu dies, or this girl has no future!"

"Isn't there a solution?" Chen Kai asked, looking at Fei Xiao.

“Yes!” Feixiao said, “It’s that talisman. They were only able to stay in this world because of that talisman. As long as we burn the talisman, everything will be fine!”

"Hehe!" Du Juan giggled, her voice trembling like a bunch of red plum blossoms. "That's right! It was that talisman, but I went back and threw it away as soon as I came out! Nobody cares about a tattered piece of paper!"

"Then I'll drag you out by force!" Fei Xiao said, and was about to grab her.

But Du Juan ran even faster, her body as supple as a cat's, and she leaped towards Zhao Yu in an instant. Zhao Yu was sitting on the ground when he saw her pounce on him. He reached out and blocked her, and she tore off a piece of flesh from his arm.

She jumped to the ground, wanting to try again, but her hand was already firmly grabbed by Feixiao. "Let go of me! What are you doing?"

Du Juan struggled, her hair a tangled mess, looking especially terrifying in the darkness. Seeing someone come to her rescue, Zhao Yu, ignoring his pain, grabbed his arm and ran a long way.

Feixiao saw the bloody object in her hand and exclaimed, "You monster! I'll deal with you right now!"

"Daddy! Daddy! Help me!" Dujuan cried out to the man in the distance, "If this man drives me away, your daughter won't be any better!"

The man slowly walked over, a pained expression on his face: "You are not my daughter, my daughter is not like this!"

After saying that, he took out a piece of yellow paper from his homespun pocket and asked Feixiao, "The talisman you mentioned? Is this it?"

"How could this be? How could this be?" Du Juan seemed to disbelieve her eyes. "I clearly hid it, how could it be with you?"

"That's it! That's it!" Fei Xiao said, snatching it away. With a tremor of her hand, the yellow paper fluttered open in the wind, revealing a large, charred hole on it. It was the very same paper that had been laid out on the table when they were playing the game.

"Burn it, I'm tired too!" the man said dejectedly.

"No, don't burn it! If you burn it, I'll disappear!" the cuckoo cried out. "And you'll disappear too!"

The man looked at Du Juan with loving eyes: "When I was sick and dying, I kept thinking, what would my little Juan look like when she grew up?" Tears streamed down his face as he spoke: "I was so unwilling back then, but now I see it. My daughter has grown up to be so beautiful!" He wiped the tears from his face and said to Fei Xiao, "I'm so sorry about what happened just now, but I just can't bear to see others hurt my daughter!"

Feixiao waved her hand and smiled, "I understand!"

"Then, what about yourself? Aren't you afraid of disappearing?" Du Juan shouted loudly, hoping he would change his mind.

The man looked at Du Juan's hysterical face, his eyes filled with love. "Parents will sacrifice anything for their children, let alone someone who has already died once!"

"Chen Kai, you should burn this quickly!" Fei Xiao said, and with a flick of her hand, the yellow paper seemed to come alive and fluttered into Chen Kai's hand.

Chen Kai stared at the paper talisman in his hand. It was yellow paper with twisted red characters on it. Everything had started because of it, and now it was finally time to understand. He hurriedly asked Zhao Yu, "Do you have a lighter?"

"Yes, yes!" Zhao Yu hurriedly ran over, clutching his injured arm, took out a lighter, and a blue flame shot out, setting the yellow paper on fire.

"No, no!" Du Juan, with a sudden burst of strength, broke free from Fei Xiao's grasp and rushed towards the two of them.

"Whoa!" The two were startled, seeing a blood-stained scarlet claw right in front of them. There was no time to dodge, and they closed their eyes in fear, waiting to die. But after a while, there was still no movement, so they dared to peek open their eyes. They saw that Du Juan had fallen to the ground at some point, and the yellow paper that had fallen to the ground had turned to ashes.

In the distance, only Fei Xiao, dressed in white, stood on the empty rooftop. The night wind blew his long hair as he looked at Chen Kai with a sorrowful gaze: "It's all over!"

"Then, what about Dujuan's father?" Chen Kai asked him.

"Let's go!" Fei Xiao said as she picked up the ashes from the ground, placed them in her palm, blew on them, and the black ashes fluttered into the air like butterflies.

"Parents will do anything for their children!" Chen Kai said, then thought of his own parents far away, wondering what they were doing. Thinking about it, his nose started to sting.

"The hearts of parents are full of love and compassion; true love is selfless!" After saying this, Fei Xiao turned back and smiled at Chen Kai, saying, "We should go now!"

Chen Kai looked up at the starry sky and wondered if Du Juan's father would also turn into a star and continue to bless his daughter.

The stars twinkled, like weeping eyes, like the tears of those parting.

A few days later, Du Juan walked down a small alley as if nothing had happened. She turned into a small courtyard where an old man was peacefully sunbathing.

"Grandma! I've come to see you!" she said with a smile, her face now full of youthful innocence.

"Great! Great! Come and sit down!" The old man's face lit up with a big smile when he saw Du Juan.

"Grandma, I want to ask you something!" she said as she walked over and took the old woman's gnarled hand.

"Speak!" His cloudy old eyes met her clear, black-and-white eyes.

"My...my father is dead?" Du Juan choked out. Since playing that game, she had learned a little bit about some things.

"Even if it's a separation of life and death, how can one endure prolonged sorrow and grief?" The old man reached out and touched her black hair: "Sometimes, life needs hope. Your father is not dead. As long as he lives, you can see him again!"

Dujuan buried her face in her knees and wept. Yes, life needs hope. Even a small lie can sustain us to live bravely in this world.

The wind carries the fresh scent of hay. No matter what happens to the dead, the living must go on living. Even if one writes a thousand heart-wrenching stories, to whom can one send them?

Chapter Six: Masks (Part 1)

Chen Kai was a very lonely teenager, or perhaps more accurately, a young man. He lived a solitary life, having few friends at school, spending his days simply commuting between his apartment and the school with his backpack. In this desolate autumn season, Chen Kai often sighed at the azure sky; perhaps it was the loneliness of being at the top? But he hadn't even reached the top yet and was already almost forgotten by those around him. He often compared himself to the chivalrous heroes in Gu Long's novels, feeling how similar their loneliness was to his own. But he neither liked wine nor possessed a sword, and he gradually resigned himself to his fate. He was just a freshman, unable to integrate with his classmates for various reasons, yet all sorts of gossip still relentlessly plagued him.

That day, Chen Kai, a lonely boy—no, a young man—was walking on the road to school when someone suddenly called out to him, "Young man, wait a minute!"

Chen Kai looked at the person who called him. It was an old man, probably close to seventy, with thick glasses, gray hair, and a large stack of books in his arms. He was sitting in the garden sunbathing.

"Teacher, what do you want?" Chen Kai asked the old man. Even the dormitory gatekeeper at the school had to be called "teacher".

"Come here and talk!" The old man beckoned to him and smiled kindly at him.

"What's wrong?" Chen Kai walked over. Was this old man going to make him do some work? Almost everyone he knew seemed to enjoy ordering him around.

"Hehehe!" The old man laughed at Chen Kai, "Young man, I can see it, I can see what's following you!"

"What?" Chen Kai was completely confused. He turned around and saw only blue cement slabs and yellowed lawns. There was nothing following him.

"It's a white fox!" the old man said with a smile. "A very cute little fox!"

"What?" Chen Kai was startled. "Did Fei Xiao follow us?"

"So you know who this fox is?" the old man said to Chen Kai with a smile. "Young people these days are getting more and more interesting, following all sorts of people!"

"What else can you see?" Chen Kai asked him anxiously. If anyone had the ability to see ghosts, this old man was probably one of them.

"There's someone with a dog following them!" the old man pointed to a person in the distance. "Can't you see them?"

Chen Kai turned his head and looked back. A woman in her thirties was leisurely walking her dog. He was immediately speechless. It seemed that the old man had a problem with his brain, not his eyes. "That's right, he was following the dog. I saw it!" Chen Kai didn't know what to say.

"Hehehe, right? Actually, when people get old and their nearsightedness reaches a certain level, they can still see a lot of things!" the old man said proudly, looking very pleased with himself.

"I'm going home now, nothing else!" Chen Kai felt too embarrassed to tease him any further, but he just felt he was becoming more and more foolish.

"Goodbye!" The old man waved to him from the stone steps in the garden. "Take good care of your little fox!"

Chen Kai looked back at his back again, but there was still nothing there. However, he felt a sense of relief. He realized that he was not alone. Fei Xiao had been trying to find ways to keep him company, which was why she knew his every move.

Autumn is truly a beautiful season. Suddenly, the lonely boy Chen Kai no longer felt lonely. He put his hands behind his head, whistled, and walked home through the golden fallen leaves.

As soon as I got home, I saw Feixiao rubbing his sleepy eyes and eating chicken. "You're back! Let's eat together!" His beauty vanished at that moment.

"Why is dinner served as soon as I get back?" Chen Kai asked the lazy animal.

"Oh, you're so lucky! I just called the restaurant staff over and you're back already!" Fei Xiao said, grabbing a chicken leg and chewing it heartily.

"Hehe!" Chen Kai poured himself a glass of water and ate with him, a contented, silly smile on his face.

"What's wrong with you?" Fei Xiao asked him, lying on the bed. "Didn't you say you'd never eat chicken again in your life?" The expression on this guy's face was gradually turning into that of an idiot.

"Nothing?" Chen Kai answered happily, holding the chicken. It turned out that Fei Xiao really knew when he would come back, which was why she always ordered takeout for him. "Hehe!" He chuckled twice more, looking at the clouds rolling by outside the window. Today was truly a beautiful day.

A few days later, the school sent out forms, stating that since they were science majors, they needed to minor in a humanities subject in order to earn enough credits for a semester.

Chen Kai, biting his pen, stared at a blank form, completely stumped. Which subject should he choose?

He was no good at Chinese. He knew from high school that there was an absurd amount of homework in Chinese, and most of it involved writing essays. Writing them all would be exhausting.

After thinking for a long time, he put a checkmark next to history. Feixiao seemed to be very familiar with history. If there was any homework, he could still help. That's settled. He was secretly pleased with his wise decision. He must make use of the available resources as soon as possible.

But when he went to class again a week later, he was no longer happy.

The huge classroom was so empty you could hear the echo; hardly anyone had chosen this course. When the classroom door was pushed open, he was even more dumbfounded—it was the mentally challenged old man he had met in the garden that day.

The old man walked to the podium, adjusted the microphone, and said to the people below in a very slow voice, "Hello everyone, my surname is Wang, and I am a professor in the history department. From now on, I will be learning about our country's civilization with you all!"

The words were quite normal, but Chen Kai was stunned. University campuses are truly places where hidden talents abound. Even someone with early signs of Alzheimer's disease is a professor in the history department.

After enduring the tedious and boring get out of class, Chen Kai was about to slip away with the other students when Professor Wang called him back: "Hey, the student with the fox following behind, help me move some teaching aids!"

The people around him were confused, shook their heads, and left with their backpacks. Only Chen Kai came back with his head down and went to the podium to help him pack his things.

"Hehe! You've worked hard!" Professor Wang said to Chen Kai with a smile.

"It's alright, it's nothing!" Chen Kai flattered him, clearly doing it on purpose, yet still saying such hypocritical things!

"Sigh, kids these days are all hypocrites. You know, I hate students like that the most, so I'm really strict with them at the end of the semester!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Kai immediately grabbed the map and walked out the door: "Professor Wang, where is the teaching aids room?" Before leaving, he didn't forget to pick up the professor's bag as well, carrying it on his shoulder and in his hands as he followed Professor Wang.

The two walked to the history department's teaching building, which was pitch black inside. Humanities and sciences were definitely different. Chen Kai glanced back at his own department's building, which was still brightly lit; he guessed many people were studying late into the night. "A single misstep can lead to eternal regret," he thought. "If only I had chosen to study humanities back then, wouldn't I be just as successful now?"

Thinking that they had already followed Professor Wang up to the second floor, just as they reached the second-floor corridor, several students rushed out of a room with terrified expressions on their faces.

Chen Kai was puzzled. Was the History Department going to watch the Autumn Sports Meet soon? Or was it a trend to warm up in the corridor lately?

The students ran to the end of the corridor, seemingly relieved, and began chattering, with comments like "That was terrifying!" and "It must be a ghost!"

"Ghost?" Chen Kai's heart tightened when he heard this word. There seemed to be a lot of strange things happening lately, even in the history department?

"What are you doing?" Professor Wang shouted at them. "You're supposed to be graduate students! How can you not act like scholars at all!"

Looking at his serious face, Chen Kai began to feel that this professor was indeed worthy of respect, possessing an imposing aura.

The students obediently returned to their classrooms to study, except for one girl who stayed behind.