Home of Psychics

Home of Spirits

Foreword

December 23rd, Christmas Eve. Frost fell last night, and it's chilly everywhere this morning. It's Saturday, so nobody wants to get up; everyone's staying snuggled in their warm blankets.

But the family on the first floor had been making a racket since early morning, constantly rattling and banging, waking everyone in the building and making them a little annoyed. When they went outside, they found three young girls cleaning the house; it was amazing how energetic they were in such cold weather.

I remember the first floor was supposed to be a family of three, and I've never heard of them moving or anything like that. How did it suddenly change hands?

The three girls were completely oblivious to the puzzled looks on the faces of the onlookers. They quickly cleaned up a lot of trash, dumped it into a large basket outside the door, and then slammed the door shut, leaving everyone stunned. Only restless laughter occasionally slipped out from the crack in the door!

"It's so cold! I'm freezing!" Vivi exclaimed, her hands red and swollen, unsure what to do with them. Qingyan busied himself placing cushions on the carpet so she could sit down, and then asked, "Rui! Is the water ready yet?"

"Alright, alright! Help yourselves." Rui'er was in the kitchen, which had been converted from a balcony, taking the hissing hot water off the stove and filling three large cups.

Five minutes later, the three of them, each with a cup of hot water in hand, sat down in the largest room, which served as their living room.

"That feels so good!" If she weren't holding a glass of water, Vivi would have loved to stretch and yawn.

"Rui, I absolutely love your parents! How could they be so kind as to give us the house?" Qingyan couldn't contain her joy.

“That’s right, I didn’t expect it either. They got another new house, and they’re reluctant to sell this one, so it’s a good deal for us.” Rui’er leaned back elegantly on the sofa.

"Wow! I never thought our dreams would come true. HOHOHO~~" the three of them exclaimed in unison.

With a soft hiss, the light flickered a few times and went out. The power was out, and the room immediately went dark. The three of them could barely see each other's faces.

"What's going on?" Qingyan complained under her breath as she flipped through the pages and pulled out the supplement of the previous day's Yangtze Evening Post—"Maintenance today," she announced loudly.

"Well, it's so cold, there's no hope of getting electricity." Rui'er rummaged through the drawer full of odds and ends, found a short candle, lit it, and held it in her hand.

"Let's go to the dining room. It's getting colder here, and there's nowhere to put the candles."

So everyone moved to the living room.

This is a two-bedroom, one-living-room house. Because it's on the first floor, you can enter through the gate, so the back door is usually kept closed and not used. The largest room serves as both a living room and study, while the smaller one is the bedroom for the three girls, where a folding bed has been temporarily set up. The living room is small, containing only a refrigerator and a table, and is used solely for dining. The cooking area is on a balcony, while the kitchen has been converted into a storage room.

The three sat down around the table. Because the candle wick was very short, the flame was small, and cold winds kept getting in, causing the flame to flicker and give a somewhat eerie feeling when it shone on people's faces.

"Say something, I'm so bored." Vivi is the most restless person.

“Let’s talk about spiritualism. Hmm?” Kiyohiko suggested.

“What is spiritualism?” Vivi asked.

"It's hard to explain. If you want a basic understanding, it's something mysterious and unknowable."

"That means ghosts! Do you understand?" Rui'er explained simply and clearly.

"It's alright, it's alright. Now that we're living together, I don't have to park the car by myself. You guys have agreed on this," Vivi said.

“Let me tell you, this is a true story,” Rui’er said solemnly.

"This is a true story from my neighbor's grandmother when I was a child. She was from Northeast China and farmed in the countryside when she was young. There were few people in her family, so she often went to the fields alone. It was probably winter, I don't know which year, but she was tired from working and decided to take a break when suddenly a fox ran up to her. The fox suddenly stood up on its hind legs like a human, wearing a flowery jacket, and said to her, 'Look, do I look like a human?' My grandmother didn't react for a moment, and surprisingly, she wasn't scared. After a moment of hesitation, she replied, 'Aren't you just a fox? Why are you pretending to be a human!' The fox shrieked, climbed down again, tore its clothes, and ran away like any other fox. Only then did my grandmother come to her senses, and she fell to the ground. She wanted to run away, but her legs were shaking so badly that she couldn't stand up. Fortunately, her family came later."

Kiyohiko was the first to sigh, "Oh! What a pity. That fox could have cultivated into a human, but now it's all over."

"What do you mean?" Vivi asked.

"Just like in the novel *Investiture of the Gods*, Bi Gan borrowed Jiang Ziya's talisman to cut open his chest and heart in the palace, but after leaving the palace, mounting his horse, and leaving the city, he was perfectly fine. He happened to see someone selling water spinach and asked, 'Water spinach can live without a heart, but what about a person without a heart?' The answer was, 'A person without a heart dies.' He immediately fell off his horse and died. That's the same principle."

"Really?!"

“Absolutely true!” Rui’er declared repeatedly.

The story itself was nothing special, but after listening to it and thinking about it carefully, the three of them felt a chill run down their spines. The phone rang inconveniently, startling all three of them into screaming. In the end, it was Ruier who picked up the receiver.

It turned out to be D, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"You scared us to death! Next time, let us know before you call!" Rui'er said, feigning anger. "Going out? Hmm, okay, anyway, we're out of power here. Let's meet at our usual spot."

Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [4]: "Let's go, let's go, lest we be scared to death by a fox." Vivi said as she put on her coat

……