Nightmare

Chapter 1: The He Family

1)

After getting out of the car in front of the house with its low wooden fence covered in pink trumpet-shaped flowers, Lin Hong looked up at the three-story riverside building and suddenly felt uneasy.

The feeling was strange, as if she were standing in the cold wind of winter, an irresistible chill seeping into her heart. Her eyelids twitched involuntarily, her joints were stiff and numb, and her muscles trembled violently, out of control of her mind.

She shook her head in surprise, secretly laughing at herself for being too neurotic. It was just meeting her boyfriend's parents; every girl had to go through this. She should be more composed.

"We're home." After getting out of the car, He Ming stood in front of the three-story building and looked up at the building. "I finally brought this stubborn aunt here. Now I can finally give my parents a satisfactory answer. You don't know, Honghong, because of you, the future young mistress of the He family, they've been nagging me so much that I don't even dare to come back home."

He wasn't very tall, just over 1.75 meters, and his every move exuded a nonchalant sense of superiority and smug composure. As he spoke, dappled shadows fell on his face, fragmenting his fair and delicate features, and even his most approachable smile was tinged with an eerie quality by the shadows.

Lin Hong took a few steps forward, her heart pounding, and moved closer to him.

For some reason, the closer Lin Hong got to the house, the stronger her unease became. When she and He Ming walked hand in hand through the entrance hall into the living room on the first floor, this feeling had turned into a feeling of utter terror and fear. She was so afraid that she wanted to turn around and run away for her life. But strangely, this feeling was completely inexplicable and without any basis, because she knew clearly that she had never been here before and should have no reason to be afraid.

Hearing the door open, an elderly man dressed in work clothes came back from the back garden carrying a watering can. He Ming called out with a grin, "Dad, watering your lousy flowers again?" The old man replied, "Nonsense, what else can I do if I don't water them?" When he saw Lin Hong standing with He Ming, the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes immediately turned into a big smile, and he looked at He Ming with a questioning expression.

He Ming immediately pushed Lin Hong forward: "Dad, this is Honghong."

"Good, good, that's wonderful," the elderly man said with a beaming smile, quickly putting down the watering can he was holding. "Sit down, please sit down," he said warmly, then looked up and called upstairs, "Come down, what are you dawdling for? They've already come all this way." Then he turned to Lin Hong and said, "Sit down, don't be shy, Honghong—that's your name, right?"

This elderly man is He Ming's father, He Zhenggang, a political veteran with a highly legendary background.

This was the first time Lin Hong had met the old man up close. Calm and composed yet proud, she had always believed that becoming his daughter-in-law would be an honor for the He family. However, when she truly faced this political elder, her initial indifference vanished. In its place was a sense of unease and bewilderment, coupled with an inexplicable fear. She suddenly felt awkward, only managing to maintain her composure and avoid revealing the petty, unassuming nature most easily looked down upon by powerful and influential families.

Her inexplicable nervousness is understandable, as Lin Hong had seen He Zhenggang once on television before he retired.

As a prominent figure in Taizhou's political arena, He Zhenggang was frequently in the public eye. In He Ming's own words, even the dogs in Taizhou who frequent television sets were familiar with his imposing face, and would wag their tails frantically at the sight of Secretary He. This statement, while somewhat sarcastic, is not an exaggeration. However, while He Zhenggang was wielding considerable influence in Taizhou, Lin Hong was studying in Beijing. For a beautiful female university student residing in the capital city, there was absolutely no reason for her to notice the frequent media appearances of the mayor of the small city of Taizhou.

Only once, when Lin Hong returned home for the Spring Festival, she saw Lin Zhenggang on TV, but she didn't remember him at all. However, she often heard the name He Zhenggang, who was at the height of his fame.

He Zhenggang's personal political achievements can be seen as a microcosm of Taizhou's development over the past twenty years.

Twenty years ago, Taizhou was just a small county-level city with a backward economy, scarce resources, inconvenient transportation, and slow development. Its annual fiscal revenue was only 15 million yuan, not even enough to pay the salaries of government officials. Later, He Zhenggang took charge of economic work and budgeted the fiscal revenue for that year at 200 million yuan. At first, people thought it was a typo in the report, but He Zhenggang told them firmly: There was no mistake. If the fiscal revenue for that year did not reach 200 million yuan, he would resign.

He Zhenggang's recklessness caused all the veteran comrades in the municipal government to worry. They repeatedly approached He Zhenggang to advise him to be cautious. Economic development has its own inherent laws. Last year it was only 15 million, and this year you dare to say that you want to reach 200 million. What makes you think that?

Based on what? Based on the project!!!

The project was He Zhenggang's main focus in his economic development efforts. His colleagues, unable to dissuade him, could only shake their heads and sigh, watching with skepticism as they watched the ensuing chaos unfold. Unexpectedly, He Zhenggang used the project to secure funding, obtaining a 100 million yuan loan from banks and the provincial government that year. He established a small company specializing in the production of a product similar to a pancreatic indwelling hormone. Investment was made in the first half of the year, production began in the second, and by the end of the year, several international orders were secured, resulting in a return of 400 million yuan—leaving everyone stunned. It was then that people learned this pancreatic indwelling hormone product cost 40 million US dollars per kilogram on the international market. He Zhenggang's project, after all the effort, barely produced a dozen kilograms of the finished product, yet it had already achieved Taizhou City's economic development goals for that year.

After that, He Zhenggang used projects as a springboard, making bold and decisive moves, and in a few years transformed the small city of Taizhou into a vibrant and vibrant place with a completely new look. Since the success of his pancreatic infusion product, He Zhenggang has become a well-known economic powerhouse in Taizhou, and his political career has also been smooth sailing. A few years later, he finally took charge of the work of the municipal party committee.

Just as He Zhenggang was feeling triumphant and ready to make another big splash, the shocking collapse of the Taizhou International Exhibition Center building occurred.

2)

The International Exhibition Center building, with a total construction area of over 700,000 square meters, is the largest construction project in Taizhou's history. Before its commencement, the project was met with much debate and opposition. However, He Zhenggang, with his characteristically domineering and autocratic style, overruled the objections and propelled the project into implementation. It took three full years to overcome countless difficulties, including funding shortages, substandard construction quality, material shortages, and a lack of rigorous scientific justification in the design and planning. Finally, a magnificent landmark building stood tall in Taizhou.

A month before the Taizhou International Exhibition Center was to be completed, He Zhenggang personally led his team to Beijing to promote the project and attract business. On the very night of the banquet held at the Beijing International Hotel, the bad news came that the International Exhibition Center had collapsed due to substandard construction quality. Huge precast concrete slabs fell from the sky, burying dozens of workers on site in the rubble.

Of the dozens of construction workers who died on the spot, half were from He Zhenggang's hometown, a suburban county of Taizhou. These workers were led by He Zhenggang's distant relative, a foreman named He Dazhuang. At the time of the accident, He Dazhuang was directing the workers to pour grout on the construction site when a loud bang occurred, and as dust rose, He Dazhuang and more than a dozen of his workers turned into dust.

When He Zhenggang received the call from Taizhou City, he was chatting and laughing with foreign guests at a banquet. In an instant, his face turned ashen, he collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his face, speechless with sobs.

For He Zhenggang, what collapsed that day was not just a building, but also his political life; what was buried in the ruins was not just the bodies of the victims, but also his lifelong innocence.

The case alarmed the provincial government. The top officials were furious and a joint investigation team was stationed in Taizhou. The first thing they did was to dismiss He Zhenggang from his post and place him under investigation. After a full six months of being detained and losing his freedom, the vice mayor in charge of infrastructure construction was imprisoned. He Zhenggang returned home safely, but by then he was no longer an official and had no conscience.

He Zhenggang, stripped of his official post and reduced to a commoner, couldn't bear such a heavy blow. Upon returning home, he fell seriously ill. His mother and nanny, Xiaozhu, cared for him tirelessly in the hospital for two whole months before his body slowly recovered. However, the mental trauma remained deeply etched in his mind. He lacked sufficient psychological preparation for such a devastating consequence, subconsciously rejecting and trying to forget it. His consciousness descended into delirium; he would often pace back and forth in his room, loudly arguing with himself. Sometimes, when he went out, he would suddenly and sternly reprimand passersby on the street, just as he had reprimanded his subordinates in the office years before.

One day, as soon as the municipal party committee arrived at work, they saw several lines of neat chalk writing on the blackboard in the corridor, announcing an immediate meeting in the conference room. Upon entering, they were surprised to find He Zhenggang sitting imposingly in the chairman's seat, angrily reprimanding everyone, urging the construction of the International Exhibition Center building to be accelerated, ensuring funding was in place, and even suggesting that if project funds were truly tight, compensation from suburban land could be used to compensate the construction company… It took them a long time to realize that the meeting notice on the blackboard was actually written by He Zhenggang himself, who had already been dismissed from his post.

The intense rejection of reality caused He Zhenggang to become confused, and he was still living in the days before the collapse of the International Exhibition Center building.

From then on, whenever the nanny, Xiaozhu, wasn't looking, He Zhenggang would rush off to a meeting at the municipal party committee. He Ming, feeling utterly helpless, took his father to Wuyishan, Fujian for a period of recuperation and hired a professional psychological counselor from Hong Kong to help He Zhenggang overcome his resistance to reality. After six months of psychological treatment, He Zhenggang slowly recovered and accepted the reality that the International Exhibition Center building no longer existed.

However, he went too far in trying to correct his mistake and fell into self-torture due to his pessimistic personality. He cried every day and wailed at the drop of a hat, grieving for the souls buried under the cold and heavy precast concrete slabs. He blamed himself for all the mistakes and hoped to atone for his crimes against the victims through torture.

In order to help his father fully recover, He Ming read a large number of psychology books, carefully studied abnormal psychology and deviant psychology, and developed a treatment plan for his father's condition.

One night, He Zhenggang was once again consumed by grief and remorse. He called out He Dazhuang's name, pounded his head with his fists, and collapsed to the ground, weeping bitterly. He repeatedly berated himself for his rashness and stubbornness, begging the deceased for forgiveness. It was all his fault, He Zhenggang, that had turned these passionate lives into lonely ghosts in the underworld, leaving their families orphans and widows. How many families had He Zhenggang brought misfortune to? No punishment could ever compensate for the lifelong pain and sorrow he had inflicted on these families.

Just as He Zhenggang was overwhelmed with grief, a strange, eerie wind swept in, and the door suddenly opened. In the dim, dismal light, a person with a slightly stiff face stood outside, looking at He Zhenggang with some hesitation. He Zhenggang sobbed, raised his head to wipe away his tears, and carefully examined the person outside the door. His crying suddenly stopped, and his eyes widened in astonishment: "Dazhuang? You're Dazhuang?"

The man outside the door was wearing a hard hat and a dirty work uniform that was so worn that its original color was no longer discernible. He stared blankly at He Zhenggang and said, "Big cousin, it's me."

He Zhenggang stood up hesitantly: "Dazhuang, Dazhuang, aren't you...aren't you already dead?"

He Dazhuang gave a bitter smile: "That's right, I'm dead, but you're still alive, cousin."

In an instant, He Zhenggang's expression changed drastically, and he fell to the ground: "Dazhuang, I know you died unjustly, but... but Brother Dazhuang, life and death are preordained... you can't blame me."

“I don’t blame you, I never have.” He Dazhuang took a step forward, but immediately retreated. “Cousin, I’m truly grateful that you’re saddened by my situation. But cousin, you’re so sad now, not eating or drinking, not taking a meal, damaging your health, harming your spirit, breaking your will, and weakening your body. Your wife’s family is worried sick and in great pain because of you. My nephews have even neglected their work to take care of you, yet you still can’t let go. By doing this, you’ve gone against the original intention of grieving for the deceased.”

"Giggle, giggle, giggle," He Zhenggang sat blankly on the ground, staring at He Dazhuang. Strange sounds came from his throat, his eyes were wide open, and he had no words to say.

He Dazhuang continued, “Big Cousin, there’s something you need to understand: all your grief is meaningless. You weren’t the one who started it all, and such a large project couldn’t have been undertaken by one person alone. The collapse of the building has nothing to do with you. No one blames you, and no one holds you responsible. All your attempts at atonement and feelings of guilt are of no value to us, the victims who have become ghosts.”

He Zhenggang craned his neck and looked at He Dazhuang suspiciously: "So, Brother Dazhuang, you really have the heart to f

……