Habitación número 143

Capítulo 2

The four women were so frightened that they stood aside; the old woman was truly terrifying.

Master Hu's voice was almost choked with tears: "Mom, you can't see it, you don't know how good this satin is. This material is truly unparalleled in the world. If I take it, I can make the most beautiful clothes. Mom, please let me make it!"

The old woman said, word by word, "Put it down and give it back to them." As she spoke, she staggered toward the small door, wanting to return to the main hall.

Mr. Hu said almost in a daze, "My mother never comes here, and she never cares about my business. What's wrong with her today? What's wrong?"

Chapter Two: Refusal to Adjudicate (1)

No matter how high Tang Shishi offered, the tailor Hu refused. The four drove home in silence, resigning themselves to their bad luck.

Qin Jin got off the car in front of her house and stood on the road, thinking of Hei Bao who had run away. She thought that if Hei Bao got tired of playing outside, he would run home on his own and might stay in this area. So, carrying the light blue cat basket, she walked along the street, meowing, and kept rummaging through the trash cans, looking like she was too heartbroken.

She was intently searching for the cat when a pair of shiny white sneakers appeared before her, swaying rhythmically in a two-two beat.

She looked up at the man in the "two-two beat" rhythm, who was staring at her with a lecherous look.

Qin Jin rolled her eyes at "Er Er Pai," who caught the eye-rolling knife and shouted, "Qin Xiaomi, you're Qin Xiaomi, aren't you!"

Qin Jin was almost stunned, as if he had suddenly returned to a nightmare.

No one had called her by that nickname for many years. As a child, she loved cats and would spend all her time meowing and talking to them. Later, throughout her adolescence, she was called Qin Xiaomi, which she considered a disgrace as she grew older. Especially since she was a late bloomer, she disliked people mentioning her sore spot. Xiaomi, Xiaomi—it was only because she hadn't developed yet. Thinking of this, she subconsciously puffed out her chest, asking defiantly, "Who are you?"

The man who was singing in "two-two beats" quickly smoothed his hair back and said, "Look closely, do you remember me?"

Qin Jin looked the man over and over again, and only one word kept running through her mind: sleazy. His features, individually, should have been very handsome, but the combination of those handsome features was extremely ugly; his clothes were originally quite nice, but on him they looked like rags; he was tall, but Qin Jin thought of the phrase "all brawn and no brains."

She suddenly realized that this was prejudice.

Why be prejudiced against this man? There can't be many men that Qin Jin dislikes so much. Suddenly, she remembered: "Ke Liang, you're Ke Liang!"

Ke Liang's face lit up with joy, and his smile became even more wicked: "Yes, yes! The one who used to snatch your schoolbag, put caterpillars in your pencil case, burn your hair with matches, tell the teacher you ate in class, and pretend to be the one who farted during the exam was me!"

Qin Jinzhen wished she could smash his face with a cat basket. They were deskmates in elementary school, and she thought he had forgotten about the times he bullied her. But she never expected that this man would still remember it so vividly. He was so hateful!

But she still nodded politely, after all, he was an old classmate, and he had taken the initiative to greet her.

Qin Jin swallowed all her anger.

To everyone's surprise, Ke Liang casually remarked, "You, you, you're picking up trash!"

Good heavens! Qin Jin's vision blurred. The Issey Miyake long dress she was wearing, while ridiculously black, certainly didn't look like trash! Many people said she looked very elegant in it, and her high-heeled sandals were the latest model costing 1800 yuan, all in the same color – that's fashion! And her cat carrier, though it looked like a tattered basket, was still an expensive choice; how could it look like a trash can? It's art! And that elegant perfume she wore – he wouldn't understand the brand if she told him, but it certainly wasn't some cheap cologne.

Just because she came to look for a cat, does he have to misunderstand that she is a garbage collector?

Oh no! She suddenly remembered that she hadn't put on makeup when she left Tang Shishi's house today. She must have looked terrible. Her hair was the latest frizzy style she had done that day. A man who couldn't even finish high school would never appreciate it. It must have been a misunderstanding. No, after so many years, how could she let him misunderstand her as a trashy old woman?

She immediately stood up straight and said to the silly man, "I... I was just looking for my cat. My cat ran away yesterday."

"Looking for a cat, haha, you still love cats so much! Do you remember when you were in third grade, you brought home a sick cat and sat with me? That sick cat always came into my backpack, and you would meow at it so softly, so I called you Little Meow. Remember?" Ke Liang, unaware that his death was imminent, was still speaking with a sunny smile, his white teeth seeming to say to Qin Jin, "Knock me out, knock me to the ground."

Qin Xiaomi, this nickname made Qin Jin's entire adolescence so miserable. Whenever other classmates heard this name, they would ask, "Who is it? Why is it called Xiaomi?" Some busybodies would answer, "It's that flat-chested princess, whose chest is as flat as a mirror. Xiaomi is a really good name!"

What a heartbreaking name this was! It turned out that this wretched man in front of her was behind it all. Should she hit him first and then kill him, or kill him and then hit him? She thought about this question again and again, but still couldn't figure it out.

At this point, Ke Liang said, "Did you go to a prestigious university later? Among all of us classmates, you are the most successful. How could such a shabby elementary school produce such a talented person? But old classmate, do you look down on us classmates, so you've never gone back to the elementary school for alumni reunions?"

Qin Jin recalled her entire primary school. She used to study in a large and beautiful school, like a garden. That year, her father was in a car accident, and her mother actually abandoned her and went to England. She was with her grandmother and had no choice but to go to that dilapidated primary school. Later, she never went to see that primary school again, because she didn't want to think about that unhappy past.

Perhaps, the school gate will forever haunt her nightmares, representing her loneliness and helplessness. Thinking of this, Qin Jin breathed a slight sigh of relief. Thankfully, the hard times were over, and she was living a good life now.

"What are you doing right now?" Qin Jin asked politely, wanting to deflate the man's arrogance. Unexpectedly, Ke Liang immediately handed her a business card, proudly declaring, "I inherited the family business." A closer look at the card revealed: "Master of Heavenly Dao." It listed services such as house cleaning, feng shui selection, face reading, exorcism, and fortune telling. Ke Liang was clearly a charlatan!

Qin Jin looked up, her eyes wide. Ke Liang put on a smug expression and said, "My ancestors were very famous celestial masters. Our family is very famous in this field; we're all extraordinary people! Do you know Ke Dao?"

"I only know someone named Conan who is very famous, but I don't know any other famous people with the surname Ke," Qin Jin said sarcastically.

"Conan? I've never heard of that name before. He's not very famous. Ke Dao is my grandfather. He's the most famous exorcist in this area, a master at catching ghosts. I watched him catch ghosts when I was a kid, it was so exciting, just like Andy Lau's character in the movies!"

Qin Jin inwardly groaned, "God! Seriously? This kind of person doesn't even read comics? Looks like he's hopeless."

"So you've caught quite a few ghosts by now, haven't you?" Qin Jin was already getting impatient.

"Of course! There's no ghost I can't catch if I take action. If you need me, I'll catch one for you for free, really, for free!"

Qin Jin had already turned and walked back, but Ke Liang was still shouting, "Remember? My business card: Master Tiandao, free, completely free!"

Qin Jin almost cried when she got home. She took Hei Bao out, but Hei Bao ran away; she went to someone to make clothes, but was refused; she went to find a cat, but encountered a charlatan, who was also the enemy she had been longing to nickname. The most outrageous thing was that her proud outfit was mistaken for a garbage collector.

She ate her meal in a daze, drank a little red wine, took a bath, and stood by the window meowing a few times. After so many years of being single, she thought she had gotten used to it, but who would have thought that a kitten would make her so dependent on it? It turns out that mutual dependence isn't just a relationship between people, but also between animals.

She didn't close the window properly when she went to sleep, hoping that Hei Bao could crawl in when he came home.

That night, Qin Jin fell asleep in this oppressive atmosphere. She knew that many things had changed in her life, although she didn't know why. Something just wasn't right, and she couldn't explain why.

It was late at night, and Qin Jin, all alone, huddled in a corner of her bed. Half-asleep, she heard some noises. She opened her eyes, trying to pinpoint the source of the noises. A chill ran down her spine—could there be a thief? The apartment complex was lit, and she could see roughly inside, but there was no one in sight. Yet, the noises continued to slowly approach.

She began to feel afraid. When she saw Lu Yingqi's terrified state earlier that day at the tailor's, she herself had trembled with fear. There was an inexplicable eeriness about that deep room, sending chills down her spine time and again. She noticed a noise coming from under the bed. Her bed was an antique-style wooden bed, with an open space underneath, decorated with red gauze curtains. She slowly peeked out to see what was going on under the bed.

She clenched her hands tightly, telling herself, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, there are no ghosts in this world," while trembling slightly. She saw her silk embroidered slippers, then peeked out and suddenly saw a dark, indistinct human head slowly moving under the bed. The shock was indescribable; her mind went blank, only the head seemed to grow infinitely larger.

Qin Jin bit her lip tightly to keep herself from fainting, because no matter what she saw, she couldn't believe what she was seeing: a head with long hair spread out on the white floor was slowly moving towards her.

Her body trembled violently, but she couldn't scream. The red veil fell down with the tremors, and all she could see was a pink cloth and something on the ground that was indistinct but definitely resembled the head of a long-haired woman. It was moving, and the sound was coming from there.

Her fear had reached its peak. Just as the head moved below her face, she tried desperately to scream, but the sound got stuck in her throat. She was so frightened that she lost her voice and could not speak.

The most terrifying thing was that the head slowly rose, and a pair of glowing green eyes stared at her. Qin Jin didn't choose to faint because she simply didn't want to believe it; for an intellectual like her, the most unacceptable thing was seeing something she couldn't believe appear before her eyes. But when the head sprang up and landed on her, she still broke down.

The head lunged at her face, its warm, moist tongue licking her lips, its green eyes still fixed on her.

It was a very, very familiar feeling, and her heart began to stir. Sure enough, a soft meow confirmed her suspicions. She pulled hard on her hair, and a cat appeared—it was Blackie.

Her icy hands and feet slowly recovered, and blood gradually returned to her limbs, giving her energy. This fright had truly depleted her vitality.

She hugged the black cat and cried loudly. Her suppressed sobs echoed through the desolate night. She always appeared strong on the surface, but she had a vulnerability that no one knew about.

He turned on the light and examined the long hair closely. It turned out to be a wig someone had thrown away. Blackie must have run away, gone into a trash can, crawled into this wig, and gotten tangled in it. Blackie was also covered in wounds; it seemed this wig had really caused it trouble. If it had come back any later, the wig would have killed it. It struggled desperately to escape home so Qin Jin could rescue it.

Qin Jin held it, washed it in the bathroom, and slowly dried it with a hairdryer. Then she took out the first-aid kit, took out iodine, and disinfected Hei Bao's wound. Hei Bao knew that she had come to treat its illness, and it obediently lay there without moving.

Looking at its pitiful state, Qin Jin couldn't bear to blame it for scaring her, after all, it had run back to beg her for help. She was also secretly puzzled; Hei Bao had always been very clever, so how could it get tangled in a wig, and it seemed like the wig was about to suffocate it.

She took out a large bag of cat food, poured it all into the cat bowl, and watched Hei Bao eat it heartily. She happily sat down in front of the computer. Qin Jin teased Hei Bao while feeding it more food, but it seemed unhappy. Qin Jin thought it was because it was injured and sad, so she kept trying to amuse it, but only received unappreciative meows from the kitten. Frustrated, she stood up to pour herself a cup of coffee to cheer herself up. Just as she turned to pour the coffee, the reflection in the mirror was no longer Qin Jin. A long-haired woman in a light blue long-sleeved shirt was pressed against her back. Hei Bao shrieked in its carrier and pounced on Qin Jin. Qin Jin gently patted Hei Bao and then chided, "It's the middle of the night; making that noise will scare the neighbors." But Hei Bao's eyes were fixed on the back of her shoulder. In the dressing mirror, not far from Qin Jin's shoulder, there was a pair of pale hands with long, slender fingers, but they seemed afraid of something, stopping motion an inch above Qin Jin's shoulder.

Qin Jin sat down in front of the computer with a smile, holding Hei Bao in her arms, and started typing again.

Hei Bao jumped to the computer desk and covered the mirror with his body. The mirror no longer showed Qin Jin's face, but a long-haired woman in a blue dress with long sleeves and no eyes, her face covered in blood, staring ahead.

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Chapter 3 Finding the Cat (1)

The city's mornings were generally a mystery to Qin Jin; she belonged to the nightlife. Tang Shishi always said she was like an owl, sleeping during the day and working at night, writing short articles for various newspapers and magazines, earning a meager income. However, she was a graduate of a prestigious university and used to work at the city's largest advertising company as a manager. Those were years when money was plentiful, and she inexplicably became quite wealthy. Then one day, while withdrawing money from her bank account, she suddenly realized she didn't need to earn any more. If she didn't support a gigolo, she already had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of her life in this small city.

She quit her job and started writing a novel, a little bit every day. She wasn't after the royalties, and it didn't matter if anyone liked it. What mattered was that she wanted to take a break. From childhood to adulthood, she had always been used to working hard and pushing forward like a wound-up toy. Now she could stop pushing herself.

Because she was frightened by Hei Bao yesterday, she went to bed late. When she got up, her phone was full of missed calls, but she couldn't hear them because her phone was on vibrate. She hurriedly called Tang Shishi back, only to hear a group of people cheering on the other end. She listened carefully and realized it was Lan Qi and Lu Yingqi. Tang Shishi was excitedly saying, "The clothes are all done, come quickly!"

It's done? It's only been less than twelve hours and they're already saying the clothes are finished. This shows that money makes things easier, and it also shows how impatient these three women are.

She hurriedly packed up and went out, glancing at the adorable cat in the cat carrier before gently closing the door. She dared not take Hei Bao out again; it would be terrible if it disappeared again.

The journey went smoothly. When she arrived at Tang Shishi's house, she rushed inside, feeling as if a powerful force was drawing her in, making her focus entirely on the clothes. Her heart was pounding, as if she were going to see her first love.

Upon entering the living room, she found it empty. A servant in a white uniform gave her a wink, and knowing the dressing room was inside, she rushed there without even knocking, heading straight for the row of clothes racks in the center of the room. A bright red, fashionable cheongsam hung there, gleaming brightly. Turning her head, she saw a very stylish bodice next to it, followed by a red headscarf and a red scarf hanging side by side.

Tang Shishi exclaimed excitedly, "Qin Jin, have you ever seen such beautiful clothes?"

"Hurry up and put it on, let us see." Lu Yingqi was a little impatient.

Lan Qi laughed and said, "Shi Shi insisted on waiting for you to come before changing her clothes, saying she wanted you to admire her. Now that's great, come on, hurry up and change. If you change now, it'll be just in time for the opening of the glitz and glamour bar. We can go and cause a ruckus."

Qin Jin felt a little flustered; things seemed to be going too smoothly, almost unbelievably so. She picked up the scarf; because of a shortage of fabric, she and Lu Yingqi had designed a headscarf and a shawl, while the bodice was Lan Qi's. There was simply too little red satin; this was already the design that made the most of the available fabric.

Everyone took their own scarf, secretly admiring it. When Qin Jin held the scarf, she felt an urge to immediately wrap it around her neck. Picking up the scarf felt like holding a pair of gentle hands, and she wanted to press it against her face. Its texture was so smooth and comfortable that it made her hum in pleasure.

Tang Shishi was the first to emerge from the dressing room, and she truly stunned everyone. Qin Jin, who had been her classmate for many years, had seen all kinds of outfits. She once jokingly said that she could tell exactly how many hairs were on Tang Shishi's body, but she had never felt as amazed as she did today.

The dress clung comfortably to her body, accentuating her curves while maintaining an elegant and dignified air. The beautiful red color shimmered softly under the lamplight, making her a radiant presence wherever she went, like a room full of vibrant color. Her eyes and brows exuded boundless charm, and her sleeveless arms were so alluring that one couldn't help but want to touch them.

Before we could even praise Tang Shishi, Lan Qi's most daring undergarment, the dudou (a traditional Chinese undergarment), was already on display. The two women walked together, two Chinese women, two extremes of Chinese style, exuding the charm of an ancient beauty lying in bed—a delicate allure tinged with gentleness, a captivating allure with an unapproachable beauty.

"Celestial beings, where are you planning to descend to the mortal realm?" Qin Jin teased.

"Anywhere is fine, I just want to wear it and show it to people." Tang Shishi seemed to not even want to put on shoes, wanting to run out and show it to people right away.

"I never imagined I was this beautiful!" Lan Qi stared blankly at the woman in the mirror.

Lu Yingqi was a little unconvinced. "Qin Jin, help me tie this headscarf." Against the backdrop of the red headscarf, Yingqi's face immediately came to life.

Qin Jin was a little sad. She had chosen something that could only be used in autumn. Did she have to wear a scarf in the middle of summer?

The three women noticed her sadness and surrounded her, trying to put the scarf around her neck. At that moment, Qin Jin felt a strange urge to resist their playful teasing, because she herself also wanted to wear the scarf and experience it. Just then, she heard a soft meow beside her ear. Startled, she pushed the scarf away and said to the three women, "Hei Bao has run out and is looking for me." She then ran out to look for the cat, but there was no sign of it.

"Didn't you hear the cat meowing?" Qin Jin asked.

"Where would you find it? Are you so desperate for Hei Bao that you're practically obsessed?" Tang Shishi replied dismissively.

"No, Hei Bao is back. He returned last night."

"You're back? Blackie's back? Why didn't you bring it out to play?" Lu Yingqi asked.

"How could I dare? They searched for me like crazy, and I even ran into an acquaintance who saw me rummaging through the trash can and mistook me for a garbage collector. Can you believe it?" Qin Jin was filled with rage just thinking about that clueless ghost hunter Ke Liang.

The three were taken aback at first, then burst into laughter: "My God! And you, Qin Jin, are considered the ultimate trash-picking character? You have to bring him here to meet us."

Qin Jin said irritably, "What's there to see! The further away you are from someone like him who is ignorant and incompetent, who only knows how to cheat, swindle, and pretend to be a ghost, the better."

"So angry! It seems you've really fallen for him, otherwise why would you be so angry? Is he your former crush?" Tang Shishi joked.

"I would never fall for someone I secretly admire, even if I were blind. Shishi, do you know? It turns out he's the one who gave me my nickname."

Upon hearing this, Tang Shishi laughed so hard she could hardly breathe, rolling around on the floor and saying, "So it's your sworn enemy from a past life! And you said you picked up trash? Looks like we really are destined to meet!"

Qin Jin kicked Shi Shi and said, "Get up! It's already dark, and you're still laughing at me. Let's go! It's time for you to make your move."