Habitación número 143

Capítulo 7

They hid behind a garbage heap and finally escaped the men in black. Ke Liang carefully pulled Qin Jin out and ran back to the car. Seeing that no one had returned, he quickly started the car. Qin Jin was truly dumbfounded this time. She had been constantly frightened by ghosts these past few days, but now, instead of ghosts chasing her, she had attracted the attention of several vicious men.

As Ke Liang drove, he explained smugly, "It's alright, they came to collect a debt. I didn't have any money, so I had to run away."

Qin Jin was furious, but she couldn't lower herself to scold him, so she could only sneer and say, "You're good at running away, looks like you owe a lot of money."

A trace of sadness flashed across Ke Liang's face, but it only lasted for a moment, yet it made Qin Jin's heart skip a beat. "It seems he still can't be shortchanged in his wages; he's quite pitiful," Qin Jin thought to herself.

"Where to?" Ke Liang asked. Qin Jin thought for a moment. It was obvious that this whole thing started because of the red satin. Ever since Tang Shishi brought back the satin, so many things had happened between them. And someone knew the origin of this red satin—it was the old woman who had stopped Hu the tailor from taking any business last time.

That's right, we should go find her, ask her for the truth, and see what really happened. Rather than waiting to die here, we might as well fight that female ghost.

That's how people are; when things aren't fully understood, they fall into deep despair. But once the truth comes out, they start to fight back. Qin Jin isn't as fragile as she seems; years of independent living have made her very strong. This time, she's determined to get to the bottom of things, to find Shishi, and to drive away that female ghost. No more deaths are allowed.

Qin Jin's wish for peace was shattered when she arrived in the town where Hu the tailor lived.

White cloth hung in Hu the tailor's house, and a black wooden coffin sat in the center of the shop, surrounded by offerings. The ashes of paper money filled Qin Jin's vision, and she almost wept. The old woman in the black-and-white portrait looked very somber; she was dead, having died of old age in her bed one night. Asking the people around, she learned that it had happened a few days ago, and Hu the tailor, unable to bear the blow, had gone mad. Out of consideration for Hu the tailor's years of helping them, the townspeople had spontaneously chosen to bury Hu's mother there.

These interconnected events had finally found a clue here, but then one person died and the other went mad, and everything was gone; the thread had broken.

She bent over in tears before the portrait. Could it be that Aunt Hu had also fallen victim to that female ghost's clutches? It seemed she really was next. Thinking this, her will to live grew even stronger. Life has many disappointments, but living is still a good thing. Even ants cherish their lives, let alone humans!

But what can she do now?

Her vision went black, and she was almost in despair.

Chapter Ten: Visiting the Sick (1)

The tailor shop was in a mess, with scraps of cloth scattered everywhere, and the coffin stood out starkly.

Qin Jin leaned against a corner, watching the people come and go, with Ke Liang standing silently beside her. Knowing full well he was a charlatan, she still asked hopefully, "What do we do now?"

Ke Liang closed his eyes and thought for a long time before saying, "Now we only have one last move left."

"What can be done when someone is already dead?"

"Summon her spirit! Since there are ghosts, the old woman will become a ghost after she dies. Why not summon her spirit to ask her?"

These words were a wake-up call. If her relationship with Ke Liang hadn't always been strained, she might have excitedly hugged and kissed him. The thread hadn't been broken; death wasn't the end. They still needed to find the old woman's spirit, but how to summon it back?

"Well, it seems like, just like that, it'll be fine."

Judging from Ke Liang's expression, it was clear that he had no way to summon the spirit. Qin Jin didn't argue with Ke Liang, but instead actively tried to find a solution.

Modern people no longer have to sit there scratching their heads when they don't understand something; they can find solutions online, right?

She used Ke Liang's laptop to access the internet wirelessly, specifically browsing paranormal forums to find various methods. Since the information online was just talk and unreliable, she had to summarize and synthesize it.

First, it has to be midnight. (It seems ghosts especially like midnight.)

Second, I need a mirror. (Who says ghosts don't love beauty?)

Third, you must be sincere.

There are only three methods. There is a ready-made dressing table. All that's left is to wait for midnight.

"Ke Liang, you should go back first!" Qin Jin said.

"Why?" Ke Liang asked, puzzled.

“This is too dangerous. You’re an outsider and have never seen Red Satin before, so you won’t be in any danger. Now we all know you don’t know how to catch ghosts at all, so don’t risk your life for money. I’m not kidding you.” She had made up her mind to do this alone. If things continued like this, more people would die. Ke Liang was annoying, but he didn’t deserve to die.

Ke Liang's expression was one of "You actually don't believe me?" Qin Jin gave a pitiful smile, picked up Hei Bao, and showed Ke Liang Hei Bao's pink eyes.

Yes, the reflection of the tailor there wasn't just one person, but two, with an old woman standing to his left. She had noticed it long ago, but seeing that the old woman meant no harm, she hadn't fled.

Sure enough, Ke Liang's face went from red to white to blue, his eyes looked like they were about to pop out, his tongue was tied in knots, cold sweat poured down his face, and he couldn't move. If it weren't for the fact that it was broad daylight and people were walking around, Ke Liang would definitely have fainted.

Qin Jin stuffed all the money in her bag into the poor charlatan Ke Liang, who had been scared silly by the ghost, and then, carrying Hei Bao, she secretly slipped into the deep hall. She was going to wait there until midnight.

The light in the deep hall was already dim, and the faint sound of the scriptures for the dead being chanted outside could be heard, along with the clear echo of the wooden fish, but it could not dispel the oppressive atmosphere.

She searched each empty room, finally finding the dressing table in the last small room. A chilly wind rustled the torn newspapers on the windowpane. She took a deep breath at the doorway, a chill running down her spine, her scalp tingling. A tremendous fear almost made her abandon this absurd summoning ritual. But if she didn't find out the truth, disaster would inevitably befall her, as well as Yingqi, who was already barely alive, and the missing Tang Shishi.

With a determined heart, she overcame her fear and rushed into the small room. The old woman had been blind, so the house contained very few things and no excessive decorations, which made the ornate dressing table all the more striking.

The large mirror on the dressing table was covered with a thick layer of dust. She sat down on the small chair in front of it, looking at the cat in her arms, not daring to look at the mirror at all, for fear that an old woman was sitting in the mirror watching her.

Her gaze fell on the comb that Yingqi had once held, with a few long silver hairs still clinging to it. The comb felt incredibly smooth to the touch, clearly a cherished possession of the old woman. The comb was unremarkable, yet remarkably charming. She held it in her hands, examining it closely. Hei Bao dozed gently in her arms. As evening approached, memories flooded back.

Her maternal grandmother raised her when she was little. Her father died in a car accident, and her mother abandoned her and went to England, never to return. Her beloved grandmother has left her, and if she were to die now, perhaps no one would care.

Qin Jin recalled Lu Ziming's smile again; that confident smile was very heartwarming.

I thought of Ke Liang. I wonder if he has already taken the money to return to the men in black and is no longer being chased. I hope he won't become a thug in the future. Actually, he's a pretty good person.

Time passed slowly, and Qin Jin sat there stiffly, touching the comb.

Midnight was fast approaching, and the luminous watch ticked away. She took out the incense and candles she had prepared from her small bag and lit them in front of the hut. The internet said these were soul-summoning incense, which would bring the old woman back from her mentally unstable son. She then lit the small candles in front of the dressing table. After doing all this, her heart was pounding in her throat, terrified that she would turn around and see the old woman asking her to return her comb.

As the countdown began, she bit her lip tightly, let her long hair down, picked up a comb, and began to comb it in front of the mirror. The flickering candlelight cast her shadow on and off, and Blackie began to move restlessly in her arms.

Her long hair was smooth, and looking at her panicked face in the mirror, she moved stiffly, waiting for the old woman to appear.

The small room was isolated from the world, and the darkness was terrifying.

Footsteps sounded at the end of the corridor, somewhat like a sick person dragging their feet on the ground, slowly approaching.

Her heart leaped into her throat, her hands trembled, and she forgot to call out. The smell of burnt paper money wafted over. Blackie in her arms jumped onto the dressing table, its eyes fixed on the doorway. Through its pink pupils, it could see a figure slowly approaching.

It was indeed the old woman in the portrait in the mourning hall. She had come, but Qin Jin was already frozen with fright.

The old woman in the mirror was still wearing her white headscarf, just as she had in life, wrapped so low that her eyes were obscured. Her withered face was slowly chewing something, her cheeks puffing out. A hand reached out, dry as a twig, and a voice came from behind: "Give it back to me."

Although Qin Jin was terrified, she still gripped the comb tightly and asked with her last shred of reason, "What exactly happened to that cloth? What should we do?"

In the mirror, the old woman standing behind her ignored her and stepped forward, saying, "Give it back to me!"

Standing closer, one could clearly see through the dusty mirror that the old woman was holding half a red ingot-shaped candle in her hand, and was also eating a red candle.

She was stunned. The old woman reached over her shoulder and tried to take the comb from her hand.

Just then, she saw the old woman in the mirror suddenly become terrified, as if she had seen something horrible. She screamed "Crack!" and disappeared immediately.

Qin Jin stood up, wanting to search for the old woman's ghost again, but there was nothing behind him. What had scared away the old woman's ghost? Could it be Hei Bao?

She sat down again and tried to comb her hair in front of the mirror to call her mother-in-law back, but she saw something in the mirror that was even more terrifying than seeing her mother-in-law.

The person in the mirror is not her.

The scenery in the mirror remained the same, only her face had changed.

It was another woman, but not her. She touched her own face, and the woman in the mirror also touched her own face. That woman looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, with a pretty face, slender eyebrows, and curved eyes; she was very beautiful.

Qin Jin stood up, thinking she was seeing things, and leaned closer to the mirror to look at her face, only to find that the smiling person was indeed not herself. The person in the mirror suddenly stopped smiling, took a comb, and started gouging at her own eyes. Qin Jin screamed and backed away, but the person in the mirror had already gouged out her eyes, and blood gushed out.

Qin Jin watched as the calm mirror surface trembled, then suddenly cracked, and blood-red liquid flowed from the cracks.

A familiar smell of blood filled the room.

The cracks grew larger and larger. Hei Bao jumped from the dressing table into her arms, yelling desperately, as if telling her to run away.

As soon as she moved, she seemed to trip over something and fell to the ground. Before she could get up, she desperately retreated towards the door, her eyes still fixed on the mirror. Two round beads rolled out from the crack in the mirror and landed right next to her. The pupils in the candlelight seemed to be staring at her.

Hei Bao jumped frantically to where the eyeball had fallen, stopping Qin Jin from looking at the pupil again. A hand reached out from the mirror, and it seemed as if a person was hidden in the mirror, and that person was about to break out of the mirror.

Another hand is desperately trying to climb out, and its head is about to pop out too.

Qin Jin didn't know where the strength came from, but he picked up Hei Bao and ran outside, running towards the end of the corridor.

The figure drew closer and closer until it was finally visible in the darkness.

Lan Qi, it was Lan Qi, Lan Qi who had lost her eyes, standing there blankly, as if smiling at her.

Qin Jin screamed and ran back like a madwoman. The corridor seemed very long. She seemed to have forgotten about the female ghost who was about to break out of the mirror. She only knew that Lan Qi was waiting for her ahead.

The corridor seemed endless, and she could barely breathe. Hei Bao's screams were even more heart-wrenching. Qin Jin had only one thought in her mind: "Escape." She couldn't die, she couldn't die here.

She pushed open a door haphazardly and found a dressing table covered in blood, with a human head half-exposed.

The scene in each room was exactly the same, so she had no choice but to run forward. But it was too late; there was another figure in front of her.

This time she was disheartened. This place was like a maze, and she was just a mosquito caught in a spider web. All her struggles were in vain.

The figure rushed towards her at great speed. She held Hei Bao tightly and stood still, not daring to move, until the figure pulled her into its arms.

She heard the strong heartbeat of a figure and felt the warmth of a body. Feeling relieved, she fainted.

Part Three of "Red Satin"

Chapter Eleven: Summoning the Soul (1)

When Qin Jin opened her eyes again, she saw Ke Liang's concerned face.

"You're awake! You've been unconscious for a long time!"

Hei Bao also called out, as if welcoming her awake.

She sat up: "Has Aunt Hu been buried yet?"

"I'm getting off." He didn't leave; his voice was still somewhat cynical, but his eyes showed concern.

Qin Jin sighed deeply. He could no longer find an old woman; those who died of old age should rest in peace after being buried.

Qin Jin looked at Ke Liang: "Did you save me?"

Ke Liang shook his head: "No, that day, I heard Hei Bao's pitiful cries and I was worried about you, so I rushed to the deep hall. When I got there, you were already lying on the ground."

Who saved me? Qin Jin still remembered the feeling of that hand touching her back; it was the person who saved her. If it weren't for that person, she would have been killed by that female ghost by now.

Lu Ziming drove Qin Jin and Ke Liang back to the city. They remained silent the entire way, each lost in their own thoughts.

Once in the city, Ke Liang suddenly tensed up: "Someone's following us!"

Lu Ziming also noticed that two black sedans were driving there at a leisurely pace.

Qin Jin also became nervous; the events of the past few days had made her extremely anxious.