Ghost Says - Chapter 1.1

Looking back now, the root of all the horror and strangeness was that funeral. From that day on, his life began to deviate from its normal course.

Qiao Gang received the letter one morning. Among other envelopes, the black one stood out conspicuously.

It was an invitation to a funeral. The deceased was his high school classmate, Song Yuan.

His impression of Song Yuan was vague, he couldn’t even remember his face clearly. He only remembered his long bangs that covered his eyes, and his body that seemed to be always shrinking.

Qiao Gang was straightforward and cheerful. He liked sports and making friends. He was popular and good-looking, but his grades were not good. His family was poor, so he started working after high school. He went to a car repair shop to learn some skills and earn a living. His salary was not high, just a few hundred yuan a month, which included meals.

He was handsome and tall, and could have earned more money working as a doorman at a hotel or restaurant. But he was stubborn, believing that having a skill was better than living off his youth.

Besides, he liked cars. Although he couldn’t afford to buy one, he liked to look at them. Sometimes, he could even drive the customers’ cars to satisfy his craving.

After much thought, Qiao Gang decided to go. Many of his high school classmates had lost contact. Most of them had gone to college; those who didn’t pass the entrance exam but had some money could find a school to pass the time; even the worst ones could sell insurance or do some sales. There were not many who did physical labor like him.

Song Yuan’s family was rich and his grades were good. It was said that he was admitted to a key university in the north.

Perhaps they found his contact information in an old address book? He didn’t know how they found out his current address. But thinking about it, it was hard for them to go to such lengths for their son’s sake. It wasn’t easy for this family.

He found a relatively formal set of clothes. He didn’t have a suit, and his wardrobe was full of T-shirts and jeans. The only thing he could wear out was a white shirt and black trousers.

At least he was presentable, and it wasn’t too rude.

The funeral was the day after tomorrow, which happened to be Sunday, and it didn’t conflict with his work days.

When Qiao Gang arrived at the funeral, he was surprised to see a familiar face. It was Sun Jin, a former high school classmate.

Sun Jin and he used to be on the basketball team, and they got along well. Sun Jin’s grades were not good either. He only scored over two hundred points in the college entrance exam. His father spent a lot of money to get him into a non-key university.

It was said that Sun Jin and Song Yuan’s families had a good relationship and often interacted.

Seeing a familiar face, Qiao Gang was happy. After the memorial service, the two chatted for a while.

Sun Jin sighed, “Can you believe that someone so young and promising is gone just like that?”

They were all the same age, with Qiao Gang turning twenty-four that year.

A photo of Song Yuan was displayed in the memorial hall. Unlike before, his hair was neatly trimmed, revealing his beautiful forehead and eyes. Looking at him, he was indeed a handsome man. The black and white memorial photo looked like an artistic portrait, with a bit of a celebrity vibe.

“How about it? Handsome, isn’t he?”

Seeing Qiao Gang looking at the photo, Sun Jin laughed, “Looking at the photo, you can’t imagine what a wreck this kid used to be, can you? I had to drag him to take this photo! Who would have thought it would be used here.”

Sun Jin gave a bitter smile, looking somewhat gloomy.

Qiao Gang also sighed, perhaps God just doesn’t like people who are too outstanding.

Looking at the people coming and going, he suddenly noticed a problem, “Wait, I’ve been looking around for a while, and besides you, I haven’t seen any other classmates. Didn’t anyone else receive an invitation?”

Sun Jin frowned, “He didn’t like to socialize with others. So, apart from his colleagues, he didn’t have any contact addresses for his classmates from elementary school to university. There’s nowhere to find them. I thought you heard the news and came.”

Qiao Gang suddenly felt strange, how did this invitation get to his house?

Could it have been sent to the wrong address?

It shouldn’t be, the recipient was clearly his name.

And the sender…

Qiao Gang took out the invitation from his pocket, the signature on it was—

Song Yuan.

Qiao Gang was shocked, he hadn’t noticed at the time, the name on it should have been his parents’ names, right?

How could it be the person himself?

“Is there a problem?”

Seeing his strange expression, Sun Jin asked, “Is there a problem with this invitation?”

Qiao Gang quickly put away the invitation, “Ah…no problem.”

It must have been a mistake…

Later, Sun Jin went to comfort Song Yuan’s mother. Song Yuan’s father was already ill and couldn’t bear the shock of his son’s death, so he was hospitalized.

Mrs. Song didn’t cry, but her calm exterior made Qiao Gang feel sad.

The greatest sorrow in the world is for a child dying ahead of their parents.

After standing for a while and saying goodbye to Sun Jin, he prepared to leave. As he walked to the door, he suddenly saw a little girl.

She was wearing a knee-length white puffy skirt and a blouse adorned with lace frills. Her long hair was as black as ink, softly draped over her shoulders. Her eyes were big, and her small lips were like flower buds. She was holding a teddy bear half her size in her arms, looking as delicate and beautiful as a doll in a display window.

Qiao Gang noticed that her features were somewhat similar to Song Yuan’s, and knew that she must be Song Yuan’s only sister, who was ten years old that year.

Everyone had a soft spot for such a beautiful doll. Qiao Gang squatted down in front of her and tried to talk to her.

The little girl looked at him, neither speaking nor smiling. No matter how Qiao Gang coaxed her, her face remained expressionless, just looking at him.

There was no expression in those eyes either.

Qiao Gang, feeling helpless, took out a piece of candy and put it in her hand.

As soon as he walked out the door, he heard the girl’s voice behind him.

“Goodbye, big brother.”

He turned around, and the little girl was still looking at him.

Qiao Gang smiled, this little sister was still very cute.

When he got home, it was already late. Qiao Gang took two eggs from the refrigerator, boiled water for noodles, and then fried the eggs to put in the noodles.

After casually finishing dinner, it was already seven o’clock in the evening.

At this time, Qiao Gang’s phone rang. It was the ringtone of “Doraemon”, set by his girlfriend, saying that when he heard this ringtone, he would know it was her calling.

“Hello, Xiao Yu, I’ve already eaten…I came back at five in the afternoon…”

Xiao Yu was a cute girl, very pure and well-behaved. She was the kind of delicate girl who would ask Qiao Gang for his opinion on anything. Such a girl could satisfy a man’s possessiveness, and Qiao Gang liked her very much.

They started dating a year ago, and they would call each other every day, sometimes talking for several hours.

After hanging up the phone, his roommate, Jian Xia, hadn’t come back yet.

He guessed that the kid was out picking up girls and wouldn’t be back tonight.

After watching TV for a while, Qiao Gang took a bath and went to bed.

He didn’t sleep well all night, and the colder he slept. In July, Qiao Gang usually slept shirtless and still sweated. Now, even with the summer quilt wrapped around him, he still felt cold.

Could it be that the weather was about to change?

In his drowsiness, Qiao Gang faintly heard someone talking near his ear. He thought it was Jian Xia who had come back, and he mumbled in his sleep.

“Stop making noise.”

Then he turned over and fell back asleep.

When he woke up early the next morning, Qiao Gang finished washing up and went to Jian Xia’s room to wake him up. To his surprise, the bed was empty, as if no one had slept there all night.

Qiao Gang scratched his head, wondering if he had been confused the night before.

After having breakfast on the road, he arrived at the repair shop, greeted his colleagues, changed into his work clothes, and started working.

Actually, Qiao Gang really liked his job, even though the pay was a bit low. But the boss saw that he was hardworking and said he would give him a raise next month. By his calculations, he would be making over a thousand yuan a month. With a bit more savings, he could buy a motorcycle to ride.

Having worked on so many cars, he thought that when he had enough money in the future, he could open his own repair shop.

Although this wish seemed a bit far-fetched at the moment, he believed that day would come.

By noon, a nearby restaurant had delivered lunch boxes. Their boss had a standing order at that small restaurant. The restaurant was clean and cheap, and the food was good. The home-cooked dishes were very tasty. Sometimes after work, he would go there for dinner.

The restaurant was run by a couple who had a daughter in her teens. She was as beautiful as a flower and would help out in the shop when she had nothing to do.

The girl who came to deliver the lunch boxes that noon was quick and efficient, calling everyone over to get their share.

Among the colleagues, there was a guy named Wen Dayong who had a bad reputation. Whenever he saw a pretty girl, he would make inappropriate comments. The boss had scolded him many times, but he never changed.

The little girl was wearing a floral dress that day, revealing her arms that were as white as lotus roots, and her smooth, fair legs.

Wen Dayong stared at her, his hands becoming dishonest when he took the lunch box. The little girl was both shy and annoyed, but she didn’t dare to make a fuss. She just hid from him with teary eyes, and the others pretended not to see.

Qiao Gang was furious and kicked him in the leg.

“You jerk, how can you treat a little girl like that? If you want to hold a woman, go hold your wife, stop bullying people here!”

Wen Dayong was also angered by the kick and jumped up to curse.

“What’s it to you? What, you want to block this uncle’s way? Pah, you should weigh yourself first!”

The other colleagues saw that something was wrong and came over to mediate.

Qiao Gang stood his ground, “What, I’m really going to interfere in this matter, what are you going to do about it?”

Wen Dayong had been kicked earlier and couldn’t save face. Hearing Qiao Gang’s words, he sneered, “What am I going to do? Today, if I don’t teach you a lesson, I won’t be surnamed Wen!” With that, he threw a punch.

Qiao Gang wasn’t paying attention and got hit squarely. He touched his broken lip and immediately returned a punch. The two of them were inseparable, punching and kicking each other.

The little girl was scared and ran to get the boss. Only then were the two men pulled apart.

Wen Dayong’s face was a colorful mess, while Qiao Gang didn’t have many injuries on his face, but he had taken several hits on his body and was not lightly injured. But compared to Wen Dayong, he had the upper hand. That pig head couldn’t compare to him. Back in school, the local thugs knew not to mess with him, because when he fought, he was fearless!

As he was leaving, Wen Dayong was still cursing. Qiao Gang touched his lip, his saliva was mixed with blood, and he thought about buying some ointment on the way.

For several days, he didn’t dare to see Xiao Yu, fearing that she would ask about the injury on his face.

One day at work, he felt a sudden urge to use the bathroom. Qiao Gang took off his greasy gloves, tore off some toilet paper, and went to the bathroom.

The repair shop had an attached bathroom, which was unisex and had only two stalls.

The first one was against the wall, and the other one was against the window. The one against the wall was slightly ajar, leaving a gap.

Qiao Gang habitually went to pull the door of the first stall, and only when he had opened it halfway did he realize that there was someone inside. From under the door, he could see a pair of black trousers. He reflexively apologized and went into the stall at the back.

Suddenly, he felt something strange in his heart. Just now, he clearly saw that the door was slightly open. Who doesn’t close the door when they use the bathroom?

He remembered that the lock on this door wasn’t broken, and the person inside didn’t say anything when he opened the door. Even after he apologized, there was still no sound inside.