4.
“Ah!” A miserable scream rang out, followed by a crash as the ladder fell to the ground.
“Wh-what kind of monster is that?!”
The old man surnamed Wang had just climbed up to the window and glanced inside when he was nearly scared to death.
Old people’s bones break easily; if no one caught him when he fell, he might have died on the spot.
The old man was furious and frightened. He roared, “Fine! You dare play at being a ghost? Open the door!”
“Dad, this isn’t right… Trương Đại Tiên set up a formation and said we can’t go in to collect the girl’s body and bury her with the family until three days from now.”
“I said open the door, so open it!”
The old man insisted I was “up to something” and wanted to go in and teach me a lesson. While everyone tried desperately to talk him out of it, the door suddenly creaked open by itself.
The room was silent, pitch-black.
A wave of cold air flooded the room.
The Wang family members standing in the doorway all shuddered at once.
Wang Ping rubbed her arms, which were covered in goose bumps, and looked fearfully at Old Wang. “Grandpa… I’m scared.”
Wang’s father hesitated, too. “Maybe… we should call Trương Đại Tiên?”
Old Wang glared. “There are so many of us. Are we really afraid of one girl? Even if she had wings, she couldn’t fly out of the Wang house!”
“I told you buying that powder online was a bad idea. It’s got to be fake! Let’s go in and tie her up, just to be safe!”
I giggled. Someone was about to get what was coming to him.
“We’ll see if you’re still laughing in a minute!” Old Wang threatened as he stepped into the room.
The other members of the Wang family quickly followed him inside.
The door creaked again and shut by itself.
Wang Ping screamed.
Old Wang shouted at her, “What are you screaming for? Turn on the light!”
Wang Ping had been the last one into the room, and the light switch was right to her left, within easy reach.
But when she reached for it, Sister Kayako reached out, too.
Wang Ping’s hand landed right on the back of Sister Kayako’s cold hand.
“Ah… ah…” Wang Ping let out a long, drawn-out cry.
“Shut up!”
Apparently thinking his daughter was utterly useless, Wang’s father snorted and groped his way toward the light switch.
“Who’s got a hand on the switch…?” Wang’s father muttered. Unable to see, he felt around, but after searching for ages, he still couldn’t find it.
“Useless! Look at you all! Don’t you know you can use your phones for light?” Old Wang scolded.
Only then did everyone remember. They hurriedly pulled out their phones and tapped a few times.
This time, things went smoothly. Everyone’s phone screen gave off a faint glow.
In that feeble light, they saw a female ghost with disheveled hair and a vicious face standing before them, letting out a terrifying, “Hee-hee-hee.”
It was Sister Kayako, creating an illusion.
There were so many Sister Kayakos!
5.
A chorus of piercing screams rang out, echoing through the room!
Wang’s father screamed the loudest. He had a handful of Sister Kayako’s long hair!
Oh no, Sister Kayako loved her long hair more than anything. She’d begged me to burn her expensive hair-care products for her so many times. She was definitely going to be furious!
“Shut up!” Sister Kayako roared at Wang’s father.
She lowered her head slightly. Her hollow eyes fixed on Wang’s father’s rough hand, and she slowly asked, “Do you use hand cream?”
Wang’s father froze, not daring to answer.
Sister Kayako wasn’t about to let him off. She pressed on, “Did you wash your hands after burning paper money?”
“Do you wash your hands after using the bathroom?”
Her voice grew more and more insistent, like a cold, sharp knife, and her empty eye sockets grew redder and redder.
Wang’s father trembled all over, another sheen of sweat appearing on his forehead. Worse still, his extreme nervousness made him clutch Sister Kayako’s hair even tighter; as he shook, he pulled some of it out.
I gave a wicked little laugh and said, “Sis, I can testify that he didn’t wash his hands!”
“He burned paper money, then ate, then went to the bathroom, and then… he grabbed your hair!”
When Sister Kayako heard that, blood ran from her reddened eye sockets. She clutched her head in both hands and threw it back, letting out a long, agonized scream.
Wang’s father shook with fear, and, as luck would have it, the sweat on his forehead dripped onto her long hair.
This time she completely snapped. “You! Die! Now!”
She slashed Wang’s father under the chin with her claws, tearing away a large piece of flesh.
Kayako still wasn’t satisfied. She dragged Wang’s father back and kept slapping and scolding him. “Why don’t you wash your hands before and after eating?”
“Why don’t you wash your hands after using the bathroom?”
“I’ll beat you to death, you filthy thing!”
“You’re this filthy and your parents don’t know? Your grandparents don’t know? Your ancestors don’t know?!”
Wang’s father’s terror mounted until his will completely collapsed. His eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
Old Wang wasn’t faring any better.
He was a little braver than Wang’s father; he didn’t just stand there like an idiot waiting to die.
He turned and ran for the door. Sister Kayako’s long hair streamed out, stretching farther and farther as if to strangle Old Wang.
I hurriedly shouted, “Sis, wait! They only bathe once a year!”
!!!
Sister Kayako was so bewildered by what I said that she froze for a long moment.
I wasn’t making it up. Wang Ping herself had told me. Their hometown was poor, and they didn’t even have running water. When water for cooking was scarce, where were they supposed to get water to bathe?
That moment of confusion gave Old Wang time to crawl to the door. Unfortunately, before he could reach the handle, Sister Kayako came to her senses and quickly crawled after him.
Sister Kayako was famous for crawling fast. In the blink of an eye, she was in front of Old Wang, gaping at him with a huge, blood-red mouth.
Old Wang clutched his chest and fell to the floor.
6.
Then there was the instigator, Wang Ping. Terrified, she ran around wildly and climbed onto the bed they’d prepared for me.
She curled into a ball, pulled the quilt over herself, and muttered, “Amitabha, Buddha bless me!”
“Ghosts won’t attack people on a bed! I’ll be safe if I stay on the bed!”
I scoffed. Buddha doesn’t help bad people.
As for that business about beds being safe, I had no idea where she’d heard it. There wasn’t a shred of scientific evidence for it.
Sister Kayako crawled up to Wang Ping as if to refute those words, then immediately crawled into Wang Ping’s bed.
Wang Ping’s body went rigid and fell completely out of her control. Only her eyes could move as she watched Sister Kayako, covered in blood, pin her down and transform into all sorts of horrifying death poses. There was nothing she could do.
Wang Ping tried to shut her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look, but Sister Kayako wouldn’t let her.
She’d been following me for years and had devoted herself to doing good, hoping to earn a chance at reincarnation. She’d finally gotten the chance to scare someone—how could she not make the most of it?
Sister Kayako extended her sharp claws and pried Wang Ping’s eyelids open.
A hideous, swollen, gray-green face loomed large before Wang Ping’s eyes.
Sister Kayako smiled, baring fangs so long and white they seemed to glow!
“Am I pretty?”
Wang Ping was scared out of her wits. How could she possibly answer? Sister Kayako looked a little incredulous. “Do you mean you don’t think I’m beautiful?”
Her voice suddenly rose. “How rude! If I don’t teach you a lesson, you’ll look down on me, won’t you?”
“Kuchisake-onna, lend me your scissors!”
(Kuchisake-onna: Japanese for “Slit-Mouthed Woman.” She is a famous Japanese female ghost.)
Kuchisake-onna, called out by name, sounded excited. “Coming, coming!”
When Wang Ping saw another female ghost appear, she completely broke down.
“Aah…” She screamed for who knew how long. It was so noisy.
The women over there—Wang Ping’s mother and aunt—had been tormented to the point that they could barely draw breath.
Once I’d let them make enough of a commotion, I snapped my fingers. Sister Kayako withdrew her illusion and returned to my side.
The lights in the room suddenly came on.
The ghosts stood behind me, their presence so imposing it could shake heaven and earth and terrify ghosts and gods alike!
Wang Ping’s family was both stupid and wicked, but the Netherworld had decreed that no one could take a human life on a whim.
Simply put, the Netherworld handles matters of the Netherworld, while matters of the human world must be handled according to human laws. Everything has its proper rules.
I shouted, “Wang Ping, do you have anything to say for yourself?”
“Confess and you’ll be treated leniently; resist and you’ll be punished severely! Don’t leave anything out!”
When Wang Ping still didn’t answer, one of the ghosts behind me hurried forward, cleared his throat, and barked, “Insolent!”
“Her Majesty has asked you a question! Answer at once!”
The voice sounded a little strange. I turned my head to inspect whoever had spoken.
Neither man nor woman, dressed in ancient robes, with a pale face and one finger held up in an elegant pose. Who else could it be but the eunuch ghost?
“Confess now, or you’ll get the full treatment!” At the eunuch ghost’s command, the other ghosts stirred, giving Wang Ping malicious smiles.
Wang Ping burst into tears. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Please let me go! I was forced into it!”
According to Wang Ping, her older brother had died in a car accident. When he died, his body was mangled and half his head was crushed.
According to the villagers, someone who died a violent death couldn’t easily pass on and was likely to become a vengeful ghost, killing anyone they encountered and bringing unrest to the household.
Her older brother had died young and unmarried.
In cases like this, a ghost marriage was meant to provide someone to serve him and usually helped lessen his resentment.
Ghost marriages were subject to strict customs. In an ordinary case, they could find a recently deceased girl of about the same age.
But for someone like Wang Ping’s brother, they had to find a living person to keep him under control.
All of this came from the village’s Master Zhang, the Immortal. The villagers relied on him to arrange ghost marriages, and he could even find a living bride!
But where could they find a living bride? Each one cost tens of thousands. How could the Wang family afford that?
As it happened, someone casually mentioned me to Wang Ping—a girl with no family—and told her to keep an eye on me.
After all, I was an orphan. Even if I went missing, nobody would look for me, right?
Hearing that, I couldn’t help cursing inwardly. So what if I was an orphan? One person, then two, then three, and after that, who knows how many more came after me? Over the years, I’d encountered plenty of scoundrels because of it!
They’d dared to set their sights on me. They were clearly tired of living!