Chapter 1

Preface: 

     April 23, 1990, the day I died…

     After I had closed my eyes, I seemed to hear him crying. He cried and told me to wait for him.

     But I didn’t know his name…

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Mr. Landlord, this gas pipe looks so old. What if the gas leaks? Also, you said the apartment contains all the necessary household appliances. Take a look at this refrigerator! It’s smelly and dirty. The door could hardly be closed. And the washing machine has rust on it, the painting is falling off. I am wondering if it will leak electricity in the future. Also, the fluorescent lamp doesn’t work. I don’t even want to check this television! An 18-inch, black and white television?!  Where did you find this old antique? I shouldn’t pay at least half of the rent as a discount for a place like this! And, this plug…”

     Cang Qiong pointed his finger in the dark, old apartment, trying to find every defect of the place. Even the intact ones would also be called ‘aging’ in his words. 

     The ability to pick a bone from an egg was quite useful in daily living.

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    “Okay, you’ve seen it. Not bad, right? Let’s talk outside!” The landlord seemed impatient to hurry out.

     “Wait a minute.” Cang Qiong flushed the toilet, “Plashhh—” The water rushed down immediately. “Good, the toilet is functioning well.”

     “Okay, okay, I said there’s no problem with the bathroom! Let’s go, let’s get out!”

     The more anxious the landlord appeared, the more reluctant Cang Qiong was to get out. He began to check the bathroom’s window, and then the shower head.

     “Okay, okay? I’ve never seen such a nitpicky tenant as you! I have other errands to carry out this afternoon and I can’t wait for you!”

    “Alright! There’s nothing wrong with inspecting the room carefully. You would be pickier than me if you were the one who rented an apartment!” Cang Qiong started looking around again, his eyes stopping at the toilet. “Huh? Mr. Landlord, why is it that this toilet is still running?”

    Indeed, since he flushed the toilet, water continued coming out. As usual, the water in the water tank should have long been emptied. Where did the water come from?

    “Oh… this, this toilet has been a little leaky. It will be fine in a while!” The landlord was particularly nervous.

     “Leaking water?! It’s called flooding, right? How could I afford the water bill like this?”

    “A minuscule amount of water wouldn’t cost you too much!”

     “Four years!”

     “Okay, with 8,500 yuan for the rent, you fix this toilet. It couldn’t be cheaper.”

     The landlord was completely defeated by him.

     “Wait a moment!”

     “What’s wrong?” The landlord didn’t want to argue anymore.

     “Why…the water in the toilet has turned red?”

     “B…because the water pipe is rusting…” The landlord’s forehead began to sweat…

     “Rust? Why did it rust so badly? Why do I think… it looks like blood?” Cang Qiong looked at the toilet which was still unceasingly running with no sign of stopping.

     The landlord immediately pulled Cang Qiong out of the bathroom and slammed the door.

     “5,000 yuan! Four years! Do you accept it or not?!” It seemed like the landlord was in a hurry to rent it out at a loss.

     “Accepted! But what’s with that red water?” Cang Qiong asked innocently.

     “It’s okay! Don’t worry! It hasn’t been used for too long, it’s normal.”

     “Alright then, let’s sign the lease. I’ll pay the money after signing it.” Cang Qiong readily agreed. After all, to live at a place like this for four years at a rent of 5,000 yuan was an excellent deal.

     After signing the contract, Cang Qiong paid the full amount. The landlord hurriedly left without even counting the money for fear that the tenant would change his mind at the next moment. The spirit who had waited to reincarnate was not in a hurry as him.

     After leaving the building, the landlord looked back at the balcony on the second floor. He wiped his nose, a smug smile on his face. He finally rented out the apartment after all these years.

     Seeing the landlord leaving, Cang Qiong took out his mobile phone and dialed a number to his home.

     “Hey, godfather. I signed the lease.”

     An excited voice came from the other end of the phone: “How was it?”

     “As you expected.”

     “How much did it cost?”

     “5,000 yuan. Much cheaper than living on the campus.”

     “Not bad. You pretended to be gullible?”

     “Godfather, I did what you taught me. I acted like a petty citizen in a bargaining show here!”

    “Hahaha……”

That’s how Cang Qiong rented the apartment.

     The apartment was on the second floor of an old-fashioned building that was close to his university. His room was located on the far west side. At this period of early September, the room temperature was supposed to be hot, but he didn’t feel it at all. Instead, he found it weird that the room was chilly-cold.

     The apartment was quite small. It contained a bedroom, a kitchen, and a bathroom. But since he lived alone, it didn’t matter whether the apartment contained a living room or not. There was a bed, a desk, and a sofa in the bedroom. As if the room was furnished just for a student—except for the sofa, of course.

     Cang Qiong quickly called maintenance to change the gas pipeline—in fact, it was the only thing, from what he inspected, that needed to be repaired.

     At night, Cang Qiong was quietly reading a book. He got up and went to the bathroom; it was time for him to go to bed. Tomorrow was the first day of school, and he didn’t want to be late. Cang Qiong took a look at the toilet. It was fine.

     The red water turned back to transparent after the landlord left in the morning.

     “Grunt, Grunt…” A strange sound echoed in the bathroom.

     Cang Qiong followed the sound and saw the water coming out of the bathtub! With more and more water coming out, it would soon fill half of the tub! Like the Baotu Spring, the bathtub kept pouring out like tumbling water. It was disturbing and hair-raising.

     The shower head suddenly turned on by itself, spewing out dark, red blood, and the water in the tub immediately turned bloody red! Just as what he had seen in the toilet during the day!

     Cang Qiong watched all these silently and faintly sensed the smell of blood.

     The water soon filled up the tub. The red water brimmed over the edge and quickly spread on the white floor…

     Cang Qiong pushed up his glasses, lowered his head, and spoke with a cold voice, “Are you having fun? If you continue making trouble, I’ll be ruthless with you.”

     “Plashh!” When the shower head abruptly stopped, the bloody waterfall that overflowed from the bathtub also ceased. Cang Qiong continued in a chilly tone: “I was very satisfied with your performance this morning. It saved me a lot of money. However, don’t make any trouble from now on! Otherwise…” He patted the toilet tank, “I will permanently seal you into this tank.”

All the blood and water remained still…

“Looks like you don’t believe me. My surname is Cang. I’m the 33rd generation of the Cang family. Our ancestor was a heavenly master who subdued and slain demons from a long time ago. For a little ghost like you, I can beat you into pieces! You can speak to me; I can hear you.”

Finally, Cang Qiong heard a weak voice ask, “Then, can you see me?”

“No!”

“To be more precise, it’s because I don’t want to see. I can see you as long as I remove my glasses. People and ghosts should stay within their boundaries. I see no need for us to have any interaction. I hope you will not disturb my life in the future. Also, keep in mind that you should not touch me! I have a sprite medium physique.”

“I…I’ve been alone for twelve years, and no one could hear me. I almost forgot how to speak… woo…” The ghost cried with excitement.

“Then it’s best that you shouldn’t!” Cang Qiong’s words were as cold as ice.

“No, I want to…talk to you. Can we just talk? I think you look like someone I used to know…”

“You put away your boring tricks first!” Cang Qiong pointed to the blood in the room.

“Okay.” The creepy tricks in the bathroom disappeared in an instant.

Cang Qiong began to brush his teeth, while the voice next to him continued to chatter.

“Are you a student? You should be a student. I heard the landlord say it this morning. I am also a student. Oh no, I mean I was also a student before I died…”

‘What a bunch of crap!’ Cang Qiong ignored the ghost and kept brushing his teeth. 

“My name is Kong Ru. What’s your name?”

Cang Qiong ignored him, spit out the white foam, and continued brushing his teeth.

“You must be a college student, right? Are you a student at the nearby Meige University? I had planned to apply at that university! Hehehe…”

As a ghost, he could perform this one-man talk show quite vividly. It seemed that he had been lonely for too long. After Cang Qiong rinsed his mouth and wiped his sweat with a towel, he turned around and pulled down his flat pants, and started to pee…

“Ah—!” With a scream and a gust of wind, Cang Qiong felt the ghost rush out of the bathroom.

This apartment was cheap with an obvious flaw of bad insulation.

Having finished, Cang Qiong turned off the light and walked out of the bathroom. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were a girl. I thought you were a boy when I heard your voice. Next time, you should be more careful.” Cang Qiong didn’t expect this little ghost to be so innocent.

“I’m a boy…” A faint voice sounded from a corner that Cang Qiong could barely hear it.

“Damn! Then why did you scream?!” Cang Qiong laid down on the bed and looked at his watch, it was eleven o’clock.

“Woo…”

“What’s with the noise? If you make more noise, I’ll throw you down the toilet and flush you out!”

The sound stopped. But suddenly he heard a voice talking in his ear: “You are on my bed…”

His blue veins nearly burst out. ‘This dead ghost is notably annoying!’ He sat up and announced, “Listen. From today onward, this room, including this bed, is mine. Don’t bother me again!”

“Then where should I sleep?”

“Don’t ghosts sleep during the day and be active at night? Why are you different from the other ghosts? Sofa, floor, bathtub, toilet, you choose. I’m going to sleep. Don’t bug me.”

Cang Qiong turned off the lights and closed his eyes. The little ghost finally didn’t make a sound, and Cang Qiong could feel the ghost climbing onto the sofa.

Not long after, Cang Qiong’s cell phone rang. He answered the phone, annoyed.

“Hey?”

“Qiong Qiong. It’s thundering and raining here, I’m afraid…”

Cang Qiong looked at the sky in the Southeast direction, there was indeed lightning. There must be a thunderstorm somewhere.

“Godfather! Don’t disturb me so late. I have school tomorrow! Where’s mom?”

“She hasn’t come back from playing mahjong yet.”

“Where’s Dad?”

“He went hunting ghosts; I heard that he will be out for the whole night.”

“Then what can I do? I can’t come back now!”

Cang Qiong knew from a young age that his godfather was afraid of thunder. Every time there was thunder and rain, his godfather would go to his room and cuddle with him to sleep. His family lived in a small town on the coast of the East China Sea. Because of his godfather, he stayed in local schools during his early years. Now he was a university student, he had to move to the city center which was far away from home.

“Then you can keep me company on the phone…”

“Do you think I have an excessive amount of money? I’ll chat with you tomorrow after I call someone to set up a land-line telephone. Godfather, you won’t be afraid if you keep yourself busy by watching TV. If you don’t have any specific show in mind, you should watch “Crayon Shin-Chan”. Good night, I am going to sleep.”

Cang Qiong immediately hung up the phone and did not forget to turn it off.

A few minutes later……

“Rumbling…”

‘What’s that sound? It’s so annoying!’ Cang Qiong had to sit up from the bed again.

“Hey, ghost! What are you doing?”

“It…it’s my stomach rumbling…” The voice seemed aggrieved.

“You can eat?”

Cang Qiong remembered that there were not many ghosts that could eat food in the human world. The evil demon was one of them, but this little ghost couldn’t be the evil demon type, since his breath was very gentle. Then he should be a “glutton” who appeared to be very attached to food during his lifetime. Subsequently, he was even more attached to food after his death.

“Emm. I haven’t eaten well in the past twelve years; I wanted to eat a full meal…”

‘It’s such a trouble to meet a ghost of this nature.’ Cang Qiong put on his glasses and turned on the light. He took out a pack of soda biscuits from the drawer and threw it on the sofa.

“I’ll give you something to eat. Don’t disturb me after you’ve finished.”

“Thank you. You are such a good person!” Cang Qiong could tell from the ghost’s voice that he was especially moved.

Cang Qiong laid down again, but he immediately regretted it. The sound of the greedy ghost eating the biscuits was louder than the sound of his stomach rumbling.

With the rhythmic chewing sound, Cang Qiong barely fell asleep…

.

The first day of school started at 8:00 am and was not over until 2:00 pm. Cang Qiong ate his lunch at the school cafeteria and had instant noodles as his dinner at home. The instant noodles were not nutritious and didn’t taste good, but the smell dispersed far. As Cang Qiong ate the noodles, he heard a “gurgling” sound next to him.

Cang Qiong turned a deaf ear to it. After finishing his bowl of noodles, he stood up and went to wash the dishes. He heard the little ghost ask timidly: “Can I have the rest of the soup?”

This question made Cang Qiong feel like he was so cruel. The ghost just wanted some leftover soup, how could he not give it to him. Cang Qiong put the bowl on the table, “You can drink it.”

“Thank you! You are such a good person!” As long as Cang Qiong gave him food, he was a good person.

The noodle bowl floated into the air, tilted slowly, and the soup inside was gone in a few seconds. After the noodle bowl was empty, it was still floating and moving.

“What are you doing?” Cang Qiong asked.

“Me? I am licking the bowl!”

‘Eww..!’ As soon as Cang Qiong imagined a tongue licking his bowl, he snatched the bowl away.

“Ah! Don’t! I haven’t finished licking it yet!”

“Go die!”

“I am already dead.”

“…”

After he had his dinner and took a shower, Cang Qiong sat in front of the TV watching the news, with half of the big watermelon in his hands. The rumbling sound still lingered around. After he ate the watermelon and wiped his mouth, he threw the watermelon skins into the trash can; he turned off the TV and started to read a book in peace. ‘The little ghost doesn’t seem to be around. This is nice.’

After a while, he heard a noise from the kitchen. ‘If it’s not a c*ckroach, it must be the ghost!’ Cang Qiong walked over to take a look. A watermelon skin was floating in the air as if it was bitten by a dog…

“What are you doing?”

“Eating the watermelon skin.”

The ghost replied without hesitation. The chewing sound indicated that he was eating enthusiastically. Cang Qiong was speechless… ‘Can this be considered as abuse? It’s not my business!’

Cang Qiong ignored him and left him to gobble on the watermelon skins in the kitchen—watermelon skins could be eaten anyway.

It was a little late at night. Cang Qiong was tired of reading. He felt a little hungry. After all, it was not enough for an adult who was 1.8 meters tall to only eat a bowl of instant noodles for dinner. So, he went downstairs, thinking of eating a late supper outside. He saw a street stall selling fried noodles, so he walked over and placed an order. Considering it was late at night and the stall would close soon, the chief made a big portion for Cang Qiong. As a result, one box was not enough to fit in the noodles, so he put the noodles into two boxes.

After Cang Qiong thanked the chief, he returned home with two boxes of fried noodles in his hands. There was another mouth at home anyway. And if he stuffed the ghost with the food, the ghost’s stomach would stop rumbling which sounded like thunder.

While Cang Qiong was eating the fried noodles, the white disposable food box on the opposite side moved and the noodles disappeared quickly, even a drop of oil at the bottom of the box couldn’t be wasted. Cang Qiong suddenly wanted to take off his glasses to watch how the ghost was eating. He must look interesting while he ate. But Cang Qiong changed his mind immediately. He knew once seeing a ghost’s appearance, he would treat the ghost as a living person.

“Thank you! You are such a good man.” He had said the same sentence no less than ten times tonight. “It’s the first time I have eaten something so delicious since I died.”

Cang Qiong smiled and continued eating his fried noodles.

“Your surname is Cang. What’s your first name?” The little ghost started to babble again.

“Don’t you know that a person can’t tell a ghost his name?”

“I didn’t know.”

“Ghosts are very cunning. Even if you say you don’t know, why should I believe you?”

The ghost was speechless… But soon, he started a new topic. “Are you a student at Meige University?”

“Yes.”

“What’s your major?”

“History.”

“History? I planned to major in it too! It must be fun to study in a university? If only I hadn’t died, I might be able to get in.”

“It’s useless to regret your own choice of death.”

“How– How did you know?”

“Firstly, you haven’t been reincarnated yet, this signified that you must have died when it wasn’t your time yet, so you have been wandering around in this world as a ghost. Secondly, you can only stay in this apartment, which meant that you resorted to suicide. Only through suicide would the ghost be trapped in the place where they died.”

“Who– Who said I couldn’t leave this room?”

“If you could go out, why didn’t you find food outside? The watermelon skins in the dumpster outside have piled up like hills. Why didn’t you go there and eat them?”

It sounded so harsh that the ghost was rendered speechless…

Receiving no reply, Cang Qiong asked: “Why did you resort to suicide at such a young age?”

The ghost was silent for a while, then replied, “I failed the college entrance examination…”

“You lied. What you just said was, ‘If I didn’t die, I might be able to get in.’ This implied that you either didn’t take the college entrance examination at all, or you died before the college entrance examination had commenced.”

His words hit him point-blank. The ghost before him fell silent. Cang Qiong was still eating his fried noodles calmly. He was not interested in digging out how the ghost died. He threw away the two empty boxes after finishing the noodles.

Later that night, Cang Qiong could still hear the sound of a rumbling stomach. This ghost’s appetite seemed like a bottomless pit.

On Tuesday, school ended very early. Cang Qiong came home just after lunchtime. As soon as he entered the apartment, he saw the TV was on and heard the sound of water in the bathroom. He opened the bathroom door to see what was going on.

“Ah—!” A harsh scream promptly sounded and then a wet towel hit Cang Qiong’s face!

Cang Qiong pulled down the towel and took a glance at it, it was his towel. He became furious and shouted: “What are you doing?!”

“Taking…taking a shower.”

The water was still running. “Why did you scream? I couldn’t even see you!”

“I forgot…”

“Damn! You don’t sweat! Why are you taking a shower? And you are using my towel! Also, why did you turn on the TV? Did you think electricity doesn’t cost money? I forbid you to touch anything here!”

“I’m sorry… woo woo…” The little ghost cried again.

Cang Qiong forcibly threw the towel into the bathtub and shut the bathroom door with a ‘Bang!’. He knew it was a haunted apartment from the beginning and thought that if it was an evil demon, he would just slay it; but if the ghost was harmless, he’d let it go. Now he didn’t know whether the ghost was harmful or not.

Cang Qiong purchased a new towel from the supermarket.

As soon as he returned home, he heard the ghost’s voice saying: “I have washed your towel. I am sorry…I thought you wouldn’t mind.”

“In my mind, ghosts are no different from dead people. Did you honestly think that I would still want a towel that had been used by a dead person? Keep it for yourself!”

“Ah? I also have used your face towel…”

“I’m going to throw you down the toilet to flush you out!”

Cang Qiong went downstairs again and bought another towel.

He ran up and down the stairs, and started to reek with sweat. After taking a shower, he found that the washing machine was broken.

“Damn it! What bad luck!” He threw the dirty clothes into the washbasin and kicked the washing machine.

He left home with two books in his hands, going to school to self-study.

After the evening self-study was over, Cang Qiong returned home and saw the bathroom light was still on. That little ghost was taking a shower again?! He wanted to lament on his utility bills.

When he entered the bathroom, he saw that the clothes were being scrubbed in the wash basin full of soap bubbles.

“Mr. Cang, you are back! I’m doing your laundry for you.” The ghost replied.

“Who asked you to wash them for me?” The implication was that he didn’t want the ghost meddling in his business.

“I…I just wanted to do something for you… I’m sorry… wooo…” Not only was he a glutton, but he was also a crybaby.

Cang Qiong didn’t say anything else. He walked back to the bedroom and laid down on the bed. His godfather called him again.

“Qiong Qiong, have you dealt with that little ghost yet?”

“No, I don’t see any problem with him, I let him go.”

“Is it okay?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, the telecommunications company will come to install a landline phone tomorrow. We can talk another day.”

“Ok. Good night.”

After hanging up the phone, while the sound of washing clothes continued, he fell asleep in a daze.

.

His black T-shirt, blue jeans, and white underwear were hung on the balcony the next day. A man had washed another man’s underwear? It sounded so awkward. But it was not a bad thing to live with a little maid who could wash your clothes. Cang Qiong thought this was acceptable, at least it repaid the utility bills wasted by the little ghost.

Morning.

“Ghost?”

“What?”

“Someone will come to install a phone today. Behave yourself!”

“Oh!” The little ghost answered readily.

Cang Qiong opened the drawer and wanted to take out a packet of biscuits to bribe him, but only found empty bags in the drawer. 

“Ghost!”

“Aye, why are you calling me?” He replied sweetly.

“Did you eat all of the snacks?” Cang Qiong shook the empty bag in his hand.

The ghost didn’t answer.

It was the price you paid for your maid……

In the afternoon, the telecommunications company came to install the phone. They found it strange that the room was full of peculiar amulets placed on the videogame, the faucet, the drawer, the TV……