Chapter 10: 10 Burning the Paper Money

The white paint on the building was peeling off and the red roof tiles looked ready to fall off. There wasn’t a window without damaged glass. However, the door was in good condition still, guarding the secrets within.

I walked into the yard with He Xiaoru. The soft sand rustled like dry leaves.

The light of the flashlights spread around. I was worried that something would go wrong.

He Xiaoru swallowed loudly.

“Who are you?” A voice cracking with fear reached us.

I almost threw the torchlight in my hand, the voice had not come from He Xiaoru or myself. It came from the distant corner of the house.

When I calmed my wits, I shone my flashlight in the direction the voice came from. A sixteen-year-old boy used his hand to block out my flashlight, shining his own flashlight at me with his other hand.

All of us felt relieved when we found out everyone present was a human being.

The boy seemed relieve from the bottom of his heart and began walking towards me. He trampled on the rustling sand, followed closely by two other figures.

The boy walked in front of me. Seeing He Xiaoru’s pale face, he looked at me and said, “Hey bro, are you out here exploring?”

I finally had a chance to examine the boy. I had guessed correctly; he was about 16 years old and wore a tracksuit with green spots. It was dirty from climbing the wall.

The other boy was of a similar age to the first one, and also wore a tracksuit. A young girl of the same age hugged his arm tightly, staring at me timidly.

“It’s easy to get scared to death around here...” He Xiaoru said, “You sure are brave to explore this place.”

The boy laughed, “You too.”

He Xiaoru laughed as well, “We’re just heading to the main room.”

The boy laughed, “Yeah, that’s what we were thinking of doing.”

I was speechless. I felt like I was from a different world than everyone present, though I was just 20 years old.

Everyone introduced themselves after greeting each other. The three kids were from the same middle school nearby. There was an article about the ghost house online, so they decided to check it out. The leader of the group was Chen Kai. The two who were hugging each other tightly and were following him were Wu Di, Chen Kai’s friend, and a girl named Kitty.

I saw Wu Di hug Kitty closely. I was guessing that Wu Di probably wanted to go to the ghost house to get a chance to get real close to his girlfriend. A common thing for couples their age.

Seeing me walk towards him, Wu Di pouted towards Kitty, who leaned her head onto his chest, making it quite clear to me what he had in mind.

He Xiaoru didn’t take any notice of me, she was already going on ahead with Chen Kai. Wu Di, Kitty, and I followed after them.

He Xiaoru had already given me the impression that she was brave, but I soon learned that Chen Kai had more courage than the rest of us. Walking up to the front door, he kicked it in with no hesitation.

Bang.

The sudden sound in the quiet night frightened me. I had to admit, his careless attitude was pretty cool.

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The main room of the ghost house was huge. There were two spiral staircases on either side of the hall, clearly worn by time. There was trash everywhere. Many desks and chairs had fallen over. It appeared as if the desks and chairs had been pushed to the sides of the room.

Chen Kai invited He Xiaoru to explore upstairs. The ground floor was huge, yet I could see her easily with the shine of our flashlights. He Xiaoru kindly refused his offer with a smile and wished him good luck.

I had to admit that the funny chatter between He Xiaoru and Chen Kai earlier had eased the horrible aura the ghost house was giving off.

I felt like there was a generation gap between us, especially after I said a few words about staying safe. Then I looked for the ceremonial fire basin that the old woman in the shroud store had mentioned.

It was easy to find. There was a round bowl in the center of the hall, equidistant from the two spiral staircases.

I called He Xiaoru over, walking towards the basin.

I’d never seen a ceremonial bowl like this one before, it was immense. It already held some ashes, as if it had already been used. Upon closer examination however, the ashes appeared to have fused with bowl over time. Whatever had been burned here, was done so long ago.

I put my bags beside it, taking out the yellow paper money and throwing it into the bowl. He Xiaoru squatted beside me, tearing the paper money.

The scene looked like a typical couple worshipping their ancestors, if it weren’t for the creepy surroundings.

He Xiaoru attempted to set the paper on fire with her lighter, “Why isn’t it burning? What kind of paper is this?”

He Xiaory’s grumbling made me remember something. I took out the matchbox that was given to me at the shroud store, “The old woman said we should burn it with these matches.”

I opened the matchbox. There was only one matchstick inside.

Luckily, the match lit up the contents of the bowl right away. A light pink flame sprung up, a small eddy of smoke appearing above the fire, sending paper ashes up into the air.

Seeing this scene, I took a big gulp. Although I knew the airflow was cause by the temperature of fire, I was scared of it. I hurried to throw the golden paper ingots into the fire.

“So are you going to ask them to let you go and stop sending you photos?”

I ignored the dust, knelt on the floor and bowed my head to the ground, kowtowing three times and murmuring, “Please let me and my family go, oh spirits.”

The old woman in the shroud store gave me many things to burn. It took a long time to burn them all. I took out my phone carefully. It was almost one o’clock.

He Xiaoru had fallen asleep beside me. I couldn’t believe it, we were in a ghost house and here she was, peacefully napping beside me...

“Hey, did you fall asleep?” I pat He Xiaoru lightly on the shoulder.

He Xiaoru shuddered and looked up, “No way!”

She said as she discreetly wiped away the saliva at the corner of her mouth.

She looked cute. If not for her, I wouldn’t have been so calm.

“Let’s go. The paper money is all gone.”

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