The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 281 Encountering a Monster (3k)

Ever since Du Yuan's remark left the teahouse, the man's pace quickened. At first, he walked briskly, but later he almost jogged, as if something was chasing him.

He only breathed a sigh of relief after entering Kyoto.

But what he was looking at wasn't the high walls of Kyoto, but the people coming and going all around him.

It seemed that having many people around gave him confidence.

Therefore, he was even reluctant to go home, and just lingered at the city gate, the place with the most pedestrians.

Throughout this time, he kept stroking the gold dog head in his arms, his eyes shifting between light and shadow.

It wasn't until dusk had fallen over the city walls and it was almost dark that they reluctantly made their way back home.

Just then, he saw a troop of fast riders carrying flags, representing urgent news, rush past him and head straight for the palace.

He didn't pay any attention and just moved aside.

Even if the affairs of the imperial court are urgent, they are matters for adults to concern themselves with, not for an ordinary commoner like him.

As he entered the courtyard, his wife was already waiting for him on the porch. She reached out to take the bundle from his shoulder and wrapped a thick overcoat around his shoulders.

"You came back from the south. It's not like Kyoto there. It's hot both day and night there, but it's freezing cold at night here. Put this on quickly so you don't catch a cold."

But as they were talking, his wife sensed something was wrong and asked:
"Honey, you don't look well. Did something happen on the way?"

They had been married for many years, and she could naturally tell that the man's expression was off, and that his hand was extremely cold when she touched it.

The man initially wanted to keep it a secret, but looking at the concern in his wife's eyes, he frowned for a long time before letting out a soft sigh. He turned and closed the courtyard gate tightly, then grasped her hand and whispered:

"We did encounter something on the road, and it was something strange!"

"Something strange?"

The woman's face changed instantly. As a woman, she was most afraid of these things, which was why she often went to the temple to burn incense and pray for blessings.

The goal is to have peace and quiet, and avoid any messy or chaotic things.

I never expected that I wouldn't encounter it, but my husband would.

"What happened? Tell me quickly!"

The man sighed and slowly explained the reason.

It was already very dark when he returned from trading in the south.

They had planned to find an inn before dark, but they missed the appointed time. As the surrounding villages gradually disappeared into the night, they couldn't even find a single hut to rest in.

Left with no other choice, he found a relatively clean, still green earthen slope by the forest, pulled his clothes together, and curled up to spend the night there.

I had just drifted off to sleep when I was startled awake by a crying sound in the middle of the night.

The forest was eerily quiet in the dead of night, and the crying, rising and falling in waves, was incredibly mournful.

Suddenly, he sat up with a start, his legs trembling involuntarily, and his heart pounding.

But it's pitch black, and even if you wanted to run away, you wouldn't know where to go!

There are many forks in the path in the woods, and it would be even worse if you fell into a ditch.

He gritted his teeth, took out the tinderbox from his waist, blew it on, and in the dim light, he followed the sound of crying step by step, hoping that it was someone traveling the same way. This would give him peace of mind and also give him more companionship.

"Who? Who's crying?"

His throat tightened, and the moment he cried out, his sobs abruptly stopped.

The surroundings were so quiet that he could almost hear his own heartbeat. This sudden silence was more terrifying than the crying.

But now that things have come to this, going back would be unsettling, and running around in the dark would be even more dangerous.

He had no choice but to clutch the tinderbox tightly and grit his teeth to continue moving forward. After walking about a dozen more steps, the firelight suddenly illuminated a blurry figure crouching under an old locust tree.

He felt a sense of relief, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders—it was good that he was human!
He quickly stepped forward and asked, "It's so late at night, why are you squatting here crying all by yourself? What's wrong?"

But the person slowly raised their head, their face full of astonishment, staring straight at him. After a long while, they stammered, "You...you can see me?"

Upon hearing this, cold sweat poured down the man's back, rolling down his spine to his feet, and even his undershirt stuck to his body!

He forced a smile and said:
"We're both perfectly healthy people, how could I not see you? Don't scare me with that."

Suddenly, the man knelt down with a thud, crying as he said:
"Sir, to be honest, I died long ago. What you see now is nothing but my ghost!"

The man's legs went weak with fear, and he collapsed to the ground, pointing at the other man and stammering:

"You...you're talking nonsense! You're clearly a person, how could you be a ghost? Don't lie to me!"

"Whether it's real or fake, you can find out by touching it." The man shook his head, his tone earnest. As he spoke, he raised his hand and gently touched the man's arm.

The man felt a chill rush towards him, and the hand actually passed right through his arm, touching a spot as cold as ice, making him shiver.

This scene made his vision go black, and he almost fainted. He had heard rumors of "strange changes in the world and the appearance of ghosts and monsters" on his previous trade routes, but he had never encountered it himself and thought it was just something made up by others to scare people.

Unexpectedly, I actually ran into it tonight!

Fortunately, the spirit had no intention of harming anyone. After verifying its identity, it bowed to him and said:

“Sir, since you can see me and hear me, I have a request. It’s not difficult. I just need you to go to Fu’an County in Hezhou and find a Zhang family in the north of the county town. There’s only one Zhang family in that area, so it’s easy to find.”

"Please pass on a message to my parents: 'Your son is unfilial; I haven't been able to properly take care of them, and I won't be able to come back to them anymore.'"

His voice choked up again as he finished speaking. But even as he cried, he forced himself to continue:
“I won’t let you come for nothing. I was a gold prospector in my past life, and I’ve saved up some gold over the years. I’ve hidden it under a crooked tree on the north side of this forest. That tree has long since died. It’s right next to the only pond around here. If you look carefully, you’ll find it.”

"That gold is my life savings. You can take half as payment, but please, I beg you, take the rest to my parents so they can live a more peaceful life in their later years."

As soon as he finished speaking, the person's figure gradually became transparent, and finally turned into a wisp of smoke, which was blown away by the night wind without a trace.

The man was left alone in the woods, slumped on the ground, still shaken. After a long while, he finally felt a warm, wet sensation on his lower body—he had been so frightened that he had wet himself!

Upon hearing this, the man's wife's expression changed, and she said:
"Didn't you go?"

Yes, he definitely didn't go, otherwise the timing wouldn't match!

The man said with a look of shame:
"I waited until daylight before gritting my teeth and heading to the place he told me to go. There really was gold, and, and..."

Finally, the man suddenly took out another small bag from behind his back.

These merchants always keep something in reserve, just in case something happens and they lose everything.

With a shake, scattered gold nuggets of varying sizes rolled to the ground.

“At first I didn’t think much of it,” the man said, staring at the gold nuggets on the ground, his voice hoarse. “I always thought that gold panners didn’t make much money, so I didn’t take any. I figured I could give some money to the Zhang family elders later, which would be a good deed. But I never expected that he would have saved so much!”

He crouched down, reached out his hand, touched the gold nugget with his fingertips, and then quickly withdrew it.

"No matter how you calculate it, this is worth a thousand taels of silver! It's enough for our family to live on for decades, not to mention to build a foundation for our children."

A thousand taels of silver might not even be enough for the young masters of powerful families to spend a fraction of their money in one night.

But for a small businessman like him, that was a huge sum of money that could change his life and even his social class!
So, blinded by greed, when he found the gold that could make him rich overnight, he forgot everything else.

In a panic, after collecting all the gold, he fled the place without looking back.

Thinking that since the ghost couldn't go back on its own, it certainly couldn't come after him either.

Thus, only Heaven and Earth know, and there is no one else here!

Later, in order to explain the origin of the gold, he deliberately turned the stories he had heard on the road into his own.

He thought this way he could get away with it and have less of a guilty conscience at night, but little did he know that all he did was tell his neighbors about this "strange encounter" in a tavern, and a young man leaning on an iron bar would poke a needle right in the throat!

After hearing this, the man's wife wanted to reprimand him for forgetting his roots, but seeing the gold scattered all over the ground, she couldn't say a word.

It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't too much, but it's just too much.
The man didn't mention the gentleman he had met during the day; he simply sighed and then bent down to pick up the gold from the ground.

His wife hesitated for a moment, then knelt down without saying a word to help him tidy up.

Then, I quietly cooked, fell asleep, as if nothing had happened.

The couple fell asleep in each other's arms, and the first half of the night passed peacefully without any strange occurrences. But when the clock struck midnight, in the stillness of the night, the man suddenly opened his eyes—that familiar crying sound rang in his ears again!

In a panic, he tried to wake his wife, but found that she was no longer in his arms!
The man's throat bobbed twice with difficulty, cold sweat trickling down his forehead. He stepped barefoot on the cold blue bricks, the chill shooting straight up from his feet to the top of his head. He grabbed a thin shirt haphazardly and wrapped it around himself, then stumbled out, following the sound of crying.

Seeing that the sound was coming from outside the door, he had no choice but to carefully push the door open a crack and peek outside.

Immediately, the person from that night stood there in the darkness, as if knowing he was watching. The ghost turned back fiercely and said to him:
How could you be so greedy?!

His voice was like thunder, filled with fury. Having said that, he lashed out like the wind, tearing several bloody gashes into the man's chest with a sharp tear.

"what--!!!"

With a scream, the man suddenly sat up in bed, his body shivering so badly that his undergarments were soaked through.

He looked at his wife, who had also been startled awake, and the door that was properly closed.

Just as the man was relieved that it was only a dream, he saw his wife pointing to her chest in horror.

Looking down, the bloodstains left by that person in my dream were right there in my mind!

(End of this chapter)