A Guest In A Ghost House

All of a sudden, I stood up and declared, "I"ll go find Sister Hua." I figured she might be able to handle the situation better than I was. As I moved to leave the room, Lulu grabbed onto me and held me.

I watched her face grow redder and redder before she spit out a single word as quiet and high-pitched as the whine of a mosquito: "No."

I nodded, but Lulu didn"t let go. I didn"t want to pry her off of me, so the two of us stood like this for a while.

Eventually, Lulu spoke again. She said in an angry voice, "I"ll take my revenge. As soon as I avenge myself, I"ll leave this place."

I continue to nod. I hoped that Lulu would be able to take her revenge, but I worried that Huang Shuai might be dead by now.

Lulu spoke again. "So--so..." she stuttered as her voice dropped lower and lower.

"What?" I was curious about what she was going to say.

"So, you"re a big fool," Lulu declared angrily.

"Huh?" Why is she suddenly scolding me? Did I do something wrong?

Lulu looked at me with a puzzling expression, a mixture of anger and humor, and gave me a push. "Get out, I"m going to sleep."

"Wait, where am I sleeping?" I blurted out.

Lulu"s blushed even more and she said, "I don"t care where you sleep. Just get out. Get out!"

She pushed me out of the room, and before I could speak, she slammed the door with a huge amount of force.

I knocked on the door. "Uh, Lulu, can you give me the keys?"

The door opened a crack, and then the key flew through the air and hit me in the face. I covered my face with a shout. The closing door paused for a brief second before latching shut again.

Why does everyone want to hurt my beautiful face? I thought bitterly as I covered my face and muttered to myself. As I prepared to go downstairs, I turned around and immediately jumped. Both the second and third floors were full of female ghosts looking at me. They all wore the same expression: speechless, angry, pained.

"Wu Rui, I also really want to beat you up like that right now, even if you are fast." A female voice called out. She was one of the beautiful women of the Ghost House. I was stunned for a moment, not quite understanding what she meant.

"I"m fast? What does that mean?"

Many girls" faces looked ready to collapse. Sister Hua walked up to me and said, "You are a man, yes?"

I nodded, and Sister Hua pulled out a bottle of white wine from behind her back and handed it to me, saying, "Drink up."

As I wondered what was going on, Sister Hua reached over and tried to make me drink the wine. I threw my hand out and cried, "Sister Hua, you know I don"t drink white wine!"

Sister Hua looked at me seriously and said, "You would be more tolerable if you were drunk now."

Oh, my G.o.d. Is everyone in the house drunk today? I don"t understand what"s going on.

"Sister Hua, what the h.e.l.l are you doing?" I shouted.

Sister Hua handed the white wine to me and said, "Drink up, then go in. Come on, drink up."

Carefully, I considered the two words: drink up. Sister Hua"s p.r.o.nunciation seemed to indicate a double meaning. I started to think I might know what she was implying.

Creak. The door opened behind me. I turned back and saw Lulu staring at me. She said miserably, "Sister Hua, what are you doing? Just let him go."

Just as I was about to ask Lulu a question, she shut the door again.

Yan"er stomped her foot and shouted, "You are a pig. No, pigs are smarter than you. You really don"t understand what"s going on?"

I nodded. I thought I finally understood what they were getting at.

But don"t you feel dirty trying to sell Lulu like this? I thought. Besides, would Lulu really want me like that? Sometimes it seems like she might, but I"m still not sure.

"Well, Lulu made me leave," I said with uncertainty.

Whack.

I received another kick on my a.s.s. I fell a few steps forward, then turned around to see Xiao Lingdang.

She said, "Sister Lulu loved a man for the first time. No, a pig. What else do you want her to do?"

I looked at Xiao Lingdang, considering her emphasis on the word "want" and realized that Xiao Lingdang didn"t have a double meaning. Well, she was only a 15-year-old girl. She didn"t need to have a dirty mind like the others.

However, she"d already kicked me twice. Was she looking for a fight?

I turned to Xiao Lingdang and said, "Oh, so I"m a pig?" I heard a threat in my tone as well as sadness.

Suddenly, I received several small kicks to different parts of my body from several of the ghosts. Even Sister Hua lifted her cheongsam to kick me, although the action was so quick that I hardly saw her move.

What is going on?

Looking around, I saw murderous looks in the eyes of the ghosts. Up above, the ghosts on the third floor were chilling the railing to the point that a layer of white frost was developing.

"Okay, fine. It"s true," I said, not really sure what else to do. "I"m a pig."

Sister Hua stretched the cup and bottle of wine forward again and said, "Take life and death easily, or fight." She emphasized the last word.

I took the bottle of wine, twisting the lid one way then another, then trying again before giving up. Finally, I handed the bottle back to Sister Hua and said, "Sister Hua, please help me open it."

At that moment, everyone wore extremely exaggerated expressions of disbelief. Sister Hua waited a full minute before helping me open the bottle mechanically. Once it was open, I s.n.a.t.c.hed the bottle back, embarra.s.sed, and began to chug.

After having drunk only half the bottle, I felt wobbly, and the bottle fell on the ground and smashed into pieces. I swayed, trying not to feel nauseous, and then turned and kicked Lulu"s door.

The door didn"t move at all. I patted it a few times and found that the wood was very strong.

Yan"er couldn"t stand watching me struggle. She lifted her leg and kicked the door open. As it swung inward, Yan"er disappeared in a wisp of smoke and the words, "You"re welcome."

Taking a few steps forward, I entered the room, then lifted the curtain hanging in front of the bed. Lulu was standing beside the bed, her face bright red and her expression perplexing.

I stretched out my hand and pointed at Lulu. "You..."

Then the entire world spun and I crashed to the floor. Before everything went black, I felt like I heard the words, "You really are a pig."