When I woke up, I was alone in the bed. My coat had been taken off, but fortunately, my pants were still on. I hadn"t had so much wine for a long time. When I registered the pain my head was in, I groaned deeply. I saw a gla.s.s of water on the table next to me and drank it down immediately
After drinking the water and resting more, I finally woke up and looked around the room. Lulu was nowhere to be seen. I slowly got out of bed and put on my clothes that had been folded and placed on the bench.
All of a sudden, I heard a faint noise from outside. I couldn"t help but frown. The Ghost House was in the downtown area, but the house"s sound insulation was very good, and there was a large front garden between the house and the road. Generally, no noise from the outside made it in here. I figured the sound would have had to be pretty loud for me to have heard it.
I headed down the staircase and to the front door. When I opened the door, I was shocked. A huge crowd of people stood outside the Ghost House about two meters away from the gate. A group of police officers stood at the front.
The gate of the Ghost House opened, which seemed to scare the crowd gathered around. Suddenly everyone was quiet. It looked like the police officers at the front were taking orders, and they took a step back in unison.
What is going on here? I scratched my head in confusion and then asked the question out loud.
As I opened my mouth, the surrounding area became noisy again. The police looked at me for a while before one of them nervously stepped forward.
"What are you?" The police officer"s voice was scratchy as though he hadn"t had anything to drink in a long while.
"What am I? I"m…the owner of the Ghost House. Who do you think I am?" I asked in reply. I felt a little bit powerful.
"This is yours?" The police officer"s face was full of confusion. One of the officers behind him seemed to have a realization and he asked, "Are you Wu Rui?"
I felt like one of those rich people who everyone in town knows. I nodded proudly.
The officer whispered in the ear of one of the leaders, and then he approached with admiration. As he walked up, he glanced at the steps of the Ghost House and hesitated. He stopped, then smiled and said h.e.l.lo to me from below.
"h.e.l.lo, Mr. Wu. I"m from the County Public Security Bureau. I just got a report that someone"s child went missing in the Ghost House last night. We"re here to investigate. Were you in the building last night?"
I nodded, feeling very surprised. I didn"t go to sleep until very late last night. The building was generally closed at 4:00 in the morning, and I was up with Lulu for so long. I couldn"t have gone to bed before 5:00. If anyone had entered the ghost building, I surely would have heard it, or at least heard about it from one of the guests.
I thought for a moment then said, "The child really went into the Ghost House? I went to bed very late yesterday, around 4 or 5 o"clock. I didn"t hear or see anything."
The police didn"t have time to say anything before someone else came forward. A middle-aged woman rushed up to me and said, "That"s impossible. Xiao Tian"s cla.s.smate said that Xiao Tian asked a few other students to come here." When she finished speaking, another group of people excitedly rush over. They were all talking together at once, so I could not understand a word.
The police tried to maintain order and the lead policeman said, "Mr. Wu, we know that you don"t believe the legends of the Ghost House. Otherwise, you would not have bought it. However, the child did say that Tiantian and the others went into the building last night. Can you let us come in and look?"
"Yes, come in." I opened the gate completely and signaled for them to enter.
Perhaps because they were rea.s.sured that I had slept in the Ghost House, the officers sped into the building without hesitation followed by the children"s families. Of course, the onlookers remained outside.
The front yard was still overgrown with weeds and the hall was covered with cobwebs and dust. The people who entered the Ghost House repeatedly gave me strange looks. After all, the building didn"t look like somewhere anyone would sleep, let alone buy. I ignored their glances.
I stood in the corner of the hall, watching the police and their families looking for the missing children. Fortunately, everyone seemed decent. When they"d entered, the lead police officer had told everyone to be sure to keep order. So although many people entered, they did not cause damage or disrupt anything.
Still tired from the night before, I grabbed a stool and sat down. I began to doze off and must have fallen asleep. A loud commotion woke me up, and I rushed to see what was happening.
A member of the missing child"s family was on the phone and was very emotional. I wasn"t sure what had happened.
Was the child found? I wondered. Sure enough, after the man hung up the phone, he spoke quickly to the other members of his family and then got the attention of the police officers.
I knew it. Those kids didn"t come in here.
The child had met up with his cla.s.smates on Kaoshan Street, but in the end, they"d chickened out and gone to an internet café instead.
The family and the police repeatedly apologized to me, and I rea.s.sured them that I understood the need to search the house for the children. Just as everyone had calmed down, a police officer rushed in from the backyard holding a transparent bag and said, "I found a clue."
Everyone looked at him. The children had gone to the internet café. What clue could he have found?
The leader of the police force"s face looked like a dark sky. Although the family could go home and celebrate, the police officers now had another matter to attend to.