Chapter 143: Friend
“How is he now?”
“Did he get scared by something today when you weren’t paying attention?”
After some broken discussions, a middle-aged woman walked downstairs. She didn’t have a good expression.
The middle-aged woman replied: “Just fell as asleep. I coaxed him to bed.”
Su Min wondered if she was his second aunt. If he was right, he was afraid that another aunt situation would occur so he just kept silent.
“I’m also not quite sure. He was the usual today. I wasn’t able to get anything out from him.” The middle-aged woman said and then sighed.
From their discussions, Su Min could vaguely make his guesses.
It seems that the child had encountered something strange and spiritual, so they were nervous and worried about him.
Su Min finally gained a small understanding about this movie.
He was originally in a completely clueless state at the beginning of this movie and he had no idea what was happening. When he thought everything was over, it was instead the beginning.
Such an introduction was something similar to those of a horror movie.
After about an hour, everyone in the house finally started to return to their respective homes. Su Min also followed his aunt.
Along the way, he carefully asked: “What did he encounter?”
His aunt said: “He was possessed. Saw something he shouldn’t see.”
Su Min fell into thought.
When he returned to his room, he pulled out a notebook and recorded the incident today. He also recorded a copy on his phone just in case.
It wasn’t unusual for one to suddenly forget about the events that had happened the day before in movies. Things could even disappear the next day.
He had seen it before in movies. If he didn’t notice it early, his success rate would be close to zero.
Su Min’s worries was clearly uncalled for.
When he woke up the next day, all his memories were still there. Even the records he left last night had not disappeared.
Su Min again looked through them. He decided to pay more attention to that child as he felt that he may hold a key to something.
He also wanted to confirm if that was young Chen Su.
When Su Min came downstairs after washing up, there were several women sitting around the table. The table was filled with food.
There was also a chicken flapping around wildly with its feet bound together by red ropes.
“This is a pumpkin from my place. Now that Xiao Min is back, I wanted to let him have a taste. You won’t be able to find such a nice pumpkin anywhere else.”
“This chicken stew is just right. I killed one a few days ago and I thought that it would be good for Xiao Min to have some. All those chickens you get outside are rubbish.”
“Xiao Min, do you have a girlfriend?”
“When I finish braising the pork today, I’ll bring some over for you to make braised pork stew.”
“.......”
Su Min found things very strange.
Why were they so concerned about him? Every single one of them seemed to want him to take good care of his body. Was he not in good health?
Su Min wasn’t able to return to his senses for a while.
It wasn’t until those people left that his aunt packed everything up. She carried the chicken over to the kitchen and got ready to kill it when she saw Su Min come over.
His aunt said: “Let’s have chicken for lunch today.”
Su Min almost answered it the same way he answered Li Wen Xin but he held himself back: “Okay.”
He then asked: “Why are they sending things over?”
“Because they care about you.” His aunt smiled and answered: “Today you’ll have chicken, tomorrow you can have pork and the day after.....”
She had already planned out his meals for the rest of this week.
Su Min listened to her as she chattered on while staring at the chicken. After a while, he agreed: “That’s good. I think that’s good.”
His aunt walked away with a satisfied smile.
Su Min could finally breath a sigh of relief.
He went out and surveyed the village before heading over to his second uncle’s place. The people there had already had breakfast so no one was around.
Afterall, they still needed to work to make a living.
Villagers in the countryside didn’t have to worry about closing the doors or anything as no thieves would come.
Su Min stayed downstairs for a while, but he decided against going up to the second floor. Just as he was about to leave, a child appeared by the stairs.
The child was only about six or seven years old. He looked a lot like how he looked when he was a child; clean and pure.
Su Min stared at him and guessed that he was probably his second uncle’s child.
He asked: “How are you feeling?”
The child nodded. He then came downstairs and asked slowly: “Who are you?”
Su Min didn’t expect the child not to recognise him.
But after thinking about it, it might also be because he attended college outside and rarely returned. That may be the reason why the child didn’t remember him.
Su Min bent down, “I’m your brother. What’s your name?”
The child replied softly: “Xiao Su.” ( notes: The ‘Su’ in his name is the same as the ‘Su’ in Su Min’s name.)
Su Min almost thought he said Xiao Su (: This time the Su here is the Su in Chen Su’s name.)
For a moment he really suspected that this child was the younger version of Chen Su but he quickly reacted and realised that his name was Xiao Su.
Su Min asked: “What’s your full name?”
The child said: “Not telling.”
Su Min: “............”
Alright. If you don’t want to say it then so be it. A child’s temper can be quite bad. What a naughty boy, to even be unwilling to say his full name.
Su Min thought for a moment and changed the topic: “Do you remember what happened last night?”
The child shook his head: “Don’t remember.”
Su Min didn’t expect this answer and was a little disappointed.
When he stood up and was about to leave, the child grabbed his clothes again. He raised his head and asked: “Do you believe ghosts exist in this world?”
Su Min answered honestly: “I do.”
Although he had never seen them before, he wouldn’t deny the existence of this unnatural phenomenon.
The child grinned: “I also believe in them.”
Su Min thought the child would then share his secrets with him but unexpectedly the child no longer spoke after asking that question.
Su Min: “............”
Looks like he was thinking too much.
When he left his second uncle’s place, he ran into a few children outside. They didn’t seem to like Xiao Su who stood in the hall very much.
Su Min stopped two of them and tempted them with candy. He asked: “Why won’t you play with him?”
The short one answered: “He’s the one not playing with us. It’s not that we don’t play with him.”
The other one nodded and echoed: “Yes, yes, yes. It’s not us that’s not playing with him. He said he has friends that he plays with.”
The short one crushed the candy in his mouth, “Even now I still haven’t seen that friend of his. He must be lying to us!”
The child next to him said: “Yeah, we’re not going to play with liars.”
The two ran off after saying that.
Su Min didn’t expect Xiao Su to have such a personality. Although he seemed mature, he was still a child inside.
But lying was going too far. Unless he is very withdrawn.
Su Min looked back at the hall. That child was still standing there looking at him. Seeing him look over, he even waved his hand.
That was probably the case.
When Su Min returned, his aunt and already prepared breakfast. He had a bowl of congee and then ate a couple of oil fritters to warm his stomach.
He asked tentatively: “Was something wrong with Xiao Su last night?”
His aunt nodded and said: “Yeah, his parents saw it when they came home from work and were scared to death.”
She continued: “He used to live here with me and I didn’t notice anything wrong. I’m not sure what they saw.”
In fact, his second uncle didn’t mention anything specific last night.
The reason for this was unknown. Perhaps it was because it was something that should be said so he wasn’t keen on delving too deeply.
Su Min asked: “What about his relationship with the other children in the village?”
“It’s okay.” His aunt recalled, “He used to play until it gets dark outside and say that it was very fun playing with his friends.”
That seemed a bit different from reality.
Su Min deeply felt that this Xiao Su child had a lot of secrets. He decided that the most important task for him now was to watch over that child.
Later in the afternoon, Su Min saw his second uncle and the others return. He then saw Xiao Su run back upstairs.
When his second uncle left, Xiao Su came back down.
Su Min stood by the door and waved to him, “Do you want to come here and play?”
The child stood there looking at him.
That scene was a bit like a horror movie. Su Min took a deep breath and walked closer: “Let’s go play?”
The child nodded silently.
The hand Su Min held was warm. That was indeed the warmth of a human unless the ghosts in this movie had the ability to make themselves feel like humans.
He held the child’s hand and they wandered around for a while. He acted nonchalant and asked: “Xiao Su, how many friends do you have?”
The child thought for a moment and answered: “One.”
There just happened to be a group of young children playing in the distance. Su Min asked: “Then why aren’t you playing with him? Is he there?”
He pointed ahead.
Su Min felt that perhaps his friend was playing with the others and he was just feeling upset about that. Children can sometimes be quite possessive after all.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Su shook his head.
Su Min reacted quickly and asked: “Your friend is not amongst them?”
He remembered that all the children in this village should be there.
Su Min had noted this when he came. There weren’t a lot of families here so if you added up all the young children here, there would only be five. If you included Xiao Su, that would make six.
If his friend wasn’t here, then where could his friend be?
Su Min was a little sceptical. He recalled the worried expressions of his second uncle and aunt and had a vague speculation.
Perhaps he had encountered a ghost.
Xiao Su secretly tugged at his clothes gesturing for him to bend down.
Su Min obeyed and bent down. Facing him, he asked softly: “What’s wrong? Feeling sick?”
He pinched the child’s face. It was quite soft.
Xiao Su shook his head again. He then leaned closer and whispered: “No, I just wanted to tell you a secret.”
Su Min became interested, “What secret?”
Xiao Su replied mysteriously: “You can’t see my friend. Only I can see.”