Youngsters were like that.
Curious yet afraid, they loved fooling around with dangerous stunts.
He had once heard an old man talk about it.
Old Zhang, who lived at the eastern end of the village, had encountered a Noisy Ghost when he was young. It was as if his house had turned into a boiling pot—every night, pots, pans, and bowls would start clattering wildly.
At first, he had thought it was rats and paid it no mind.
But after a while,
One night, while he was asleep, he turned over and saw a figure walking in and out of the doorway.
"Who's there?"
He thought thieves had broken in.
He hurriedly shouted, waking his wife and children.
The figure vanished in a flash.
He lit a candle.
Only after the room brightened did he discover that the main door was tightly shut, and the lock hadn't moved at all. How could anyone have been walking in and out?
That was when he realized he might have encountered something supernatural.
From that day onward,
The children in the house also began acting strangely. They kept saying that a little brother was calling them to go out and play by the window.
His wife also often saw unclean things.
Sometimes, she saw someone walk into the kitchen.
Sometimes, she heard something running across the roof.
And once,
After finishing dinner one evening, she sat in the main room mending clothes. When she looked up, she saw several people sitting in the courtyard, chatting.
She had never seen those people before.
Why were they chatting in her courtyard?
She wanted to go outside and ask them.
The moment she stood up,
Those people also stood.
Then they scattered and left, vanishing without a trace.
They didn't leave through the main gate.
They