A Different Night

The straw mattress was unbearably prickly.

Zheng Wuyou could only pluck out some of the protruding stalks by hand.

She tried to make sure Wansi, who needed sleep to grow, could rest more comfortably.

After Wansi fell asleep, Zheng Wuyou sat by the wooden window, staring blankly at the sky. Staying up late was routine for her.

The candles in the other households had all gone out. It seemed they had peacefully entered their dreams.

There was too much information in her head left to process. Even if someone gave Zheng Wuyou a sleeping pill, she would not have been able to sleep after taking it.

The midnight silence was so deep that she could hear crows calling in the distance.

The candle, constantly buffeted by the wind, burned quickly. Only half of it remained standing.

Worried that something might happen during the night, she did not dare blow it out.

She could only carefully move it to the corner of the table farthest from the window.

The wind outside was fierce, and Zheng Wuyou could hear leaves rustling loudly in it.

It sounded like countless sheets of paper being swept past by the wind.

"On Mid-July, flower altars are laid,

King Yama gathers graves and comes masked."

A children's rhyme sounded like a soothing lullaby in the night.

A childish voice sang the most hellish lyrics.

No. Zheng Wuyou, who had been leaning against the chair and staring dazedly at the sky, suddenly snapped alert.

Where had that nursery rhyme come from?

Wansi slept deeply behind her, seemingly unable to hear the song drawing near and then receding again.

It was as though the singing child were endlessly hopping back and forth along this stone-paved road.

What was coming had come in the end.

Zheng Wuyou swallowed, adjusted her breathing, and slowly rose to her feet, not daring to make the slightest sound.

As she stood, she caught sight through the window of white candles filling the front of every house, though she had no idea when they had appeared.

The White Candles illuminated only a small patch of ground before each doorway.

Zheng Wuyou clearly remembered that her First Impression of this place had been a barren mountainside. How could there be so many leaves on the ground?

Taking a closer look by moonlight and the glow of the White Candles—

she discovered that the so-called rustling leaves were actually Yellow Paper from who knew where, swept along by the wind and smeared with mud as it kept rolling past the doors.

A spiderweb connected the window to its frame, holding firm in the wind.

The rhyme drew close to the window again from afar.

A spiderweb?

She had been watching outside the entire time. In no more than a blink, a spider had climbed onto the window and spun a palm-sized web?

Something fell from the Village Entrance Plaque in the distance, accompanied by the startled flight of a crow.

It landed heavily in the mud, yet Zheng Wuyou still caught the sound in the night.

Zheng Wuyou instinctively wanted to pick up the candle and retreat to the bed to stay with Wansi.

But then she remembered that the bed was far from the window. If Miao Laisheng gave a signal and she failed to respond in time, the consequences could be disastrous.

That thought calmed her down.

She sat back down by the window and listened carefully. Vaguely, she could make out that the song being passed along was about Mid-July.

In other words, the legendary Ghost Festival.

What did that have to do with this village?

Zheng Wuyou did not know whether the wind outside had blown out the candle or whether the person at the end of the corridor had already fallen asleep.

After waiting for a long time, her candle was only a third of its original length.

Yet the White Candles outside were completely unaffected by the wind. Not even their flames had flickered with it once.

Having stared out the window for so long that her eyes felt dry, Zheng Wuyou thought perhaps she was simply being too vigilant.

The entire night had clearly passed without incident.

Yet here she was, insisting on sitting around on edge.

Perhaps the nursery rhyme was merely meant to convey some message and would not cause any real harm.

With that thought, Zheng Wuyou rubbed her temples and prepared to get up to check on Wansi.

But when she turned her head, she found a short woman standing silently behind her. She had no idea when the woman had appeared.

Candlelight fell on the woman's smooth clothes, and the wind stirred their folds.

Like waves.

Startled enough that her lower right eyelid twitched, Zheng Wuyou remained half-risen and stared straight at her.

The woman had her head lowered strangely, her hair hanging beside her ears and hiding her face.

She stood there swaying as though she had lost her mind.

The woman did not seem to notice Zheng Wuyou rising.

Zheng Wuyou could only gently move away from the chair, which was no more than a few centimeters from her.

Once she passed her, Zheng Wuyou saw the candle casting a long shadow from the woman, one that nearly covered half the room.

She had a shadow?

So she was not a ghost?

Wait... who had ever said ghosts did not have shadows?

Zheng Wouyou shifted her gaze toward the bed and prepared to edge over slowly.

Then she realized Wansi had vanished from the bed at some point, leaving only the rumpled blankets.

And her SpongeBob pajama set.

A sudden realization struck Zheng Wuyou, and she looked helplessly at the short woman.

She had forgotten that she had made her change into another set of clothes to sleep.

But was this little girl sleepwalking?

"Wuyou... Sister... don't... door." Wansi mumbled incoherently.

Once Zheng Wuyou heard her call her name, she was certain that she really was sleepwalking.

Still, this was the first time Zheng Wuyou had heard her call her Sister Wuyou. Before, she had always called her Big Sister.

Relieved that it had been a false alarm, Zheng Wuyou slackened and sat down on the edge of the bed.

With both hands braced against the bedframe, she considered how to wake a sleepwalking Wansi.

She was not a psychology major. The internet said you could not pat a sleepwalker on the shoulder, nor could you scare them...

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A loud, chaotic knocking suddenly came from the corridor, shattering Zheng Wuyou's train of thought.

The noise was so loud that her hands instinctively clenched the bedframe. She stared in astonishment at the tightly shut door, because whoever it was was not knocking on another door.

It was theirs.

Wansi seemed to be jolted awake by the tremendous noise. Her eyes flew open, and her legs gave out beneath her, sending her collapsing to the floor.

Her back was to Zheng Wuyou, and her body rose and fell sharply with her ragged breaths.

Zheng Wuyou worriedly looked toward the window. Had the people two rooms over really fallen asleep? With such a huge commotion, they had not heard a thing?

"Are you okay?" Zheng Wuyou softly helped the still-shaken little girl off the floor and over to the bed.

Until the person outside spoke, she would not respond in any way.

Wansi shook her head, wanting to say that she had merely been frightened.

But Zheng Wuyou covered her mouth with one hand, leaving Wansi able to make only muffled whimpering sounds.

Zheng Wuyou firmly placed her other hand to her lips and went, "Shh!"

She made a gesture for silence.

Understanding at last, Wansi obediently nodded. The visible half of her face was turned toward Zheng Wuyou, her innocent reddened eyes wide and pitiful.

Knowing she had been frightened awake and was probably upset, Zheng Wuyou comfortingly patted Wansi's back while continuing to listen closely for movement outside.

Who the hell kept knocking so hard in the middle of the night without saying a word?

So annoying!

Even if it was a ghost, it should quit making such irritating noise.

"Open the door. Something's happened!" Having received no answer for a long time, the person outside finally spoke.

Zheng Wuyou abruptly shifted her astonished gaze from Wansi to the door.

Wansi, too, stared incredulously at the silent doorknob.

Why was it Miao Laisheng?

He sounded far too calm. Had he not noticed the abnormalities outside?