The old man and the old woman had gone traveling.
It had been the old woman's suggestion.
It wouldn't be for long.
Three days and two nights.
After all, they were getting on in years and didn't like staying away for too long.
They were also worried something might happen.
The house had emptied out.
The Pipa ghost watched the two elderly people get into the car that was taking them to the meeting point.
It gently brushed its hand over the strings.
The melodious sound of the pipa drifted on the breeze to the old man by the car window.
The old man paused in surprise,
then subconsciously touched his ear.
"What's wrong?"
The old woman happened to see him touching his ear.
"What's wrong with your ear?"
"It's nothing."
The old man smiled.
He looked out the window.
"It's been a while since we went on a trip, so I'm a little nervous."
He listened again...
Apart from the rustle of leaves in the wind, he couldn't hear the pipa at all.
That made him wonder if what he'd heard earlier had only been his imagination.
The ghostly sound of the pipa had left him jumpy at every little thing.
Like a startled bird, he was spooked by the slightest hint of a disturbance.
This wasn't good.
He knew that.
Especially...
He had begun to wonder...
Were those pipa notes he'd heard real...
or...
was he just trapped in a nightmare from the past...
He even wondered...
Was his time almost up...
and that was why...
the pipa, which hadn't appeared for so many years,
had returned to his life?
Clinging to him like a festering sore...
impossible to shake off.
The old woman smiled.
"Right?"
"I'm a little nervous, too."
"Excited