Ghost Lantern Temple of Fifty Years Ago

Song Shuhang froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up as he recognized the man on the motorcycle. "Bozi? What are you doing here?"

This handsome young man was one of his three roommates, Bozi. Bozi had a name completely at odds with his good looks: Lin Tubo.

This name had embarrassed Bozi for over a decade. He felt it was incredibly tacky and had argued with his father about it for years. Once, he even tried to change it himself, taking his household registration book and ID to the relevant authorities, only to be discovered by his father, dragged home, and severely beaten.

As a result, Bozi insisted everyone call him Abo, Xiaobo, or just Bozi.

Actually, Shuhang thought the name Tubo wasn't too bad. It was far better than names like Wang Erdang or Liu Gousheng. Don't assume names like Goudang were just for laughs; Shuhang knew someone in his hometown with that name – Wang Goudang.

Wang Goudang had always believed he wasn't his father's biological son, even thinking his father held a grudge against him. Otherwise, how could he have been given such a name?

Speaking of which, Shuhang never expected to run into Bozi here.

"My maternal grandfather lives in J City. My whole family is visiting him this week. What about you? Why are you in J City?" As Bozi spoke, he suddenly noticed the long-legged girl beside Shuhang. He slapped his left hand with his right fist – he understood. Shuhang had brought a girl with him!

"Tsk tsk, Shuhang, I never would have guessed. You're quite the sly one. You managed to snag such a beautiful girl without anyone knowing. You'll have to treat us soon," Bozi said with a sly grin.

Shuhang remained unfazed by Bozi's teasing. "Stop messing around. If she were really my girlfriend, I'd be celebrating. This is my sister, Yurou. She needs to find a place called the Ghost Lantern Temple in J City and doesn't know the way, so she asked me to accompany her."

"Really?" Tubo stared intently at Shuhang.

Shuhang shrugged, while Yurouzi smiled sweetly beside him.

"Hey, alright, if you say she's your sister, she's your sister," Tubo said, not one to pry. "You mentioned looking for a temple earlier. Did you find it?"

Song Shuhang shook his head. "I searched online for a long time without any luck, so I came to Luoxin Street to ask locally if anyone knew. But the hotel staff were clueless about the Ghost Lantern Temple. I don't know if it was renamed or demolished, so I was planning to ask some of the older folks around here. Maybe I'll get lucky."

"Is that so... Why don't you come over to my place? You can ask my grandfather. He's a native of the Luojie neighborhood in J City, so he might know about your 'ghost temple.' Tsk, what a name. With a name like that, it's no wonder it probably went out of business!" Tubo clicked his tongue, still bothered by names.

Song Shuhang's heart leaped, but he asked first, "Will it disturb your family?"

"Don't worry, my grandfather is very hospitable. As for my dad, he wishes I'd spend more time studying with my classmates instead of tinkering with things all the time. I'm already in college, and he still nags me to study, study, study. It's driving me crazy," Tubo chuckled.

Though he sounded frustrated, his relationship with his father was good, despite the old man's fondness for physical discipline. His father firmly believed in the saying "spare the rod and spoil the child." His favorite saying was: "It's raining, so let's beat the kid. We're not busy anyway." This always gave Tubo a headache.

Finally, Tubo asked, "Can you ride a motorcycle, Shuhang?"

"Yes, but I don't have a license," Shuhang replied.

"No worries, in this backwater place, who's going to be bothered checking motorcycle licenses?" Tubo laughed heartily, then turned and called out, "Ayong, lend me your bike. You ride with the others!"

"Got it!" A tall, burly guy dismounted and parked the bike in front of Song Shuhang.

"Thanks," Shuhang said with a smile.

Ayong waved casually and went to join his companions, cramming onto another bike.

In a flash, a large group of people roared away on their motorcycles.

Song Shuhang straddled the black motorcycle and tested its feel. A gentle twist of the throttle sent the bike surging forward.

"Whoa, was this modified?" Shuhang braked and chuckled.

"I personally modified all these guys' bikes. The power is incredible," Tubo said with a grin.

He'd forgotten that Tubo was a tech geek, skilled with his hands. While he couldn't build a Gundam from scratch, he could often create all sorts of interesting mechanical devices.

"Yurouzi, get on," Shuhang called to Yurouzi.

Fortunately, her large suitcase had been left at the hotel, otherwise, this small motorcycle wouldn't have been able to carry her.

Yurouzi swung her long legs over and sat behind Shuhang. Her soft chest pressed against his back, making her legs feel a little weak.

Ahead, Tubo laughed, "Keep up!"

Amidst the roar of engines, the two bikes sped off into the distance, one after the other...

Tubo's maternal grandfather was a very fashionable old man who enjoyed tinkering with small mechanical gadgets. Tubo's interest in such things seemed to have come from him.

Because he was so fashionable, he easily got along with young people.

"Ghost Lantern Temple? Young people still know about this place nowadays?" Tubo's grandfather chuckled heartily.

Hearing his words, Shuhang knew they were on the right track!

Shuhang immediately asked, "Grandpa, do you know where the Ghost Lantern Temple is?"

"Grandpa" was a term used for elderly men in the Jiangnan Region, in the districts around J City.

"Not many people know about that place anymore. That was sixty years ago. Most people who knew are already in the coffin, so most youngsters like you haven't heard of it." Tubo's grandfather led them to the edge of the yard and pointed east. "Keep going east for about seven hundred meters, and you'll see a patch of woods. Go in there, and you'll find a large old grave. That's the original site of the Ghost Lantern Temple."

"An old grave? The Ghost Lantern Temple was a grave?" Shuhang asked a foolish question instinctively.

"The Ghost Lantern Temple was demolished?" Yurouzi's eyes widened, having grasped the truth.

"Yes, over sixty years ago, someone flattened it to build a large tomb for himself," Tubo's grandfather said.

So it was something that happened sixty years ago. Back then, television wasn't even widespread, unlike today when the internet makes even the smallest news go viral.

That's why there was no information about the Ghost Lantern Temple, and few local youngsters knew about it. Only some of the older generation knew what happened back then.

"But, as far as I know, the Ghost Lantern Temple was private property, right? Someone bought it many years ago?" Yurouzi asked, puzzled.

"You know quite a bit, young lady." Tubo's grandfather recalled, "Actually... the land the Ghost Lantern Temple was on originally belonged to Huang Dagen. Over sixty years ago, he sold the Ghost Lantern Temple to an outsider. But before selling it, he had already planned to demolish the Ghost Lantern Temple to make it his tomb. Coincidentally, an outsider came wanting to buy the Ghost Lantern Temple. Huang Dagen went along with it and sold it. A few years later, seeing that the outsider never returned, he felt at ease demolishing the Ghost Lantern Temple and building his grand tomb."

"That's shameless?" Song Shuhang exclaimed.

Tubo's grandfather sighed, "That Huang Bapi fellow was indeed shameless. He scammed quite a few wealthy outsiders back then. There was nothing to be done; outsiders were all foolish and had too much money."

Song Shuhang subtly glanced at Yurouzi. He guessed that the person who bought the Ghost Lantern Temple was likely Yurouzi's elder.

However, there was no anger on Yurouzi's face. She merely sighed and said, "Then, have the people from Huang Bapi's family all died off by now?"

Her words sent a chill down everyone's spine.