After the two entered, they saw the scene inside.
A man was stir-frying in the kitchen. His profile looked somewhat dull, and he did not greet them.
After taking a few more looks, Sister Hong noticed that the man's limbs seemed just as uncoordinated as the woman's.
Prepared vegetables sat on the counter. The two could not help looking at the woman in confusion.
She made a shushing gesture and frantically signaled with her eyes for them not to say anything out of turn. Then she sprinkled some water into the scalding wok, producing a sizzling sound, as though trying to cover something up.
Only then did she speak to them.
"I just saw you standing with my husband's younger brother. Did he say anything strange to you?"
"Don't believe him."
"Because he's not even alive!"
At those words...
Sister Hong was practically dumbfounded.
She had just been wondering whose words were more believable, the boy's or his uncle's. She had not expected the woman to reveal an even bigger bombshell now.
Looking at it this way...
This family's chain of suspicion had formed a closed loop.
The boy thought his parents were ghosts, the parents thought the husband's younger brother was a ghost, and the younger brother thought the boy was a ghost.
For a moment, Sister Hong felt surrounded by unanswered questions, with no way to judge.
"A few months ago, my husband's younger brother came over with his wife. They were both soaking wet and reeked. They said they'd had terrible luck and stepped into a sewer whose manhole cover had been stolen."
The woman continued speaking.
"I didn't think much of it at the time and told them to hurry up and take a shower. After that, they stayed here."
"Later, I noticed something else strange.