A Strange Nightmare

My dad was so simple that he bordered on naïve.

From him, I learned that the young couple who had given him fifty thousand yuan back then were a woman named Li Xiumei and a man named Lü Zhengxian.

The two of them were married.

We now knew that Li Xiumei was one of the perpetrators of the family massacre on Qin Island fifteen years ago. Without a doubt, Lü Zhengxian was one, too.

In other words, my dad had dealt with vicious killers back then.

Even more absurdly, he hadn't known either of them at all, yet he'd still dared to take their money.

"I only remember their names. We weren't close, and I only met them a few times."

Looking troubled, my dad said, "After that, I only saw the husband, Lü Zhengxian. He said his wife had gone back to her hometown to rest during her pregnancy, and they were planning to sell the house."

"I wondered why they wanted to sell when they'd bought it less than six months earlier. But it was their house, so what they did with it was their business."

"Then Lü Zhengxian gave me another five thousand yuan and asked me to help sell it."

"So I sold the house to a man surnamed Ding. I only kept that five thousand. I gave Lü Zhengxian every cent from the sale."

After hearing him out, I fell into thought.

The house's second owner was indeed surnamed Ding. I'd met Mr. Ding.

He was the one who had listed the house for sale at our agency, and I'd then sold it to Mr. Hu.

I looked at my dad and said, "Did you know that Li Xiumei and Lü Zhengxian massacred an entire family fifteen years ago?"

"And Li Xiumei was most likely killed by Lü Zhengxian."

Although the police hadn't finished their investigation, Li Xiumei and Lü Zhengxian had been the first people to live there.

She had been murdered in that house, then sealed inside a wall with cement. The only person who could have done all that without anyone noticing was Lü Zhengxian, who had lived there with her.

A monster was a monster. He hadn't even spared his own wife.

By the time I finished, my dad's face had gone pale. He was too frightened to speak.

He probably never imagined that the young couple who had given him money could be so terrifying.

"You really would do anything for money!"

My grandpa was angry, too. Pointing at my dad, he snapped, "Now someone's been found dead in that house. Let's see how you're going to explain this to the police!"

My dad panicked and hurriedly grabbed my hand. "Son, you know what kind of man your dad is. Li Xiumei's death really had nothing to do with me. You have to make that clear to your police friend."

I sighed and reassured him. "Just don't lie to the police. Tell them everything you know. As long as you didn't do it, the law won't wrongfully convict you. But since you were the house's first owner on paper, you might have to shoulder some responsibility. It shouldn't be anything serious, though. At worst, you'll have to spend a little money to smooth things over."

That was the truth, too. These days, money really could get things done.

Hearing that put my dad somewhat at ease.

Now that I'd gotten the facts, it was time to leave.

With a ghost haunting me, how could I dare stay at home? It was one thing if something happened to me, but I couldn't let my family get dragged into it.

But my dad and grandpa knew nothing about that and wanted me to stay.

"Why head back this late? Just sleep here. You've got a car anyway. You can get up a little earlier tomorrow."

"I'd better not, Grandpa. A lot has happened at the agency these past two days."

I lied and said I needed to go to Meng Yifan's place to discuss a few things, and that I'd come home again when I had time.

I was an adult now. They couldn't make me stay, so they didn't press the matter.

Just before I left, my grandpa suddenly took my arm. He seemed to have noticed how pale I looked.

"Xiao Mo, what's been going on with you lately? Why do you look so pale?"

"I'm fine, Grandpa. I've probably just been a little tired lately."

I couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth and make him worry.

My grandpa looked distressed. "You need to take care of yourself even while you're earning money. If your health gives out, everything you earn will go straight to the hospital."

"All right, I'll be more careful. Get to bed early."

With that, I went downstairs with my dad. He insisted on seeing me off.

From the way he looked, he still seemed deeply worried about Li Xiumei's case. All the way downstairs, he kept asking me to put in a good word with my police friend and make sure they didn't arrest him.

"It's all right, Dad. Nobody's going to arrest you. Don't worry."

"I'm heading off now. Go back upstairs and get some rest."

Then I got into the car.

The designated driver from earlier had been waiting downstairs the whole time. Once I was in, I asked him to drive me to the bathhouse.

Through the rearview mirror, I saw my dad still standing downstairs, watching my car.

Thinking back, I'd rarely gone home since I started working for Meng Yifan two years ago. Work had kept me too busy.

It was only when I came home that day that I noticed how much my dad seemed to have aged. Even his back had started to stoop.

My dad and grandpa had raised me. Coincidentally, it had been exactly fifteen years since my mom left home, too.

After my mom left, my dad never remarried, because he was afraid I would be mistreated.

To me, my dad was the best person in the world, so I couldn't believe he would commit a crime.

Before long.

I arrived at the bathhouse.

A foot soak and a massage-there was nothing better in life.

I was so exhausted, and the massage felt so good, that I soon fell asleep.

Meng Yifan really had picked a reliable place. The bathhouse was not only crowded but safer than home, too. I didn't hear that dreadful knocking once all night.

But that night, I had a nightmare. I dreamed I was back in that house.

Only, in the dream, the house looked different from when I'd visited a few days earlier. The decor was dated, and the furniture looked cheap, like the sort of low-end furnishings people used over a decade ago.

In the dream, I couldn't think too deeply about anything. I only wondered why the house looked different.

Just then, I heard a noise from the master bedroom.

Listening closely, I heard a scraping sound, as though someone was plastering a wall with cement.

As soon as I reached the master bedroom doorway, I saw a man crouching there, using a tool to plaster the wall.

But he was wearing a hat and work clothes, so I couldn't see his face.

Even so, his movements and what he was doing froze me in place. Even in the dream, they brought certain things back to me.

I remember Li Xiumei's body... it was sealed inside this very wall. Then the man plastering it must be the killer who murdered her...

Who could the killer be? Was it Lü Zhengxian...?

My heart hammered. I didn't dare move, because I didn't know whether the man plastering the wall could see me.

I hadn't even realized I was dreaming.

But just then, the man suddenly stopped what he was doing. He seemed to have sensed someone watching him.

In an instant, every hair on my body stood on end. I could feel a murderous gaze slowly turning toward me.

Soon, the man plastering the wall turned his head. His murderous gaze stabbed into me like a blade.

My eyes widened, and I sucked in a sharp breath, as if I'd been struck by lightning.

The man plastering the wall was my dad!

And he looked exactly as he had over a decade ago!