The teacher finally realized something was wrong, but she dared not reveal the slightest sign that she had noticed. She could only act even more trusting of her "husband" and accept its presence.
She also recalled the protective talismans Qi Gu had given her, which had inexplicably burst into flames the night her husband returned, and her young grandson saying that Grandpa looked at him as though he wanted to eat him.
Taken together, these incidents had turned the teacher from an atheist into someone who began to believe in events science could not explain, leading her to seek out Qi Gu.
She contacted Qi Gu while she was out buying groceries and told him what had happened.
Qi Gu immediately agreed to come over that evening to see what was going on.
After the teacher, Niu An, arranged a suitable time to meet Qi Gu, she sat anxiously on the sofa at home, holding her grandson. Beside her sat her ghost husband, returned from the dead.
Because of its presence, the curtains in Niu An's home remained tightly shut even during the day, letting in no natural light at all.
Niu An had actually not wanted to return after calling Qi Gu, but her ghost husband never let her take her grandson out with her, as though it had already sensed her intentions and feared they would never come back.
"Grandma, I haven't played with Xiao Pang in ages. Can I go see him today?" Her grandson's voice rang clear as he hugged Niu An around the waist and wheedled.
Niu An was just about to speak when her ghost husband spoke first. "Be good, Xiao Bao. You're still sick, so you can't go out. You'll pass it on to Xiao Pang."
It had been in its forties when