Tonight, A Wu was unusually free of nightmares, but he kept hearing people making noises in his ear. In his hazy state, he saw three pairs of eyes staring at him, and with a scream, he fell out of the narrow coffin.
He scrambled to his feet, glaring angrily at the three adults in front of him, "What are you doing out here instead of sleeping?"
"I'm exorcising the ghost for you," Jiang Nuo said, pointing to the ghost lurking in the corner of the wall. "Look, isn't it scary?"
Si Yan held a kerosene lamp in her hand, carefully observing the blue birthmark on A Wu's face by the light of the lamp, her narrow phoenix eyes slightly narrowed.
His voice was cold and eerie when he spoke, especially frightening in the dead of night.
"You've been experiencing sleep paralysis for so long, and you've never suspected anything?"
A Wu was still in shock. He often woke up in the middle of the night, but this was the first time he had ever seen a ghost.
"I don't know... I thought it was like this when you slept in a coffin."
Still just a teenager, fear always outweighs other emotions. A Wu's eyes were filled with terror as he looked with difficulty at the ghost in the corner.
"Then why sleep in a coffin?" Si Yan asked again.
A Wu was frightened by his gaze and took half a step back, refusing to speak. After regaining his composure, he suddenly reacted, "How did you guys get out? I... I'm going to tell Dad!"
He made a move to run outside, and just as Song Zheng was about to chase after him, he saw Jiang Nuo turn around, raise her hand, and lift A Wu high into the air.
"Well!"
A Wu was finally choked and couldn't make a sound. His terrified eyes were fixed on Jiang Nuo, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing.
"Children should behave and obey, or you'll turn into a ghost too."
Jiang Nuo smiled and tilted her head to ask him, "Can you cooperate?"
A Wu was suffocating, his face turning red. To save his life, he could only nod. After being put down by Jiang Nuo, he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
Si Yan repeated her question, "Why sleep in a coffin?"
"My father said I have a lot of yang energy by nature, and I need to sleep in a coffin to avoid dying young," A Wu answered truthfully.
Jiang Nuo was observing the other coffins in the courtyard when she heard this and couldn't help but point at Song Zheng, saying, "That's what you call having strong yang energy. Your yin energy is almost stronger than a ghost's."
A Wu glanced at Song Zheng, then lowered his head and remained silent.
Upon hearing his answer, a knowing glint flashed in Si Yan's eyes. He told Song Zheng to keep an eye on A Wu, then picked up the kerosene lamp and walked over to Jiang Nuo's side.
--
" Nuonuo."
Hearing the soft call, Jiang Nuo turned to look at him, a sudden glint of amusement in her eyes, "You're even more like a ghost than the one just now."
"Still a beautiful ghost."
Hearing these words from her lover, Si Yan reluctantly took it as a compliment and whispered, "The freckles on A Wu's face aren't birthmarks."
What is that?
"It's Azure Ghost Face, a type of curse from an evil spirit. Usually, the entire family is cursed before their descendants are affected."
"Children born under a curse must spend their childhood with demons to avoid dying young."
After Si Yan finished speaking, her tone became hesitant again, "But Simazi didn't have it."
Jiang Nuo hummed in agreement, her gaze continuing to scrutinize the coffin. "Perhaps something was tampered with, to avoid detection..."
Click.
Just as Jiang Nuo pushed open the lid of the middle coffin, he suddenly heard the mechanism click. He stood there for a few seconds, but nothing happened.
Only when I took a step did I realize something was wrong.
Jiang Nuo stamped her foot. "Hollow."
After saying that, she turned to look at Si Yan and walked towards him step by step. When she was only a few steps away, the hollow feeling disappeared, and there was no hollow echo when she stepped down.
Si Yan stepped forward and hugged him, leaning down to kiss his cheek. Jiang Nuo blinked gently and smiled, "Are you a kissing monster, Si Yan?"
"I'm going to write down all the nicknames Nuonuo has given me," Si Yan muttered. "They could fill a dictionary."
Jiang Nuo snorted softly without comment, then squatted down to examine the ground. "We can't go down from here; there must be another entrance."
When Si Yan turned around, the smile on her face disappeared, and she gestured for Song Zheng to bring A Wu over.
Upon seeing Jiang Nuo, A Wu shrank back, fearing another instance of flying through the air.
Jiang Nuo smiled and looked at him with her hands behind her back, "Don't be afraid, as long as you cooperate, you won't suffer."
A Wu: "..."
Song Zheng, who was carrying A Wu, said, "..."
Why would a policeman like him be "aiding and abetting evil" here?!
Jiang Nuo: "Is there another floor underground? Are there coffins there too?"
A Wu nodded slowly, not daring to lie, feeling that this person's eyes were terrifying.
Jiang Nuo then asked, "Are all the coffins in the courtyard empty, including the ones below?"
A Wu hesitated, unwilling to answer. He remembered his father's instructions: no matter who asked, he shouldn't say more. After a few seconds of silence, he saw the person's smile become more and more obvious, which was rather eerie.
He quickly shook his head, his voice hoarse, "The coffins underground all have... things."
Jiang Nuo responded with an "Oh," and added, "It seems there's more than one."
The dense Corpse Qi I sensed earlier probably didn't come from inside the courtyard, but rather from beneath it.
"Take us there to see, but don't wake your father."
Jiang Nuo gestured for him to proceed.
A Wu immediately shook his head, "No! Father said that only he can go down there, not me, not anyone else."
"Only the head of the household is allowed to enter the basement; this is our family's ancestral rule."
The boy was stubborn, but ultimately he couldn't withstand Jiang Nuo's threat.
A Wu, still with a long face, led Jiang Nuo to the basement.