A Guest in a Ghost House Chapter 41 Naive and stupid

I looked at the table, more than half of the snacks were still left in the dish. I picked up a snap pea and popped it in my mouth, this was my first time eating the food from the ghost house. The taste was actually quite good, though a little cold, as if it had been taken out from the refrigerator.

Seeing some juice leak out from my mouth, sister Tan smiled and handed me a napkin. "How's it going?" I said as I cleaned myself up.

She nodded and smiled, so I cut to the chase. I quickly told the story of what had happened earlier today, and asked her once again for help.

After hearing this, she fell into deep thought, and then shook her head slowly. "I can't help you," she said.

I was surprised by her response and asked curiously, "Why not?"

Sister Tan set her long tongue aside with a sigh and said, "I don't want to be involved in Su Qing's business." Not being specific as to why.

So, Sister Tan knew the ghost's name was Su Qing. Now that I think about it, she started acting really strange the last time she saw Su Qing possess Qi Lin's body. I'd bet she knew Su Qing.

"Do you know Su Qing?" I asked.

Sister Tan nodded with sadness in her eyes, "Don't ask me anything more about the subject, I can't help you. I'm sorry, but I promise Su Qing will never harm anyone for no reason."

Never harm anyone for no reason? Before Zhang Sheng went into the toilet, there were quite a few people that ended up killing themselves in there. Did this mean they did it as a part of some deal or arrangement? On top of that, Zhang Xue had died recently, had that just been a coincidence?

Sister Tan seemed to figure out the cause for my concern and shook her head, "Su Qing never harms people, never." She repeated those words a few times, Then stood up and left the ghost house, leaving me to sit there alone and more confused than ever..

It felt like everything was getting more and more complicated. Humans and ghosts formed some kind of network, they were all connected in some way.

Then Xiao Lingdang l came up and asked, "Brother?"

"I know, I know, I'll find your skin for you."

"No, brother, I just wanted to ask why sister Tan left."

I turned around to see Xiao Lingdang, she was not asking for her skin, that made me feel better. After all, I did not have enough patience to discuss the skin issue right now. Then, I realized something. Xiao Lingdang and sister Tan were very close, perhaps she knew something about what was going on.

So I did my best to channel the way that Wu Jian talked, "Xiao Lingdang, you and sister Tan have known each other for a long time, right?"

Xiao Lingdang nodded, "Well, it's been over ten years, since the time of her death."

She died about a decade ago. That was the first piece of useful information to come my way. Then I asked, "Why did she kill herself? Being a hanged ghost must be awful, to be walking around with such a long tongue…"

Xiao Lingdang said, "Sister Tan didn't kill herself!"

What?I was completely thrown off by her answer.

Xiao Lingdang tilted her head and said, "I mean, I guess it could be considered a suicide."

Xiao Lingdang's words confused me even further, so I asked, "did Sister Tan commit suicide or not?"

Xiao Lingdang thought for a long time, then said, "Yes."

"Then why did you say she didn't kill herself?"

"Ah, well, gee, I don't know quite how to explain it."

Xiao Lingdang became tangled up in her thoughts, in order to keep the conversation going, I changed the topic, "Does Sister Tan have many friends?"

"Friends? Sister Tan doesn't like to make friends. I'm her best friend."

So I pretended to accept that as a fact, "Oh, Sister Tan only has one friend, got it!"

Xiao Lingdang repeatedly shook her head, "No, no, and Sister Su, and Sister San."

Sister Su? Could it be she was talking about Su Qing? I was pretty content with myself, it seemed that Xiao Lingdang had a lot of information to offer. I chose to ignore the bit about Sister San.

"Xiao Lingdang, is Sister Su's name Su Qing?"

Xiao Lingdang nodded and looked at me curiously, "How did you know that?"

"I just know that Su Qing has great relationship with Sister Tan, they are together all the time."

This time Xiao Lingdang shook her head, showing a sad expression, "Sister Su and Sister Tan had a quarrel last time they were together, they haven't seen each other for many years after that."

It seemed we were beginning to get somewhere. I hadn't realized there had been a quarrel between the two, I was very curious. I carefully inquired more, and Xiao Lingdang was completely uninhibited about giving me more information. Thanks to my wonderful ability to gossip, I wasn't missing the chance to get to more of the truth.

Xiao Lingdang's words were useful, then they weren't. It was definitely a messy process of piecing together all the information she was giving me. However, it was all becoming clear to me after I put everything in the right order and kept asking questions.

As it turned out, Sister Tan had actually been the one who had introduced the man who ended up being Su Qing's "forbidden love".

Sister Tan was several years older than Su Qing, they had been neighbors since childhood and they had always been very close. When sister Tan started college, Su Qing was in senior high school. While Sister Tan did really well on her entrance exam and got high scores, due to her family's economic situation, she couldn't afford to go to her desired university.

Fortunately, one of the teachers in her school helped sister Tan. He rallied the teachers and students to donate money for her cause. Soon sister Tan had sufficient money to take classes in the university, and she naturally grew to have a crush on the teacher that had made it happen. She would always talk favorably about this teacher with Su Qing. Over time, Su Qing also grew to admire that teacher.

Since Sister Tan wasn't actually around Su Qing and spent her time at her university, she didn't realize that her gratitude for the teacher, she had lead the younger girl down a path from which there was no return.

Sister Tan would stay after school to do work-study programs in order to earn money. She didn't return to the county until she was a sophomore. The first thing she did when she came back was to pay a visit to the teacher and thank him for all his help. That teacher ended up tempting and seducing the young girl and they eventually became lovers. What sister Tan did not know, was that her best friend had also been lured by that same teacher's seduction.

Sister Tan's was well on her path to a better life, she did her best to learn in school and earn money along the way. Then one day, she got horrible news from her hometown, her father had gotten terribly ill and quickly passed away. She returned home as soon as she could.

After just two days of arriving in her hometown, Su Qing killed herself in the bathroom. The death of her father and her best friend almost destroyed Sister Tan. The only person she could think about turning to so she could vent her thoughts and feelings, washer lover, the teacher who had helped her so long ago.

Sister Tan could not find the teacher anywhere, so she decided to see the bathroom where Su Qing had committed suicide in. That was where she found him, painting over the wall in the bathroom. Sister Tan sneaked forward to have a look, when she read the words the teacher was trying to cover up, she realized what had happened. Her best friend died had because of the teacher.

Sister Tan was so angry, she wanted to tell everyone that it was the teacher's fault this had happened. That was when Su Qing appeared as a ghost, and tried to persuade sister Tan not to tell on the teacher. But once Su Qing realized that sister Tan had already made up her mind about releasing the secret, Su Qing took over sister Tan's body and made her hang herself.

Sister Tan become a hanged ghost. Even then, she still didn't want to give up her friendship with Su. Everything was going well with their relationship, but whenever Sister Tan had the urge to bring harm to the teacher, Su Qing would always do everything she could to protect him. That was the reason they eventually stopped seeing each other. Now, they're practically strangers.

Chapter end