To be honest, I know I looked ridiculous at the time, but I feel that whoever was in my shoes might not have done any better.
The cold touch of the wall tiles quickly brought me back to my senses. I steadied myself, knowing I was in big trouble now—I had genuinely encountered a ghost.
I had also wondered if it might be the Qingming Festival, and if someone happened to see what I had done in front of that mound of dirt, and decided to play a prank on me taking advantage of tonight's rain.
Yet I quickly dismissed the thought. Setting aside the fact that the weather wasn't warm yet and getting caught in the rain late at night easily led to a cold, the person was clearly a young girl. What young girl would have nothing better to do than play such a joke on me?
Time ticked away second by second. I pressed my back against the base of the wall, not daring to move a muscle.
She faced the wall, equally motionless.
I thought to myself, since the other person really was a ghost, if she wanted to harm me she would have done so long ago. Why stand here facing the wall and waste time with me in a stalemate?
Just then, I saw that crumpled piece of candy wrapper I had unwrapped, and then saw those several balled-up wrappers in her hand. Impulsively, I blurted out a question: "Do you want that kind of candy?"
She nodded, then reached out a hand and pointed toward my bedroom door just behind and to the left of us, still saying nothing.
I followed the direction of her finger and saw a Bagua Mirror hanging right above the door frame, and instantly understood.
She couldn't get in!
Since ancient times, Bagua Mirrors have been items used to "pacify houses, ward off evil spirits, and dispel disasters to welcome blessings."
This Bagua Mirror of mine was a concave mirror, primarily used to draw in wealth and gather blessings. I had acquired it at a temple years ago while out traveling, and later, having nothing better to do, hung it above the doorway. As time passed, I completely forgot about the whole thing.
I never expected it would actually keep her blocked outside today.
I thought to myself how unlucky I was. Had I known she was a ghost and afraid of this thing, wouldn't it have been fine just staying inside my room and not coming out?
So I scrambled to my feet, took down the Bagua Mirror, forced a ingratiating smile, and gave a cupped-fist salute: "Please come right in. I have plenty of this candy left in my room, help yourself."
What happened next convinced me even more that she truly was not human. Whether she was a ghost or some mountain sprite or wilderness monster, I wasn't sure, but she definitely wasn't human.
With her back to me, and without any movement of her legs, her entire body just floated sideways effortlessly through my bedroom doorway.
Immediately afterward, only a crisp "Ouch!" was heard as her entire body bounced directly back out of the room.
Her whole "person" collapsed onto the floor. From amidst her disheveled hair, a single eye was revealed, staring at me in terror: "Who are you?"
Her accent sounded somewhat like my hometown dialect, and somewhat like the regional dialects around Yangzhou or Nanjing—something I only learned later after visiting those places, which I won't go into detail about here right now.
This made me suddenly remember that inside my room, there were all sorts of hanging ornaments and display pieces—warders of demons and vanquishers of evils, Copper Coin Swords, Three Pure Ones bells, ghost-chastising rods, ritual whips, Master Saber, and Emperor Zhenwu's rulers—everything you could possibly imagine.
As the old saying goes, "Better to face a ghost at your door than have a ghost's attention."
Although she was clearly afraid of these things, I hadn't planned on relying on them to pick a fight or act tough.
There was no way I could carry these things on me at all times. In case I angered her and she decided to hit me with a trick someday when I wasn't paying attention, how not worth it would that be for me?
So, forcing a smile, I hurriedly said: "Sorry, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot. I'll go right in and tidy things up."
With that, I pushed open the bedroom door, dragged out a box, stuffed all those items of mine inside, closed the lid, and shoved it underneath the bed.
After finishing all this, I turned back around to find that she had already entered my room, picked up the White Rabbit creamy candies sitting on my desk, unwrapped one, and shoved it straight into the mouth hidden beneath her hair.
Forcing a smile, I picked up a bag of potato chips and spicy strips from the desk, handed them over, and said, "Don't just eat creamy candies. That stuff easily rots your teeth, eat something else instead. I have drinks over there too, would you like some?"
Her hand movements paused for a moment, and after quite a while she softly let out: "Is there tea?"
Tea?
I froze for a second, then remembered my dad seemed to have some in his room. I immediately blurted out, "Yes, yes, yes, please take a seat, I'll go brew some for you right now."
Just as I was about to open the door and leave, her voice drifted faintly from behind me: "It must be Huishan Spring water from Wuxi or Shugang Zhongfeng Spring water from Yangzhou. The first brew's foam must be discarded, and the teacup should be made of sandalwood or Nanyang rosewood..."
"Stop, stop, stop."
I hurriedly interrupted her, saying, "Where on earth am I supposed to find all those things for you in the middle of the night?"
"At my place, we only have rainwater steeped with pebbles and an exquisite multi-sided crystal cup. Would you mind making do with that?"
The rainwater steeped with pebbles was actually just a large vat in the vegetable garden that my grandmother usually used for watering the vegetables, into which I had tossed quite a few river pebbles.
Jiangnan had heavy rainfall, so that vat didn't usually need to be filled manually; basically, before the water inside ran out, a rainstorm would come and fill the vat right back up again.
The exquisite multi-sided crystal cup, to put it plainly, was just the glass my dad usually used for drinking imported liquor.
I wasn't lying. Even though the items weren't high-class, my names for them were completely without fault.
She froze for a moment, then gave a slight nod of agreement.
I immediately went to rummage through my dad's tea leaves, searched for ages only to find two packs of jasmine tea, ran over to the vegetable garden to scoop up a pot of water, and after fussing about for a long time, served it to her in the "exquisite multi-sided crystal cup."
When I came back in, she was sitting demurely on my chair, her hands crossed in her lap, exuding the refined temperament of a sheltered young maiden from the marrow of her bones.
Yet I knew she wasn't human, so I didn't dare let my mind wander in that direction at all. I simply placed the tea in front of her and said, "Would you like to taste and evaluate this?"
Once the jasmine tea steeped, the tea liquor was clear and bright, accompanied by an elegant and delicate fragrance. Crimson petals blanketed the bottom of the cup, resembling a tiny garden blooming right inside it.
I saw her use her little finger to hook her hair apart to both sides, revealing a pale yet delicate face beneath the locks. Her gaze seemed to carry a trace of surprised brightness, and then she picked up the cup, blew on it, and took a small sip.
"How is it? Are you satisfied?"
Judging by her expression, my dad's tea must have been pretty good; at least I didn't notice any subtle micro-expressions of her frowning.
"The flavor is rich, the tea and floral aromas are long-lasting and robust, light yet refreshing, smooth and bright, with a lingering aftertaste. It is a rare and exceptional tea. I only wonder why there is a somewhat sour taste to it."
Good grief, I had actually drunk this tea myself, and my review at the time was: a bit sweet, quite fragrant, tastes good.
It looked like, no matter what era she was from, she must have been someone from a wealthy, prominent family.
I chuckled to brush it off: "It's pouring rain tonight, so the rainwater couldn't properly settle, having some taste to it is completely normal."
With one cup of tea down, she seemed to have opened up. Whatever I said, she could respond with a remark or two.
If I didn't speak, she didn't speak either, simply focusing on quietly consuming my snacks, during which she had me brew her another cup.