Chapter 5: The Old Ghost

"Screech..."

This was the fourth time Jiang Wenxin had slammed on the brakes today. Doudou, sitting in the passenger seat, tumbled headfirst into the glove box. The seatbelt she was wearing offered no protection at all.

Her short legs kicked twice as she pulled her little head out of the glove box, saying naively, "Mommy, I'm still okay. I'm very tough!"

Looking at her daughter’s adorable face, Jiang Wenxin’s eyes grew moist. The first time she had braked suddenly, she had been terrified, but after Doudou comforted her, she realized that Doudou was no longer a living person; hitting the dashboard had no effect on her.

The reason she slammed on the brakes was because someone had suddenly dashed out from the roadside, triggering an instinctive reaction. At first, she hadn't realized the person wasn't human and had wanted to argue, but thinking of Doudou, she decided not to waste time on such trivial matters.

However, she hadn't expected the figure to notice her gaze and reach half its body through the windshield. Jiang Wenxin was drenched in a cold sweat, finally realizing that the person, like Doudou, was not human.

Fortunately, Doudou had acted fiercely, "roaring" at the figure. "This is my mommy's car, you aren't allowed in!"

Her little display startled the figure at first, but then it seemed to grow angry. It glared at Doudou, causing her to flinch and shrink back. Seeing this, Jiang Wenxin’s fear vanished, replaced by a surge of rage. She shouted at the figure, "Get out!"

The ghost seemed frightened by something and scrambled out of the car in a hurry. What Jiang Wenxin didn't know was that at the moment she became angry, her inner life force had flared up, burning intensely, which was what had driven the entity away.

After a few times, she realized that as long as she didn't meet their gaze, these ghosts would ignore her existence. So, after braking just now, she immediately shifted her eyes to the passenger seat. Sure enough, the ghost that had crossed the road glanced at her car and then simply turned away.

"Damn it, how are you driving..." At that moment, a car behind her overtook her, rolled down the window, and started cursing. But upon seeing Jiang Wenxin’s face, his voice instinctively softened. "Sorry, I'm sorry..."

Jiang Wenxin knew she was at fault and apologized quickly before restarting the car.

"Mommy, he's scolding you," Doudou said, sounding a bit angry.

"Cursing is indeed wrong, but it was Mommy's fault. I shouldn't have braked so suddenly; it makes it easy to cause an accident," Jiang Wenxin explained patiently.

"Then why did you brake?" Doudou asked, confused.

"Because Mommy was afraid of hitting someone," Jiang Wenxin replied. She couldn't tell who was human and who was a ghost anymore, so she had to brake; otherwise, if she made a mistake and actually hit a person, it would be a catastrophe.

The rest of the drive was done with extreme caution. When she finally arrived at her residential complex and parked the car, she let out a long sigh of relief. She unbuckled her seatbelt and subconsciously looked toward the passenger seat, only to find that Doudou had already gotten out and was waiting for her by the roadside.

She hurried out, wanting to tell her not to wander off, but the words died on her lips. She reached out her hand and said, "Let's go, let's go home."

"Mm-hmm!" Doudou happily placed her small hand in her mother’s palm and hopped along toward the building.

Watching Doudou skipping along, Jiang Wenxin felt a moment of trance, as if Doudou had never left. *If only I could keep Doudou by my side forever,* she thought.

*No, Doudou has actually always been here; it’s just that I couldn't see or touch her.* As long as she could continue to see and touch her like this, Doudou would still be her Doudou.

Lost in these thoughts, she arrived at the elevator. Along the way, Doudou had mostly been pulling her along; the little one was very familiar with her home. During these two years of "living alone," there was no one to pull her, no one to hold her... She had cried and felt aggrieved, but in the end, she had to learn to do things on her own...

But the moment the elevator opened, Jiang Wenxin was startled. Inside stood an old man leaning on a cane. His face was covered in thumb-sized tumors, looking extremely repulsive. Because of the tumors, his eyes were squeezed into mere slits, emitting a cold, chilling light. He looked at Jiang Wenxin, then his gaze dropped to their joined hands.

"You can see ghosts?" The old man’s voice was hoarse and deeply unsettling. He then asked, "How is it that you can suddenly see us?"

"Grandpa Lu?" Doudou called out sensibly, clearly recognizing him.

Jiang Wenxin pulled Doudou behind her. Seeing the elevator doors about to close, she had no intention of entering, but the old man stepped out with his cane. Jiang Wenxin took a few steps back, watching him warily. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't recall where she had seen him.

"Doudou's mommy, I mean no harm. I'm just curious—how is it that you can suddenly see us?" the old man asked, his eyes darting to Jiang Wenxin's shoulder.

Jiang Wenxin didn't speak; instead, Doudou peeked her little head out from behind her mother. Just then, a few others arrived to wait for the elevator, and Jiang Wenxin let out a sigh of relief. The other elevator arrived, and Jiang Wenxin hurried inside with the crowd. The old man didn't follow; he just stood there, squinting and smiling at Jiang Wenxin. His tumor-ridden face looked particularly hideous, and Jiang Wenxin only exhaled when the elevator doors closed, cutting off his view. Even then, her heart remained heavy.

She looked down at the little darling hugging her leg behind her and gently stroked her head.

Once inside the apartment, Jiang Wenxin subconsciously glanced behind her. Seeing that the old man hadn't followed, she quickly pulled her daughter inside and locked the door.

Doudou began looking around the room, then asked in confusion, "Didn't Daddy come back?"

"Your daddy has some things to take care of tonight, he'll be back a little later."

"Oh..." Doudou looked disappointed; she had hoped to see her father the moment she got home.

Jiang Wenxin asked impatiently, "Doudou, do you know that old grandfather from earlier?"

Doudou nodded, then asked, "He's Brother Zixu's grandpa. Don't you know him, Mommy?"

"Brother Zixu?" Jiang Wenxin suddenly realized. The "Brother Zixu" Doudou mentioned was a little boy living on the floor above them, named Lu Zixu. He was two years older than Doudou, and since they lived in the same complex, they often played together. Lu Zixu had always been raised by his grandparents, but his grandfather had passed away long ago—a year before Doudou’s accident.

In her memory, Lu Zixu’s grandfather had been a kind-hearted old man who would always greet her with a cheerful smile, nothing like the hideous creature she had just seen.

"But I remember he didn't look like that."

"Grandpa Lu said he was sick," Doudou said.

Doudou was too innocent; she believed whatever anyone said. It was obviously a lie—he was dead, a ghost, so what kind of sickness could he have? A "ghost sickness"?

It seemed this matter wasn't so simple. Thinking of this, she walked to the door and looked through the peephole.

What she saw made her stumble back, nearly falling to the floor.