CH 16.1

Yukirin8-10 minutes 12.02.2023

The old man grasped the paper lantern and walked ahead, whereas Tang Tian followed quietly behind him. The moonlight blanketed the path they walked on with a soft silvery glow, while the flickering candlelight from the lantern cast their shadows on the white cement wall. From time to time, Tang Tian caught glimpses of their long, slightly skewed shadows out of the corner of her eye. 

Walking right behind the old man’s hunched shadow and her own were two more shadows, one taller than the other. The taller shadow seemed to be holding the hand of the shorter one, while the latter skipped a few steps forward ecstatically and reached a cheeky hand out to touch her long hair that hung down to her waist. 

Tang Tian quickened her steps until she walked beside the old man. 

When they reached the study, Tang Tian took out Chen Xu’s diary and handed it to Butler Chen. “Please take a look.” 

The old man extended both of his quivering hands to hold it. With his terrible eyesight, he had to lift the book until it was mere inches away from his face to read it clearly. Butler Chen did not skip to the entries which mentioned Chen Bao, but took his time to read the diary word by word, patiently perusing it from start to finish without missing a page.

There wasn’t much written in the diary, but he spent a long time reading the series of casually penned thoughts, as if he was studying a person’s life from a new perspective. 

When he finished, he placed the notebook on the table and heaved a long, heavy sigh. His tone was deeply melancholic, as if he had been suppressing this emotion for far too long. 

Tang Tian asked softly, “I guess you probably understand now, why I would find certain things to be rather odd, don’t you?”

Butler Chen did not answer immediately, but lifted a wrinkled hand and rubbed his weary eyes. “At this point, I cannot keep it from you any longer.”

“The Young Master has always been a little… peculiar, even from a young age.” The old man spoke very slowly and with a faraway look in his eyes, like he was reliving the memories in his mind. “He would often speak to himself when there was no one around, as if there was an invisible person there that only he could see. Later, after Lady Chen passed away, Boss Chen hired a feng shui master… If you recall, this master deemed that the Young Master’s fate was that of Tiansha Guxing, and thus would bring great misfortune to those around him. The Old Great Master fervently refused to believe such things and was determined to take good care of the Young Master, so it was decided that the Young Master would live with his grandfather in the old family estate.”

“As the years passed and the Young Master grew older, he stopped speaking to us about unnatural things. In fact, he was of similar age to my own grandson, who grew up together with him. The Young Master and my grandson loved each other—they were closer than true siblings, unlike the Young Master’s relationship with his biological brother, who only came to visit during festive holidays.” 

“But one day, when they went swimming, my grandson… he… he drowned.” 

The only thing greater than the overwhelming grief and heartbreak he felt for his dead grandson was the emotional numbness that gripped his heart. The old man’s lips quivered as he willed himself to speak. “After that, weird things started happening in the estate and people spread rumours about how this place is haunted. Soon, all were keen to keep a distance from the Young Master, and he became was isolated and alone, both here and in school…”

Tang Tian could only imagine what Chen Xu had experienced in his formative years. 

To shoulder the burden of being seen as the cause of all the misery and tragedy around him… It must have led to him feeling responsible and immensely guilty for anyone’s death… He could not even talk to anyone about the horror he felt when he saw ghosts. The only thing he could do was keep everything bottled up…

Out of everyone around him, he was the one who was living the most tragic life, Tang Tian thought. 

“Do you believe what he wrote? About his ability to see ghosts.”

Butler Chen lowered his gaze. “I believe it now.” He shook his head dolefully from side to side as if he was weighed down by a thousand-tonne furnace. “But it’s all too late.”

Tang Tian sensed he meant something else by what he said, but she had no time to give it any thought as the old man was peering up at her through his heavily lidded, greyish eyes. They glimmered with hope as he asked, “You said, earlier, that you could see the Young Master. So, could… could you…”

Tang Tian already guessed what he wanted her to do. She immediately wanted to apologise and say that, unlike Chen Xu’s ability with his Yinyang Eyes, she could only make out a faint, humanoid spectral figure resembling Chen Bao. But before she could say a word, a rush of frigid, hazy air seemed to shroud her face. 

She felt as if she had been plunged into an icy cave, and her body stiffened instantly from the freezing temperatures that pierced through her skin. 

The next second, the haze disappeared and she regained her vision. Tang Tian blinked a few times, momentarily stunned by what just happened. 

Butler Chen noticed the abrupt change in her expression. Realisation dawned on him and he strode forward desperately. “You saw him, didn’t you?”

“H-here.” Tang Tian struggled to compose herself and pointed to the empty space beside the old man. Somehow, by the old man’s foot, a small puddle of water had appeared out of nowhere, with circular ripples spreading outwards on its surface. “Young Chen Bao is holding your hand and looking up at you with a bright smile. Had he just lost his baby teeth back then? His front teeth are missing.” 

The old man immediately gazed downward at the empty space. He held out his hands, his trembling fingers tracing an imaginary silhouette of Chen Bao seemingly visualised in his mind. “Xiao Bao! Xiao Bao!”1Xiao is a term of endearment, which literally means ‘little’, commonly used to denote the intimate relationship between the speaker and the receiver. Here, it also serves as Chen Bao’s nickname.

Tang Tian averted her gaze. She had lied to Butler Chen by describing Chen Bao in an idealised manner. In reality, the little ghost was horrifying—his skin was dark green, except for the blotchy blue patches everywhere, and his entire body was so swollen that it barely looked human. 

Butler Chen was engrossed in his own grief. Tears streaked down his face as he fervently muttered loving words to the empty space before him. Tang Tian did not wish to interrupt him, so she glanced elsewhere, trying to spot Chen Xu. 

After surveying her surroundings, she found him by the entrance to the courtyard. 

In the times before fire extinguishers, a large ceramic water tank, half the height of an average adult, would be placed outside everyone’s homes in case a fire broke out. Now, the water tank in the courtyard was filled to the brim and lotus flowers bloomed elegantly among the lush duckweeds floating on the surface. Under the moonlight, Tang Tian could vaguely see Chen Xu’s silhouette behind the water tank. His features were unclear, as if he was underwater and shrouded by relentlessly rippling waves. One thing she knew for sure— he was definitely looking at them from where he stood.