I grew up in the countryside, and the villagers were traditional and conservative. Every year, the most important thing was to worship the ancestors and visit the graves.
Worshipping the ancestors was on the morning of the first day of the New Year, and visiting the graves was on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month.
At that time, people in the countryside lacked food and clothing, but no one was careless about these two things. When worshipping the ancestors, they had to use a high-quality depilated pig head, and when visiting the graves, they had to have at least three desserts.
However, there was a difference. When worshipping the ancestors, the desserts could be taken away and eaten by the family. However, the desserts used for visiting the graves couldn't be brought back. They could only be left on the graves for the ants and insects to eat.
The desserts were low-quality peach biscuits. Even so, people in the countryside couldn't eat these desserts more than two or three times a year.
Adults were traditional and wouldn't feel bad if they gave these desserts to the ancestors. However, how could children understand such things?
On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, I went to visit the graves at noon. When I arrived at school in the afternoon, my deskmate, the fatty, came over and asked me to go to the graveyard to steal some desserts.
I already had the same idea, so we hit it off immediately. That night, we sneaked into the graveyard on the hillside near our school.
Big and small graves were filled with desserts, and the wealthier ones even had a few portions of fruits.
We were fourteen or fifteen years old, the age when dogs were bold and daring. We weren't afraid at all, and shortly after, we ate until our bellies were round.
After eating too many desserts, I felt thirsty. I looked around and found a strange grave. The grave was covered in fresh soil, and the offerings in front of it didn't have desserts or fruits. Instead, there was a bag of peanuts, a bag of red dates, and a bag of something round. Later on, I found out that it was longan.
Apart from these, there was also an exquisite wine glass.
I was puzzled. Why would we use red dates and peanuts to visit the graves? Aren't those used during weddings?
However, I didn't think too much about it. My mouth was so thirsty that I instinctively picked up the glass and drank it.
At that time, I didn't drink wine. After I swallowed the wine, my eyes became watery and my stomach felt like it was on fire. I felt dizzy and fell to the ground.
On the way home that night, the hot and humid summer night blew, making me even more dizzy. In the end, the fatty had to support me all the way home.
When I got home, I told my mom that I felt dizzy and went to bed. In the middle of the night, I had a strange dream.
In the dream, I stood in a room with many red candles. In front of me stood a woman in red clothes with a red veil on her head.
I seemed to have seen this scene somewhere before. A few days ago, when Buttface got married in our village, it was exactly like this.
I couldn't wrap my head around it. I was only fifteen years old, how could I get married?
Someone shouted, "Bow to Heaven and Earth!" "Bow to your parents!" I kneeled on the ground and kowtowed. My mind was blank until someone handed me a glass of wine. I lowered my head and saw the clear, white liquid in the glass. My brain quivered as I remembered the burning pain I felt when I drank that glass of wine. I was startled and woke up.
After opening my eyes, I recognized that it was just a dream. I exhaled.
However, before I could finish exhaling, I saw a shadow next to my bed. I glanced at it, and I was scared out of my wits.
Beside the bed, there was a mass of red, blood-red, as if someone was sitting there.
Inexplicably, I recalled the bride in the red dress and the red veil in my dream.
After staring blankly for a few seconds, I screamed at the top of my lungs and shrank back into the bed.
The red shadow next to the bed was still there, not moving an inch.
Not long after, the door was pushed open. My mom heard the noise and hurried to the door to turn on the light.
However, after the light was turned on, I was even more scared. The blood-red shadow didn't disappear. Instead, with the help of the light, I could see it more clearly. It was the bride with the red veil in my dream. Even the dragon and phoenix embroidery on the veil were the same.
Didn't they say that ghosts run away when they see light?
"Third baby, third baby, what's wrong?" My mom put on her clothes and hurried to my bedside.
I couldn't speak and pointed at the woman next to the bed with a frightened face. But strangely, my mom didn't seem to see it. She looked puzzled.
My whole body shook, and my face turned red. I squeezed out a word, "Ghost …"
My mom smiled and rubbed my head. "Silly boy, you must be having a nightmare. There's no ghost. Go to sleep. You have to go to school tomorrow."
I shook my head and pulled my mom's hand, not letting her go. In the end, my mom couldn't change my mind and lay down to sleep with me. However, the red shadow didn't move an inch. No matter how hard I rubbed my eyes, I could still see it.
I didn't sleep for the whole night. At dawn, the red shadow finally moved.
My heart jumped to my throat, but the red shadow just turned around and walked to the door. Then, it disappeared in the blink of an eye.
From that day onwards, the red shadow appeared at 11: 00 PM every night. It didn't leave until 4: 00 AM or 5: 00 AM. It didn't harm me or scare me. It just sat by the bed and looked at me through the red veil.
I didn't dare to tell others about it as I was afraid that they would think I was crazy. So, I didn't sleep the whole night.
My family soon found out that something was wrong, but no one believed me. My dad even beat them up with a broom.
After that, I didn't dare to talk about it anymore.
The chubby boy, who was the closest to me, also noticed that something was wrong. He asked me a few times. I couldn't bear the pressure and told him.
I didn't expect that the chubby boy would believe me. He didn't say anything back then. The next day, when he came to school, his eyes were red. He gave me a wooden sword and told me that he had made it according to the peach wood sword he had seen on TV.
I lowered my head to look at it. The half-meter-long wooden sword was covered with uneven scratches. It seemed the chubby boy had used a pencil sharpener to make it.
That night, when the red shadow came, I held the chubby boy's peach wood sword and shook it to encourage myself. Eventually, I gritted my teeth and stabbed the red shadow.
The peach wood sword slashed across. I felt as if I had stabbed someone, but I didn't. The red shadow still sat there, not moving an inch.
I slumped on the bed. It seemed the chubby boy's peach wood sword wasn't reliable.
The next day, I told the chubby boy about it. He didn't believe me, so he came to see me at night. However, he couldn't see the red shadow, let alone stab it with the peach wood sword.
Later on, the chubby boy gave me many ideas, such as black dog's blood or rooster's blood. However, we were just middle school students. Where could we find these things?
I couldn't find a way to deal with the red shadow, but I had gotten used to seeing the red shadow by my bed every night. I wasn't as scared as before. At night, I could turn my head and curl up in my bed. Somehow, I could fall asleep.
However, I hadn't gotten used to it for long. One night, when I woke up at midnight, I saw the red shadow lying next to me. I was so scared that I frowned again.
But in general, she didn't bring me any harm. It was as if she didn't exist and was just a figment of my imagination.
What changed my mind was the spring of the second year after the New Year. At that time, I could sleep well at night. My personality had recovered a little, and I loved playing basketball with my classmates.
Once, I sprained my ankle while playing basketball. It was serious, and my right foot couldn't touch the ground. I had to use crutches to walk.
Half a month later, the muscles on my right calf started to hurt. The doctor said that the muscles had atrophied, and I needed to massage them regularly to stimulate them.
During that time, my mom would massage my legs during the day. At night, when I woke up from the pain, I would look at the red shadow while massaging my calf.
It was close to the middle school entrance exam. One night, I woke up because of the pain. I didn't know if I was worried that my leg would affect the exam or if the pain was too much, but I kept massaging my leg while crying. Inadvertently, I lifted my head. The red shadow next to me sat up and reached her hand toward my body.
I was so scared that my tears stopped flowing. Although the red shadow had been around for a long time, she had never done anything to me. Did she finally want to take action today?
I slowly backed away from the bed. However, I was already leaning against the wall. Where could I go?
My leg was still injured, so I couldn't run even if I wanted to.
The moonlight shone through the window, illuminating the red shadow's pale hand. Eventually, it touched my body. However, it didn't strangle me like I had imagined. Instead, it pressed on my right calf.