Ghost Breath

With everything arranged, Zhu Mingyi's family could be considered to have officially moved into this house.

Although it was just an old apartment, the rent was not cheap. Zhu Mingyi also knew that the price in the provincial capital was not like in the small towns that he used to live in, especially the houses.

Zhu Mingyi received the notification of his assignment two months ago. At first, he lived in the employee dormitory, but when he went home during the weekend, he realized that it was really not convenient for him to do so. Thus, he let his wife, Yang Faang, quit work and brought his 6 year old daughter, Zhu Yang, over to the capital to rent a room.

Although the rent was a new burden, Zhu Mingyi's income had risen a lot. Considering that he could still go to school in the city, the education environment would definitely be better than the suburbs.

So when Yang Faang found a job and the two of them had a stable job, Zhu Mingyi planned to borrow money to buy a house in the city.

As for the rented house, Zhu Mingyi was basically satisfied with it, except for the soundproofing. At night, when he slept, he could hear a few tiny noises. There was the sound of a car honking, insects chirping, voices talking, and occasionally the crying and running sounds of children.

Usually, this building would only have five floors and very few residents, so there wouldn't be so much noise. However, after several nights passed, Zhu Mingyi's family was unable to sleep soundly, making them extremely depressed.

Especially in the upstairs family, often in the middle of the night came the sound of children playing and running, and sometimes especially loud, as if it were right beside their ears.

One night, when Zhu Mingyi saw that Zhu Yang was tossing and turning unable to sleep, he finally reached his limit of patience. He simply opened the window and shouted towards the floor above: "Fourth floor, can you lower your voice? Others don't need to sleep at night?! "

It was unknown if he really intimidated the other party, but in short, after Zhu Mingyi shouted for a while, the upstairs became quiet. He turned his head and laughed, and then said to Yang Faang: "See, is it useful? "That scumbag."

At first, Zhu Mingyi thought that things could be settled easily, but after a short while, another sound came from upstairs. This time, it was a woman crying, light and leisurely, as if it contained a long-accumulated grief.

"Don't tell me you scared them to tears?" Yang Faang asked worriedly.

"They can cry just by saying a few words. What kind of joke is this!" Zhu Mingyi opened the window again and looked up.

He noticed that the fourth floor was dark and the lights were off.

"Strange." He closed the window again.

"What's strange?"

"Why did they turn off the lights when they were so lively just a moment ago?"

"He's going to sleep too."

Just as Zhu Mingyi and Yang Faang were discussing, the woman's wail rang out again. It sounded even more sorrowful than before.

After a moment of silence, Zhu Mingyi asked:

"What the hell is she crying about?"

Yang Faang wanted to reply, but a few more "peng!" sounds came from above. Bang! "Bam!" The sound was similar to the sound of a ball hitting the ground, followed by the sound of children laughing. It was in stark contrast to the sound of a woman crying.

"Is the family sick?" Zhu Mingyi became angry again.

Yang Faang was a timid person, she did not want to quarrel with others the moment she moved here, so she told Zhu Mingyi:

"Never mind, go to sleep, stop tormenting yourself."

Zhu Mingyi knew that there was nothing he could do, it was the middle of the night, if he really wanted to solve the problem, he would have to do it tomorrow.

After that, the sound continued to be intermittent for a while and then quickly stopped.

The next day, coincidentally, was Saturday. Zhu Mingyi's family slept for a long time, and only woke up at noon. When he was washing up, Zhu Mingyi was once again reminded of what happened last night.

"It seems like this family is just a night owl. It's so noisy in the middle of the night, and there's not a sound of fart in the morning, especially that kid. I'll go upstairs and talk to them later."

Yang Faang looked in the mirror and replied leisurely:

"You should also be a bit polite. Maybe he really does have something on his mind."

Obviously, Yang Faang was still thinking about the woman's crying last night, making her feel very uncomfortable.

Not long later, Zhu Mingyi pulled Zhu Yang along and they rode in the elevator to the door of room 402 on the fourth floor.

"Press the doorbell. Be good."

Hearing his father's instructions, Zhu Yang happily tiptoed and strongly pressed the doorbell.

The doorbell rang. Zhu Mingyi took a peek at the peephole and discovered that it was very dim inside.

A dozen seconds passed and no one opened the door.

"Press again. Hurry."

Zhu Yang pressed down heavily twice more, and then stood back up expectantly.

He waited for about half a minute, but nothing happened.

"Dad, no one is opening it." Zhu Yang pretended to sigh.

Zhu Mingyi pressed on it a few more times, thinking: This family is so energetic, and left early in the morning?

"Is anyone there?" Zhu Mingyi knocked on the door as he shouted loudly, "Is there anyone here?"

"Dad, let's go." Zhu Yang did not have patience, he pulled Zhu Mingyi and wanted to leave.

"Yeah, he shouldn't be here." Zhu Mingyi nodded, but when he moved, he suddenly saw something strange on the left wall of the door.

"Wait!"

The two of them moved closer to the door and found that there were two handprints on the wall, about half the height of the door. They were slightly raised, as if they were purposely placed there.

Judging by their size, it was easy to tell that these two imprints were copied from the palm of a child.

"What is it?"

Zhu Mingyi touched the wall lightly with his hands. He was not surprised that there were two weird and weird handprints on the wall, but rather wondered how the handprints could be printed on it.

He guessed that it must be the kid's doing. Others wouldn't be so bored.

"Dad, look, there's more over here!" When Zhu Mingyi was in a daze, he let out a cry. Zhu Mingyi immediately looked at the direction where Zhu Yang's finger was pointing, and discovered that above the two palm prints, there were two other palm prints, or rather, another set of palm prints.

Compared to the first set of palm prints, this set could tell at a glance that it was an adult's palm. The rest were exactly the same.

Zhu Yang was extremely excited, as if he had discovered a new continent. He tiptoed to go and touch it, but who knew he would be pulled back by Zhu Mingyi.

"Don't touch!"

Zhu Mingyi suddenly felt a sense of disgust towards these two sets of handprints. It looked like a child's prank, but he felt that something was off.

Zhu Yang realized that his father's tone was strict and did not dare to speak anymore.

"Let's go home." Zhu Mingyi didn't plan to investigate further, and thought that it had nothing to do with them. Therefore, he pulled Zhu Yang's small hand and went straight down the fourth floor.

"How is it? What did he say?" Yang Faang asked as soon as the father and daughter pair entered the room.

"No, he's not here. I'll go up later."

Yang Faang replied and did not mind.

Zhu Mingyi and Zhu Yang did not mention the matter of the two sets of handprints, and had completely forgotten about it.

In the afternoon, the family of three happily strolled around the shopping mall and bought some clothes for Zhu Yang. When they reached home at night, Zhu Yang said that he wanted to go downstairs to jump rope.

"Go." It was not even eight o'clock yet, and Yang Faang had already agreed to it. She was the one who advocated a little exercise after dinner.

Zhu Yang took a piece of rope and excitedly went downstairs, Zhu Mingyi and Yang Faang were also busy with their own things. The matter of him going to Room 402 to communicate later had long been forgotten by Zhu Mingyi.

After a while, Yang Faang heard the sound of rain outside the window, and knew that Zhu Yang was still skipping rope downstairs. She said to Zhu Mingyi: "It's raining, tell Yang Yang to come up earlier."

Zhu Mingyi agreed and put down the newspaper. Then he opened the door and went downstairs.

Reaching the ground floor, Zhu Mingyi realized that the rain was heavier than he had imagined. Zhu Yang was not at the empty space in front of the building where he would usually jump rope. It was not until he heard the noise that Zhu Mingyi finally found him.

The stairs were very dark and the lights were broken. Normally, people would use the elevator, but no one would use the stairs, so Zhu Mingyi did not expect Zhu Yang to come over. Obviously because of the rain, Zhu Yang jumped rope and moved it indoors.

"Daddy, little big brother dances better than me." In the elevator, Zhu Yang spoke out.

"Whose little brother?"

"He's the one who jumped rope with me."

Zhu Mingyi thought: There's a child from another clan? Why didn't I see it?

"What about little big brother?"

"Let's go."

While they were talking, Zhu Mingyi had already opened the door. Yang Faang also heard their conversation and asked Zhu Mingyi what it was about.

"Oh, it seems like there was a little boy playing with Yang Yang just now."

"Whose family is it?" Yang Faang was more vigilant than Zhu Mingyi, especially when she heard that it was a boy.

"Little big brother!" Zhu Yang blurted out.

Yang Faang once again looked up at Zhu Mingyi, and suddenly pointed upstairs.

"Probably." Zhu Mingyi also thought of 402's family members. There was indeed a mischievous boy.

"Looks like their family is back, huh? Didn't you say to go up later? "

"Forget it. I'm tired today. Tomorrow is fine." Zhu Mingyi was also extremely lazy, he just lied on the sofa and didn't want to move.

"Yang Yang, what does that boy look like?" Yang Faang curiously asked.

"I don't know!" Zhu Yang acted like he did not care and skipped into the room.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Yang Faang complained. Actually, she had the same thoughts as Zhu Mingyi right now. If it really was the child on the fourth floor, they wouldn't want Zhu Yang and the child to get close, even though they couldn't explain it.

Sure enough, when it was midnight, there was a ruckus upstairs again. The sound of children's laughter came intermittently, and occasionally there were applause and running sounds. It was endless.

Zhu Mingyi regretted not going to look for them to argue with him tonight. He decided that he would settle this matter no matter what tomorrow.

In the morning, as the sky slowly brightened, Zhu Mingyi arrived in front of Room 402.

This time he did not ring the bell, but simply pounded on the door, thinking that I, too, would make you feel the same way.

After a while, no one opened the door.

He kicked a few more times, but nothing happened.

Zhu Mingyi thought that since he had knocked on the door causing such a commotion, if there was anyone at home, they would probably wake up no matter what.

Not home?

Just as he was pondering, Zhu Mingyi suddenly felt that something was amiss. His brain seemed to flash like an electric current as he looked towards his left.

He was stunned, because he noticed that the two sets of palm prints from yesterday had disappeared!

He stared dumbly at the now blank and smooth wall. He really couldn't understand why, let alone who would spend so much time and effort dealing with this kind of thing, it was even possible to make a large chunk of the wall disappear in one night?

Zhu Mingyi repeatedly observed and touched the wall where the original handprint was, and discovered that there wasn't even a single trace of it. If not for the fact that Zhu Yang was there yesterday, he would have suspected that he was hallucinating.

When the elevator opened, he saw an old woman in her sixties, wearing a pair of thick framed glasses. He recognized her as a resident of the fifth floor.

"Auntie, I'm sorry, I wanted to ask you something …" Zhu Mingyi was just in a bit of a daze, he might as well ask for a clear answer, "Do you know the person living here at Room 402?"

Zhu Mingyi pressed on the elevator and pointed.

The other party stuck out his head, looked at him carefully, then quickly shook his head and said:

"No one lives on the fourth floor."

"Ah?" Is there no one inside? "

"No, 401 has always been empty. If it's 402, then a few months ago, there was a family member living here. But now …" "He's gone too."

"Really?" How is that possible? " Zhu Mingyi's face changed, his voice was so soft that it was almost impossible to hear himself.

"You must have made a mistake somewhere. This way, the fourth floor isn't easy to sell because there are a lot of old people who don't like the fourth floor …"

Zhu Mingyi didn't really hear the rest of his words, he just returned home in a daze.

He saw that Zhu Yang was still sleeping, and Yang Faang was also confused, and asked him what the result was. Zhu Mingyi only said that the family was still not there, but Yang Faang acted as if she did not care, and continued to sleep.

Zhu Mingyi stood at the window and looked towards the balcony on the fourth floor. Although it was daytime, he felt a chill on his back, not to mention the two sets of handprints that suddenly disappeared, how was he supposed to explain the commotion upstairs every night?

They were a family, but they could clearly hear the voices of women and children upstairs, and they often appeared. The fifth floor auntie said 402 had moved away early, so it didn't make sense at all!

Zhu Mingyi calmly analyzed the situation and felt that there were a few possibilities. Firstly, they had all heard wrongly, the voices did not come from the fourth floor but from other places and they mistakenly thought of them as residents of the fourth floor. Zhu Mingyi had read a book before, saying that humans were not very sensitive to hearing. Sometimes, they would be disturbed by the communication from their brains, making wrong judgments. Second, it was 402. The family had moved away and come back, but he hadn't seen them yet, on the fifth floor. Third, there was someone else living inside, perhaps a homeless person or something. If they forced their way in, that would explain why the other party didn't dare to open the door.

After thinking about it, Zhu Mingyi's heart finally felt a little better. Even if these three answers all seemed weird, and he started to recite another thing that made him worried, and that was, who exactly was the little boy that jumped rope with Zhu Yang last night?

On this day, Zhu Mingyi appeared to be weighed down with matters. It was only when night fell that he decided to tell Yang Faang everything.

Zhu Mingyi had never believed in ghosts or gods. However, Yang Faang was a little superstitious, so when Yang Faang found out about it, her reaction was much stronger than Zhu Mingyi's.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier!" Yang Faang weakly sat on the sofa, her face gloomy.

"I only found out this morning. Also, keep your voice down, don't let Yang Yang hear it."

The two of them were conversing in secret in the room while Zhu Yang ate alone in the kitchen.

"So strange!" "I don't feel comfortable living in this place, how did you find me a place to rent?" Yang Faang asked in a strange tone.

"A colleague of the unit introduced us. He said that it's quiet here and the rent isn't too expensive."

"Heh …" It's quiet now, isn't it? "

"You can't blame me!"

The atmosphere instantly turned stiff, and both of them stopped talking for a while.

"Mom and Dad, I'm going downstairs to skip the rope!" After Zhu Yang finished his meal, a voice came out.

Zhu Mingyi and Yang Faang looked at each other, then suddenly remembered something.

"No way, no way! I can't go today! " Yang Faang stood up and opened the door.

"Right, right, you're not allowed to go!" Zhu Mingyi also said.

"Why?" Zhu Yang held onto the rope, frozen in place. One must know that her parents had always supported her the most in jumping rope.

"There's no reason why I can't go now. And Yang Yang, remember, in the future when you go downstairs, you must go with Mom and Dad, do you understand? " Yang Faang said cautiously.

Zhu Yang looked at Yang Faang, and then at Zhu Mingyi.

"Daddy said before that little kids shouldn't ask all sorts of questions. Just be obedient." Zhu Mingyi was still smiling as he patted Zhu Yang's head. He felt that he should not throw the pressure on Zhu Yang right now.

Seeing that his parents were acting in such a manner, Zhu Yang could only obediently return to his room to watch television. Zhu Mingyi took the opportunity to share his speculations with Yang Faang, trying his best to not let her think about it, but Yang Faang did not really hear about it.

That night, Zhu Yang fell asleep while Zhu Mingyi and Yang Faang were still lying on the bed with their eyes wide open. It wasn't until one o'clock in the morning that the familiar sound started again.

Zhu Mingyi sat up straight and listened carefully, while Yang Faang curled up under the blanket, not even daring to breathe loudly.

There were two different sounds, one of which was the sound of a woman crying that he had heard before. When Yang Faang heard it now, she felt her scalp go numb. The other was the child's clapping, which they often heard.

Suddenly, Zhu Mingyi mustered his courage and sat up.

"I'll go up and take a look."

Yang Faang's eyes were wide open, she could not believe it.

"You want to die?! It's almost midnight, what are you going to do! "

"Let me tell you, I really don't believe in things like ghosts. There's been a commotion right now anyways, so they must be here. I'll go talk to them about it." Otherwise maybe we're just scaring ourselves off and nothing's really going on. "

Yang Faang was at a loss for words. Although she was afraid, she thought that Zhu Mingyi's words made sense.

"Just bring Yang Yang to sleep, I'll be right back." As he said that, Zhu Mingyi put on his clothes, and before he left, he looked up from the window, and saw that the fourth floor was still completely dark.

In the middle of the night, as if ice water had seeped in, Zhu Mingyi took a deep breath of cold air the moment he stepped out of his room.

When he got into the elevator, he thought the door was too loud. Maybe it was too quiet. Inadvertently, he glanced behind him, as if worried that something was behind him.

Soon, he arrived at the fourth floor. He felt that the atmosphere was completely different from the day. Perhaps other elusive elements had changed besides the night.

Once again standing in front of No. 402 door, Zhu Mingyi pressed the doorbell.

Then he glanced to his left and, in the dim light, saw that the two sets of strange handprints were still missing. He prayed that he would never see that again.

Moreover, he felt that it was strange. Why did the house that had just been overheard by the other side of the building, at this moment, could not hear a single sound while standing in front of the other side's door?

He convinced himself that he didn't have to worry about so much. As long as someone opened the door, all mysteries would be revealed.

Unfortunately, it was not what he wanted, and no one responded for a long time.

While he was anxiously waiting, he knocked several times on the door.

"That... "I'm downstairs at 302. I have something to talk to you guys about. Can you open the door if it's convenient?" Zhu Mingyi asked with his voice trembling.

Dead silence.

Zhu Mingyi sighed deeply, he did not know what to do, could it be that he had failed again?