Bound by Red Rope

After leaving Boss Wang's house, it was already dark. The red shadow under the locust tree was faintly visible in the moonlight, like a smear of blood painted on the ground. I wrapped my clothes tighter and quickly followed Old Li, the low laughter still echoing in my ears, like needles piercing into bone crevices. Back at the hotel, the room's light bulb flickered on and off, emitting a "buzzing" sound. Outside the window, the wind howled, like countless hands scratching at the glass. I rubbed my hands and asked Old Li, "What do we do tonight?"

He sat on the edge of the bed, squinting, his voice so low it seemed to come from the ground: "Invite that thing to possess you and talk to it." The light cast strange shadows on his face, his eye sockets sunken, like two black holes. Hearing this, my hair stood on end, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop sharply. The painting on the wall suddenly "popped" and fell off, the frame cracked, revealing the yellowed paper inside, with faint red marks, like blood seeping out.

"What? Let me be possessed?" My voice trembled, and Boss Wang's purplish-blue handprints on his neck flashed in my mind. The red-clothed female ghost's fish-like eyes swayed before me. "This is a fierce ghost, isn't it courting death to be possessed?" I retreated to the corner of the wall, my hand unconsciously reaching for the cigarette in my pocket, trying to light one to calm my nerves, but my hand was shaking so much that I couldn't light the lighter.

Old Li exhaled a puff of smoke, the smoke twisting into a狰狞face in the light, slowly drifting towards me. He grinned sinisterly: "Don't panic, I'll protect you." The smile was like a skeleton's grin, revealing an unspeakable weirdness. I swallowed hard, my heart beating like a drum, and fear flooded over me like a tide. My mind was in a mess, and I remembered what my grandfather had said, that red-clothed fierce ghosts are the most difficult to deal with. Once possessed, they would lose their souls at the slightest, and seize their bodies at the worst, leaving no dregs left.

"No! The risk is too great!" I almost roared, my voice echoing in the empty room. Outside the window came a sharp screech, like a cat being stepped on its tail, and like a woman crying. I turned my head sharply, and a thin mist covered the window, with a vague human figure printed on it, flashing past. My legs softened, and I almost collapsed on the ground.

Old Li squinted his eyes, slowly patted the cloth bag, his voice low and deep like a curse: "Add more money, 20 red tickets, how about it?" The smoke drifted out of his mouth, like a snake wrapped around my neck. I was stunned, the fear still churning in my chest, but the "20 red tickets" were like a hook, firmly hooking my greed. The image of a thick wad of banknotes flashed in my mind, red and bright, like blood-stained colors. I gritted my teeth, my fingers clenched pale, and my heart was fighting a battle between heaven and man - scared to death, but reluctant to part with the money.

After a long while, I gasped for breath, my voice as low as a mosquito's hum: "Add another 10 tickets, and I'll do it." I stared at him, my eyes full of struggle, afraid that the fierce ghost would strangle my neck, and greedy for the money that would allow me to live a few comfortable days. Old Li was stunned for a moment, then grinned, revealing his yellow teeth, his tone revealing anticipation: "Okay, you're a tough guy, I've long seen that you're not an ordinary person. If you do this job, we'll have big business in the future."

His words were like a needle piercing into my heart, both scared and proud, thinking that this old guy really had expectations of me. But the chill was still drilling into my bones, and I braced myself to say: "I'm not for the money, but for saving people, doing good deeds." Even I didn't believe this, but Old Li nodded in cooperation, giving me a "you just pretend" look. We smiled at each other, but the laughter echoed in the room, like a ghost echoing.

At eight o'clock in the evening, we returned to the Wang's house. The yard was dark, the moonlight sprinkled on the ground, like a layer of thin frost, the branches and leaves of the locust tree swaying, like countless hands beckoning. As soon as I stepped in, I heard a "creak" sound under my feet, like stepping on some broken bones. Looking up, the red shadow under the locust tree flashed again, as if mocking me for going to my death. My heart beat almost to burst, my palms were full of cold sweat, but when I thought of the 30 red tickets, I gritted my teeth and followed in.

Old Li asked me to sit cross-legged in the center of the main room, the surroundings so quiet that I could hear my own breathing. He took out a bundle of red ropes, a handful of black beans and a few yellow papers, his movements so slow as if he was performing some kind of ritual. When the red rope was tied to my middle finger, an icy chill drilled into my skin along the rope, like countless small insects gnawing at my flesh. I hissed and wanted to break free, but Old Li held me down and said in a low voice, "Don't move, you'll be useless if you move."

He wrote a "god" character on the yellow paper, the handwriting crooked, as if someone was holding it to write. He lit three incense sticks, the incense heads burning with a whoosh, the smoke curling upwards, with a fishy smell, like the smell of blood mixed with decay. The light in the room suddenly dimmed, leaving only the faint light of the incense, and the black shadows in the corners began to sway, as if something was squatting there peeping. I stared at the smoke, my heart beating like a drum, and a whisper came to my ears: "Come on... come on..." The voice was sharp and hollow, like a call from the ground.

Old Li said in a low voice: "There will be a big reaction later, don't resist, keep your mind." His eyes looked at me hotly, as if expecting something. Before I could ask, he suddenly threw out a handful of black beans. The beans hit me, like hailstones hitting bone crevices. In an instant, my whole body's hair stood on end, and an icy chill rushed up from the soles of my feet, like countless ice hands dragging me down. A sharp laughter came to my ears: "You can't escape..." My eyes went black, and I saw a woman in red floating in front of me, her hair disheveled, her face pale, her eyes staring like dead fish, staring at me. She grinned, revealing a mouthful of black blood, and reached out to掐my neck.

I was so scared that I wanted to shout, but my throat seemed to be blocked, and I couldn't make a sound. My consciousness was like being swallowed into an abyss, my body was ice-cold and stiff, like falling into an bottomless ice cave. There was only one thought in my mind: it's over, this time I'm really going to die here. But the shadow of the 30 red tickets was still swaying in front of my eyes, and I gritted my teeth, roaring in my heart: "I can't die, I still have to get the money!"

When I woke up, I was lying on the ground, my head topped with a mound of earth, my body covered in ash, and my joints were as stiff as if they were frozen, frozen purple. There was a musty smell in the room, and the black shadows in the corners were still shaking, as if something was breathing there. I gasped for breath and cursed: "Old Li, drinking ginger soup in the middle of the night, do you want me to die of anger?" He handed me the ginger soup, and I pushed it away, took out cassia twig to boil water, my hands shaking like a sieve.

He sighed, his voice gloomy: "The negotiation broke down, the female ghost was not negotiable, and I forcibly sent her away with grave soil and incense ash. But this place is still wrong, as if something is hidden." I frowned, my voice trembling: "It's still like this after sending it away?" He nodded, his eyes looking at me deeply: "You did a good job, better than I expected. This matter is not over yet, you have to hold on."

I gritted my teeth, the fear still churning in my heart, but the sentence "better than I expected" warmed my heart. I gasped and said: "It's okay, we can handle it, good will prevail over evil." But the red-clothed female ghost's laughter was still echoing in my ears, as if mocking my greed and naivety.