After Swapping Identities With My Archenemy - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Ghost Eats the Incense

The fishing craze in Rongcheng always reaches its peak in early winter. In the evenings, big and small fishponds are filled with people.

Old man Zhang sat by a fishpond next to Qingyun Temple. He prepared the bait, cast the rod, set up his gear, filled a bucket with water, and sat down. His movements were skilled and seamless.

As the number of anglers increased, he and his old friend couldn’t stay in one place for long before they had to change locations.

Otherwise, it would be a dozen hooks trying to catch one fish, and the feeling of not catching a single fish all night was indescribably uncomfortable.

But the fishpond they were at right now had very few people. It was clearly in the city center. In such a good location, it should have been packed with people.

Old man Zhang took the “Ruan Zhonghua” cigarette from behind his ear and glanced at the young man who had just used this cigarette to ask him for directions.

The young man was discussing with his friend excitedly that there was such a good place in the city, with so few people and such a large fishpond.

On the pond’s edge, there were only a few scattered red dots flickering, which were a couple of friends sitting together and fishing.

He looked again at the old blue warning sign beside him. The words “Danger, deep water” were so blurry they were almost illegible. It stood there alone by the fishpond.

His heart inexplicably tensed up. The reason why there were no people here might not be clear to these young men from out of town, but he, a native of Rongcheng, knew some of the inside story.

This fishpond had been here since he was born. According to the older generation, it was originally an air-raid shelter built during the early years of the war.

When the locals were hiding from the bombing, they went into the air-raid shelter. Unexpectedly, because of the continuous heavy rain, a mudslide caused a cave-in, blocking all the exits and suffocating more than two hundred people inside.

Because of the war, no one found the two hundred people who died inside until later, when the air-raid shelter collapsed, and a large piece of the ground here caved in.

It was like a sinkhole, and the bones underneath were finally exposed.

The people outside found it too troublesome to move the bones out, so they simply leveled the pit, erected a monument, and called it a day.

Later, this area was bought by a developer from out of town, who built a fishpond. Although this incident happened before, nothing strange had happened for so many years.

Until three years ago, when something unusual happened here.

The old locust trees outside were densely planted around the fishpond. They had a hard time getting in. Even so, children, women, and the elderly were still drowning in this fishpond.

Once, a family of four even “accidentally” died in the fishpond.

Since then, people have been saying that there is something unclean in this fishpond.

Locals basically don’t walk around here after dark.

So there were few people fishing. Old man Zhang couldn’t resist his old friend’s persuasion and came along reluctantly.

The sky was getting dark. The bright streetlights outside were blocked by the locust trees, allowing only a faint light to pass through.

Old man Zhang held the lit “Ruan Zhonghua” cigarette in his mouth and took a deep puff.

Seeing the young man not far away catching fish, his nervous mood also eased.

Nothing strange had happened so far, and he couldn’t help but question his previous superstitious thoughts. He had wasted such a good fishing spot for nothing.

The strange thing was that his usually talkative old friend was unusually quiet after they came here.

He turned his head to look. The other person was sitting not far from him. Because the sky had darkened, he could only vaguely make out his silhouette.

Old man Zhang’s gaze froze the moment it landed on the other person.

Old man Li’s head was tilted toward him. His entire body was crooked, maintaining balance at a strange angle. He was almost touching the water’s surface. He didn’t look like he was fishing. He looked more like a “zombie” that was about to jump into the water at any moment.

Old man Zhang couldn’t see his face clearly. He looked down and saw that the cigarette, which he had only puffed on twice, was already half-burned.

A wisp of white smoke from the glowing red tip floated to the side at a strange angle, as if it were passing through a pipe with a 45-degree angle. Even the light breeze couldn’t break the smoke column.

What in the world was he doing??

Old man Zhang was instantly covered in a cold sweat. He wondered if the other person was not feeling well.

But this thought was immediately denied by himself. Who would smoke secondhand smoke like this? And this look was more like what the older generation described as a ghost eating incense.

The cigarette in his hand burned out. Old man Zhang prayed in his heart that he had seen it wrong and turned his head back.

This time, he saw the other person’s face clearly. A look of satisfaction appeared on that pale, old face, which was different from others.

He even saw the other person’s slightly open mouth, revealing sharp, white teeth inside.

Old man Zhang’s hand began to tremble uncontrollably. He could even feel the temperature of the glowing red tip of the “Ruan Zhonghua” cigarette.

He felt a cold gaze, along with the damp, fishy smell of the water, slowly land on his back.

He frantically took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, shakily pulled one out, and didn’t even have time to find a lighter. He poked it at the almost-burned-out “Ruan Zhonghua.”

Fortunately, the spark quickly lit his “Liqun” cigarette, and that cold gaze temporarily disappeared.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked at his old friend. The other person’s gaze was not on him. He was just looking straight ahead, as if he were concentrating on the situation on the water’s surface. He looked very normal.

But Old man Zhang saw a dark red “corpse spot” on his neck under his gray windbreaker. It was very glaring on his somewhat pale skin.

This was something that was impossible to appear on a living person’s body!

Old man Zhang’s hand holding the cigarette trembled even more violently. He didn’t dare to look at the other person’s face again. He cursed his bad luck in his heart. As soon as he arrived, he seemed to have run into something unclean.

He didn’t know if he was hallucinating, but the cigarette that was rapidly disappearing told him that this was definitely not normal.

He quickly looked at the location of the other people, hoping that the young men from out of town were not too far away from him.

It was too dark. He could only see the light from the streetlights coming through the branches, reflecting a shimmering light on the water’s surface. It was weak and dim.

Just as he was looking around, he heard a cry of surprise from a distance: “I caught one! I caught one!”

He saw the fishing rod not far away swing, and with a whooshing sound, the fish was pulled into mid-air. It was as if the fishing rod had accidentally hooked onto the branch of a locust tree, revealing its spooky scales under the light.

His attention was drawn for a moment, and then he immediately came back to his senses. He looked down and saw that the “Liqun” cigarette in his fingers flashed for the last time and then quickly went out.

That cold gaze, like a maggot on a bone, climbed up his back. Old man Zhang instantly felt a little numb, and even the action of taking out his lighter was slow.

His finger was on the lighter’s button, but he didn’t make the next move.

A sharp laugh rang out in his ear, sounding particularly abrupt on such a quiet night.

Old man Zhang turned his head as if waking from a dream. The lighter in his hand still hadn’t lit up because he saw his old friend crawling toward him with strange speed.

He opened his mouth, and that dark hole of a mouth bit his arm hard. He wanted to scream, but not a sound came out. His throat felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand. Soon, his consciousness became blurry.

The last thing he saw with his bulging eyes was his friend, who was as pale as a dead person, dragging him by the leg toward the fishpond.

…

After Jiang Huaiyi returned home with Shen Wensi, the movers put her things at the door and left. Only then did she realize how pitifully little she had.

Shen Wensi glanced at them. She didn’t seem to have any intention of helping, so Jiang Huaiyi quickly started moving things, thinking she would come out to cook after she was done.

Although Shen Wensi had told her to cook at first, as soon as she got home, she took the groceries into the kitchen.

She didn’t let her help at all. By the time she was done tidying up, the table was already full of dishes.

Jiang Huaiyi sat down feeling a little awkward. The nervous feeling disappeared after she took her first bite of the “yuxiang rousi” (fish-fragrant shredded pork).

This tasted exactly like the one a chef made for her New Year’s Eve dinner before. Jiang Huaiyi had only eaten it once when her uncle took her to a wealthy family’s birthday celebration.

Shen Wensi ate very little. Most of the three dishes went into her stomach.

She felt a little embarrassed and volunteered to wash the dishes in the kitchen.

Jiang Huaiyi was stunned when she walked into the kitchen. When ordinary people cook, the pots and dishes are usually washed last.

But Shen Wensi’s kitchen was very clean. There was only a trash can and a few crushed things that were unrecognizable. Everything else was neatly in its place.

Shen Wensi’s voice came from outside, telling her to put the dishes in the dishwasher and come out to see where they were going tonight.

Jiang Huaiyi answered and looked at the dark things in the trash can again before walking out.

The two of them sat on the sofa. Jiang Huaiyi took out the fine silk paper. This time, Shen Wensi could also see the words on it.

After “Dead fish facing the mouth,” a location was added: “Sanguan Temple.”

She knew this place. It was not far from Qingyun Temple. However, this temple had been abandoned for many years.

After the old abbot died, no one took over this place. Her uncle couldn’t stand it and invited the main deity of the temple out, moving it to another place for worship.

A few days ago, it was said that it was being taken over, and the authorities wanted to develop it into a landmark building for tourist visits.

While they were in the car, Jiang Huaiyi was still introducing this place to Shen Wensi.

When the old abbot was still alive, he would often give her a large handful of “Dabaitu” (White Rabbit) candy. This sweet memory lasted until she attended the old abbot’s funeral.

A devotee came out of the back room with a large jar of candy and said it was left for her.

The candy wrappers were still hidden in a tin box she collected. The past was gone, but the old abbot still lived in her heart.

By the time they arrived, it was completely dark.

The streetlights extended all the way to the front of Sanguan Temple. The huge temple was faintly visible in the dim light, looking a little spooky.

The temple gate was not closed. The things inside had been emptied, but the lights were on. It was estimated that this place would reopen in a few days.

The two of them were standing at the entrance, about to walk in, when they heard someone run in, stumbling.

“Help! Help, Daoist priest!” A soaking wet old man slapped the precarious door frame.

The old man at the door was wearing a set of windbreaker clothes. He was soaking wet as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

His already sparse hair was sparsely plastered on his face. His feet were covered in gray-black mud and sand, and he was even missing a shoe.

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