She Comes Into My Dreams Every Night - Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Inviting a Ghost Inside

The little car drove slowly on the pitch-black mountain road.

The high beams illuminated the rough, muddy road ahead. Su Huaiwang was driving even slower than a person riding a bicycle.

She rarely drove this road at night; it was truly unsafe. However, there was no choice. The sun had already set after they left Baiyang Temple. Even if they had left immediately, they would still have had to drive the mountain road in the dark, so they simply ate dinner before heading back.

“Drive with confidence. I’m helping you watch,” Lin Jue said thoughtfully from the passenger seat.

Su Huaiwang forced a smile. She wasn’t usually afraid of driving on mountain roads, but for some reason, she had a creepy feeling tonight.

All the car windows were up. The only sound in the enclosed cabin was the air conditioning; otherwise, it was silent. The murky darkness fell on Su Huaiwang’s hands gripping the steering wheel, raising goosebumps.

A restless anxiety churned in her stomach, an itchy feeling spreading from her tongue to her nerves. Su Huaiwang swallowed and proactively started a topic: “Nancheng… what do you think of Nancheng?”

Lin Jue, who had been sitting quietly, turned to look at her when she heard the question. In Su Huaiwang’s peripheral vision, her skin appeared abnormally pale, blending with the car’s silent darkness, flickering and indistinct, unlike reality.

A sudden fear welled up in Su Huaiwang’s heart, as if the person sitting next to her wasn’t the familiar Lin Jue, but… a stranger she had picked up after they had waved to her on the roadside in the early morning.

Her breathing suddenly became shallow and rapid. The air conditioning felt too strong; a chill spread from deep within to her limbs, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead…

“It’s nice, it definitely has a big-city feel. Visiting once is interesting, but living there long-term, I probably couldn’t stand it.”

Lin Jue’s voice broke the alarming illusion. Her voice was calm, neither too high nor too low, exactly as she usually spoke, immediately pulling Su Huaiwang back from that bizarre state to reality.

“Y-yes…” A swallow sounded. Su Huaiwang took a deep breath: “Me too. I’m still more suited to living in the countryside.”

Lin Jue glanced at her, rubbing the fingers of her right hand on her side, crushing an unknown specter in her grasp.

She leaned over and turned up the air conditioning temperature: “Are you cold? The temperature seems to drop quite severely at night.”

“It is a little cold.” Su Huaiwang finally noticed the goosebumps on her arms.

“Do you want to put on a jacket?” Lin Jue produced a jacket from somewhere: “I brought it just in case, and I haven’t worn it yet.”

Su Huaiwang hesitated, not just because it was Lin Jue’s jacket, but also because she felt Lin Jue was wearing even less than her.

She was in a short-sleeve and long pants, while Lin Jue was in a thin dress. It seemed like Lin Jue should be colder, especially since she was prone to cold hands and feet.

Lin Jue seemed to guess what she was thinking and said, “I’m not very cold, you wear it.” As she spoke, her palm lightly covered Su Huaiwang’s forearm: “Your skin is ice cold.”

The warm skin pressed against hers, completely driving away the lingering fear.

Su Huaiwang secretly felt absurd that she had briefly thought the warm Lin Jue was terrifying.

“Thank you then.”

The car pulled over. Su Huaiwang put on Lin Jue’s jacket and restarted the car.

Lin Jue’s jacket fit surprisingly well. It was warm against her cold skin and carried a familiar, tranquil, and aloof scent—Lin Jue’s signature fragrance.

Su Huaiwang belatedly felt nervous because of this intimate gesture. When she got nervous, she started looking for topics:

“Speaking of which, where are you from? You don’t look like a local.” Lin Jue spoke without an accent, and Su Huaiwang was genuinely curious about her origins.

Lin Jue hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke: “Minguan. I… was born in a very small village.”

Her face was obscured by the darkness, but Su Huaiwang, who was focusing on the road ahead, didn’t notice:

“Minguan, I’ve been there once before,” Su Huaiwang continued the conversation, her tone relaxed: “The food there is quite good.”

“You like the food in Minguan?” The darkness was dispelled, revealing a beautiful softness.

“Mhm, mhm,” Su Huaiwang nodded repeatedly, clearly approving of the local cuisine. But after nodding, her previously lively expression dropped: “It’s a shame I probably won’t go there again.”

“Why?”

“I had a small accident when I went there before. I fell off a mountain and hit my head. I was found after staying at a villager’s house for a month. I’m a bit traumatized by that place.”

As she spoke, a dark shadow suddenly darted out. Su Huaiwang slammed on the brakes.

The car screeched to a grinding halt. Su Huaiwang’s head lurched forward from inertia, hitting the steering wheel before being pulled back by the seatbelt.

When her vision cleared again, the dirt road illuminated by the headlights was empty.

Only the rustling tree shadows were moving, like monstrous, dancing specters.

Fear surfaced again. Su Huaiwang clearly heard the sound of herself swallowing echoing in her skull:

“W-was that a shadow just now? Or was I seeing things?”

Lin Jue lowered her eyelashes: “Probably some small animal. Did you feel like you hit anything?”

“No…”

“Then it’s fine. It probably ran away on its own. Keep driving.”

“Wait!” Su Huaiwang grabbed Lin Jue’s wrist: “Don’t you feel like tonight is a bit strange?”

Su Huaiwang had always been a wavering materialist, not one to easily believe in the supernatural. But as the saying goes, “better safe than sorry.” The consecutive incidents tonight had already put her in a state of extreme anxiety, jumping at every shadow.

Not to mention, they had just been talking about her Minguan memory—the missing month that, if not for supernatural forces, was unexplainable…

As she was letting her thoughts run wild, Su Huaiwang suddenly felt human skin cover her hand.

Lin Jue’s other hand gently rested on her trembling one, slowly rubbing it. A murmuring voice, like mountain spring water, flowed out: “Don’t be afraid. It was just a small animal.”

“Want to hold hands? Will that help?” Lin Jue looked up, her amber eyes gazing at her tenderly, successfully making Su Huaiwang’s rejection, prompted by shame, get swallowed back.

“…Yes.”

The section of wrist, firm as jade and slender as a leaf, that she was gripping easily turned over, palm meeting hers. Fingers laced into her own, the slightly rough skin rubbing against the thin connective tissue between her fingers.

Beyond the fear, a jolt, like an electric current, shot straight to her nerves, replacing the panic with nervous tension.

Lin Jue cupped her hand like a shell, shielding hers, gently stroking it now and then.

To be fair, this trick genuinely worked. Su Huaiwang’s sense of security surged.

It was just a little embarrassing that she was being comforted by a girl five years her junior…

Once her state recovered, Su Huaiwang lightly cleared her throat, whispering: “Sorry, I’m a bit timid.”

Lin Jue, who had been looking down at their joined hands, immediately looked up, smiling: “It’s okay, I’m scared too. It’s a good thing there are two of us.”

“Yes, yes, it is good…” Su Huaiwang said, her embarrassed gaze occasionally flicking toward their joined hands: “That… I’m not scared anymore…”

Lin Jue heard her and obediently released her hand.

Su Huaiwang licked her lips, about to restart the car, when she heard Lin Jue say:

“How about I drive the rest of the way? Let’s switch seats.”

As she spoke, she turned her body, making a motion to open the car door.

In a panic, Su Huaiwang suddenly grabbed the hand she had just released again:

“Don’t get out of the car!”

Lin Jue turned to look at her, saying nothing, yet Su Huaiwang felt she had said everything.

Su Huaiwang simply closed her eyes, lowered her head, and pretended her earlier statement of “not being scared anymore” was nonsense:

“There’s only a little bit left. I’ll finish driving it!”

“Alright then.”

Lin Jue sat back properly, not exposing her clumsy excuse.

She patted Su Huaiwang’s hand, offering comfort.

Feeling the gentle force, Su Huaiwang’s emotions were a mixture of gratitude and shame.

She started the car, letting the complex emotions override the fear, and continued to drive the night mountain road tremblingly.

Fortunately, there were no more incidents on the final stretch. The car drove downward, about to reach the foot of the mountain where the village was located.

Su Huaiwang saw the bright lights of the party and government offices that lit up at 7 PM from a distance, and she nearly burst into tears of relief.

After surviving this night, she would still be a wavering materialist.

She turned slightly to look at Lin Jue, wanting to say something cheerful, but saw the other girl resting her head on her hand, looking out the car window.

“Lin Jue…?”

Su Huaiwang called out tentatively.

“Hmm?” Lin Jue turned her head back, her beautiful face in view: “What’s wrong?”

Su Huaiwang sighed in relief: “Nothing, we’re almost home.”

Her voice was laced with relief. After this time, she would never take the mountain road at night again! At least not for the next six months!

“Mhm,” Lin Jue nodded lightly: “It’s good to be home.”

Su Huaiwang smiled, about to agree, but then heard Lin Jue’s next sentence:

“Do you know? Specters cannot enter a living person’s home casually unless invited. So you must remember, if you meet someone at night, whether a stranger or someone you know, do not invite them into your house. They will disguise themselves as your close ones and try every way to get inside your home.”

At that, Su Huaiwang suddenly felt her knees weaken, nearly failing to press the brake pedal.

“L-let’s not talk about that anymore?” Su Huaiwang’s voice was shaking.

Lin Jue then realized, an apologetic look on her face: “Sorry, I forgot…” She kindly didn’t say the word scared.

“It’s, it’s fine…” How could Su Huaiwang truly blame Lin Jue? She could only continue driving, choosing the road that passed right under the party and government office building, letting the bright lights and emblem soothe her fragile materialistic heart.

The car stopped in front of the villa. Lin Jue got out, about to say goodbye to Su Huaiwang, but Su Huaiwang called her back.

“That…” Su Huaiwang hesitated as she spoke, not daring to look into Lin Jue’s eyes. They communicated across the car’s unextinguished high beams:

“If it’s convenient, would you like to stay over tonight…?” She choked up again. Su Huaiwang gritted her teeth, stretched her neck, and forced out the words she had been holding back: “Would you like to stay over at my place?”

After saying it, she quickly added: “I mean, just hang out together, you know. Tu Zhuozhuo just left, and I’m a little… ah, no, I don’t mean anything else. I just mean, if it’s convenient for you, uh, I have Go, Chinese chess, snacks, drinks, we can watch a movie together… or something.”

Su Huaiwang became increasingly incoherent. By the end, she simply gave up, drooping her head as if the entire long string of words had never been spoken:

“Alright, good night, good night.”

Lin Jue’s sudden voice interrupted her disappointment:

“Are you inviting me into your house?”

Su Huaiwang looked up, her face flushed red, her voice barely a whisper: “…Yes.”

“Okay.” Lin Jue smiled and accepted, walking around the car toward Su Huaiwang: “But based on what we just talked about, inviting someone into your house at night is a very dangerous thing.” She stopped in front of Su Huaiwang, her eyes, shimmering with light and shadow, locking onto her gently but assertively.

Su Huaiwang suddenly felt like she was back in the dream of the previous night, facing the same gentle but assertive punishment.

Alongside the fear, something restless crawled out from the depths of her heart.

“You’re fine.” Su Huaiwang instinctively took a step back, yet couldn’t help but lean forward, drawing slightly closer to the girl. She swallowed and repeated:

“You’re fine. I trust you.”