ILSITM Chapter 48

“Hey, you two lovebirds, why are you smiling so happily today?” Wen Rourou’s mother said with a smile.

“Mom, Dad can talk to us with his eyes now. Want me to show you?” Wen Rourou smoothly changed the subject.

“Really? That’s amazing! Then have him say something to me,” Wen Rourou’s mother said, feigning surprise.

Wen Rourou cleared her throat twice and then stroked her own throat with her left hand.

“Dad, is this woman standing next to me your daughter?” Wen Rourou said, trying not to laugh.

Wen Rourou’s father immediately closed his eyes, then opened them again.

“You little rascal, what are you up to? Am I her daughter?” Wen Rourou’s mother pretended to be angry.

I stood next to Wen Rourou and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Mom, did you see Dad’s eyes just now, closing and opening? That means no,” Wen Rourou said seriously.

“Say something serious and see how your dad answers,” Wen Rourou’s mother said, also a little curious.

“Dad, is this woman standing next to me my mother?” Wen Rourou asked.

Wen Rourou’s father’s eyes widened.

“Auntie, Uncle’s wide eyes mean ‘yes’,” I explained, looking at Wen Rourou’s mother.

“Oh, you know, you’re right. Rourou, don’t tire your dad out too much. Let him rest for a while. You two go back and have dinner first,” Wen Rourou’s mother said.

The next morning, when Wen Rourou and I were on our way to the hospital, we deliberately stopped in the alley, lingering in front of the house with the stone lions flanking the entrance.

The gate of the house was tightly closed, and the red paint on the wooden door was peeling off in small patches.

After we arrived at the hospital ward and Wen Rourou’s mother had just left, Wen Rourou started playing the one-question, one-“answer” game with her father again.

These past few days, I hadn’t been helping Wen Rourou’s father with “brain-travel awakening.”

The doctor said that Wen Rourou’s father had already been awakened and had basically regained consciousness, but he hadn’t recovered his language function yet, and his intelligence was only equivalent to that of a two-year-old child. We needed to interact with him more.

“Dad, when Tian Dong and I passed by that alley today, we deliberately stopped in front of the house we used to live in. The gate was tightly closed. Last time, I saw a middle-aged woman walking out of the courtyard. Do you know that woman?” Wen Rourou asked.

Wen Rourou’s father’s eyes opened.

“Dad, what’s the relationship between that woman living in the house and Ma Tiandong’s family? Are they relatives?” Wen Rourou asked.

Wen Rourou’s father’s eyes widened.

Seeing the “answer” from Wen Rourou’s father, I felt that something was a bit strange and decided to visit this “relative” when we went back in the evening.

“Let your dad rest for a while,” I said to Wen Rourou, seeing that her father was a little tired.

In the afternoon, Wen Rourou played the one-question, one-“answer” game with her father again.

“Dad, was that house we used to live in really haunted?” Wen Rourou asked.

Wen Rourou’s father’s eyes widened.

“That house should only have been haunted once, right?” Wen Rourou asked.

Wen Rourou’s father closed his eyes tightly, then opened them again.

“Could it be haunted twice?” Wen Rourou asked.

Wen Rourou’s father closed his eyes, then opened them again.

“Could it be haunted many times?” Wen Rourou asked.

Wen Rourou’s father’s eyes widened.

In the afternoon, when Wen Rourou’s mother came to the hospital to replace us, Wen Rourou’s father was already asleep in bed.

When her father was asleep, his hands would twitch and his facial expressions were very rich, completely different from when he was awake.

“Is Uncle dreaming?” I said to Wen Rourou’s mother.

Wen Rourou’s mother looked at her husband lying in bed. His facial expressions were a little exaggerated, and he occasionally had physical movements, so she nodded.

After Wen Rourou and I left the hospital, we stopped in front of the house with the stone lions flanking the entrance when we passed by that alley.

“Knock, knock, knock,” a series of knocks echoed in the alley.

After a long time, no one came to open the door. I knocked on the gate of the house again rhythmically, but still no one opened the door.

Just as Wen Rourou and I were about to turn around and leave, the door of the house opened with a creak.

A face of incredible ugliness peeked out from inside the door.

“Who are you looking for?” a middle-aged woman with a somewhat hoarse voice asked.

“We used to live in this house when we were very young, but now we don’t have any memory of it, so we wanted to go inside and take a look,” I said, looking at the incredibly ugly face.

The incredibly ugly face hesitated for a moment, then opened the gate of the house.

Wen Rourou and I walked into the courtyard and were immediately greeted by a screen wall. After we walked around the wall, we saw that the courtyard was overgrown with weeds waist-high. Several old trees had lush branches and leaves, and their old trunks and gnarled branches were intertwined. Vines hung down like green waterfalls.

We walked through the overgrown weeds and came to the innermost part of the courtyard, where we saw an old house with the characteristics of the 1960s and 70s standing before us. A rusty iron lock was hanging on the wooden door of one of the rooms.

Wen Rourou and I pressed our faces against the door crack to look inside. We saw that the incomplete furniture inside the room had long faded in color over the years, and was covered with numerous scars, accumulated dirt, and greasy stains. It was filthy and emitted a strange smell, which mingled with the damp, musty smell of the dust in the air and the smell of rust, making it nauseating.

“This room is where your family used to live,” the incredibly ugly middle-aged woman said, looking at Wen Rourou.

“Oh, our family used to live here! Was there only one room?” Wen Rourou asked in surprise.

“Yes,” the middle-aged woman replied.

“Then where did I live?” I asked, looking at the ugly-looking middle-aged woman.

“Next door, in this room,” the middle-aged woman said, pointing to a room with a lock hanging on the door.

I pressed my face against the door crack of this room to look inside, but found that it was empty, with nothing inside.

“Then who did I live here with?” I asked.

“Your grandmother,” the middle-aged woman said succinctly.

“Then are you and I relatives?” I asked.

“No,” the middle-aged woman replied.

“But my dad said that Ma Tiandong and you are relatives,” Wen Rourou said.

“No,” the middle-aged woman repeated.

“Was this house haunted?” Wen Rourou asked.

“No,” the middle-aged woman said.

Wen Rourou and I exchanged glances, wanting to say something but stopping ourselves.

“Those two rooms are where you live, right?” I asked, looking at the east side of the house and pointing to two rooms with their doors wide open.

“I only live in one room,” the middle-aged woman replied.

“Then who lives in the other room?” Wen Rourou asked curiously.

“A dead person lives there,” the middle-aged woman replied coldly.

When the woman said this, I noticed that her facial expression suddenly became a little ferocious.

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