Chapter Five: Give Me Back My Face (Part Two)

I responded absentmindedly, thinking, “How could you possibly know better than me when you’re not even here?” I looked around, but Su Ying was nowhere to be seen.

So I squatted down; my legs had grown numb from standing so long.

Just as I settled into a crouch, I saw a light in the distance slowly drawing near.

A chill ran through me at once, and Chen Chuyi’s words echoed in my ears.

“Xiaodong, do you see something?”

“Yes, yes, I think someone’s coming with a lantern.”

Though a bit of fear tinged my heart, I also felt a strange surge of delight. Perhaps it was because, despite Su Ying getting married today, she was coming for me herself instead of staying with her groom. But the more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

“Be careful. I can’t hear her from here, so you’ll have to judge for yourself. If you run into danger, call me—I'll keep the line open.”

I murmured my assent.

It was indeed Su Ying approaching, but a strange thing—a truly bizarre thing—caught my eye: I could only make out her lower half, her upper body lost in shadow.

Yet I recognized her instantly by her gait. Still, why was she carrying an old-fashioned lantern instead of a flashlight on a night like this? I couldn’t make sense of it.

She drew closer and closer, and with every step, the air seemed to grow colder; I began to shiver uncontrollably.

She was just four or five meters away, but I still couldn’t see her face.

And the way she was moving sent a chill down my spine.

Because Su Ying wasn’t walking—she was gliding.

She balanced on her toes, dressed in a long white dress that fluttered in the night breeze. In one hand, she held a crimson lantern; her face remained a blur, and whenever I tried to focus on it, a blast of icy air stung my eyes, making me flinch.

“You’ve come?” Her voice was hoarse, nothing like the gentle, delicate tone I’d heard just last night.

“You... you...” My legs started trembling uncontrollably. To be honest, I was beginning to believe what Chen Chuyi had told me.

I’d watched plenty of ghost movies as a child, and the ghosts in them always glided along on tiptoe just like this. Had Su Ying really died and become a ghost?

I stumbled back a few steps, my body moving on its own until I was pressed against a large tree.

“Do you know everything now?”

Her voice was still rough, and she stood before me, unmoving; even the flame in her lantern was utterly still.

I couldn’t speak. Fear had gripped my throat, and cold sweat dried on my forehead only to break out anew. My back was drenched.

“If you know everything, then there’s no need for me to pretend anymore. Return my face to me, won’t you?”

That hoarse voice was so unfamiliar, so alien, I was certain the woman before me was no longer the Su Ying I knew.

Return her face?

A violent shudder seized me, and I collapsed to the ground. In that moment, I remembered the yellow talisman Chen Chuyi had given me and instinctively reached for it—but my hand brushed against something soft in my pocket instead: the invitation made of human skin. Su Ying’s face.

With trembling hands, I pulled it out and shakily handed it to her.

Su Ying seemed to smile, then stretched out her other hand—pale as jade, adorned with the bracelet I’d given her for her birthday in our final year of high school, the one with the tiny bells.

She took the face from me and released the lantern. Miraculously, the lantern didn’t fall but hung suspended, as if nailed to the air itself.

Sitting against the tree, I watched as Su Ying slowly pressed the skin onto her own face, smoothing it carefully. In an instant, the lively, cheerful Su Ying I once knew stood before me again.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” she asked, adjusting her newly restored face.

I clutched a handful of earth in both fists, too terrified to reply. My breath came in rapid, shallow bursts, sweat trickling down to my quivering lips.

“Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you now.”

She finished fixing her face and reached out her jade-white hand to help me up.

“No! Don’t come any closer!” I shouted, hurling the handful of dirt at her and rolling to my feet before sprinting toward the edge of the grove.

“Don’t run! It’s dangerous!”

But I was beyond reason. At this point, instinct seized me and drove me to run—run toward the crowds, for everyone knows that in crowds the living’s energy is strong and ghosts dare not approach.

I hadn’t run far before my legs gave out, and I collapsed to the ground...

When I came to, I found myself lying in a confined space.

I reached out and my hand immediately met a solid barrier. There was a familiar scent in this closed-off space—not anyone else’s, but Su Ying’s. It was a scent I’d once loved, but now it terrified me so much I nearly burst into tears.

I banged and thumped on the walls, but no one answered.

Desperate, I fumbled for my phone. The time was already 11:50. With trembling hands, I found the red silk pouch and called Chen Chuyi.

“Xiaodong, where are you now?”

Hearing her voice, I broke down and sobbed, honestly and helplessly. At that moment, Chen Chuyi felt like the closest person in the world to me—for even if I called my parents, they would never believe what I had to say.

Choking back tears, I stammered out everything I could sense about my predicament.

“I understand. You’re definitely inside a coffin right now. Listen to me: try not to make any noise. When the time comes, don’t be afraid. Take the little peachwood sword I gave you and tuck it into your sleeve. Stick two talismans on your shoulders—one on the left, one on the right. As for the third one, grit your teeth and swallow it. Wipe your eyes with two willow leaves. If any ghost comes to harm you, spit at it. If that doesn’t work, then... just pee on it...”

The call suddenly ended—my phone beeped, and I saw it was exactly midnight.

My heart thudded violently.

So I was in a coffin—no wonder everything felt so strange. Lying there, all I could see in my mind was Su Ying as I’d last seen her.

From inside the coffin, I heard nothing but my own breath and the pounding of my heart.

What to do?

I took a deep breath. Things were as bad as they could get; fear wouldn’t help now. Isn’t there a saying: “People fear ghosts a little, but ghosts fear people even more”?

I kept telling myself not to be afraid as I fished out the three yellow talismans from my bag.

One I tucked into my left shoulder, one into my right.

The last, I gritted my teeth and swallowed.