Zhang Wei nodded upon hearing this:
"There are ghosts, and although they were dealt with well, there are still some remnants."
Cao Yu, who was beside him, was about to respond when a voice came from the entrance of the restaurant.
It was a young man.
Zhang Wei recognized the person. When Zhang Chao had told him about the restaurant matters earlier, he had sent him a photo of his friend afterward. The person who had arrived was Zhang Chao's friend from the restaurant. Zhang Wei had contacted him in advance.
"Are you Mr. Zhang Wei?"
Zhang Chao's friend asked.
After confirming Zhang Wei's identity, Zhang Chao's friend quickly handed him a business card and said,
"Hello, I am Zhang Liangzhe, Zhang Chao's friend. Zhang Chao should have mentioned me to you."
Zhang Wei nodded and politely shook his hand:
"Yes, Mr. Zhang, Zhang Chao mentioned you to me before. I didn't expect you to open such a large restaurant at such a young age."
"You flatter me. It's just that my family takes care of it. I don't have the ability to start such a big business myself."
Zhang Liangzhe replied with a smile.
They had a brief conversation. Zhang Wei did not waste time. As he was invited into the restaurant by Zhang Liangzhe, he directly got to the point:
"Mr. Zhang, I heard from Zhang Chao that you think there are unclean things in your hotel."
"Yes."
Zhang Liangzhe nodded repeatedly:
"Actually, I didn't believe it at first. After all, unclean things are not everywhere. How could I be so unlucky to encounter them? Moreover, when my hotel was built, I specifically invited a feng shui master to help with calculations."
"But some things have happened these past few days, and I feel that my restaurant might really have unclean things in it."
Listening to him, Zhang Wei caught the key information and said,
"Things that happened these past few days? Does that mean from when did Mr. Zhang feel there were unclean things?"
Before he finished speaking.
Zhang Wei added another sentence:
"When I arrived just now, my friend Cao Yu, who is with the Rongcheng City Guard Department, helped me investigate this restaurant. He said there are records from the hospital that three security guards from your restaurant were admitted to the hospital, and is this related to the matter?"
Zhang Liangzhe nodded heavily upon hearing this:
"Yes, it's related to this matter. It was those three who were admitted to the hospital. That's why I thought there were unclean things. The incident happened two days ago..."
In response to Zhang Wei's inquiry.
Zhang Liangzhe revealed everything he knew.
...
Two days ago.
Li Gao, a disabled person with a crippled left hand, was twenty-five years old. He lost the use of his left hand at the age of twenty due to some incident. Last year, he came out to work with people from his village. As a disabled person, he was prepared for the difficulty of finding a job. Jobs were hard to find in those days, let alone for him as a disabled person.
However, Li Gao was lucky to meet Zhang Liangzhe.
After the latter recruited security guards from his village, he not only did not discriminate against Li Gao during the interview but also, upon learning of Li Gao's disability and his desire to work to support his family, made an exception and hired him as a security guard for his hotel.
That night, after the restaurant closed, Li Gao, as usual, followed the security guards from his village to lock up the restaurant.
As always.
Grateful for Zhang Liangzhe's hiring him, Li Gao, even after working for more than a year, did not slack off and sleep like some seasoned security guards. He took his flashlight and began his routine patrol of the restaurant.
In the silent, deserted night, the restaurant was eerily quiet. Apart from Li Gao, everything was so silent that one could hear a pin drop.
Tap, tap, tap.
Li Gao walked down the corridor of the restaurant, his flashlight beam sweeping across the walls. He habitually glanced at the murals on the walls.
Zhang Liangzhe's hotel was a star-rated hotel. Coupled with his wealth, he had spared no expense on the decoration during its construction. Walking down the corridor, looking at the murals on both sides of the walls, it felt less like walking in a restaurant and more like walking in a Parisian art museum.
Each mural was a replica of a famous painting. At the end of each floor's corridor, there were even some calligraphy and paintings by famous artists, as well as portraits, all of considerable value.
Li Gao's routine patrol was to check if these murals and porcelain vases had been stolen.
At this moment.
Li Gao was patrolling the second floor. It might have been because he was wearing too little clothing that day, but he felt unusually cold and couldn't help but shiver. However, he decided to finish his patrol before going to the security room to put on more clothes.
He continued towards the third floor.
Along the way.
He held his flashlight, and the beam could only illuminate a small area. Every time the light swept across the murals on the walls, especially the realistic self-portraits, Li Gao always felt a chill, even after working there for a year.
After all, rural areas are where feudal customs are most prevalent. Having grown up in the countryside, he had heard many customs from his elders. In folk customs, self-portraits should not be hung or placed carelessly. It is said that because self-portraits are so lifelike, they easily attract unclean spirits.
Because of this.
Every time he saw a self-portrait and stared at it for a few seconds, Li Gao always felt as if the person in the painting would suddenly move.
"It's okay, they're just paintings. What's there to be afraid of?"
Li Gao habitually reassured himself:
"The TV says feudal superstitions are not to be believed. What my great-uncle and the others said are feudal. Don't scare yourself, Li Gao."
However, the more he reassured himself, coupled with the unusual coldness of the night, the more Li Gao's thoughts wandered.
As he spoke.
He even recalled a folk legend that his great-uncle had told him when he was a child.
His great-uncle had told him why, in ancient times and even during the Republic of China era, there were divine sculptures and portraits among the people, but rarely real people or portraits.
Because sculptures and portraits, including those lifelike paper figures, could not be painted or made casually. Once made, they would attract unclean spirits. The more lifelike they were, the more easily they would attract them.
For example, paper figures.
Most apprentices of paper craftsmen know a rule of thumb... Paper figures' eyes are not dotted, paper horses' feet are not adorned with manes, people laughing and horses neighing are not to be heard, and if you forget, the King of Hell will invite you.
There are similar taboos for portraits. Portraits that are too lifelike should never be stared at for too long, as one's soul can be drawn into the lifelike portrait.
Because when a person dies and becomes a ghost, they are initially disoriented, and their three souls and seven spirits are muddled. They might mistake a lifelike portrait for a person and try to possess it to return to life. If someone stares at it, their soul can easily be captured by the ghost in the self-portrait.
Thinking of this.
Li Gao swallowed and nervously glanced at the self-portraits on the walls on both sides. He felt a shiver, feeling as if the paintings were looking at him.
Just as Li Gao's nerves were on edge.
Tap, tap...
"Who?!"
Li Gao suddenly looked towards the stairs leading to the restaurant.
In this silent corridor of the restaurant, Li Gao was alone. Yet, he heard footsteps, footsteps other than his own.
Li Gao's breathing became heavy. He tried his best to calm himself down and listened intently.
Tap, tap...
With the faint, almost imperceptible footsteps coming from the fourth floor, Li Gao's pupils contracted.
There was someone on the fourth floor!
It was already midnight. Apart from himself and two other security guards, there was no one else in the restaurant. He knew that his two security guard companions had not come with him on patrol.
Then whose footsteps were those on the fourth floor? A thief? Or...
As he stood still, listening carefully to the sound, confirming that there were indeed footsteps, Li Gao was certain that he had not misheard.
It was not an illusion!
There were really footsteps.
Although the sound was very, very light, in this corridor so silent that one could hear a pin drop, the sound was very clear.
At the same time.
Li Gao was also quite sure that these were not the sounds of his companions. If it were his companions patrolling, there would be no need to make such soft sounds, as if tiptoeing.
However.
To ensure he wasn't making a false alarm, Li Gao specifically picked up his walkie-talkie and spoke to his companions in the security room.
"Hello, Old Lin, are you two in the security room?"
"Ah? Yes, what's up?" came the voice of another security guard, not Old Lin, from the walkie-talkie.
"I'm just asking. Have Old Lin speak, and I'll see if you are really in the security room, or if you're deliberately playing a trick on me and secretly following me to scare me. I just heard something, it seems like there's movement in the fourth-floor corridor."
"Li Gao, is your timidness acting up again? Hahaha, Old Lin and I are both here."
"Are you sure there's movement on the fourth floor? I just checked the surveillance, and there's no one in the corridor. I think you're scaring yourself again. You did the same thing on your first day on duty, causing a false alarm, haha."
As the laughter of his two companions came through the phone.
Although their laughter was cheerful.
At this moment, Li Gao felt his scalp tingling, his breathing became heavy, as if a ball of fire was burning in his throat, making him dry-mouthed.
No one on the fourth-floor surveillance?
How could that be?
He could hear it clearly, and even now he could hear it. There was movement on the fourth floor, and it was very close, near the stairs leading from the third to the fourth floor. That area was not a blind spot for surveillance. How could no one be seen?
At this moment.
In the silent corridor of the third floor of the restaurant, Li Gao could clearly hear his own heart pounding violently due to nervousness, and the... tap, tap, tap of footsteps coming from the fourth floor.
Finally, out of duty as a security guard, Li Gao headed towards the fourth floor.
...