The Pregnant Ghost Part 2
Chapter 2 - The Festival. *****.
Author: Philip Chan
Pen name: goodadvicechan
The Festival took place in the Central Garden of the Chow River Village. The place was about 400 acres of land, half the size of the Central Park in New York City. In the middle of the garden, there was a round pool full of lotus flowers. On the north side, there was a river. Along the banks were rows of willow trees and benches that people could sit down and watch the ducks swimming.
People were excited about the festival. Many street stalls were set up to sell different kinds of Chinese dumplings, noodles, deserts, fruits dipped in sugar coating and ice cream.
Marry found an interesting hard boiled tea leaves egg stall. She tried one and liked it.
Tom liked the stall that sold curry stuff like fish balls, pig skins and cuttlefish. Mary didn’t like any of the curry stuff.
Fortune teller tables were available offering services for people to hear their fortune related to romance, business growth, and career opportunities etc. Tom and Mary didn’t have time to line up to find out the faith of Siu Feng and Siu Ming but were interested to watch how fortunes were told.
The fortune tellers, based on the names and the birth dates of their customers, invited a swallow from a cage to come out to pick a fortune card. After handing the card to the teller, the swallow returned to the cage. The card had a short story of an ancient idol. Based on the story, the fortune tellers forecasted the future destiny.
Mary and Tom set up a booth interviewing people who might have leads to trace Chow Siu Feng’s body. The winner would receive a very promising compensation from the Chow family.
At the end of the day, they analyzed the stories they collected and came to three possibilities.
The first clue was provided by a young couple, Mr. and Mrs. Au They saw a group of ghosts in their neighborhood. They thought it was worthwhile to chat with them. They might know something.
The second clue came from a young man, Ah Tsun. He said very positively that his diseased mother told him she knew where the body was.
The third one was a retired servant, Ah Fook, who said he saw something that might relate to why Chow Siu Feng’s servant committed suicide.
Tom and Mary came to conclusion that they should follow up these cases. Then they retired early.
Shortly after mid-night, Tom, while sleeping, put his hand on Mary’s shoulder. Mary pushed his hand away, he opened his eyes. He was shocked and threatened to see Ho Siu Ming lying next to him. Before he could say something, Siu Ming lifted him up and said, “Get change and let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“Don’t ask.” Shouted Siu Ming.
“Why do you always treat me like an enemy?”
“Mary chose you, not me. I never had the confidence that you could make things happen. You have never convinced my father to accept my marriage to Siu Feng. I need to be in charge.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” said Tom.
“Shut up.” Siu Ming grabbed Tom’s throat. The next moment Tom realized he was in a dark forest.
“What am I doing here?” Tom asked Siu Ming.
“This is the place Mr. Au told you today. You shouldn’t waste any time. Go and find out. I ‘ll keep an eye on how you’re doing.” After that Tom tried to look for Siu Ming, he was nowhere to be seen.
Tom was lost what to do. He saw a child with blood falling down his cheek. He immediately ran as fast as he could.
Accidentally he hit a rock and fell on the ground. As soon as he got up, he was faced with female ghost in white. Her legs did not touch the ground. Tom was threatened by the ghost and fell backwards onto the ground.
“I am not a bad ghost,” said the white ghost. “No one comes here. Why are you here?”
Tom could not utter a single word. It was Siu Ming inside him who told the white ghost why.
“You are a good person helping us, under ground ghosts. Come with me. I’ll take you to the gossip corner.”
Tom could not move his legs but Siu Ming took over his legs and ran after the white ghost.
Tom was completely being taken over by Siu Ming. Siu Ming saw a group of seven ghosts, two males and five females. He questioned every ghost one by one to find out more about Siu Feng but got no concrete information where her body was.
However, some of them said they saw both Siu Feng and Siu Ming some time ago but not lately.
The night went quickly and the sun rose and the ghosts disappeared one by one.
Tom was left in the forest, tired and sleeping.
******************
Notes:
Chapter 1 was posted on my blog on September 18, 2021
www.good-advice-book.blogspot.com
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