Li Wei moved out of home, and into this residential building.
This building was in the new estate east of the city, and could not be considered new or old.
Once Li Wei left home, his bank account was frozen. He did not have too much money. At the time he had seen this building looking for tenants, with a fairly low price, and hurried to have a look. A quiet environment, with two rooms and a living room, and thus he rented it.
Today was moving day, and the lift was broken.
Li Wei bemoaned his bad luck, yet fortunately he had called a friend to help move his luggage ahead of time.
He did not have too much luggage either, and finished moving in an hour. There was a backpack left in the car, and Li Wei went down to retrieve it.
Li Wei’s good friend Fang Guo was drinking water in the kitchen, and loudly said: “Get it later.”
Li Wei replied: “Nah, that backpack has my netbook, with important data inside.”
As he finished speaking he went down to get the backpack, and on his way back spotted someone waiting for the lift. He wanted to go over and remind him that the lift was broken, yet who knew that with a turn of the head, the lift was fine.
Li Wei loudly bemoaned his luck in his heart.
At this point the lift doors opened, and the person in front went in first.
Li Wei hurried to follow him, pressing the button for the fourth floor. Realising that the person before did not press, he turned back and asked: “Which floor are you?”
That person stood by the side of the lift, his head hung low. Upon speaking, the head moved a bit: “Fourth.”
Coincidence.
Both on the fourth floor, probably even neighbours.
Li Wei was an outspoken type, and though the other person was clearly somewhat reclusive, he could make a conversation: “Brother, I’m Li Wei, also living on the fourth floor. 403, which one are you? Come over for a meal later, get into the mood.”
That person still hung his head low, not speaking.
Li Wei was embarrassed, scolding himself mentally for shooting his mouth off, and did not speak any more. Yet his eyes fixated on the reflection of the person behind him in the lift walls. That person was of average height, with a nice figure.
A simple T-shirt and a thin jacket, black pants, long legs. Well-proportioned, thin, long legs.
Li Wei felt somewhat capricious.
In his mind there appeared a scene of those legs looped around a waist. The skin ought to be white, not the deathly paleness of paper, but a delicate white, with a touch of pink.
That pink should come during moments of passion.
Li Wei’s lower body felt rather hard.
The lift doors opened, and the person behind him took the lead to get out. Li Wei gave a fleeting look, but did not spot anything.
That person’s hair was a bit long, blocking his face. His head was still lowered, so his face could not be seen clearly, yet by his shirt collar there could be seen a length of his neck, very white.
Li Wei strode out of the elevator, following after the youth.
The youth was currently opening his door, and Li Wei followed behind him, discovering that he just lived opposite.
404.
This number was not very lucky.
Li Wei thought so in his heart.
With a clang, the youth opened the door.
Li Wei strode up to ask for his name, yet who would have known that once the door opened, a deathly cold breeze would hit him in the face, making him shiver.
With that moment of hesitation, that youth had already entered the house and closed the door.
Li Wei stared in a daze at the door for a while, and then turned around to return to 403.
Only when he closed the door behind him, did he collapse for a bit.
Fang Guo hurried over to help him up: “Dammit Li Wei, what fairy pressed you dry last night? You just went up and down the stairs and your legs softened?”
Li Wei just laid himself flat on the sofa, rolling his eyes at Fang Guo: “I got a fright.”
Fang Guo burst into laughter: “You saw a ghost?”
Li Wei: “Yep I saw a ghost.”
Fang Guo: “An alluring ghost, to press you dry like this.”
Li Wei: “Dammit, get lost. I’m taking a break.”
Fang Guo: “Sure. I’ll get a glass of water in the kitchen, don’t you lay off the house-warming party tonight.”
Li Wei waved his hand, and closed his eyes.
By closing his eyes, it was as if that terrifying cold gaze was following relentlessly. What he did not tell Fang Guo was, when he was chasing the youth he saw under his collar, a fair neck thickly dotted with hickeys.
Deep marks covered shallow marks, and with their number, it must have been sucked everyday to last for so long.
They came in roses and pinks, with a gentle charm, and being on white skin, were particularly alluring.
Li Wei was enticed, and almost wanted to go up and kiss. Yet right as he had this thought, an extremely terrifying gaze locked on him, frightful and cold and relentless.
As if belonging to the eyes of a great beast, whose greatest treasure was being coveted, and thus invited his monstrous anger.
Li Wei was almost frightened to the point of suffocation, it was a terror almost as if he had been held by the throat, and completely unable to breathe.
Only when both doors were closed, did that fear vanish.
Li Wei roughly understood, within the youth’s house opposite, there was something.
Fang Guo returned from the kitchen, secretly talking to him: “Do you know that this building has a problem?”
Li Wei was not in a good mood: “If there was it was brought into existence by your big mouth.”
“Eh? Don’t disbelieve me. I was taking out the trash when I met an old lady burning yellow paper in the corridor, muttering something. And don’t you realise that this building is extremely quiet? Now it’s noon, don’t you find this silence abnormal? Plus, I think the most problematic, is the unit opposite yours.”
404?
Li Wei’s mood changed: “Don’t talk drivel just because the numbers are unlucky.”
Fang Guo: “What would I talk drivel on. I was taking out the trash just now, on my way back I saw the doors of 404 opened, and it was completely dark within. Not a single person in sight. I was baffled, right in midday, with blazing hot weather outside, how could it be so dark inside? And it was that darkness where you can’t even make out your fingers once you stretched out your hand. I went to have a look out of curiosity, and just upon arriving before the door, a cold wind hit me in the face, and as I started, those doors abruptly shut in my face. One bang, and the whole corridor echoed with that bang. It was really scary.”
Li Wei recalled that hounding fear, and was afraid.
Yet he was reluctant to admit: “You made it up.”
Fang Guo: “Believe it or not. I’m just saying, Wei’er, you should go home and reconcile with Uncle.”
Li Wei fell silent, and after a while bellowed: “Dammit if you call me Wei’er I’ll kill you.”
“Hey hey, why get angry? Such a bad temper.”
Late at night, Li Wei returned from the communal meal, and having drunk some alcohol, was rather in his head.
He had just pressed the elevator button, and the door opened. Behind him a youth hurriedly crammed him to one side, squeezing in and even closing the door behind him.
Li Wei was drunk, and his reaction slow. Only a while later was he angry enough to kick the wall.
“艸!”
For lack of better option, he switched to the stairs.
Making it to the fourth floor with great difficulty, by the moonlight he checked his watch, 0:44.
What number is this!
Li Wei swore as he fished out his keys to open the door, not noticing the door behind him open quietly.
A burst of cold air nipped at his throat, and with a shiver, the keys dropped, and the person was awakened to sobriety.
As he picked up his keys he heard a peal of a long and continuous sound and a subtle ramming, with a strange splashing sound.
With those sounds mingled together, Li Wei was truly familiar.
Alcohol added with not giving vent for a long time, made it that Li Wei was hard just on hearing those sounds.
As if possessed he turned around and walked into 404. 404 was completely dark, though there was moonlight outside the window, yet none seemed to shine in.
Li Wei fished out his cellphone for lighting, following the sound to go over. Stopping by the bathroom door, the bathroom door was lit.
He lightly pushed open a crack, and spotted in the bathtub within, a youth lying inside, completely naked. Both legs straddled the bathtub sides, and his head lay back as he moaned continuously.
The youth had a delicate and pretty appearance, with fair skin. His body repeatedly bumped forward as if ruthlessly struck, and with each bump, he seemed to be dragged back to be rammed again. Every time, the youth’s voice would turn sharp, with a touch of pain and joy,
From Li Wei’s angle he could only make out the youth’s clavicle and the legs supported outside the bathtub, and he thought that the youth was seeking pleasure by himself. His heart itched unbearably and he stepped forward, making noise as he kicked something.
The youth suddenly awoke, opening his eyes to meet Li Wei’s gaze, and began to scream and struggle, alongside splashes. Yet he seemed to be set in place by something, unable to turn over, as if he had entered a tricky corner. All of a sudden his limbs softened, as if only able to be taken advantage of.
His eyes were suffused with tears and lust, with red at the corners of his eyes, as if he had been cruelly bullied, and had cried. Yet he seemed like some demon, with a bewitching countenance that seduced people.
The youth was an extraordinary beauty, an evildoer, and without a doubt, at this very moment, a charming demon who seduced men into committing crimes.
Reddened eyes, wet clavicle, fair skin, shanks covered in hickeys…. wait! Hickeys?
Isn’t he alone? Where did the hickeys come from?
Li Wei started, suddenly realising that the bathtub was splashing in all directions, the youth firmly fixed at the waist, receiving a frantic and violent attack. His tiny toes curled, hands tightly grasping by the edges of the bathtub, his whole body contorting as if the intensity of the offensive had surpassed what he could control, giving out joyful moans.
Li Wei could not control himself, with this excitement added to his fear, unexpectedly shot.
Weakening to the ground for a spell, the bathtub also fell silent.
A burst of fear and cold slowly approached, and Li Wei’s whole body froze, being frozen to the point of shivering. He had sensed danger, yet could not move. In the next moment his entire body flew to hit the wall, and he felt as if all his internal organs had moved place, extremely painful.
His throat felt a salty sweetness, as blood flowed out.
Li Wei’s arms and legs worked together as he crawled backwards, trying to escape. Yet the feeling of his hair standing on end was right behind him, gradually approaching.
That danger let him know, he was finished.
He would die here.
This was because he had lusted for the beast’s treasure, and enraged the beast.
“… Lin, don’t kill…”
Li Wei did not hear too distinctly, as if the youth was pleading for leniency. The thing behind him paused, and he grasped the chance to open the door and run in a spurt of energy, not entering his house or the lift, but heading for the stairs. When he was about to reach the first floor, that frightful feeling of his hair standing on end followed relentlessly. Li Wei was frightened enough to run faster, and without paying attention fell down, rolling down the steps.
As he sank into the dark he seemed to spot a man standing at the entrance of the stairs, yet the face could not be seen, only looking coldly at him. That gaze, seemed to regard a corpse.
The next time he awoke, Li Wei was in the hospital.
Fang Guo was at his bedside, and upon seeing him awake, hurriedly poured a glass of water.
Li Wei started: “I’m… not dead?”
Fang Guo rolled his eyes: “A narrow escape.”
Li Wei promptly sat up, his legs aching immediately.
“Hey? Don’t fiddle, your leg’s broken. Falling down from above, it broke.”
Li Wei: “Fang Guo, 404 is haunted.”
Fang Guo rolled his eyes: “Told you earlier, you didn’t believe me. Move out later.”
Li Wei frowned: “No, 404 still has someone, he’s entangled with that ghost, he saved me, I want to save him.”
Fang Guo sneered: “Then a hundred lives won’t be enough for you. Moreover do you think he would value your rescue?”
Li Wei: “What does that mean?”
Fang Guo sighed: “Put away your own lewd intentions, don’t lust for other people’s things. The thing in 404 is evil and fierce, you don’t go provoking it.”
Li Wei: “There’s someone inside—”
Fang Guo: “Someone else’s officially wed legitimate relation!”
Li Wei: “Ha?”
Fang Guo was not in a good mood: “Haven’t you heard of spirit marriage?”
Li Wei: “Listening is one thing—they’re in a spirit marriage? That’s not right, they’re both men.”
Fang Guo: “Spirit marriage depends on the Eight Characters. OK, someone else is already attached, and you’re still provoking them. When they’re making love, you even ran to look and even lusted for someone else’s wife. Offing you would be regarded as a matter of course.”
Li Wei’s heart was shocked incessantly, he had not known that it was such a thing.
No wonder that youth looked so gloomy, plainly living alone yet seeming to be tenderly doted upon day and night. No wonder that unit was never lit, no wonder the youth’s whole body was covered in hickeys.
Fang Guo went out to wash his hands, and halfway out turned back to say: “Oh right, fortunately last night you didn’t take the lift. A youth died inside last night, I heard that he was frightened to death.”
Li Wei thought about the youth who had rushed into the elevator last night, and his heart was filled with post-traumatic stress.
After leaving the hospital, Li Wei packed up his luggage to leave 403. When he left he glanced at 404, the door was tightly closed, yet seemed to have a cold and gloomy atmosphere all the time.
When Li Wei got into the car he accidentally looked back, and happened to spot at the balcony the youth from 404.
The youth’s complexion was pale, his appearance delicate and pretty.
At this moment, from behind him there extended a man’s hand, reining in the youth shoulder from behind, towards the darkness.
The curtains slowly pulled shut, and finally, Li Wei saw on the youth’s face a smile.
Most likely, he seemed perfectly happy.
END
- GDT Chapter 32 - March 31, 2021
- GDT Chapter 31 - October 28, 2020
- GDT Chapter 30 - September 2, 2020
So spooky! I’m glad to see that the shou appeared happy with his situation. 🙂
Thanks!
Me too. Im actually glad too that the gong was stopped by the shou’s plea or else… it’s kinda awkward even after seeing the shou smiled in the end
THANKS! ❤
Welcome!
A bit disturbing
Thank goodness this is just a story
Amen to that
Love the story though
Thanks!
glad that he’s happy🤗
And glad that this is only a novel😅
thanks a lot!
man… i was misled thinking LW is the gong. something short like this is very good sometimes
Thanks for the short story. I’m always up for something I can read in one sitting. I felt some creepy vibes, but was glad for the happy ending!
Ohhh, so short, but so good. It frightened me but it was kinda hot too. I’m glad that youth was happy, because it’ll be a tragedy otherwise…
Thanks for the story!!
So weird…
But very engaging.
Thanks for the translation ❤️
Aiii fang guo also forced in spirit marriage, its a trend is it?
Thanks for your hard work! 💕
weird. creepy. but soo soo good. just like a satisfying quickie 😊
Thank you for the translation… a little creepy but kind of interesting.
It’s funny how Fan Guo can talk nonchalantly about it when it also happened to him haha
“Oh right, fortunately last night you didn’t take the lift. A youth died inside last night, I heard that he was frightened to death.”
That meant FG must definitely be happy and in love 🥰
^ what FG said… is the youth that died is the Ghost Wife? Then, he is now also a ghost like his husband?
I wonder if Guoguo already married because he warned Wei to not save the one who already legally married in Ghost Marriage… Hmmm or because he just understand the law of supernatural?
Anyway that was really interesting!
Thank you for the translation! 🙇
Already married. Li Wei is mentioned in the last chapter of Guoguo’s story.
Ooh! Another ghost marriage! Atleast this one seems to be more consentual! 😘
That poor kid who died though….
Thanks for the translation! ♥️
Who is the youth that died in the elevator? Passer-by? A n unlucky resident in that building? And why he died? So confused :/
The author may have left it open ended for multiple reasons.
1. A death shows that the protagonists of both stories experienced real danger from the ghosts.
2. The lift being broken at the start of the story may not have been a coincidence.
3. There is the strong possibility that the resident of 404 is now dead.
4. We know as readers that the being in 404 is not the only ghost in this building. The entire building could be haunted. Ghost Apartment!
Essentially, the author is letting the reader make up their own story for this character. What can be more scary than the unknown?