Chapter 16: Ancestral Hall

After we left the bathroom, Xiao Qing handed me a towel from the nearby basket and told me to dry off.
She asked, “I don’t have any other clothes at home—can you wear my nightgown?”

“Uh, a nightgown?”
I stammered, then agreed because I had no other choice.

Xiao Qing passed me an ultra-thin white lace slip.
It felt cool and soft to the touch; it would be comfortable to wear.

Only it was far too sheer.
Xiao Qing’s figure had always been slimmer than Xia Yubing’s, and once I slipped into the loose nightgown it clung closely to my body.
At the chest it pushed up into two distinct mounds, and through the semi-transparent fabric I could faintly see two pink dots.

“Uh!”
I hugged myself awkwardly.
Before this I could still convince myself the clothes Xiao Qing had lent me were athletic wear, which didn’t feel too feminine, but this nightgown was unmistakably a girl’s garment.

Wearing girls’ clothing for the first time felt extremely awkward.
I couldn’t sit still.
Besides, I obviously couldn’t wear Xiao Qing’s underwear, so beneath the nightgown I was completely exposed—yet I had no choice unless I wanted to remain naked.

Xiao Qing and I were wearing nearly identical lace slips, hers in pale green.
She casually took a damp towel, covered her nose with it, and opened the door to the living room.

The TV was still on.
Her parents were curled up on the sofa, softly snoring—sound asleep.
The hypnotic incense had worked instantly.

Xiao Qing retrieved the open perfume-like bottle from beneath the sofa, screwed the cap back on, and then said to me, “It’s fine now.
Come help me carry my parents to the bedroom.”

“All right.”
We moved the two of them together—me taking one end, Xiao Qing the other.
I’d assumed we’d be too weak to lift them, but I found myself surprisingly strong and easily hoisted her father up.

I knew my own physical condition; I’d always failed in PE and didn’t have such strength before.
Was it from wearing the Painted Skin’s shell, or from soaking in the spiritual water?

Anyway, we got her parents onto the bed.
Xiao Qing covered them with a blanket, then took out a jar of white powder and sprinkled it over the blanket.
A faint shroud of killing qi clung to the blanket, and the couple’s vitality seemed to vanish at once.

Not vanish—no, it was concealed by the killing qi; it only appeared as if there were two lifeless bodies on the bed.
But when you looked closely, you could still see them breathing.

“That should do it.”
Xiao Qing said.
“The Painted Skin Ghost usually only attacks those it’s formed an emotional bond with.
If we mask their vitality with lifeless powder, the ghost shouldn’t go after my parents.”

“So that’s what lifeless powder is.”
I watched the white bone-like powder in her hand.
It was the same powder she’d dusted on the clothes before making me put them on and helping me escape the school.

“Yes.
Lifeless powder is a basic anti-ghost tool.
You need it when entering haunted places.
They say it’s made from ground fragments of grudged spirits and bones of the deceased—so it’s pretty expensive.”
Xiao Qing said.

By now she’d shown me five or six different anti-ghost items.
Roughly tallying them up, they’d cost tens of thousands.
No wonder her pocket money was plentiful—her family was clearly far better off than mine.

“If I smear lifeless powder on myself and fake death, won’t the Painted Skin think I’m dead and leave me alone?”
I asked, grasping at hope.

“No.”
Xiao Qing answered seriously.
“You and the Painted Skin have already established a bond.
It always knows your location and condition and will return sooner or later.
Even if it believes you dead, it’ll still gut you, peel off the skin, and you’ll end up dead.”

I understood now why she was so certain the Painted Skin would come back.
So I asked, “When does a Painted Skin usually come back to attack?”

“By ghost convention, they usually strike at the deadliest hour of yin qi—the Midnight Hour, exactly twelve o’clock.
The period from midnight to four in the morning is the most dangerous, and if they can’t take a person, most ghosts will retreat.” Ou Zhiqin said.

“Of course that’s the general rule; it depends on how badly the Painted Skin was injured by your jade pendant today and how well it’s recovered.
But even if it doesn’t come tonight, it will certainly come for you tomorrow.”

I glanced at the clock; it was already ten.
“We only have two hours to prepare, so we must hurry.
Also—”

I stopped mid-sentence.
Xiao Qing turned and asked, “Was there something else you wanted to say?”

“If— and I mean if— we really can’t stop the Painted Skin and it catches me, I want you to run.
Don’t try to save me; I’ll buy you time as best I can.”

Xiao Qing laughed when she heard that.
“Brother Xiao, I’m the one rescuing you, not the other way around.
How did that turn into you saving me? Hehe—”

“Xiao Qing, I know you’re trying to save me, and I’m truly grateful.
Exactly because of that, I can’t drag you down with me and get you killed too.
If there really are ghosts in this world, I’d feel guilty even as a ghost.”
I said seriously.

Xiao Qing saw I was earnest and nodded.
“All right.
I promise—if it gets dangerous, I’ll escape first.
I still want to live a long life.”

Relieved by her answer, I began preparing defenses to face the Painted Skin under her direction.

Following Xiao Qing’s orders, I taped her printed talismans around the room, especially along the window seams and the balcony door—like sealing strips.

Xiao Qing sat at her computer, downloaded something, and opened a music player.

Finally, she went to a small door behind the living room and opened it.
Inside was a narrow niche with a dozen ancestral plaques, each inscribed with the names of Ou family ancestors, and offerings of incense, candles, fruits and the like.

I realized at once this was the Ou family ancestral shrine.
The ancestral tablets stood at the heart of the house’s aura.

Though the compartment was small, its significance was great.
In old times an ancestral hall was the family’s most sacred place and not to be casually entered; in some regions even women were forbidden from stepping inside.

Understanding its importance, I kept my distance.
I was an outsider; even if modern customs had relaxed, I shouldn’t approach someone else’s ancestral shrine.

After seeing so many uncanny things today, my reverence for spirits had only grown.
If ghosts truly existed, honoring the dead seemed the simplest way to let them rest.