Do ghosts have IQ? I think maybe they do, at least they are much more agile than me...

  It's easy to say that it's just a joke when watching Zhu Zihao, but when it comes to myself, I'm just a 20-year-old socialist youth who has long since abandoned atheism. But you have to understand what it's like to have something unknown lurking behind your back and playing hide-and-seek with you - what kind of feeling is that?

  "Wen Bin, save me!" I shouted loudly: "Can't shake it off!"

  I'm naturally skinny, back then I was only a little over 100 pounds, and I looked like a bamboo pole, so my shadow was long and thin. The extra one is different, it's about twice as wide as me, its head is huge like a chamber pot, and the neck and head are indistinguishable from each other.

  There was a moment when I felt that this shadow was somewhat familiar. Many years ago, there was also someone who liked to lean on my back and press me down until I couldn't breathe. At that time, I would always stretch out my hand to grab his ears, and he would always dodge left and right, just like now.

  Cha Wenbin saw that I was in a situation and had already rushed over on horseback. I knew that many of the disciples of the Mao Shan sect had very heavy killing intent. On this day, Zheng Dao had just escaped from Mao Shan, although he had some restraint, but in an emergency, he would still use his killing moves. Sure enough, Cha Wenbin's hand already held a copper coin sword over a foot long and quickly moved to my back.

  "Wait!" I shouted.

  He was holding a sword and really preparing to stab me in the back. Hearing me shout, he stopped his hand: "What?"

  I said straightforwardly: "I think it looks a bit familiar, quite like Fatso!"

  Cha Wenbin walked suspiciously to my side, looked me up and down, and the shadow was motionless. It merged with my shadow, making my outline suddenly much larger. I heard Cha Wenbin muttering: "It does look a bit like it."

  At that moment, the shadow moved slightly, and I saw an arm stretching out, very long. The moonlight that night was particularly good, illuminating half of the earth in a snowy white hue. I clearly saw the large hand at the end of the arm, and what's even stranger is that the palm began to make continuous movements: one moment it stretched out two fingers, the next it clenched into a fist, then opened up again, repeating this motion non-stop.

  Zhu Zihao said: "This is interesting, this is teasing you and wants to play rock-paper-scissors with you."

  "Rock-paper-scissors?" "Yeah, look at that kid playing rock-paper-scissors!"

  You little rascal, your imagination is really rich! I'm going to let Zha Wenbin take action now. This is deliberately provocative! Wait a minute, no, we don't call this thing that in our place. We call this game "Rock-Paper-Scissors!"

  "Stones?" I called out softly: "Is it you? If so, come out..."

  The shadow didn't move, its palm remained clenched into a fist, the atmosphere became somewhat eerie at this moment, Cha Wenbin slowly retreated several steps and hastily pulled out a small bottle to open his heavenly eye.

  I continued speaking into the air around me: "Is that you? I'm Xiao Yi, where are you? Can you tell me what's going on?"

  At this time, the shadow's gesture changed again, it formed an empty circle. At this moment, Cha Wenbin was already prepared, as long as he opened his eyes, he might be able to see what it was. Unfortunately, at that moment, a strong wind started blowing, and the Gobi Desert was filled with flying sand and rolling stones. For a while, the dust blown up by the wind made it impossible for people to open their eyes. People who lived in the Gobi Desert all year round had experience with this kind of wind, which they also called "earth dragon roll". It would blow away a flock of sheep in an instant, but it would not last long.

  By the time this gust of wind passed, my body was already a mess, with dust and dirt slapping all over me, my mouth and nose full of impurities. After cleaning up a bit, I looked down at the shadow on the ground again, only to find that there was only one person left - myself.

  "Fatty?" I shouted around: "Where are you? Stop playing, come out!"

  It was as silent as death, and even the ghosts around us suddenly disappeared. The Gobi Desert returned to its usual calmness. Zha Wenbin walked up to me and said, "It's gone, how strange! The lone souls and wild ghosts at that end were all blown away by this wind."

  "Was that him just now?"

  "He didn't make it." Cha Wenbin fell silent for a moment before continuing, "I'd rather hope that wasn't really him. It doesn't make any sense. Even if he had left this world, there's no reason he should appear here. Let's take a step back and say that even if he did go to the other side, since you can find him today, he should have come looking for us long ago. Hiding isn't his style."

  "It's also, Fatso isn't that kind of person, even if he really became a ghost, he wouldn't let me off easily. Looking at the altar behind me that had already been overturned by the dust devil, I said helplessly: "There's still a harvest tonight?"

  "Alright then, there's something, pack up and go back, we'll head to the Jiang family old residence early tomorrow morning."

  That night, I couldn't sleep, tossing and turning, my mind filled with that shadow, was it Fatso? If it really was him, then he's truly dead... This wasn't the answer I wanted.

  Hu Genglin was brought over by the villagers early in the morning. The location of Jiang's old house is not hard to find, three miles east of Gu Dongtan, there is a small river ditch, and the water in the ditch is less than one step wide. Along both sides of the river flow, you can still see some remnants of houses, basically all the locals use local materials, using rammed earth walls to build their homes, only Jiang's family uses bricks, so as long as you find a place with brick walls, you can lock in the area of the old house.

  "There is an old locust tree at the gate, which has been dead for many years. The locust tree faces the courtyard door, and inside are the main rooms. On the left are two rooms belonging to the master, on the right are two rooms belonging to the young lady and her husband, and in the back are three rooms for us servants. To the east is the warehouse, to the west is the livestock shed, and in the middle of the courtyard there is also a persimmon tree, under which is a well." Hu Genglin led us while chatting, relying on his memory to guide us as we searched.

  "Over there, over there." He pointed to the other side of the river and said: "See that? There's still half a wall left. Back then, they were all built with gypsum mortar, so sturdy. Yet all the houses in this village have been flattened, but our old house still has two rooms standing."

  As I approached, there was indeed a blackened tree stump at the entrance, but it had been dead for many years. The threshold stone was still there, about 10 cm high above the ground, with diamond-shaped carvings on top, showing the owner's attention to detail. The well mentioned inside the house could no longer be found, probably buried by the Gobi mud, and the persimmon tree was left with only a stump, the main part of the house was almost invisible, and the western room said to be used for livestock was still half remaining.

  "This house was originally well-built, but I got older and went to a foreign land. Many people came to take bricks from here to build houses, even the two-story small building of Nanhu Township Government said they used our family's bricks."

  I took a look around, and this house was indeed very large if it were restored. Judging from the remaining walls that had not completely disappeared, it covered an area of nearly one and a half acres. It can be seen that the Jiang family in those days was indeed prosperous for a time.

  Zha Wenbin walked back and forth, occasionally nodding his head. I took the opportunity to chat with Old Hu about family matters. Before long, Zha Wenbin returned and said: "The main gate faces Longshou Mountain, sitting north and facing south, the feng shui is still good, no wonder the Jiang family was able to prosper for a time. However, there is one thing that I am still unsure about and would like to ask for your advice, Old Man."

  "Please go ahead, young man."

  "Look at that stone path in the courtyard," said Cha Wenbin, pointing to a half-buried stone horse road, "hasn't it been there for a long time?"

  "You're talking about that horse, it's been many years, I was already here when I entered the Jiang family. The old master thought it was a hassle and even found people to try to move it away, ten or so big men came, using horses to pull, and people pushing from behind, but they couldn't budge it at all. Later that year, a monk came here to beg for alms, pointed and said the horse couldn't be moved, so it's been left here ever since."

  "Is there only one?" Zhang Wenbin said: "Logically, there should be another one on the opposite side that is just like this, where did it go? Only the old man knows."

  "In the early years, I heard from the old servant of the Jiang family that during Old Master's time, there were still some other things in this courtyard. At that time, it was said that this place used to be a royal palace and that the Jiang family built their house on the foundation of the palace, which is why they became very rich and noble."

  "Is there something wrong?"

  Zha Wenbin nodded and said, "Yes, this thing usually appears on the divine path, it's a typical Tang tomb style. Take a closer look at that horse, its reins have three roots, which is a mourning horse, can only be used for burial, ancient people would never dare to put this thing in their own courtyard, whether it's an imperial palace or not is hard to say, I reckon there should be a large Tang tomb nearby."

  "Building a house on top of a grave, how can that be good?" I was somewhat perplexed. Logically, the Jiang family should have been plagued by extremely bad feng shui and shouldn't have become so prosperous, yet they were one of the wealthiest families in the region.

  "That's not necessarily true, the foundation of yin and yang houses can be reversed, a place suitable for the dead may not necessarily be unsuitable for the living. I have another question, sir, did the ancestors of the Jiang family understand some Taoist principles?"

  "What kind of business?" The old man looked puzzled: "Our Jiang family is all about doing business, I don't know what kind of business you're referring to, young man."

  "I examined the foundation of this house, and I think the Jiang family's old mansion that Mr. Zhang mentioned should have been built by his great-grandfather or even earlier. Before that, there must have been another Jiang family house here, as the foundation on the ground clearly has two circles with completely different styles. The new house is facing south towards Longshou Mountain, while the old house is facing west, which is not suitable for living." When Cha Wenbin said this, he was actually being somewhat tactful. He understood that the person who designed this house had gone beyond common sense, which meant that the Jiang family's previous mansion had extremely poor lighting and was cold all year round, which did not match a wealthy family at all. However, this kind of house also has a very obvious function: gathering yin energy. Usually, this design is used for ancestral halls or charity houses. If it's for living, then the purpose might be somewhat suspicious."

  "I remember when this house was built, it was half a year after I arrived. The old mansion of the Jiang family before was somewhat different from this one. At that time, Old Master was still alive, and he passed away half a year later. Then, Young Master tore down the old mansion and rebuilt it. The relationship between Old Master and Young Master wasn't very good, but Old Master loved Miss dearly. I remember Old Master's health wasn't very good, he disliked sunlight, and often locked himself in his room. We children didn't dare to get close to him, and whenever we saw him, we felt scared."

  "Are you afraid? What's there to be afraid of?"

  "It's hard to say, but that person is very strange, especially when it comes to food, everything is cooked separately, he likes eating half-raw..."