Chapter I

Late night tavern

At ten o'clock in the evening, at the door of a tavern in the eastern suburbs.

"When did you open a tavern here?"

"I don't know? Go in for a drink or two? I'm tired of the day, and I'm off tomorrow anyway. ”

"What about Lao Wang? Why can't you keep your soul and still think about the morning? It must be that you are too tired and dizzy, drink some wine, go back to sleep and be fine. ”

The middle-aged man known as Lao Wang nodded silently in agreement.

Lao Wang glanced up, the name of the tavern was "Night Talk Tavern", and he thought to himself: Does the name of this store mean that people have a place to talk at night?

He shook his head, lifted the curtain and walked in with his colleagues.

The tavern was slightly dim, and the interior looked like it had just been renovated, probably because it was newly opened, and there was no one else in the store.

There was a man at the tavern bar who was intently wiping his glass, and didn't notice any customers coming in.

"Boss, what's the wine?"

The boss raised his head when he heard this, and seemed to be a little surprised, as if he was surprised that there would be customers, and said, "I'm sorry, the new store is open, why don't you have some beer?" ”

Lao Wang and his entourage were not particular, nodded and agreed, found a random place and sat down, chatting.

It turned out that Lao Wang and his party had just gotten off work, and they thought that they would be relaxed with two glasses of wine, and they should be fine if they had a break tomorrow anyway.

The other people were sitting and chatting, but Lao Wang was the only one, leaning on the sofa, his brows furrowed, as if he had something to worry about.

"Hey, what's wrong with Lao Wang today? In the past, he was the most talkative. Someone asked in a whisper.

"Shhh, don't mention it, it was said that when Lao Wang was at work today, a mother came to the unit with a little girl in her arms to look for him, but the blame is that no one else saw it except Lao Wang, and some people wondered why Lao Wang sat alone in the room talking to the air, thinking he was talking to himself."

"As a result, a colleague still went in to ask Lao Wang to eat, he pointed to the other side, saying that he was chatting with someone, and he would go back later, which scared that colleague, thinking that Lao Wang was not insane."

At this time, Lao Wang opened his mouth and said in a low voice: "I really saw it." After saying that, he closed his eyes and refused to say anything more.

The atmosphere cooled down, and the others stopped discussing the topic and turned to talk about other things.

Although Lao Wang closed his eyes, all that came to his mind was the scene of the day. In the morning, he did receive the mother and daughter, especially the mother and daughter had bruises of varying degrees on their heads and arms, and even scars from belt whipping.

He could see at a glance that this was a trace of domestic violence, and he quickly asked the mother and daughter to sit down to understand the situation, during which he did not find anything wrong at all, but listened carefully to the words of the mother and daughter, hoping to help them.

Who knows, everyone said that they didn't see the mother and daughter, because they were wrong, and Lao Wang is now caught in a deep rhetorical question, is it because he is too tired from work and makes himself hallucinate, or does he see a "ghost"?

Shaking his head, trying to sober himself up, no, no, he is educated, how can he believe that there are ghosts in the world.

Lao Wang took a deep breath and tried not to let himself think about the things of the day.

At this time, the boss came over with a beer, and Lao Wang took the beer and said thank you and drank it.

Out of professional habits, Lao Wang subconsciously looked at the boss, and to his slight surprise, the tavern owner was actually a young man, about twenty years old, with a slightly thin figure, and his face became more and more pale in the dim light, but his deep eyes were very bright.

The boss didn't go back to the bar after handing over the drink, but sat down nearby, as if waiting for something.

After a few glasses of beer, Lao Wang, who was not very good, was already a little drunk, his eyes were foggy, and he couldn't help but think of the morning again, and said to himself, "Is it true or fake?" ”

Unexpectedly, the boss sitting on the side took over Lao Wang's self-talk: "Is there any trouble for the guests?" Speak up and listen. ”

Lao Wang was stunned for a moment, it seemed that he was infected by the boss's gentle inquiry, or maybe it was the dim environment of the tavern that made people want to talk, or maybe it was because today's events had been held in his heart for so long, and he finally had a person to confide in, so that he would not vomit or be unhappy.

Lao Wang told the boss what happened in the morning.

"I... I want to beg you to help me. A scarred woman hugged a little girl and said to Lao Wang in a trembling voice.

"Don't be in a hurry, sit down and talk slowly, what's going on?" Lao Wang said to the woman in a gentle tone.

"I... I—" The woman seemed to have some concerns, and she didn't dare to speak.

Lao Wang took a look at the scars on the woman's body and immediately knew that this must be caused by domestic violence. sighed in his heart and said slowly: "Don't worry, no matter what difficulties you have, say it, and I will do my best to help you." ”

Perhaps it was Lao Wang's words that gave the woman confidence, and the woman's demeanor gradually relaxed, calmed down, and said: "Maybe you have guessed that the scars on my body were beaten by my husband, and you must think that my husband is a short-tempered person." ”

But in fact, no, everyone who knew him said that he was a gentle and kind person. He is attentive to his work, enthusiastic and generous, his colleagues in the unit have a good impression of him, and his relatives and friends at home also think that he is a person worthy of trust, and they all say that I am really blessed. ”

"In addition to work matters, after socializing, I will go back home to accompany our mother and daughter, and I love the two of us very much." The woman gently patted the little girl on the back as she spoke.

Lao Wang nodded and gestured to continue.

"But just a year ago, my husband suddenly became irritable and irritable, often losing his temper because of some trivial matters, I thought it was something wrong at work, but I didn't expect it to get worse and worse, until he hit me and my daughter half a year ago, I didn't realize the seriousness of the problem."

Hearing this, Lao Wang understood that this was undoubtedly a domestic violence incident, and he was about to continue to ask, when his colleague came in and called him for dinner, he signaled that he was still doing things, but his colleague replied with a surprised face, "There is no one in front of you!" ”

Lao Wang was about to argue, but when he turned around, he saw that the mother and daughter disappeared into the room as if they had never appeared, leaving only the stunned colleagues and him.

Speaking of this, Lao Wang scratched his hair irritably, and said bitterly, "Now I can't tell whether I'm too tired, a imaginary person, or something evil that I have encountered." ”

"So, do you believe that there are ghosts in this world?" The boss said to Lao Wang seriously.

"Ghosts?" Lao Wang was about to say that he didn't believe it, but he held back the words when they came to his lips, after all, the events of the morning were still bothering him.

"I wouldn't have believed it before, but who knows? Maybe there really is? ”

"What if I told you there really was? If you're interested, come to the tavern by yourself tomorrow night at twelve o'clock. After the boss left such an intriguing sentence, he turned around and left, not giving Lao Wang a chance to continue asking.

"Is what he said true or false? This boss can't be a madman, right? Why do I think so much? ”

Just when Lao Wang was still thinking, his colleague invited him to toast together, and he immediately left the boss's words behind.

After three rounds of drinking, the group was a little drunk, so they paid and left the tavern.

Departure time, eleven :59.

......

At half past eleven the next day, Lao Wang stood at the door of the tavern.

He didn't know why he came here for some reason, maybe he was a little concerned about the boss's words, or maybe he was concerned about the mother and daughter, in short, he came to this place that could change his life.

Lao Wang looked at the door of the tavern, and felt that there was a mysterious place behind the door, and as long as he stepped in, he would change himself, how did he say that.

When you stare into the abyss, the abyss is staring at you.

Lao Wang had an inexplicable fear of the tavern for no reason, he took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a hard puff, as if he wanted to stimulate himself with a cigarette.

One after another, soon there were cigarette butts on the ground, and finally, after Lao Wang took the last puff, he threw the cigarette butt at his feet and stepped on it fiercely, and took a sip, "Phew, what am I afraid of, I have lived for decades, and I have never seen any strong winds and waves." ”

Lifting the curtain of the door, Lao Wang stepped into the tavern.

Enter the time, twelve o'clock in the morning.

Unlike the desertion outside the tavern, the tavern was quite lively, but what puzzled Lao Wang was that he hadn't heard any sound inside after being outside for so long.

As Lao Wang stepped into the tavern, Qi Shushu's eyes were fixed on him, with curiosity, surprise, doubt, and even impatience in his eyes.

Lao Wang didn't care so much, he saw the owner of the bar at a glance and walked straight over.

"You're here." The boss's flat tone was like an old friend who had known each other for many years.

"Well, I'm here, what do you want to tell me, you can say." Lao Wang couldn't wait to ask.

"Huh?" The boss dragged a heavy nasal voice, as if he had forgotten what he had said to Lao Wang.

"That's it, you said that there are ghosts in this world, didn't you let me come to the tavern alone? I'm here, where's the proof? Lao Wang couldn't help but raise his voice and shouted. He really wanted to think about what he had encountered until yesterday, and he wanted his boss to tell him that he had encountered a ghost yesterday, and he wanted his boss to tell him that there were no ghosts in this world, so that he would die.

In Lao Wang's earnest eyes, the boss finally said unhurriedly, "Oh? Proof? Haven't you already seen it? Do you want to ask me again?" the boss looked around the tavern.

Lao Wang was stunned for a moment, and seemed to understand what the boss meant, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

"Welcome, then, to the real Night Talk Tavern."