Aoba Office

"She was very young. She was only seventeen or eighteen years old when she married my father. At that time, I was the eldest son in the family, and I had two younger brothers and sisters, all of whom were from the same mother as me. Her family background was older than that of her mother. Well, my grandmother valued her very much. Later I thought about it, what my grandmother and father valued was her family background. She was like a child, and she would play with us sometimes, and they didn't ask her to be like her. She takes care of the family affairs just like her mother. She doesn't have any thoughts about her mother. It's just because of her personality that she can't stop talking. She doesn't know which maid told her about her mother. I wanted to visit my mother's former residence. During her last year, my mother did not live in the main courtyard, but moved to the side courtyard. After her death, her memorial tablet was sealed in the side courtyard. My paintings were hung there. My grandmother and father did not allow us to go near them. Even when we paid homage to my mother, we only burned some paper money in the courtyard, and there was not even a place to kowtow.

"My stepmother sneaked into that side courtyard. When she came back, she was very angry. Because her grandmother and father didn't care, the servants in charge of taking care of the place started to be lazy. She had a naive sense of justice and asked her grandmother and father My father complained. Afterwards, she praised my painting again and asked me to draw one for her. She forgot about it that day and my grandmother ordered me to replace her. You know, she didn't take this matter seriously, and she didn't even mention punishment, and she left the matter to the people below. My stepmother didn't understand this at all. She happily asked me for the painting. Sad, but I don’t mean to blame them.”

Ye Zheng continued expressionlessly: "I was already eleven years old at that time, and I still often recalled my mother, but my memory was a little blurry. What I remember most clearly was her crazy look before she died. That was not normal. That doesn't look like being sick at all.

"But after my mother passed away, nothing happened at home. I don't know why my mother became like that. Even the painting was collected by my father after my mother was buried and placed in a side courtyard. I never saw it again.

"My stepmother... something was wrong the night she came back from the side hospital. During the day, she was still pestering me to draw a painting. At night, I was still painting for her... I was sincere I like her. She is more like a sister than a mother." Ye Zhengyi showed a bit of sadness, "That night, there was a big noise in the main courtyard. I remember hearing the scream. The shaking of his hand left a trace of ink on her neck. The noise lasted all night. My father called the doctor and my grandmother came to see her later. It was said that there was a thief in the house and the maid was alarmed. When the stepmother heard about it, she was frightened and felt a little uncomfortable. But it had been going on for so long... When I went over, I only saw my stepmother tied to the bed and struggling wildly. He looks almost exactly like his mother before she died.

"I was scolded by my father and sent back. I didn't want to leave. My grandmother took me away and sent me to my room. She also gave an order to my servants not to allow me to step out of the room. I remember I asked my grandmother how her mother died... She looked ugly to begin with, but when she heard my question, she looked at me as if she wanted to eat me. I didn't dare to ask again. I felt restless and couldn't paint. I didn't see my stepmother the next day. I didn't hear any noise or see anyone for the next few days. My grandmother and father just said that she was scared and needed to rest. During that time, I almost didn't live at home and only slept in the study. My stepmother must have heard the news. Her sister-in-law came to visit. Later, I didn't even see her brother or father. More than a month after that day, the side yard where my mother lived caught fire. I didn’t know what I was thinking at the time. I rushed into the yard and saw the fire in the yard, but the house was still in good condition. . I entered the house... My paintings, my mother's paintings, were hanging there. They were all covered in dust, but I could see them clearly through the firelight outside. That painting... mother..."

Ye Zhengyi suddenly choked up, "My mother's appearance... I clearly painted her as a loving woman, with a smile, as if she was looking at me... But in the painting, my mother's face was ferocious and frightened. She was not looking at me. She was twisting. I tilted my head, as if looking at something behind me. The fire outside the house flickered, and the painting also twisted and changed. I saw a strange black shadow appear in the blank space of the painting. It even gradually covered the mother's appearance, as if she had been swallowed up. What was left in the painting was a female ghost... There were scars on her face, as if she had been burned by fire, and her left eye was missing, and her lip was missing. It was also cut in half. She seemed to be jumping out of the painting and grabbed me. I just ran away... The fire was not that big.

"Later, my grandmother personally interrogated... She was furious, just as angry as when I asked her about the cause of her mother's death on the day my stepmother's accident happened. I hid outside the house and eavesdropped. The servant guarding the side courtyard came in just after my mother was buried. He saw ghosts in the house. He heard ghost cries, ghost laughter, and other noises, and later he didn't dare to enter the house. Everyone knew about it, including our family. The servants we were close to had never heard of it. Grandma couldn't help but almost fainted. Those people told her everything they knew that the fire was not an accident. Grandma ordered the side yard to be burned down, but the servants did not dare to enter the house, so they only set fire in the yard and did not dare to get too close to the house. The fire was ignored, and the father was furious and led people to burn it down. The yard. Burn it together with my paintings and my mother’s memorial tablet.”

Ye Zhengyi was silent for a while and said blankly: "I... didn't stop it. I didn't stop it. At that time, I thought that my mother was a ghost. She was killed by a ghost, and the ghost refused to let go and haunted her again. Stepmother. But at that time, I had a vague feeling that after the yard was burned, my stepmother also fell ill. My father was very worried because of this. The ancestor's family was not in the local area, so they probably didn't know the whole story, but the stepmother's father and brother were both in the local area, and they loved her so they would not let her go. I heard that they took her stepmother to pray to God. The stepmother was still dead... The moment I heard the news, I picked up the paintbrush again. As soon as I finished the painting, I saw the disfigured female ghost. I was so blessed... …”

Ye Zheng smiled and seemed to be crying.

Goodnight everybody.