A Guest in a Ghost House

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 The Family
Returning to the hotel under the vigilant surveillance of Mr. Tang, I packed my things and went home.

When I finally made it to the front door of my house I put the key in the lock and froze. I clearly remembered that although I wanted to get away as fast as possible, I had locked the door on my way out.

Now, however, the door was obviously unlocked. Before I could come up with a potential explanation for this, the door quickly opened. A middle-aged woman appeared in the doorway with a garbage bag in her hand.

“AHH!” she screamed, startled by my presence. The garbage bag flew in a high arc over my head and scattered all over the ground.

She placed her palm on her chest and exclaimed, “You should knock before barging in like that!”

It took me a moment longer to recover, “Mom, what are you doing here?”

“I came to see you. By the way, you haven't been home these past few days. Where have you been? Hurry up and put the garbage by the door after you pick it all up and come in as soon as you’re done.”

“I didn’t go anywhere, my company just arranged for me to go on a short business trip.” I couldn't tell Mom that I had been fired.

See, my mother was a single parent. My father died in a car accident when I was in high school. To make things worse, my brother and sister-in-law had also died, leaving only my mother, Li Cui, as well as my brother’s infant daughter, Wu Xue’er to fend for themselves.

It was my mom who supported our tri-generational family with her meagre income from working in a restaurant. When I got the job I used to have, the situation began to improve. Naturally, I didn’t want my mother to worry about me.

My mother examined me carefully and looked at the various pieces of luggage on the ground, displaying a trace of doubt. She became concerned, “Wu Rui, are you uncomfortable? If your job is exhausting you, you can get another one.”

“Mom, I’m fine. By the way, where is Xue’er?” I interrupted her. When I saw my mom about to help me pick up my luggage, I hastily snatched it up in my hand.

Mom picked up the bag behind her and said, “There's no one who can free me from worry. She's in bed with an IV drip in her arm.”

“Why does she need an IV drip? Is she alright?”

At that moment, a high pitched child’s voice came out of the bedroom, “Uncle! Uncle!”

I hurriedly went into my room and saw that Xue’er was lying in bed, looking at me with a pitiful look.

I took a few steps forward, conveniently dropped the bag on the ground by the bed. I put my hand on Xue’er’s forehead and could immediately tell that she was burning up. “Xue’er, why do you have a fever?” I asked her.

Xue’er replied unhappily, “You don’t love Xue’er anymore. I came to see you but you weren’t here.”

“Xue’er, listen to me. I had to go to work.”

I looked at Xue’er with pity, just as I was about to speak again my mom entered the room and said loudly, “If your uncle has to work, he can't be like you every day. All you know is playing around. It seems you’ve grown up, but you don't even change your own clothes when you get wet! I really don’t know who you learn this nonsense from!”

I laughed and made faces at Xue’er, who shrank her neck and dared not speak, making her giggle.

Mom also couldn’t help but laugh before saying, “Why haven’t you unpacked your things yet?”