Even though the old man's eyes were no longer bright, Gu Mian could still see the movement in her eyes.
The landlord said hesitantly: "I know, Xiao Gu, you probably think my house is unclean, but I can tell you that no one has ever died in this building, not a single one. But when you mentioned the knock on the door, I
I remembered something..."
Qing Huan looked at her intently, waiting for the next step.
"Two years ago, a tenant did die, but he didn't die in my house. He was a man in his early thirties, named Zhao Wen. He died unexpectedly and died outside."
"At that time, he was still renting my house, and he was found dead in a hotel outside. He seemed to have died of starvation. When he was found, his body stank."
Gu Mian asked: "What does the dead Zhao Wen have to do with the knock on the door?"
The landlord then spoke slowly: "This is about why he rented my house and moved out."
"Zhao Wen is a young and energetic young man, only in his early thirties. He was very active when he moved here, jumping up and down all day long."
"But it didn't work after a month. I don't know why. I watched him become haggard, lose a lot of weight, and no longer have the strength to move around."
"Until one time he secretly asked me if anyone had died in the house I rented to him. Of course not, I wouldn't hide it from him if someone had died."
"Then he told me that he always hears strange knocking on the door in the middle of the night, but there is no one outside."
"Not long after, he invited several of his friends to live with him, but no one could hear the knock on the door except him. He couldn't sleep because of it every night. Later, he was probably so frightened that he couldn't even sleep.
I didn’t even return the house, so I hurried home to live there. His home is not far from here."
"I didn't hear from him for a while."
"Less than two months later, I heard his neighbors talking, saying that this young man was dead. Alas."
When the landlord said this, Qing Huan's expression was a little strange.
He twisted his neck stiffly and looked at Gu Mian, so the person who knocked on Dr. Gu's door last night was really a ghost? So Dr. Gu really cursed the ghost last night?
Gu Mian didn't pay too much attention, but continued to ask: "Do you think Zhao Wen's death is related to the knock on the door he mentioned?"
The landlord shook his head: "I don't know about that. He seems to have stayed home for a while. You can ask his family for details. I should have his family's phone number here... I left it when I registered for renting a house.
"
As she spoke, she stood up and walked to a table next to her, then took out a key to open the drawer.
At this time, Gu Mian suddenly spoke again: "By the way, is the house that Zhao Wen lived in at that time the same house as the one I live in now?"
The landlord shook his head: "No, I haven't rented that house to anyone else since he died."
"Although I think the knock on the door was his own imagination, he didn't continue to rent out that room. Anyway, I can't get enough rent in this building, so it doesn't matter if it remains empty."
"It wasn't until you came to me today that I felt strange. Could it be that what Zhao Wen said was true..."
As the landlord spoke, he took out a thick book from the drawer.
It was a book with a yellow leather cover. The paper was very thin, not much thicker than toilet paper. A few pieces of paper fell off in the middle and were reattached with tape.
She looked through it carefully with her reading glasses, and after a while she stopped: "I found it, there is his home phone number..."
In 2002, a large number of people still did not have personal mobile phones, but they generally had landlines at home.
Gu Mian copied down Zhao Wen's landline number, said goodbye to the landlord, and then took Qing Huan out.
Qing Huan followed closely behind Gu Mian: "Doctor Gu, then Zhao Wen was killed by the ghost who knocked on the door, right?"
"should be."
"So those of us who are targeted by those ghosts will die like Zhao Wen..."
Qing Huan shuddered when she thought of this. Those ghosts had been killing people all the time. She didn't know which batch of people they were cursed with.
Gu Mian patted his shoulder and comforted him: "Don't worry, I'm here..."
Qing Huan looked up at him with some emotion.
Gu Mian then spoke: "Anyway, as long as I don't die, we won't be destroyed."
"..."
Zhao Wen's home phone was still in use, and when Gu Mian called, a relatively young woman answered the phone.
"Hello?" came a voice from the other side.
"Hello," Gu Mian asked, "Are you the Zhao Wen family?"
The person on the other side obviously paused when he heard this, and after a few seconds he said with a somewhat suspicious tone: "You are..."
"We are from the Paranormal Events Investigation Bureau. We have noticed that a deceased person a few years ago may have died from a supernatural event. He is Zhao Wen. We hope you can assist us in our investigation." Gu Mian paused and said, "Give me money."
Things went smoothly, and Gu Mian and the two found Zhao Wen's home address without any obstacles.
Zhao Wen's house is not far from Hongsheng Apartment where Gu Mian lives. It can be reached on foot in an hour. It is a somewhat old family building.
Although the house is small, it is very clean. There is only a woman close to forty years old at home at this time.
She poured two glasses of water and handed them to the two people on the sofa.
"I am Zhao Meixiang, Zhao Wen's sister." The woman looked at Gu Mian hesitantly: "Are you...a doctor?"
"Yeah." Gu Mian nodded: "The members of our Paranormal Investigation Bureau all have their main jobs, so you don't have to pay too much attention."
Only then did Zhao Meixiang look back: "You are here to investigate my brother, right? In fact, you don't need to pay me. As a sister, I have always wanted to understand why my brother died."
When she talked about Zhao Wen, her face darkened and she looked sad.
"I only have this one younger brother. We have been very close since childhood. I didn't expect that he would pass away so suddenly. When he left, my mother and father were also old. They were so sad that they have been gone like this for the past two years..."
Zhao Meixiang wiped her tears as she spoke: "You can ask whatever you want to ask, and I will tell you everything I know."
Since she said that, Gu Mian asked directly: "I heard Zhao Wen's landlord said that he could always hear knocking on the door for a while. Did Zhao Wen mention it to you after he came back?"
Zhao Meixiang nodded: "He was working in a factory at that time, not far from my home. It turned out that I wanted him to live here, but he refused."
"I was already married at that time, and it was not a problem for me to keep my brother at home, so he went out and rented a house to live in."
"But within a month of staying here, he came back in a hurry without even bringing his luggage. I asked him what happened, but he didn't tell me. He just moved into our empty house in a panic.
…”
"I was quite worried about him. I saw that he still didn't come out the next day, so I went to his house to look for him."
"When I went in, he was still under the quilt, curled up into a very small ball. I felt something was wrong, so I opened the quilt, and then I saw his face was pale and his eyes were so big."
"I was shocked and quickly asked him what was going on. He looked up with a pale face and asked me..."