Xiao Lingdang left to deliver the letter. Then, with an excited look, she pulled me outside so we could get started looking for her skin. To be honest, I didn't know where to begin looking for it. I ended up choosing a route through which we could come back to the the ghost building after a short walk and a couple of turns.
Stepping out of the door of the ghost building, Xiao Lingdang seemed particularly excited. She held my hand and chattered away, not letting my ears enjoy a moment of silence. It was still relatively early and a lot of night market stalls were full of people eating and drinking. Yet somehow, even the sound of Xiao Lingdang swallowing was still audible in the noisy environment.
I sighed, searched my pockets for money, and found a few bills on me. I invited Xiao Lingdang to eat some barbecue with me, and even though I didn't know whether Xiao Lingdang could eat the barbecue or not, it didn't matter because this got Xiao Lingdang in a very happy mood.
"Boss, please give me 20 kebabs of meat and 10 kebabs of vegetables. "
The boss answered, and a young boy lead me to an empty table: "Uncle, are you alone today?"
" Two." I said, then I came to realization that other people could not see Xiao Lingdang, just when I was trying to change my answer, the boy had already left to get the two pairs of chopsticks and bowls. Oh well, I could just say I was waiting for a friend.
Xiao Lingdang saw the chopsticks on her side of th table and quickly picked them up. The chopsticks flew in the air and I quickly whispered: "Xiao Lingdang, put them down. You'll frighten people to death."
Xiao Lingdang frowned, disgruntled. She put down the chopsticks and looked at me unhappily. She then looked at the cook's hands turning over the kebabs. I could see a crystal bead of saliva hanging from Xiao Lingdang's mouth. A classic look for a hungry ghost.
As soon as the kebabs were ready, it began raining. It wasn't pouring, but all the pedestrians were set on getting home as fast as possible to avoid the rain. I took a look around the market and noted that there were three tables still occupied at the night market stall. One table had about 9 people sitting on it. They were drinking and chatting loudly and having a good time. At the other table there were only two young women, who looked to be only about 20 years old and looking quite elegant in their professional attire. The last table was mine, just one person. I wasn't going to count Xiao Lingdang as a person.
Xiao Lingdang was obviously seduced by the food. She wasn't eating like she did in the ghost house, instead she used her nose to smell the kebabs. The steaming hot kebabs would immediately stop emitting smoke. I picked up a kebab. "Yuck." It was really hard to eat. The flavour of the meat was completely gone. It felt like I was eating dirt, not that I knew what that tasted like.
Xiao Lingdang giggled: "Brother, I just finished eating that."
Hm, I guess this was another way for ghosts to eat food. I turned around and asked the cook to get me some more kebabs. The guy glanced at my table and saw that all the dishes were completely untouched. I could tell he was felt it was strange, but he loudly confirmed my order and got back to cooking.
I pretended not to care that Xiao Lingdang had eaten my food, and threw the kebabs into the trash bin quietly and asked Xiao Lingdang: "Do all ghosts eat like this?"
Xiao Lingdang nodded. She informed me that ghosts usually eat like this, but in haunted places like houses, they eat the same way that people do. The mere difference was that the meal would just turn cold. I was about to ask for more details, when I saw a young man approach from the table next door and stand beside me.
I looked up curiously at the young man. He was only about 18 or 19 years old, and looked like a high school student or a student who had just started university, his face was flushed and he reeked of alcohol. It was clear he had more than a few drinks.
The young man wobbled and said to me, "Excuse me, we are playing a game. As part of it, I have to take one of your kebabs. I'm so sorry."
It seemed he and his friends were playing a game of "truth or dare", a game I used to play when I was younger. The whole point was to make someone feel awkward or embarrassed. I nodded with a smile and handed him one of the kebabs the cook had just finished making.
The young man was shocked by my boldness and thanked me several times. I saw that he was having trouble standing and told him to head back to his table, lest he were to fall right here and now. The young man nodded his head and smiled at Xiao Lingdang. Then just walked away.
I hadn't noticed it at first, but come to think of it. The young man had definitely seen Xiao Lingdang. Without hesitation, I asked Xiao Lingdang what was going on. Xiao Lingdang was busy inhaling the scent and essence from all the kebabs: "It's normal. It's cloudy and it's a gloomy place. A lot of people who have bad fortune can see us."
I thought about the movies I'd seen about ghosts and understood what Xiao Lingdang was saying.
I asked curiously, "What kind of bad fortune does that guy have?"
Xiao Lingdang said: "Please order some more food, it's delicious! It all tastes so good! That boy? He isn't really much of an Alpha and he likes drinking a lot of wine."
I nodded and noticed that non of the kebabs on the table were letting off any smoke, so I turned back to the cook and asked for some more kebabs. I hadn't really eaten many and the cook was looking at me suspiciously.
Other people couldn't see Xiao Lingdang, so I couldn't just talk to Xiao Lingdang all the time, or they would treat me like a psycho. Meanwhile, Xiao Lingdang was totally fascinated by the kebabs and was hardly paying any attention to me.
I looked around, bored. The young man was looking quite pathetic. In just a short amount of time, he had barked like a dog and hugged a tree while shouting for help. I had to admit, it was pretty funny, everyone around us got a good laugh. Even the two girls who worked at the stall smiled and looked at each other from time to time.
It seemed it was the young man's turn again. He stood up with his off balanced feet, waved his hands, and staggered to one side of the alley. It seemed he was off to relieve himself from his full bladder. My eyes fell on the two girls in the workplace, who kept talking quietly, ordering a lot of things, but not eating much. Oddly enough, nothing was smoking on the table.
I shook my head. Seeing Xiao Lingdang's way of eating must have me imagining things. It would make sense that their food had been severved a while ago and it was getting cold.
The young man staggered back from the alley, with a few drops of water on his pants. It was very obvious under the light. Er…. I wasn't looking out of perversion, it was purely my subconscious. The young man walked directly to his desk, picked up a handful of kebabs, and went to the alley again.
The young companions froze for a moment, laughed and scolded:" He's even eating while going to the toilet!"
I was also a little bothered, but I did not care too much. Xiao Lingdang had eaten all the kebab, and was constantly saying in my ear: "More barbecue please! I want eggplant and more meat kebabs."
This time I was wiser. I put the kebab on the table into a garbage bag, then asked the boss to make some more. The boss looked at the table first, then started cooking again with satisfaction. I noticed that the garbage bag was already getting full. I was feeling really weird about it. Was I wasting food?