Chapter 17 (1/2)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Twenty year agreement

“Your wife’s family agreed?” I asked him. This question was the true issue which made people helpless. Many lovers had to break apart due to this obstacle.

“They didn’t agree. After we had just settled in the coast city, her mom found us.” The male ghost talked with a bitter smile. One could imagine how terrified a son in law who hadn’t received his wife’s mother’s acknowledgement would be at that time.

“She cried and begged her mom to give her a year. If my business didn’t grow in a year, she would return home. Her mother slapped her.” The male ghost revealed a guilty expression.

“What happened a year later?” I was becoming impatient to know what their ending was. I was hopeful that this affectionate couple would be able to live happily. But, when I looked at the ghost in front of me, I realized that their ending might not have been a happy one.

“I was someone that had just graduated college. I didn’t have background nor capital. She was just exaggerating me by saying business. In that year, I did two jobs every day to earn enough money, so I could proudly say to my wife’s family that your daughter didn’t marry the wrong guy.” The male ghost laughed. But, within his smiling expression was a lot of helplessness and bitterness.

“The deadline arrived quickly. Wife’s mother didn’t give us a day more. She arrived outside our rented place; ready to take her daughter back.”

“I and my wife both worked very hard in that year and after living frugally, we saved fifty thousand Yuan. I took out all that money; I wanted to show her that we put in our best effort and wanted her to acknowledge us. But she still didn’t accept.” The male ghost spoke while clenching his hands.

“Wife didn’t return with mother in law; she said she was pregnant and it wouldn’t look good for the family if she returned. Her words completely infuriated mother in law. Mother in law beat her up, then she left without looking back.”

“After mother in law left, wife told me that all her escape routes were gone now. She gambled, gambled on me being nice to her for the whole life, gambled on me getting success in the future.” Tears fell down the male ghost’s eyes, he wiped them off and continued to speak.

I lightly sighed and stood up. I took an incense burner and put three incense sticks in it.

“Your wife was a great woman. Did you achieve what she hoped? Also, did your mother-in-law come looking for trouble again?” After burning the incense sticks, I asked.

“Thank you.” The male ghost voraciously breathed in the threads of fragrance released by the incense sticks. After a while, he embarra.s.sedly thanked me. Humans and ghosts were different; humans eat food, ghosts smell fragrance.

“When my wife told mother in law that she had my child, it was actually a lie. But a year later, she was really pregnant. It would be only some time before she went in labour;  but right at such a period, my mother-in-law visited our home once again.” The male ghost revealed a trace of fear when he spoke of this.

“She brought a bad news to us: father-in-law was kidnapped when he went for business in foreign lands, and he was later killed.” “Wife fainted when she heard this; but my attention was on mother-in-law whose body was completely drenched as if she had just come out of water. The thing is that it was hot that day, very hot. She was holding an umbrella while standing inside the room, smiling at us.&

rdquo; The male ghost gritted his teeth and spoke.