The King of Curses

Chapter 1: The Zhizhen Sister Next Door
The first decade of the 21st century has passed, but for people who lived in that era, it seemed like it happened in the blink of an eye.

It was midsummer, the sun was scorching, and the howling hot wind blew across the port and through the center of this coastal city. It shuttled through the streets and alleys and the glass curtain walls of high-rise buildings, making the asphalt road as hot as a steamer.

The temperature in the city was getting unbearable, and pedestrians on the road were looking for the shade under the eaves of the sheds and moving slowly. By noon, the streets were completely quiet, and there was no one in sight.

Cen Dongsheng rode a Phoenix brand bicycle, avoiding the scorching sun overhead, and turned left and right to drive into a residential area in the city center. He pushed the bicycle into the shed, locked it, picked up the package on the frame and hurried upstairs.

"Bang, bang, bang!" The sneakers stepping on the steps raised dust, and the young man's figure quickly disappeared in the dark entrance of the residential building.

This is a residential community consisting of more than a dozen old residential buildings, all of which are more than 20 years old. Each building has a name, such as "Reform Building", "Open Building", "Common Prosperity Building", etc. The place where Cen Dongsheng lives is called Xiaokang Building.

After several reconstructions, the Xiaokang Building can no longer be seen in its original form. Its original shape was the so-called tube building, which was a product of the housing allocation system in a specific period of time in China. Its prototype was the Khrushchev building in the Soviet Union. The architectural structure of this type of building is generally a long corridor on one side, with rows of single rooms on both sides.

Xiaokang Building is the largest building in the community. Its overall structure is in the shape of a U, which means there are corridors on all four sides. A zigzag staircase connects each floor, and there is a spacious patio in the middle. I don’t know who planted some flowers and plants there, but there is also a shed for bicycles.

One of the characteristics of the tube-shaped buildings that were popular at the time was that the washing area and toilet were all shared. Every evening, every household would come out to wash clothes and cook, and the housewives would chat while busying themselves with housework, creating a lively scene.

The environment where everyone sees each other everywhere leads to closer relations between neighbors than in other places. This mode of getting along has advantages and disadvantages:
The advantage is that when you encounter difficulties, you can ask your neighbors for help and no one will refuse. For example, a busy couple will leave their children to the care of the elderly neighbors. Some families have good relationships and are as close as real family members. The disadvantage is that there is no privacy at all. If something happens to a family or someone, it will spread throughout the building the next day, and gossip is inevitable on weekdays.

The long corridors on each floor are ventilated at both ends. Luggage and pots and pans are piled up in some places, and some people even hang wet clothes in the middle of the corridor, making the corridor, which was not spacious to begin with, even more cramped.

Messy scenes can be seen everywhere, which makes people feel they have no place to put their feet at first glance; at night, when walking through the corridor without turning on the lights, one has to be careful of stumbling at all times.

From the 1990s to the early 2000s, after the urban area of ​​Jinjiang City was renovated, residents of several buildings in the community began to have independent sanitation systems; the walls have been repainted several times, and the appearance is no longer a gray pigeon cage, but the people living in it have basically not changed, so the internal environment remains the same.

There were advertisements everywhere on the peeling stair railings and dirty walls, ranging from fake certificates for traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to paying a large sum of money to have a child. No matter how hard you tried to tear them off, they couldn't be removed. Some were even written directly with white paint.

Cen Dongsheng moved to this place just one year after he started college. However, the environment of the orphanage where he was born was not much better, so he quickly got used to it.

Compared to the outdoors, the temperature inside the Xiaokang Building has dropped significantly by several degrees, which can be described as refreshing and cool.

When passing the corner of the second floor, Cen Dongsheng saw several old men and women lying on chairs fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans. When the old people saw him, they greeted him warmly, and he also stopped and responded politely one by one.

It took Cen Dongsheng less than two months to get to know all the dozens of families in the building. Everyone knew that he was a warm and good guy who worked as a volunteer in the neighborhood committee and often volunteered to take care of the elderly and children.

Arriving at the door of Room 303, he took out the key and opened the door. The furniture inside the door was simple but exuded a homely warmth. The floor and walls were cleaned neatly. The dazzling sunlight shone through the glass windows, illuminating the entire room brightly.

He threw the package on the table, poured himself a glass of cold water and drank it in one gulp. Then he let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the sofa to rest. After a while, as if he remembered something, he picked up the watering can and walked to the balcony to water the potted plants in the shade.

In short, Cen Dongsheng is feeling a little anxious, an uneasiness that he himself is not even aware of.

Although I ran back in a hurry, but...

He looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Is he still taking a nap at this hour? Will I disturb him if I knock on the door?"

He couldn't help but think so, and his eyes fell on the bag again.

After a while, feeling thirsty, he poured himself another glass of water, tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp before he stood up and patted his face.

"Okay, what am I hesitating about? Once I deliver the things, I'll be back right away... Go ahead!"

Cen Dongsheng picked up the bag and wanted to leave the house. However, when he was about to reach the door, he suddenly raised his sleeves and smelled his T-shirt.

"…Forget it, let's take a shower first."

*
After changing into new clothes and regaining his spirits, Cen Dongsheng walked along the U-shaped corridor towards his destination.

There are nearly twenty households on each floor of Xiaokang Building, and these residents do not live together in one side. For example, the "316" where he is going is actually right opposite "303".

He carried the bag to the door of room 316 and knocked on it.

"Sister Zhizhen, are you home? I borrowed the book you wanted to read last time from the library."

"It's Dongsheng, thank you. Please come in directly."

A young and clear female voice came from inside the door.

"The door wasn't closed. I guessed you were coming, so I opened the door in advance."

Cen Dongsheng's heart skipped a beat.

"Hey, how did Sister Zhizhen guess that?"

"Because I can tell fortunes and predict the future."

"Who would predict such a boring thing..."

"That's true. In fact, even I don't understand it. It's like a kind of intuition. Is it a kind of telepathy between you and me?"

The sound coming from the door became closer to him, and there was also the sound of light footsteps in the room.

"...You must be lying. You actually saw me coming from the window?"

Sister Zhizhen always likes to say something teasing. While he was mumbling, he put his hand on the door handle and gently pulled it——

The door was not open.

He was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously turned the door lock hard.

...not moving at all.

"You are really lying!"

"Hehehe."

There was a chuckle from the other end of the room, and the door was pushed open from the inside.

The woman who opened the door was about 25 years old. She was wearing a sky blue, shoulder-less shirt dress. The skin on her exposed arms was dazzlingly white under the sunlight. The dress was tied loosely at the waist, outlining her slender abdomen. She was wearing a pair of open-toed sandals.

"You were fooled?"

"No, why would you tell such a boring lie..."

He complained somewhat helplessly.

"Let me think about it. Hmm~ maybe just to see your angry expression?"

Hearing this self-righteous answer, Cen Dongsheng was speechless for a moment. He saw her dressed casually at home, which was different from her usual formal attire, and his mind was slightly shaken.

A breeze blew in the corridor, caressing the faces of young men and women inside and outside the door, making them feel warm and lazy, a feeling unique to a summer afternoon.

Sister Zhizhen's shoulders were leaning slightly against the door. Her long black hair was tied into two smooth strands, falling behind her along the curve of her back. The teardrop mole under her eyes added a bit of charm. She stood quietly in the breeze, like a water lotus swaying in full bloom on a pond.

"Don't just stand there, aren't you feeling hot?"

The pair of inky black eyes seemed to be studying his facial features carefully, and then a smile appeared on their faces like ripples spreading under a lotus leaf.

Sister Zhizhen took the bag from Cen Dongsheng in a natural manner, put the slippers at the door, and turned to walk into the back of the room.

"Come in, I bought some ice cream."

"Really? Thank you so much. The weather has been so hot lately." Cen Dongsheng changed his shoes and walked into the living room, heading towards the refrigerator with familiarity.

"Ah, don't eat both boxes, one of them is mine."

"I know."

"You can turn on the TV. I rented a few new DVDs yesterday. They are placed in the old place. You can take them out and watch them yourself. By the way, do you like playing games? Aunt Wang next door gave me her child's game console some time ago. But I don't quite understand this. If you like, I can..." Sister Zhizhen's nagging voice came from the kitchen.

"...You treat me like a child."

"Haha, you just started college, right? You're not much older than the kids anyway."

Cen Dongsheng sighed, squatted down and pulled out a few DVDs from under the TV cabinet.

"Godzilla... The Dead and the Dark... The Thing... and several other horror movies. Sister Zhizhen really likes watching these."

He couldn't help but sigh.

……

Sister Zhizhen's full name is "An Zhizhen". She is a doctor by profession, but I heard that she is the kind who stays in the laboratory and rarely does clinical work. She is a native of Jinjiang City, and the house in Xiaokang Building was left by her parents. Basically every summer, she comes here to live for a while.

She became a "celebrity" in Xiaokang Building earlier than Cen Dongsheng. The reason was not only her unforgettable appearance, but also because she often used her free time to provide free medical treatment to people in the community. Once, she even rescued an elderly man who was almost dead due to a sudden serious illness.

Both of them had served as volunteers in the community. In the past few months, he and Sister Zhizhen had been spending more and more time together. Ever since Cen Dongsheng helped her move some things by chance and visited her home, the two of them had become more intimate in private.

In fact, because of her overly cold temperament, she usually leaves a cold and distant first impression on people. But when you really start to get along with her, you will find that she is actually a gentle and amiable big sister. When she is with you, she is lively and enthusiastic, and loves to joke...

While recalling the past, Cen Dongsheng picked up a spoon to scoop the ice cream from the can, put it into his mouth and swallowed it in one breath. The cold and sweet stimulation made him squint his eyes.

At this moment, he suddenly heard a crackling sound coming from the direction of the kitchen.

"Sister Zhizhen, what are you doing?"

Cen Dongsheng, who was sitting on the floor of the living room, leaned back and looked towards the kitchen. He saw that Sister Zhizhen's slender figure had changed into an apron at some point.

"I'm frying chicken legs and French fries. Let's eat them while we watch the movie later... Ouch!"

He was startled by a woman's scream from the kitchen, and quickly stood up and walked quickly towards the kitchen.

"Sister Zhizhen, are you okay?"

"...Ah, it's okay."

Sister Zhizhen turned around, wiped the cold water droplets off her face, and answered with a smile.

"It was just an accidental splash of water, that's all. Go back and sit down."

The big sister with long straight black hair wearing an apron looks more gentle and virtuous, making people want to stare at her intently.

"Sister Zhizhen, can I help clean up?"

Cen Dongsheng felt some pressure in his heart that he couldn't tell anyone else, and he couldn't sit back and enjoy himself with peace of mind.

"Just the living room. I won't go into other rooms."

He quickly added another sentence.

"Well, please."

Sister Zhizhen did not refuse and looked very happy.

……

Cen Dongsheng was busy in the living room, and An Zhizhen was busy in the kitchen, just like a real family.

Sister Zhizhen's house was already very clean, so his only job was to dust off the dust in the corners that were not easily noticed, and then wipe the tables, chairs and floor clean.

When the sunlight shining on the floor was no longer strong, Cen Dongsheng pulled the thick curtains and turned on the small lamp on the table to dispel the darkness, and the room suddenly became cool.

"Have you made your choice?"

"I've chosen it. Let's choose The Thing. How do you think it is?"

"Yes, this movie is very good. I have watched it several times."

Sister Zhizhen came out of the kitchen carrying fried chicken and French fries and placed them on the table. She also took out two glass bottles of orange soda from the refrigerator, one for each person.

She took off her apron and sat down next to Cen Dongsheng.

In summer, ice cream and soda, hiding in a cool house with the neighbor sister, eating and chatting, happily watching movies -

The best holiday time has begun.

"Okay, let's watch a movie together."

The blades of the electric fan were blowing "whoosh", the wind was flowing lightly in the house, and the curtains were swaying slightly, together creating a quiet atmosphere in the afternoon.

The room was very quiet, with only the sound coming from the TV.

Sister Zhizhen rested her hands on her knees, staring at the screen intently.

There was a bamboo mat on the floor. When watching a movie, she would take off her shoes and sit on it barefoot. Cen Dongsheng was right next to her. With just a glance to the side, she could see the snow-white calf skin and the cute, crystal-clear toes under her aqua blue skirt.

Cen Dongsheng would always deliberately avoid looking in that direction. When he accidentally saw it, he would feel as if he had done something wrong...

"Dongsheng, do you want to turn on the air conditioner?"

Sister Zhizhen seemed to notice his restlessness and asked in a low voice.

Xiaokang Building is a renovated old building. Not every family has the conditions to install air conditioners. Cen Dongsheng's family doesn't have one. To get some air conditioning is also a reason.

"fine!"

Cen Dongsheng's face turned a little red, and he answered quickly and loudly.

"If you feel hot and want to turn on the air conditioner, remember to tell me, you don't have to save your sister electricity bill."

The more she cared about him, the more flustered he became. Fortunately, Sister Zhizhen's attention quickly shifted to the TV screen where the movie was playing.

Cen Dongsheng breathed a sigh of relief.

The big boy who just entered the ivory tower, the mature and gentle sister next door, the beautiful summer time, the green and tender atmosphere, it seems that some ambiguous and ignorant emotions are quietly brewing——

……

……

--Kidding.

If he wasn't reborn, things might be simpler.

Glancing at An Zhizhen's cheek, who was staring intently at the TV screen, Cen Dongsheng couldn't help but sigh. He lowered his head, hiding his facial expression in the shadows.

The slight shyness and nervousness that were consistent with his age were not fake; he really had a good impression of Sister Zhizhen.

If, if he wasn't reborn, if he didn't know what kind of person this woman would become in the future...

But unfortunately, his soul comes from the future eight years later, an era where ghosts are rampant, evil spirits are at work, and people called "forbidden masters" rule modern society.

(End of this chapter)