Chapter 2

She—

So beautiful.

The water rippled softly, bending light and shadow just right. Combined with Little Yellow Oriole's bearing and movements, it was as though she had been given a layer of filter.

Li Zhuiyuan had once been taken by his parents to his work unit's arts performances, where he had seen many professional singers and dancers. Yet yesterday, Little Yellow Oriole's performance had struck him no less deeply than it had his brothers.

Raised by his parents, he had always understood and followed the rules. But beneath that crude shed, Little Yellow Oriole had shown him another kind of wild grace.

It was slutty, wanton, rustic, unfit for a proper stage—but that scent really did smell so good.

She was coming over, getting closer and closer. Like someone in a painting stepping out of it, while also walking into another painting.

At that moment, Li Zhuiyuan had forgotten his situation. It was as if he no longer remembered that he was underwater, ignoring the panic of being unable to breathe and the water constantly flooding into his nose and mouth.

Until—

She reached out a hand.

Yesterday, when he had squeezed into the front with his brothers to watch the show, Little Yellow Oriole had swayed her waist as she sang and come right up to him. She had even deliberately reached out and touched his face. Among that cluster of children, Li Zhuiyuan was fair and clean, like a porcelain doll.

Originally, Li Zhuiyuan had hoped she would touch him again.

But—

This time, she extended both hands.

Those two hands gripped Li Zhuiyuan by both shoulders.

"So cold... so painful..."

In an instant, the mood shattered and twisted apart. That strange, inexplicable fascination vanished.

At last, fear appeared in Li Zhuiyuan's eyes, like someone whose anesthetic had worn off and who had suddenly regained the sensation of pain.

He wanted to break free, to avoid her, to escape. But those hands clasped him tightly, and no matter how he struggled, he could not shake them off.

Then, a force came from behind him.

Li Zhuiyuan felt himself being pulled, like the tug-of-war games he had played at school—except this time, he was the rope.

Finally, with a sensation of something coming loose, Li Zhuiyuan was hauled upward.

In his vision, he floated up and up, while Little Yellow Oriole below him grew farther away and smaller.

Her arms were raised toward him, and between them, a chasm that should never have existed slowly opened.

"Heave-ho!"

Luckily, his grandson had a bamboo basket strapped to his back. Li Weihan had grabbed the basket and pulled upward.

It was heavy—the deadweight kind of heavy. He was clearly just a child, yet Li Weihan felt as though he were wrestling a rutting ox.

Something below was keeping his grandson from coming up.

Lei Zi came over to help as well, wrapping his arms around Li Weihan's waist and pulling backward.

Finally—

Splash!

The moment his grandson was pulled from the water, that opposing force abruptly vanished. Li Weihan, Lei Zi, and Li Zhuiyuan, who had just been dragged out, all fell onto the boat together.

"Move!"

Before he could even get up, Li Weihan roared at Pan Zi.

This time, Pan Zi did not let them down. He put all his strength into poling the boat, quickly steering it toward the other side.

"Grandfather, she's coming! She's coming!"

Lei Zi pointed ahead in terror.

Li Weihan looked over and saw that, as the boat moved, the clump of black hair on the water was actually coming toward them as well.

She was chasing them!

"Leihou, go help Panhou pole the boat, now!"

"Yes, Grandfather."

Lei Zi got up and ran over. The two brothers shouted in rhythm as they exerted themselves, and the boat sped up even more.

Li Weihan grabbed a fishing rod, his expression grim. When he saw that the clump of hair was still closing the distance to the boat, he shouted and thrust the rod into the water just ahead of it.

The fishing rod entered the water. It seemed to have struck something, yet met no resistance. Instead, a tremendous force dragged the rod farther downward.

"Ow..."

Li Weihan cried out. Fortunately, he released the fishing rod in time. Otherwise, that terrifying force would have dragged him into the water.

The hair was closer.

Standing at the edge of the boat, Li Weihan could see the woman's black qipao beneath the water ahead.

The river was flowing east, yet she was moving against the current.

She was walking. She really was walking by herself!

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The boat began to rock, growing steadily more violent.

Li Weihan could hardly imagine what would happen if the boat capsized and he and his grandsons fell into the water. This was no longer a matter of whether they could swim well or not. This Death Collapse was wicked as hell!

Then Li Weihan spotted the fishing net at his feet. Without time to think, he immediately grabbed it and cast it toward the hair, which was now less than two meters from the boat.

The net first covered the surface of the water, and its edges quickly sank halfway down.

At first, the net on the surface was still being dragged forward, but gradually its speed slowed. In the end, it stopped.

It worked. It had tangled her up!

Li Weihan rushed to the stern and snatched the bamboo pole from them. "You two go check on Little Yuanhou!"

"Yes, Grandfather."

Pan Zi and Lei Zi were only big kids, after all. Their desperate effort to pole the boat earlier had already drained them. Once Li Weihan took over, they immediately ran to Li Zhuiyuan's side.

"Yuanzi, Yuanzi? Yuanzi, wake up! Wake up!"

"Grandfather, Yuanzi won't wake up."

Li Weihan continued poling while looking back at the fishing net growing farther away. He called back, "Is he breathing?"

"Grandfather, he's breathing!"

"Pat Little Yuanhou on the back."

The brothers immediately did as told. One helped Li Zhuiyuan sit up, while the other patted his back.

But after fussing over him for a long while, Li Zhuiyuan still did not wake up.

"Grandfather, it's not working!"

Li Weihan did not answer. He only gritted his teeth and kept poling. Even as sweat ran into his eyes, he did not dare take a hand off the pole to wipe it away.

At last, the boat reached home. Li Weihan threw down the bamboo pole, not bothering to tie up the boat. He picked up Li Zhuiyuan and jumped ashore, but he was already exhausted. His body staggered as he landed, and to protect his grandson, he could only brace himself against the blue brick steps with his knee.

"Hiss..."

His knee was cut open, but the next moment, he forced himself upright and carried the child into the house.

"Guiying! Guiying!"

"You're back so early?" Cui Guiying had been clearing ash behind the stove. Hearing the commotion, she stood up. When she saw her husband carrying a child, she immediately cried anxiously, "What happened? What happened? What's wrong with the child?"

Li Weihan first carried the child into the inner room and laid him on a mat. There were many children in the family, and there were not enough beds for all of them. Since it was summer, they slept on bedding spread across the floor at night.

Cui Guiying lifted Li Zhuiyuan's head and gently patted his face, but the child would not wake no matter how she called to him. She immediately began to cry.

"Oh, my child, my child, what happened to you?"

"Stop howling!" Li Weihan kicked Cui Guiying lightly in the calf. "Quick, change the child into dry clothes."

Cui Guiying hurriedly wiped the corners of her eyes and got up to fetch clothes.

"Pan Zi, go get Zheng Datong!"

"Yes, Grandfather."

Zheng Datong's real name was Zheng Huamin. He was Siyuan Village's clinic doctor, a barefoot doctor. Because he liked to deliberately scare children with big syringes, the children were the first to give him that nickname. Over time, even the adults began calling him that.

"Lei Zi, go get Blind Liu."

"Yes, Grandfather."

Blind Liu's real name was Liu Jinxia. Her parents died young, and her uncle arranged for her to marry over from Si'an Town. In the first year after she married in, her parents-in-law died of illness one after another, making who knew how many village wives secretly weep with envy.

Then, on a night in the second year, her husband drank alcohol, went to the toilet, fell into the cesspit, and drowned, leaving behind only a newborn daughter.

At the time, rumors spread through the village that Liu Jinxia's fate was too hard.

Life was difficult for a widow raising a child. Besides tending to the farmwork at home, Liu Jinxia began making a living by telling fortunes and performing rituals to ward off bad luck. The more rumors spread about her, the more people believed in her abilities.

In those days, scratching out a living from the land could only keep one fed and clothed. To live more comfortably, one needed some other occupation. Through this line of work, Liu Jinxia managed to find her daughter Li Juxiang a live-in son-in-law.

But in only the second year after the son-in-law moved in, he supposedly suffered a sudden heart attack. While transplanting rice seedlings in the fields, the man toppled over and died.

He left behind Li Juxiang and another newborn daughter.

After that, not just the village but people throughout the surrounding countryside were convinced of the fate hanging over Liu Jinxia's family line. As a result, Liu Jinxia's business became even better.

So she simply rented her fields out to others. She had her daughter buy a tricycle in town, and whenever there was business, Li Juxiang would pedal her there.

A few years ago, Liu Jinxia developed cataracts and could no longer see clearly, which rounded out her personal business image rather nicely.

Here, Cui Guiying had just changed Li Zhuiyuan out of his wet clothes when she saw her husband scoop up well water to rinse the blood from his knee. Then he opened the locked cabinet and took out three packs of cigarettes.

He tossed one pack to Cui Guiying and instructed her, "When Zheng Datong comes, open it in front of him and give him one. Give him another when he leaves. Put the medical fee on the tab."

Then Li Weihan tossed over another pack. "Give Blind Liu a whole pack. Don't talk about anything else."

Cui Guiying reminded him, "I heard Blind Liu charges terribly high for a job these days."

Li Weihan shook his head. "Going blind is one thing. She'd better not lose her conscience too."

Liu Jinxia's husband had grown up playing in the mud with Li Weihan. In the first few years after he died, the mother and daughter had struggled badly. Li Weihan often brought them aid and helped with farmwork during busy seasons, so people had gossiped about him plenty back then.

Though the two families no longer visited each other much, if Blind Liu dared take money from his family, Li Weihan would dare spit right in her face.

Li Weihan put the last pack into his own pocket.

Cui Guiying asked in surprise, "You're going out?"

Li Weihan nodded. "I'm going to find Uncle Sanjiang."

"What? What did you run into?"

Li Weihan glanced at the children around them, then glared at his wife. "I'll tell you when I get back."

With that, Li Weihan pushed his old bicycle out the door.

Cui Guiying sat back down beside the mat, stroking Li Zhuiyuan and calling his name over and over.

One of the younger granddaughters asked curiously, "What happened to Brother Yuanzi?"

Huzi immediately said, "I know! Brother Yuanzi ran into a Water Monkey. It dragged him down to be its substitute ghost!"

At once, the children around them all looked frightened and backed away.

Smack!

A palm print appeared on Huzi's face.

Cui Guiying cursed, "Pah! You're talking nonsense like you've lost your mind. Go outside and see whether the people we called have arrived. Go!"

"Okay! I'm going!"

Huzi was not fussy about it. The slap hurt, but he did not really take it to heart. He pulled Shitou and several others outside to check for the visitors.

Cui Guiying told her eldest granddaughter Yingzi to bring her a bowl of water and a needle. She took the needle, scratched Li Zhuiyuan's forehead and crown several times, then laid the needle flat in the bowl.

There was a local custom: whenever someone had a headache, fever, or felt unwell, they would use this needle to "call" it away.

Before long, voices came from outside. "Zheng Datong's here! Zheng Datong's here!"

Zheng Datong entered the house with a wooden medical case on his back.

"Doctor Zheng, look at the child. Look at the child."

Cui Guiying took out the cigarettes, opened the pack, pulled one out, and handed it to him.

Zheng Datong accepted it and tucked it behind his ear. He squatted down beside Li Zhuiyuan and asked, "What happened to the child?"

"He fell in the water and hasn't woken up since."

"He fell in the water?" Zheng Datong first pried open Li Zhuiyuan's mouth and nose, then lifted his eyelids to examine them. After that, he took out a stethoscope from his case and listened carefully.

When he put away the stethoscope, Cui Guiying leaned in and asked, "Doctor Zheng, how is he?"

Zheng Datong frowned, helped Li Zhuiyuan sit up, and Cui Guiying hurriedly reached over to assist.

He patted the child's back and observed him for a moment. Then Zheng Datong laid him back down, removed the cigarette from behind his ear, and put it between his lips.

Cui Guiying hurried to the stove to get matches, only to see that Zheng Datong had already lit it himself and taken several deep drags.

"How is he, Doctor?"

Zheng Datong looked at Cui Guiying. "How long was the child underwater?"

Cui Guiying looked toward Pan Zi.

Pan Zi said, "Only a little while. Yuanzi had barely fallen in before his grandfather pulled him out."

Zheng Datong frowned again and took a deep drag. After exhaling a ring of smoke, he said, "Auntie, the child didn't drown, and he didn't inhale any water. There's nothing wrong with him."

"Then why won't he wake up?" Cui Guiying asked.

"Take the child to the Health Center in town for another examination. It might be something else." Zheng Datong packed up his things and stood. There was nothing more he could do.

Cui Guiying pulled out another cigarette and offered it to him.

"No more, no more." Even as he spoke, he took the cigarette and tucked it behind his ear.

Then, after smoking the one in his mouth down to the filter, Zheng Datong tossed the butt onto the ground and stepped on it. He asked quietly, "Have you called Blind Liu to take a look?"

"Ah, we did." Cui Guiying seemed a little embarrassed.

Zheng Datong nodded. Pan Zi had told him a little on the way here. At this point, all he could do was advise, "If he still isn't awake by tonight, take him to town first thing tomorrow morning."

"Alright, alright. Sorry to trouble you, sorry to trouble you."

Just then, Lei Zi ran inside. Wiping the sweat from his face with his hand, he told Cui Guiying, "Blind Liu's here."

Cui Guiying scolded him, "Xina Kangzi, mind your manners. Call her Granny Liu."

Knowing it was time to make way, Zheng Datong walked out of the house. Just then, he saw a tricycle being pedaled over in the distance, with an old woman seated on it.

"Heh..."

Zheng Datong suddenly thought of all those new medicines that newspapers had recently been promoting as miraculous. Wasn't this exactly what he was taking part in? Heh, what was it called again?

Oh, right...

The integration of Chinese and Western medicine.

Lei Zi had run home ahead to notify them. Li Juxiang pedaled the tricycle behind him, complaining a little, "Mom, you shouldn't have dawdled like this. We should've come earlier."

Earlier, someone from neighboring Shigang Town had come to discuss arrangements for his old mother's posthumous birthday. They could have asked him to wait at home and come here first, but her mother had insisted on finishing that man's business, then dawdling over a trip to the toilet before coming over.

Liu Jinxia, seated on a Small Stool in the back, blew out a smoke ring and said irritably, "What's the rush? It's not like we'd get any money from his family anyway."

"Mom, you really have the nerve to take it?"

"Pah. If he gives it to me, I'll take it."

"I remember Hanhou helped us a lot when I was little."

"He has four sons, so why didn't he give one to me?" Liu Jinxia flicked away some ash. "None of them were brought in as sons-in-law. I wouldn't even ask his family for a bride price, and he still wouldn't take a daughter-in-law I was giving away for free. Hah!"

"How can you blame Uncle Han for that?"

"I'm telling you, Xianghou, it's one thing when other people spout nonsense about us mother and daughter. Their mouths are on their own faces. But why do you have to humiliate yourself like this?"

Li Juxiang pressed her lips together.

"Xianghou, Little Cui Hou is still young. Your mother doesn't have many years left to live. Little Cui Hou will have to rely on you in the future. So what if there's no man? I, Liu Jinxia, will prove that even without men, we mother and daughter can eat and drink well and live better than anyone else!"

"We're here, Mom."

The tricycle rode up onto the embankment and arrived at the entrance to the old Li family home.

Cui Guiying stepped forward to help Liu Jinxia down from the tricycle. Liu Jinxia patted the back of Cui Guiying's hand and said, "Oh my, how could I let you support me? Your Hanhou is my benefactor."

"Child's grandma, come look at him quickly. He still hasn't woken up."

Liu Jinxia asked, "Leihou said he ran into something in the water?"

"Child's grandfather has already gone to fetch Uncle Sanjiang."

At those words, Liu Jinxia's heart tightened. She grabbed Cui Guiying's hand and urged, "Quick, take me to see the child."

When Lei Zi had come to summon her earlier, he had mentioned some things too. But at the time, she had thought the child was just exaggerating and talking nonsense. Now that Li Weihan had gone looking for Li Sanjiang, this was truly serious!

Liu Jinxia still remembered how good Li Weihan had been to them before.

The moment she entered, she heard a group of children chattering. Liu Jinxia's eyesight was poor, and it felt as though she had walked into a duck pen. She immediately waved her hand and cursed:

"All you Xina Kangzis, move aside! Stop making noise, or you'll disturb the Kitchen God!"

Cui Guiying hurriedly had the older children lead the younger ones outside, then shut the door.

"Where is he?" Liu Jinxia asked.

"In the inner room." Cui Guiying was about to lead her in.

"Bring him into the kitchen. There's a stove here."

"All right. I'll carry the child out right away."

With Li Juxiang's help, Li Zhuiyuan was placed on the kitchen table.

Liu Jinxia's old hands first felt along Li Zhuiyuan's legs, then traveled up from his legs to his face. After feeling his face, they stopped at his shoulders and pressed lightly.

Her hands reeked of smoke and cured meat from all the cigarettes she smoked, and she also liked soaking them in white vinegar for maintenance, making the smell even more pungent.

People could smell it just standing nearby. If someone got close enough to sniff it, an ordinary fainting spell might really be smoked away.

After feeling him for a while, Liu Jinxia asked, "Guiying, have you called him back?"

"I did, I did." Cui Guiying immediately brought over the bowl containing water and a needle. Then she herself cried out in fright, "Ah!"

The needle in the bowl was not only rusted, but covered in red rust, which had spread around it across the bottom of the bowl.

Li Juxiang immediately leaned close to her mother's ear and described what she saw.

After hearing it, Liu Jinxia drew in a deep breath. Her expression turned grave. "Sister, the child has been haunted."

"Ah?" Cui Guiying was frightened again and immediately pleaded, "Save him, please save him. My daughter only has this one child. He's being raised here with me. Nothing can happen to him."

As she spoke, Cui Guiying took the pack of cigarettes from her pocket and offered it to Liu Jinxia.

Liu Jinxia pushed it away and sighed instead.

"Have a smoke first. We'll make up the red-envelope money afterward..."

Liu Jinxia cut her off. "I can't take anything from your family. I can't accept it. It burns the hand."

"Please, sister, don't say that. My child..."

Liu Jinxia turned toward her own daughter and gave a bitter smile. "Did you hear that? This is the son of your Uncle Han's favorite little girl."

"He's Lanhou's son." Li Juxiang paused, then added, "Lanhou and I used to be very close."

Lanhou's name was Li Lan. She was Li Zhuiyuan's mother.

Back then, the villagers all believed Liu Jinxia's family was cursed with bad luck, and parents would tell their children not to play with Li Juxiang. Li Juxiang's childhood had therefore been lonely. She could not run around and play like the other children, because whenever she went to someone else's house, the adults there would roll their eyes at her.

Li Lan had not cared about that at the time. She often invited Li Juxiang to play with her, and their friendship lasted until Li Lan got into college and left the village.

Liu Jinxia closed her eyes and remained silent.

Li Juxiang looked at Li Zhuiyuan and said to Cui Guiying, "This child is really handsome. He looks a lot like Lanhou."

Cui Guiying gave two vague responses, but her attention remained on Liu Jinxia. She could not tell whether Liu Jinxia was refusing outright or putting on airs.

Li Juxiang continued, "Little Cui Hou said just the day before yesterday that there was an older brother named Little Yuanhou who gave her chocolate and went to the creek with her to pick up pebbles."

Li Juxiang had been isolated as a child, and it was even worse now for her daughter, Li Cui Cui. Usually, her daughter could only stand at a distance and watch the other children play together.

Cui Cui did not dare approach them. If she did, the other children would say their parents had told them not to play with her, then scatter in a rush.

Cui Cui had gone home happily the day before yesterday, saying a very handsome older brother had played with her all afternoon. The other children had told him not to play with her, but he had not cared, and he had even given her chocolate.

Liu Jinxia opened her eyes and looked at her daughter with helplessness and pain. Then she turned to Cui Guiying.

"Sister, let's lay our cards on the table."

"All right, go on."

"Normally, out of twenty jobs, fifteen are really nothing at all. I just go through the motions, and they get peace of mind.

"Of the rest, four may look like something is wrong, but in the end, they're still nothing.

"So at most, there's one where there's a little something mixed in with the nothing. But even that isn't hard to wipe away.

"I'm not taking your money. First, your husband really did help us mother and daughter in the past, so I can't take it. Second, the money I take for going through the motions normally has no point here."

"This... you... the child... You have to save him, sister."

"I'll help him." Liu Jinxia smiled. "Bring me some incense ash from the stove."

"All right."

Local Earthen Stoves had many recessed slots. One was usually set behind the stove, with an image of the Kitchen God above it and a small incense burner inside.

Cui Guiying took down the incense burner and brought it before Liu Jinxia.

Liu Jinxia grabbed a handful of incense ash, held it in her palm, and muttered under her breath.

No one could understand what she was chanting, but she chanted for quite a while.

Liu Jinxia said, "Cover him up."

Before Cui Guiying could understand, Li Juxiang had already covered Li Zhuiyuan's nose and mouth with her hand.

Liu Jinxia smeared incense ash over the child's neck and shoulders, rubbing and rubbing as though applying prickly heat powder.

But gradually, a horrifying sight appeared. Cui Guiying clapped a hand over her own mouth.

On her grandson's shoulders, two purple marks had appeared clearly, looking like two handprints!

Liu Jinxia said, "How vicious... Daughter, begin."

"All right."

Li Juxiang responded and went outside to retrieve some things from the tricycle. She first placed an empty bowl and a brush in Liu Jinxia's hands, poured ink into the bowl, then took out a ball of red thread from her pocket. It looked like knitting yarn, but once unwound, it gave off a fishy smell, leaving quite a bit of red on Li Juxiang's palms.

Next, Li Juxiang tied one end of the red thread around her own wrist and the other around Li Zhuiyuan's wrist, then stood some distance away.

Liu Jinxia dipped the brush in ink and repeatedly drew circles on Li Zhuiyuan's forehead, continuing to mutter as she did so.

At first, everything was normal. Nothing happened.

But as Liu Jinxia's chanting and hand movements grew faster and faster, the red thread began to tremble.

Cui Guiying instinctively wanted to see whether the thread was being pulled from Li Juxiang's end. But the moment she lifted her head, she saw Li Juxiang opening her mouth in agony. Then, with a thud, she dropped to her knees and leaned forward as though someone were forcing her to kowtow.

Liu Jinxia cast her daughter a pained glance, but she did not slow her chanting or her hand.

"Ah... ah... ah..."

Li Juxiang collapsed sideways to the floor in agony. She rolled around with both arms wrapped around herself, her legs kicking wildly. Saliva kept spilling from her mouth, her eyes were wide open, and her face had turned blue.

Cui Guiying stood beside them, worried both for her grandson and for something happening to Li Juxiang.

However, after the pain reached its peak, Li Juxiang gradually calmed down. In the end, she lay sprawled on the floor, gasping heavily.

Liu Jinxia also stopped. Her body swayed, and Cui Guiying hurriedly reached out to support her.

"Go get a basin of hot water and wipe the child down."

"All right."

Cui Guiying immediately did as she was told. She fetched a basin, lifted the cover off the small central stove, and used a wooden ladle to scoop out hot water.

After wetting a cloth, she began wiping the incense ash from Li Zhuiyuan.

What wiped away was not merely the incense ash, but also the two purple handprints, which dissolved like pigment.

Cui Guiying specifically checked the cloth and found no purple stain on it.

"Sister, is the child... better now?"

Liu Jinxia took out a cigarette, lit it, and drew in deeply before breaking into a violent cough. Tears and snot spilled down her face. She had choked on her own smoke.

But although Cui Guiying did not receive an immediate answer from Liu Jinxia, she discovered that her grandson, who had remained unconscious all this time, was slowly opening his eyes.

"Little Yuanhou, Little Yuanhou, you're awake!"

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Cui Guiying in confusion, then looked around. Finally, in a hoarse voice, he called out, "Grandma."

"Yes, you're finally awake. Buddha bless us, Buddha bless us."

Beside them, Li Juxiang climbed up from the floor, took a clean bowl for herself, poured in some water, and sipped at it.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and grabbed Cui Guiying's arm, turning his body slightly as he tried to burrow into his grandmother's embrace.

Cui Guiying hurriedly pulled Li Zhuiyuan into her arms and soothed him. "My child, my Little Yuanhou, my good child..."

Liu Jinxia said, "Take care of him. Let him sleep a while longer. When he wakes again, he'll be fine."

Li Juxiang came over and helped her mother outside.

Cui Guiying said, "When Hanhou comes back, he and I..."

Liu Jinxia waved her hand. "Wait until the child is completely better. We're going home first. Don't see us out."

Cui Guiying truly could not see them out. She could only keep holding her grandson.

At that moment, comforted in his grandmother's arms, Li Zhuiyuan began to fall asleep again. But this time, his sleeping face was much more peaceful, unlike before, when he had tightly pursed his lips and frowned so painfully.

On the way back on the tricycle, Liu Jinxia half rose into a squat, pulled aside her daughter's collar to look at the ring of bruising there, and asked:

"Does it hurt?"

"Mom, sit properly. You'll fall off."

Liu Jinxia sat back down. After a long while, she slapped her thigh and cursed:

"Xianghou, are we mother and daughter really born with such lowly fates?"

Li Weihan did not return for a long time. Cui Guiying sent Huzi and Shitou to Li Sanjiang's Home to look for him. When Huzi and Shitou returned, they reported that Li Sanjiang's hired worker said he had gone out to deliver paper crafts, and Li Weihan had gone looking for him.

Cui Guiying understood. Li Sanjiang had gone to deliver paper crafts. By custom, the host family would keep him for a meal, and since he liked to drink, there was no telling how long they would have to wait. Her husband had gone to hurry him back.

For dinner, Cui Guiying had several older children help prepare the food. Li Weihan still had not returned after the meal, so Cui Guiying arranged for the children to sleep in the inner room.

She herself set up a door plank in the kitchen and slept there alone with Li Zhuiyuan. Li Zhuiyuan slept soundly.

As Cui Guiying fanned the child with a palm-leaf fan, she wiped away tears in distress. The child had truly suffered this time.

She then thought of her daughter, who had just gotten divorced, and wondered how she was doing now.

Unlike other families who favored sons over daughters, Cui Guiying and her husband had always loved this youngest daughter the most.

The girl wanted to study, and she was good at it, so they continued supporting her. No matter how others said that educating girls was useless and that it was better to marry them off early, they never wavered.

That favoritism toward their daughter naturally extended to their grandson as well.

Li Zhuiyuan had a dream. He dreamed that he was attending class in the gifted youth program. The Old Professor at the podium closed his book and said, "All right, class dismissed."

He followed his deskmate out of the classroom, weaving through a crowd of tall adults.

The two of them entered the toilet and stood on the steps before the urinals.

His deskmate had already undone his pants and begun urinating. Then he urged him:

"Zhuiyuan, pee too. What are you waiting for?"

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. The moment he pulled down his zipper, he suddenly jolted awake.

The dream ended there. He opened his eyes and, by the moonlight outside, saw his grandmother lying beside him, still holding the palm-leaf fan.

That was close. I almost wet the bed.

Li Zhuiyuan's memories of the daytime had already become somewhat blurred. He quietly climbed up and prepared to go pee.

The toilet was a separate small room some distance from the Main House. A pit had been dug in the ground, a large vat buried inside it, and a hollow wooden seat placed above the vat. When Li Zhuiyuan first saw it, he thought it looked just like the Dragon Throne from the movies.

Therefore, the locals generally called going to the toilet "using the porcelain vat."

At first, Li Zhuiyuan had gone there to pee as well. Later, after learning from his older brothers' experience, he finally understood that as long as he left the house and the yard, he could mark territory anywhere.

Going out the front door meant leaving the embankment too, which was a little far. Li Zhuiyuan chose the back door and went to the riverside instead. It was closer.

Just as Li Zhuiyuan was getting ready, he suddenly heard a "thump... thump... thump..."

He looked down and realized that it was the boat moored at his family's shore rocking back and forth.

Some images seemed to surface in Li Zhuiyuan's mind. Had he gone out on the boat with Grandfather and his brothers to catch fish during the day?

Then, had they caught any fish? What had they eaten for dinner? Why could he remember none of it?

"Thump... thump... thump..."

The boat was still rocking, but there were no waves on the river and no wind.

At last, Li Zhuiyuan remembered what had happened during the day. He remembered the black hair, remembered falling into the water, remembered what lay beneath it... And with those memories came fear.

Li Zhuiyuan's body went limp. His feet slipped, and he fell to the ground. Instinctively, he reached for his shoulders, as though a pair of icy hands were still gripping them.

That very act of sitting changed his height, bringing the underside of the boat, which had previously been hidden from view, into his sight.

"Thump... thump... thump..."

There was someone beneath the water. Her head surfaced from time to time, struck the bottom of the boat, then sank back down. Then it surfaced again and struck it again, over and over, tirelessly.

Suddenly, the banging stopped, and the boat ceased rocking.

That head surfaced once more. It did not strike the boat's bottom again. Instead, it slowly turned toward him. Wet black hair kept sliding down to either side, barely revealing half of a richly beautiful woman's face.

Her face was very pale, so pale that it seemed ready to melt beneath the moonlight at any moment.

At this moment, she seemed to have found the person she had been seeking. The corners of her mouth slowly curved outward, gradually forming a smile.

Her lips were still vividly red, almost glaring in the stillness of the night.

Li Zhuiyuan rubbed his eyes hard. When he looked again, he found that at some point, her upper body had risen above the water, her arms hanging straight down at her sides.

Daring not waste another moment, Li Zhuiyuan scrambled to his feet and ran for the house. As he crossed the door threshold, he stumbled, barely steadying himself by grabbing the doorframe.

With a glance back, he saw that Little Yellow Oriole, who had been half-submerged in the river, had already left the water and was standing on the lowest bluestone step.

"Grandma, Grandma!"

Li Zhuiyuan ran to the plank bed and reached out to shake Cui Guiying, but she still clutched her palm-leaf fan and slept on.

"Grandma, wake up! Grandma, wake up!"

Li Zhuiyuan kept calling, yet Cui Guiying showed no sign of waking.

"Drip... drip... drip..."

The sound of dripping water came from behind him.

Li Zhuiyuan turned around. The first thing he saw was a pair of red high heels, then pale, swollen ankles. A black qipao clung tightly to her body, while droplets kept falling from the hem of her dress and the tips of her hair.

She—

stood perfectly stiff on the door threshold!