Words could kill.
The first person Qi Si killed with words was a girl named Qi Xinyue—his cousin.
Sixteen-year-old Qi Si had curled up inside a box in the attic, listening to the hysterical argument outside and piecing together the full story: the girl had been bullied and had hoped her parents would stand up for her, only to be scolded instead.
So when the girl pressed a cigarette butt against him, he stared intently at her arm and said, "You're hurt."
Perhaps she had finally found someone she could confide in. The girl cried, bitterly and aggrievedly, recounting her miserable experiences over and over.
Qi Si put on an understanding expression and patiently listened until she was done. Then he told her, "I can help you devise a murder plan. No one will be able to tell."
The girl was startled and shook her head repeatedly. "I can't do it... I can't kill anyone..."
People accustomed to bullying the weak often feared the strong. Perhaps because they had been filled with too much malice by those stronger than them, they poured it out all the more viciously on those weaker than them.
Qi Si wanted to vomit, but he smiled instead. "I've heard that people become ghosts after they die, and most people are afraid of ghosts."
The girl killed herself half a year later. Perhaps it had not directly been because of that one suggestion. After all, the human vessel was fragile enough; once it held enough pain, it cracked like glass expanding and contracting under heat.
But before her death, the girl had indeed changed into ominous red clothes, and after her death, she brought about no small disaster.
At the wedding banquet, Shang Qingbei heard that Xi'er had committed suicide and immediately understood what his