“A haunted house…”
“Yeah, a haunted house. Is this your first time hearing about it, Xiaoying?”
Jiang Ciying was sitting at the entrance of the mahjong parlor, catching the breeze. An older woman playing cards behind her suddenly chimed in, pulling her back to reality.
“Oh, let me advise you, dear. You had better not get too close to that little girl. She is full of bad juju and comes and goes like a ghost. Do not let her bring you bad luck.”
“Yes, yes! I heard people say that when she was a little girl, she went out to play with another kid, and out of the two of them, only she came back. The other child disappeared.”
“Disappeared? Weren’t they found?”
“They… well, they were found eventually, but ever since she came back, she had a high fever that would not break and ended up simple-minded and slow.”
The women chatted back and forth. Finding it uninteresting, Jiang Ciying lowered her head and played turtle once again.
“Hey, Jiang Ciying.”
Hearing someone call her name, Jiang Ciying snapped out of it, glanced around blankly, and finally realized the voice was coming from right above her.
She raised her head, and at just a single glance, she was too stunned to speak. The young girl who lived in apartment 622 was standing right in front of her in her school uniform. Clutched in her hand was some loose change. Her clothes were filthy and seemed to be stained with blood.
After a brief moment of shock, she instinctively frowned, carefully scrutinizing the injuries all over the girl’s body. Her tone was puzzled, yet carried a trace of hard-to-detect tension: “What on earth did you do? Why are you covered in injuries?”
The little girl pushed her hand away, stepping back to maintain her distance, and replied coldly, “None of your business.”
With that single sentence, Jiang Ciying’s words of concern were completely choked back in her throat. Staring at the child’s face, she could not say a word.
The girl raised a hand to wipe away the blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, sniffed, and handed the crumpled, still-warm loose change she had been clutching over to Jiang Ciying, her tone remaining calm.
“Here is one hundred yuan. The rest will have to wait a few more days; I will pay you back slowly.”
Jiang Ciying looked at the money in her hand, a lingering sense of unease in her heart. She wanted to grab the girl and ask for a clear explanation, but just as she looked up, the girl had already turned and walked away.
“Wait.” Hesitating for a moment, Jiang Ciying decided to call out to her anyway.
True to expectation, the little girl stopped in her tracks, but she remained with her back turned and did not look back.
Jiang Ciying strode forward, grabbed her by the shoulders, and spun her around to face her: “Where did this money come from?”
The girl remained silent for a long while, her expression softening for a fraction of a second before quickly returning to her usual coldness as she pushed Jiang Ciying’s hand away. “It has nothing to do with you. Just take the money.”
Annoyed, Jiang Ciying let out a clicking sound with her tongue, grabbed her arm once more, and pressed on: “What school do you go to? Fighting and shaking people down for money is illegal. Do you even know you can go to prison for that?”
Whether it was a specific word that triggered her, the young girl suddenly put her weight into a kick and caught Jiang Ciying off guard, sending her tumbling to the ground. Amidst Jiang Ciying’s bewilderment, the girl glared at her fiercely, dropped a final sentence, and sprinted away.
“To hell with it being illegal! If you can actually go to prison for it, why do you not just call the police?”
Jiang Ciying collapsed onto the ground, sucking in a sharp breath of pain. It took her a good while to process what had just been said. Staggering to her feet, she wanted to give chase, but the girl had long since vanished.
Leaning against the wall at the entrance of the mahjong parlor while clutching her waist, she pointed in the direction the child had fled. Her face was flushed with anger, and unable to squeeze out a single word, she stamped her feet in frustration.
Just as she was about to let out a curse, Jiang Ciying caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye. A small, hand-sewn coin purse was lying on the ground not far away.
Patting the dust off her clothes and glancing toward the direction the girl had fled, Jiang Ciying curved her lips into a smile, walked over, and picked up the purse.
There was nothing particularly important inside the wallet: just a few crumpled bills, a hair clip, and a photograph.
Stuffing the purse into her pocket, Jiang Ciying let out a retaliatory huff in the girl’s direction and sauntered off.
Night fell, but the owner of the purse never showed up to claim it.
The customers in the shop grew instead of dwindling; not only was the interior packed to capacity, but even the space outside the doors was crowded with local residents sitting out to catch the breeze and chat. Wrapped in the noise she detested most, Jiang Ciying’s state of mind remained chaotic.
The small, dark blue coin purse lay right there on the table in front of her. Several times, she reached out her hand, but feeling it was not quite moral, she pulled her hand back again.
After a bit of internal struggle, curiosity ultimately triumphed over morality.
The only photograph in the purse featured two figures: one was the girl herself, and the other seemed unrecognizable.
Both of them wore exquisite makeup, and their dresses were of a style that had been popular five years ago. The background showed high-rise buildings in a metropolis, with the two of them embracing each other by a railing across the riverbank.
Flipping the photo over, a line of small handwriting was scrawled on the back:
Spring 2003, traveling to Jinhai with my beloved daughter, Sang Yingli. If she ever journeys far away in the future, this shall be the starting point.
Jiang Ciying frowned, flipped the photograph back over, and fell into deep thought as she stared at the two wildly joyful figures on it.
Then, she reached out a finger and poked the smiling young girl.
“So your name is Sang Yingli.”
Plugging the photo back into the purse just as it was, Jiang Ciying pulled open the front desk drawer, tossed it inside, and locked it with a turn of the key.
The streetlights in Liigang Alley were long overdue for repairs, flickering on and off now and then. While their flashing made it hard to ignore them, staying under such light for long was equally unbearable.
A figure suddenly appeared in a daze beneath the lamp, bent over as if rummaging through the bushes for something.
Curving her lips, Jiang Ciying stretched her arms, stood up, waded through the crowd straight to the entrance, and stared at the dark figure as if watching a good show.
“Sang Yingli, what are you looking for?”
True to her guess, the figure gave a sharp start, froze in the darkness for two seconds, and then turned around to reveal a pair of pitch-black eyes.
It took Sang Yingli quite a while to recognize that face. Dusting the mud off her hands, she turned her back on her again.
With a click of her tongue, Jiang Ciying proactively stepped closer. “Are you looking for your wallet?”
This time, Sang Yingli was finally willing to engage with her.
“Did you take it?”
“I certainly did not.” Jiang Ciying feigned innocence, spreading both hands wide.
Sang Yingli stared at her, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to find a flaw.
“Then how do you know my name?”
“I can read minds.”
“Liars.”
Shooting her a glare, Sang Yingli turned to leave.
Holding back her laughter, Jiang Ciying stared meaningfully at Sang Yingli’s retreating back.
Suddenly, however, as if recalling something, Sang Yingli halted in her tracks and whipped her head around.
“Did you sneak a peek at the stuff inside my wallet?”
“Nope.” Jiang Ciying lied again.
Unfortunately, Sang Yingli no longer believed her. Taking a giant stride forward, she grabbed Jiang Ciying by the collar, yanked her upward, and threatened her fiercely.
“Give my things back, or do not blame me for being unpolite.”
Jiang Ciying was genuinely startled by her, stepping back instinctively, which only made Sang Yingli all the more certain of her suspicions.
Yet a moment later, Jiang Ciying collected herself. Instead of explaining, her very first reaction was to burst out into a chuckle.
That laugh left Sang Yingli completely baffled. Furrowing her brows, she tightened her grip on Jiang Ciying’s collar by a fraction.
“Little miss, you are not even as tall as my shoulder yet, and you dare threaten me?”
It seemed Sang Yingli had been struck right where it hurt. Her cheeks grew unmistakably red in the darkness, her eyes filled with fury.
“I will say it one more time. Give my things back.”
“Fine,” Jiang Ciying said, a sudden inspiration striking her as she thought of a way to deal with the girl. “You pay the rest of the rent, and I will return your purse.”
“Why on earth should I listen to you?”
Jiang Ciying smiled, slowly bending down until she was inches away from the side of the girl’s face, though her eyes remained locked onto hers.
“The initiative is in my hands. You have to listen to me.”
Averting her gaze in vexation, Sang Yingli let go of her grip and angrily shoved the encroaching Jiang Ciying away.
Suddenly, Sang Yingli raised her foot, meaning to kick her and run away just like she had during the day.
This time, Jiang Ciying had learned her lesson. She nimbly dodged out of the way and grabbed the girl by the arm.
“Are you going to agree or not?”
“Let go of me!”
“I will not.”
Jiang Ciying’s stance was unyielding, and her tone so exasperating that Sang Yingli was driven to the verge of tears from sheer humiliation and anger.
“I agree, okay? Let go of me!”
Startled out of her wits by the sound of tears in the girl’s voice, Jiang Ciying instinctively relaxed her grip and let her go.
By the time she recovered her senses, Sang Yingli was already gone.
For some reason, despite having the upper hand, a wave of sourness churned in her chest, accompanied by an inexplicable sense of guilt.
In mid-May, a rare and heavy downpour hit the town.
Having spent a few days indoors, Jiang Ciying opened her eyes lazily, stared blankly at the ceiling, and felt nothing but boredom and irritation.
Languidly rising to her feet, she surveyed the empty living room, rubbed her rumbling, aching stomach, and slowly ambled over to the refrigerator. Opening it, she found it completely barren.
With a disappointed sigh, she closed the refrigerator door, turned her head toward the pouring rain outside the window, and instantly deflated.
Three minutes later, umbrella in hand, Jiang Ciying was out on the deserted street.
Deliberately avoiding the Yanhe Bridge near her home, she took a detour, walking and stopping along the way until she finally found a beef noodle shop on the student street.
Pushing the door open, Jiang Ciying casually ordered a bowl of signature beef noodles, found a seat by the window, and sat down to listen to music and zone out while watching the street scene.
Across the street was an inconspicuous alley. On ordinary days, not a soul could be seen going in or out, but today was rather abnormal. A few students in school uniforms bolted out of it, every single one of them covered in filth, clutching soaked backpacks as they scrambled frantically toward the other end of the street in disarray.
Jiang Ciying originally had no intention of minding them, lowering her head to quietly slurp her noodles. Who would have thought that the commotion across the street would grow increasingly loud, drowning out even the drumbeats of her music, and annoying her to the point of a sudden temper flare?
Pushing open the window, she intended to see what was going on. But as her eyes focused, the next person rushing out of the alley turned out to be an acquaintance.
Sang Yingli emerged from the alley, likewise soaked to the bone by the rain. Her face was battered with new bruises, and her arm appeared to have been scratched as well, blood mixing with the rainwater and dripping down drop by drop to stain the hem of her school uniform in a particularly startling display.
Yet she acted as though she could not feel any pain, wiping away the blood oozing from her wound with the hem of her shirt, before tying her jacket around her waist to cover up the glaring patch of red.
Watching that frail figure, Jiang Ciying’s pupils contracted sharply. A trace of undisguised shock flashed across the bottom of her eyes, and the next moment, she grabbed the umbrella beside her and dashed out headlong into the rain.
“Sang Yingli!”
Standing on the opposite side of the road, Jiang Ciying hurriedly shouted her name, but the downpour was too heavy, drowning out her voice and blurring her vision.
Dragging her backpack, Sang Yingli walked step by step toward Yanhe Bridge. Every single step she took made Jiang Ciying’s heart race faster, as if pressed down by some heavy object, leaving her unable to breathe.
Glancing around, she finally made up her mind. Disregarding the danger, she splashed into a puddle, rushed across to the other side of the street, and frantically chased after Sang Yingli’s path.
The next second, Jiang Ciying forcefully grabbed her arm and yanked her back from Yanhe Bridge.
Stumbling, Sang Yingli almost fell over. Frowning instantly, she prepared to turn around and hurl curses, only to hear Jiang Ciying’s voice first.
“What on earth did you do to get this many injuries?”
Startled, Sang Yingli snapped her head up and locked eyes with Jiang Ciying’s urgent gaze.
“I am talking to you! Sang Yingli!”
Recovering her wits, Sang Yingli quickly reined in her expression, attempting to push her away and escape just like last time, but to no avail.
Jiang Ciying kept a death grip on Sang Yingli’s injured arm. The moment the girl tried to break free and exerted force, she tugged on her wound, letting out a muffled groan of pain that left her unable to straighten her back.
Instinctively easing her grip just a fraction while still refusing to let go, Jiang Ciying dragged the girl under the shelter of a nearby eaves during the window of vulnerability while she was in pain.
Before Jiang Ciying draped her jacket over her shoulders, Sang Yingli acted like a sulking child, proudly turning her head away without uttering a word.
Gazing at the corners of the girl’s slightly reddened eyes, Jiang Ciying felt a look of worry wash over her unbidden. Not a single one of the questions she had intended to ask made it past her lips.
“Sang Yingli,” Jiang Ciying called out to her.
Pretending not to hear, Sang Yingli turned her head aside and ignored her.
Sighing, Jiang Ciying fished a tissue out of her pocket and gently dabbed away the droplets of water on the girl’s cheeks.
“Stop crying.”
“I am not crying.” Despite her voice being heavily choked with tears, Sang Yingli stubbornly pushed her away.
Left unable to laugh or cry, Jiang Ciying simply stepped right in front of her.
“Your clothes are all soaked. Come home with me to change first.”
Avoiding her gaze, Sang Yingli turned her head away, yet remained silent, lowering her head to avoid making eye contact.
Curving her lips slightly, Jiang Ciying leaned forward to look straight into the girl’s tear-reddened eyes.
“Hey beauty, care to come home with me?”