New Novel - Read Here
When I was three years old, there was a severe drought. On the day of my third birthday, almost all the adults in the village had gone out to water the fields. My family was no exception, leaving me alone at home.
My family had left me a bowl of wild chicken blood, telling me to drink it myself when I got hungry.
Although I was only three years old, I was smarter than most children my age, and I was also very obedient. So I played by myself in the courtyard.
For the past few years, I had always been alone. No children were willing to play with me, mainly because the adults in their families forbade them from doing so. They said I was a freak born that way.
The villagers also knew that I never ate food and only drank blood. Moreover, every night, weasels and fox spirits would come to my house to bring me things. Everyone avoided me as if I were a poisonous snake or scorpion.
On my birthday, I was playing alone in the courtyard as usual. Just as I was urinating on an anthill to water it, I suddenly heard the sounds of children playing and laughing outside the courtyard. The noise immediately caught my attention.
In those three years, I had hardly ever left the courtyard. After all, the villagers despised me, and everyone would avoid me whenever they saw me.
But I desperately wanted a playmate. Even if it was just a child willing to say a few words to me, I would have been happy.
Hearing the commotion outside, I ran to the courtyard gate and peeked through the crack in the door.
In front of my house was a small mound of sand. The neighbor next door had piled it there because they planned to build a house. Four or five children were playing in the sand, laughing and chatting happily. Watching them made me itch to join them.
I was only three years old at the time, so I didn't think too much about it. I simply ran over, wanting to play with those children.
However, as soon as one of the children saw me, a look of terror immediately appeared on his face.
An older child pointed at me and shouted, "The freak is here! The blood-drinking freak is here! Anyone who talks to him will have bad luck!"
At that shout, the children who had been playing in the sand immediately scattered and ran away, disappearing without a trace. I was left standing there all alone.
Those children ran very quickly, leaving all their sand-playing toys behind on the mound.
Seeing them run away made me feel rather disappointed, but it didn't matter. Since they had left, I could just play by myself.
I picked up the sand toys, squatted down on the mound, and started playing on my own.
Just then, a voice suddenly came from the other side of the sand mound.
"Let's play with the sand together?"
I looked up and saw a chubby little boy who seemed to be about the same age as me. Two long strings of snot hung from his nose, though his clothes were quite clean.
I smiled at him and said, "Okay, let's play together. Let's build a big house."
Everyone else had run away, leaving only this little fatty behind. He was about the same age as me, an age when neither of us knew what fear was.
The two of us sat on the sand mound and played happily, squatting there in our split-crotch pants as we played with the sand.
After a while, the little fatty suddenly took a piece of candy out of his clothes and handed it to me.
"Candy. Sweet..."
I had never eaten candy before. Other than blood, I had never eaten anything at all.
Still, I accepted it and put it into my mouth, but I couldn't really taste anything.
After eating the little fatty's candy, I felt that since he had been kind to me, I should be kind to him in return.
While eating the candy, I told him, "I have something tasty too. I'll go get it for you. Wait here."
With that, I hurriedly ran into the house, brought out the bowl of wild chicken blood that my parents had left for me, and carried it outside.
The little fatty had no idea what it was, so I demonstrated by drinking it for him. I took a gulp, leaving my mouth bright red, and the little fatty giggled while I laughed along with him. He then picked up the bowl and took a drink as well.
But after only one sip, he failed to hold the bowl properly, and the entire bowl of blood spilled all over his body.
That was my food supply. Seeing all of it spilled, I felt terribly distressed.
Just when I had no idea what to do, a hysterical howl suddenly came from behind me.
"You little freak! Damn you! How dare you hurt my son!"
A vicious woman suddenly rushed over. Without saying another word, she grabbed me by the collar and flung me a long distance away, sending me crashing hard onto the ground.
I was in terrible pain. Lying on the ground, I immediately burst into loud sobs.
As I cried, I suddenly noticed several pairs of green, glowing eyes watching me from not far away. At the same time, they were also staring at that vicious woman.
The woman immediately picked up the little fatty and anxiously examined him from head to toe. After discovering that he wasn't injured and that there was only blood splashed all over his body, she was somewhat relieved.
However, she was still furious.
She ran over to where I was crying and kicked me twice.
"You damn little bastard! How dare you feed my son blood! I'll beat you to death!"
I was only three years old. One kick sent me flying. The pain was so intense that I couldn't even cry anymore.
Fortunately, my grandfather returned at that moment, carrying a hoe over his shoulder.
When he saw that the vicious woman was still beating me, he immediately rushed over and shoved her away.
"Your husband is the third son of our family! Why are you beating my grandson?"
"You still have the nerve to ask?" The woman put her hands on her hips, furious beyond words. “Ask this little freak what he did! He actually fed my son blood! What if something happens to him? If my son gets hurt, I'll make your entire Wu Family pay with your lives!"
Grandfather immediately picked me up from the ground. Seeing me crying so hard that my face was covered in tears, his heart ached.
Then he looked at the little fatty and was immediately startled.
The entire bowl of blood had been spilled all over the little boy, and he was covered in blood, making him look extremely frightening.
Drinking this blood caused no problems for me, but an ordinary child would definitely suffer consequences from drinking it.
Knowing that our family was in the wrong, Grandfather had nothing to say. After repeatedly apologizing, he carried me home.
But that vicious woman still refused to let the matter go. She stood outside our house and cursed loudly, attracting quite a few neighbors who came over to watch.
Even while Grandfather was carrying me away, I could still see some of those green, glowing eyes hiding in the grass, watching me.
At the same time, they were also staring at that vicious woman.
"Xiaojie, didn't I tell you to stay at home properly? Why did you run outside?" Grandfather asked after setting me down.
Xiaojie was my childhood nickname. My full name was Wu Jie.
That Wu Banxian had said that I was someone destined to face calamities, and that I would encounter eighteen great calamities throughout my life. Because of this, Grandfather had given me the name Wu Jie.
"Play... I wanted to play with them. He gave me candy, so I gave him something tasty..." I said between sobs.
Upon hearing this, Grandfather let out a long sigh, but there was nothing he could do.
I was just a child. I only thought that giving my most precious possession to another child was a good thing. How could I possibly have had any malicious intentions?
When my parents returned and heard what had happened, they severely scolded me. They told me that from then on, they would never let me leave the house again.
Everyone in the family thought that this matter had come to an end.
In reality, it had only just begun.
Because the next morning, someone discovered the body of the third son's wife on the mountain behind the village.
The condition of her corpse was horrifying.
No one knew what kind of wild beast had attacked her. Her body was covered in countless wounds and bite marks. There wasn't a single intact patch of flesh left on her body.
Most horrifying of all, one of her feet had been gnawed away until nothing remained but bone.
And that was the very foot she had used to kick me.