From my initial struggles and screams to later crying and begging him to let me go, Liu Xuanyi’s hand never loosened its grip.
He channeled True Qi into his hand, pushing the Plum Blossom Coffin Nail called ‘Shen’ inch by inch into my body.
A heart-piercing pain shot through me, blood gushed out, tears streamed down my face, and though I opened my mouth, no sound came out.
A sharp, piercing noise drilled into my mind, as if many people were speaking to me, countless figures swaying before my eyes.
I heard someone call me ‘Zhenzhen.’ I shook my head, wanting to say it wasn’t me, but I couldn’t speak.
It felt as if I had fallen into a bottomless whirlpool, everything around me illusory, tightly wrapping around me, suffocating me.
I reached out desperately, tearing and clawing, struggling to break free from that suffocating layer until I collapsed from exhaustion and passed out.
·
I was unconscious for two days.
When I woke again, the first thing I saw was a massive red fish head leaning over the bedside, startling me into sitting bolt upright.
“Miss Huai, you’re awake?”
Shen Li’s voice reached me. I closed my eyes for a moment, then looked back at the fish head—only to see Shen Li’s concerned face.
“Don’t be afraid, it’s all over now. I’ll go get you something to eat.”
With that, Shen Li left the room.
I quickly got up and splashed cold water on my face, thinking I must have been seeing things earlier.
Shen Li soon returned with a meal, but I held my chopsticks without eating.
The scenes from before lingered in my mind, and the thought of Liu Xuanyi filled me with dread.
I couldn’t understand why he had done that to me, and I couldn’t tell who around me was good or bad.
“Fifth Master and the others left for the Eastern Yi Salt Sea two nights ago,” Shen Li said, urging me to eat. “Only the two of us are left in the courtyard. Later, I need to go out to meet someone—someone Fifth Master arranged to protect us. Finish your meal and rest a bit more.”
I forced down a few bites, then said earnestly, “Aunt Li, you go ahead with your tasks. I can take care of myself.”
Shen Li didn’t suspect anything. After I finished eating and she cleared the dishes, she went out to meet the person.
As soon as she left, I also stepped out, hailing a taxi straight to the university.
My mind was in turmoil, and I dared not trust anyone casually.
Who could say whether the person Liu Xuanyi sent was here to protect me or to keep an eye on me?
If I didn’t leave the courtyard now, I feared I might never have another chance.
I needed to escape that environment, calm down, and think things through clearly.
·
Returning to the dorm, I pushed open the door to find a mess scattered across the floor.
One of my roommates, Sun Mingyue, was bent over, stuffing clothes into a suitcase.
Her mother stood quietly beside her, her belly swollen.
I politely greeted, “Hello, Auntie.”
The auntie acted as if she hadn’t heard, standing there woodenly without even glancing my way.
Sun Mingyue, however, suddenly looked up, her eyes red and swollen, staring at me in disbelief. “Huai Yan, who are you talking to?”
“Your mother,” I said, pointing beside her. “Isn’t she standing right there?”
Sun Mingyue burst into tears, her voice hoarse as she shouted at me, “My mother is still lying at home, barely hanging on. How could she possibly be standing beside me? Huai Yan, are you doing this on purpose?”
“…”
I looked helplessly at Sun Mingyue, then at her mother.
Just then, another roommate, Liu Juan, returned. Seeing Sun Mingyue crying, she asked what was wrong.
“Huai Yan said my mom is standing right beside me. Liu Juan, tell me, is my mom in our dorm room?”
Liu Juan shook her head.
Frowning, I lowered my voice and asked again, “You can’t see her either?”
“No, there are only the three of us in the dorm.”
Liu Juan’s answer sent a chill down my spine. I rubbed my eyes and looked again—Sun Mingyue’s mother was still standing there.
What was happening to me?
First, I saw the big red fish head, and now Sun Mingyue’s mother. Could it be that after being struck by the Plum Blossom Coffin Nail, I was starting to hallucinate?
Sun Mingyue finished packing her suitcase, wiped away her tears, and said, “I have to go home. Liu Juan, Huai Yan, I’ll see you at the graduation defense.”
She carried her suitcase out, her mother following behind, tiptoeing and swaying unsteadily.
A suspicion formed in my mind. I stopped Sun Mingyue and asked, “I remember you mentioned before that your mother was pregnant with a second child, right?”
Sun Mingyue nodded. “Yes, because she was pregnant at an older age, she went to offer incense in our hometown on the second day of the second lunar month. When she returned, she complained of exhaustion, lay down, and never woke up. Her breathing grew weaker and weaker. The doctor said she only has a day or two left.”
I became even more certain. “Mingyue, your mother might have experienced a ‘fetal departure.’ Take me to her. There might still be time.”
“Fetal departure? What’s that?”
There wasn’t time to explain in detail. I grabbed Sun Mingyue’s hand and hurried downstairs. Her ride-hailing car had arrived, and we got in together, heading straight to her home.
The Sun family was already setting up a mourning hall. In the main hall, against the wall, a layer of straw was spread out, and Sun’s mother lay there, her belly swollen.
I walked over, placed a hand on Sun’s mother’s belly, and closed my eyes, feeling no fetal movement. Then I looked at her face—a blue vein connected her brow to her eyes, and her lips had turned a dark bluish hue.
Grandmother had once said that those who experienced a “fetal departure” were often frightened, causing the mother’s Soul to become unstable and the fetus to depart in shock. If the mother’s Soul could be recalled within seven days, there was still a slim chance of survival.
Sun Mingyue asked cautiously, “Huai Yan, I heard your grandmother used to help with childbirth. Do you understand these things too?”
I nodded. “Mingyue, based on my experience, your mother has indeed experienced a fetal departure. I have a way to save her, but the child will definitely not survive.”
Sun Mingyue immediately replied, “Forget the baby brother. Huai Yan, please save my mom!”
“Who said we’re giving up on the baby brother?”
Sun Mingyue’s grandmother rushed in, yanking me aside, and snarled, “Where did this little girl come from? Get out of the way!”
Then she turned to the doorway, bowing and scraping, and said, “Master Lu, please save my grandson.”
Only then did I notice a middle-aged man standing at the door, dressed in an earthy yellow Daoist robe. He was as thin as a bamboo pole, with a cloth bag slung over his shoulder and small, beady eyes that were scrutinizing me.
I frowned and asked, “May I ask, Master, are you here to save the mother or the child?”
Sun’s grandmother planted her hands on her hips and shouted, “Of course, save my grandson! The doctors already said the mother is beyond saving. Trying to save her would just be a waste of time.”
Master Lu nodded silently in agreement.
I pushed Sun’s grandmother aside and confronted Master Lu. “My grandmother started helping with childbirth at the age of fourteen and continued for sixty years. She has encountered situations like this more than once.”
“Auntie was pregnant at an older age and went back to her hometown to offer incense. She must have been frightened, damaging her body and causing the fetal departure. The fetal Soul has already left. What you’ll deliver will only be a stillborn!”
Sun Mingyue immediately added, “Yes, that day, someone bumped into my mom, and she fell from the ridge of the field. She was indeed frightened.”
“Nonsense!”
Grandmother Sun pushed Sun Mingyue and me out of the room, then turned back and urged Master Lu to quickly perform the ritual to save her grandson.
Master Lu took out a talisman from his cloth bag, chanting incantations under his breath, and then stuck the talisman onto the aunt’s belly.
Seeing the brushstrokes of the symbols on the talisman, I felt a sense of familiarity.
These brushstrokes were exactly the same as those on the talisman that burned in the thicket the night White Fox ambushed the escort mission.
Could it be that this Master Lu before me was the one who controlled the corpses in the thicket that night?