As Lu performed his actions, the talisman paper caught fire. A wind rose within the mourning hall, swirling ashes from the paper and incense around Sun Mingyue’s mother.
Sun Mingyue stepped forward, ready to rush over and protect her mother, but I reached out and pulled her back. “Don’t move yet. He’s performing the ‘fetal burning’ ritual.”
Fetal burning is a method to expel the Malevolent Energy that has attached itself to a pregnant woman, which helps to recall the fragmented soul that has strayed from the body.
Sure enough, the fragmented soul that had been following Sun Mingyue immediately rushed toward the body on the ground. At the same moment, another fragmented soul, summoned from who knows where, also entered the body.
The talisman paper had already burned out. On the ground, Sun Mingyue’s mother let out a long sigh, and her body began to twist and turn.
Her belly also started to bulge rhythmically. Grandmother Sun exclaimed excitedly, “It’s moving! My grandson is moving!”
Sun Mingyue’s grip tightened, and she turned to look at me.
Her mother had regained consciousness, and her belly showed signs of fetal movement. Clearly, this was different from what I had described earlier.
She was questioning me.
But I stared intently at Sun Mingyue’s mother’s belly, where a mass of black energy lingered. The fetal burning ritual hadn’t expelled the Malevolent Energy from her body; instead, it had all accumulated in her belly.
There was something wrong with Sun Mingyue’s mother’s pregnancy.
As I was thinking this, I saw Lu whisper something into Grandmother Sun’s ear. Immediately afterward, several people rushed over and tied up both Sun Mingyue and me.
Lu walked over, stared at me for a long while, and said, “It’s only been a few days, but I never expected you to have opened your Celestial Eye. You truly are a rare talent.”
I had opened my Celestial Eye?
No wonder I could suddenly see all these strange and unusual things.
Then it dawned on me: Lu was admitting that he was the one who had controlled the corpse that night. Now that I was in his hands, I likely wouldn’t come to a good end.
Connecting this to Sun Mingyue’s mother’s belly, my unease grew. “What do you plan to do with the Sun family mother and child?”
Lu chuckled softly. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m saving them.”
I didn’t believe a word of it!
Sun Mingyue and I were locked in a storage room. The door was bolted shut, there were no windows, and we were still tied up, with no way to escape.
Sun Mingyue shouted for her grandmother, but no one responded.
Confused, I asked, “Mingyue, why haven’t we seen your father?”
With such a major event happening at home, Sun Mingyue’s father should have been present.
Sun Mingyue bit her lip, tears welling up in her eyes again. “Last summer, my dad was in a car accident. He didn’t make it.”
I hadn’t expected this. Even though we shared a dorm room, Sun Mingyue had never mentioned this before.
“I’m sorry, Mingyue.”
Sun Mingyue shook her head, sobbing quietly.
I could understand how she felt. Her father had passed away just a few months ago, and now her mother was in trouble. The blow was too much for her.
Judging by the timeline, Sun Mingyue’s father must have had the accident shortly after her mother became pregnant.
“It’s all my grandmother’s fault. If she hadn’t kept pressuring my mom to have a grandson, forcing her to drink those folk remedies, my mom’s health wouldn’t be so weak.”
I was instantly alert. “Folk remedies? What kind of folk remedies?”
“The kind that’s supposed to guarantee a boy.”
Sun Mingyue wiped away her tears, leaned against the wall, and began telling me about the troubles her family had faced over the years.
Sun Mingyue’s family used to be very poor, living in a small village on the outskirts of Jiangcheng. The village was steeped in a culture of favoring sons over daughters. Families without sons would eventually end up being taken advantage of and left with nothing.
When Sun Mingyue’s mother gave birth to her, she injured her body and couldn’t conceive a second child no matter what. Grandmother Sun searched everywhere for folk remedies, forcing her to have a son.
Seven years ago, Sun’s mother finally became pregnant. When she was eight months along, she fell and gave premature birth to a stillborn baby.
It was a boy.
At first, the whole family was heartbroken, but soon after, Sun’s father made a large sum of money in business and bought their current house.
The Sun family’s life grew better and better, and Grandmother Sun’s desire for a grandson grew stronger. Just last year, she obtained another folk remedy and forced Sun’s mother to drink it.
At that time, Sun’s mother was already 45 years old. Not long after drinking the remedy, she actually became pregnant.
Just as she was overjoyed and about to tell Sun’s father the news, he was killed in a car accident on the spot.
I was somewhat puzzled: “Looking at your mother’s belly, the due date must be soon, right? This child is a posthumous baby. Since they treasure this pregnancy so much, on February 2nd when they went back to their hometown to burn incense, your grandmother could have gone alone. Why did your mother have to go too?”
“They went to burn incense for the fetus god. How could my mother not go?”
“Fetus god?”
“After my mother gave birth to the stillborn baby back then, my father said it was unlucky and invited it from outside. It has been enshrined in our old house ever since.”
I carefully sorted through the details: Sun’s mother gave birth to a stillborn baby seven years ago, Sun’s father coincidentally made a fortune, and they enshrined a fetus god at home. Seven years later, when Sun’s mother became pregnant again, Sun’s father coincidentally died a violent death.
Could all these coincidences really just be coincidences?
“Mingyue, whether you believe it or not, I have to tell you that your mother’s pregnancy is not normal, and that Lu is definitely not a good person.”
Sun Mingyue smiled bitterly: “It’s useless to say all this now. We don’t know how long we’ll be tied up, and we can’t do anything.”
I curled my fingers and gently stroked the snake ring, struggling internally.
After what happened with the Plum Blossom Coffin Nail, I didn’t know whether I should continue to trust Liu Xuanyi. And now he’s gone to the Eastern Yi Salt Sea.
That place is so dangerous. If I activate the snake ring now, whether he can appear is one problem, and whether it would endanger his life is another.
After much thought, I ultimately decided not to activate the snake ring.
Let’s wait a bit longer and see what tricks that Lu is really playing.
·
I don’t know how long we waited, but suddenly Liu Juan’s voice came from outside. Sun Mingyue and I quickly responded.
Liu Juan confirmed our location, broke the lock, and soon rushed in.
“How did you get here?”
Sun Mingyue and I were overjoyed. As Liu Juan untied us, she said, “You two left in such a hurry, and I was a bit worried. I called you but no one answered, so I looked up Mingyue’s home address and came here.”
It was already dark. The mourning hall was still there, but there was no one outside.
I speculated: “They probably went to Mingyue’s hometown.”
As I spoke, I looked around and soon found our phones in the straw on the floor of the mourning hall.
Just as I picked them up, footsteps suddenly came from outside. I immediately gestured for them to be quiet, and Sun Mingyue pulled us aside to hide.
Soon, two people in black cloaks entered. They headed straight for the storage room, clearly targeting Sun Mingyue and me.
Sun Mingyue led us out through the back door, and we ran all the way until we escaped.
Only when we were sure it was safe did we find a small eatery to enter. The three of us sat in a corner, still shaken.
Liu Juan whispered, “Who were those two people just now? They looked really fierce.”
“They must be Lu’s men, here to capture me,” I analyzed. “Lu deceived the Sun family into going back to their hometown while also sending people to seize me. He’s attacking on both fronts, leaving no one untouched.”
Liu Juan had no idea what was happening, looking utterly confused.
Sun Mingyue tightly gripped my hand, pleading, “Huai Yan, please save my mother.”