Su Dawei was already on edge. At the sound of that wailing voice, his eyes suddenly widened, and he roared at the top of his lungs.
“You’re asking me? Who the hell am I supposed to ask? There’s nothing left in this house but dirt on the floor—not even a chicken feather…”
“Get out there and borrow something, now! Otherwise, the three of us will freeze to death on this hard ground tonight!”
Zhu Chunjuan shrank back at his shouting.
She turned to look outside. It was pitch-black, like the gaping maw of some man-eating beast.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t swallow her pride and go ask to borrow things. The main thing was, deep down, she was terrified…
Whenever she closed her eyes, she was sure Zhu Xiuxiu’s drowned ghost was hiding in some dark corner of the house.
If she went out alone this late at night, and that water ghost silently climbed onto her back… it would surely kill her!
But they had no choice but to borrow something. There wasn’t even any hot water in the house. How were they supposed to make it through the night, hungry and freezing?
“Dawei… why don’t you—you come with me?” Zhu Chunjuan clutched Su Dawei’s sleeve, her voice trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind. “I’m scared… I’m scared the villagers will think something evil has attached itself to our family, that we’re bad luck, and won’t even open their doors to me.”
“Tsk!”
Su Dawei furrowed his brow and clicked his tongue. Thinking it over, he had to admit she had a point.
The way those country bumpkins had looked at their family that day, you’d think they were plague carriers. They couldn’t get away fast enough.
“You’re useless. Come on, let’s go!”
They stumbled out into the night and went from house to house, knocking on doors.
But times were hard for every household. Everyone had only just enough bedding and food to get by.
Besides, the story of ghosts haunting the Old Su home and their belongings being stolen had spread through all of Sanshi Village that very day, as if it had grown wings.
Who would dare get mixed up in something so sinister?
What if the bedding they lent out attracted a ghost?
What if the water ghost followed the bedding back to their own doorstep?
Knock, knock, knock—
As soon as Su Dawei knocked on Old Li’s front gate, the kerosene lamp in the courtyard went out with a pop.
The house was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. They were obviously pretending no one was home.
The two of them shivered in the cold wind as they pleaded and begged their way through more than half the village.
In the end, only a lone old man, blind in both heart and eye, rummaged in his woodshed and came up with two quilts so threadbare they had been washed nearly white, with hardly any cotton left inside their holes. He tossed in two rock-hard, cold steamed buns as well.
Then he slammed the door in their faces, as if he were shooing away beggars.
With their pitiful haul in their arms, the two of them trudged home like wilted eggplants, back to the drafty house.
As soon as they went inside, Su Hongqing was still lying rigidly on the ground.
Zhu Chunjuan’s heart ached, and tears spilled down her face. She hurried over, untied the hemp rope around her son, and carefully helped him sit up.
“Hong Qing… eat something, quick. You haven’t eaten all day. You must be starving, right?” She spoke in a hushed voice, as if afraid of disturbing something.
She broke the hard, cold bun into pieces and held them to Su Hongqing’s mouth.
But Su Hongqing didn’t even blink. His eyes were cloudy and vacant, fixed straight on the pitch-black courtyard gate.
His lips moved slightly, and a low, garbled gurgle came from his throat—a sound that didn’t belong to him.
“What’s wrong? What do you want to eat, son? Tell Mom.” Zhu Chunjuan thought he wanted meat, so she hurriedly pressed her ear to his lips.
The next second, a cold, fishy breath washed over her ear.
“Home…” Su Hongqing stared fixedly outside the door, murmuring softly and eerily, “I want to go home…”
“Home?” Zhu Chunjuan looked bewildered. “You’re at home!”
Though someone had stolen so much that it barely felt like a home anymore.
“No. My home is in the river…”
Zhu Chunjuan: “!!!”
“D-don’t! Stop saying that!” Her scalp prickled with terror, and every hair on her body stood on end.
Without thinking, she clamped a hand over Su Hongqing’s mouth. Tears poured down her face, and she shook like a leaf.
With his mouth covered, Su Hongqing slowly turned his head and stared at her with icy eyes. Then, all at once, he fell silent.
“Son, just eat a little, then go to sleep. Everything will be better when it’s light tomorrow. It’ll be all right…” Sobbing, Zhu Chunjuan forced the bun into his mouth.
Like a marionette, Su Hongqing turned his blank gaze back toward the door and mechanically chewed the dry bun, one bite at a time.
Seeing her son like this, Zhu Chunjuan was torn between heartache and fear. How could she possibly swallow a bite herself?
“Dawei,” she pleaded tearfully, turning to the man crouched on the ground with a frown. “Let’s carry our son into our room, all right? The way he is… I’m scared something will lure his soul away in the middle of the night and he’ll go out and jump into the river… He’s the only son in the Old Su family!”
Su Dawei’s head throbbed at the sound of her crying. Irritably, he raked a hand through his hair.
But he knew that if anything happened to their son, all his efforts in life would have been for nothing.
“Fine. Come give me a hand.”
With great effort, the two of them half-dragged, half-carried Su Hongqing into the main bedroom.
There was nothing in the room but bare earth.
All they could do was lay him on the ground and wrap him tightly in the two drafty quilts, making do as best they could to keep him warm.
And Su Yuqing, in the room next door?
At that moment, the couple had their minds entirely on staying alive and protecting their son. Who had time to bother with that money-losing girl?
As long as she didn’t starve to death, that was good enough. If she froze to death, it would just mean she was fated to die young!
Su Dawei dropped onto the ground and stared at his son’s lifeless face, his mind a tangled mess he couldn’t sort out.
It was all too strange!
If Zhu Xiuxiu’s ghost had really come to claim their lives, he could understand it tormenting the adults and frightening the child.
But what kind of ghost, while out to claim someone’s life, would also cart off every pot, bowl, wardrobe, and sewing machine in the house?
Was the ghost going to take a sewing machine to the underworld and make clothes for itself?
The more he thought about it, the more something seemed wrong. He turned his head and fixed a sharp stare on Zhu Chunjuan’s face.
Could it be…
Had this bitch conspired with her family to put on this ghostly act and move all their belongings back to her family’s home?
“Chunjuan, tell me the truth.” Su Dawei spoke suddenly, his voice low and edged with menace. “What really happened to your older sister back then? What are you hiding from me?”
“I…” Zhu Chunjuan gave a violent start at the question, her heart nearly leaping into her throat.
She didn’t dare look up into Su Dawei’s murderous eyes. Her gaze darted about in panic as she stammered out her excuse.
“I-I don’t know! She just slipped and fell into the river by herself… I don’t know why that dead ghost has to haunt our family!”
After a pause, desperate to clear herself, she swallowed and muttered under her breath, steering the conversation elsewhere. “Dawei, I think… I think someone’s after our money.”
“Think about it. It must be some heartless, blind fool in the village who knows we’re dealing with evil spirits and can’t do anything about it, so they took advantage of the chaos to steal everything!”
Su Dawei couldn’t make up his mind after hearing that.
Thinking of how not even a loose thread remained in the house, he let out a troubled sigh and thumped his thigh hard.
…
Outside the door, on the other side of the wall,
Su Yuqing stood in the darkness and heard every word of their conversation.
A bright smile curved her lips.
Let the dogs fight among themselves!
Those two wicked people had more than enough trouble of their own to deal with. They wouldn’t have time to come bother her.
She turned and opened the door to her room, locked it from the inside, and with a thought, vanished from the spot and entered the jade bangle space.
The moment she entered the space and felt that familiar, soothing breeze, Su Yuqing stretched luxuriously.
That couple hadn’t even left her a mouthful of cold water.
But she didn’t care for it anyway.
She went to the area where she stored her supplies and looked over the mountains of food piled there.
These were the supplies she had stockpiled for the Daoist temple while staying home to cultivate during her vacation.
But even the biggest stockpile would eventually run out, so Su Yuqing figured she’d better ration it.
She took out a boxed hot pot, deftly tore open the packaging, and added water. Before long, the spicy, savory aroma filled the space.
As she ate the steaming hot pot, piled with beef balls and tripe, she thought of the three members of that awful family outside, huddled on the cold dirt and shivering as they gnawed on cold steamed buns. The hot pot tasted so good it seemed to reach right down to her bones.
After enjoying a hearty meal, she wiped her mouth and went to the desk. She picked up her brush and drew a few talismans to ward off evil and misfortune, practicing to keep her hand in and prepare for any eventuality.
After a whole day of dealing with things, she really was tired.
The Daoist temple in the space was exactly like the one she had lived in in her previous life: warm in winter and cool in summer. It had a small room for her afternoon naps, and even the bedding carried the lovely scent of sunshine.
Su Yuqing took off her coat and sank comfortably into the soft bed. Before long, she was fast asleep.
Splash, splash… splash, splash…
She had no idea how long she’d been asleep when the clear, pleasant sound of running water slipped into her ears.
Still half asleep, Su Yuqing wondered: Why am I dreaming already? I just fell asleep.
Sanshi Village was quite a distance from the river. Why did the water sound as if it were right beside her?
Wait!
She jolted fully awake and sat up in bed.
She was in the space. Where could the sound of running water in here possibly be coming from?!
Could it be… that the space had absorbed energy from the outside world and upgraded, producing something new?
All traces of sleep vanished. Su Yuqing put on her shoes and hurried out of the Daoist temple.
Following the sound of water, she made her way to the temple’s rear courtyard.
She went around a blue-brick screen wall, and the view opened up before her.
She remembered clearly that the space behind the Daoist temple had once been filled with thick white mist, impossible to enter.
But now the mist had receded.
In its place was a soft, silvery-white glow.
At the center of the light, a spring bubbled, clear water gurgling up from its source.
The water flowed slowly over the edge, built up with jade, and gathered below in a small pool about two meters across. The surface shimmered, and an enticing spiritual energy radiated from it.
“What is this…?”
Su Yuqing hurried forward.
The water was so clear she could see the white pebbles at the bottom of the pool.
Just standing by the edge and breathing in the water’s mist made her feel refreshed and invigorated.
Unable to resist, she crouched and gently dipped a hand into the pool.
The water felt cool to the touch, but not bone-chilling.
She cupped some water in both hands and brought it to her lips for a small sip.
The water slid down her throat, cool and refreshing, with a hint of sweetness.
It flowed down her esophagus into her stomach.
In the blink of an eye, the lingering fatigue from sparring with her awful family all day miraculously vanished without a trace.
Not only that, she could clearly feel a warm energy traveling with the spring water, slowly flowing through the meridians in her limbs and torso and nourishing the body of the original owner, which had suffered so much.
“Could this be a spirit spring?”
Su Yuqing’s eyes lit up, and she couldn’t help laughing with delight.
Heaven really had been kind to her, letting a legendary treasure like this fall into her hands!
Besides strengthening her body, what incredible effects might this Spirit Spring Water have if she used it while drawing talismans and making hand seals?