Bam—
Smack—
Crash—
Su Dawei’s fists and feet rained down on Zhu Chunjuan.
“I—I was wrong…” Curled up on the dusty floor like a boiled shrimp, Zhu Chunjuan shielded her head with both hands as she wailed under the blows. “Stop, Husband… I really was only having a nightmare. I didn’t…”
The dream had felt so real. Whenever she remembered that gray-white, dripping corpse’s face, the hairs on Zhu Chunjuan’s body still stood on end, and a chill seeped into her very bones.
Su Dawei kicked and beat her for more than ten minutes. Only when he was panting with exhaustion did he finally stop.
“You’d better sleep on the floor tonight, you fucking bitch. If you so much as try to climb back into bed, I’ll break your legs!” He spat a bloody gob of saliva onto Zhu Chunjuan’s head, then climbed into bed, pointed at her, and cursed viciously.
Then he yanked up the blanket, rolled over, and turned his back to her.
“Wuwu…” Hair hanging loose and body aching as if every bone had been broken, Zhu Chunjuan sat on the cold floor and hugged her knees. So aggrieved, all she could do was bury her face between them and sob silently.
She really had seen a ghost…
Why wouldn’t he believe her?
Before long, Su Dawei’s thunderous snores started up again.
Sitting on the icy floor, Zhu Chunjuan cried until her eyes were swollen.
She didn’t know how long she managed to hold out. At last, she could no longer fight off sleep; her head drooped, and she had only just begun to close her eyes when—
Her older sister’s bulging, dead-fish eyes suddenly appeared before her again.
They stared venomously straight at Zhu Chunjuan, right at the tip of her nose…
“Ah!”
Terrified, Zhu Chunjuan jerked her eyes open as if electrocuted and clamped both hands over her mouth, afraid that if she screamed, she would wake Su Dawei and get another vicious beating.
She trembled like a leaf in the wind and didn’t dare close her eyes again.
Carefully, scrambling and crawling, she made her way to the corner farthest from the bed and huddled there like a wretched creature. Her eyes were wide as saucers as she stared fixedly into the darkness of the room.
The moment her eyelids drooped even a little, her older sister’s swollen face would appear!
For the entire rest of the night, Zhu Chunjuan forced herself to stay awake, not daring to close her eyes for even a second.
…
At dawn the next morning, the rooster crowing at the village entrance finally announced that daylight had come.
Su Dawei sat up in bed with a yawn and turned his head. He jumped in fright.
Zhu Chunjuan was still huddled in that corner.
Her hair was a tangled mess, her cheeks were badly swollen, and two enormous dark circles hung beneath her eyes. Her complexion was a sickly yellowish green, her gaze vacant. She looked like a living corpse drained of all vitality; even when she tried to stand, she swayed with every step.
“Just look at you, looking like you’ve seen a ghost,” Su Dawei said, frowning in disgust at her ghastly, half-dead appearance. “Today’s the important day we hand over that money-losing brat. You think I’m going to bring you to Old Wang’s looking like that and put a damper on everything? Stay home and behave. I’ll take her myself.”
As he spoke, Su Dawei put on his heavy leather shoes and hollered toward Su Yuqing’s room, “Su Yuqing, quit dawdling and get out here!”
Meanwhile,
Su Yuqing, who had eaten her fill and rested well in the jade bangle space the night before, was sitting cross-legged on her bed, full of energy.
Hearing the shout from outside, she didn’t hurry. She picked up her brush, soaked it in vermilion ink, and solemnly pressed down the final stroke on a sheet of yellow paper covered in intricate talisman markings.
The talisman was complete, and a faint spiritual light flickered.
With practiced speed, Su Yuqing folded the talisman into a small triangle and tucked it into her pocket close to her body.
When she had finished, she took a deep breath and instantly put on an expression of timid resignation. Head bowed, she opened the door and came out, obedient to a fault.
“Dad, I don’t want to get married…” Su Yuqing said softly, her voice full of hurt.
“We’ve already taken the 188 yuan bride price. You’re getting married whether you like it or not!”
Su Yuqing’s marriage was already a done deal, and Su Dawei hadn’t given her little protest a second thought.
“…Oh. All right.”
Su Dawei glanced back at her. Seeing that she had lowered her eyes and wasn’t acting up again, he gave a quiet snort.
Looks like she’d finally come to her senses after going hungry all night. She knew she couldn’t fight city hall, so she’d decided to accept her fate.
At least she knew what was good for her!
They soon arrived, one after the other, at the Wang family’s home at the east end of the village.
Wang Zhichuan was in his early forties, with a face full of coarse, fleshy folds. He was notorious for beating his wife; a few years ago, he’d drunk so much that he beat her into leaving him.
Now he was getting older, and the fear of dying without an heir had him in a panic. He wanted a woman who could bear him a chubby son.
That was why he’d gritted his teeth and offered the sky-high bride price of 188 yuan, paying Su Dawei to sell him his own lovely daughter.
When they reached the Wang family’s gate, they saw that two cheap red paper cutouts of the Double Happiness character had already been pasted on the rickety wooden door.
Wang Zhichuan had clearly made a special effort to spruce himself up that day. He’d even slicked a little cheap hair oil into his thinning hair. It gleamed, but couldn’t hide his sleazy air.
As soon as they arrived, Wang Zhichuan looked up. His gaze passed right over Su Dawei and locked onto Su Yuqing behind him.
In that instant, the old bachelor’s eyes lit up green!
Su Yuqing’s face and dewy skin were gorgeous—prettier even than the stars in the picture magazines!
Even in ill-fitting old clothes, her shapely figure was impossible to hide.
She was full where she ought to be, and high and round where she ought to be. Her chest, her backside—at a glance, she was the perfect woman for bearing children.
Wang Zhichuan was practically drooling, and a lecherous heat flared in his lower body.
“Old Wang, I’ve brought her to you in one piece, just as promised,” Su Dawei said smugly, pointing at Su Yuqing behind him, his face thick with greed. “My girl’s this pretty and fresh-faced. You got a good deal for those 188 yuan.”
Su Yuqing had taken after her late birth mother. No girl in the village could match her looks or figure.
“Good deal? It’s a fantastic deal! Heh heh!”
Grinning lewdly, Wang Zhichuan rubbed his rough hands together and hurried toward Su Yuqing.
“But, Brother Dawei, I’ve got to get my hands on her first and inspect the goods. See if she’s sturdy enough, right?”
Thinking that such a pretty, fresh-faced young girl would soon be his wife, Wang Zhichuan rubbed his hands together eagerly like a fly.
The disgusting old man stretched out his grubby hand, about to grab her chest. Su Yuqing neither dodged nor flinched. Instead, she slowly raised her head and gave Wang Zhichuan a faint, profoundly eerie smile.
At the same time, with one hand hanging at her side, she quickly pressed her thumb against her middle and ring fingers, secretly forming the hand seal for the Beast-Calling Technique.
In the split second before Wang Zhichuan’s fingers, reeking of cigarette smoke, touched the fabric of Su Yuqing’s clothes—
“Awwooo—”
From the neighbor’s yard, a dog suddenly let out a shrill, bloodcurdling howl.
The sound was like some creature being skinned alive, tearing through the quiet morning of the entire village…