Early the next morning.
The moment Su Hongqing opened his eyes, it felt as if a big truck had run over his bones seventeen or eighteen times. He let out a pained “Aow!” as the aches hit him.
His head felt even worse, as though someone had stuffed a tangled ball of string inside it. He was so groggy that even the New Year’s poster on the wall seemed to double before his eyes.
“Hiss—”
What was going on?
Had he slept badly last night?
He braced himself against the wall. His legs wobbled like noodles as he staggered out of the room and flopped onto the old sofa in the main room, his eyes rolling back.
“Hong Qing? What’s wrong with you?” Zhu Chunjuan had been wiping the table with a rag. When she turned and saw her precious son looking half-dead as soon as he got up, she dropped the rag in fright and rushed over to inspect him.
Su Hongqing’s face was ashen, and there wasn’t a trace of color in his lips. He looked just like a corpse!
“I… I don’t know, Mom. I feel awful all over…” Su Hongqing groaned weakly.
“Did you catch a chill last night and come down with a cold?” Zhu Chunjuan quickly reached out to feel his forehead, muttering in confusion, “But you’re not hot. And from the way you’re talking, it doesn’t sound like you’ve got a cold or a stuffy nose…”
“God, you’re so annoying. Don’t touch me!”
For some reason, wherever Zhu Chunjuan touched him felt even worse.
Su Hongqing irritably slapped her hand away, his face full of impatience.
“Fine, fine. I won’t touch you…” Zhu Chunjuan couldn’t bear to be angry with her son. Heart aching, she slapped her thigh. “I’ll go make you something tasty. Just wait!”
With that, she darted into the kitchen.
It wasn’t long before she came back with a steaming bowl of noodles.
She’d gone out of her way to add two glistening fried eggs, along with several thick slices of pork, streaked with fat.
“Here, son. Eat something hot. Once you’ve had your fill, you’ll have some strength.”
Su Hongqing had been feeling miserable, but the smell of meat got the better of him. In no time, he’d polished off the entire bowl, broth and all.
But who could have guessed that the moment the noodles hit his stomach, things would take a turn for the worse?
He didn’t feel any better. Instead, his head gave a sudden “thrum,” and the dizziness seemed to get even worse.
It felt as if ten thousand needles were stabbing between his bones. Around his neck, it was as though a pair of cold, bony hands had clamped down hard, leaving him unable to draw breath.
“Ow… It hurts so much! Mom, I’m in so much pain!” Su Hongqing clutched himself and writhed on the sofa, his pig-like squeals nearly lifting the roof.
“What’s wrong? Hong Qing, what’s happening?” Zhu Chunjuan fretted helplessly. Seeing her son in such agony made her heart feel as though it were being cut with a knife.
But he wasn’t running a fever or coughing, and she couldn’t tell what was wrong with him at all!
Su Dawei had already gone out to work in the fields.
Zhu Chunjuan had planned to go help out there too, but seeing her son like this, what did the fieldwork matter?
“I don’t know… I feel awful everywhere. It hurts so much!”
“Come on. I’ll take you to the village clinic and have the doctor look at you.” Zhu Chunjuan made up her mind and hauled Su Hongqing off the sofa.
At the mention of going to the clinic, the strange choking sensation in Su Hongqing’s body seemed to ease just a little. He scrambled to his feet and stumbled out the front door after Zhu Chunjuan.
As soon as they had left, the door to the small room creaked open, and Su Yuqing stepped out.
Leaning against the doorframe, she leisurely took a packet of konjac snacks from her space. As she ate, she watched the mother and son retreat in such a sorry state, the corner of her mouth lifting in an amused smile.
He couldn’t even stand this little bit of pain?
Useless.
…
Meanwhile, Zhu Chunjuan was supporting Su Hongqing as they hurried toward the village clinic.
They had to cross the river at the entrance to the village to get there.
The river wasn’t particularly deep, but it was already September. The autumn wind cut through them, sending a chill straight into their bones.
Zhu Chunjuan hunched her shoulders against the cold wind and thought to herself: Once she’d drugged Su Yuqing and stuffed that dead girl into Old Wang’s bed, she’d make sure to use that money to buy her son a thick, warm padded coat at the next market day!
“Hong Qing, just hang on a little longer. Once that money-losing Su Yuqing marries into the family, and this business is settled, Mom will take you to the market… Hey? Hong Qing, where are you going?”
Zhu Chunjuan had been happily chattering away when the weight on her shoulder suddenly lifted. Su Hongqing, who’d been half-dead just moments earlier, suddenly shot away from her like a dog whose tail had been stepped on.
He was moving fast, running straight for the river.
“Wait, Hong Qing, you—” Zhu Chunjuan stared in shock. By the time she reacted and reached for him, she couldn’t even catch the hem of his clothes. “What are you doing? Hong Qing, have you gone crazy? Why are you running toward the river?”
“…”
But Su Hongqing seemed deaf; he couldn’t hear a word she was shouting.
His eyes were wide as bells, fixed blankly on the cold, gleaming river. Then…
Splash—
Su Hongqing plunged straight into the bone-chilling water.
“Hong Qing!!!”
Terrified out of her wits, Zhu Chunjuan let out a heart-rending scream and scrambled toward the riverbank.
She didn’t even care how cold the water was. She plunged in too, grabbed Su Hongqing’s arm as he sank, and used every ounce of strength she had to drag him toward the bank.
“It’s freezing out! Why would you jump into the river? Do you want to kill your own mother?”
Shaken and exhausted, Zhu Chunjuan finally managed to pull half of Su Hongqing’s body to the bank.
Before she could catch her breath or ask what was going on, something strange happened.
Su Hongqing suddenly flung his arm out with terrifying strength, wrenching himself free of Zhu Chunjuan’s grasp. Like an iron weight, he plunged headfirst back into the deep water and gulped down several mouthfuls of river water in an instant.
“Hong Qing…”
“Someone help! Help! Somebody!!!”
Zhu Chunjuan completely lost it. She scrambled into the water after him, reaching to pull him out, then screamed from the riverbank, her hair hanging loose around her face. “Help! Someone save my son—”
Her pig-like screams immediately drew the attention of villagers working in nearby fields and passing along the road.
“What’s going on? Isn’t that Dawei’s wife?”
“Oh my! Is that Hong Qing? How’d he end up in the river? Hurry, we have to save him!”
Seven or eight villagers dropped what they were doing and rushed over in a clatter.
Several men jumped straight into the river to haul him out.
“Grab his hand! Old Li, support his head!”
But then something bizarre happened.
The boy was only fifteen or sixteen, lazy and usually weak as a kitten.
Yet now he was forcing his head down into the river, his body floating on the surface but somehow anchored in place!
Three or four strong men had gone into the water, but he was dragging them around and making them slip. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get him up out of the water.
Somehow, Su Hongqing had become unbelievably strong…
“I can’t do it! How’s this kid so strong?”
“I’m about to lose my grip…”
They struggled against him for quite some time. It wasn’t until Su Hongqing had swallowed so much water that he rolled his eyes and passed out completely, losing the strength to resist, that his body finally went limp.
“Get him out! Quick!”
The villagers summoned every last bit of their strength and finally helped Zhu Chunjuan carry the half-dead Su Hongqing onto the bank.
A man who knew a little first aid quickly straddled him and pressed hard on his chest for a while.
“Waaah—” Su Hongqing’s body jerked as he spat out a huge mouthful of water. At last, his chest began to rise and fall again. He’d been given another chance at life.
“Oh, my precious boy!” Zhu Chunjuan collapsed on top of him, clutching her drenched son and sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. “Hong Qing, open your eyes and look at Mom. Say something to me!”
“Come on, Chunjuan. It’s so cold, and the boy’s just swallowed water. Get him home and into dry clothes first.”
The kindhearted villagers pulled Zhu Chunjuan away and helped the miserable mother and son back to their house.
Someone had already raced off to the fields to inform Su Dawei.
Su Dawei dropped everything, threw down his hoe, and sprinted home.
The moment he entered and saw his son lying in bed, his face deathly pale, he froze.
“What happened?” He turned and grabbed Zhu Chunjuan by the collar, eyes blazing as he roared, “How could you take care of Hong Qing so badly? How did he end up in the river?”
“Su Dawei, why are you taking it out on your wife?” One of the women who’d been helping couldn’t stand to watch and stepped forward to explain. “You’ve no idea how strange it was. Your boy had the strength of an ox just now… It took several of us to get him out.”
Zhu Chunjuan was choking, her eyes rolling back as her whole body trembled and tears streamed down her face.
She couldn’t bear to think that if nobody had been nearby today, her precious son might have died in that river!
“…” Su Dawei looked utterly baffled, his brows knotted tight.
The other villagers chimed in, all talking at once as they explained what had happened. “Don’t even get us started. Neither of them knew what was going on. Hong Qing was acting like he was possessed, dead set on jumping into the river! It took us a lot of effort just to pull them out.”
“Oh!”
Just as the room had descended into chaos, an exaggerated gasp came from outside.
Su Yuqing knew things had unfolded just as she’d expected. She deliberately put on a shocked, frightened look and walked in from outside.
Su Dawei was already brimming with anger and had nowhere to vent it. The moment he saw her, his face darkened and he glared at her viciously. “You jinx! What are you hollering about?”
Su Yuqing hunched her shoulders, twisting her hands together and putting on a timid expression. In a voice loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, she said,
“No, Dad… I just suddenly remembered something. I think I once heard that Auntie’s older sister drowned in that river.”
As she said it, she glanced furtively at Zhu Chunjuan, her voice growing even more timid. “Could it be… Aunt Xiuxiu was lonely down there and missed her nephew, so she wanted to take my little brother down there… to keep her company?”
Boom—
Her words struck Zhu Chunjuan like a bolt of thunder to the crown of her head.
Her heart gave a thud, and all the color drained from her face in an instant. She went as pale as a sheet of paper.
Thinking back over the past two days, the water ghost in her dream had choked her last night, and today her son had been driven to plunge into the river as if possessed. Add to that the uncanny strength that even grown men couldn’t overcome…
Could it really be true?
Had her older sister, Zhu Xiuxiu, really come back to claim her life?
Zhu Chunjuan’s knees gave way, and she nearly collapsed to the floor.
“That’s right. Xiuxiu did drown in that river…”
“Xiuxiu was so young back then, and she was sick too. Such a shame!”
Su Dawei’s face was ashen. He too felt a chill of fear, but how could he allow this sort of talk in front of so many people?
“Shut up! What nonsense are you spouting?” He glared fiercely at Su Yuqing and roared.
After scolding her, he quickly turned and waved to the villagers in the room. “Thank you all for helping today. Once the boy’s better, I’ll have him go to each of your homes and thank you.”
Even a fool could tell he was trying to send them away.
The villagers exchanged glances and filed out.
But the moment they left the gate, several of the women crowded together, unable to resist talking as they walked, their eyes gleaming with gossip.
“You know, that girl of Dawei’s had a point. Chunjuan’s older sister really did drown! She was so young when she died. How could her resentful qi not be strong?”
“Exactly. Just look at Hong Qing! He was obviously possessed. What normal person would dive to the bottom of the river? Who could be so strong that several people couldn’t pull him out?”
Su Dawei stood in the courtyard, listening to the women gossiping outside, his face twisted with helpless anger. But he couldn’t very well rush out and take it out on them.
Before long, the few gossipy women had embellished the story and spread it everywhere. Soon, everyone in Sanshi Village knew.
All the villagers around Zhu Chunjuan’s age knew that Zhu Xiuxiu had drowned in the river years ago.
Now everyone was saying—
It had to be Zhu Xiuxiu’s ghost coming back to take her nephew down there to keep her company!