The gossiping women outside seemed to have grown legs. Their voices slipped straight through the crack beneath the door and into Su Dawei’s ears.
Su Dawei had been so angry his face was red and his neck was bulging, but as he listened and glanced at his half-dead son, who could barely even breathe inside, he began to feel a chill in his heart.
Suppressing the fury boiling inside him, he strode out and grabbed the oldest of the women, Auntie Li, lowering his voice and swallowing his pride.
“Auntie Li, you’ve seen a lot in your time. You’ve got experience… Tell me straight: what’s going on with Hong Qing?”
Auntie Li sighed mournfully when he stopped her. Lowering her voice, she said in a spooky, mysterious tone, “Dawei, I’ve seen a case like your son’s before, back when I was young. It happened in the neighboring village…”
“Take my advice, Auntie’s telling you: hurry and find a spirit medium who knows her stuff. Have her send your son’s… his ‘auntie’ away! Otherwise, I’m telling you, a wrongfully dead vengeful ghost won’t stop until it’s worn a person down to death!”
What?
Could Zhu Xiuxiu really be haunting them?
Hiding behind the door, Zhu Chunjuan was even more terrified at those words. Her legs trembled so badly they nearly gave way.
Her face deathly pale, she edged over and clutched Su Dawei’s sleeve, tears welling in her eyes.
“Fine… All right.” Su Dawei did love his precious son, after all. Besides, what had happened over the past two days was so strange he couldn’t help believing it.
He forced himself to perk up and squeezed out a smile more pitiful than a grimace. Turning to the villagers who still hadn’t gone far and had looked back at them, he said, “Thanks for lending a hand today, everyone. Things are a complete mess at home right now. I’ll thank you properly another day.”
“All right, all right. Get back inside and keep a close eye on the boy,” the villagers said, waving as they took their leave.
But even after they’d gone some distance, a few of the women were still whispering together.
“I’m telling you, her big sister has definitely come back for her!”
“Exactly. From the looks of it, her big sister’s a vicious one. I don’t think this’ll be over unless she takes that precious son of hers down below to be a ghost groom…”
Already guilty and haunted by her own conscience, Zhu Chunjuan heard their words drifting back on the wind. Every hair on her body stood on end. She was scared half to death.
Panicked and confused, all she could see in her mind was Zhu Xiuxiu struggling in the river all those years ago. But she would rather die than reveal that deadly secret to anyone—not a single word!
Su Dawei had just latched the front gate when he turned around and saw Zhu Chunjuan’s cringing, miserable face. His anger flared.
He took out all his pent-up fury on her, charging over and kicking her hard enough to send her sprawling to the ground.
“Ow—!”
“It’s all because of you Zhu family troublemakers!” Su Dawei pointed at her nose and cursed, his eyes bloodshot. “Listen, Zhu Chunjuan. If anything happens to my son, I’ll take a group of people to the next village and dig up your family’s ancestral graves!”
“…” Zhu Chunjuan clutched her stomach, twitching with pain, but didn’t dare make a sound.
She crawled over to the old sofa and quietly stayed by Su Hongqing’s side.
It had taken only a single day.
Her usually plump, well-fed precious boy now looked as if something had sucked the life right out of him. His cheeks were hollow, and two huge, inky-black circles hung beneath his eyes. He looked terrifying.
As she watched him, sorrow overwhelmed her. She covered her mouth and began to sob.
“Shut up! The boy isn’t dead, so what are you wailing for?” Su Dawei shouted in exasperation. But as soon as the words left his mouth, his expression changed. He abruptly raised a hand and slapped himself hard across the face. “Pah, pah, pah! What the hell am I saying?”
His son wouldn’t come to any harm!
…
The couple in the outer room were like birds startled by the slightest sound, their faces clouded with worry.
Meanwhile, Su Yuqing had long since slipped back into the little room.
With a flick of her will, she entered the jade bangle space.
Sitting comfortably on a cushion in the Daoist temple, she opened a self-heating hot pot of spicy beef.
Before long, steam bubbled up with the mouthwatering aroma of chili oil and spice.
Su Yuqing picked up a chopstickful of rice noodles slick with red oil and popped them into her mouth, chewing with relish.
Listening to the couple outside fret and sigh as they stayed on high alert, Su Yuqing ate her fill, stretched out on the bed, and slept more soundly than she had in ages.
…
Early the next morning.
Su Dawei and Zhu Chunjuan, their eyes swollen and ringed like a pair of pandas, had barely made it through to daylight.
Afraid their son would go berserk again and run off to jump into the river, they found two thick hemp ropes and tied Su Hongqing up tight, like a pig being bound for slaughter.
To stop him biting through his tongue because he was possessed, Zhu Chunjuan swallowed her anguish and stuffed a rag into his mouth.
Their minds were entirely occupied with their precious son. They didn’t even glance toward Su Yuqing’s little room, let alone think about whether she’d eaten.
As soon as they had him tied up, the two rushed out of the house as if their tails were on fire and ran straight to the neighboring village.
They’d heard there was a spirit medium in that village with deep powers. Today, even if they had to sell everything they owned, they were going to bring her back to save their son!
Inside the little room, Su Yuqing pressed her ear to the crack under the door. She heard the front gate clang shut, and after guessing the couple had already left the village, she finally opened the door and strolled out.
Arms folded, she coolly surveyed this so-called “home.”
The Eight Immortals table, the large wooden cabinet, the sewing machine in the corner—even the big iron pots in the kitchen—all of it had been bought with the pay Su Yuqing’s older brother, Su Yibei, had earned by risking his life in the army!
If Su Dawei and Zhu Chunjuan hadn’t been living off Su Yibei, would a pair of lazy gluttons like them have been able to live in such a sturdy brick-and-tile house?
Would they have been able to eat fine white flour?
“So you’ve been enjoying yourselves with my brother’s money, huh?” Su Yuqing gave a cold laugh, her big eyes darting around. “Then today I’ll show you what it means to leave this place ‘spotless’!”
Since Su Yibei’s money had paid for it, she wouldn’t leave these ungrateful bastards so much as a single hair!
Su Yuqing focused her thoughts, intending to try out the space’s abilities on a chair first.
She had barely reached the chair when, without even lifting a hand to move it, she made a light sweeping motion with her finger in the air.
Whoosh! The heavy wooden chair vanished into thin air and landed safe and sound inside her jade bangle space.
“Well, would you look at that?” Su Yuqing raised her brows in delighted surprise, her eyes lighting up.
She’d been worried she wouldn’t have enough time to haul everything away.
This was perfect. She didn’t even have to lift a finger—this was like having the whole map unlocked!
Su Yuqing let loose completely.
Like a merciless vacuum cleaner, she strode around the house in one wide circuit.
Wherever her finger passed, nothing was left behind.
Whoosh—
The radio, gone!
Whoosh—
The thermos, gone!
Whoosh—
The wardrobe, gone!
She made her way into the kitchen. She didn’t spare the bowls and chopsticks, the knives and forks, the rice jar or flour sacks—not even the few heads of garlic hanging on the wall.
She could always feed it to pigs or give it to someone who collected scrap. She wasn’t leaving a single bite for that pair of bastards!
In no time, the entire Su home looked as if locusts had descended and stripped it bare. The wind blew through from every direction. The house was left with nothing but bare walls, and even the spiderwebs in the corners looked out of place.
The only thing left inside was Su Hongqing, lying on the wooden plank bed, tied up like a dumpling.
Su Yuqing walked over and looked at his wretched, greasy face: a rag stuffed in his mouth, his eyes rolling back. Disgust flashed across her eyes.
She swept her finger across the bed again.
Thump!
The bed vanished into the space.
Su Hongqing hit the cold, hard concrete floor with a solid thud. He groaned through the gag in pain, writhing on the ground like a maggot…