Chapter 6
Edward Quan ·
Just then, the child's voice sounded.
"Mommy."
"Go."
I looked down.
"Do you know who that man is?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
She was silent.
After a while, she answered, "The only person who ever saved me."
I stared.
"Which time?"
"The seventeenth."
"But you said I killed you every time!"
She didn't answer at once.
Only after a long silence did she say, "Because the person who saved me…"
"Died in your place."
I left the hospital through the back entrance.
Before going, I left the doctor a message explaining that I suspected someone was deliberately interfering with my pregnancy. I asked her to preserve the soup sample for testing.
I didn't know whom to trust.
But at least I needed to leave a trail.
I took a taxi to my grandmother's old house.
It was in a town more than two hours from the city.
The house had stood empty since her death.
Mom had tried to sell it several times, but somehow every attempt fell through.
Buyers either changed their minds without warning or suffered some misfortune before signing.
Eventually, the house was left alone.
It was dark when I arrived.
Rust covered the iron gate.
Weeds grew knee-high.
Standing outside, I felt an unexpected familiarity.
As though I'd been here many times.
Not as a child.
Recently.
I pushed the gate.
Creeeak…
Metal shrieked.
I stepped into the courtyard.
The baby kicked immediately.
"Mommy."
"Don't look at the well."
I stopped.
An old well stood in the middle of the courtyard.
A great stone slab covered its mouth.
Faded yellow papers were pasted all over it.
Without thinking, I looked.
"Don't!"
Her voice suddenly turned frantic.
Too late.
Someone was sitting on the well.
A little girl in a white dress.
Long black hair.
Short legs swinging.
She lifted her face toward me.
Exactly the face of the child in my dreams.
But her eyes were entirely black.
She smiled.
"Mommy."
"You're finally here."
Chapter 4: Seventeen Coffins
I stood frozen.
The child on the well tilted her head at me.
Her face was identical to my daughter's in the dream.
With one difference.
The girl in my dreams always looked sad.
This one was smiling.
Her smile stretched all the way to her ears.
"Mommy."
She jumped down from the well.
Her bare feet made no sound as they touched the ground.
"Have you come to take me home?"
I backed away.
"Who are you?"
She blinked.
"Your daughter."
"No."
I shook my head.
"My daughter's in my belly."
The child laughed.
The shrill sound filled the courtyard.
"Is she?"
She stepped closer.
"Are you sure?"
I kept retreating.
Suddenly, a hand seized me and yanked me backward.
"Don't answer her!"
I spun around.
A white-haired old man stood behind me, wearing gray cloth robes and holding an old bronze bell.
Before I could react, he raised it and shook it hard.
Clang!
The child screamed.
Her pretty face twisted.
She lunged at me.
"Mommy!"
"Don't leave me!"
The old man pulled me into the house.
Bang!
The wooden door slammed shut.
Scratching began outside at once.
Scrape.
Scrape.
Scrape.
Shaking, I looked at him.
"Who are you?"
He didn't answer.
He took a talisman from his robe and pasted it onto the door.
The scratching stopped immediately.
Only then did he turn toward me.
"You really do look like your grandmother."
I stared.
"You knew her?"
He nodded.
"I'm Lu Changsheng."
"The keeper of the Song family's well."
I looked at him.
"You're the man who called?"
"Yes."
"Where's my mother?"
"She's safe."
"Why did you have her phone?"
"Because she doesn't dare tell you the truth."
I frowned.
"What truth?"
He looked at my belly.
Something complicated entered his eyes.
"About the eighteenth child."
My heart gave a hard beat.
"You know my baby?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he went to a wooden cabinet in the corner, opened a drawer, and took out a ring of keys.
"Follow me."
He led me into the basement.
The old wooden stairs creaked beneath our feet.
The deeper we went, the colder it grew.
I smelled damp earth and incense.
At last, he stopped before an iron door.
A line was carved into it.
SEVENTEEN REPAYMENTS.
I stared at the words.