Chapter 9

The tenderness faded.

An unfamiliar coldness took its place.

"You've met Mr. Lu?"

I didn't answer.

He nodded.

"Then you probably know everything."

I held my breath.

Slowly, he took off his coat.

"Qinghe, I didn't want to frighten you."

"But now it's come to this…"

He looked up.

"Give me the baby."

I held my belly.

"Never."

"You don't understand."

"I understand perfectly!"

I shouted.

"You want to use my child to break the seal!"

He was silent.

Then he laughed.

The sound raised gooseflesh along my arms.

"Mr. Lu only told you half the story."

I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

He looked at me.

"Do you know why that child can come back to life seventeen times?"

I said nothing.

"Because she isn't an ordinary human."

My hands clenched.

"My daughter is human."

"No."

He shook his head.

"She's a key."

I went numb.

He continued.

"The thing beneath the well isn't merely an evil spirit."

"It's part of heaven's ordained fate."

"A hundred years ago, the Chen ancestor didn't sell his daughter for wealth."

"He was trying to save his family from a curse."

I looked at Mr. Lu.

He said nothing.

Mingyuan smiled.

"Didn't he tell you?"

"The Songs created the curse."

I stared.

"A hundred years ago, the Song family used a forbidden art to preserve a dead child's soul."

"But the ritual failed."

"Her soul split into eighteen fragments."

"To complete the ritual, all eighteen cycles of reincarnation must be gathered."

My heart seemed to stop.

"Eighteen?"

"Yes."

He looked at my belly.

"Our daughter is the final fragment."

I turned to Mr. Lu.

"Say something."

He wouldn't look at me.

I stepped toward him.

"Is it true?"

Still nothing.

"TELL ME!"

At last, he sighed.

"Part of it."

I backed away.

"The Song family did use a forbidden art a hundred years ago," he said.

"But not to resurrect a child."

I looked at him.

"Then why?"

He raised his head.

"To stop something being born that should never have existed."

I went cold.

Mingyuan laughed.

"Still hiding it?"

Mr. Lu ignored him and looked only at me.

"Qinghe."

"Do you know why your grandmother told your mother never to let a daughter marry into the Chen family?"

I stared.

I'd never heard that.

"Because once those two bloodlines combine…"

"The thing under the seal has a chance to be reborn."

I looked down at my belly.

Cold spread through me.

No.

Impossible.

My daughter…

Could she be the thing beneath the well?

Just then, the baby spoke.

"Mommy."

Her voice was calm.

"Don't believe anyone."

I asked, trembling, "Then who should I believe?"

She was silent for a moment.

"Yourself."

Mingyuan approached the door.

"Qinghe."

"I'm giving you one last chance."

I looked at him.

"Come with me."

"I promise to keep you alive."

I laughed.

"And my daughter?"

No answer.

I understood.

Slowly, I shook my head.

"Chen Mingyuan."

"In three years of marriage, did you ever really love me?"

He stopped.

After a long while, he answered, "Yes."

I watched him.

"I loved you in every one of the last seventeen lives."

Tears spilled from my eyes.

Not because I was moved.

Because I was sickened.

"Then why did you do it?"

He looked at me for a long time.

At last, he said, "I had no choice."

I shook my head.

"No."

"You always had a choice."

"You just chose to sacrifice your child every time."

He said nothing more.

He lowered his head.

When he looked up again, his eyes had changed completely.

"Then I'm sorry."

He signaled.

Dr. Lin immediately took a wooden box from her bag.

Inside lay a long black needle.

Mr. Lu's face changed.

"The Soul-Binding Needle!"

Mingyuan looked at me.

"Qinghe."

"Don't blame me."

"This time, I have to succeed."

Chapter 6: The Liar in My Womb

Mr. Lu pulled me backward.

"Into the basement!"

Before I could react, Dr. Lin drove the black needle into a cloth doll.

Agony tore through my lower belly.

I screamed.

My legs buckled.

Mr. Lu caught me.

Mingyuan stood in the courtyard, his face utterly unchanged.