Chapter 3

Tôn Đình stepped over the broken glass again.

She hammered the wall, murmuring:

“Baby, Mommy's coming.”

White plaster broke apart. Rough cement struck her face.

She didn't stop.

Like a wound-up robot, she struck again and again.

I couldn't restrain her alone.

I ran outside for the neighbors.

Together, we finally pulled her away from the glass.

To stop another outburst, I had no choice but to tie her up.

“She’s in the wall! She really is bricked into the wall!”

She struggled and wailed.

“Possessed, if you ask me,” Widow Vương said first.

“They say babies who die young have the greatest resentment. They easily become vengeful spirits and return to their mothers.”

“There are no ghosts.”

Dr. Lý from the village clinic looked at me.

“Lâm Hoa, has your wife been behaving strangely lately?”

I said nothing.

She'd been the best woman in the world.

Hardworking. Determined. Kind...

Now the baby's death had driven her mad.

“Losing your first child like this would naturally affect her.”

Dr. Lý patted my shoulder.

“Take her back to the city. We're too close to the burial place. Staying here will only make her miss the baby and get worse.”

I nodded.

“Shall we go back to our city home?”

She shook her head and stamped her feet.

“No! She's still in the wall! I have to find her!”

I crouched to meet her eyes.

Once, she'd worked hard and built a successful career.

She'd been a splendid flower, fragrant and proud.

Now the child's death had made her wither, too.

Blood covered her. Her former radiance was gone.

My heart ached.

In that moment, I made a decision.

I smoothed her tangled hair and spoke gently.

“I'll take you to see her.”

With the neighbors watching, I led her into the hills.

Our child lay buried here.

So did my pain.

I'd buried her with my own hands.

Now I had to dig her up myself.

Forgive me, little one. I have to help your mother get better.

I closed my eyes, drew a deep breath, and started digging.

After about twenty minutes, something began to feel wrong.

The grave wasn't deep.

I should have reached her.

Why could I smell rot without finding any sign of the baby?

“Where is she?”

The neighbors stirred.

I dug faster.

Still nothing.

Had I remembered the wrong spot?

I looked up.

There was the large rock.

No mistake. I'd buried her beside it myself.

The neighbors brought hoes and helped.

A meter down, there was still no body.

“I told you! She's in the wall!”

Tôn Đình became frantic, screaming herself hoarse.

“I want to go home! I have to break the wall and dig her out!”

We spent the afternoon on the mountain.

I found nothing.

Our child had vanished.

Anxiety and fear gripped me.

Widow Vương muttered:

“That purple-black thing crawling out the other day... Was that her?”

Dr. Lý shook his head.

“Impossible. A dead baby can't get up and crawl.”

She hesitated.

“Then... could that thing have eaten her?”

My heart twisted.

Our baby hadn't even been allowed peace in death.

Some filthy mountain beast had eaten her.

It must have hurt so much.

Regret overwhelmed me.

I shouldn't have obeyed Tôn Đình's family and buried her here.

I should have had her cremated.

Back home, I gave in to my wife's desperate demands and broke open the wall.

Even after it lay in ruins, there was no body.

She screamed and cried, then pointed at another wall.

The baby was in there.

The neighbors said she was mad. We couldn't let her continue, or she'd destroy the entire house.

Gritting my teeth, I put her in the car and drove straight back to the city.

She didn't settle there, either.

Every day, she screamed that our child had been bricked into the wall back home.

She wanted to return and rescue her.

Patiently, I explained that the baby had disappeared...

Into an animal's stomach.

She wouldn't listen.

Whenever I refused to take her back, she threw whatever was nearby at me.

Once, while I wasn't watching, she stabbed my arm with a fruit knife.

Gradually, I became utterly exhausted.

Besides coping with her mental disturbance, I had the company to manage.

Several shareholders were from my hometown.

Somehow, they'd heard she'd gone mad.

They insisted on seeing her.

I knew why.

They wanted to confirm whether she really had a mental illness.

In the end, I received them at home.

I'd prepared beforehand, telling her to stay in the bedroom.

She ignored me completely.

Before the shareholders, she cradled the doll, feeding it.

“Be good. Fill your tummy, then have a nice sleep...”

Their expressions changed.

I coaxed her into the main bedroom and locked the door, then returned to our guests.

“Let me out! She's awake. She needs sunshine!”

She kept pounding on the door.

I felt ashamed and helpless.

“Lâm Hoa.”

Mr. Lưu spoke for the group.

“We've discussed it. We all agree that in her present condition, Tôn Đình can't continue as CEO.”

The others echoed him.

“Her mental problems are too serious. If people hear we're letting her stay on, it'll damage the company's reputation. She should rest and recover.”

My face went pale.

“Give me some time. I'll help her get back to normal.”

They shook their heads.

They plainly wouldn't let her continue running the company.

After they left, I was drained.

Her condition was damaging not only our family but the company that supported us.

I lit a cigarette and finally called my friend in Thailand, Hiểu Huy.

“I need a favor...”

After hanging up, I opened the bedroom.

Tôn Đình held the doll and whispered:

“Shh. She's asleep.”

Gently, I said, “Put her down first. We need to talk.”

She carefully laid it in the cradle we'd bought, tucked in the blanket, and quietly closed the bedroom door.

I led her to the sofa.

“I called a friend in Thailand. He says there are masters there who can turn a dead child into a Kuman Thong. If our daughter became one, she could stay with us forever.”

Hope flashed in her eyes.

“Really?”

The look hurt me.

She'd once been so decisive.

Now she seemed like a helpless woman who couldn't make up her own mind.

I took her hand.

“It's true. Hiểu Huy knows a master who specializes in them.”

“Then make her a Kuman Thong. I want her with me forever.”

I called again, arranged a meeting with the master, and booked flights for the following week.

“We'll go next Monday.”

“All right.”

She nodded happily.

Then said, “Before we go, can I see her in the wall one more time?”

“No need.”

I reassured her.

“The master will summon her soul in Thailand. We don't need to do anything else.”

She was plainly unhappy.

Fortunately, she didn't make a scene.

At last, she quieted down...

I exhaled, feeling I might finally sleep well.

After settling her, I returned to the bedroom.

At last, a good night's sleep.

I slept deeply.

Soundly.

Until the police called.

“Is this Mr. Hứa Lâm Hoa?”

Still drowsy, I answered, “Yes. Who's this?”

“The police. An unidentified female body has been found on the railway. We believe she may be your wife. Please come and identify her.”

While I slept, Tôn Đình had forced the lock and run out.

She couldn't stop thinking about the imaginary baby in the wall.

To reach my hometown faster, she'd taken a shortcut across the railway...

A train hit her.

Her body was mangled, her head a bloody ruin.

At the station, I identified her by the ID card in her clothes.

The mortuary worker told me there wasn't an intact patch of facial skin left.

They might have to reconstruct her entire head with modeling material.

When my in-laws heard, my father-in-law brought relatives to beat me for failing to care for her.

My mother-in-law forced me to kneel before their ancestral shrine and swear I'd support them like their own son for the rest of my life.

All while cursing me as a worthless live-in son-in-law.

Exhausted in body and mind, I arranged the funeral.

At the crematorium, I watched Tôn Đình slowly enter the furnace.

Tears streamed down my face.

Đình Đình.

You're dead.

Ha ha ha.

At last, you're dead!

My tears...

Were tears of joy.

No one was happier.

That damned woman was finally dead!

I hated her.

Because I'd married into her family, she'd never treated me as human.

Always calling me useless.

Cleaning, laundry, cooking, bringing water for her feet, scrubbing toilets...

I did all the work she considered beneath a man.

Once, her younger sibling broke a thigh bone and stayed with us for months, unable to manage alone.

She made me help with everything from using the toilet to eating.

I worked like an animal.

Still, she complained I wasn't attentive enough.

So one thought had taken root in me.

I wasn't useless.

I'd accomplish something great and make her see me differently.

I opened a medical-equipment distribution company.

Small, at first.

After much pleading, several people from my hometown invested.

I held twenty-five percent, making me a major shareholder and chairman.

Through my efforts, the business began to improve.

Then Tôn Đình wanted to join.

Husband and wife united could achieve anything, she said.

I wanted to refuse.

Her parents beat and cursed me for being ungrateful.

Under threats and inducements, I had to agree.

Once inside, that vicious woman gradually stripped my authority, took some of my shares, and occupied the nest I'd built.

My company became hers.

Before my subordinates, she called me worthless.

I could only bow my head.

New employees gossiped that I lived off my wife.

To preserve the appearance of a working partnership and keep the office atmosphere intact, I pretended not to hear.

My endurance didn't stop her.

It made her worse.

I'd founded that company, yet in every meeting she berated me worse than a dog!

Eventually, I wanted a divorce.

Then she announced she was pregnant.

At first, I thought a child might make her treat me better.

I'd thought too much.

She became even more irritable.

Ordered me around like a slave.

Hit me often.

At the company's year-end party, she called me useless in front of everyone and made me kneel with the salespeople who'd missed their targets and crawl like dogs.

I couldn't hold my head up before my staff.

Her parents even insisted the baby take their surname.

For the company.

For our unborn child.

I endured it all.