At the moment when An Yesu spoke, I couldn't help but look at the little female corpse standing next to him. That little female corpse was the one he called Xiao Ping. At this time, she was wearing a red dress, soaked with water and her wet black hair stuck to her face. I couldn't see her face clearly and didn't feel any beauty in her body.
I think that if an ordinary person saw her like this, they would only feel fear and terror.
"How did she become a corpse? Did you kill her?" I frowned and asked An Yesu.
An Yesu shook his head subconsciously and looked at Xiao Ping before waving for her to come over. He held her hand affectionately and said to me: "I didn't kill her."
"What's going on then?" I asked puzzledly.
"Do you know what Xiao Ping looked like when I first talked to her?" An Yesu didn't answer my question directly but brought up his first conversation with Xiao Ping.
I remained silent, waiting for him to continue speaking.
An Yesu turned his head sideways towards Xiao Ping before saying: "Curiosity is endless for humans, let alone when I saw Xiao Ping for the first time; my heart was completely attracted by her. So later on, I peeped into that small courtyard many times. Every time I saw Xiao Ping there, she was quiet yet beautiful; so much so that my liking towards grew stronger each time. Finally one afternoon when it was warm under the sun rays and no one from Lu family were home; I climbed over their wall into their yard."
"And then what happened?" Without thinking twice about it, I asked him again.
"Afterwards," An Yesu took a deep breath after pausing briefly before continuing: "Xiao Ping had our first conversation together." His eyes sparkled as he spoke while his cheeks puffed out slightly in excitement. "When she saw me, just like before, she panicked and ran into the house. I followed her in and told her that I had no ill intentions; I only wanted to be friends with her.
She seemed unable to understand what I was saying but could feel my kindness from my eyes. So eventually, she cautiously approached me.
I led her to the yard where we sat down on a grassy area covered in flower petals while leaning against a big tree. Then, I asked for her name."
An Yesu paused again at this point before taking a deep breath and continuing: "She didn't tell me her name because she couldn't speak. After struggling for half a day, all she managed to say was 'meow-meow' which meant 'I am a cat'.
What does that mean? I didn't understand," An Yesu's words left me puzzled.
"You're not alone in your confusion, because I didn't understand at first either," An Yesu looked at me and then said, "You can think about why she became like this. Let me remind you beforehand that Xiaoping was originally a normal and lovely girl without any mental problems."
This made me lost in thought for a long time. Suddenly, a strange idea popped into my mind and I couldn't help but look at An Yesu and say, "She was chained up with iron chains, has language barriers, thinks she is a cat even though she doesn't have any mental or physical disabilities from birth. There is only one explanation for her behavior that makes sense."
"Tell me your speculation," An Yesu said.
"She must have been isolated since childhood and raised in confinement. In other words, no one talked to her while she was growing up so she never learned how to speak. Of course during this process there may have been someone who spoke to her but they weren't trying to teach her how to talk; instead they were hypnotizing her or misleading her by telling her that she was a cat which caused her to believe it." As I spoke these words out loud, I subconsciously glanced over at An Yesu and asked him if my speculation was correct.
An Yesu remained noncommittal and continued asking me: "Can you think of anything else?"
"Anything else... let me think..." I put away the folding knife, threw the rope on the ground, found a rock to sit down on and began racking my brain.
"The person who raised Xiaoping should be from the Lu family as well as the person who hypnotized her. But why would they do such things? That's what I don't understand. When I asked Lu Dakun before about who Xiaoping was he said she was his daughter and that you killed her. Now it seems obvious that he wasn't telling the truth and Xiaoping was probably an innocent girl who was deceived and victimized by Lu Dakun. But why did they do this? What was their purpose?" I looked at An Yesu and asked.
An Yesu didn't answer my question, instead he just furrowed his brow and said to me: "Do you know why I killed so many people?"
"Why?" I asked in confusion.
"Because in my opinion, everyone in that village deserves to die. Even if they haven't done anything wrong now, for generations they have harmed countless poor women. So I think they all deserve to die; they shouldn't be living in this world anymore. They are a group of evil spirits, disgusting beasts who should go to hell!" An Yesu gritted his teeth as he spoke.
"I can feel your hatred and anger but can you explain more clearly? I don't quite understand what you mean," I furrowed my brow tightly as I asked him.
Since the first time we met, I would visit Xiaoping every few days. We had a happy time together and I tried to teach her how to speak, but it was difficult for her because she had been mute for too long. Later, I came up with a good idea - teaching her how to play the flute. She was a musical genius and learned quickly. She was very excited and looked forward to my visits every day. She held onto the flute that I gave her tightly in her hand and played the songs that I taught her whenever she could.
I nodded without saying anything, feeling a sense of unease in my heart. With such a big change in Xiaoping, it wouldn't be long before the Lu family found out.
As expected, my speculation was correct.
"The Lu family found out about this and they kicked me out of the village, telling me never to come back." An Yesu shook his head with tears in his eyes and choked on his words before continuing after some time: "I can't forget Xiaoping; I don't want her to continue being treated like an animal by others so I wanted to take her away with me. That's why I didn't leave the village completely; instead, I hid outside for several days before sneaking into that small courtyard during one dark night."
"But...but...I couldn't find her! After searching through every corner of that courtyard, there wasn't any sign of anyone except for a broken iron chain - she disappeared! Even when searching around Lu's mansion yard later on, still no trace of Xiaoping could be found anywhere. She vanished without leaving any clues as to where she went," An Yesu said while shaking his head with tears streaming down his face.
From his expression at that moment,I could imagine how anxious and painful he must have felt then.
"Later on,I accidentally touched upon something outside Lu Dakun's bedroom window and heard something that made me feel heartbroken."
"Xiaoping was already dead, and it was Lu Dakun who buried her alive with his own hands!