"I have school tomorrow; better head home early. I definitely don't want to have breakfast with her."
Tang Micheng left the game arcade.
He looked down at his phone.
Seven thirty.
The driver had been waiting in the parking lot across the street.
Getting dropped off at the entrance to the neighborhood by eight shouldn't be a problem.
He walked on, eyeing the ceaseless flow of traffic, then glanced at the side and shivered suddenly.
A footbridge spanned the road above, deserted and lit by white streetlights.
This ordinary scene, after what Tang Jin had told him, now seemed to be enveloped in a layer of shadow.
Damn.
Tang Micheng cursed under his breath, wondering why he should care about her. He took a couple of steps towards the footbridge, but the intangible psychological pressure made him stop and take a detour instead.
The Tang family mansion was located in a neighborhood with tight security. It was quite late, and the driver took Tang Micheng to the neighborhood entrance.
Tang Micheng stepped onto his skateboard and glided towards the Tang family mansion.
His skateboard seemed somewhat unable to bear his weight, creaking occasionally.
The street was empty, and the wind began to blow.
The wind dispersed some of the clouds masking the moon, and the moonlight that fell seemed even chillier.
The sound of the wind was like someone's sobbing, shaking the trees beside him.
The light from the security booth behind him was no longer visible; only the cold moonlight and the warm white of the streetlights remained. Skating alone on the road, Tang Micheng felt a chill on his back and hastened his movements.
It's all lies, all lies.
Where in the world could there be such strange and bizarre things?
It's all because of what Tang Jin said before leaving!
It's all Tang Jin's fault!
If only she hadn't come back.
If only she hadn't returned...
"Hoo—Oh dear, did you just get home, kid?"
This voice, mingling with the wind.
Tang Micheng stumbled, his skateboard flying out from under his feet, nearly causing him to fall flat.
Thud—a noise resounded.
The skateboard had hit a streetlight pole.
"Are you okay?"
The woman's voice was concerned, getting closer and closer.
"You scared me to death. It's dark; could you not start talking so suddenly over there?"
Tang Micheng steadied himself and rolled his eyes, only then making out the woman who had been standing by the roadside.
She was smiling, the light falling on her face, entirely pale.
A young, unfamiliar woman.
Having seen the person clearly, the sense of relief in Tang Micheng's heart tightened up again in an instant.
There were several ancestral homes in this neighborhood, and most of the neighbors knew each other.
But he had never seen this woman before.
"Sorry, I was nervous about meeting my boyfriend's parents, so I came out for some fresh air and then saw you."
Tang Micheng took another discreet look at her shadow, feeling slightly relieved. He told himself he was just overthinking things.
"Well, be careful then."
He said casually as he bent down to pick up his skateboard.
But as he crouched, the woman's shadow cast over his head.
His phone slipped out of his pocket.
"Kid, I have some candy that I made myself, leftovers from what I brought for my boyfriend's relatives—I'll give them to you as compensation for scaring you."
Candy? He loved sweets the most, but his family wasn't happy about him eating too many. It wasn't out of the question to accept them.
But after he saw the shadow beside him, he froze for a moment. Wasn't the woman standing under the streetlight just now?
How had she gotten to his side in the blink of an eye? Wasn't her pace too fast?
The phone tightened in his grasp as it recognized his face and the screen lit up.
Eight... five past.
-
Tang Micheng pocketed his phone, mustered courage to step onto his skateboard, and straightened up. He turned his head to look at the woman's face again.
She kept the same motion, offering him several pieces of brightly colored candy.
But,
the smile—was especially fake.
It was like a gray plaster, with a smile forcibly chiseled out.
His heart felt empty, yet he forced a look of indifference on his face, irritation written all over his chubby cheeks.
"No need, I'm not a little girl, I don't like sweets."
He gathered strength under his feet and in an instant kicked off, sending the skateboard flying out like an arrow.
The woman's last voice was bone-chilling.
"Lying, you clearly love sweets the most!"
Damn!
What the hell!
Tang Micheng suppressed his voice with all his might, bent on rushing home.
Is this thing that malevolent?!
"Why are you running?"
The woman's voice followed like a shadow.
The wind made Tang Micheng shiver uncontrollably, as he realized he was covered in a cold sweat.
*
On the other side, in the living room of the Tang family mansion.
Tang Jin sat on the sofa holding a cup of hot, sweet milk, her little head tilted back, watching the clock on the wall.
She exhaled softly, taking another sip of milk.
The warm, sweet taste made the little girl contentedly squint her big eyes.
"Turns out kids are more likely to misbehave."
*
The woman seemed to be toying with him.
This road also seemed endless.
The surrounding was the unchanging streetlights and houses, yet it was so silent as if devoid of people.
"Tang Micheng, didn't you love sweets the most?"
The laugh that was growing eerie accompanied the woman's voice, which seemed uncertain, like a combination of the howling wind.
The skateboard, which had been flying forward, suddenly came to a halt due to inertia, and Tang Micheng was thrown off, rolling forward several times.
He didn't care about the state of his forehead, knees, and arms; he flipped over and got up ready to run.
"Help! Somebody help!"
The smell of blood seemed to excite the unknown entity even more.
The wind howled even fiercer, the sky should have been light by now, but it was clearly nighttime.
He collapsed to the ground, moving back inch by inch, his face filled with terror.
It was still that woman with the fake smile, with not a single change in her expression, and in a flash, she was right before him, reaching out her hand toward his face—
Her pitch-black hair, stiff as wire, hooked directly around his neck, pulling him back and flinging him onto the edge of the bridge. Tang Micheng's eyes widened in terror; he saw that if he were thrown out by this hair,
he would certainly hang to death under this bridge!
"I told you to be home by eight, and it wasn't so you could hesitate outside for a few more minutes."
Tang Micheng shut his eyes tight but realized the thing around his neck was soft, and warm.
Tang Micheng jerked his eyes open to find a small creature already clinging to his chest, blocking the precarious railing. Tang Jin had one arm around his neck, the horsetail whisk braced against the railing.
He met a pair of pitch-black eyes, her little face puffed up, but she exuded the scent of sweet milk that was exceptionally comforting.
"Letting you disobey, see? You're about to be done for, aren't you?"
"Tang, Tang Jin."
She was still wearing her pajamas, in slippers, holding a horsetail whisk.
"Where is this place, and why did you say those things when I left the house? Did you make this thing?"
He shivered with fright, overwhelmed, crawling into the embrace of his sister, several years his junior, inhaling the scent of sweet milk on her, finding it exceptionally comforting. His grievances exploded all at once, and tears began to roll down.
"I was wrong, okay? I shouldn't have disobeyed. I tried my best to rush back. Let me return to the normal world, please. I don't want to die yet; I want to drink sweet milk too!"
He cried without any dignity, devoid of the swagger he had previously shown to Tang Jin.
It startled Tang Jin, and she wanted to let go, but he clung to her desperately and wouldn't let go.
Tang Jin considered for a long time, then spoke amidst his anxious gaze.
"Actually, I think sweet milk is just okay. But Grandpa said drinking more could help you grow taller."