"Fine," I agreed, consumed with urgency as Uncle teased my heart into a fervent blaze.
Uncle hurried upstairs.
I pretended to follow closely behind him.
In reality, I stealthily slowed my pace.
"What on earth is in the attic?" I tried to keep my cool, whispering the question.
I wondered if Yu Longting could hear me.
The ethereal voice of Yu Longting reached me, "I can't enter the attic."
"That's like a dead end then," I complained, my head pounding with pain.
Uncle's intentions were too obvious.
If my mom was truly having a severe episode, he could have carried her down himself.
But he insisted on calling me.
For the moment, my mom was a hostage in Uncle's hands.
Due to my concern for my mom, even if I knew Uncle's ultimate goal, it was difficult to not be led by the nose.
Yu Longting said, "Not necessarily."
Suddenly I felt a cool warmth in my palm; Yu Longting had taken my hand.
For a moment, I remembered the cold snake body I touched at midnight
I nearly threw it out like a live grenade!
Of course, he was holding on tightly, so I couldn't have thrown it anyway.
His hand was devoid of warmth, but gradually, the unease within my heart dissipated.
I looked back at him in surprise.
His gaze was as cold and sinister as the eyes of a snake coiled at the door earlier.
It frightened me enough to make my hair stand on end.
The sense of comfort I felt because of him must have been a delusion, a slip of the mind.
"Why are you looking at me?" He noticed my gaze, his eyes glittering with a mysterious and eerie light.
"I wasn't… looking… at… anyt…" I was scared out of my wits, stuttering.
I stopped mid-sentence.
A pungent smell of blood hit my nose.
Without realizing it, we had arrived at the attic door, and I looked inside.
My mom lay over the sewing machine.
The white mourning clothes she was making were half-complete, now stained with a large patch of blood.
Just as I had suspected, she was indeed having an attack.
Inside, Uncle was pinching my mom's philtrum, trying to wake her.
As soon as my mom's eyes opened, she vomited several mouthfuls of fresh blood, "I… I… what's… happened to me?"
Her entire being was terribly weak,
"Sister-in-law, it seems like your illness has acted up," Uncle said to my mom before turning to me at the door, "Su Wan, what are you spacing out for? Come in and help; Yu Longting, how could you…"
When he saw me, he naturally also saw Yu Longting standing shoulder to shoulder with me.
His complexion instantly turned pale, then switched to a look of foreseen conclusion, his eyes brimming with ruthless severity.
"Is my name something you can call? Lowly vermin!" Yu Longting's handsome, phoenix-like eyes narrowed, his voice feather-light.
Each note carried a deterrent force, Uncle's gaze flickering.
He clutched at his throat and started coughing violently, "I… what does it matter if I called you…? You can't enter the attic, and you can't kill me, cough cough cough cough…"
"He has a Protective Jade Pendant given by another Household Spirit; killing him would cost me greatly," Yu Longting told me.
I nodded, no wonder someone as hot-tempered as Yu Longting had not taken any action against Uncle's family yet.
"Wanwan…" My mom's eyes reddened, her look filled with fury and hate as she stared at Yu Longting and me, our hands joined together, "Why are you standing with him? Has he forced you again? Ghost python, if you have any grievance, direct it at me; let go of my daughter."
"You've got it wrong, Mom! Yu Longting… he's here to help us…" I said uncertainly, glancing at Yu Longting. He…
Would he really help us?
My mom probably thought I was bewitched, her emotions suddenly flaring.
With a powerful shove, she knocked over the sewing machine in front of her, and she too collapsed on the floor, glowering at Yu Longting with venomous hatred, "How could the ghost python possibly help us? If it weren't for you… If it weren't for you, how would my Wanwan be pregnant… Stay away from Wanwan, don't you dare touch her hand, or I will never forgive you, even as a ghost!!"
"Ah!"
All of a sudden, my mom screamed in agony as Uncle grabbed her hair from behind and jerked her head up.
Uncle's sinister voice broke through, "Su Wan, it looks like the ghost python has completely bewitched you! Then, I need not be merciful. Come inside, or would you prefer to watch your mother die?"