My scalp felt tight, and my body was stiff, unable to sleep.
Suddenly, there was a twitch and contraction in my abdomen.
My fingers instinctively touched my flat stomach.
Could it be... fetal movement?
A cold wind swept in. A black shadow appeared by the bedside and cast down, sending a chill through my body. I jumped in fright. "Who is it? Who's there?"
Someone leaned close to my ear and chuckled softly, "Just a broken box, you think you can trap me?"
"Don't... don't come closer, please spare me, I beg you." I saw him, and fear was my reflex, even though his face was quite handsome.
But the man ignored me completely. His tall frame loomed over me, shamelessly pressing down on my body. "You ate my things, carried my blood, and now you want to deny it? Hmm?"
"I... ate your things?" I felt desperate and suffocated.
I carried his child, but it wasn't my choice; he had forced me.
As for eating his things, I had no memory of it.
He smiled coldly, pinched my chin, and kissed my soft lips, "Do you remember how you learned to speak?"
"I..." A flash of insight struck me, and childhood memories suddenly came to mind.
In my hazy recollections from when I was young.
When I was three years old, I remember my father, before he died, stuffing something round into my mouth.
It seemed as though he knew exactly what I was thinking. He pressed his cold lips against my earlobe and gently touched the tip of my ear with his tongue. "That was my inner elixir."
Under his persistent embrace, I unknowingly fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, I groggily woke up.
My whole body felt heavy, and when I checked the thermometer, it read 38.5°C.
I had a slight fever.
I couldn't eat anything for breakfast; everything I tried to eat came back up.
My mother, seeing me throw up until even bile came out, patted my back to comfort me, "It's okay, we're going to your uncle's house. Everything will get better."
"We're going to my uncle's house?" That's when I realized my mom had called my uncle for help.
At that moment, the car she called arrived.
It was a couple from the village who ran an unofficial taxi service. They were kind-hearted, and they charged just three hundred yuan for a whole day's ride.
Although we were poor, we could afford it.
The car stopped near a cliff.
At first, I thought the couple might have taken the wrong road in the mountains.
My mother nodded, "Your uncle knows many things."
"Mom, are they lost? I know where my uncle's house is, but this isn't it," I asked her, uneasy.
My mother picked up the box made of locust wood and said to me, "No, this is the right place."
She got out of the car with the box and walked to the edge of the cliff.
She threw the box straight into the mountain gorge.
Then, she folded her hands in prayer and muttered something under her breath.
In less than half a minute, she returned to the car.
I watched through the window, utterly stunned.
My mother had thrown away the cheongsam that had hung in our home for years!
When she got back into the car, she seemed in a good mood. "Aver, that cursed cheongsam is gone now. He will never come after you again."
This place was surrounded by mountains on all sides, the land below barren and desolate.
Throwing the locust wood box down there was essentially consigning it to the mountain forever.
Relieved that the ghostly cheongsam was gone, I couldn't help but feel worried. "But your illness..."
"My illness is fine, Aver. If you sacrifice for my illness, I will never rest in peace, even if I die." My mother's tone was stern, with no room for argument.
Although I didn't want to give up trying to save her, I couldn't argue with her, so I fell silent.
Now that the cheongsam was gone, was there any hope of getting it back?
For some reason, after the box was thrown, my mild fever turned into a high fever.
My forehead was burning hot, like a heated iron. Even without a thermometer, I could feel it was over 40°C.
As I was burning in a haze, the man driving suddenly slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a stop.
I was jolted awake, but my eyes barely opened. I heard his irritated voice, "Jack, the guardian of Ancient Well Village, is blocking the road. He won't let us pass. There's only one way into the village. You two will have to get out and walk in."