"Mom, stop kowtowing, he... probably won't come out," I said, rushing to hug my mom as I saw the purple bruise forming on her forehead from her relentless kowtowing.
My mom, with immense strength, pushed me away forcefully. "Go away, don't get in the way, you're just a child."
"Mom..." I stumbled and fell to the ground, pain shooting through me. My mom, as if possessed, kept kowtowing.
She knocked her head so hard that it started bleeding.
The blood seeped into the concrete floor, staining it a dark red. If this continued, something serious was going to happen.
Before I could rush over to pull her up, a mocking laugh echoed in the room, cold and chilling as if it could freeze one's heart. "I want her to pay back what she owes me. What can you do about it? Do you think you have the right to bargain with me?"
I turned to see a man sitting on a shabby, old stool not far from me.
He had appeared out of nowhere.
Wearing a long, green robe, his face was handsome and serene.
His long, ink-colored hair, like green silk, brushed the bare feet resting on the ground. He looked like an ethereal being, a celestial.
But his mesmerizing peach blossom eyes were filled with an eerie, almost mocking energy, staring at me with an unsettling smile.
It made my heart race.
My mom's face turned pale in an instant, and she stared at him in horror, still murmuring her pleas from before. "Lord Snake, if you must have retribution, let it fall on me. Please spare Avril... What has she done wrong..."
The man ignored her and looked past her at me. "Avril."
"You... you're that ghost serpent..." I never imagined that the terrifying figure haunting my nights would look like this.
I froze, not knowing whether to feel fear or awe.
I took a deep breath and asked, "Can you save my mom? Her time is running out."
He squinted at me, lazily resting his chin on his hand, speaking in an authoritative tone. "Drip your blood on the qipao and acknowledge me as your master."
As soon as he finished speaking, he disappeared.
Without hesitation, ignoring the pain, I bit my finger to draw blood.
Suddenly, my mom slapped me hard across the face, stopping me from dripping blood on the qipao. "Stop! Avril!"
"Mom, how could you..." She slapped me? I was stunned, the burning sensation on my cheek made me dizzy.
My mom had always been so kind to me, and this was the first time she had hit me.
With a face full of anger, she interrupted me, "Who gave you the right to make decisions like this?! If you get entangled with him, your life will be ruined!"
"I... I just wanted to save you," I barely finished my sentence before my mom grabbed the qipao from my hands. She glared at me and said harshly, "I don't need saving! If you're caught by him, I'd rather die!"
She was so sick, her body had become emaciated, but she gritted her teeth, enduring the pain as she searched the house, holding onto the qipao.
Seeing her hate that man so much, I thought she was trying to find my father's Yin-Yang scissors to cut the qipao and end the curse. But after half an hour, my mom pulled out an old box from beneath a dusty cupboard.
When she wiped it clean, I saw it was a plain, solid wood box made of locust wood.
It had a round copper lock shaped like a Bagua (Eight Trigrams) compass.
She carefully placed the cursed qipao inside the box, turned the copper key tied with red string, and locked it. The serpent inside seemed to struggle.
The box shook violently for a moment, but then fell silent.
I guessed that some kind of power in the box had sealed the serpent inside.
"Go to sleep now, tomorrow I'll take you to deal with the monster inside you," my mom urged me quickly. I stared at the locust wood box, a sense of unease rising in me. "Does this box really work?"
"It's a family heirloom. It will be fine," my mom said with firm confidence, her eyes urging me to sleep.
I originally thought that since the qipao had been locked away, that man wouldn't show up again.
But in the middle of the night, a horde of snakes appeared outside our door.
I woke up, shivering with cold, and when I opened my eyes, I saw snakes coiled and hissing outside the window.
The cold moonlight reflected off their scales, casting a sinister glow.
The snakes hissed in unison, and their eerie sounds seemed to form words, chillingly calling my name, "Avril, Avril..."