Transmigrierte Kaiserinnen (männlich und weiblich)

Kapitel 15

"Get in the car." Hideko reached out and opened the back door.

Song Xiaomo crouched down and crawled into the small truck. It was so cold inside that he couldn't help but shiver.

There was a little boy sitting next to me. He looked about six or seven years old and seemed very well-behaved.

"Who is this child?" Song Xiaomo asked casually.

"Her name is Tongtong, she is six years old, and she is Zhao Yinzhu's son."

Who is Zhao Yinzhu?

“That’s the person in front of you, he’s also one of my long-time employees,” Hideko said.

"What? The one in front of me?" Song Xiaomo didn't understand for a moment. He stood up slightly and glanced at the position in front of him, but he quickly realized something. He simply couldn't believe what he was seeing.

In front of him sat a dead man.

Chapter 71: The Ghost Doll Returns (71)

She was the dead shop assistant. Through the rearview mirror, he could see the dead woman's expression: her tongue protruding straight from her open, stiff mouth, her eyes wide and bulging, not blinking an eye…

In that instant, he was gripped by an overwhelming sense of fear. He felt helpless, his hands gripping the car door handle tightly, as if he were about to fall out.

"Don't be afraid, my mom won't hurt you," the boy named Tongtong said in his childish voice. He could see the fear in his heart at a glance. The boy's eerie tone frightened him.

"Where...where are you planning to take her?" he asked anxiously.

Xiuzi glanced back at him and said casually, "Let's send it to the crematorium for cremation first, and then we'll go to the cemetery to erect a monument and bury the ashes another day."

"Oh." He feigned nonchalance, though his mind was racing, and he desperately wanted to get out of the car. But in front of this woman and child, he had to show some manly spirit.

"Tongtong, how did your mother die?" he asked the little boy next to him with a hint of concern.

Tongtong suddenly stared at him with an expression that a child shouldn't have, and said fiercely, "Don't talk nonsense. My mother isn't dead. She's right in front of you. She just talked to me!"

Song Xiaomo's heart sank again.

"Tongtong, how dare you talk to your uncle like that? Be careful, or I'll tell your mother and spank you." Xiuzi scolded the little boy, then said to Song Xiaomo, "Tongtong is a pitiful child. Her father passed away a long time ago, and she has always depended on her mother. Now she's like this. The child may have suffered some mental trauma, so don't hold it against her."

"Hehe, no way." An awkward smile appeared on Song Xiaomo's stiff face.

Tongtong rolled her eyes at him, pouted, and then picked something up from the side.

He initially thought it was just an ordinary toy, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was a large teru teru bozu (a Japanese doll shaped like a sunny day). Fate is so ironic; it brought him into this world again.

He became increasingly convinced that this was more than just a coincidence.

"Tongtong, who made this doll for you?" He tried his best to calm himself down.

"It's Mom."

Hideko coughed and interjected, "Actually, I taught them how to make it. These kinds of dolls are very popular in Japan; they're called 'teru teru bozu' (sunny day dolls). Their meaning is to sweep away the dark clouds and let the sky clear. According to Japanese folklore, if you hang a teru teru bozu on the roof or eaves, you can pray for good weather..."

Song Xiaomo wiped the sweat from her forehead, thinking that she was probably being too paranoid; it was just a doll. She had felt so cold just a moment ago, and now she was sweating so much.

"Tongtong, can I touch your doll?" Song Xiaomo asked.

"No!" Tongtong quickly hugged the doll to her arms and looked at him warily.

"Hehe, don't even mention you, even me, he absolutely refuses to let me touch it. He says that adults are too cunning, and if I touch it, I'll get the doll dirty. Honestly, not many boys like dolls... We have so many toys at home, but he doesn't like any of them, except for this one. He holds it all day long, isn't that strange?" Xiuzi said with a laugh.

Chapter 72: The Ghost Doll Returns (72)

Song Xiaomo stared blankly at the doll, speechless for a moment. He vaguely realized that the thing seemed to have come alive; its eyes, which had been narrowed to slits, suddenly opened and were staring at him with a strange gaze. That eerie smile seemed to contain some meaning, like mockery, or perhaps it was conveying some message, filling him with a bone-chilling unease and fear.

"Tongtong, your doll is very cute. Does it have a name?" he asked again.

“Of course there is, it’s called a ghost doll!” the little boy replied expressionlessly.

"This..." He was stunned once again.

About ten minutes later, the truck stopped.

Song Xiaomo quickly opened the door and got out of the car, eagerly taking a few breaths of fresh air.

Before him stood a tall chimney billowing black smoke, emanating a sinister and inexplicably frightening aura.

"Come on, help me out." Hideko beckoned to him.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'll lift the top, you hold her feet!" Xiuzi opened the car door and gently helped the body down.

He was stunned at first, then immediately realized what was going on. Good heavens, so Hideko had asked him to help transport the body.

He walked over cautiously, head down, unable to bear looking at the corpse's deathly pale face. However, a pair of red high heels suddenly caught his eye. His heart clenched; he felt he'd seen those red high heels somewhere before. That's it! The overpass! Wasn't that woman under the overpass wearing those glaring red high heels?

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and do it!" Hideko urged him.

"Oh." He paused for a moment, then reluctantly lifted the corpse's foot.

Those were unusually stiff feet.

A thick layer of cold sweat seeped from his forehead, sliding down onto his red high heels. He felt cold all over, and his fingers were stiff. The chill emanating from the stiff corpse had seeped into his entire body.

His body was about to give out.

Tongtong hummed a tune, skipping and hopping along at the front. The child probably didn't know that his mother was about to be stuffed into a huge furnace, burned into a wisp of smoke, and turned into a pile of white powder.

That round, white little head rested on Tongtong's shoulder, casting an unfathomable gaze at Song Xiaomo.

Song Xiaomo's blood froze instantly. If it weren't for the woman and child beside him, he would have lost control long ago.

Finally, Hideko called out "Stop!" and he stopped. At that moment, several people dressed in white came out of the house in front of the crematorium; they were probably staff members from the crematorium management office. Hideko said a few words to them, and they placed the body on a small flatbed cart and then pushed it away.

"Xiao Mo, I'm going to take care of the formalities. I'll bring out the ashes in a bit. You guys wait for me at the door," Xiu Zi said.

"Okay, go ahead." Song Xiaomo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tongtong, listen to your uncle and don't run around, or I'll tell your mom," Xiuzi said, looking at Tongtong.

Tongtong nodded obediently.

Chapter 73: The Ghost Doll Returns (73)

After Xiuzi left, Song Xiaomo looked at Tongtong and suddenly felt a little sad. She thought to herself, "This child is so pitiful. She lost her mother's love at such a young age. How will she face life in the future?"

After a long silence, he seemed to remember something, took Tongtong's hand, and asked, "Tongtong, can you tell Uncle how your mother died?"

"No, Mom isn't dead, she's just sick." Tongtong forcefully shook off his hand, her eyes filled with resentment.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, Uncle was wrong. Your mother isn't dead." He quickly apologized, then asked, "Could you tell Uncle how your mother got sick?"

Tongtong blinked and spat out a single word through gritted teeth: "Drawing!"

What painting?

"It's that painting in our shop, it depicts a beautiful auntie."

Upon hearing this, Song Xiaomo suddenly understood. The painting Tongtong mentioned was clearly the oil painting he had seen in the antique shop's corridor. And that "pretty auntie" must be the deceased Shen Meixuan. What was the connection?

"Tongtong, why did your mother get sick because of this painting?"

“Because…because…my mom said she saw that auntie run out of the painting,” Tongtong said, touching the ghost doll’s head.

"What?" Song Xiaomo was so shocked he could hardly close his mouth. Then, he kept thinking about one question: Did Tongtong's mother really see a "ghost"? Could she have been scared to death? Judging from the distorted facial expression of the corpse, she had clearly suffered some great fright before she died.

What exactly did she see? What was Xiuzi hiding? Song Xiaomo stared blankly at the tall chimney, her doubts growing ever stronger. The air here was thick with an eerie atmosphere, making her shiver.

He sighed and saw Tongtong sitting on the ground, hugging her doll and humming a song.

"Tongtong, what are you singing?" he asked casually.

Tongtong ignored him and continued humming her song.

Song Xiaomo felt something was off, so she squatted down and put her ear close to Tongtong to listen.

In that brief moment, he clearly heard it: it was a Japanese folk song: "Sunny doll, sunny doll, I hope tomorrow will be a good day. If it is, I'll give you a golden bell; Sunny doll, sunny doll, I hope tomorrow will be a good day. If it is, I'll give you delicious sake; Sunny doll, sunny doll, I hope tomorrow will be a good day. If it isn't, I'll cut off your head..."

Song Xiaomo was stunned: Wasn't this the lullaby I heard that night? Why could Tongtong sing it? Goosebumps rose all over his body. Based on his subjective feeling, he sensed a strange undercurrent in the lullaby, especially the last line, which sent chills down his spine…

"Tongtong, who taught you this song?" he pressed.

This time, Tongtong shook her head and said, "I don't know."

"Tongtong, stop lying to your uncle. Honest children are good children. Tell your uncle, who taught you this song?"

Chapter 74: The Ghost Doll Returns (74)

"I'm really not lying to you. I can only hear this song; I've never seen anyone sing it. I always hear people singing it outside my window in the middle of the night... My mom won't let me listen to it and she even stuffs cotton balls in my ears. I learned it secretly!" Tongtong didn't seem to be lying at all.

He was about to ask something else when he suddenly realized that the ghost doll was staring at him. Its expression was exactly the same as Hideko's, who was walking towards him.

Hideko was holding a round box, her eyes slightly red.

"How is it?" he asked.

“It’s all taken care of. This place is really efficient. You can consider it in the future…” Halfway through her sentence, Hideko realized something was wrong and quickly stopped.

"Xiao Mo, thank you for your help today. Come on, let me treat you to dinner!" Xiu Zi said politely.

"Never mind, I have other things to do today, maybe next time," Song Xiaomo politely declined.

"Alright, I'll take you to the city center first. Get in the car!"

"Okay!" Song Xiaomo nodded and said to Tongtong, "Tongtong, get in the car quickly."

Tongtong stared at him intently, motionless, then a strange expression appeared on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked in surprise.

"Mommy, let's go!" Tongtong suddenly said.

Song Xiaomo was taken aback, thinking the child was too sad, so she comforted her, "Your mother will leave for a while, shall we go back first?"

“But Mommy is right behind you!” Tongtong said, pointing behind him.

One sentence sent a chill down Song Xiaomo's spine. He even felt a cold sensation on his neck, as if someone was breathing on it from behind. He turned around abruptly, but there was nothing behind him, not even a ghost in sight.

Xiuzi walked over, forcibly carried Tongtong into the car, and scolded, "Didn't I tell you? Mommy will always be by your side. If you say anything else, I'm going to scold you."

"But Mom is right behind him!" Tongtong cried out.

"Nonsense!" Xiuzi glared at him fiercely, placed the urn in Tongtong's arms, and said, "Your mother is watching you. You have to behave well, or she will be unhappy."

Surprisingly, Tongtong immediately calmed down as soon as she hugged the urn.

"Don't believe what children say, get in the car!" Xiuzi said.