Das Grab von Qin Shi Huang

Kapitel 45

Sure enough, she discovered Wan Li's sinister intentions, but dared not expose them. Yang Chunxia's arrangement was solely to protect Dolly's safety and prevent her from being harmed by anyone. Dolly briefly surveyed the room; it resembled a prison cell, with no windows and only a narrow ventilation opening. Several large locks were placed on the door, with only a small hole for passing food. In short, it was like being imprisoned!

"Good child, I'm just making sure you're safe and sound." Yang Chunxia smiled kindly. "You must grow up healthy and safe in the next two years!"

There seemed to be something meaningful in her tone, and a face flashed through Dolly's mind. "Pandora!" she exclaimed. "Is she here too?"

Pandora, the rising star rumored to have been kidnapped, was very likely brought here as well. Dolly secretly regretted her carelessness; she hadn't asked Baihu at the time. Yang Chunxia shook her head very slowly, her old eyes filled with tears:

"Too late..."

Dolly's heart sank. She remembered the conversations she had overheard while she was unconscious.

“Selly is dead… Although her body was preserved intact, she is still dead…”

Dolly's vision blurred, and the scene of the grinning white tiger killing Pandora flashed before her eyes. Just then, Yang Chunxia suddenly uttered an extremely strange remark:

"No, perhaps it's not too late...she's already twenty years old..."

Dolly opened her eyes wide in the darkness. Her breathing became heavy, for she realized that what she was about to face was the truth.

The truth that Baihu has been searching for and that has haunted the Wan family for over thirty years.

Volume 3: The Sheep's Song from Hell Records (Twenty-Three)

Contrary to his name, Wan Shifa was not destined for success and wealth. Instead, he spent the first half of his life in poverty and mediocrity, contrary to his parents' hopes. Lacking any marketable skills and the keen insight and ruthless tactics necessary for business, he constantly changed jobs, barely surviving on meager wages and the charity of relatives. Perhaps his only redeeming quality was marrying a good wife—a gentle, beautiful, and virtuous woman. While Wan Shifa lacked talent, he was honest and upright, and tall and handsome, which is why Yang Chunxia rejected many suitors from wealthy families and married him without hesitation.

To provide a better life for his beautiful wife, Wan Shifa heeded a friend's advice and scraped together five thousand yuan to start a clothing business. But, as with his past experiences, all the hard-earned money vanished. He stumbled off the train, exhausted and filled with resentment, collapsing onto the icy street. It was a cold night; a biting wind whipped around him, and his heart was as cold as ice. Exhausted, cold, and hungry, he contemplated suicide.

However, he did not die. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, the wooden door behind him creaked open, and a dim, warm light shone from behind him.

Someone saved him. They not only provided him with hot milk and fresh food, but also gave him a sum of money—enough to pay off his debts and even allow him to live comfortably for ten years.

“No matter how much money you give me, it’s useless.” He smiled bitterly. “I’m practically possessed by the god of poverty. Money just flies away as soon as it gets into my hands, because I lose money no matter what business I do…” His eyes were fixed on his benefactor with burning passion. “What I want is not money.”

“Well then,” the benefactor said, taking a leisurely sip of yogurt. Despite the cold winter, he drank the yogurt straight from the refrigerator without a care for the cold, “just like the legendary ‘golden touch,’ what you want isn’t gold, but a finger that can turn everything to gold, right?”

Wan Shi paused for a moment, "A cheat code?" He sighed, "I don't dare to hope for that. Just a little bit of good luck so I can make money is enough."

His benefactor bestowed upon him good fortune, a fortune that guaranteed he would not only not lose money but would actually profit. Conversely, every good deed comes with a price. He was penniless, his home bare, his only precious possession being his beautiful wife. At that moment, his heart nearly leaped out of his throat with nervousness.

However, his benefactor's words puzzled him. "What I want are things in the house that you don't know about," he smiled slightly. "If you don't want them, you can still change your mind within three days."

"What's so difficult about that?" Wan Shifa readily agreed. He excitedly headed home, only to trip over a lottery ticket on the way. He checked it—good heavens! Third prize, worth ten thousand yuan! His benefactor hadn't lied to him; good fortune truly was shining upon him!

He hummed a little tune as he returned home, about to share the good news with his wife. However, his gaze was drawn to her protruding belly. Yang Chunxia was pregnant! He was stunned, as if struck by lightning. This was the unexpected child in his home—his own flesh and blood!

He hesitated for a precious day before finally telling Yang Chunxia the truth the next day. He started by recounting his business losses, adding the lottery-related details—the evidence wasn't sufficient, so Yang Chunxia was skeptical, thinking her husband had made too much money and gone mad with joy. Left with no other choice, he dragged his wife to find their benefactor.

On the way, they were involved in a car accident. Fortunately, no one was injured, just a bit shaken. The driver, seeing Yang Chunxia's prominently protruding belly, turned pale with fright and insisted on paying a large sum of money. Wan Shifa, however, was in no mood for such matters and just wanted to get rid of the driver as quickly as possible, so he waved them away. The driver, probably having never met such honest and easy-going people, pulled out a notebook to write down their names—Wan Shifa later learned that this person was an important city official, at a crucial stage of his political advancement, and could not afford to make any mistakes. It was through this incident that he met Wan Shifa and became friends, subsequently awarding him numerous important construction projects—but that's another story—the driver still insisted on giving him some money and offered to come to him anytime if the pregnant woman had any problems. This was just the first step in his good fortune. Along the way, there were three more strange coincidences: finding three wallets, taking a lost child home, catching a bank robber, and so on. The only thing they had in common was that they all received money. When the Wan family finally found their benefactor, their pockets were bulging with money.

This coincidence forced Yang Chunxia to believe it.

Their benefactor then told them that their good fortune would last until the child in Yang Chunxia's womb turned twenty. When the child turned twenty, he would take him (or her) away, along with their own good fortune. During the twenty years the child grew, they would become increasingly wealthy, and their business would snowball.

"But..." Yang Chunxia asked the man in front of her tremblingly, "What do you want our child for? After all, he is our own flesh and blood, we should at least know where he is..."

“This matter has nothing to do with you,” the benefactor replied coldly. “Since it’s an exchange, what happens to him twenty years from now will have nothing to do with you anymore. If you can’t bear to part with it…” He smiled coldly, “it’s not too late to back out now.”

Was he a human trafficker? Yang Chunxia looked helplessly at her husband, feeling terrified. But… she looked down at her bulging waist, completely surrounded by banknotes—he'd earned so much in just one trip! It made her eyes water!

"Do it!" Wan Shifa suddenly blurted out a single word, perhaps the most decisive decision he had ever made in his life. "Children can be born again, but this is the only chance!"

“Ah Fa…” Yang Chunxia’s eyes welled up with tears, her lips trembling, “I…”

"Chunxia, think it through!" Wan Shifa gripped his wife's slender shoulders and said fervently, "Anyway, we're still young, we can have as many children as we want! If this one is gone, we can just pretend we never had one, right?"

“But…” Yang Chunxia subconsciously touched her belly, where she felt a small life trembling slightly.

"Just consider it an abortion?... A miscarriage?" Suddenly, an idea struck him. "That's right, just consider it a miscarriage! We're raising a stillborn baby from twenty years ago!"

"Then, the contract is established!" The benefactor unfurled his jet-black cloak, enveloping them both like the deepest night. "See you in twelve years!"

Volume 3: The Sheep's Song from Hell Records (Twenty-Four)

In the blink of an eye, twelve years have passed.

Wan Shifa's business was booming. No matter what industry he was in—construction, real estate, food processing, clothing, etc.—he had an astonishingly good luck and was able to make a fortune. Yang Chunxia also lived the elegant life of a wealthy wife. Those friends who once thought she had married the wrong person now flocked to her like flies, vying to compliment her foresight back then.

Living a life of luxury and with a loyal husband, Yang Chunxia seemed to enjoy a carefree and blissful existence in the eyes of others. Only when no one else was around did a faint shadow of sorrow appear between her brows.

Their only daughter, Wanli, is already twelve years old.

Over the past twelve years, Wan Li had grown increasingly lively and adorable, receiving the utmost love from her parents. To Yang Chunxia, she was more than just their daughter; she was a lucky charm who brought them wealth—no, it was the couple who had sold their daughter to secure their good fortune. This daughter, who knew nothing of the world and was sacrificed by her parents, this daughter destined to be lost at twenty, had already spent twelve happy years in their care. Eight years remained, and then that man would take her to an unknown place, a departure that would be forever… Every night, Yang Chunxia counted down the days. She could almost see the countdown clock hanging high above her head, its fluorescent light coldly flickering towards “that day.”

So she poured all her love into Wanli. Not only her, but even her husband tacitly understood. Since Wanli would be taken away as a bargaining chip in ten years anyway, why leave her with an unhappy childhood? They doted on Wanli, never scolding or hitting her no matter what she did wrong, only praising and protecting her. Growing up under blind love, Wanli quickly developed an arrogant and domineering personality. Because she was rich and beautiful, she bullied everyone at school, gathering a group of classmates as her henchmen, running rampant on campus, and even the teachers dared not discipline her. Once, Yang Chunxia accidentally threw her daughter's doll on the ground. Wanli glared at her and, with a loud "smack," slapped her mother across the face. As soon as she struck, she herself was frightened.

However, Yang Chunxia looked up and actually smiled obsequiously at her.

From then on, Wanli no longer respected her parents. She was their darling, surrounded by their guilt-ridden and distorted love, and soon she completely surpassed them. Wan Shifa didn't care about this. "Anyway, she's going to leave at twenty," he comforted his wife. "Let's have another one. This time, we'll raise him properly to be our heir."

Having another child? Easier said than done! For some reason, Yang Chunxia hadn't conceived since Wanli's birth. After countless doses of medicine prescribed by traditional Chinese medicine doctors, all to no avail, they finally went to the hospital for a checkup. The diagnosis was shocking: Yang Chunxia was diagnosed with uterine fibroids! After a long period of treatment, her condition not only failed to improve but worsened, and Yang Chunxia was ultimately taken to the operating room for surgery. Her uterus was removed.

My child! My child! At that moment, she nearly collapsed, for the warm cradle of life in her womb, for the unborn child she and her husband had, for the child that could never be born!

On Wanli's twelfth birthday, the man in black appeared before the couple right on time. The twelve-year-old girl trembled and hid behind her mother, instinctively sensing danger.

The man took a reassuring sip of his cold yogurt and calmly began to speak:

"Do you think I'd fall for such a clumsy trick as switching the sky and the sun?"

The girl wasn't Wan Li; she was just an orphan from the Wan family's welfare home. The couple, desperate to protect their only child, had tried to deceive them by using this naive little girl. Once exposed, they hurriedly knelt before the man, recounting their misfortunes. In those twelve years of wealth and despair, they had become inseparable from Wan Li; their love was blind, infatuated, and boundless—they couldn't bear to see her go even for a second. Moreover, Wan Li was their only hope for a child. "If she's gone..." Yang Chunxia sobbed, leaning on her husband's arm, "I don't want to live anymore!"

The man seemed moved by their parental love, and after negotiation, they reached a supplementary agreement. He would let Wan Li go, but the Wan couple had to hand over other girls as compensation. One girl every two years, and as long as they guaranteed to hand over a twenty-year-old girl, the Wan family's good fortune would continue. "I remind you of something," the man's icy green eyes were frosty, "the ones who signed the contract with me are you. Therefore, only girls who possess the blood of both of you can satisfy my requirements."

But... I'm no longer able to have children... Yang Chunxia was about to interrupt when her husband grabbed her wrist tightly and nodded vigorously.

Wan Shifa's immediate agreement was not without reason. His current business is in biopharmaceuticals, and by chance, he met the head of a renowned reproductive medicine center with one of the nation's leading in-vitro fertilization (IVF) laboratories. From this person, he learned that IVF is essentially artificial insemination followed by embryo transfer. For infertility cases like theirs, where the male has normal sperm and the female has undergone a hysterectomy, pregnancy can be achieved simply by transferring the fertilized egg to a surrogate mother after in-vitro fertilization. In short, it involves using another woman's womb to carry their child.

Compared to cloning, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is a highly advanced technology with a success rate generally reaching 40%, far exceeding that of cloning. For convenience, Wan Shifa secretly established an IVF laboratory using his work connections and recruited surrogate mothers from rural female workers. On that unforgettable day, Wan Shifa and Yang Chunxia donated their sperm and eggs. Doctors placed their sperm and eggs in the same petri dish for fertilization. After three days of in vitro culture, the fertilized eggs developed into eight-cell embryos. After one embryo was transferred, the remaining seven were cryopreserved. Two weeks later, good news arrived: the first surrogate mother had successfully conceived. The Wan couple's good fortune continued; it was a girl.

Ten months later, the first girl was born. According to the agreement, the surrogate took a large sum of money and disappeared. The Wan family named the girl Aoli and sent her to an orphanage.

Two years later, the second embryo was thawed, and ten months later it grew into a girl named Polly. Following the same procedure, she was sent to an orphanage.

Four years later, a problem arose. It took four embryos to successfully conceive, which may indicate that the girl who would later become "Pandora" (Pancel) was destined for a life full of hardship from birth.

Six years later, Don Dolce was born, having consumed the last two embryos.

Ollie, Polly, Pandora, and Dolly—because they all originated from the same fertilized egg, although each is two years apart, they are true twins—the so-called "frozen twins." Because of this, Dolly and Pandora are almost identical in every way except for their age difference.

Starting with Chen Aili, the doctors used a completely new fertilized egg. If the pregnancy was confirmed to be a boy, all embryos developed from that fertilized egg would be disposed of without hesitation—because his benefactor had said he only needed girls. Wan Shifa had already calculated that, at one girl every two years, to ensure Wanli lived to 80 without worrying about food and drink, a total of (80-20-12)/2 = 24 girls were needed. To protect his biological daughter and the business he had built, he and his wife could provide an endless supply of sperm and eggs, sending those dozens of girls with his bloodline to their deaths.

Volume Three: The Sheep's Song (Twenty-Five)

“So you understand now? For the prosperity of this family, and to save Lily’s life,” Yang Chunxia’s eyes flashed with a strange light, “we need you to live, to live to twenty.”

Everything was arranged flawlessly. Four years ago, when Wan Li was thirty-two and Tang Duoli was fourteen, their first daughter, Aoli, was twenty. After receiving birthday gifts from what were supposedly "uncle and aunt"—actually her biological parents—she mysteriously disappeared from the apartment. Upon hearing this news, Wan Shifa and Yang Chunxia breathed a sigh of relief, finally getting a good night's sleep for the first time in over thirty years. Wherever their benefactors took Aoli, the couple had fulfilled their benefactors' conditions, and their business would continue to flourish.

Two years ago it was Polly's turn. This time, Yang Chunxia was secretly more cautious. After Polly disappeared, she immediately sent people to investigate her room, and they found some suspicious bloodstains on the bedroom floor.

She was filled with worry and fear. Perhaps her benefactor's so-called "taking away" meant killing the child? Thankfully, she had pleaded to keep Wanli alive back then; otherwise, her own flesh and blood would surely have perished. It was only thanks to these young girls taking Wanli's place that their family was spared. For them, this sacrificial ritual of exchanging their own child for wealth and safety was something they had to carry out no matter what.

However, good fortune couldn't save Wan Shifa's life. He died suddenly of a heart attack, entrusting his vast fortune to his wife. "A secret known only to the two of us..." These were the only words he managed to utter before his death. Yang Chunxia nodded tearfully, understanding that she bore not only the weight of Wan Shi Group's immense assets but also the life of her beloved daughter. She toiled day and night, worrying herself sick over the company's development, until just half a month ago when she suddenly realized that "Pan Saili's" birthday was approaching, and her benefactor was about to appear to demand offerings.

She then realized that her precious sacrificial offerings had suffered misfortune after misfortune, as if a dark, all-encompassing hand had descended upon them, erasing them one by one. Chen Aili and her younger sisters were all dead, leaving only eighteen-year-old Tang Duoli and twenty-year-old Pan Saili. Without delay, she immediately sent people to find them; not only to find them, but she also repeatedly instructed them to bring them to her side.

She firmly believed that only by their side could they be truly safe. She would raise them both to twenty, and then personally send them to the gallows. The vast foundation of the Wan Shi Group, nourished by the blood of her deceased husband and her two offspring, would become even stronger, more solid, and unbreakable. She and Wan Li were already accustomed to a life of luxury; if they were forced back into poverty due to insufficient supplies, they would surely go mad. Wan Li was uneducated and incompetent; her only skill was extravagant spending and unrestrained pleasure—without ample financial backing, she would surely die of hunger and cold after being banished to society. Yes, Yang Chunxia was perfectly clear in her mind that for the rest of their lives, she and Wan Li had to suck the blood and flesh of those IVF daughters, living like parasitic leeches.

Dolly remembered a dream she'd had before, the last one two years ago, and the one before that four years ago… She dreamt that, starting from her fingers, she was enveloped by a soft, not-so-warm object, leading her into a damper, darker depth… Four years ago it was Ollie, two years ago it was Polly, and along with Sally, they were frozen quadruplets from the same fertilized egg, sharing the same voice and smile, even their spirits and hearts were connected to some extent. Tears silently welled up in Dolly's eyes.

She realized that she was dreaming of their deaths.

"Mom...Mom..." Her mind was blank, and she mechanically murmured the word. She had once thought it was such a sacred word, something that could only be silently called in the heart, never allowed to be uttered rashly from the throat. Mom, Mom! The word she once thought she would have to overcome countless obstacles to utter was now rolling around in her mouth, being chewed over and over again.

All that comes out of chewing is a mouthful of sour residue.

She leaned weakly against the door in front of Yang Chunxia. A single wall separated them, yet it represented a bottomless, insurmountable chasm. "Am I not your daughter too, Mom…?" she murmured, her eyes blankly fixed on the dark corner of the wall.

"Don't call me that so affectionately!" Yang Chunxia suddenly erupted, her voice as high-pitched as a crow's cawing. "I've only ever given birth to one daughter, Wan Li! She's the only one I carried for ten months and raised with such hardship! You!" She snorted through her upturned nostrils, "Your offspring, who knows which filthy woman's belly you crawled out of!"

"If you weren't meant to be sacrifices, you wouldn't even have the right to be born!" Yang Chunxia's fierce face was a far cry from her usual demeanor. Perhaps she was using that fierce expression to mask her inner weakness? "We brought you into this world and let you enjoy twenty years of human happiness. You should be happy!"

"In the next two years, whatever you desire—fine wine and food, luxurious clothes, or even handsome men…" Yang Chunxia smiled meaningfully, "I can satisfy your every whim. You can have whatever you want. This golden palace is your ecstasy," her tone turned icy, "and it will also be the tomb that ends your life."

Dolly shook her head frantically, shaking it once for every word her mother spoke, her head thrashing wildly. "No, no, I don't want anything!" she screamed hysterically, "I don't want to hear anything!"

She slammed her head against the wall, with unwavering determination. Rather than be kept like livestock and die, she'd rather end her own life decisively! As her head struck the wall, she suddenly remembered the white tiger's pitiful eyes:

"You died knowing nothing... You are so happy that it drives me crazy..."

Perhaps he had already vaguely guessed the truth? A cruel truth, a truth obtained at the cost of dozens of lives. With a "thud," her soul flew heavily into the sky.

But it quickly returned to its own body.

“Silly child,” Yang Chunxia said calmly, a self-satisfied smile playing on her lips, “Your precious body is not something you can easily destroy. I had already prepared for this.”

The entire cell, from walls to ceiling, was made of flexible, hard rubber, and even the furnishings were of the same material, leaving her no chance to commit suicide. Dolly banged her head against the floor and walls again and again, the sound of thuds echoing endlessly. She was dizzy from the impact, yet not a single scratch was broken on her delicate skin. If she had known this would happen, she would have preferred to die a quick death at the hands of the White Tiger!

"Kill me! Kill me!" Amidst her heart-wrenching cries, Yang Chunxia slowly moved her feet, walking into the dark corridor. A smile played on her lips, for she was certain that everything was under control.

Volume 3: The Sheep's Song from Hell's Record (Twenty-Six)

She had already devised a plan. Fortunately, Wan Shifa and she had already stockpiled enough sperm and eggs to produce forty or fifty more children without any problem. Pan Saili's corpse might be useful for a while, and Tang Duoli could take her place in two years, but what about after that? After receiving the devastating news from Chen Aili and the others, she had ordered the lab technicians to conduct a new round of in vitro fertilization experiments. The only difficulty was time. She could only beg her benefactor for a few more years, waiting for the new girl twenty years from now. What name should she give her this time? Following the alphabetical order, it's M's turn, right? Let's call her Meili.

She gently shook her head of white hair, fearing that she would be buried long ago in twenty years, and it seemed this secret had to be passed on to Wanli. But she was afraid that telling her daughter the truth would not earn her forgiveness, so she tried to delay that crucial moment as much as possible—although everything was safe now, they had almost pushed her into a fire pit thirty-six years ago!

"Ah Fa, you cunning old man..." She raised her head shakily, muttering to herself, "You dumped the biggest problem on me..."

However, the scene before her left her no room to recount the whole story. She walked into her office and was surprised to find Wan Li sitting in a wheelchair. A smug look shone on her beautiful face, and Yang Chunxia quickly understood the source of that smugness—her will was laid out in front of her.

"Looks like you still have a conscience, Mom!" Wan Li threw off the blanket and propped her one remaining beautiful leg high on the rosewood table. "Those wretched women came running over all that fun, but they didn't get a single penny! Hahaha!"

"I have a question for you..." She lowered her eyes, unable to look her daughter in the eye, "Did you kill them?"

“I’m doing this for my mother!” Wan Li replied sarcastically. “You must hate them too, right? Those bastards born of mistresses swaggering in to claim the inheritance! Your mother must be furious too, right?”

No… Yang Chunxia cried out in her heart.

“I’m being very careful,” Wanli said, her eyes flashing with a greedy and sharp light. “There’s no point in killing them after Mom’s death.”

In Wanli's view, if her sisters died after their mother, the divided inheritance would be inherited by their relatives. This was a fact she absolutely did not want to see—Wanli was unwilling to share even a single penny with others.

No, that's not it... Yang Chunxia cried out in her heart, "You've misunderstood. Those girls are all a protective shield for you..."

“Now that the rain has stopped and the sun has come out, they are all gone, and you, Mom…” Wan Li easily held up the will, the light paper in her hand seemed to have a thousand-pound weight, “The will is in my hands, you can live out your old age in peace.”

Yang Chunxia's heart sank.

“This chair needs a young owner,” Wanli patted the luxurious chair made of Mississippi alligator skin. “Mom, I’ve already arranged a place for you, our Wan family’s luxurious sanatorium—I’ve booked a super VIP suite just for you.”