Red satin

Chapter 19

Part Five of "Red Satin"

Chapter Twenty: The Source of the Curse (1)

The atmosphere quickly became oppressive. With the appearance and disappearance of Grandpa Ke Liang, everyone's mood sank to the bottom. No one wanted to believe that the cute little fish was not human.

Lu Ziming said, "Whenever I see your grandfather, nothing good ever comes of it."

Ke Liang was unconvinced, and it looked like they were about to start another argument. Just then, a rustling sound came from the other end of the alley. Everyone looked up and saw the old man in black slowly walking towards them.

This time, he didn't disappear; instead, he walked over.

Everyone looked him over carefully. The old man didn't look very old; he had lost all his teeth, his skin was wrinkled, and his face was full of sorrow. It turned out he was an old woman.

She walked over, stopped, faced the four people, looked them over for a long time, and then said, "You really came." Then she sat on a stone bench under a big tree in the center of the village, looked into the distance, and sighed softly, "In the past, this village would be full of people coming to cool off at this time of year, but now there's not a single one left."

Ke Liang rushed up and asked, "Grandma, are you from this village?"

"Yes! But the people in the village never acknowledge me."

"Why?" Shishi was also drawn in. Everyone's attention was focused on the old man.

The old man began to tell the story of the village.

"This village is called Stone Village. It is very remote, but the people here all have a skill: dyeing cloth. So the people in the village live a very prosperous life."

“When I was born, I was considered an omen of bad luck. In our Miao family, if a child is born laughing instead of crying, then that child is considered unlucky. We are followers of the shamanism, and we will become members of the shamanism in the future.”

Qin Jin started to chime in: "What's a witch?"

"The witch is our guardian spirit. Legend has it that her mother was human and her father was a snake, so she is half-human and half-snake, which also means that her nature is half-human and half-demon. She protects us and also requires us to offer our souls. She can manipulate us or help us. I was chosen by the witch to be a follower from birth, but my parents did not want me to become a witch's disciple. They insisted on keeping me in the village and did not send me up the mountain. Later, I got married in the village, and it was not until I had my grandson Xiaoyu that the curse placed on our family by the witch began to manifest."

"Are you Little Fish's grandma?"

"Yes! It's because my parents offended the witch and refused to send me to become a believer, so the witch took revenge on Little Fish."

"Is Xiaoyu also a sorcerer?" Shishi asked curiously.

"No, Little Fish is not a sorcerer, he is a demon."

"A demon? Impossible! Little Fish is so kind, how could she be a demon?" Everyone had an incredulous expression on their faces.

"Look how big the little fish is!" the little fish's grandmother asked softly.

“Five or six years old! Very young,” Ke Liang replied.

“He is much older than that, but he never grew up. And he is not blind, but I kept him from opening his eyes to protect him, so he could not see the tragedy of this village.”

Qin Jin asked curiously, "What exactly happened to this village?"

"Shortly after Xiaoyu was born, the richest man in the village took a concubine. The whole village went out drinking, and that very night, everyone in the village died. It was Kabeng who killed them."

"Kabong, you know about Kabong too?"

“Because I was an incarnation of a sorcerer, I escaped that calamity that day while holding Xiaoyu. But everyone in the village had been possessed by Kabeng. I knew this was my retribution, so I became a sorcerer so that I could also protect Xiaoyu. Because Xiaoyu grew up in this kind of yin energy, his body has never grown big.”

Why didn't you grab the little fish and run away?

“I don’t have the strength to leave this forest. Besides, Xiaoyu can’t leave this place either. He’s not human. If he leaves the village, he might die. I can only stay here and watch over him.”

"Then why do Little Fish's parents appear every night?"

"This was summoned by Xiaoyu's spiritual power. Xiaoyu has a very strong power that can subdue the female ghost possessing the villagers' corpses. He has never known that his parents are dead. His latent spiritual power can summon those corpses to accompany him."

Incredulous expressions appeared on everyone's faces. "You mean, all the corpses in the village were summoned by the little fish?"

"Yes, but he knows nothing. He is still a child and still thinks he is blind."

"Then how did you know we were coming?"

"Kabeng appeared in our village and has already killed everyone in the village, but Kabeng's power just won't stop. Little Fish can suppress Kabeng, but for some reason, Little Fish still managed to send Kabeng away. Maybe Kabeng wanted to leave on its own."

"So that's how I met you, and that's why I took that damned piece of cloth?" Shishi said through gritted teeth. She had always thought that all the misfortunes were caused by herself, but now it seemed that she was just an extremely unlucky person chosen by Kabeng.

Grandma Xiaoyu looked at her sympathetically: "Although I don't know why Kabeng keeps going, if there was some deep-seated hatred, everyone in our village would be dead and the revenge would be taken. I ask myself, Xiaoyu and I have never offended anyone, and Xiaoyu and I have never suffered any harm from Kabeng in all these years. I think it's because Kabeng's mission is not yet complete, it hasn't finished its curse, so it is in great pain, screaming every night, forcing Xiaoyu to send it away."

Qin Jin shouted, "What exactly is going on? Could it be that one of us is connected to Kabeng?"

"That's very likely the reason why Kabun summoned you and started the massacre."

Ke Liang retorted, unconvinced, "What does this have to do with us? We weren't even born when Kabeng appeared."

Grandma gently patted his shoulder: "Child, Kabun is the most terrible curse in the world. It can not only hunt down all the relatives and friends of the cursed person, but also the cursed person's next life. If the cursed person has a descendant, even after ten thousand years, Kabun will still come back to carry out its mission. If the cursed person's soul is reborn and has a next life, Kabun will continue to haunt them for eternity."

Lu Ziming said angrily, "There are such evil curses in the world. It's not enough to harm someone's life; it even extends to their next life."

“Yes, there must be some unforgivable deep-seated hatred that would cause it to turn out this way,” Qin Jin said.

“This hatred and resentment run very deep.” Grandma pointed to the courtyard and said, “This story comes from the courtyard. Do you want to hear it?”

Everyone's face clearly said, "Of course I'll listen."

Then, a purple bubble, just like the one Grandpa Ke Liang used to have, rose from Grandma's hand. Grandma's voice came from afar, unclear, saying, "This is a dream of memories I've preserved. You'll understand when you see it."

Having learned from Grandpa Ke Liang's experience, everyone knew there was another good show to watch, and they all forgot they were in danger, holding hands and standing in front of the large mirror that had risen up in front of them.

A sweet, clear voice called out, "Doggy, come here and help me pick that flower."

The voice belonged to a spoiled seven or eight-year-old girl, dressed in very fancy clothes, standing on the edge of a cliff, pointing to a blooming red flower on the cliff edge, and directing a group of ragged children around her.

The boy named Gouzi seemed both afraid and disgusted with the girl, but he still obediently picked the cloth because the girl said, "Gouzi, if you don't pick it for me, I'll tell my dad not to accept any of the cloth your family dyes."

The boy struggled to the edge of the cliff, but because the rocks were slippery after the rain, he lost his balance and fell.

The children were stunned, and everyone scattered. The girl was also terrified, but she quickly ran away as well.

The children dared not tell the adults. The dog at the bottom of the cliff hadn't died, but had broken both legs and was struggling in pain, on the verge of death, when a pair of straw sandals appeared before him. The dog had been rescued by an old man gathering medicinal herbs. However, when he recovered and returned home, he found his parents were gone. It turned out that after the dog fell down the mountain, his father went up to look for him in the middle of the night, rolled into the valley, and died. His mother, unable to bear the blow, soon fell ill and died of grief.

The dog's eyes were red as it looked at its dilapidated home, then at the large courtyard, and a spark of revenge ignited in its eyes.

From then on, the dog disappeared from this stone village.

Ten years passed in the blink of an eye. A wealthy merchant who collected medicinal herbs came to Stone Village. He was handsome and talented. His arrival caused a great stir in Stone Village. The villagers had been looking for tree roots on the mountain to dye cloth, and then sending the cloth to the Yu family at the entrance of the village. However, the Yu family exploited the villagers very much, and everyone had long been angry.

The arrival of this young man named Chen Wen gave all the villagers a chance to make a living again. For a while, no one went to dye cloth anymore; instead, they all went to find herbs for the young man.

The area around Stone Village is rich in medicinal herbs, which are inexhaustible. Chen Wen simply moved into an old, deserted house in the village and started a long-term purchasing business.

This move alarmed Yu Fu, the eldest patriarch of the Yu family. Without the villagers' donation of cloth, even the largest family business would be difficult to sustain.

To drive away this outsider, he sent his servants to assassinate Chen Wen at night, but Chen Wen was not only highly skilled in martial arts but also incredibly clever. He not only fought off the assassins but also, in retaliation, broke into the Yu family compound and rescued the eldest daughter, Yu Jinsha.

What a night it was! The wind blew against the handsome young man as he, like a wild beast, stormed into the room of the eldest daughter of the Yu family and carried away the beautiful woman.

Miss Yu was tied to a chair, but Chen Wen did not molest her. Instead, he looked at her with a half-smile.

All love can ignite here. Miss Yu, who had been domineering her whole life, suddenly encountered a stronger opponent than herself, and this opponent didn't even take her seriously. That different kind of emotion tormented her.

During the kidnapping, the two remained silent. Chen Wen dealt with Yu Dafu while quietly doing his own thing.

But when he released the man that day, Chen Wen gave the woman who hated him to the core a knife, and then whispered in her ear, "Either you kill me, or you marry me."

Miss Yu gritted her teeth, and the knife half-pierced Chen Wen's chest.

"Why didn't you dodge?" Miss Yu was stunned.

"Why should I hide? If you refuse to marry me, I'd rather be dead." Chen Wen's face still held that ambiguous smile.

As Chen Wen fell, his eyes gleamed with an absolute sense of certainty.

Sure enough, Miss Yu's heart was completely devoted to him. Once he recovered from his injuries, she insisted on marrying him regardless of the consequences. Master Yu thought to himself, "Wouldn't this be a perfect alliance?" He only had one daughter, and bringing this promising man into the family would be a good thing. Thus, the marriage was quickly arranged, and Chen Wen and Yu Jinsha became a match made in heaven.

Once Yu Jinsha's heart was won over, it belonged entirely to that man. The two were newlyweds and went on a trip to the mountains together.

As the two passed a cliff, Yu Jinsha's heart began to pound. Many years ago, she had acted recklessly, causing her family to be destroyed. But now, there was a wildflower blooming on the edge of the cliff.

It bloomed so beautifully and tragically, just like it did ten years ago.

Yu Jinsha wanted to leave quickly, but Chen Wen jumped off the cliff to pick the flower, saying he wanted to give it to her. Jinsha shouted "No!", but Chen Wen slowly turned around and said, "Didn't you say that if I didn't pick it for you, you wouldn't let your father accept my family's cloth?"

Jinsha's fear reached its peak, and she didn't even know to run.

"Do you think I would fall in love with you? You ugly freak, who would like you? You're willful and annoying. You killed my parents, why wasn't it you who died?"

It turns out that Chen Wen was the dog from many years ago.

"But you gave me a knife."

"Yes, if I hadn't used this self-inflicted injury trick, how could I have won your heart, and how could I have tormented you to the point of such pain?"

Jinsha trembled all over: "It was all a lie. Don't you like me at all?"

"Haha, you'd better ask the King of Hell about that."

Chen Wen reached out his hand, offering the wildflowers ten years late, after so many people had died. Jin Sha, in a state of complete unconsciousness, was pushed off a cliff, with only Chen Wen's sharp and terrifying laughter echoing through the mountains.

He returned home and claimed that Jinsha had accidentally fallen off a cliff, which Master Yu believed. However, Jinsha's body could never be found.

Not long after, Master Yu fell ill and passed away, leaving his fortune to Chen Wen. Chen Wen became the richest man in the village, collecting both cloth and herbs, completely replacing Master Yu's position.

Gradually, members of the Yu family either left the village inexplicably or died from some strange illness. Within ten years, not a single member of the Yu family remained.

But Chen Wen remained single. Everyone said he was a man of deep feelings, remaining single for the sake of the eldest daughter of the Yu family. Only Chen Wen himself knew that he could never forget the pitiful and helpless look in Jin Sha's eyes before she fell off the cliff.

But that look was defused by a famous courtesan from a brothel.

The prostitute was the most famous courtesan in the city. Chen Wen was delivering herbs to the city when he passed by the brothel and saw a beautiful woman combing her hair in the sunset. Her black hair, shimmering in the afterglow of the sunset, lingered in Chen Wen's dreams. He began to frequent that brothel, and eventually redeemed the prostitute, deciding to marry her.

The news of Chen Wen's upcoming marriage spread quickly, eventually reaching the ears of an ordinary herb-gathering woman.

The woman was old and ugly. She stood at the end of the path, watching two people walking along it, Chen Wen and the prostitute. Every word of their flirting reached her ears, and she gripped the shovel in her hand tighter and tighter.

Yes, she was Yu Jinsha back then. She was incredibly lucky; when she fell off the cliff, her will to survive made her grab onto a green vine, and she was not hurt at all. But when she reached the bottom of the cliff, she could no longer face her own love and hate.

She hated him, but she loved him even more.

She couldn't face her past mistakes, nor could she face Chen Wen's present mistakes, but all of that was meaningless now. She knew that if she reappeared in Stone Village, Chen Wen, who had already seized power there, would kill her.

She had no choice but to run away. Fortunately, she met a kind Miao family who took her in. She learned to gather herbs, but then she discovered that she was pregnant with Chen Wen's child.

Jinsha gritted her teeth and gave birth to the child. She always held onto her love for Chen Wen in her heart. That love tormented her, and she aged too quickly, so no one recognized her anymore.

She was gathering herbs with her child, a girl who was very obedient and cute. The child grew up slowly, while Chen Wen remained single. Jinsha knew that her father's death was related to Chen Wen, but she dared not think about it too deeply. When she saw Chen Wen finally fall in love with someone else, that hatred burst forth from the bottom of her heart.

She was completely consumed by hatred. The only reason she survived was to find out if Chen Wen had ever loved her, but now the answer was cruel: she had been completely forgotten.