witchcraft

Chapter 9

That was taught to Feng Qi by one of the cooks at the orphanage's canteen. The cook was very skilled and knew a lot, and it took Feng Qi a week to learn it. But the girl was very clever and learned it in just over an hour.

After walking for a while, Feng Qi realized that he hadn't asked the girl's name, so he pretended to be mature and asked, "Little sister, what's your name?"

The girl thought for a long time before saying, "I don't know, my parents both call me my little sister."

"You have a mom and dad?" Feng Qi became even more jealous of the girl.

"Yes, but I haven't seen them for a long time. I miss my mom and dad..." As she spoke, a light shone in the girl's big, round eyes.

Fearing seeing others cry, Feng Qi immediately picked a foxtail grass from the roadside and teased the girl: "Little sister, does it itch? Does it itch?" A child's sadness cannot last long, and she quickly laughed and dodged: "Brother, it itches so much."

Finally, he smiled.

Feng Qi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the girl's smile, his previously gloomy mood seemed to improve. The two walked hand in hand, and even the usually long journey became enjoyable.

It was nearly evening when the two children arrived at the city's central square. Feng Qi had already finished eating the White Rabbit candy they had been using to stave off hunger. The two sat side by side on the stone steps, their hands supporting their faces, wearily watching the crowds coming and going.

As night fell, Feng Qi suddenly felt that the world was too big and he was too small. He felt like he could never finish walking down the road, and he couldn't find his parents anywhere. He wished he were an adult.

Suddenly, the younger sister stood up abruptly, muttering to herself, and then ran off in a certain direction. Seeing the girl run away, Feng Qi chased after her, calling out, "Sister, what's wrong?"

After chasing for a while, the younger sister stopped on her own, her eyes filled with anxiety and confusion.

Feng Qi walked up to her, bent down, and asked, "Little sister?"

"Mommy and Daddy, I saw Mommy and Daddy... They... they were holding a little baby. I called them, but they didn't answer me... and then they disappeared." As the girl spoke, tears streamed down her face uncontrollably, until finally, her face was covered in sobs. Because she was thin, she wasn't particularly pretty, and her crying made her look even worse. Feng Qi, however, felt a deep empathy for her. He picked up his little sister and gently patted her back like he would a baby. As he patted her, he himself began to cry.

Later, the director found them and gave them a lecture. It turned out that a member of the neighborhood had seen two children wearing orphanage clothes and notified the director. Meanwhile, the orphanage was already in an uproar because the two children were missing. After they were found, Feng Qi was punished by being forbidden from leaving the house for a year.

Because of this adventure, they became the best of friends.

Whenever there was something delicious to eat, Feng Qi always thought of his younger sister. His sister was absolutely Feng Qi's loyal supporter and follower, going wherever he went. They spent a happy period together. Just as Feng Qi had hoped, with a balanced diet and adequate rest, his sister was no longer thin. Her face gained weight and became fairer, and because she smiled so often, she looked even more adorable. She was the prettiest girl in the orphanage. Other children started vying to play games with her, but she only listened to Feng Qi. Feng Qi was satisfied with this; his little vanity was fully satisfied, and he no longer so eagerly longed to go outside.

If that couple hadn't arrived, perhaps Feng Qi and his sister's happy days would have continued.

Feng Qi remembered that it was a weekend, and as usual, he rushed to his younger sister's classroom after school. He saw the man; he was tall and thin, with a thick beard, and wearing sunglasses. His fingers gently brushed across his sister's already round cheeks, and there was a smile on his lips, but that smile made Feng Qi very uncomfortable.

He cautiously approached his sister, who immediately smiled sweetly at him: "Brother!"

The man looked at Feng Qi, frowned, and turned to ask the dean, "Who is this child?"

The dean chuckled and said, "She's my sister's good friend."

Just then, the sound of high heels came from the other end of the corridor, followed by a languid woman's voice: "Honey, are the formalities not finished yet? I'm in a hurry to take my sister to see her new room!"

The man pursed his lips in displeasure and said, "You and the dean go and handle it. I'll stay here and play with my sister for a while."

The woman's smile froze on her face, and she couldn't speak for a long time.

The dean immediately smoothed things over, saying to the woman, "Mrs. Chen, I'm coming right now. Please come with me." With that, he led Mrs. Chen upstairs.

Feng Qi was familiar with this scene. He glared angrily at his younger sister, as if she were a betrayer of their friendship. His sister had never seen Feng Qi angry before. She asked cautiously, "Brother?"

A cold snort came from above.

Feng Qi looked up and glared at the man, who didn't seem to care. He just smiled coldly and said, "Kid, you don't need to be so unhappy. If your sister comes with me, she'll have a bright future, something an orphan like you can never give her."

He couldn't understand why this man, who made no attempt to hide his meanness and coldness, was different from all the adults who came here, who all seemed so kind and compassionate. Even through the sunglasses, the man's gaze towards him was chillingly venomous. He began to worry about why this man had adopted his sister.

"Sister, don't agree to them!"

The younger sister looked back and forth between the two of them blankly, and finally tugged at Feng Qi's sleeve, whispering in his ear, "Brother, he said he would take me to find Mom and Dad, and that I can come back to play with you anytime I want."

How could I have been deceived by such sweet talk!

Feng Qi got angry, shook off his sister's hand, threw down the words, "You will never see me again," and ran away.

It wasn't a threat, but he knew that once his sister left, she would never come back, just like many of his former friends. In a pleasant environment, they would gradually forget the orphanage they had spent their childhood in, and forget their former companions.

After that, they never saw each other again.

^ ...

Later, Feng Qi grew up proudly and lonely in the orphanage, gradually transforming from a spirited young man into the person he is today. The price he paid during that time is something only he and those involved can truly know.

When something went missing from his classmates' drawers, suspicious glances always fell on him first; when he was the only one among all the students who failed the exams to be kept after school to clean the toilets; when his little deskmate complained to the teacher in a sweet voice that he had an unpleasant smell of foot odor and sweat; when he received the tuition fees donated by the whole school from the principal at the school assembly at the beginning of each semester, receiving sympathetic glances from the teachers and students; when he grew older and became the oldest child in the orphanage, the sigh in the director's eyes grew heavier and heavier; when the girl he truly loved, who he thought was the only sunshine in his life, pushed him away in tears; when he was admitted to Zhicheng University, a university that was almost unknown in the whole country, as the top student in the whole school.

He felt that his former self had been worn away little by little by time and reality, leaving behind a Feng Qi that he didn't even recognize.

But even so, he still wanted to succeed. More than anyone else, at any time, he craved success and to be superior to others. He didn't know what else was left besides that.

Feng Qi sat in An Ying's office, opposite the office manager. He pushed up his glasses with a pen, revealing a practiced professional smile: "May I ask, what are your plans for the next five years?" Although it was just an excuse to conduct a special report on An Ying's workplace, Feng Qi had still made thorough preparations.

The office manager was a young woman surnamed Ye, no more than 27 or 28 years old. When Feng Qi called her Director Ye, she quickly waved and said, "Call me Xiao Ye." Feng Qi found it strange that Ran Qilei's wife was working under a young woman.

After the interview, we exchanged a few polite words as usual. Feng Qi said with admiration, "You have such a heavy workload, and only three of you are doing it. It must be very hard work."

Xiao Ye smiled and shook her head, saying, "There's usually someone else here. However, she took half a month of sick leave."

Feng Qi suddenly lowered his voice and said in a tone that only the two of them could hear, "I heard that Ran Qilei's wife works in your office. You're pretty impressive too."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ye paused for a moment, her eyes filled with wariness and indifference. "Eating for the government doesn't matter how powerful I am," she said, standing up and opening the door. "I'm just doing my duty." Her posture clearly indicated she was seeing him off. Feng Qi smiled knowingly. She didn't gossip behind people's backs, and her decisive and shrewd handling of affairs gave her no reason not to be valued.

Without lingering, he handed her his business card, said a few words of thanks for her cooperation, and left the office. Once outside, he turned towards the stairwell, leaned against the wall, lit a cigarette, and put it in his mouth. In buildings with elevators, the stairwell would be a good hiding place. He smiled at the middle-aged woman who had followed him out. She was carrying a large stack of documents, yet she walked towards him.

She said, "Young man, what are you still doing here?"

"I'll just have a smoke and then leave."

"Young man, you should smoke less."

"Yes, eldest sister."

He threw his cigarette butt into the trash can and said to her, "You're carrying so much by yourself, why don't I help you?"

She shook her head and smiled bitterly: "I'm used to it. You know, when a person gets older, without connections or computer skills, all they can do are these odd jobs."

Feng Qi listened patiently to the middle-aged woman's complaints. From these grievances, he learned that An Ying, like her, had been transferred here from the same unit due to organizational restructuring. Both were incompetent with computers and lacked work skills, yet they benefited greatly because of their husbands' connections. Not only were they promoted to chief clerk, but they could also arrive late or leave early without reason, or even skip work altogether. Unlike her, who arrived early every day to clean and worked diligently, she still faced constant harassment from the junior manager.

She said, "Actually, she's quite pitiful. Her eldest daughter had been missing for a long time and was only recently found. Her younger daughter committed suicide. On the day her daughter committed suicide, she seemed to have a premonition, and she was absent-minded all day. Later, she even left work early. Unexpectedly, it was all in vain. So, what's the point of having so much money and power? It's better to have a harmonious family."

Feng Qi interjected, "She left very early that day?"

"Yeah, I left before 4 o'clock."

"Isn't your director in charge?"

"She's just a young girl, and besides, she was promoted by her husband." At the end, the woman seemed to realize that it was inappropriate to chat about family matters with this young man she had just met, so she hastily ended the conversation, grabbed the documents, and left in a hurry.

Feng Qi turned his head to look at the office at the end of the corridor and exhaled.

It was somewhat fruitful.

Cao Xiangui reaped even greater rewards.

Feng Qi looked at the DV video that Cao Xiangui had recorded himself with some surprise.

He showed An Ying's photo to the residents of the area where Ran An Hui committed suicide. Three people recognized the woman in the photo as someone who had been in that area before the incident. One was a fast food restaurant worker, one was a street cleaner, and the other was a limping old man who ran a stall under that building.

"So many people come and go every day, not everyone can remember her, right? Could it be a mistake?" Although Feng Qi was pleasantly surprised by the discovery, he still tried to analyze it rationally.

“An Ying first went to a fast food restaurant to buy a meal. She spent 100 yuan to buy a 23.5 yuan set meal and left in a hurry without even paying the difference. Later, when crossing the pedestrian crossing, she almost ran a red light and was hit by a car, but luckily the street cleaner stopped her. As for the old man who set up the stall, he saw her pale-faced as she followed a little girl upstairs,” Cao Xiangui said unhurriedly.

"Why didn't the police notice these obvious things?" If the police had noticed them earlier, they wouldn't have had to go through so many detours and take such a long detour to find them.

The old man repeated meaningfully, but not in a question, but in a statement: "Yes, why wasn't it discovered?"

Feng Qi thought of the red envelope, Captain Yi's words, and Ran Qilei's location in Zhicheng. He didn't know why he suddenly remembered so many things.

After a moment of silence, he said with some difficulty, "Should this case continue?"

Cao Xiangui also calmed down, but he didn't remain silent for long. He said in a detached tone that Feng Qi had never heard before, "The implications are far-reaching."

This old man, even when he was stern, agitated, arrogant, or aggressive, was never indifferent.

Feng Qi felt that his silence and hesitation were wrong, but he was unwilling to take the risk.

Is it really worth it to fight a losing battle with an egg against a rock, risking his ambition and a bleak future?

Chapter Ten: Tattooing

Chapter Ten

Mo Ran looked at Feng Qi with great interest, and when she saw him frown, she became even more amused.

"Big reporter, you've been very busy lately."

What are you doing here?

"Your speaking skills have dropped." Mo Ran picked up the glossy black dog and slapped its mouth in dissatisfaction: "You really know how to eat. You don't even come to greet your master when he comes."

After guessing that there was a 90% chance that An Ying was the murderer, he became suspicious of Mo Ran's motives for approaching him. But no matter what her motives were, he was unwilling to get involved anymore.

"Protect yourself wisely." He used these four words to refuse Old Master Cao, and he would also use these four words to refuse Ran Moran.

"Xiao Hei, you can take him away." As soon as he said this, Xiao Hei and Mo Ran both looked up at him. He had a strange feeling that Mo Ran, who was wearing a black long-sleeved t-shirt even in the hottest summer, looked so much like Xiao Hei.

Mo Ran held Xiao Hei in her arms, a smile playing on her lips: "You knew?"

"Not all of them."

"I knew it, you're very smart."

"Thank you for the compliment, but my opinion remains unchanged." He opened the door and gestured for him to enter.

She bit her lip, looked at him, and asked, "You knew, and then chose to remain silent?"

Feng Qi nodded.

"Hehe, how interesting." She carried Xiao Hei towards the door, and also towards Feng Qi. Before he could react, she closed the door, casually tossed Xiao Hei aside, and then turned to stare intently into Feng Qi's eyes.

"You—" Feng Qi's words were caught in his throat by Mo Ran's subsequent actions.

With a flick of her wrist, the black t-shirt that completely covered her body fell to the ground in an arc. Then, her black trousers slid down to the floor as well. What should have been a scene of tender intimacy was instead marred by the intricate network of tattoos covering Mo Ran's body. Feng Qi was too terrified to speak. His mouth opened and closed, and finally, even his eyes closed in agony.

But she wouldn't let him off the hook because of that.

Mo Ran walked calmly up to him, took his hand, and placed it on her abdomen. She said gently, "Open your eyes and look at me carefully."

Feng Qi opened his eyes, and what he saw was her smile, a smile tinged with hatred.

She said, "Look closely, this is me, the most authentic Ran Moran." She led his hand, gently caressing every inch of her skin. Her skin was broken, tattooed with Chinese characters. Due to the age of the wounds, many had become fused with the flesh and blood. Each character was elegant and graceful, etched on the girl's pale skin, presenting a beauty tinged with blood. It was a poem, "Chang Xiang Si" (Longing for Each Other).

His hands were trembling.

He tried to close his eyes and escape, but Mo Ran held him tightly.

She said, "You need to look at me carefully. Why is it that I recognized you at a glance, but you never recognized me?"