witchcraft

Chapter 14

“No, thinking of Zilu isn’t sad. I also hope to never forget Zilu. Sometimes, when I look at Zijin, I wonder if Zilu would be just like that, lively and cheerful. Maybe even more mischievous than Zijin.” As she said this, Song’s mother showed a longing expression, but then her eyes dimmed again.

"It's a pity that he passed away so young, before he could enjoy the pleasures of life."

Although Feng Qi found it strange that Song's mother started her account of Han Jiaxi's death by mentioning her other son, he patiently listened to her carefully. His intuition told him that Song's mother's words might hold the key to solving the mystery.

"Zilu, Zijin, and Jiaxi grew up together. Zijin was very quiet as a child, unlike how she is now. Zilu, on the other hand, was a little monkey back then, always running around with Jiaxi. Zijin and Jiaxi didn't get along well when they were young. Before Jiaxi's family moved into our yard, Zijin's playmate was Zilu, and Zilu's playmate was Zijin. But after Jiaxi came, Zilu preferred to play with her. Perhaps because of this, Zijin always had a sullen face and was unhappy whenever Jiaxi came to our house. This situation didn't change until they went to junior high school. But Zilu and Jiaxi had a very good relationship. They were always together, playing basketball and hiking together." Recalling her son's childhood, Song's mother smiled.

“Back then, I often joked with Jiaxi’s parents, saying that I should just marry Jiaxi into my family, since they had such a good relationship. I never expected that not long after, that incident would happen…” Mrs. Song paused, her eyes filled with pain. “I was at work when I received a call from the hospital informing me that something had happened. When I arrived, Zilu was already gone, and Zijin was unconscious. Jiaxi was soaking wet, pale, and too frightened to speak. I only learned the whole story from the witnesses…”

Feng Qi tentatively asked, "Did they go swimming in the river without permission?"

With red eyes and tears welling up, Song's mother nodded and said, "Jiaxi wanted to swim, so Zijin suggested swimming in the river. As the saying goes, the Wujiang River drowns those who can swim, while the Yangtze River drowns those who can't. When they reached the middle of the Wujiang River, Zijin's foot got tangled in the weeds at the bottom of the river. Zilu managed to tear the weeds off Zijin, but he himself sank because he was too weak."

"Did Zilu die saving Zijin?"

"Yes, to exchange one son's life for another's, I can only believe that this is fate. It was destined that I would only have one son. After Zijin woke up and learned of Zilu's death, he made a scene for a long time. They grew up together and were very close. The grief of suddenly losing his twin brother is not something a child can bear. He forgot that Zilu drowned while saving him and blamed everything on Jiaxi. If she hadn't wanted to swim, this wouldn't have happened to Zilu."

Feng Qi pulled out a tissue from the coffee table, handed it to Song's mother, and then gently patted her back: "Aunt Song, don't be too sad."

“I’m fine… it’s just that my heart aches whenever I think of Zilu… Since then, those two kids have become completely different people. Jiaxi never offered much explanation for Zijin’s accusations, but silently stayed by Zijin’s side. As for Zijin, the once quiet child, he became lively and cheerful after the accident. It was as if he wanted to live the life his brother never had. He became as talkative as Zilu, loved playing basketball, and often laughed unrestrainedly, but he never mentioned his brother in front of us. Seeing him like that, we, as his parents, felt both heartbroken and uneasy. Fortunately, Jiaxi has always been by his side.”

"Han Jiaxi has changed a lot too, hasn't she?"

"We always feel guilty towards Jiaxi. She used to be a somewhat careless but cheerful girl, but after that, she became serious and unsmiling. It's like she grew up overnight. She changed her casualness, carelessness, and lack of planning, and became someone who doesn't allow mistakes or deviations to occur. She was so good to Zijin that we couldn't stand it. But Zijin was hot and cold towards her. When she was good, she was always by her side, but when she was bad, she wouldn't listen to anyone's advice."

Feng Qi recalled Han Jiaxi and Song Zijin from high school, and the answer to their strange way of getting along was revealed by Song's mother's words. It turned out that there was such a bond between them.

"Actually, no matter what, as long as they are willing, we shouldn't interfere too much. After Jiaxi's parents passed away, I always treated Jiaxi as my own daughter. I thought Zijin and Jiaxi would get together, at least half a year ago, everything was fine."

"Jiaxi only passed away half a year ago?" Feng Qi was somewhat surprised. Judging from Song's mother's tone, Song Zijin should have valued Han Jiaxi very much, and might even have followed her in death. So how could she have recovered so quickly in just half a year, so normal that he didn't notice anything unusual, and even got married to another woman in a flash?

Chapter Five: The Dark Well

Chapter Five: The Dark Well

It was pitch black all around.

There was not a single ray of light. Only endless darkness, nothing but darkness.

She tried to shout, but only an echo went off; no one answered. Her waist-deep body rippled the water as she stumbled along. What she touched was slippery, greasy moss. No matter how hard she tried to climb, it was all in vain.

She finally understood that she had been thrown into a well.

Her voice was hoarse from shouting, and her limbs were completely exhausted. She closed her useless eyes and leaned against the well wall to rest. The continuous struggle had left her utterly weary. If only she hadn't come to this appointment, at least she wouldn't have suffered such a disaster. But if she didn't come and find out the truth, she wouldn't be able to accept it. Humans are truly contradictory creatures.

She laughed self-deprecatingly, raised her hand from the murky water, fiercely wiped away the tears on her cheeks, gritted her teeth, stood up again, and shouted for help as she climbed upwards.

When she awoke, she saw faint lights. It was sunlight streaming down from above; daytime had arrived. With the help of this dim light, she could finally observe her surroundings more closely. Her newly ignited hope was extinguished.

The well, nearly 10 meters deep, was covered in moss due to its age. The original inlet had long been blocked, leaving only murky, filthy water. Suddenly, she laughed hysterically, looking up and shouting, "Am I destined to die in this water? Why! I'll live, no matter what!"

When his mouth was dry, he lowered his head and drank the well water.

When they got hungry, they would use their fingernails to pick off the moss from the well wall and stuff it into their mouths.

One day… two days… three days… four days… Eventually, she stopped counting altogether. Her will to survive grew stronger, but her body grew weaker and weaker. Looking up at the cold sunlight, she hugged her arms tightly, her chapped lips unable to utter a sound, only unconsciously repeating a name.

Zilu...

I woke up from a nightmare to find myself facing Song Zijin's concerned eyes.

“I had a nightmare,” she said calmly. He nodded, took a towel to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead, and said, “I have to go.” She grabbed his sleeve, but her eyes never wavered: “We’re already married.”

Song Zijin, who had already gotten up to leave, sat down in front of her upon hearing this, put his hand on her shoulder, and said firmly, word by word, "Jiaxi, there are still four days. If we can get through these four days, we can be together forever."

She gazed at his face for a long time, then suddenly gave him a seductive smile: "I hope your absurd wish comes true."

The cold words made Song Zijin's cheek twitch slightly, and his eyes showed a painful struggle, but he immediately regained his usual cheerful demeanor and quickly placed a kiss on her forehead: "Be good, I'm leaving."

Seeing his expression, she sighed deeply and finally let go. She just wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, and didn't care about the future.

...

Han Jiaxi was referred to as "Han Mou" in the news.

A woman surnamed Han was robbed while out at night, and the perpetrators imprisoned her in a dry well in a dilapidated mountain villa in the suburbs. When the police found her, she had been dead for several days, and her death was gruesome... According to the forensic examination, she had survived in the dry well for nearly a week.

This news happened when Feng Qi left Zhicheng, and it made the headlines in the legal section.

After leaving the Song family, Feng Qi went to the newspaper office to find Wang Qingyun, who had mentored him.

Wang Qingyun remained the same, listless and lethargic. However, his expression upon seeing Feng Qi was intriguing—a mixture of nostalgia, wistfulness, and jealousy. Feng Qi, being a perceptive person, naturally noticed this and felt a deep sense of helplessness. In a sense, the fame and opportunities he had gained were obtained at the cost of Mo Ran. Without Mo Ran, he might still be an unknown reporter following behind Wang Qingyun.

After exchanging pleasantries, Feng Qi asked Wang Qingyun if anything sensational had happened in Zhicheng after he left. The conversation subtly veered towards Han Jiaxi's case. Coincidentally, it was Wang Qingyun who had interviewed her on that occasion.

"I haven't seen such a disgusting corpse in a long time." Wang Qingyun took a deep drag on his cigarette and chuckled coldly. "People these days are really something. They robbed her, but that woman was unlucky enough to run into a pervert. They threw her into a well and abandoned her. I don't know how that woman survived. A whole week! No food, no water, she lived and died entirely in the well. I bet if she hadn't starved to death, she'd be a lunatic if they rescued her!"

Feng Qi gasped. Song's mother's account was brief. But from Wang Qingyun's description, one could imagine the torment Han Jiaxi had suffered before her death. The image of that cold, aloof figure flashed through his mind. His impression of Han Jiaxi was still from a few years ago, when she was a student.

She was never one to attract attention; she wasn't particularly beautiful, nor did she have an outgoing personality. If she hadn't followed Song Zijin like a shadow, probably no one would have noticed her. But in Song's mother's description, she had another side—vivid and lively.

"Ugh! Why bring up such unlucky things? Come on, let's go out for a drink with Master!" Wang Qingyun put his arm around Feng Qi's shoulder and suggested enthusiastically.

Feng Qi snapped out of his reverie, remembering he still had to visit Cao Xiangui that evening, and was about to decline. Before he could even speak, Wang Qingyun angrily shouted, "You dare refuse me! Just because you're a reporter for a major provincial newspaper doesn't mean you look down on your master! A teacher for a day is a father for life! Don't you understand?" Feng Qi reluctantly agreed, a surge of resentment rising within him. Wang Qingyun was still the same as ever, unchanged. Even his habit of forcing people hadn't changed in the slightest.

They ate at a roadside food stall outside the newspaper office. The two chatted and ate until midnight before they knew it. It wasn't until Feng Qi reminded them that it was getting late that Wang Qingyun shakily stood up.

“Teacher Wang, aren’t you usually very attentive to your family? Why haven’t you thought about going home yet, even though it’s so late?” Feng Qi helped him up and laboriously lifted him into a taxi. After thinking for a moment, she followed him in.

"Family? Hmph... What family do I have? One of them has found someone better and wants a divorce. The other is always messing around with his classmates from school. Family? Where are my family members? Tell me, and I'll go look for them and see if I can find them!" Wang Qingyun's words were incoherent, and his intermittent complaints told Feng Qi what had happened to him recently.

Everyone has their own troubles.

Feng Qi looked up at the gentle moon through the taxi window, a sense of loss creeping into his heart. He hadn't worried about himself in a long time. Since Mo Ran's death, he had been like a deflated balloon, devoid of any fighting spirit. Whether this change was good or bad, even he himself couldn't say.

Wang Qingyun, leaning back in his seat, sang an old song indistinctly. Feng Qi turned his head and sighed at Wang Qingyun. A failed career, a broken family—such a life could be considered a failure. But what exactly is success? Is it fame and fortune? A happy family?

After dropping Wang Qingyun off, it was already 2 a.m. when I returned to the small hotel.

As soon as the door opened, Xiao Hei pounced on him, meowing excitedly. In the darkness, another pair of green eyes quietly gazed at him. Feng Qi smiled and said softly, "I'm back, Feixue." The green eyes slowly approached, finally stopping at his feet. He crouched down and gently stroked its head with his fingers: "Feixue, you've been waiting impatiently, haven't you? Once this is over, we'll leave this place forever."

Feixue sensibly raised her head and gently rubbed against his palm. Xiaohei nestled in his arms, innocently looking back and forth between him and Feixue.

"Fortunately, I still have you all." The barely audible voice slowly echoed in the silent night.

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Early in the morning, Zhou Lihua got up as usual to prepare breakfast for her family. For her daughter, she prepared her favorite fried dough sticks and soy milk. Thinking about her daughter's recent changes, she couldn't help but sigh. It was all Song Zijin's fault! If he hadn't run away from the wedding, her daughter wouldn't have changed so drastically. Her once clingy and cheerful daughter had become gloomy; any mother would feel terrible. And yet, her daughter only cared about him, and was willing to die for him. Otherwise, with Xiaoyun's qualities, what kind of man couldn't she find? Thinking of this, Zhou Lihua felt increasingly resentful.

After setting the table, she went to her daughter's room, but her hand froze in mid-air as she was about to knock. The closed door was an eyesore. Xiaoyun, though a little temperamental before, was always a well-behaved daughter at home. Her bedroom door was rarely closed. But lately, her door had been constantly shut.

Zhou Lihua frowned and opened the door.

The scene that came into view was Gu Yun changing clothes.

"Mom! You came in without knocking!" Gu Yun quickly pulled down her clothes to cover herself. But Zhou Lihua still noticed something amiss. When did her daughter get a scar on her chest? It looked recent, and the color was still fresh.

Before she could even ask, Gu Yun had already pushed her out of the room.

Her unusual behavior and Gu Yun's panicked expression actually calmed her down. What was that scar? Why didn't she know her daughter had been in an accident?

A moment later, Gu Yun changed her clothes and came out of the room. Seeing the fried dough sticks and soy milk on the table, she frowned imperceptibly, took a few sips of soy milk, and got up to leave.

"Daughter, where are you going?"

Gu Yun gave her a sweet smile: "I'm going out for a walk to clear my head." Her honeymoon wasn't over yet, so she had plenty of time to rest.

"Te back soon..." Zhou Lihua said a few words of advice before turning and going into the kitchen to busy herself. When Gu Yun walked out the door, her face darkened.

My daughter never talks about relaxing; she always refers to it as taking a walk. Is that person still my daughter?

A few days ago, she went to Uncle Cao to investigate, but there were no results. She just wanted to know where her daughter had gone. That imposter… The thought that the person living with her these past few days might not be her daughter made her grit her teeth in anger.

At 2 a.m. that night, Zhou Lihua's phone alarm went off precisely on time. She deliberately set the alarm for midnight, wanting to confirm whether the person was indeed her daughter.

Carefully dressed and carrying a small flashlight, she tried to make as little noise as possible as she walked to Gu Yun's room. In the quiet night, only the sound of her heartbeat could be heard, each beat stronger than the last. She hesitated for a long time on the doorknob before finally turning the doorknob. The door wasn't locked, and as soon as she opened it, she smelled a dampness.

This sensation struck her as odd. She lived on the 17th floor, where there were no ponds or streams of water, and with the doors and windows tightly shut, how could she smell dampness?

Gu Yun lay on the bed, her eyelids blinking incessantly, sweat beading on her forehead, as if she were having a nightmare. By the moonlight, Zhou Lihua saw her daughter's appearance, tormented by a nightmare, and felt a pang of heartache. She wanted to wipe her sweat with a tissue, but her hand stopped abruptly.

Throwing away the tissue, Zhou Lihua gently lifted the thin blanket covering her daughter, unbuttoning her pajamas button by button. Her hands trembled involuntarily with nervousness. Reaching her chest, she saw a dark red mark and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. It was her daughter's birthmark; she wouldn't mistake her for someone else—she was still her daughter.

Just as she was about to button up her daughter's pajamas, her gaze fell on the scar she had inadvertently seen that morning, and she was startled.

To be precise, it was a wound, right in the chest. It seemed to have undergone simple medical treatment, but the recovery was unsatisfactory. The whitish flesh was forcibly stitched together with fine thread. However, some rotting flesh could still be seen in the gaps. Although Zhou Lihua was a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, she could tell that the wound was definitely not fresh; it had been there for at least several days.

She opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything. Then she suddenly looked at Gu Yun's face as she slept.

Gu Yun's clear eyes gazed at her, but there was a coldness in them that was unfamiliar to her. She said, "Mom, what are you doing here?"

"Xiaoyun... what happened to your wound?" Zhou Lihua grabbed her hands and asked anxiously, "Why didn't you go to the hospital for a proper check-up?"

Gu Yun broke free from her and said calmly, "Mom, I also have privacy. Can you please not come to my room so late and ask me these strange questions?"

"Your wound!" Zhou Lihua pointed to Gu Yun's chest, but was rendered speechless by the sight before her. In the moonlight, there was no trace of a wound on Gu Yun's smooth chest. Zhou Lihua stared at Gu Yun as if she were a monster, screaming, "Who are you? You're not my daughter! Who are you?"

Gu Yun frowned slightly: "Mom, what's wrong with you in the middle of the night?"

Zhou Lihua rushed to the door, pressed the switch, and the room instantly lit up. She glared angrily at Gu Yun, who was sitting on the bed, and snapped, "I don't care who you are, give me back my daughter!"

The noise woke everyone else in the house. Gu Yun's father, wearing a coat, went to the door and saw the mother and daughter at each other's throats. He frowned and said, "In the middle of the night, can't you let people sleep?" Then he turned to Zhou Lihua and asked, "What's going on?"

"I don't know what happened. When I woke up, I saw my mother sitting by the bed, and... and she took off my clothes, and then she said some strange things." After Gu Yun finished speaking, she showed a somewhat frightened expression and asked her father, "Is Mom alright?"

"Husband, listen to me! I see a deep, unhealed wound in her heart; it's rotting. She's not our daughter! We can't let her stay in this house any longer." Zhou Lihua gripped her husband's hand tightly. Everything that had just happened felt like a nightmare, but she was certain she wasn't seeing things; the person in front of her wasn't her daughter at all!

Gu Dazhao glanced at his daughter's smooth chest, then looked at his wife's hysterical state, feeling a surge of disgust. "Alright, stop it, go to sleep!" His daughter's elopement was already embarrassing enough, and now his wife was acting like this too. He sighed, put his arm around his wife's shoulder, and walked out the door, turning off the light as he did so. He said to his daughter, "Xiaoyun, you should rest. Your mother is probably under too much pressure."

Zhou Lihua felt simmering with anger, unable to vent it. No matter what she said, her husband just thought she was crazy. She glared fiercely at Gu Yun on the bed, and finally returned to her room.

Gu Yun sat on the bed, completely ignoring her mother's grumbling, and calmly gazed at the full moon in the sky.

Chapter Six: The Cliff

If possible, Feng Qi would rather not go to the remote cave again. The journey involved constant vehicle changes and bumpy mountain roads. The short distance took up most of the day.

Arriving at the house where he had previously found Song Zijin, he didn't rush inside, but instead wandered around. The surrounding area was a desolate wasteland, littered with the ruins of demolished buildings. Feng Qi carefully observed the scene, taking photos as he went. Since learning of Han Jiaxi's death, coupled with the strange behavior of Song Zijin and Gu Yun, and now the mysterious Yu Ye involved, he felt things were becoming increasingly complicated. He believed all the strangeness began with Song Zijin's disappearance. Therefore, he decided to come to the place where he had found Song Zijin to investigate.

After searching for a while without any results, Feng Qi turned his gaze back to the main house. The atmosphere inside was indeed quite unsettling. He sighed and pushed open the dilapidated wooden door.

The house was exactly the same as when he left last time, even the location of the trash was the same. After checking the first floor and finding nothing unusual, Feng Qi went up the wooden stairs to the second floor. The smell of dust and rotting wood mingled in the air. He covered his nose and searched the small room thoroughly. He even searched the corners he had overlooked last time and under the sofa.

"Could I have been wrong?" Just as he turned to leave in disappointment, he suddenly stopped, his gaze fixed on the second-floor window shrouded by heavy curtains. The deep purple curtains were unusually thick, barely allowing sunlight to penetrate. Feng Qi approached the window, reaching out to lift a corner of the curtain. The cotton curtain had a plain pattern and a dull color, but its texture was completely different from the shabby state of the room. It was a recently installed curtain, and as for when—"no more than three months..." Feng Qi abruptly pulled the curtain open, looking out the window, his expression instantly turning grave.

Outside the second-floor window of the house was a small hill. He hadn't noticed it before because the hill blocked his view, but there was a well behind it.

He immediately took out his phone and dialed Wang Qingyun's number.