bruja

Capítulo 12

"Don't worry, Chunyu is not dead. This morning, she was found by a teacher at the school gate, but she seemed a little out of sorts, so the school took her to the hospital for a checkup."

"You mean Chunyu has gone mad?"

“Yes, I questioned her personally, but she was trembling all over, her eyes were vacant, and she was muttering to herself. She was in extreme fear. I could tell she had a mental breakdown and couldn’t provide any clues.”

"What about Su Tianping? Is there any news about him?"

Ye Xiao silently shook his head: "The school has been looking for him for two days, and there's still no news about him, except—"

He stopped halfway through his sentence, which made me a little uneasy: "What did you mean, besides what?"

“Apart from yesterday afternoon, someone saw Su Tianping with a man in his twenties in a coffee shop across from the school gate.”

"With whom?" I was stunned for a moment and asked a very stupid question.

“The witness was Su Tianping’s classmate. He recognized Su Tianping at a glance, but didn’t know who the other person was.” Ye Xiao suddenly turned around, stared into my eyes and said, “However, I have already guessed who that person is.”

Facing Ye Xiao's eyes, I could no longer hide it and could only surrender: "Okay, I admit it, I saw Su Tianping yesterday."

"What does he want with you?"

“Su Tianping told me everything, everything that the four college students found in the deserted village.”

I first took a sip of water, and then briefly repeated to Ye Xiao what Su Tianping had told me yesterday.

By the time I finished speaking, my back was drenched in sweat. Ye Xiao also gasped, tapping his knuckles on the table as he coldly said, "I wonder how Su Tianping is doing now."

"Of the four college students who went to the deserted village, Huo Qiang and Han Xiaofeng are both dead, and Chunyu has gone mad. So what about Su Tianping? Is he dead or insane?"

"Or—he's already dead?"

No, I can't face that possibility. I talked with Su Tianping for an entire afternoon yesterday, and now he might be a corpse. I shook my head vigorously: "Died from a nightmare?"

"It's just speculation that they died from nightmares." Ye Xiao's voice was unusually calm. "Based on the autopsies of Huo Qiang and Han Xiaofeng, we can only say that their direct cause of death was acute myocardial infarction."

"Is this what they call sudden death? I know many famous athletes who died suddenly during training or competition. Like Cameroonian player Marc-Vivien Foé, who died suddenly on the field during the 2003 Confederations Cup."

“But these people all have a history of heart disease or other types of congenital diseases. As for Huo Qiang and Han Xiaofeng, I have already checked them, and they are in good health and have no cardiovascular diseases.”

"Then why do you think they died? Was it a curse from ghosts?"

After saying that, I suddenly realized I had misspoke and quickly stopped talking.

"Like your novel 'The Curse'? Or the curse of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs?"

No, I don't know, please don't ask anymore.

But Ye Xiao patted my shoulder and said, "However, you missed one thing."

"What?" I don't remember what I forgot.

"What's in that box Su Tianping gave you?"

"Oh, it's his suitcase." I breathed a sigh of relief, wiped my sweat, and said, "I haven't had a chance to open it yet."

Ye Xiao said coldly, "Alright, open it and take a look now."

Now?

I suddenly hesitated, perhaps because its owner's fate was still unknown.

"Yes, right now, take it out quickly."

His officer-like tone left no room for argument, so I had no choice but to comply and took the box out of the storage room.

The suitcase wasn't locked; I could just unzip it. But I still moved very carefully, because it was something Su Tianping had given me. Finally, under Ye Xiao's sharp gaze, I slowly opened the suitcase.

Strangely, the box was filled with crumpled old newspapers. I picked them out and discovered that something was wrapped inside each one—

"It looks like a jade artifact!"

Ye Xiao couldn't help but exclaim as well. He hurriedly came over to help me sort it out. It turned out that these old newspapers were used for cushioning and protection. Soon, a disc-shaped jade artifact emerged, more than twenty centimeters in diameter, with a small circular hole in the center, and a strange white color. I carefully held the jade artifact in my hands, feeling an unusually cold sensation, as if a chill was seeping into my skin.

"Look, there are other things in the box."

Ye Xiao reminded me. I immediately put down what I was holding, then carefully squatted down and took out all the other jade artifacts from the box—

The second jade artifact looks like an axe, with stripes and a yellow color, about ten centimeters long; the third jade artifact is square column-shaped, at first glance it looks like half a wooden stake, but upon closer inspection it looks like a marble pen holder, with a large hole from top to bottom, round inside and square outside, about twenty centimeters high and ten centimeters wide, weighing at least ten kilograms; the fourth jade artifact is very small, clearly carved into the shape of a tortoise, only the size of a matchbox; and the fifth artifact is shaped like a small dagger, looking more like an ornament hanging at the waist.

I picked out all the crumpled paper and turned the box upside down. There were only these five jade items left.

Ye Xiao and I were both a bit at a loss, looking at these things in bewilderment. I didn't know much about jade and the like, so I couldn't say what their value was. Especially that big piece that looked like a wooden stake, it was so different from the usual small and exquisite jade artifacts. In particular, its surface was engraved with many strange patterns, somewhat resembling a monster with its gaping maw.

"How did Su Tianping get these things?" Ye Xiao finally spoke up.

I first calmed myself down, and then carefully recalled what Su Tianping had told me yesterday: "Right, Su Tianping said that when they were in the deserted village, didn't they break into an underground passage? In that underground palace-like place, they found a lot of strange jade artifacts. Based on his description yesterday, aren't these the jade artifacts?"

"You mean—these jade artifacts all came from a deserted village, and Su Tianping brought them out from a mysterious underground palace?"

“No wonder, I felt like he left something out yesterday. Turns out he was too embarrassed to say it.” I suddenly understood everything. “The four of them were in the mysterious underground palace when their flashlight suddenly broke. In the darkness, everyone was in chaos. Su Tianping took advantage of this opportunity to stuff these jade artifacts into his travel bag. Anyway, no one could see them in the dark. Then he ran out with everyone else, so no one would notice.”

Ye Xiao nodded and said, "Two days later, Su Tianping brought these jade artifacts back to Shanghai without his companions knowing, right?"

“There is no other possibility. Otherwise, there would be no reason for him not to tell me. He must be afraid that I would expose his theft, so he was embarrassed to tell me to my face.”

"Then why did he give these jade artifacts to you?"

“Perhaps it was despair—” Suddenly, I felt a sense of fear myself. “Yes, after Huo Qiang and Han Xiaofeng died, Su Tianping was in a state of extreme fear. He might have worried that these jade artifacts would bring him bad luck, since he had stolen them from the underground palace—”

Ye Xiao suddenly interrupted me: "So, by handing these jade artifacts over to you, he is also transferring his misfortune to you."

Those words stunned me, and I couldn't react for a long time. Suddenly, it was as if I had woken up from a dream: "Could it be like a cursed videotape? Do I have to show the videotape to someone else, transfer the curse onto them, and only then can I be free?"

"No, I don't believe such a thing exists, but perhaps Su Tianping does."

I was immediately stunned: "Does he mean to transfer the curse to me? No, he's not that kind of person."

"Perhaps he was so engrossed in watching 'The Ring' that he wanted to try this method himself, like trying anything as a last resort."

"That's enough, please stop talking."

At this moment, I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. I looked down at the strange jade artifacts, my doubts growing stronger, and I paced anxiously around the room. Ye Xiao calmly said, "Alright, I won't interfere with what you do next, but you must be careful."

"And what about these jade artifacts?"

Ye Xiao looked at the jade artifacts and said, "I'll leave them with you for now. I don't know if these things are genuine antiques, so let's get them appraised first."

"Okay, I know experts in this field."

Ye Xiao smiled slightly and said, "Brother, take care of yourself."

Then, he left in a hurry.

I was left alone in the room, facing those jade artifacts as if I were facing another distant time and space...

Part Three, Day Thirteen, Section 22, Day Fifteen (1)

A peculiar smell permeated the corridor of the mental hospital. Sunlight streamed in through a window on one side, seemingly out of place with my expectations. But a burly male caregiver brushed past me, reminding me that this was still a special place.

I gently pushed open the door to a hospital room, and there I saw a young girl curled up in the warm sunlight. Her name was Chunyu.

Last night, Ye Xiao told me that Chunyu had been found and taken to the hospital. So, I decided to go see her, whether out of sympathy or a sense of responsibility, and regardless of whether she was truly insane.

The doctor just told me that Chunyu was disoriented when she was brought in yesterday. She couldn't answer any questions and was muttering incoherently. She may have suffered severe shock, leading to a mental breakdown. The doctor doesn't expect me to get anything out of her; he believes Chunyu will likely require a long period of treatment to recover.

Now, Chunyu slowly raised her head. The look in her eyes as she stared at me was like that of a lamb before slaughter—so desperate and helpless. My heart skipped a beat. Was I really that terrible? But if it weren't for my novel, "The Deserted Village," would she have ended up like this? Thinking of this, I lowered my head, speechless.

Unexpectedly, Chunyu spoke first: "You've finally arrived."

Did you know I was coming? Or were you just waiting for me to appear?

"Yes, I knew you would come looking for me. Tell me, are all three of them dead?"

Strange, didn't the doctor say she was crazy? But now she speaks in a steady and calm tone, and her expression and demeanor are normal; she doesn't look like she has any mental illness at all.

Faced with her question, I was in a bit of a dilemma. If I told her about Su Tianping's death, would it upset her? I could only force a smile and say, "Don't worry too much, you're very safe here."

"Forget it, I know where I am." Her tone was much more mature, as if she was no longer the little girl she once was. "You must have come to ask me what happened in the deserted village, right?"

"Maybe so, but I already know some of it."

"Did Su Tianping tell you?"

"Yes, I talked to him."

But Chunyu shook her head and said, "Then there are still some things you don't know."

"What is it?"

Her eyes suddenly became unfocused, and after a moment's pause, she spoke: "That well—"

"well?"

My heart started racing immediately.

“Yes, there’s a well in the backyard of the Jinshi Mansion, and there’s a secret about that well.” Chunyu’s breathing quickened a bit as she smoothed her hair and said, “The day before we left the deserted village, Su Tianping and Han Xiaofeng stayed in the Jinshi Mansion, while Huo Qiang and I went for a walk outside the old house. We asked around among the villagers and found an old man who was said to be the oldest person in the deserted village and very familiar with all the legends and stories about the village.”

"Have you found this old man?"

"Yes, the old man had gray hair and a long beard; he was at least eighty years old. Like the other villagers in the deserted village, he looked at us strangely, and then he told us a story about a wife being sold—"

"Principal wife?"

"Do you know what 'selling one's wife' means?"

"Yes, I know, please continue."

"In the early years of the Republic of China, the Ouyang family in a remote village was very wealthy, but Master Ouyang had been childless for many years, so he spent money to rent a poor man's wife as a concubine. Later, the concubine gave birth to a son for the master, but she always thought about escaping from the mansion to reunite with her original husband and son, so the master locked her in the backyard. Finally, one day, the concubine escaped from the mansion and prepared to go far away, but she was caught by the Ouyang family and brought back. The master decided to punish her with the most severe measures."

"The caisson—"

I slowly uttered those two words.

Chunyu was clearly surprised: "You know this story?"

"Yes, the concubine was thrown into the ancient well. From then on, no one dared to go to the backyard anymore."

Suddenly, I remembered Xiaoqian. She had also told me this story before, so it must be true.

Chunyu continued, "But you probably don't know that the old man who told us the story was the son of that pawned wife."

"The son of a pawned wife?"