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Capítulo 9

"I never expected you to be a dance teacher," Miao Miao's mother said with surprise.

"I thought this girl had a good figure, and I couldn't help but stare at her for a while," Wu Bingbing said.

At the same time, she thought, "I should visit her house this time. I had wanted to visit her house before."

“Our children’s palace has enrolled many girls her age,” Wu Bingbing added.

"I really hope my Miaomiao can learn to dance from you. She's too weak. She gets out of breath when she runs, and sometimes... well, she seems a bit insecure."

They lived on the fourth floor of an old building. The two-bedroom apartment was small and filled with worn-out furniture. Xu Miaomiao had an older brother at home; he was thin, with long hair and acne-covered face. He was obviously idle, squatting on a chair like a monkey playing with tarot cards. When he saw Wu Bingbing, his eyes widened, he looked up, mouth agape, unable to think of anything to say. Her mother said disdainfully, "This is the eldest son, a good-for-nothing. No one can control him after his father died; he'd make a dead man's stomach explode with anger."

After that, wherever Wu Bingbing and Xu Miaomiao went, they found her brother's shifty eyes following them. One time, Wu Bingbing simply tilted her head and scrutinized him, finally making him blush and turn his head away.

Xu Miaomiao lives in a space connected to her mother's bedroom, which is actually a balcony. A bed has been built there, with a small table beside it. Right now, her mother is busy looking for photos of Miaomiao when she was little. Meanwhile, Miaomiao is leading Wu Bingbing into her own little world.

Wu Bingbing wanted to ask about Miao Miao's health, but didn't know where to begin.

Miao Miao pushed open a window and said, "From here you can see the road outside, as well as trees and flowers. At night you can even see the moon and stars!"

Wu Bingbing placed her hand on her back and said, "That's wonderful. Sleeping while looking at the moon and stars every day, you must have lots of interesting dreams!"

Miao Miao said, "That's right, I really love to dream."

"What did you dream about, besides things related to school?"

"It's so strange. Every time I dream, I go to a place with a gate and a yard. My mother becomes an old woman with white hair, and I'm no longer my brother. Instead, there's a group of little girls my age who are always running and playing together. When I wake up and think about it, I realize I don't recognize any of those children. Isn't that weird?"

"You weren't familiar with the environment in your dream either? Were all places you'd never seen before?"

"We were always running around in the fields, where there were lush green wheat seedlings everywhere."

"Wheat seedlings? Have you seen wheat seedlings before?"

"No, I've only seen it in textbooks."

"How did you know it was wheat seedlings?"

“They told me in my dream. They said, ‘Let’s go play in the wheat field.’”

Wu Bingbing thought, "I should have come to find Xu Miaomiao sooner." The person who gave her the heart was a 65-year-old woman who lived in a rural mountain village. Xu Miaomiao's dream must be related to the old woman's past experiences and memories.

Although so many patients who have undergone heart transplants have died, so far only Xu Miaomiao has provided the information that she suspected and wanted to use to judge whether the memory could be transplanted. However, Wu Bingbing was still very excited about this unexpected gain.

Then he thought of the woman in white, and realized that none of this needed to be proven, nor was it important.

At this moment, Miao Miao's mother brought over the photos, and they looked at what Xu Miao Miao looked like as a child. Wu Bingbing kept praising Miao Miao. Miao Miao quickly took a liking to this young dance teacher. She asked Bingbing, "Can I call you 'sister' instead of 'teacher'?" Bingbing said, "Sure, I've been wanting a little sister." Miao Miao also asked, "Could I have your phone number so I can contact you later?" Bingbing readily agreed and wrote down her mobile phone number.

As she was about to leave, Wu Bingbing hesitated, looking thoughtful.

She asked Xu Miaomiao, "Do you like tarot cards?"

Miao Miao said, "I like it, but my brother rarely lets me play it. Lots of kids in my class play it."

Wu Bingbing said, "Go ask your brother for some cards, shall we play together?"

“Great!” Miao Miao said happily, “I didn’t expect that my teacher also likes tarot.”

Then, she took a few steps forward and shouted in a commanding tone, "Brother, bring me your cards!"

After taking the cards, Wu Bingbing shuffled them with a serious expression, carefully cut the cards, and then let Yu Miaomiao randomly draw three cards. Miaomiao's mother also curiously came over and stood by to watch.

Wu Bingbing placed the three cards she had drawn face down in an inverted triangle in front of her and said, "I'm using the Major Arcana's Holy Triangle method to calculate your past, present, and future." She then revealed the next card. It was the Tower, upright.

She looked up at them and said, “Look over there first. See, there’s a tower, dark clouds, and lightning in this picture. The tower is on fire, obviously struck by lightning, and someone inside is jumping out. This is a manifestation of life. The tower represents the body, and the flames shooting out of the window indicate a serious internal illness. The dark clouds represent depression, which can be fatal to a person.”

Xu Miaomiao blurted out, "It's heart disease, I've had heart surgery."

Her mother almost exclaimed, "To be able to calculate even this, it's amazing!"

Wu Bingbing revealed the card on the left in front of her; it was the Wheel of Fortune, upright.

"Now—nothing much, look up, the angel is holding a book and reading. The clouds are light and the wind is gentle, even the birds in the clouds and the snakes in the water are at ease. The wheel of fortune is turning normally, and health is improving."

As she spoke, she revealed the card on the right in front of her and said, "This is the Moon, reversed. The future? This card doesn't look good." She took a breath, looked up at Miao Miao's mother, and continued, "The Moon card represents unease and uncertainty. Some people believe it carries even more ominous signs in the Tarot than Death or the Devil."

Miao Miao's mother looked a little nervous. Wu Bingbing handed the cards to her and said, "Let's look at this moon card first. There's a woman in the moon above, with her eyes closed and looking very sad. On the ground below, there are two ugly celestial dogs howling upwards with hungry eyes. There's a ferocious giant scorpion in the bushes... and in the distance, there's the shadow of a tombstone."

Miao Miao's mother trembled as if her heart was being gripped. Wu Bingbing told Miao Miao to go to another room first; she needed to speak with her mother alone. After Miao Miao left, Wu Bingbing said bluntly, "Miao Miao is in grave danger; I've predicted it. It's better to believe it than not. From now on, you must keep a close eye on her… If you hadn't gone this noon, she would have fallen and died. You must take her to school and pick her up every day, otherwise something will definitely happen to her. For the next year, you must avoid everything and keep a close watch on her—"

After Wu Bingbing finished speaking, she left, leaving Miao Miao's mother standing dumbfounded at the door, watching her go.

Stepping onto the street, Wu Bingbing stood there blankly for a moment, then looked up at the sun overhead, finally feeling a sense of reality. Thinking about everything that had happened that morning, she felt lost, anxious, and pained. She wondered, "What's wrong with me? What do I really want to do?" Before she could finish her thought, her eyes welled up with tears.

That afternoon, Wu Bingbing came to the hospital again. She wanted to see Dr. Meng and have a thorough talk with him about the deaths that had occurred and the unforeseen circumstances that many others might face. She hoped that these issues would draw Dr. Meng's attention and that he could help her, given her current predicament.

She walked to a spot not far from the hospital when she saw a white figure flash by and then disappear. She searched through the crowd, but in the blink of an eye, the figure was at the very front, still visible even through the throng. It was Jiang Lan, the woman in white. Was she looking for me?

Wu Bingbing followed to see where she was going, but unexpectedly, she suddenly turned around and stared at her back for a while, as if she had noticed someone following her. Bingbing quickly hid behind a tree nearby.

She finally turned around and floated forward, landing at the hospital entrance like a kite.

Wu Bingbing couldn't understand why this ghost had come to the hospital, and after thinking about it for a while, she didn't dare to take another step into the hospital. She hid behind a flower bed, quietly observing the gate she had just entered through, her nose sweating with nervousness.

It was almost time to leave work, and many people were coming out of the hospital. About half an hour later, she saw the white figure emerge from inside, weave through the throng of cars to the left of the gate, and then disappear silently. Wu Bingbing came out and searched for a long time but couldn't find her anywhere.

Wu Bingbing walked towards the hospital, almost running, afraid that figure would appear again.

When she arrived at the cardiothoracic surgery department on the fifth floor by elevator, she was surprised to find it in complete chaos. No one was on duty in the doctors' and nurses' offices; everyone was running downstairs in twos and threes. One nurse almost knocked Bingbing over. Bingbing recognized her and asked what was wrong. The nurse explained as she walked that Dr. Meng had fallen badly in his office and was unconscious; they were trying to resuscitate him.

Wu Bingbing stood there in astonishment, convinced without a doubt that it was Jiang Lan who had done it.

Wu Bingbing called her father. He arrived at the hospital quickly. They could only wait outside the emergency room. The paramedics came out and said that Dr. Meng had likely fallen while reaching for something on a stool. He tried to grab a cabinet door, pulling the metal cabinet over, and the several-hundred-pound piece of equipment fell on him, causing a fractured lumbar spine and a severe concussion. He has been rescued and is out of danger, but needs continued observation.

Dr. Meng's assistant, Dr. Qi, was the last to leave. Bingbing and her father walked out with her. When they reached the parking lot, Dr. Qi was still saying, "He's been performing too many surgeries lately and hasn't had enough rest. His heart condition must have flared up again... That tall metal cabinet could kill him."

Bingbing wanted to tell them about Jiang Lan, but hesitated and didn't. They said goodbye, and her father started the car. Bingbing sat in the front, glanced at her father, and mustered her courage to say, "Dad—"

Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by a piercing scream.

They quickly stopped the car and got out to ask what had happened. In a corner of the parking lot, Dr. Qi jumped out of his car, screaming as if he were on fire. They approached the car and saw bloodstains on the windows, and piles of blood-stained gauze rolls from the doors onto the floor. Even more horrifying, a stillborn infant lay draped over the steering wheel, covered in blood, as if just retrieved from a hospital delivery room…

Chapter Nine

The white figure looked down at the sleeping Wu Bingbing, its eyes flashing like glowing embers, and exhaled a puff of bluish-white smoke that enveloped her entire body. In her dream, it conveyed its deep resentment to her through that heart...

Late that night, as Wu Bingbing was fast asleep, she heard the bedroom door lock click, then it was gently pushed open, letting in a gust of cold wind. Through the moonlight streaming in from the window, she could see a tall woman in white enter the room. She walked to Wu Bingbing's bedside, stood there for a moment, then slowly sat down, reached out her slender arm, and snatched the stuffed animal from Wu Bingbing's arms. She leaned down, looking at the sleeping Wu Bingbing, her eyes gleaming like red-hot tongs, and exhaled a puff of bluish-white smoke. The smoke swirled and expanded, enveloping Wu Bingbing's entire body…

In her dream, Wu Bingbing felt lightheaded, as if she were a wandering soul, flying from low to high and then falling back down, like a winged fish darting through the pervasive mist. A white light flickered in and out of sight, guiding her. She opened and closed her eyes intermittently, letting her body drift freely with the night wind and mist. She smelled the scent of oleander again, saw the mountain that had appeared so many times in her dreams, and heard the howls of wild beasts from the bushes.

She walked through this dark backdrop, beyond which lay an unfamiliar city, empty streets, not a single person in sight. Next came fields, everywhere harvested crops, their bare, stubble-covered roots exposed. Then came desolate wilderness, everywhere withered grass and wormwood, and barren red earth…

She didn't understand why, but her body stopped, or rather, she landed on the ridge of the red earth. Before her lay a large depression. Standing atop the red earth cliff, she saw several police cars and a dozen or so uniformed men below. Near the steep cliff in front of the depression, a row of prisoners stood. This used to be an execution ground. The three men and one woman were all bound. Seeing the woman, she froze, feeling she'd seen her somewhere before, but couldn't quite place her. She was so beautiful, like a figure from a painting. She wore a long white dress, her hands elegantly clasped behind her back, her slender, fair neck held high, her eyes gazing wistfully into the distance. The middle-aged male prisoner standing next to her was clearly captivated by her, completely ignoring what the police were saying, his eyes glued to her…

She saw an ambulance not far from the execution ground. For some reason, her father and Dr. Meng were there. She took a few steps forward, almost touching the ambulance, but they seemed completely oblivious to her. Looking through the window, she saw several doctors and nurses inside, busily working on surgical instruments. Her father stared at Dr. Meng's face; Dr. Meng was pacing back and forth, frowning. The two then got out of the ambulance.

She heard Dr. Meng say, “The heart has more stringent requirements than other organs. The biggest problem now is that we can only conduct a death examination half an hour after the shooting, then issue a death certificate, and then our hearse can go there—plus the process of retrieving the heart and transporting it to the hospital, it will take about two and a half hours in total. Add to that the surgery time, and I’m a little worried. We must make the best use of it, otherwise it may fail.”

Dad asked, "Didn't you mention this to Dean Geng? Didn't we say we wanted him to cooperate with us?"

Dr. Meng said, "I've already asked him to find a way to delay the prisoner's cardiac death and prevent the heart from stopping for too long, which could affect its function. Dean Geng readily agreed. I'm worried he might change his mind at the last minute. How's your work going behind the scenes? Are you confident?"

Dad said, "I've done all the work I was supposed to do, and Dean Geng agreed to help. Although he's taking on some responsibility, he's at least getting financially compensated. The key is that I don't know him well—whether he's trustworthy, and whether he's too greedy. If he takes the money and doesn't do the job, that would be troublesome. I don't think he'd do that!"

Just then, she heard a long whistle and turned around to hear a loud command, ordering the prisoners in the execution ground to kneel down in a line. She saw Dean Geng and knew it was him who had given the order. She also saw the middle-aged male prisoner, with a bailiff standing behind him holding a gun. The male prisoner was clearly terrified, his panicked eyes constantly glancing towards the female prisoner. Behind the female prisoner also stood a bailiff, dark-skinned and burly with a rough face. She heard Dean Geng say to the dark-skinned bailiff, "Shoot downwards, ideally the bullet should pass through the mouth. It's better to hit the neck than to smash the head. Press the gun against the barrel." The dark-skinned man nodded as he listened.

She saw that when Dean Geng called "Ready," the male prisoner suddenly turned around and cried out to the female prisoner in a voice trembling with sobs, "Sister, let's go. I have no parents, let's keep each other company in the underworld!" A look of disdain appeared on the female prisoner's melancholy face. She looked up into the distance, but could see nothing but the red earthen slope. The whistle blew. A loud "bang" followed, a puff of white smoke rose from the gun barrels, and all the prisoners fell...

She saw Dean Geng walk up to the female prisoner. He saw that she wasn't dead, but her body was convulsing in pain, blood was flowing from her mouth, and her eyes were pleading as she looked at him. He slowly walked towards the group of people beside the police car. He loudly said to them, "I've examined her and she's dead. Do you want to go and check again?" They all said, "The dean represents us; no need." Dean Geng turned to a clerk and said, "Write this down: time, place, the prisoner was shot dead, the autopsy confirmed immediate death. Have everyone present sign, and the bailiffs sign as well."

Next, she saw Dean Geng leave the group of people, walk quickly back, go to the female prisoner's body, kick her, and say to the dark-faced bailiff beside him, "Good, that's how you beat her—it'll take half an hour for her to stop bleeding and die. Quickly call the hearse; they're waiting for her heart!" As soon as he finished speaking, the ambulance rushed over and lifted the still-bleeding female prisoner into the vehicle. The hearse closed the door, turned around, and sped away.

For some reason, she could see what was happening inside the ambulance. From the moment the doors closed, the ambulance sprang into action. Doctors and nurses rushed over, frantically stripping the female prisoner naked. They sprayed medicine on her and washed her thoroughly. A man gestured with one hand in front of her chest while simultaneously cutting into her chest with a scalpel. The scalpel made a soft, paper-cutting sound, even as her body was still twitching. They pulled her heart from her chest cavity, severed the connecting blood vessels, and placed it on a tray. The heart continued to beat on the tray. Then, the heart was placed in a box; then, the box, wrapped, was placed in a large bucket; then, the doctor in the green uniform took the bucket; then, the ambulance stopped, the doctor got out, and lifted the bucket off the vehicle…

She witnessed something strange. When the car dropped off the doctor and drove towards the crematorium with the female prisoner's body, the woman jumped off the roof, following the large container containing her heart. When the doctor got into another car returning to the city, the woman ran alongside it, seemingly weightless. The doctor arrived at the hospital and handed the heart in the container to Dr. Meng. She saw the woman also arrive at the hospital, glaring angrily at Dr. Meng. She also saw a girl lying in a hospital bed who looked very much like herself. Next came the heart transplant surgery. The woman stood at the door watching, suddenly stamping her feet and crying out, reaching out to grab her heart, but her hands grasped nothing, and no one could hear her cries. Only she could see the woman running outside the ward, and hear her threatening, shouting, and crying in front of the girl's room—

Then, for some unknown reason, she found herself lying on the hospital bed, with the woman sitting on her chest, squeezing her as she said, "You understand now, right? Your father bribed that Dean Geng and secretly had my heart removed. Do you know what it feels like to have your heart slowly ripped out while you're still alive?" She felt the woman on top of her growing heavier and heavier, like gradually piling up sand, making it hard to breathe. The woman said viciously, "I will treat them the way they treated me...let them die slowly, die painfully. Isn't that Dr. Meng's medical skills superb? Bah! If you had listened to me and killed that little girl, every patient he had heart surgery on today, except for you, would be dead—you, I'm going to kill you!" The woman pounded on her body.

Her mouth gaped open, her heart pounding violently with a piercing scream, her blood rushing backward, her limbs numb as if they didn't exist. The woman on top of her, like a hungry wildcat squeezing a mouse it had caught, made muffled, guttural noises. Just as she was in excruciating pain, her chest swelling as if it were about to explode, the woman suddenly clutched her chest as if someone had stabbed her in the chest. She screamed and slid off her, panting, saying, “What happened to me? My heart aches… I understand. It seems I can’t kill you first. Killing you would be killing myself—it’s my heart, after all. I can spare your life, but you must obey me, let my heart command your body. I will transmit what you need to know and do to the heart where my soul once resided… and then it will naturally reveal itself to you. If you don’t obey, then it’s not too late to kill you. I will not hesitate to rip open your chest and take out my heart. I want you to kill that girl, understand? This time, don’t delay, and don’t try any tricks. I will watch you do it within three days… If that girl is still alive at midnight three days from now, I will come to take your heart. Understand? —”

Then, a gust of wind arose, and the woman vanished before her eyes. She saw a white light in the direction the woman had gone. A moment later, she saw billowing smoke, followed by a towering flame… In the flames, she saw the woman's figure flying about, and heard her wild laughter high in the sky…

Amidst the chilling laughter, Wu Bingbing woke up, still covered in sweat as usual. She turned on the bedside lamp, got out of bed, and staggered to find some water to drink, gradually calming down.

Then, she sat on the sofa, hugged her knees, and stared blankly into her mind. At that moment, she saw a small bag on the coffee table opposite the sofa and was so shocked that she almost fainted—it was the red heart-shaped handbag that the taxi driver had found and given to her—she remembered throwing it on the grass outside the coffee shop.

She stared intently at the red handbag, then calmly walked over, picked it up, and began to examine it.

The bag contained countless small crumpled pieces of paper—nothing else. As she gathered them together to throw them away, she unconsciously unwrapped one, and a strand of hair rolled out. She opened another, and it was still hair, only slightly different. She continued, and there it was again—a single strand of hair curled up—she couldn't help but gasp…

There were 10 crumpled pieces of paper and 10 neatly wrapped strands of hair, each varying in length, thickness, and color. One strand of silver-gray hair looked particularly familiar to Wu Bingbing.

She recalled the scene in the hospital ward corridor where a nurse was pushing the deceased Aunt Wei Pan towards the morgue. Aunt Wei was covered with a white sheet, with only a wisp of gray hair peeking out from the corner. The hair shone brightly against the sheet, stinging her eyes and causing her pain. She still finds it hard to forget.

Bingbing grew increasingly angry as she looked at the paper. She realized that the crumpled paper was collected by Jiang Lan and was a record of her insane killings.

That night, Dean Geng's nephew, Zhu Dayi—the burly, dark-skinned policeman—returned home. He staggered, reeking of alcohol and swaggering with bravado, constantly yelling, "Hmph, don't give me that crap! If you want me to drink, you have to drink too! I don't believe I can't outdrink you. Let me tell you, you son of a bitch, even my toes are thicker than your waist! And let me tell you again, you son of a bitch, I just executed someone not long ago—scared? If you're scared, stay away from me!"

He felt the road was uneven, jolting him uncomfortably. Reaching what appeared to be an intersection, he saw trees on both sides and circled around a few times, unsure which way to go. He seemed to remember that this used to be an abandoned, half-finished construction site; how had it turned into this chaotic forest? Had he gotten lost? He kicked at a nearby tree haphazardly, spitting as he did so. "You know who my uncle is, right? —Good. If you have something to say, in this city, no matter how big the problem, I'll take care of it. What? Don't believe me? Believe it or not? I'll shoot you dead!"

Not far away, near the edge of the woods, stood a nice three-story building. He walked over impetuously, peered through the doorway, and saw a brightly lit, clean courtyard, but no one in sight. Just then, he heard someone singing. Looking up, he saw a woman in her early twenties sitting on the second-floor windowsill, very beautiful in the moonlight. She wore a white dress, her breasts full, her figure graceful, and as she sang, she swayed her long legs, dazzling him with her allure.

Zhu Dayi looked around for a while, then stepped forward and asked, "What are you doing sitting here?"

The woman didn't respond. Zhu Dayi, unwilling to leave, tried to make conversation.

Zhu Dayi asked, "Do you live alone?"

The woman said, "No, they went to visit relatives."

Zhu Dayi said, "I've been drinking... I feel terrible."

The woman looked at him and said, "Then go back and rest."

Zhu Dayi said, "I feel terrible, I want to talk to someone."

The woman smiled and said, "Go back and have your wife talk to you about it."

Zhu Dayi said, "My wife died a long time ago, and I am now a bachelor."

The woman laughed again and said, "You're lying. I've seen you with your wife."

Zhu Dayi changed his tune, saying, "Even if she's not dead, I have absolutely no feelings for that wretched woman anymore."

The woman said, "I know what you mean, brother. Come on up if you want. Don't worry, my family won't be back tonight. Besides, I'm a little scared to be alone."

Then, the woman reached out and pulled Zhu Dayi to sit on the second-floor windowsill. Zhu Dayi smelled the fragrance emanating from her, and looking at her beautiful face and smile, the alcohol in his head started burning again. He grabbed her hand and rubbed it, his eyes glued to her face.

The woman looked at his silly grin and asked seductively, "Do you want to touch me?"