Feng Shui

Chapitre 38

After saying goodbye to my cousin, I walked alone on the quiet covered walkway, my mind filled with a cacophony of sounds. I couldn't make out what they were saying, only that they were arguing and cursing at each other. What was wrong with me?! I clutched my head in anguish, and suddenly, I felt someone coldly watching me from the shadows. That gaze was sharp and icy, as chilling as well water in the dead of winter. I shivered and searched for the source of the gaze. The garden was as quiet as ever. The viewing gate had been opened by someone, and a faint ray of light pierced through the darkness, leaving a mark on the ground. Wait! The mark seemed to be half-obstructed; the golden light abruptly stopped, replaced by a black shadow.

"Who is it?" I called out. There was silence all around, and no one answered me.

"Who is it? Come out quickly!" I panicked a little, shouting at the top of my lungs while looking around fearfully, afraid that something scary might jump out from somewhere.

At my shout, the shadow was quiet for a moment, then suddenly began to move slowly. At the same time, I heard a creak, and the portal opened...

The viewing door creaked open, and the light from outside was freed from its constraints, like a piece of cloth suddenly unfurled. Golden, clear light poured in instantly, illuminating a large area of the doorway.

"Who is it? Who's over there?" I asked, mustering my courage. Perhaps it was because the garden was no longer dimly lit, but my courage grew as the lights entered. I carefully walked down the steps and slowly approached the scenic gate.

A small head peeked out timidly from behind the semi-circular door. It was the same little boy from last time! He was still wearing the same plain-colored clothes I had seen him in the night before. His big eyes on his oval face were fixed on me with a questioning look.

"You..." Just as he was about to ask, Luo Lin's warning voice from last night suddenly rang in his mind.

"If you don't want to get into trouble, don't have any more contact with the person you just met."

What bad luck could a little kid possibly bring me? I shook my head, banishing those annoying words from my mind, and walked towards the child.

"What can I do for you?" I bent down through the half-open door and asked him as kindly as possible. The child looked at me and took a half-step back, seemingly frightened.

"Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. Tell me your name?"

The little child looked around hesitantly, his thin lips pressed tightly together, as if considering whether to believe me. Looking at that expression, I suddenly felt a sense of familiarity, as if I had seen that same expression on someone before. That's right, it's my cousin! I suddenly realized. Although my cousin was intelligent and composed in her childhood, she often unconsciously revealed a childlike stubbornness, and her expression then was exactly the same as the child before me. Could it be Xiaoqiu's child? Haha, I thought irresponsibly. If it really is her child, my cousin, who is only twenty-four this year, became a mother at the age of fourteen!

"I've come to find my mother!" Surprisingly, the child said that while I was mischievously thinking about something far-fetched.

"I'm here to see my mother." Seeing my stunned, frozen expression, he added, "Have you seen my mother?"

"Little brother, can you tell me what your mother looks like?" I simply squatted down to face him, thinking that maybe I should take him to the police station.

“Mom…” He looked at me, puzzled, with a blank expression in his eyes. He thought hard for a moment, and finally shook his head at me.

I find it strange that a ten-year-old child can't even describe what his mother looks like.

Do you remember your mother's name?

His answer was to shake his head vigorously again.

I sighed and straightened up. There was no other way; I'd just have to take him to the town's police station first thing tomorrow morning.

"Little brother, where are you sleeping tonight?"

He thought for a moment, then pointed outside. I looked in the direction he was pointing and saw my uncle's warehouse. When did this kid sneak in? That place is always locked at night.

"Fine, you can sleep with your sister tonight." I reached out to take his arm, but he reflexively jumped back and dodged my hand.

"What's wrong?" I asked, feeling a little embarrassed. Being so vehemently avoided by a child made me feel like a bad person; it was somewhat embarrassing.

"I...can't go in..." he said timidly, hiding in the shadows of the trees. His large, bright eyes shone especially brightly against the darkness.

"Why can't I come in?" I asked curiously, then felt relieved. "Did your family teach you not to go with strangers? It's okay, I'm not a bad person."

I looked at him with a smile, finding it a little funny myself. What bad person in this world would admit to being bad? Yet he just looked at me with a troubled expression, hesitating and unwilling to take a step forward.

"Alright, come in quickly. It's getting late. Take a shower and go to bed early. I'll take you to the police station tomorrow."

Hearing my words, he suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with surprise: "May I go in?"

"Hmm...Eh," I nodded, not understanding why the child who had just been avoiding me like a snake was now suddenly so happy that he seemed to want to fly.

"Then I... I'll go in." He looked at me as if asking for permission. After I nodded, he took small steps and slowly moved over, but stopped at the garden gate, as if afraid of something and dared not go any further.

"What's wrong?" I stopped and turned to look at him standing at the door.

"Hmm..." he mumbled in response, took a deep breath, and stepped one foot into the garden. After pausing for a moment, he followed with the other foot until he was completely inside the garden. Only then did he seem to relax and straighten his tense body.

This child's behavior is really strange. I looked at him and thought to myself, puzzled, "He looks so relieved."

****

I was dreaming again! When I woke up with a start, the moon was high in the sky. Pure white, silvery light streamed in through the half-open latticed window, illuminating the room. I was still breathing heavily, unconsciously wiping the cold sweat from my forehead.

Another nightmare! But I still can't remember anything. In the dream, I seemed to be running away, aimlessly, without direction, just running, running, running! My hand touched the spot beside me, but there was nothing there. I froze for a moment, then suddenly jumped up. Yanwu—that little boy, where did he go? Without thinking any further, I threw on a shirt, slipped on my shoes, and rushed out of the room.

The house at midnight was a completely different world from during the day. The lanterns that guided passersby cast a dim, lonely light in the garden, not daring to compete with the exceptionally bright moonlight overhead. All around was silent, save for the chirping of insects and the gentle lapping of distant water, creating a tranquil atmosphere. Looking around at the scenery, I unconsciously slowed my pace, even the eagerness I had felt in searching for Yanwu was soothed by the soft night.

I think the child probably couldn't sleep, so he ran out to play in the park.

"Sigh—" A soft, gentle female voice drifted from afar, carried by someone in the moonlight. It was faint and indistinct, as if from another world. I listened carefully, and the voice seemed to belong to my cousin Xiaoqiu.

"Cousin?" I called tentatively in a soft voice, afraid of waking my uncle and the others. However, my cousin did not seem to hear my call. She just continued to sigh softly, one sigh after another, a thousand and one, as if a hundred entanglements were mixed in her sighs. Hearing this, I felt inexplicably unhappy, as if a heavy stone was pressing down on me.

"Cousin!" I walked toward the direction from which the sound came.

The sound seemed to be coming from behind the main house. I followed the path, pushing aside branches and bushes until I came to a wide-open patch of mud. My cousin stood with her back to me on the circular patch of mud, lost in thought. The bright moonlight shone on her, creating a hazy halo around her, as if in a dream.

"Cousin, can't you sleep?" I said as I walked towards her, my footsteps making a soft sloshing sound on the muddy ground. I looked down at my feet, puzzled. Thick black soil was covered with thriving wild grass, interspersed with a few wildflowers—perfectly normal.

I chuckled to myself, amused by my own paranoia. I've been sleeping too much lately; my brain seems to be malfunctioning.

"Cousin, have you seen a little child?" I said, taking another step forward. The sound of water splashed in my ears, and I stopped again, looking around in confusion. Something seemed wrong, but... what could it be?

"It was a little child, about ten years old, dressed in plain clothes," I said, gesturing as I spoke. The sound of rushing water filled my ears, gradually becoming gentler from its initial intensity. I felt as if I were being inhaled and floated up lightly.

Wait a minute, if I'm floating, why is my cousin Xiaoqiu's figure above me, getting farther and farther away? I wondered, looking up at the sky. The deep blue sky seemed to have been mischievously stirred, creating undulating ripples that pushed and jostled each other. The moon was shattered into several pieces, trembling and emitting a soft, silvery light. I reached out to grab my cousin Xiaoqiu's figure but grasped at empty air. Her shadow above me slowly twisted, shattered, and scattered in all directions.

How strange… I wondered, feeling something surrounding me, warm and making me want to sleep. As I thought this, my eyes involuntarily closed, and my body began to feel heavy.

"Sister!" I heard Yanwu's voice calling anxiously in my ear.

"Sister!" Yanwu called me again, but I just lazily turned over and finally fell into a deep sleep.

I felt as if I were floating, head heavy and feet light, disoriented. Before me was a silvery world, with something crystalline like molten silver swirling around me. I reached out to touch it, but they scattered with a whoosh, chattering and noisy, their long tails trailing as they wandered away, leaving none behind.

"It's you?" someone said to me, sounding quite surprised, through the hazy sound.

"Huh?" I was confused.

"What a hassle, Xiao Wu has the wrong person." The man sighed, and then I saw a man's hand appear out of thin air. The hand deftly brushed away the silver things, reached out to me, and grabbed my arm.

“Let me pull you up,” he said. I felt a powerful force dragging me upwards, and slowly the silvery world began to distort and shatter before me, revealing an enormous moon. “What a beautiful moon,” I thought, somewhat dazed.

"You're really heavy," the person muttered, perhaps moving closer to me. In the silvery world I saw, a silver ring appeared, attached to a delicate chain, swaying like a feather in front of me, the other end of the chain seemingly being the other person.

What a beautiful ring! I couldn't resist reaching out to grab that round thing, but suddenly I felt my arm loosen.

"Oh dear, the enemy is here. I'm leaving now. See you later."

"Huh?" Before I could even ask a question, the entire silver world rushed backward before me like a train reversing. Countless shades of silver whistled past me, overlapping like the dazzling flashes of sparklers I used to play with as a child in the dark—those strange creatures with long tails! I watched in astonishment as they whispered amongst themselves and quickly fled into the distance. A moment later, only a radiant full moon remained before me. A huge moon, seemingly within reach, truly seemingly very close…

I reached out my hand, and a chill ran from my fingertips all the way down to my skin. I suddenly opened my eyes wide. I was really, really in the air?

"Ouch, ouch, ouch...it hurts so much!" I jumped up, grimacing, only to be startled by a magnified image of a man's face. I fell back down, hitting my head on the ground with another scream.

"You, you, you are a jinx!" I shouted angrily, rubbing the back of my head and glaring resentfully at the man in front of me who looked relieved.

"You're awake?" He sat up, looking down at me. The moonlight bathed his black hair, making it appear even darker. "I told you before not to mess with that thing, but you wouldn't listen."

“But that’s fine too. With your personality, it’s actually a good thing to suffer a little loss.” Then, he added thoughtfully.

What an annoying personality! Looking at this guy from my own clan, I feel like there's a raging fire burning in my chest, about to explode.

"What makes you say that...cough cough!" The sudden discomfort made me cough violently. I coughed desperately until my face turned bright red and my lungs were almost completely emptied before I finally calmed down, clutching my chest, feeling limp. What's wrong with me?

Weakly looking around, I realized I was sleeping by the pond behind the house. The irregularly shaped oval surface of the pond reflected shimmering light calmly before my eyes, and all around was silent. Was I behind the house? Images from before suddenly flashed through my mind: the missing Yanwu, my sighing cousin, and… I jolted awake. There wasn't any circular open space behind the house, only this pond. So what I just…

“That’s right, you just fell into the water.” Seemingly noticing my question, Luo Lin braced himself against the railing with both hands and looked at me. “You were almost dead. If I hadn’t seen that guy…” He paused, then added, “that kid.”

That guy refers to... Yanwu? I thought with a lingering fear, was he trying to harm me? And why?

"In short, if you don't want to die, don't have any more contact with him. I can save you once, but I might not be able to save you a second time. Okay, that's all. Good night." He waved his hand and turned to leave.

"Wait!" I staggered to my feet, my legs feeling like they were walking on cotton. "Yanwu... what's going on with that child? Why did he want to hurt me? And who is that other shadow on you...?"

I once heard my aunt vaguely mention that the Luo family had always been a bit strange, especially the direct line of the main branch of the Luo family, which was said to be related to the sudden death of the Luo family patriarch.

He paused for a moment, then continued walking: "Don't think too much, go to sleep early."

It wasn't until I returned to my room and saw the two "five-finger" marks on my face that I finally understood what the pain that had woken me up was—I had been slapped awake!

****

The truth is, sometimes the truth will come to you even if you don't seek it out.

"Hey, I need to talk to you!" I put my hands on my hips and, taking advantage of my relatively tall stature for a girl, fiercely blocked Luo Lin in the room.

"It's only seven o'clock. Let's talk after breakfast, okay?" Luo Lin yawned, pointed to her watch, and looked like she hadn't woken up yet.

I hesitated for only a moment, and he had already slipped past me, sidling up the door and walking away. I could only angrily chase after him.

"Can I speak now?" Looking at Luo Lin, who was full and refreshed, I tried my best to suppress my anger and asked in the calmest tone possible.

"What do you want to know?" he countered. There were only the two of us in the dining room. My aunt and uncle had taken that Aunt Luo out early that morning to visit old friends, while my cousin Xiaoqiu was busy arranging the tour group's activities. The already spacious dining room felt even more empty now.

"Of course, it's the question I asked you last night. Who is Yanwu? Why did he try to harm me? And... who is the other person inside you?" I don't know where I got the courage. Normally, I would feel inexplicably afraid when I saw Luo Lin, but now I could question him with a clear conscience without any fear.

“I don’t know that child,” Luo Lin said calmly. “I only know that he doesn’t belong to this world. As for why he would want to harm you, it would be more direct to ask yourself rather than me. Such things don’t usually cling to someone for no reason.”

"Stop!" I reached out to interrupt Luo Lin. "What do you mean by not belonging to this world? What does 'that thing' refer to... Could it be..." I swallowed hard. Although I could vaguely guess what he meant, I still couldn't believe it. Yan Wu was... a ghost?

"I can't tell if it's a ghost or not, but if you get any closer to it, you'll definitely be in danger. You might not be so lucky next time," he said calmly, but I broke out in a cold sweat.

"Then what should I do?" I discarded my superfluous pride and humbly asked this annoying guy in front of me for advice, but he just rolled his eyes and answered me with "I don't know".

"You!" I jumped up from my chair, almost rolling up my sleeves and rushing over to give him a good beating. It's so strange, why do I lose my temper so easily every time I see him? I've never been an arrogant or belligerent person! The thought suddenly popped into my head, and I sat down sullenly.

"Then what's inside your body...?"

He glanced at me, as if considering whether or not to tell me the truth. Suddenly, the sky inexplicably darkened, thick, dark clouds appearing out of nowhere, like piles of discarded garbage, crowding the entire sky and completely obscuring the sun. A rumble of thunder sounded, and it looked like rain was imminent. No sooner had I thought this than the rain began to pour down like a torrential downpour, from heaven to earth, like a thick gray curtain.

"This rain..." I reached out to catch the raindrops, but they stung my hand. I pulled my hand back abruptly—was the rain scalding?! The raindrops, as hot as boiling water, fell relentlessly, pounding down and causing the trees planted in front of the house to bend and wilt instantly.

"Luolin, this rain..." I turned around in alarm, only to see my cousin Xiaoqiu appear in the dining room at some point, her face deathly pale.

"Sister?" I called her, but she seemed not to hear me, just staring blankly outside as the rain lashed down, as if determined to destroy everything. Suddenly, a figure emerged in the rain, first just a faint outline, then gradually becoming clearer and more distinct, as if an unseen painter had meticulously depicted it, until a young man appeared before me. His face seemed somewhat familiar... Who was he? I racked my brains trying to figure it out, but my cousin Xiaoqiu suddenly moved, walking straight towards the outside room with an unwavering expression.

"Sis, are you crazy!" I reached out to grab her, but she smiled at me, brushed my hand away, and her strength was astonishing.

“Flame Hurricane, I knew you would come looking for me sooner or later.” She stood by the door and said to the man, “I fled back to the Luo family to avoid you, thinking that I could escape this calamity with the protection of my ancestors. I didn’t expect you to still be able to find me. It seems that even the heavens are not on my side.”

The man chuckled lightly, his slender eyes curving into a shape that possessed an indescribable beauty and wickedness: "This is all thanks to your young lady."

"Me?" I looked at my cousin and then at him, completely bewildered. I hadn't done anything.

"Didn't you promise to let that child in?" Luo Lin suddenly realized, "No wonder he was able to put you in an illusion that day, it really was your fault."

An illusion? Does Luo Lin mean that the person who really wants to harm me is this man in front of me? I was a little confused. I don't know why, but although this man seemed to be an enemy, I couldn't hate him at all. On the contrary, I even felt that he was kind to me in some way.