Цветок весенней реки, лунная ночь

Глава 7

I almost fainted. How did she know? Is the woman in front of me a human or a ghost?

She suddenly laughed, a strange, eerie glint in her eyes, and continued singing in that chilling voice, "What a pity! What a pity!"

"What's a pity?" I suddenly became bolder. This woman who was pretending to be a ghost must have learned about my situation through some channel and was teasing me here.

"That woman is waiting for you in hell!" The woman's terrifying tone and the words she sang sent chills down my spine. I suddenly felt as if I had fallen into an ice cave, and I began to tremble. I watched as the woman, carrying a lantern, disappeared into the darkness like a ghost.

I stood there trembling, not daring to move. The scene from before was still vivid in my mind, and the woman's strange voice still lingered in my head. It wasn't until the club's management found me that they helped me back to "Youlanzhai".

He had been waiting at "Youlanzhai" for quite some time. When he saw my condition, he quickly prepared a tub of hot water for me. It took me a while to recover, and I cried in his arms as I told him what I had just seen. But he didn't seem to believe me, only comforting me by saying that he had put too much pressure on me and felt very sorry.

I barely slept all night, listening to his soft breathing beside me. Suddenly, I thought of every word that woman had said, and a strange feeling weighed heavily on my heart like a large stone.

After reading this long diary entry, Ningxia felt as if her heart had been squeezed by a powerful force, almost suffocating her.

Who exactly is the woman in red in this diary?

Without hesitation, Ningxia continued reading until, more than ten pages later, Su Yun returned to "Youlanzhai" one weekend.

May 6, 2006, sunny

After get off work today, I went to 'Youlanzhai' alone. The words of the woman I met in a dreamlike state more than ten days ago kept lingering in my mind. I decided to see her again and ask her for clarification.

Strangely, the club's management showed me photos of all their employees, and none of them included that woman. When I described what the woman I saw that night looked like, the two young women were clearly stunned, barely daring to breathe, and unable to explain what I had seen that night. Judging from her eyes, she seemed to think I was delusional, but she didn't want to say it aloud.

Lin Wei appeared; he was the club's general manager. After listening to my story, disbelief flashed in his eyes, his brow furrowed, and he remained silent, clearly unsure how to handle the situation. Seeing his troubled expression, I quickly explained that I might be hallucinating and wouldn't tell anyone. Lin Wei was greatly relieved and immediately had someone bring me a plate of fresh fruit to calm my nerves.

It was almost eleven o'clock when I finished taking a bath at "Youlanzhai". This time I didn't tell him I was there; I just wanted to be alone for a while.

Looking out at the deep night, I hesitated, wondering if I should go to the foot of the mountain to look for the woman. Just as I was pondering this, suddenly, a faint, will-o'-the-wisp-like white light appeared directly in front of me. That's it! That white light—the glow from the white lantern in the woman's hand! She's appeared again!

I quickly dressed and ran out of "Youlanzhai" towards the light. So many questions swirled in my mind that they completely suppressed my fear.

Sure enough, the woman was still standing at the end of the path I had walked before, carrying that white lantern. The dim light illuminated her still pale face. She was still wearing that red dress, and her hairstyle was unchanged. She stood there quietly, like a painting.

I was a little out of breath, and after taking a few deep breaths of fresh air, I nodded, as if we had reached some kind of unspoken understanding. The woman sang again, "Follow me!" and turned to leave.

Before I could even think for a second, I had to follow her footsteps, heading deeper into the back mountain. Her steps were the kind of dance steps only used on a theatrical stage; her skirt swayed gracefully with each step, exuding a captivating charm. But this charm felt particularly eerie in this time and place.

After walking for about ten minutes and turning several corners, I realized we had arrived at an extremely secluded place. All the clubhouse buildings were blocked out by the dense, dark trees surrounding them. A fresh scent unique to the forest wafted over, but it carried a chill that shouldn't be there for this season. Learning from my previous experience, I had deliberately worn a white jacket. I zipped up my jacket, but I felt the bone-chilling cold seep into my heart.

The leaves of the trees around them rustled in the wind, but the woman in front of them continued walking forward at her unhurried pace without saying a word.

A jarring building suddenly appeared ahead. The woman stopped, raised her lantern, and I could see the building clearly. It was a three-story Ming-style courtyard house, much like the one inside the clubhouse, but the exterior walls were badly damaged, and only one door remained. The inside was pitch black, and nothing could be seen at all. A gust of cold mountain wind blew by, and the half-open wooden door hanging on the wall suddenly creaked and groaned.

I immediately felt my hair stand on end and regretted coming to this place with this woman.

"Do you know where this is?" the woman suddenly asked, nearly scaring my heart out. I shook my head.

"This was once the villa of an official during the Ming Dynasty!" The woman's voice rang out eerily, enveloping me in a strange feeling.

"A princess from the Ming Dynasty once lived inside!"

"Princess?" I was puzzled. What was the purpose of this woman leading me to this godforsaken place and saying these things to me?

The woman seemed oblivious to my feelings, continuing to sing in her strange voice: "The princess fell in love with a married man, but unwilling to be a concubine, she ordered him to poison his wife! However, the emperor discovered the princess's affair with the man, flew into a rage, and banished him to this place. Because the princess had already lost her virginity, the emperor had no choice but to marry her off to the man." At this point, the woman suddenly gasped for breath. I was horrified, but my intense curiosity prevented me from interrupting her, allowing her to continue singing. But then she began to speak:

"After the princess truly married this man, she contracted a strange illness, a bizarre form of madness, and developed an intense urge to torment others. She tormented all the women in the household with a frenzied rage. The man was also tormented to the point of unbearable suffering, until one day, the princess suddenly demanded that the man take another concubine. The man was greatly surprised; how could the princess, with her almost insane jealousy, want him to take another concubine? But the princess insisted that the man take a woman, any woman would do. Because he was controlled by the emperor's spies, the man dared not offend the princess, and reluctantly married the daughter of a local magistrate. On the very first night the magistrate's daughter entered the household, the princess began her plan; she intended to torture the magistrate's daughter to death. The man was powerless and could only watch helplessly as the magistrate's daughter was led into the abyss by the princess's various horrifying tricks, and finally, unable to bear the immense fear, she hanged herself!" At this point, the woman paused, and a glimmer of light shone in her eyes under the white lantern light.

I was terrified by her story and didn't dare to breathe, only listening as she continued:

"A few days after the magistrate's daughter committed suicide, the princess was greatly satisfied. She again ordered the man to marry a wife so she could torment him. After a third innocent girl was frightened into suicide, the man vowed never to harm innocent people again and resolutely refused the princess's demands. Then, in one of the princess's most frenzied actions, the man, unable to bear it any longer, raised his knife and slashed at the princess. In her dying moments, the princess pierced the man's heart with a dagger, and they both perished."

I stared at her silently, speechless for a long time. Was she trying to hint at something to me with this story?

I suddenly felt like she was playing a trick on me, so I turned around and left abruptly.

A woman's haunting voice rose behind me: "You stole someone else's husband, you'll be punished! That woman is waiting for you in hell. Her curse has already begun!"

Ningxia stared blankly at the chilling sentences in the diary, and the image of that woman singing a soft opera seemed to appear before her eyes. A chill instantly seeped into her skin, through her capillaries, and down to the deepest part of her heart.

She slammed the diary shut, gasping for breath. It seemed that Su Yun's words had plunged her into an unfathomable abyss, where an unpredictable force was pulling her down.

From the illusions seen in that eerie ancient mirror to the successive deaths of Su Yun and Chen Ying; Ji Xue's tragic fate in "Tales of the Ancient Mirror"; and the bizarre experiences recorded by Su Yun before his death, Ning Xia was terrified. She vaguely felt that everything happening around her was being pulled together by a mysterious and terrifying force!

All of this plunged her into an unprecedented state of panic.

A sudden ringtone pulled Ningxia back from her reverie.

"Hello?" Ningxia answered the phone without looking at the caller ID.

"Ningxia! It's me!" Fang Jian's slightly anxious voice came from the other end. "I just got home and saw the email you forwarded. I was a little worried about you, so I called you right away. Are you alright?"

Ningxia quickly pulled herself out of her daze and said, "It's nothing!"

Do you know that 'Avenger'?

"I don't recognize him! That's why I find it strange!"

"By the way! After you got that ancient mirror, who did you tell about it?"

"My two classmates were the first to know! Later, I briefly mentioned it on my blog, but without going into details. After that, you and Professor Yu were the ones who knew more!" Ningxia thought for a moment.

"Your classmate?"

"It can't be them!" Ningxia abruptly interrupted Fang Jian's guess, and after a moment's hesitation, she explained, "Both of them have had an accident..." She briefly recounted what had happened to Su Yun and Chen Ying.

Fang Jian remained silent for a while. Suddenly, Ning Xia remembered something and asked, "Why was there no signal when I called you earlier?"

"I... just now, I was at Professor Yu's house, maybe my phone ran out of battery?" Fang Jian's stammering voice came from the other end.

Ningxia's heart skipped a beat. She said calmly, "Never mind! It's late now. I think you must be tired. Get some rest!" With that, she hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Ningxia's heart raced again. Fang Jian's words had reminded her that there were only four people who truly knew she possessed the ancient mirror. Su Yun and Chen Ying were definitely not among them. So, what about Fang Jian and Professor Yu? Professor Yu was nearly seventy years old; would he still enjoy playing with computers and such? That left only one person! But she quickly shook her head. She couldn't jump to conclusions so quickly. If it really was Fang Jian, why was he in such a hurry to help her find the ancient mirror after Professor Yu's death?

Ningxia sighed wearily, her mind filled with too many questions. She turned off the lamp and lay down. Outside, it was quiet, not even a breeze, and the sycamore trees weren't putting on their shadow puppet show on the opposite wall. She tossed and turned, her mind crammed full of thoughts, almost bursting, making sleep impossible. She forced herself to stop thinking about these things, but her brain seemed to have no will to obey, instead flooding in even more, making it hard for her to breathe.

"Brother!" Ningxia looked at the heartbroken Ningkang and felt a pang of sorrow in her heart. Tears streamed down her face without her realizing it.

"Xia!" Ning Kang turned around, somewhat embarrassed, but still unable to hide the sorrow in his eyes. Although he stopped crying, the tears still flowed.

Looking at the handsome face that had once captivated countless young girls, now transformed in just a few years into the haggard, middle-aged man before her, Ningxia burst into tears. Ning Kang was nearly ten years older than her and had always been extremely protective and caring towards her. Since following Jian Na to Shanghai six years ago, she had never received Ning Kang's care again. And now, she was the one taking care of this seemingly mature, yet equally fragile, older brother.

He calmed down after taking a sip of the hot tea brought by Ningxia, but the tear stains were still wet.

"Sister-in-law... has everything been taken care of?" Ningxia didn't know how to start the conversation, but she immediately regretted it. Why did she have to bring up such a sensitive topic? But Ningkang didn't seem to mind and nodded slightly.

"So what will happen to the firm in Shanghai now that you're back?" Ningxia breathed a sigh of relief. Ever since he returned, she hadn't dared to mention his work.

"I asked a friend to help out over there, so I'm coming back to rest for a while!" Ning Kang's eyes were filled with sadness as he turned to look at her. "What about you? Why haven't you been going to work these past few days?"

"Me? I took leave from work so I could stay home and spend more time with you!"

"Keep me company? No need! I'm a grown man, do I need a little girl like you to keep me company?" Ning Kang feigned a smile.

Ningxia suddenly remembered something: "Since I still have a few days off, how about I take you somewhere to relax?" Looking at Ningxia's concerned eyes, Ning Kang sighed, a rare smile appearing on his face: "Alright! You tell me, where do you want to go?"

"Great! You decide!" Seeing that Ning Kang's mood seemed to have improved, her mood also improved.

Ning Kang lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked up and suggested, "How about we go stay in Black Town for a couple of days? I heard that the Ming-style buildings there are very well preserved! ...Hey! What's wrong with you? You look so pale!" He noticed that Ning Xia's expression had suddenly changed.

"That's how it is..." Ningxia lowered her head and thought for a moment, then told Ningkang everything, from buying the ancient mirror back from Black Town to the threatening letters from the "Avengers".

Ning Kang's expression grew increasingly solemn. He hadn't expected that so many strange and frightening things would happen around Ning Xia in less than two months.

"You mean you saw that person's image in this mirror?" Ning Kang examined the box in front of him repeatedly, without doubting Ning Xia's words. Perhaps others would think Ning Xia was hallucinating, but Ning Kang knew his little sister very well; she would never lie to her family.

"Hmm! Moreover, I always feel that the woman in this book, *Tales of the Ancient Mirror*, the woman mentioned in Su Yun's diary, and the painting I saw in that funerary object shop might be connected!"

"Su Yun's diary?" Ning Kang's brows furrowed deeply, his gaze fixed on the diary, and he remained silent for a long time.

"Brother! Brother!" Ningxia noticed that Ningkang's eyes were still glued to the diary in his hands, so she handed it to him. "Take a look!"

"No! Don't give it to me!" Ning Kang hurriedly backed away, as if the diary were a hot coal.

Ningxia was stunned for a moment.

"Oh, Su Yun is your classmate. You should see for yourself," Ning Kang said uneasily. He then turned his head and gazed quietly out the window. After a moment, he said softly, "Do you want to know about Jianna?"

"Sister-in-law?" Ningxia was a little surprised. Why would Ning Kang suddenly mention Jianna? She had never dared to mention Jianna in front of him before, for fear of upsetting him.

Ning Kang's eyes remained fixed on the window, his voice weary: "Actually, Jianna had already begun to suffer from mental instability six months ago! And she spent her final days in a mental hospital!"

"What exactly happened?"

Do you know why Jenna and I originally got married?

"She's pregnant, isn't she?"

"Yes! She's pregnant, that's what she said, we've all been fooled by her! All of us, including Mom and Dad and me!" Ning Kang's tone didn't seem to blame Jian Na, but her words shocked Ning Xia quite a bit.

"If she hadn't been pregnant, you wouldn't have married her so quickly, and you wouldn't have insisted on going to Shanghai. Then, Mom and Dad wouldn't have taken that plane just to visit you, and they wouldn't have..." Ningxia looked at Ningkang, unable to continue.

Ning Kang said with some guilt, "You must hate her right now! She indirectly caused Mom and Dad's deaths!"

Ningxia shook her head, tears welling in her eyes: "I don't hate her, I just feel like fate is playing a cruel joke on us!"

"I don't know either! Perhaps this is a reason that can never be explained!" Ning Kang sighed deeply. "Actually, after her parents passed away, Janna felt extremely guilty. For almost six months, she cried every day and eventually developed severe depression!"

Ningxia looked at Ningkang in surprise. Wasn't she herself tormented through that most painful period of time?

"She was filled with extreme remorse every day, hoping that none of this would have happened and that her parents would come back to life. I didn't know what to say, I could only hope that time would heal all wounds. But later, Jenna's condition worsened. She would see her parents coming to see her from time to time, and she said she could see them even in broad daylight. In the end, I had no choice but to discuss with her parents and send her to the hospital for treatment for a period of time."

"What is it?" Ningxia pressed.

"A sachet!"

"A sachet? Strange? They sell them everywhere!"

"It was a sachet from the Ming Dynasty. Janna said it was a gift from a secret friend. I didn't think much of it; she's always been so strange." As he said this, a trace of pain flashed in Ning Kang's eyes.

"What action?" Ningxia's inexplicable feeling suddenly returned. Ning Kang looked at her, hesitant, unsure whether he should tell her these things. After a pause, he said, "She dreams of strange things almost every night, and they're all related to this sachet. She told me that the owner of this sachet was the wife of a very wealthy family in the Ming Dynasty! And she was framed and killed!" Hearing this, Ningxia suddenly remembered the nightmare she had a couple of days ago. Could the "Xiangnan" that Jianna mentioned be the sachet? Was that "he" actually "she," the woman in her dream?

Ningxia found it unbelievable, and after thinking for a moment, said, "Was it something my sister-in-law... dreamed about?"

Ning Kang nodded, his expression grave: "Jenna said this woman comes to her dreams almost every night, crying and telling her about the pain she's suffering!"

What kind of pain?

"I don't know! I don't believe what she's saying, but I don't want to contradict her, so I just chime in with a few words. As a result, Janna has completely gone mad!" Ning Kang's voice rose without him realizing it.

"What happened next?" Ningxia's question deepened.

"In the end, Jenna absurdly told me that the sachet was cursed by the woman she dreamed of, and that if I kept wearing it, it would prevent a third party from getting involved! So, Jenna insisted that I wear it! It's utterly unreasonable!" Ning Kang was clearly indignant about Jenna's actions.

Did you wear it?

"Of course not! How could I wear that monstrosity around discussing lawsuits with clients and going to court!"