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She dreamt that Xiaoyue was running through the oleander bushes, watched by countless evil eyes. She also saw Yingniang being dragged and pushed into the street, a tattered shoe stained with excrement hanging around her neck, her bare back and chest covered in filthy ink…

As evening fell, smoke curled from the chimneys of every household in the village. Lu Sheng was seen carrying a bundle of firewood down the mountain—he was using crutches to walk on one leg, practically dragging his other leg, his whole body twisting with difficulty. Wu Bingbing quickly ran over, unloaded the bundle of firewood from his back without a word, and carried it to his courtyard.

Inside. Zhang Qun also stepped forward to help him, but he awkwardly pulled his arm away.

Lu Sheng looked at Wu Bingbing and said, "Thank you. You really look like her." Wu Bingbing asked, "Wang Xiaoyue?"

Lu Sheng nodded: "She's a good person. She couldn't have harmed those people." After saying that, he raised his eyes and looked over the courtyard wall at the distant cliffs.

On the western cliff stand several large trees with gnarled and twisted branches, from which hangs a jumble of broken pieces, like tattered pieces of cloth, silhouetted against the gray sky.

Lu Sheng said, "Wang Nao's family died a terrible death. Their bodies were hanging on those trees for more than a month, and no one dared to take them down. They were torn apart by vultures and fell down. Only then did others help clean up and bury them." As he spoke, he shook his head with lingering fear, "Everyone says that Xiao Yue killed them, but I don't believe it was her."

Just then, they saw Village Chief Shi walking towards them from a distance.

Lu Sheng said, "Don't trust the guy surnamed Shi. He's no different from the old village chief Wang Nao. He's no good either."

He led people to dig up Xiaoyue and her mother's graves; he'll get his comeuppance. Don't believe this bastard's words.

When Village Chief Shi approached, Lu Sheng had already turned and gone into the house. He tilted his head and peered into the house, then said to the two of them, "I've been looking for you for ages. You're having dinner at Widow Bian's house tonight."

The widow placed a large pot lid on a square stool, which served as a makeshift dining table.

She said shyly that they had never had guests or used a dining table before. A large stack of cornbread was brought out, along with a bowl of corn porridge for each person. On the lid of the pot in the middle was a bowl of steamed vegetables and a bowl of scrambled eggs with toon sprouts. The village chief ate with them, saying that this was good enough for people in the mountains. Villagers usually couldn't afford to eat eggs; they would take them to the market in Badong outside the mountains to exchange for oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. The village chief ate with relish as he spoke.

After the meal, the village chief wiped his mouth and said, "You two chat here, I have something to do and I'll be leaving now."

The two said it was alright, and that the village chief could go ahead. The village chief hesitated, stammering. "Sigh, I'm craving a cigarette. I wanted to go to Badong outside the mountains to buy a few packs, but I forgot my money..." Bingbing quickly pulled out a hundred yuan, which he accepted with a nod. The widow scoffed, "I know what you're going to do! Go see that slut!" The village chief secretly pinched her, saying, "Don't talk nonsense. I really have something to do. I'll come back to find you later." The widow said, "You have your business, and I have mine. Don't come back later; I have to visit other people."

After the village chief left, Wu Bingbing asked the widow Bian, "Why didn't Village Chief Shi tell us about Yingniang when we asked her about her? Did he have some kind of conflict with Yingniang before?"

"There are some. How old is Yingniang? How old is Shi? He was still young then, so he wouldn't have any conflicts with Yingniang. But he and Xiaoyue are about the same age. Some people say he liked Xiaoyue when he was little, but that was before I married into this village. It's said that all the boys his age in the village liked Xiaoyue."

What's your take on the deaths in the village over the past two months?

"It's hard to say. People keep dying, and nobody knows who's responsible. Nobody's seen it with their own eyes; it's all just speculation. Some say Yingniang and her daughter have returned—is that even possible?"

"Is it true that the villagers dug up the mother and child's graves?"

"That's right. Some people say that her mother and daughter's graves were buried in a shady place on the mountain, and their restless spirits came back to cause trouble. Everyone in the village was scared, so the village chief led them to dig up the graves."

"Were all those who died Yingniang's past enemies?"

"Not entirely, right? There are also people she has absolutely no connection with. I don't think it's related to her and her daughter, nor is it anything ghostly or supernatural. It might be a big bird, a man-eating, supernatural bird, that came to the village specifically to snatch people up and eat them. Besides a bird, who else has the strength to carry a person up to the treetop?"

At this moment, the widow suddenly stopped speaking and listened intently. A knocking sound came from outside the window, and a hint of joy flickered across her face: "I have to go. I'm quite afraid to stay alone at night, so I'm going to my cousin's house on the east side. I'm afraid she'll worry about me if I'm late!"

As the widow left, she took a change of clothes, closed the doors and windows tightly, and then almost ran eastward. Following the direction she ran, a man was looking this way in front of a house high on the hillside at the eastern end of the village. The widow impatiently ran towards him.

They met the old woman on the road. The old woman was carrying a bundle of firewood from the east side of the village to the northwest corner, her steps light and strong. If it weren't for her white hair, she would have looked like a young person from behind. Bingbing offered to help her carry it, but the old woman said no, you might not be as strong as me. Bingbing asked the old woman how old she was and why she didn't let her son carry it. The old woman said, "I'm 83 years old, I have no children, everyone calls me Grandma Cuckoo, the kind of cuckoo that always calls 'bitterly, bitterly, bitterly.'" Bingbing asked, "And who's with you?" The old woman thought for a moment and said, "Are you talking about a fool? He's not my son. If my son were alive, he'd be 60 years old." Bingbing asked if they could come to her house for a while. The old woman said, "It's rare for someone to care about an old woman like me, that's wonderful. Finally, someone to talk to and listen to my ramblings."

"Grandma, do you know what happened to Yingniang a while ago?" Bingbing asked.

"Everyone in the village knows, and besides, I'm her neighbor. She lives on the west side."

Grandma Cuckoo led them westward. The terrain outside the village rose higher and higher, with sparse houses dotting the hillsides, surrounded by tangled weeds and wild trees. Rocks jutted out from the fields in front of and behind the houses, obstructing the path and their view. They walked around the rocks and came to a vast expanse of oleanders ahead, tall and dense, stretching as far as the eye could see, completely obscuring the houses. The old woman muttered as she walked, saying that when the houses were first built, the oleanders weren't this tall; they had grown wildly over the years. Soon they reached their own house. The old woman said that Yingniang used to live up ahead, but her house had long since collapsed.

The old woman's house was a low, thatched-roof house built of stone. Inside, she lit an oil lamp, its dim light flickering and illuminating the dilapidated space. Zhang Qun said the village had electricity, and asked why she didn't use electric lights. The old woman replied, "I don't have a way to earn money; I can't afford electricity. Oil lamps are more economical." Hearing this, the two felt a pang of sadness. Bingbing took out 200 yuan and handed it to the old woman, saying, "This is a small token of our appreciation; please help me out." The old woman accepted it gratefully, saying, "You are truly kind people."

She put the money in the rice bag behind her, sighed, and said, "I'm not much better than that Yingniang."

"We want to know, how did Yingniang die?"

"He was driven to his death by the villagers; those people are truly wicked!"

"Is that the old village chief, Wang Nao? Everyone says it's him?"

"It's not just him, it's all the people in the village," said Granny Cuckoo. "There are so many bachelors. All the good women have been married off to men from outside the mountains, but they can't even bring one over themselves. All they do is bully the women in the village. And those who have wives are also greedy, like boars, running around the village every night, making a mess of things. It's the helpless widows who suffer. Outsiders don't know how much Yingniang has suffered. After her daughter went to school outside the mountains, she was left alone at home. How could she possibly guard the house? Those men would break in at night and harass her, then jump out the window. In the darkness, she wouldn't even know who it was."

"Later, she couldn't bear it any longer and decided to use methods to deal with them. Her father was a physician for three generations, and his close female disciple was a witch doctor who often flew around the mountains in their hometown to collect herbs. She knew many magical arts and had taught her some. When she grew up, she taught her a spell to shrink one's genitals, saying that if a man ever bullied her, she should use this spell to deal with him. She also taught her many other things. After her father died, the sorceress wanted her to go up the mountain with her, but she liked the painter and didn't want to go. Now, when she was suffering, she really regretted not listening to the sorceress. She only used spells on Yang Hongde and Wang Nao because she liked them. She didn't want to use magic to harm people, but the villagers forced her to."

"It was from that time on that some men in the village contracted 'penis shrinkage disease.' At first, they kept it a secret, thinking it would get better after a while, but later they were disappointed and scared. The men all said that Yingniang knew witchcraft, and no one dared to go to Yingniang's house anymore. Because of the 'penis shrinkage disease,' many families had internal conflicts, and half the village was in turmoil. The women cursed Yingniang as a jinx, dumped excrement on her courtyard wall, and splashed dirty water at her doorstep. At night, they threw stones at her house, smashing things inside and knocking them over..."

"That autumn, another incident occurred, which angered the villagers once again. That day, Wang Nao's eldest daughter, Xiao Ai, was getting married. Her in-laws from outside the mountain carried a decorated sedan chair to pick her up, but unexpectedly, they ran into Ying Niang coming down from the mountaintop, carrying a bloody rabbit. Everyone felt it was a bit of a bummer and unlucky, and didn't think much of it. But after the incident the next day, everyone connected it with Ying Niang and believed that Ying Niang was responsible."

"Did something happen to the wedding party? What happened?"

"When those people came down the mountain, it was already dark. Suddenly, a heavy rain started on the mountain road, so heavy that it was impossible to open one's eyes. The mountain road was already slippery, and then they ran into a large group of wild boars. The men were all drunk and only cared about running forward to save their lives. As a result, they overturned the decorated sedan chair, and Xiao Ai rolled down the cliff and fell to her death."

"What does her death have to do with Yingniang?"

"But everyone in the village said it was Yingniang who had cursed her, saying she hated Wang Nao. Wang Nao's whole family came to Yingniang's house and made a scene, dragging her outside by her hair and beating her, stripping her naked, leaving her covered in bruises, and breaking one of her legs. She lay in bed for months, with no one to take care of her, so you can imagine how she survived. She ate dried sweet potatoes and corn kernels almost every day, getting out of bed only once a day to drink some raw water. Some kind-hearted women came to see her, and seeing her like that, they thought she might as well be dead. Yingniang seemed to read their minds, saying, 'I won't die, I'm still waiting for my daughter, my daughter will take me away from here.' Everyone thought she was crazy, because her daughter had already died before that, forced to death by Yang Hongde's son."

She's still waiting for her daughter; she must be crazy to be doing this.

“If it were an ordinary person, they would have given up on life after living such a hard life,” Zhang Qun said.

“I think so too. Grandma, when did Yingniang die?” Bingbing asked.

"Two years later, it was winter... and it was snowing heavily. She fell ill that night, her whole body was cold, and her legs were throbbing with pain. She lit some firewood to keep warm... The fire grew bigger and bigger, and even her quilt caught fire. She didn't have the strength to put out the fire, or even to get out of bed, and she burned to death in the house."

Upon hearing this, the two couldn't help but sigh.

Before they knew it, it was already late at night. The old woman spread a bundle of dry grass on the ground, took out a quilt, and laid it on top, letting the two girls sleep for a while. Zhang Qun lay down and quickly fell asleep. Bingbing, however, tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Thinking about Yingniang's fate, she felt heartbroken and wanted to cry.

When she finally fell asleep, she kept having dreams.

She dreamt that Xiaoyue was running through oleander bushes, countless evil eyes peering at her from within. Yingniang called out her daughter's name, chasing after her shadow; she dreamt that Yingniang was dragged and pushed into the street, a tattered shoe stained with excrement hanging around her neck, her clothes stripped off, her bare back and chest covered in filthy words written in ink; she dreamt of a burning house, Yingniang struggling to crawl out, the fire catching her clothes, catching her hair, she crawled and crawled until she could no longer move, her whole body turning into a ball of flame, and from the flames, one could hear her piercing screams…

In the latter half of the night, she dreamt of Jiang Lan again. Dressed entirely in white, she flew back to her mother's grave north of the village. There she saw her mother's dug-up grave and heard her mother's distant, ethereal cries… She learned that Village Chief Shi had led men to desecrate her mother's grave, leaving her nowhere to hide even as a ghost. Jiang Lan was instantly enraged, running and screaming on the hillside, cursing Village Chief Shi. The villagers banged pots and pans, trying to scare her away. She flew above the village, her silvery light illuminating the sky. She saw the village chief hiding behind a stone wall, rushed over like lightning, and smashed a hole in the house. Grabbing the village chief by the neck, she tossed him out and swung him around in the air like a whip. Then she hung him on a tree branch on the western cliff, laughing loudly as she departed…

Bingbing was startled awake by the laughter, her body drenched in sweat. It was now broad daylight. She glanced at Zhang Qun and screamed in terror—Zhang Qun was sleeping in the grass, while she herself was clearly lying on a pile of rubble. Looking closer, she saw an open roof, collapsed walls, and the house overgrown with weeds. This wasn't her grandmother's house; it was clearly the ruins of Yingniang's burned-down home. Zhang Qun, also awakened, screamed in disbelief. Daylight had broken, and after a moment of surprise, their fear subsided.

“The old woman lured us here to tell us some facts,” Zhang Qun said. “The old woman is either Yingniang or a witch, Yingniang’s sorceress.”

Bingbing said, "She doesn't look like Yingniang. I think she must be that sorceress."

They discovered that the money Bingbing gave the old man last night was buried in a nearby mound of earth.

“She can change the scene to deceive us; she’s either a ghost or a demon,” Zhang Qun said.

"Let's search inside and see if we can find anything from Yingniang's past."

"Maybe we can find that longevity lock?" Zhang Qun said.

A stone wall lay amidst thorns and weeds, clearly untouched by anyone. Even the logs that hadn't been completely burned in the fire remained, piled up, blackened and hard, preserving their original state from when they collapsed. The two women searched the house; the tables, chairs, and wooden cabinets were now just ash, even the stove and earthen pit were cracked and collapsed, sprouting lush wild grass. In a creek beneath a section of the stone wall, they found a small, rusty square iron box. Opening it, they found three letters. Except for the faded, yellowed writing on the envelopes, everything else was intact. They carefully opened the letters; they were all addressed to Wang Xiaoyue, expressing their pain of longing and hoping for a reply. The letter was from the Fine Arts Department of Zhongzhou University, written by Gu Hongsheng. As they wondered who this Gu was, they saw Lu Sheng approaching on crutches. The two women waved triumphantly at him.

Lu Sheng said, "I saw you two walking this way last night, and I thought you were going to the village chief's house. I didn't expect you to come here. Did you stay overnight, or did you come again early this morning?"

Zhang Qun said, "When we came here yesterday, did you see an old lady leading the way?"

Lu Sheng said, "I only see the two of you, there's no old woman here. Come out quickly, I'm worried you two might be possessed by a ghost. Someone was possessed by a ghost before and almost died. Come out quickly!"

Just then, Village Chief Shi arrived from nearby. He shouted, "What are you doing here? Even if you're curious, you shouldn't be here! If the villagers see you, they'll think you're monsters. Like ghosts!"

Wu Bingbing said, "We've seen a ghost, Village Chief! I even had a dream last night where I knew you dug up Yingniang and her daughter's graves, and her daughter came back to seek revenge!"

"Revenge?" The village chief was immediately shocked. "I didn't offend them. I was just afraid they'd haunt me and become ghosts to kill people... The villagers asked me to take them there, it wasn't just me!"

“The dead lie in the ground, and you won’t let them rest in peace. By digging up their graves, you’ve left them with nowhere to live in the underworld. Her daughter came here specifically because of you.”

The village chief stammered, "You dreamt she came again? What does she want?"

“I saw her kill you and hang your body on that tree over there.”

"Oh my god!" the village chief cried out. "I didn't harm her! I'm not Wang Nao, why would she try to kill me? ...Don't scare me! I'll go and fill in the grave right now, make it look like it was before, okay? I really regret it! I shouldn't have listened to Wang Nao's relatives, I shouldn't have gone with them to dig up the grave. What am I supposed to do now? I'll take some people to fill in the grave and restore it to its original state, okay? What bad luck!"

Lu Sheng, standing nearby, said, "I told you long ago that you shouldn't do this. This is a sin, and there will be retribution for it. You didn't listen, and you even called me stupid."

"I have to go and fill in her grave." The village chief hurried away.

Zhang Qun said, "The village chief is scared; Jiang Lan might retaliate against him?"

Bingbing said, "It's very likely. When I came here, I saw my dad, and he told me that Jiang Lan was shot by a prison guard when she went to the prison to kill Geng Qingshan. I had also shot her with a hunting rifle before. She was seriously injured and probably can't fly that far, which explains why she hasn't come back recently. The reason I dreamed that she came back is probably related to her current thoughts. I can sense her inner desires, which proves that she is thinking about coming back for revenge."

Zhang Qun asked, "What if she comes back with us? For example, she—"

Bingbing said, "Don't scare me! I hope she doesn't come back, I hope she's lost her magic."

Zhang Qun said, "No matter what, we need to find out about her background and find that longevity lock."

Bingbing said, "Yes, we can only follow her experiences and investigate further."

Chapter Nineteen

She drilled a hole in the longevity lock with a needle, dripped the baby's blood into it, and then squeezed the blood from the wolf's heart into the lock. She then heated the lock over a fire, and in a short while, the hole was sealed.

Lu Sheng and Xiao Yue were classmates in high school. He finally recounted Xiao Yue's experiences after leaving the village. Xiao Yue also had a classmate, Xiu Yun, who married into a mountain village 30 miles away. The two of them met her the next day in a market town. They also went to the county town and the high school, finding some of the teachers and staff from 15 years ago and asking them in detail about Xiao Yue's situation. Zhang Qun compiled the information they gathered into his laptop. Although the information was not comprehensive and the accounts differed, their stories all corroborated the tragic experiences of Wang Xiao Yue. The two of them often wept as they listened.

The high school Xiaoyue attended happened to be the same place Yang Li worked. Yang Li was the boiler operator at the school, a position arranged by his uncle, who was the deputy county head. Yang Li was naturally happy to see Xiaoyue frequently at his school; however, Xiaoyue knew this coincidence wasn't a good thing, but she never imagined it would bring her so much trouble later on.

Xiuyun said, "The students from the mountains all live on campus. Xiaoyue, Xiaoyuan, and I happen to be in the same dormitory. Xiaoyuan is different from Xiaoyue and me. Her father, Wang Nao, is the village head, so her family is rich. You can tell from the food and things they eat. Xiaoye and I bring our own food. Every week, we go home and bring back a basket of steamed buns, all coarse grains. We have to be careful with our food, and what we bring has to last a week. Every meal, we heat up the steamed buns we brought at the student cafeteria, then spend a dime to buy a bowl of porridge, and eat it with some salt water or chili sauce. Unlike Xiaoyuan, she can buy meat and vegetables with every meal. Sometimes, if she doesn't like the cafeteria food, she'll eat at a restaurant on the street. Everyone in the dormitory knows that Xiaoyuan looks down on Xiaoyue—she doesn't have much to offer, but she just doesn't give Xiaoyue a second glance. She's always making sarcastic remarks and bringing up Xiaoyue's family affairs." "Weigh it out." Xiaoyue focused on her studies, not wanting to cause trouble, and tolerated Xiaoyuan's behavior as much as possible, pretending not to hear anything. At that time, Yang Li frequently sought out Xiaoyue, and Xiaoyue went out with him twice. Because he was always physically abusive, Xiaoyue intentionally avoided him. Xiaoyuan often bullied Xiaoyue, even blaming her for lost items. Once, during evening self-study, Xiaoyuan picked a fight again, and Xiaoyue cried in a corner of the playground, feeling wronged. Later, Xiaoyue simply went to Yang Li and told him about the bullying. After Yang Li intervened, Xiaoyuan never dared to act arrogantly in front of Xiaoyue again. Yang Li was more than ten years older than Xiaoyue, knew how to coax and comfort people, and knew how to make girls happy. Xiaoyue and Yang Li spent more and more time together. Actually, at that time, Lu Sheng had feelings for Xiaoyue, and he didn't want her to get too close to Yang Li, so he even kept an eye on her.

The school's boiler room was located at the back of the campus, separated from the living area by the school-run factory. However, the factory had ceased production at the time, and no one went to those dilapidated buildings, making the boiler room particularly quiet in a corner of the campus. Beyond the boiler room was the perimeter wall; looking up, one could see the hillside, the distant woods, and the mountain peaks. The school security guard said that Yang Li had dug a hole at the base of the wall, which he usually concealed with tree branches. He had taken Xiaoyue through that hole more than once to run into the woods on the hillside. Xiaoyue often took her sketchbook, and sometimes her drawing pad, and would sit on the hillside for half a day. In between, Yang Li, unable to wait any longer, would sneak back into the room to get something to eat before going back.

Everyone thought that Yang Li, who wasn't well-educated and lacked ambition, didn't want Xiao Yue to study hard, or even make any progress. Someone who overheard their conversation said that once Yang Li tried to persuade Xiao Yue, "Stop studying! Let's get married and settle down. I guarantee you'll never have to worry about food or clothing." Xiao Yue refused, saying she loved reading and painting. Yang Li suggested her uncle find her a job. Xiao Yue said she didn't want that; she wanted to go to art school. Yang Li said, "You can't possibly get in." Xiao Yue said, "I believe I can." Yang Li said, "What if you get into university and become a painter? Will you still remember me?" Xiao Yue said, "Of course I will. You helped me; I'll never forget you." Yang Li said, "Forgetting you is nothing! The point is, I was a boiler operator. You'll become a painter, see the world, meet so many people—will you still remember me?" Xiao Yue said, "Even if I don't remember, everyone will remember you." Yang Li asked, "Truth or lie?" Xiao Yue replied, "Of course it's the truth!" Yang Li asked, "Will you still remember our engagement?" Xiao Yue said, "Of course I remember!" Yang Li asked, "Will you still marry me then?" Xiao Yue said, "Of course I will." At that moment, Yang Li was both happy, anxious, and worried...

Lu Sheng said, "I admit, I had feelings for Xiaoyue back then. I felt I was ten times, a hundred times better than Yang Li! Xiaoyue and I grew up together. Out of all the boys and girls in the village, I cared about Xiaoyue the most. What is Yang Li? He's a coward, just like his father, Yang Hongde. So what if he has an uncle who's an official? So what if his family has a little money? Xiaoyue's mother married her daughter off to his family because of that. Everyone knows she had no choice. She originally wanted to save her daughter, but she ended up ruining her."

If it weren't for that, Xiaoyue would definitely be with me. Xiaoyue is a good girl, and she's not like Yang Li at all. Her later changes were all caused by Yang Li seducing her. It was that bastard Yang Li who ruined her.

Yang Li would come to see her during evening self-study sessions, using sweet words to entice her. Whenever she went out with Yang Li, I would secretly sneak out and follow them, afraid that Xiaoyue would be taken advantage of. At first, Xiaoyue was able to control herself. Sometimes, as soon as the bell rang for the end of evening self-study at Yang Li's room next to the boiler room, she would come out and run quickly back to her dormitory, and Yang Li couldn't stop her. Later, Yang Li catered to her preferences, racking his brains to coax her, and she slowly changed. For example, if she didn't eat well, Yang Li would cook her all sorts of delicious food. When she was in a bad mood, Yang Li would take her to the movies, take her to play on the hillside, and even let her listen to music in his dormitory. He would even pose as a model for her to draw. Xiaoyue was so young and didn't understand much about relationships between men and women. She liked being with Yang Li simply because she liked the atmosphere, liked having someone care for her and look after her, liked the freedom to eat whatever she wanted and play however she wanted, and liked the sense of security of not having to worry about others or being bullied. Yang Li, however, harbored cunning schemes. He took advantage of her immaturity, using feigned tenderness to seduce and entice her until he completely possessed her.

One weekend night, Xiaoyue went to Yangli's dormitory again. Unexpectedly, it rained that night. Xiaoyue didn't come out after evening self-study, nor after the lights-out bell. She still hadn't come out past midnight. I stood under the water tower opposite the building, soaked to the bone, feeling an indescribable unease. My nose felt like it was being pinched by pliers, and tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. At that moment, I hated that I didn't have a rich father; I couldn't even support myself, let alone provide for Xiaoyue's needs. She really got together with someone else; she quickly became someone else's wife.

Then I got angry with Xiaoyue, scolding her for being narrow-minded and materialistic, for eyeing Yang Li's family's status and money. But then I thought about it and realized Xiaoyue was helpless. She came from such a family, was naturally beautiful, and so unwilling to accept her fate, yet destiny didn't give her many choices. She just clung to what little she had, just wanting basic survival, while enduring so much bitterness and conforming to so many things she didn't want to do. She had it tough. Thinking this way, I didn't know who to blame. Although I understood, I was still unwilling to give up. I stood under the eaves in the rain, hoping Xiaoyue would come out in just one more minute. Finally, disappointed, I picked up a brick and ran over, smashing it against the door. When Yang Li came out to look, I hid at a distance, watching him glance around before going back inside. I smashed the door again with the brick. Again, Yang Li came out, cursed a few times, and closed the door. Xiaoyue never came out. Xiaoyue never left. I was soaked to the bone, and my heart was cold. Finally, I left, never again spying on her. It was from that time that I heard Xiuyun say that Xiaoyue often went to Yangli's place to stay at night.

"Many classmates guessed that Xiaoyue wouldn't be able to continue her studies. Unexpectedly, Xiaoyue consistently scored above 95 in all her subjects on every quiz, and Yang Li bought her a lot of paints, so she often went out to paint. My studies were ruined from then on; I really lost interest in studying, wondering what the point was, and even if I got into university, I wouldn't be able to be with Xiaoyue. One time I ran into Xiaoyue, and she asked me why I seemed so distracted. I said nothing was wrong, forcing a smile to hide my true feelings. Xiaoyue said, 'I know it was you who threw the brick that night.' I was shocked. Then, what shocked me even more was that she said, 'I married Yang Li. I just wanted to tell you, but you mustn't tell anyone.' How could that be?" I almost yelled at her. Xiaoyue said, "Yang Li keeps pressuring me to marry him. If I don't agree, he says I'm not sincere, as if I'm deceiving his family. I just said, 'Fine, let's get married then.' He took some of my photos and went out to find someone to get two marriage certificates back. I was in class that day, and he called me out to show me the certificates." I said, "Xiaoyue, you're so rash. Do you think marriage is a game?" Xiaoyue said, "A girl like me, with my family like that, has ambitions that are sky-high but fate that's as fragile as paper. I'm lucky to have someone help me. I'm afraid others won't help me!" She patted my shoulder, telling me not to waste my time on her, and to try to go to university, leave this remote mountain village, and go to a big city so people will respect me. I asked her, "Don't you want to go to university and leave?" She said, "Of course I do. I won't stay in this wretched place; I'll go far away." I said, "Then why did you marry Yang Li?" She seemed to think it wasn't a big deal, asking, "Will getting married affect my going abroad?" I thought it would, but I didn't say anything. She said, "Who cares? We'll just take it one step at a time!" Finally, as she left, she said, "Listen to me, focus on your studies!"

Later, all the classmates and teachers knew Xiaoyue's story. That autumn, she successfully passed the entrance exam for the Art Department of Zhongzhou University, majoring in fine arts. However, everyone knew that she was expelled from the school after only three months of study. The punishment was due to Yang Li's troublemaking, just as Lu Sheng had worried at the time, it was influenced by her past relationship with Yang Li.

There are many different opinions about her dropping out of school, but the basic facts are all pretty much the same.

Yang Li's words were entirely reasonable; he portrayed himself as a victim. She said that after Xiaoyue was admitted to university, she sent him a letter thanking him for his past care and help, saying she would never forget him or his whole family, and then she disappeared. Two months later, he received her second letter, saying she had always considered him an older brother, but the bond between siblings was different; he shouldn't have used connections to get the marriage certificate, and she asked him to get rid of it after receiving the letter. In the past, they were both naive and didn't understand love; only after entering university did they realize that agreeing to marry him was purely a joke. She loved painting, a different kind of life, and asked him to understand her; she would always remember him as her older brother. Yang Li didn't want to be her older brother; he wanted her, this beauty. He first returned to Shimen Village and told Yingniang about Xiaoyue's changes, hoping she could help him persuade Xiaoyue. Yingniang's tone was completely different from before. She said Xiaoyue was a lark, and having finally managed to fly away from the mountain valley, let her fly! She doesn't belong to you, don't try to stop her, give up that idea! ...

Yang Li refused to give up. That very day, he left the county town and traveled for two days to the university, hundreds of miles away. He waited at the campus gate all day, but Xiaoyue didn't come out. The next afternoon, he sneaked into the campus and arrived at Xiaoyue's classroom after class. He happened to see Xiaoyue drawing with a boy, looking very close. This was unbearable for him, and he grabbed Xiaoyue, demanding that she come back to his hometown with him. Xiaoyue, of course, refused and pleaded with him outside the campus. He remained adamant, saying that as long as she studied there, she would never be with him in the future. He came to the school three times, trying every possible way to persuade her, but to no avail. Finally, he stormed into the school leaders' office and exposed Wang Xiaoyue's problems, saying that she was morally corrupt, ungrateful, and that after marrying him and living together for a year, she had changed her attitude, abandoned her husband, and started a relationship with a classmate. He even made a scene on campus, grabbing a kitchen knife from somewhere and threatening to fight to the death if Xiaoyue didn't leave the school. Finally, the school expelled Wang Xiaoyue from the school on the grounds that she had concealed her marital history and had serious problems with her ideology, morality and lifestyle.

Yang Li finally achieved his goal, getting Xiaoyue to leave school. Xiaoyue returned to Shimen Village and slept soundly for three days and three nights on her mother's musty-smelling bed, refusing to eat or drink. Yingniang sat beside her, tears streaming down her face, constantly cursing Yang Hongde as a coward and a worthless son of a bitch, her teeth grinding together as she cursed. The next day, Yang Li came, demanding that Xiaoyue go to the county town with him. He said that after marriage, Xiaoyue would be his wife and would have to live a dutiful life with him. When Yingniang refused, Yang Li pulled out a bill, saying he would return all the money our family had spent on her over the past two years, as well as the deposit and betrothal money, totaling 8,500 yuan. He said he would leave if she gave him the money today, otherwise she would have to live with him.

He knew Yingniang couldn't come up with that much money. Sure enough, Yingniang buried her face in her hands and started crying. Xiaoyue sat up in bed, rubbed her swollen eyes, smoothed her hair, and said to Yang Li expressionlessly, "I'll go with you."

Xiaoyue followed Yang Li back to her high school, which she had only left three months prior. Instead of continuing her studies, she went directly to Yang Li's dormitory next to the boiler room and became the wife of one of the school's temporary workers. She seemed to resign herself to fate, no longer struggling, and from then on became unusually cold.

By then, Lu Sheng and Xiu Yun had both graduated. The students from Shimen Village studying there a year below included Shi Sufang and Wang Mingxuan, as well as the current village head, Shi Zhu. These people all paid attention to Xiao Yue, intentionally or unintentionally, wanting to know about her current life. They not only sympathized with Xiao Yue but also greatly admired her. This was because, for many years, Xiao Yue was the only one from Shimen Village to have been admitted to university. Sufang visited Xiao Yue several times when Yang Li was away. Even Mingxuan secretly observed Xiao Yue's life, because he had to answer a barrage of questions from Lu Sheng every week. Unlike other women's wives, Xiao Yue still acted like a student, often sneaking out through a hole in the wall with her schoolbag and sketchbook to study under the shade of the trees on the hillside.

Yang Li couldn't control her; she could come back whenever she wanted. Su Fang said she wanted a divorce from Yang Li and had even torn up their marriage certificate. But Yang Li wouldn't agree, saying that even if the certificate was torn up, the original copy couldn't be erased, and that she was his wife no matter what. Finally, Yang Li tricked her, saying he would agree to a divorce if she stayed with him for a year. Xiao Yue actually agreed, and they reached a verbal agreement. Su Fang wondered why she was so easily swayed, but she didn't dare speak out, afraid Yang Li would object. Yang Li said he'd divorce her in a year, hoping that during that year he would try to win her over and gradually wear her down, making her stop thinking about school and the outside world. His bigger scheme was to get Xiao Yue pregnant as quickly as possible, have her give birth, and use this method to control her heart.

He got his wish again; Xiaoyue became pregnant the second month after her return. Xiaoyue didn't want to have the child and cried and made a scene at Yang Li, accusing him of ruining her life. Yang Li continued to plead and coax Xiaoyue, saying, "I've been so good to you, why don't you want to be with me? Why do you always want to leave?" Xiaoyue said, "It's not that I don't want to be with you, it's not that I don't like you, it's that I don't like this remote mountain village. I don't want to suffer like my mother for the rest of my life. I want to go outside the mountains to find my father, so I'll leave sooner or later." Yang Li said, "I've loved you for years, and I've spent so much money on you. Even if you want to leave and not be with me, you have to have a clear conscience. You give birth to the child, I'll raise it, that way I'll have something to look forward to. Then we'll get a divorce, you can go far away, I swear I won't stop you." Xiaoyue's heart softened again, feeling that this request wasn't unreasonable. She stopped crying and pressuring him, constantly reminding him to deal with the child quickly, though she herself was somewhat undecided. This played right into Yang Li's plan. As time went on, her belly grew larger and larger. When urged again, Yang Li would always say, "It's already been five months, or even half a year. Just hang in there for a few more months, and you'll be free." Xiao Yue couldn't go out every day, and Yang Li was responsible for all her needs, from eating and drinking to using the toilet. She bossed him around with a sense of entitlement.