Chapter 61: Qiao'er's Memories
My mother told me that it was snowing outside on the day I was born, and the whole world was white, and she was exhausted trying to give birth to me, but she still looked at me before closing her eyes and falling asleep.
She said that I was born without crying, I was laughing, laughing happily, and she said that although I didn't open my eyes, I had fallen deeply in love with the world. This is what I told me when I was four years old, lying in my mother's arms and watching her show me my little red shoes.
At that time, there was only a mother in my world, not a father.
My father was a cold-blooded man, and he was colder than the cold winds of winter. I've told you about his bad deeds before, and you should know a little bit about this man, but you don't understand how cold-blooded he really is. I even suspect that he hasn't looked at me or spoken to me since the moment I was born. His attention to me began after my mother committed suicide, and he was only blaming me for punishing me, did he blame me for my mother's suicide? Didn't he think that he was the culprit? What he did, including the slap on my mother, really caused my mother to choose suicide, and he didn't even know it!
He thinks of himself as great! He feels like he is everything, and he is not to blame for the death of everyone, including my mother.
Of course, since my mother died, I couldn't laugh anymore. My mother left me, but gave my brother to me, and seeing his innocent appearance, I wondered if I used to be like him - I knew I could never be like him again.
I hated my father, he doted on my brother, I never saw him smile at me, but he used to make him happy. I hate him, but I don't hate my brother, there's nothing wrong with him.
I was eight years old and my younger brother was three.
It had been three years since my mother died, and that was the day of her death, and it was the only day that I would sit in the same carriage with my father and brother to go to the ancestral hall that my father had built for my mother. I really want to ask him, why didn't you treat her better when her mother was alive? Maybe he regretted it, why didn't you be kind to her mother, I thought that her death would change him. Later I learned that this was impossible!
I can't forget that spring. I can't forget how elaborate the carriage we were in was, it wasn't very luxurious, but it was very exquisitely made. My brother and I sat across from him and didn't say anything along the way, he just looked out the window and watched. My brother fell asleep, and I was not in the mood to watch him all the time, and I fell asleep too. I had a strange dream that the carriage had flipped over and had fallen off a cliff while my father was still laughing wildly.
It was the groom who woke me and my brother up, and when the carriage arrived, he got out of it himself and ignored us.
I can't forget that ancestral hall, I've been here three times, it's like a carriage, I mean it's not big but it's very delicate.
I could hear the horses panting, with their big nostrils. Because my younger brother had just woken up, he still looked ignorant.
I don't like this place, not because of my disgust with my father, but because of my love for my mother - I don't want my mother to be alone in this place, she was lonely when she was alive, why should she be lonely after she died.
Although it was sunny outside, it was very dark inside, which made me dislike this place even more.
Mother's tablet is in a small house that is separated, and a few lights are flickering, will the candles here always be on? Perhaps, because there is an old woman here, I don't know her, she has only been here for as long as I can remember, so I have only seen her three times this time.
She was so old, older than all the old people I had ever seen, but like the broken candle on the table, it still glowed, and it still allowed us to see the way. She still insists on doing her own thing. Other than that, I have no other feelings for her.
My brother Shangguan Chan has only been here once, and he is very scared - facing this dim house. What makes me sick is that he doesn't have any feelings for his mother, I mean he doesn't remember those nights — the nights when she sang lullabies to lullaby to put him to sleep.
The only thing he knew was what I told him, and I told him that there was a woman who loved him deeply, but he didn't seem to feel that love, and it wasn't his fault for it, it was all for his father!
My father, dressed in dark clothes, pretended to bow to my mother's tablet, and then he let me go out with my brother. Of course, he didn't look at us when he commanded us. All we heard were cold orders.
I don't want to stay here for a moment, I remember my mother's death day, I can never forget it, I don't like to talk to a piece of wood (tablet), I talk to my mother in my heart every day.
My brother and I came out, and he looked relieved. He began to speak in a louder voice, telling me what an interesting two crickets he had found in his yard at home, and he had named them, which I couldn't remember. He was a very sweet kid.
I don't know how long it was, a quarter of an hour or a quarter of an hour, when my father came out, with his emotionless countenance, and the old woman came out with them. Her father said a few words to her, and gave her a bag, and I had silver in it.
My brother couldn't help but go to the car first, and I followed. My father didn't look at us when he came up, and there was nothing to see outside the window? just a few trees.
I was finally able to go back, and the first thing I thought about going back was to stay away from my father, who didn't want to look at me and I didn't want to pay attention to him. I thought the day was over, until the neighing of the horse, and the ensuing tip of the carriage, which really flipped over, but did not fall into the cliff. My nightmare began.
I hit my head against the wall when the carriage overturned, I don't know if I fainted, I just felt like the whole world was ghosted, and I couldn't even find where the doors were and where the windows were.
My head was wet and dripping with water, at first I thought it was water, but after I touched it with my hands, I realized that many of my hands were red, and I realized why it hurt so much.
I couldn't find my father and brother in this ghosting car, my mind was confused, I wondered if they had fallen off a cliff, why did my brother have to be buried with him?(No, we didn't go to the cliff, this is a road, a road with trees on both sides.) My head was dizzy, but I was gradually sobering up, and my brother was probably saved by his father, so why am I here!) (Isn't it obvious that I was abandoned)
I felt like throwing up, my stomach was churning, a hand suddenly grabbed me by the collar, I had goosebumps all over my body, I screamed, I struggled, I was terrified, by the time I regained consciousness I was sitting on the ground, my hands and feet were firmly tied with ropes. The carriage was lying upside down in front of me on the left, and it was hard to imagine how comfortably I had sat in it, and how delicately the wheelless carriage was, and now it was a waste of wood. The horse must have run away, for I found that it was the horse's reins that were tied to my hands and feet. Where's the groom, what about my brother, what about my damned father, and I'm the only one left in heaven and earth and this pile of scrap wood.
My head still hurts, but there is no fluid flowing on my head, probably the blood has dried up.
Tears, I don't know what tears can do at this time, but I still cried, I cried and struggled, the rope on my wrist had worn out my skin, the more painful I cried louder, and the harder I struggled.
Then I had a sharp pain in the back of my head and fainted, and I fainted and fell into darkness surrounded by fear and helplessness.
When I woke up, it was still pitch black, and I could smell a disgusting smell in the air, and it filled the darkness.
Happily, the rope that bound my hands and feet was gone, leaving only blood on my wrists (I couldn't see it, but I could feel the pain). I struggled to stand up, I wanted to know where I was, but it was so dark that I couldn't even see the scars on my wrists. I just stayed where I was, and gradually, the familiar fear came back to me, always appearing when I was most vulnerable and helpless, and I couldn't guard against it.
I did not use tears, but yelled to ward off fear, yet my yelling brought me light, and demons.
That's right, it's what you call the Ghostface. The sudden light, though it drove away the darkness, increased my fear. That demon is the embodiment of fear.
He walked slowly, and I could hear my own breathing and heartbeat, and as he got closer, the grimace became clearer and clearer, and his eyes seemed to glow a terrifying green. His voice was low, as if he was far away from me. His man stood in front of me, but the voice was far away from me, not coming from his ghostly mask.
He said to me, "You are not allowed to scream!"
I've stopped screaming for a long time, and I haven't been able to scream since he appeared.
My legs went limp, and I fell to the ground, and he looked down at me, shattering all my defenses with his ghostly eyes. I've given up, given up looking at his face. I lowered my head and kept shivering, I saw the hair hanging down from my ears, I saw the scars on my wrists, still bloody.
I found that it was a house, an airtight house, and although the door was open, it only illuminated me in the middle of the house, and the sides were still dark and rumbling.
I slid my way through it, and there was something dark red on the ground that the light illuminated, covering that patch. At first I thought it was a red cloth, but then a wind blew in through the doorway, and my hair was blown and the "red cloth" didn't move, and finally I knew it was a blood stain (why even the wind scared me!), and I finally knew where the smell was coming from.
He was still standing in front of me, those feet, wearing shoes! I almost laughed like crazy, he was wearing shoes! A demon, actually wearing human shoes! I didn't laugh, because I was so scared that I couldn't even support my body with my arms, and I collapsed on the ground.
The light was gone, he was gone, and it was dark again, and the good news was that the fear did not swell again, it returned to its original size.
Finally, I started to wonder why I was here, and why I wasn't dead yet.
I don't know how long I've been thinking about it, and I don't know what I'm thinking. I couldn't help but call out to my father, how could I think of him? Hehe, he threw me down, what about the others? It's good that he's dead! No, if he dies, will my brother die too? He didn't do anything, it's not his fault! I guess I was thinking about it, and when I thought about it, my stomach crumbled, and my eyelids became heavy, and I fell asleep, in a dark house that smelled of blood.
When I woke up, I saw the light again, and he was standing in the doorway, still wearing the ghost mask, and I started to shiver again, but not as violently as the last time, and I didn't even have the strength to tremble.
What he was holding in his hand, the light was too dazzling for me to see. I thought he was lifting the head, and he threw the head at me, but when it rolled in front of me, I realized it was a steamed bun. I picked it up and ate it without hesitation, I was so hungry, I had not eaten for two days before, but today I was even hungrier than that time. A steamed bun was eaten by me in a few bites.
He put the other steamed buns on the floor of the door, and put a bowl of water in the doorway, and then closed the door, and there was a sound of iron chains clattering, and he locked the door.
Bring sand to the beach!
After a long time in the dark, I was able to see something clearly. I crawled to the door like a dog, eating the steamed buns he had put there like a dog, and I looked at the bowl of water next to me. I picked it up, and as soon as I put it to my mouth, I hesitated - could this bowl be blood?
Thinking of this, my stomach churned, and in order to prevent myself from spitting up the steamed buns I had just eaten, I drank the bowl of water, which was water!
I didn't go back, I put all my strength into crying, and in the end I couldn't cry anymore, so I slowly got up and walked back slowly.
After calming down, I started to think about how to escape. It's a house, a house where no light can get through. How could I get out? I asked myself this question a thousand times! And finally I gave up.
I was curled up, and I was thinking about my mother—if I were talking to my mother in this room, would she still be able to hear me?
I heard the voice, the sound of chains, it was my mother who had come to save me! Of course not, it was the demon!
This time there was no light, and it was dark outside, which was a good time for me, who was already used to the dark. Then I looked behind him, I regretted it, this blow completely shattered me, it was a wall, a high wall, I couldn't even see the top of it.
His voice came from nowhere: "You can't escape unless I let you go." ”
I didn't have time to think about his words, I almost shouted at him, "Who are you, why are you keeping me here?" and I regretted it, I regretted that I had asked this useless question, and I would not have gotten an answer.
He sneered, his laughter equally distant, "You know I won't answer you." ”
I did know he wouldn't answer me, but I said something even more stupid, I shouldn't have said it to anyone, I said to him, "My dad is going to kill you!"
He sneered again, and I was completely devastated, and I sneered too, and I underestimated: "He won't come to save me...".
I don't know if he heard it, he closed the door again. My whole body was numb, my brain seemed to freeze in blood, and his sneer echoed in my head all the time, what does that mean?
The next day (I think the day) he didn't show up. This time my hunger pangs helped me, it made me rethink and make me decide to get out again.
I looked at this room carefully, it was not very large, there were six steps on the left and right sides, and ten steps on the front and back walls.
I searched all the corners and found it empty, except for me and the pool of blood on the ground who didn't know whose it was.
I fell into despair again, leaning against a corner, unable to cry anymore, and sneering like crazy.
Another voice appeared, not a ghost, but a savior—a mouse.
I don't like this mouse, but it's now my only support. If there are rats, there will be rat holes, and this house is not airtight!
I crawled around the corner on my stomach and around the wall, but I couldn't find the life-saving rat hole. I cursed at the mouse, hehe, what's wrong with the mouse? I continued to stay in my corner, drowsy.
The door opened again, the light came in, and I squinted out, the demon wasn't there!
I rushed out without worrying about hunger, I didn't doubt his words, he was right, unless he let me go, or I would never be able to escape. I ran as hard as I could, I didn't care about looking at the scenery along the way, I only saw the road, I ran desperately on the road.
How long did I run? Don't ask me, I don't know, I ran until I collapsed on the ground crying, and then a driver picked me up.
When I returned home, I didn't speak to anyone, let alone anyone about what I had been through, including my younger brother Shangguan Chan. I turned all my experiences into hatred and focused on Shangguan Yunhui! The man who abandoned me and claimed to be my father!
After that, I ran away from home with my younger brother. The solution is very simple, I tell him how wonderful and interesting the outside world is, I don't tell him how scary the outside world is. He may hate me, but I don't want to leave him, just like my mother did when she left us both. Then our escape plan failed.
When I saw my brother again, he was like a different person, and I guess he had started to hate me. And I, hate Shangguan Yunhui to death.
The presence of my aunt temporarily freed me from the man I resented, and I loved my aunt as much as I loved my mother. She taught me martial arts, and she also taught me another thing - if you hate someone, you need him to know that he clearly feels that you hate him like hell!
From then on, every nightmare, the ghost-faced man would appear. His sneer, his distant voice, and the shoes of the man on his feet, everything was vivid.
I never ran away from that house.