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墨書 Inktalez
"Xiuyun, do you really want to kill the child you struggled so hard to bring into this world?"
Yin Yuan held the infant and cast a cold glance at Wang San Niang, who had collapsed on the ground, fainted from the chilling wind. Then, she directed her beautifully striking eyes towards Xiuyun's already ghostly face.
"I know you harbor hatred in your heart, but the Cycle of Reincarnation has its own conclusions. Regardless, your child is always innocent. You can kill your mother-in-law; after all, a life for a life—she deserves it. You can also kill your husband for his weakness, for not being able to protect you during your suffering. But Xiuyun, do you really want to kill your child with your own hands?"
Yin Yuan raised the infant in her arms.
The infant seemed to sense his mother's presence; he stopped crying and opened his eyes slightly, looking in Xiuyun's direction.
A gentle smile appeared on his lips, the most innocent smile in the world. He waved his hands in the air as if playfully asking his mother for a hug. The anger in Xiuyun's heart was instantly soothed; the dark aura surrounding her dissipated, and with a smile of a new mother, she slowly walked towards her child.
"Can I hold him? I just want to hold my child once."
Xiuyun looked at Yin Yuan, knowing that this child was far from ordinary. Her eyes were filled with pleading.
Yin Yuan nodded and brought the child closer to Xiuyun.
Xiuyun trembled as she reached out her hands cautiously, cradling the child in her arms. Though she was now a mother, her movements were still awkward and stiff. She carefully examined her child's face, wanting to imprint every detail into her memory for the last moments they would share together. The child reached out and babbled excitedly at their first meeting.
Xiuyun lowered her head and gently touched her lips to the child's cheek, tears streaming down from the corners of her eyes. Seeing her expression, the child let out a cry.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's all my fault!" Xiuyun frantically comforted her child. She wished she could stay by his side, watch him grow up, and hear him call her "Mother." But that was no longer possible.
"Take one last look at him before you go. Your connection with him was ultimately too shallow; you are destined to be separated by Yin and Yang."
Yin Yuan lifted her face and extended her hand towards Xiuyun, asking for the child back.
After a moment of hesitation, Xiuyun returned the child to Yin Yuan.
"Will he be okay? Will he grow up safe and sound?"
"I don't know about distant futures, but for now, he will be fine." Yin Yuan gently soothed the continuously crying infant. Strangely enough, the infant quickly calmed down. After a moment of gazing at Yin Yuan's face, he closed his eyes. He fell asleep.
Xiuyun gazed longingly at the child's features and took a step back. She didn't know where she would ultimately go, but she heard that voice; she knew that where the voice came from was her true home.
The figure of Xiuyun gradually faded away, and just as she was about to disappear, a strong dark shadow suddenly surged out and charged towards Yin Yuan.
"Heart!"
Xiuyun's fading figure suddenly reappeared, blocking the heavy dark shadow. A pair of hands passed through Xiuyun's body, and a look of pain returned to her face before she shattered and dispersed.
The infant in Central Plains, who had been peacefully sleeping, began to cry loudly due to this sudden change. Yin Yuan glared angrily at Aunt Li, who had rushed in front of him, his eyes burning with icy blue flames.
"Seeking death!"
Aunt Li's outstretched fingers came to a halt right in front of Yin Yuan's face. Although she was already dead, she still felt fear. Her decaying body trembled as it gathered together, producing a sound like torn fabric from her throat.
"Return what you owe me! Return what you owe me!"
Yin Yuan squinted his eyes and glanced at the child in his arms, placing his finger against Aunt Li's forehead. Scenes from Aunt Li's past replayed in his mind...
It turned out that Aunt Li was not from this village; she had been bought here.
Aunt Li's original husband was named Dong Qing, a scholar who was rather useless. Seeing that he had no hope of passing the exams, he ended up working as a clerk in a pharmacy under his mother's arrangement. However, Dong Qing couldn't even manage simple tasks like selling or preparing medicine correctly; he either misread the names of the medicines or got the dosages wrong, leading to continuous losses for the pharmacy. Not only did he earn no silver coins, but he also had to compensate for the pharmacy's losses.
His mother and wife, Aunt Li, had no choice but to make ends meet by washing clothes and doing mending work for others, yet their family remained impoverished.
The year of disaster found Aunt Li at twenty-six years old, having given birth to three children for her husband; the eldest was already ten years old. Due to their already meager food supply and the famine that struck, one of the children fell ill and passed away after just half a day. The remaining two children were also on the brink of death when Dong Qing heard that a wealthy man from town intended to buy a concubine.
Everyone knew that this so-called wealthy man was merely taking advantage of the disaster, yet many were still eager to sell their wives or daughters to him. For the poor people at that time, having something to eat was more important than anything else.
Although Aunt Li was older, she had a youthful face and attractive features that made her appealing without any makeup; she caught the eye of that wealthy man immediately.
Initially resistant to comply, Aunt Li could only agree when faced with her two dying children. Before leaving, she asked Dong Qing if they could still be husband and wife if she ever returned alive. Dong Qing agreed.
The wealthy man who bought Aunt Li was actually not rich at all; he was just a sheep trader from the village. At fifty-three years old, he was considered close to death by rural standards. Years ago, due to poverty, he had never married. During the famine years when everyone else was suffering, he became wealthy by raising dozens of sheep. When the disaster first struck, he sold those sheep and went to town with double silver coins to buy rice and grain. On his return trip, he overheard others discussing how humans often took advantage of disasters to buy people cheaply; this piqued his interest.
Although Aunt Li was older than many young girls around her, the shepherd could see that she was a practical woman who knew how to manage life well. He found her attractive and spoiled her once she was brought home. Gradually, Aunt Li became accustomed to life in the village but could never forget her former husband and those two children. She even privately planned that once the shepherd passed away, she would return to town to find Dong Qing. Little did she expect that just a year later, she would receive news that Dong Qing not only sold her but also sold their two young daughters, using the double silver coins from their sale to marry another woman.
Aunt Li was filled with both hatred and anger, which led her to fall seriously ill. After her illness, her heart felt dead. Seeing that she was no longer angry, Shepherd promised to help her find her two daughters. At that time, Aunt Li was somewhat possessed by grief; she sold all the valuable possessions in her home despite the cold ground and handed all the silver she had to Shepherd, insisting that he must bring her daughters back no matter what.
Shepherd, unable to refuse her, took the silver coins and left the village, never to return. Some said Shepherd had died, while others believed he had taken the silver coins and started a new life with another woman. Just when Aunt Li was feeling hopeless and considering ending her own life, she discovered she was pregnant with Shepherd's child.
In the days that followed, life gradually calmed down. With the help of the villagers, Aunt Li successfully gave birth to the child. It was a boy who resembled her but had a diligent and quiet temperament like Shepherd. Though thoughts of her ex-husband Dong Qing, her sold daughter, and the missing Shepherd occasionally crossed her mind, she simply shook her head and pressed her lips together, pushing those memories aside. Aunt Li knew that life must go on; she and her child had to strive to live.
When the child turned seven, he brought home something that Aunt Li immediately recognized as the money pouch made by Shepherd when he left the village at midnight. The fabric was woven by herself; due to their poverty, they used whatever money they could find—mixed and worn—but Aunt Li had skillfully embroidered a sheep's head in white thread on one corner of the pouch.
Aunt Li steadied herself and grabbed the child's arms, asking him, "Where did you find this?"
The child pointed outside and said, "Just behind our house, behind Uncle Wang's house."
Aunt Li felt dizzy. She first instructed the child not to tell anyone about this matter and then took advantage of the night to cross through the village and sneak around to the back of their house.
Their row of houses was built against a ridge, tightly packed together. To get to the back, one had to pass through this row of neighboring houses. Behind Wang San's family home, Aunt Li discovered more items—such as buried leg bones and clothing that had not yet rotted beside them.
That deep night, Aunt Li sat alone next to the white leg bones, covering her mouth with her hand as she sobbed quietly. She knew that Shepherd must have been killed for his wealth and realized that even if Wang San wasn't responsible for the murder, it was certainly someone from the village. However, she dared not report it to the authorities. This case had been cold for many years; even if they uncovered who the murderer was, as an outsider, it would be difficult for her and her child to establish themselves in the village.
After sitting beside the bones for most of the night, she wept softly as she buried them again with dirt before returning home as if nothing had happened. But what Aunt Li did not expect was that her child went missing that very night!
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