Chapter 672: Qin Huairu kneels, begging Shazhu to spare her

I don't know how long it took.

Qin Huairu woke from her coma.

Seeing her own body still lying on the ground, the Shazhu portrait she had thrown out was miraculously hanging on the wall, its gaze still fixed on her.

Although it was daytime.

But Qin Huairu still felt a creepy sensation.

Grasping her weak body, she shuffled step by step toward the outside.

Leaving the house.

Basking in the warm sun, Qin Huairu felt as if she had come back to life.

Some things that shouldn't have happened surfaced in her mind.

For instance, she dreamed of Shazhu; even more astonishing, these dreams could be linked together, all of them Shazhu refusing to die, dreaming of revenge on Qin Huairu.

Compared to these dreams,

What Qin Huairu feared most and could not let go of was why Shazhu's portrait moved on its own, and at night the door suddenly opened, with the portrait on the wall making papapa sounds.

There were rumors that the wronged dead were unwilling to rest.

Qin Huairu felt that all this could only be explained by Shazhu returning to take revenge on her.

Her body involuntarily shuddered.

She felt guilty.

She was afraid.

Suddenly thinking of something, she dashed outside, intending to burn paper money for Shazhu, apologize, say sorry, and beg him to stop haunting her.

……

Bangeng, looking shifty and with a frightened expression, stood where Qin Huairu had just been, daring to glance at the room where Shazhu's portrait hung.

A gust of cold wind blew.

The cold made Bangeng shiver slightly.

Having seen Qin Huairu run out just moments before, Bangeng said nothing, mainly because he didn't know how to speak to her.

This morning, Bangeng was the first to wake; he had intended to go to the toilet, but as soon as he stepped out of the house, he saw Qin Huairu's door wide open.

He mistakenly thought something had happened to Qin Huairu.

He hurried inside.

The sight that met his eyes left Bangeng dumbfounded: Qin Huairu, weak-faced, had fainted on the ground, her body seemingly still trying to evade something.

Not far from Qin Huairu lay Shazhu's portrait.

The saying 'normally one does no wrong, so midnight knocks need not be feared' applied to Bangeng, only in reverse: seeing Qin Huairu faint beside Shazhu's portrait, Bangeng imagined a scene for himself.

Last night seemed to be Shazhu's seventh-day memorial.

Popularly called the night of returning souls, it is said that those who died unjustly take revenge on their enemies on that night.

How did he know?

Bangeng had seen Hong Kong ghost movies, which portray it this way.

The opera hides among the folk.

The one who originally drove Shazhu out of the house was Bangeng; worried that Shazhu might really come for revenge, Bangeng, being Bangeng, with a mind to curry favor, picked up Shazhu's portrait from the ground, wiped it clean, and respectfully hung it on the wall.

As for why the portrait fell to the ground and why Qin Huairu fainted,

Bangeng understood it this way.

He believed that last night Qin Huairu and Shazhu had fought a life-and-death struggle, with Shazhu possessing the portrait and trying to take Qin Huairu away, but due to her resistance and lack of time, etc., Qin Huairu ultimately escaped disaster.

In Hong Kong ghost movies, it is said that the wronged dead will not rest until they have killed those who harmed them.

The matter is serious.

It is also grave.

He wrapped his clothes around himself, slipped out, recalling a friend he knew who supposedly had some Buddhist protection; Bangeng intended to go ask him for a protective amulet.

……

After Bangeng left,

Xiao Dang and Huaihua also came out of their house, one after another.

Looking at their faces,

one could tell they hadn't slept well the night before.

In fact,

that really is the case.

What happened to Bangeng replayed itself on Xiao Dang and Huaihua.

It was also a middle-of-the-night wake-up, but hearing voices such as 'Shazhu, don't come over, I Qin Huairu was wrong, I Qin Huairu shouldn't have schemed against you, please don't pester me,' they deliberately created some frightening misunderstandings.

Xiao Dang, worried something might happen to Qin Huairu, went in while she was dreaming, saw her overturn Shazhu's portrait face-down on the table, thought it shouldn't be that way, and kindly rehung the portrait on the wall before leaving.

Just as he left,

Qin Huairu woke up shortly after, saw Shazhu's portrait hanging on the wall, mistakenly thought Shazhu had become a ghost coming to settle scores, boldly took the portrait down, tossed it into a cabinet, and went back to sleep.

Just as she fell asleep, Xiao Dang returned from the toilet, inexplicably feeling compelled to look again, and went to the room where Shazhu's portrait hung.

Seeing that the portrait she had hung on the wall was gone, Qin Huairu was still sleeping soundly.

Suddenly she realized today was Shazhu's seventh-day, the night of returning souls.

She tumbled back home, crawling and rolling.

Not long after Xiao Dang returned home, Huaihua went to the toilet, repeated Xiao Dang's recent action by coincidence, found the portrait Qin Huairu had hidden in the cabinet, hung it on the wall, and left.

Just two or three minutes after Huaihua left, Xiao Dang, rolling back home, began to wonder if there really was a ghost, and boldly wanted to check the truth.

When it was near the time of leaving, they said that as long as Shazhu's portrait hung on the wall, that meant Shazhu's soul had returned.

As it turned out, they encountered Huaihua, who meant well but did harm; when Xiao Dang saw Shazhu's portrait on the wall, she was so frightened she almost died, and she didn't even know how she had gotten back home.

Xiao Dang returned home; the nightmare-awakened Qin Huairu saw the portrait on the wall and hid it again, and Huaihua continued to be mistaken for a ghost.

They hardly slept at night.

As soon as they closed their eyes, they saw Shazhu.

After the two sisters came out, they looked at each other but neither spoke the truth.

Mainly, they dared not say it.

……

Qin Huairu bought some joss paper and offerings, and appeared at the Northern Hill Cemetery.

Originally, to save some face for the Jia Family, they buried Shazhu's ashes here.

They had thought the Jia Family could stay out of sight and mind, and not see Shazhu again, but they never expected Shazhu's soul to return, and that he would insist on taking Qin Huairu with him, saying over and over that this was a debt she owed him.

Qin Huairu did not want to die.

After experiencing last night's nightmare, Qin Huairu finally faced her own inner thoughts; she wanted to live well, to live and enjoy all of this.

It was very necessary to talk with Shazhu.

Holding the joss paper and offerings, she appeared before Shazhu's tombstone.

She looked at the photo on it.

Qin Huairu forced a smile onto her face.

Too bad.

That smile looked worse than crying.

Without a word, she laid out the offerings one by one before Shazhu's tombstone: apples, oranges, cigarettes, and wine.

While laying out the offerings, Qin Huairu saw that there were also some fresher offerings beneath Shazhu's tombstone, guessing that someone had come to visit him; she no longer wondered who it was, the important thing was that she had come to beg Shazhu.

The tombstone was made by Bangeng; Qin Huairu had not taken part. She saw that it bore Shazhu's birth date and his photo, but at the bottom, the erector's name was blank.

She secretly sighed in her heart.

It seemed so.

Bangeng still did not regard Shazhu as his stepfather; there was estrangement in his heart, and Qin Huairu also knew she bore responsibility for this—she had no feelings for Shazhu, only used him.

Qin Huairu took out a basin of joss paper, found a lighter, and lit the paper.

She watched the flames before her.

Without a word, she threw the joss paper in, sheet after sheet.

She waited for the joss paper to burn out.

Qin Huairu suddenly knelt before Shazhu's tombstone, and knocked her head nine times with loud thuds; worried that three kowtows would not show her sincerity, she gave him triple the number, putting force into it, so that her forehead faintly showed blood.

The kowtowing was finished.

Qin Huairu did not rise from the ground; she remained kneeling before the tombstone, about to speak her apology.

"Shazhu, I'm sorry, it's me, Qin Huairu, who was wrong. I, Qin Huairu, have owed you all my life; I have held you back. But you are dead now; your kindness, I will repay in my next life by serving as an ox or horse. I was wrong. Please, for the sake of our many years together, give me Qin Huairu a way to live. I have kowtowed to you, I have burned joss paper for you, Shazhu, I, Qin Huairu, beg you. I am a widow, still raising three children, and at home there is a lazy, gluttonous evil mother-in-law. Without your help, I, Qin Huairu, could not have raised them."

"I know, it's me who held you back, because by aiding me, Qin Huairu, you couldn't marry a wife. But these things, you shouldn't blame me, Qin Huairu, for them; it's all arranged by Yi Zhonghai. Yi Zhonghai once told me, saying you told him that seeing me, a widow, in difficulty, you wanted to care for me; I even said then, I am a widow, your aid would affect you, but Yi Zhonghai said, saying you didn't fear those rumors."

"You ask me, why I used Bangeng's disagreement as an excuse to keep you hanging for eight years straight; let me tell you the truth, this is all arranged by Yi Zhonghai. I originally thought I could earn money to support the Jia Family myself, and give you a home of your own, but Yi Zhonghai told me that if I let you marry, he would not allow me to stay in the steelworks."

"Yi Zhonghai is a grade-eight worker; in the workshop his word is law, and in the siheyuan he is still the Head Steward. I really dare not oppose him directly; it was Yi Zhonghai who arranged for me to come to your matchmaking meeting, deliberately using your underwear to cause trouble. I originally wanted to apologize to you, but I lacked the courage; I'm afraid, Shazhu, I'm really scared—I'm just a woman, a widow, what can I do?"

"Later on, I truly wanted to be with you; I have kept your kindness to me, Qin Huairu, in my heart, and I really wanted to bear your children, but my mother-in-law disagreed, and this is also Yi Zhonghai's meaning—Yi Zhonghai and my mother-in-law won't allow it, so I, Qin Huairu, dare not marry."

"The reason Yi Zhonghai took a liking to you, to have you support him in his old age, is because all this was told to him by the Deaf Granny: she said you were honest and simple, lacking Xu Damu's many devious schemes!!"

"Shazhu, please, stop haunting me; I'm sorry, but what can I do? I'm a widow with three children and a mother-in-law to support; I have no choice. Shazhu, please, give me a way to live; don't keep tormenting me, Qin Huairu. I, Qin Huairu, promise that every year, on festivals, I will come burn joss paper for you and make offerings."

"You might not know, but your father He Daqing has returned. For the great kindness you showed our Jia Family, you died and I cannot repay you, but I can serve He Daqing in your place, fulfilling filial duty for you; seeing that I am filial to He Daqing, give me, Qin Huairu, a way to live, Shazhu—I beg you."

"You asked me last night why I, after getting the IUD, still clung to you; this is also Yi Zhonghai's idea. Yi Zhonghai told me that if I told you the plain truth, you would have nothing to do with our Jia Family; he warned me that if I removed the IUD, he would drive me away, saying that removing it could let me bear you a child, and once you had your own child, you could not wholeheartedly serve Yi Zhonghai."

"The chicken-stealing incident was also arranged by Yi Zhonghai. When you were called out to confront, Yi Zhonghai had already settled terms with Yan Fugui, Liu Haizhong and the others, setting traps on all sides for you to fall into, saying that only if Shazhu bore the name of a chicken thief could your desire to marry be completely cut off. The cause was that Yi Zhonghai heard He Yushui, at their textile mill, arranging a match for you, grew afraid, and thus used this one-stroke-two-hawks ploy, Shazhu."

……

In the distance.

He Yushui and Lou Xiaoe, watching the scene as a joke, looked at Qin Huairu kneeling before Shazhu's tombstone, and each smiled.

They never expected Qin Huairu would actually come to the cemetery today to burn joss paper for Shazhu.

Living, you do not cherish it.

Dead, and still burning joss paper and kowtowing.

Just putting on a show for the dead.

"Guess why Qin Huairu is doing this?"

"Can't guess; anyway, it's impossible that her conscience awakened—if Qin Huairu truly had a conscience, Shazhu wouldn't be in such a state."

"Yeah, they're both widows, but widows differ. Liang Ladi married Nan Yi and, despite her age, bore him a child, saying Nan Yi treated them well and that nothing could make such a good man cut off his line. Look at Qin Huairu: she fears that if Shazhu has his own son, he will no longer wholeheartedly serve Bangeng and the others, so she secretly hides her IUD, keeping Shazhu tethered like livestock."

"Can't blame Qin Huairu; if you must blame someone, blame the men of our He Family, who in their bones have a fondness for widows—seeing a widow, they lose their way."

"It's not that the He Family men have a bone-deep fondness for widows; it's that Qin Huairu looks good—your brother initially aided her just to enjoy her looks and crave her body, not expecting to end up ruining himself."

"Sister Xiaoe, your analysis is spot on. I recall that besides Qin Huairu, there was another Tang widow in the siheyuan; my brother didn't aid that Tang widow, so if another prettier widow came to the siheyuan, Qin Huairu would have no hope."

Who says it isn't? It really is exactly that.