Chapter 3: Who is he… again?

Grandma supported me as I knelt on the ground, pressing my head to kowtow before the black coffin.

After kowtowing, she took a knife and cut my finger, letting the blood drip onto the black coffin: "Xiao Jiu, call Seventh Lord, beg Seventh Lord to save you."

"Now only Seventh Lord can save your life!"

But I kept shrinking into grandma's arms out of fear.

Grandma shoved me away and went out.

Immediately I heard the sound of the door being locked.

I forced myself up, turned my head, and crawled desperately toward the door.

But the door had been locked from the outside; no matter how I pulled, I couldn't open it.

I pounded on the door panel, calling grandma over and over.

"Grandma, I'm scared."

No one answered me.

My head ached, my whole body ached; I felt I was really going to die this time.

My disheveled hair fell apart, strands of white hair drooping onto my shoulders, my full head of black hair turning white at a visible-to-the-naked-eye speed.

White hair……is my nightmare!

Whoever grows white hair will die!

Now I depend on grandma for survival; I cannot implicate her.

I don't want grandma to die.

I turned my body, moved my knees to crawl-kneel to the black coffin, and kept kowtowing: "Seventh Lord, save Xiao Jiu! Seventh Lord, save Xiao Jiu!"

My head knocked against the black coffin, making a thudding sound.

My forehead split open, blood streaming down the bridge of my nose; my two eyes seemed about to burst into flame, something faintly appearing between my brows, my full head of white hair lifting in the wind, poised to erupt……

"Little fire raccoon, have you come back?"

Just then, a clear, cold voice sounded from within the black coffin.

Immediately after, the coffin lid burst open with a boom, and a man sat up from inside.

I felt as if I were dreaming, dreaming of a man in a long robe walking out of the black coffin and holding me.

I tried hard to see his appearance clearly, but everything before me was hazy; I could see nothing.

The man shoved a bead into my mouth; it melted upon contact, cool and refreshing.

After swallowing that bead, my fever quickly subsided, the pain throughout my body instantly eased, and I drifted off to sleep in a daze.

……

At cockcrow, the door was opened.

Grandma walked in, touched me lying on the floor, found that my fever had broken, and burst into tears of joy.

She kowtowed three times toward the black coffin: "Thank Seventh Lord for the life-saving grace."

Then she held me and went out.

I slowly woke up, saw grandma, and immediately clung to her neck, refusing to let go, crying and pleading: "Grandma, don't abandon me; Xiao Jiu is good, Xiao Jiu listens to grandma."

Grandma held me achingly: "Silly girl, grandma will not abandon Xiao Jiu; grandma is saving Xiao Jiu."

She gently patted my back, waiting for my emotions to gradually stabilize, then continued: "Xiao Jiu, last night I used your fingertip blood as a guide, performed a blood offering to the black coffin, prying open a gap in its seal; Seventh Lord, merciful, saved you with merit; you must remember this favor from Seventh Lord, understand?"

I nodded firmly: "Xiao Jiu understands."

"Your fate is extremely ominous; every three years you face a calamity, and only Seventh Lord is willing to save you, allowing you to continue living." Grandma said solemnly, "From now on, every three years, on the day of your birthday, no matter where you are or what you're doing, you must return before midnight, light three sticks of yellow incense for Seventh Lord, drip your fingertip blood into the black coffin, seek Seventh Lord's protection—remember that?"

I kept nodding: "I remember."

Grandma held me, murmuring: "My Xiao Jiu will surely grow up well and live to a hundred years."

I listened carefully to every word grandma said, earnestly committing them to memory.

Every three years, on the eve of my birthday, white hair still grows on my head.

And when I finish the incense and my fingertip blood drips into the black coffin, a talisman paper on the coffin will peel off by itself.

Grandma burns that talisman paper to ash, turns it into talisman water, and lets me drink it.

After drinking the talisman water and sleeping, my hair can turn completely black again.

I am no longer afraid of that black coffin, for I know that inside lies a man named Liu Junyan, whom grandma respectfully calls Seventh Lord.

He is my benefactor.

Only by properly venerating him can I preserve this little life of mine!

My life seemed to have settled onto the right track; at eighteen, I successfully entered the university of my dreams.

As a new student, I was too busy adapting to the new environment, making new friends, and various orientation activities……

Until my roommate noticed streaks of white in my hair, laughed, and asked if I had secretly gone out to dye it, only then did I suddenly realize my birthday had come again.

Fortunately, the school is just over two hours' drive from Dang Pu; at that time it was just past two in the afternoon, plenty of time.

I immediately packed my things and took a vehicle home.

First I took a bus to the county city station, then upon exiting the station I hailed a rideshare back to town.

Once in the vehicle, I kept calling grandma.

On such an important day as today, grandma would always call me early in the morning to urge me home, but today she didn't.

My phone also went unanswered.

Grandma couldn't have met with some mishap, could she?

My heart thumped anxiously; I kept feeling something was off.

Unintentionally glancing at the time on my phone, my body instantly stiffened.

From the county city to Wufu Town, the trip usually takes just over twenty minutes, but this car has been driving for nearly forty minutes with no sign of stopping.

A bad premonition swept over me, and I slowly raised my head to look at the driver.

Upon seeing that, I was so frightened I almost cried out.

The originally honest middle-aged driver in the driver's seat had, at some point, turned into a large yellow weasel!

At the moment I looked at it, its beady eyes the size of yellow beans, also from the rearview mirror, gazed at me and gave me an evil grin.

My hairs stood on end, I reached out to open the car door, intending to jump straight out.

But just then, a dozen or so yellow weasels suddenly appeared from somewhere inside the car, surrounding me, all baring their sharp teeth and drooling as they looked at me like a tasty meal.

I grabbed the bag beside me and threw it at those yellow weasels, but one bit my wrist, and blood immediately flowed.

I tried to shake it off, but I couldn't get it loose.

In the chaos, my forehead was knocked open, blood streamed down my nose bridge, and my eyes instantly felt as if they were on fire.

My hair turned white at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the feeling of something faintly trying to emerge between my brows surged again……

Just as I thought I would die today in the mouths of those yellow weasels, the car suddenly stopped.

Immediately after, a warm male voice sounded: 'A Li, is that you?'

Along with that voice, I only heard a swishing sound cutting through the air, and those yellow weasels in the carriage all collapsed, dead……

The car door was pulled open, I looked up, and met a pair of captivating peach-blossom eyes.

That was a young man wearing a moon-white brocade robe, holding a folding fan, his hair tied up in a crown, with crescent eyebrows, peach-blossom eyes, the corners of his eyes slightly raised, indescribably handsome… and alluring.

I opened my mouth to call 'Seventh Lord'.

But the words reached my lips and I swallowed them back.

No, he is not Seventh Lord.

Although I never got a clear look at Seventh Lord's appearance back then, the fierce aura he exuded was completely different from the gentle, jade-like aura of the man before me.

He… who is he?