Chapter 81: Lamb into the Tiger's Mouth

This is an ending I never could have imagined.

I asked, "Who cut it off?"

"It was herself." Tang Tang said sadly, "Xiao Jiu, can you understand what a forefinger means to a painter? Without that forefinger, she can't even hold a brush steady."

I can understand.

Of course I can understand.

Not to mention whether Song Ruoqing can still hold a brush steady after losing her right forefinger; even an ordinary girl missing a finger often draws strange looks.

"But why would she cut off her own forefinger?"

"Her mother forced her." Tang Tang said, "Song Ruoqing's father is a total scumbag; her mother is his third wife, with countless lovely ladies outside, and to strive for a son, she bore a bunch of daughters."

Song Ruoqing's mother, in order to someday seize the Song family's vast estate, has always raised Song Ruoqing as an heiress, and all of her personal hobbies are forbidden.

She showed astonishing painting talent from a young age, yet her mother continually suppressed her; that first‑prize certificate she treasured, though she hid it well, was still found by her mother.

Her mother then went mad, rushed into the kitchen, grabbed a rolling pin, and demanded she break her forefinger.

Breaking the forefinger can be reattached without affecting appearance, but afterward one must not exert too much force.

Holding a brush requires force.

It seems the mother still knows what she's doing.

"But what her mother didn't expect was that Song Ruoqing didn't take the rolling pin; instead she picked up a kitchen knife and cut off her forefinger herself. She was immediately sent to the hospital—though it could have been reattached, she was uncooperative, missed the best time, and thus lost that forefinger."

Hearing this, I also felt uneasy inside.

"\"Xiao Jiu, do you think this is the end?" Tang Tang said with a bitter smile, "Life is full of drama; that very day her mother, overcome with anger, fainted in the hospital, was later found to be pregnant, and a few months later gave birth to a boy."

The Song family's only male descendant!

I exclaimed in shock, "What about Song Ruoqing?"

"\"She was sent abroad." Tang Tang said, "She gained a brother and became a discarded child—still a discarded child missing a forefinger, now impaired. They claimed they sent her overseas to pursue her artistic hobby—how ridiculous!"

For a moment I didn't know what to say either.

"\"From then on I never saw Song Ruoqing again; the contact info we left in high school is long gone, and I never expected to hear news of her again—until now, like this." Tang Tang said with red eyes, "Xiao Jiu, I want to go see her."

I can empathize with Tang Tang's feelings right now.

Perhaps deep down she has always been blaming herself.

If she hadn't upheld justice that day, Song Ruoqing wouldn't have lost her finger, nor been sent abroad.

But can we really blame Tang Tang for this?

Even without this incident, Song Ruoqing, now with a brother, would not have had an easy time in the Song family.

Now all we can do seems to be to go see her one last time and say our final goodbyes.

What neither I nor Tang Tang expected was that, when we arrived at the Song household, we just happened to catch Song Ruoqing's funeral procession.

The Song family did not choose cremation but wanted to bury her in the earth on Wangting Mountain.

All of Wangting Mountain belongs to the Song family; burying Song Ruoqing there is entirely reasonable.

That heavy black coffin was lifted from the memorial hall, placed on a vehicle, and driven all the way to Wangting Mountain.

I actually wanted to follow and see, after all, part of my reason for coming to Huicheng this time was to scout Wangting Mountain.

Before I could speak, Tang Tang said, "Xiao Jiu, let's follow and take a look; the Song family is handling this incorrectly."

"\"You mean the burial?" I said, "Although it's against the rules, with the Song family's influence, arranging it wouldn't be hard, would it?"

Tang Tang shook her head: "That's not what I mean, Xiao Jiu—don't you find it odd that the coffin is leaving at this time?"

As soon as she said that, I realized it immediately.

It's now past four in the afternoon; the drive from the Song household to Wangting Mountain will likely take until it's almost dark.

Are the Song family really going to bury Song Ruoqing in Wangting Mountain in the dark?

That is indeed strange.

While we were talking, Tang Tang had already set off for Wangting Mountain following the route map drawn by Ming Shu.

But I was still thinking, perhaps the Song family is just transporting the coffin over first, planning to bury it early tomorrow morning.

But when our car stopped far down at the foot of Wangting Mountain, we saw something utterly bewildering.

At the foot of Wangting Mountain there stood a wedding canopy.

Though the canopy was a temporary setup, inside and out it was festooned with lights and colors, red lanterns and red silk hung everywhere.

The sky had already darkened; we dared not get too close, only able to see shadowy figures moving inside the canopy, everyone seeming busy.

Tang Tang and I huddled in the grass, waiting and waiting.

Fortunately it was already the end of the tenth lunar month; mornings and evenings were cool, with hardly any mosquitoes, otherwise we'd have been miserable.

Thus we waited until around midnight, about eleven-thirty, when suddenly there was movement inside the canopy.

Gongs and drums led the way, followed by offerings of chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep, and right after them came—surprisingly—a large red bridal sedan.

Behind the large red bridal sedan followed two bridal procession parties.

Wasn't this supposed to be sending Song Ruoqing up the mountain for burial?

Where is the coffin?

How did it turn into a large red bridal sedan?

Tang Tang gritted her teeth: "Damn it, I knew it—the Song family is pulling the same old trick again, trying to sacrifice Song Ruoqing to the mountain god!"

Back then, after the Song family's dragon‑and‑phoenix twins died, weren't they also buried in Wangting Mountain?

Perhaps this is the auspicious path the expert pointed out for the Song family.

"\"Let's follow and see," Tang Tang said.

At night, the mountains were very dark.

What should have been a quiet place was now shaken by thunderous gongs and drums, as if the Song family feared the mountain god wouldn't hear their offerings being carried up the mountain.

However, this also happened to give me and Tang Tang a chance to fish in troubled waters.

We two quietly followed at the rear of the procession.

Actually, two people suddenly appeared behind the procession; at least the two who were originally at the back should have noticed.

But I don't know if it's because they were naturally fearful, they weren't sure what had suddenly appeared behind them, and they simply didn't dare to turn around and look.

The procession slowly moved forward, climbing all the way to the mountainside, and stopped in front of an octagonal pavilion.

The name Wangting Mountain comes from this octagonal pavilion.

Inside the octagonal pavilion there was not only an offering table, but also two stone slabs erected beside the two pillars facing us.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I always felt those two stone slabs were carved to look like two children.

The Song family people placed the chicken, duck, cow, and sheep offerings on the offering table inside the pavilion, then lifted the big red bridal sedan again and proceeded past the pavilion forward.

The mountain path wound and twisted; halfway up the slope, fog had arisen at some point, and we, at the rear of the procession, could barely see the people at the front.

After the procession finally managed to stop again, the sound of gongs and drums also ceased.

Tang Tang and I keenly sensed something, and simultaneously slipped silently behind a nearby tree.

The big red bridal sedan was slowly lifted into the mist; the feeling was like sending a sheep into a tiger's mouth.

After waiting about five more minutes, the procession turned around and headed down the mountain.

Everything was neat and orderly, except that the big red bridal sedan was missing.

After the wedding procession had gone far away, Tang Tang and I quickly darted into the mist ahead.

We hadn't gone far when a vine-covered mountain cave suddenly appeared ahead.

On the ceiling of the cave, the three large characters "Furong Cave" were conspicuously carved……