Afraid of being ridiculed by Aunt Yang, I dragged Si Jiangchen out of the house.
Today I was wearing the dress of Aunt Yang's daughter. It was a pink dress with fine ruffles at the blue collar. The knee - length skirt had a big hem, showing a section of my fair and delicate legs. I looked like a young and energetic middle - school student.
Si Jiangchen's shirt and suit pants from yesterday were soaked beyond recognition. Now he was also wearing the clothes of Aunt Yang's son.
The sleeves of his long - sleeved thin denim shirt were a bit short, so he rolled them up to his elbows. The dark blue jeans were also not long enough, so he simply rolled up the cuffs, looking like capri pants and showing his ankles. He looked a lot “purer” than his usual suave and somewhat villainous image.
“Do I look good, your man?”
Noticing me stealing glances at him, Si Jiangchen squinted his slightly upturned peach - blossom eyes and looked at me with a big smile.
I got goosebumps all over and quickly lowered my head to look at the compass in my hand.
The ivory - carved compass glistened with a golden light in the morning sun. The golden needle in the celestial pool trembled and pointed diagonally to a position slightly southwest of where I stood.
I frowned slightly. Holding the compass steadily in my palm, I shifted my position, but the needle always pointed to the position behind me.
I turned to look behind me, but saw nothing abnormal.
The feng shui of Uncle Yang's house was just average. It was an ordinary house, with no evil qi and no particularly good fortune.
But my compass clearly showed needle deflection...
It indicated great misfortune!!
“Little Master Du, how about my house?”
Aunt Yang had finished clearing the tableware and walked out.
“Auntie, your house is great,” I said with a big smile. “It's peaceful and there's no problem.”
“Really? That's good, that's good!”
Just as Aunt Yang walked out through the curtain, I took a casual glance at her and was completely stunned.
Previously when Si Jiangchen told me that the couple had a deathly aura, I could only vaguely see something abnormal. But now, looking at Aunt Yang, her whole forehead was covered with a thick layer of dark blue, which was a typical inauspicious sign of “dark clouds covering the top”.
There was no such situation when we were having breakfast just now. How could it have changed so much in just a quarter of an hour?
“Little Master Du?” Aunt Yang noticed my strange behavior and asked puzzledly, “Do I have any problems?”
“N...no.”
I came back to my senses. Not wanting to put pressure on Aunt Yang, I changed the subject and pointed to the southwest direction the compass was pointing at. “What's over there?”
Aunt Yang thought for a while and then said, “Over there... it's the way down the mountain.”
“Okay!”
I nodded. The uneasiness in my heart grew stronger. Uncle Yang went down the mountain early in the morning to do some shopping. Could something bad happen to him?!
“The way down the mountain...”
Si Jiangchen beside me suddenly asked, “Is there a stream on the other side of the mountain on that road?”
Aunt Yang was stunned for a moment. A sad look gradually appeared on her face. “Yes... there's a small river flowing from a mountain stream. It's very shallow and the water is very clear... Alas... Xiaoshanzi drowned there.”
“Auntie, don't be sad. I'll definitely make sure Xiaoshanzi can pass on peacefully,” I quickly comforted Aunt Yang.
I was extremely surprised that the compass was pointing at the mountain stream where Xiaoshanzi drowned! Could there be something fishy about that stream?
“Since Xiaoshanzi's accident, the villagers have forbidden the kids to play there. You two should stay away too. It's very inauspicious.”
Despite her own grief, Aunt Yang still advised us not to go to such a place.
“Okay, okay. Uncle Yang isn't back yet. We'll just take a stroll around the village,” Si Jiangchen said with a smile to help me out.
“It's okay to take a stroll, but don't go near the Feng family's place.”
Aunt Yang remembered what the police officer said in the morning. “Three members of the Feng family died. The two brothers were torn to pieces by some kind of wild animal. Old Mrs. Feng was usually very domineering, but unexpectedly, she was smashed to death by her little granddaughter in the yard. It's really a quick retribution!”
“Ah? A wild animal?!”
I couldn't help but steal a glance at Si Jiangchen.
Aunt Yang continued, “The police didn't believe it at first. Although our place is in the mountains, there couldn't be such a ferocious beast! I heard that the forensic doctors who went into the house to collect the corpses couldn't help vomiting several times.”
“Ah! The police don't believe it was a wild animal?”
Si Jiangchen suddenly lowered his head and looked at me. I was so scared that I quickly pretended to be focused on chatting with Aunt Yang.
Aunt Yang's expression became even more exaggerated. “Of course they don't believe it! But poor little Qianqian is the only eyewitness. She said it was a god sent by heaven and those two inhuman things were punished by heaven! Alas... Poor child. She's finally out of the misery.”
As she said this, Aunt Yang didn't forget to clasp her hands together and bow three times towards the sky.
“Auntie, what about Feng Xiaobao? Is he okay?”
I still remembered that man who was bewitched by the willow tree spirit and became a mess. He was the younger brother of the ghost Feng Zhenzhen. He should be an adult by now, but he had the appearance of a dwarf. He was the only one with a bit of humanity among the Feng family men. After realizing his evil deeds, he immediately wanted to commit suicide to atone for his sins.
“Xiaobao... Alas, that poor child was badly hurt by his own father and uncle. He's been arrested by the police. I don't know how he'll live in the future...”
A sad and pitying look appeared on Aunt Yang's face. “When he gets out, there'll be no one left in his family. We'll have to take care of him more... Alas...”
Hearing Aunt Yang's sigh, I pursed my lips and didn't say anything.
It seemed that Uncle Yang hadn't told his wife the real reason for Xiaoshanzi's drowning. Maybe he was afraid that it would make her even more sad...
When I was dragged out of the house by Si Jiangchen, I still felt very uncomfortable.
Aunt Yang was bearing the pain of losing her son, yet she was still concerned about other people's children.
If she knew that Feng Xiaobao was the murderer of her son, I wondered if she would be heart - broken and complain about the unfairness of heaven?!
The mountains in summer were extremely beautiful. Among the layers of green leaves, there were golden spots of sunlight.
It wasn't until Si Jiangchen picked a handful of purple mulberries for me that the depression in my heart dissipated a bit.
“Why are you unhappy?”
Si Jiangchen lowered his eyes and watched as I frowned and stuffed the fat mulberries from his hand into my mouth one by one as if venting my anger.
“...Why do good people always end up badly?” I looked up. My unwilling expression was reflected in Si Jiangchen's eyes. “Good people don't live long, while villains live for ages! It's the same for Aunt Yang and her family, and also for my grandfather and me. We all want to be kind to others. Why do we always get hurt?!”
“Heaven's way is heartless. Naturally, everyone will have their final outcome.”
Si Jiangchen's hands were covered with dark purple juice, but he still used the back of his hand to wipe off the juice on my cheek.
“But Aunt Yang is so pitiful. She's being kept in the dark and doesn't even know that her child was killed by someone!”
Thinking of the pitying look on Aunt Yang's face when she mentioned Feng Xiaobao, I almost cried.