Chapter 013: Possession

Deep down, no matter how many years have passed, she is still the girl from the countryside.

Taiwei squinted her eyes at the yellow dog in front of her.

Suddenly, Afu kept barking and showed a fierce look with bared teeth. Taiwei's face darkened, and she was about to leave with Xiaoqi, but Xiaoqi suddenly stood in front of her, opened her arms, and said in a soft and trembling voice, "Sister Wu, don't be afraid, Xiaoqi is here..."

She was short and plump, with arms that seemed a bit shorter than others, but at this moment, she firmly stood in front of Taiwei.

Her chubby face looked anxious, but within the anxiety, there was also a hint of determination.

She was clearly terrified.

But no matter how Afu barked, she didn't take a step back.

Her two short legs seemed rooted to the ground.

She stared at Afu outside the corridor, muttering softly, "I'm not afraid, Sister Wu is not afraid, I'm not afraid, no one is afraid..."

Afu's sharp teeth looked terrifying in the sunlight, as if it was about to rush up and bite them.

But after barking for a while, it stopped. It stood still and didn't move forward at all. It seemed to be scared by Xiaoqi's round eyes, then it suddenly wagged its tail, turned and walked away.

It walked slowly, step by step, as if it was playing, lazy and without the ferocious and violent appearance it had just shown.

Xiaoqi finally breathed a sigh of relief when it walked away, lowered her arms, and looked up at Taiwei, "Sister Wu, it's gone."

Taiwei looked at her and noticed the faint baby-blue color in her clear eyes, and fell silent. She gently touched Xiaoqi's soft hair, recalling the scene when she last saw Xiaoqi before leaving home.

Back then, she had wanted to take Xiaoqi with her.

Grandmother could sell them, and she could sell Xiaoqi in the future.

No one could escape.

But one wrong step left her with no room to maneuver.

She didn't manage to take Xiaoqi with her.

When she returned to the capital in the eighth year of Jianyang, just half a year after Xiaoqi's marriage, Xiaoqi had already passed away.

They said it was due to illness.

But who would believe that?

In a time of chaos and corruption, there was no place for a child like Xiaoqi.

Taiwei thought about the past with a heavy heart, and as the spring breeze blew, she suddenly lowered her voice and said, "Xiaoqi, Sister Wu is not afraid of anything, only afraid of you getting hurt. So in the future, if you encounter any trouble, just hide, don't block, run if you can, and run as far as you can."

Xiaoqi was taken aback.

Sister Wu's words were completely different from the moral principles she had learned, which emphasized taking responsibility, facing difficulties, and standing up for justice. But Sister Wu told her to run...

She turned around, faced Taiwei, and nodded, "I'll forget about other things, but if I encounter Afu again, I will still stand in front of Sister Wu!"

"Aunt said that when Sister Wu was young, she was scared by Afu and is usually afraid of dogs."

Taiwei looked into her eyes and saw her determination. She couldn't help but gently tap her forehead with her finger, "You are such a silly child!"

At that moment, "Sister Wu, wait—" as the two sisters were talking, they heard the voice of the fourth sister, Qimao.

With hurried footsteps, she caught up with Taiwei and Xiaoqi.

As she approached, she bowed to Taiwei, "Sister Wu, I'm sorry, I only came to apologize to you now. It was my fault yesterday. If I hadn't made a fuss, it wouldn't have been reported to grandmother. If grandmother didn't know, you wouldn't have been punished by Madam Shen..."

Qimao kept talking, breaking each sentence into seven or eight parts, making it hard for anyone to listen. Taiwei hadn't dealt with someone like this for many years, and now she couldn't stand it.

They had already caused a scene at the dinner table, and now she was stopping them to say it again?

Taiwei blinked, her eyes reddened, and she stepped forward to hold Qimao's hand, saying repeatedly, "Fourth sister, what are you talking about? How can I blame you? It's my fault!" Her voice grew louder, with a hint of crying, "If I had held you back at that time, where would you have fallen into the water..."

Qimao wanted to show sisterly love, so she played along.

It was just a "performance," and who wouldn't know how to do it?

Taiwei felt guilty all over, and she held Qimao's hand tightly, "Fourth sister, hit me a couple of times to vent your anger!" As she spoke, she exerted force with her hand, each finger felt like iron, squeezing Qimao's palm until it turned red and white. Then she leaned in close to Qimao's ear and whispered in a very light voice:

"Fourth sister, you know in your heart that the incident in the water wasn't caused by me."

"If it really was me, how could you have climbed ashore alive?"

The whispers of Taiwei were fast and barely audible. Qimao felt as if a gentle breeze had brushed past her ears, and before she could listen carefully, it dissipated. She forgot about the pain in her hand and hastily fixed her gaze on Taiwei's face.

Taiwei looked apologetic, her eyes slightly red, and there was nothing out of the ordinary.

She said, "I'm sorry, Fourth Sister," and released her hand without any change in her expression.

Only then did Qimao notice the soreness in her hand and was shocked into stillness.

She had never seen Taiwei like this in the past fifteen years!

Never!

Qimao stared at her, and a terrifying thought crept into her mind.

Could it be that Taiwei, too, had gone mad?

It was said that the madness of Taiwei's mother was hereditary, and if Taiwei wasn't mad now, she would be eventually. Was she showing signs of the illness now?

Qimao covered her hand and subconsciously took two steps back, looking at Taiwei with suspicion. "Fifth Sister?"

Taiwei stood still, not moving her body, only her mouth moved. "Fourth Sister?"

Qimao's expression changed, and she remained silent.

Taiwei gently called out again, "What's wrong, Fourth Sister?"

Qimao took a deep breath, glanced at Little Seven and a few maids waiting nearby, and forced a dry smile. "You seem... a little different..."

Either she's gone mad, or she's possessed by an evil spirit.

Qimao spoke, shivering involuntarily.