chapter 9
I shook the bell, muttering under my breath.
“It was me. I wanted to go to the amusement park that day, and that’s why you were left behind.”
“I was afraid Mom and Dad would scold me, so I lied that you got lost in the library.”
“I didn’t mean to. I was little then, I didn’t know it would turn out like this, I didn’t know!”
…
“It was me. I was afraid you’d come back and take my place, so I said you’d stolen something, made sure you never saw Mom and Dad again.”
“I was confused then, a moment of madness. I didn’t really want to hurt you. Please forgive me.”
…
The expressions on Mr. and Mrs. Jiang’s faces slowly changed, growing complicated and uncomfortable.
At last, Mrs. Jiang furiously tore up the talisman and sobbed, demanding the truth from Jiang Zhiheng, who was crawling on the ground.
Jiang Zhenghua, losing control, hauled Jiang Xiaoxiao up by the arm and roared: “Is what you said true?”
“What else have the two of you been hiding from us?”
The siblings didn’t dare say another word, hastily crying and denying everything they’d just confessed.
I said lazily: “Time is almost up.”
I pointed out the window with my hand.
The siblings followed my gaze and screamed again.
Hanging on the window was a blood-soaked peace doll, with amusement park tickets scattered beneath it.
A deeper fear flooded over them, and they no longer cared about the consequences of exposing the truth.
They began confessing even more devoutly and fearfully, ignoring Mr. and Mrs. Jiang’s curses and fury as they recounted everything they’d done over the years.
Slandering Jiang Ye, smearing her name as a homewrecker, making everyone believe she was jealous, vicious, and full of lies.
Sending thugs to beat her, tearing open her sanitary pads and tossing them around the whole class, calling her a slut.
Making her hate school, making her drop out of university, driving her out of the house, letting her get cancer and go untreated.
They trembled and wept as they confessed their crimes—not out of sudden enlightenment or morality, but out of fear.
Mrs. Jiang screamed, clawing bloody scratches into Jiang Zhiheng’s body, sobbing curses at him.
Jiang Zhenghua roared and slapped Jiang Xiaoxiao several times across the face, his eyes full of disgust, loathing, and rage.
Seeing the two siblings still burning spirit money, he kicked the whole brazier over.
The fire went out.
I clicked my tongue, and my voice returned to that hoarse, muffled tone.
“The fire’s out. The salvation failed.”
“She’s here.”
Under the moonlight, the shadow I cast on the wall began to shift rapidly.
From a potbellied middle-aged man, it became a long-haired woman in a dress, a female ghost.
“Ahh!” Jiang Xiaoxiao shrieked, desperately wrenching free of Jiang Zhenghua’s grip and wheeling toward the door.
Before she reached it, the wheelchair skidded and tipped over.
She crashed to the ground and fainted.
Jiang Zhiheng went limp, a foul liquid seeping from beneath him.
His eyes rolled back, and he passed out too.
The System’s voice rang in my mind: [Remorse value of Jiang Xiaoxiao and Jiang Zhiheng: 100%.]
[Remorse value of Mrs. Jiang: 80%, Mr. Jiang: 60%.]
I stepped out of the so-called Master’s body and looked coldly at Mr. and Mrs. Jiang before me, shocked and remorseful.
Mrs. Jiang looked at me, tears streaming down her face: “Ye Ye, is that you?”
“You’ve suffered so much. I’m sorry. It’s Mama who’s sorry. Mama was wrong.”
Jiang Zhenghua’s hair had gone even whiter. He kept his head down and ground out his cigarette underfoot: “I’m sorry. I was deceived by those two bastards and misjudged you.”
“Papa is sorry to you.”
At last, they stopped being stubborn and biased. The mountain called prejudice had, at this moment, been leveled to the ground.
They had apologized for the first time. They were victims too. They had finally recognized a little of their failure as parents.
If this were a melodrama on prime-time TV, or some happily-ever-after novel, then the vengeful ghost that was me should now embrace them and slowly fade away.
But why should I?
Why did they take it for granted that their only mistake was being deceived?
Why did they think that as long as they apologized, I would forgive them?
I am a vengeful ghost. I treat everyone the same. I need only fear.
I sneered, nearly laughing my head crooked.
“In the second year after I was kidnapped, you adopted Jiang Xiaoxiao. Did you ever think that if I were found, this act would make me feel like I had no place in the family?”
“You never thought about it. You were just eager to soothe your own grief, eager to find a replacement.”
“On the very first day I was brought home, you shielded Jiang Xiaoxiao and made me accept that there was a place for her in this family.”
“Because deep down, you’d already taken Jiang Xiaoxiao as your own daughter. And you couldn’t help loathing me, the one they said had been ruined by growing up in that barren, hostile backwater.”
“So even in front of me, who’d been kidnapped for seven years, you still thought Jiang Xiaoxiao was the vulnerable one.”
“You blame Jiang Xiaoxiao and Jiang Zhiheng for deceiving you now. But what about the two of you? The first time you heard their slander of me, you believed every word without question, then graciously told me to learn from my mistakes.”
“They know they’re bad. But you two don’t even realize the foulness of the souls beneath your hypocritical skins.”
I spoke fiercely.
The original body’s memories echoed in my mind. I felt them as my own.
“You say you regret it. I don’t believe you.”
“You made a mistake. So pay with your lives!”
My figure grew enormous.
I had finally found their fear and kept magnifying it.
Fear is the greatest regret.
A fierce wind swept in.
It lifted the entire window and hurled it at them.
[Remorse value of Mr. and Mrs. Jiang: 100%.]
[Host’s task completed.]