Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Yun Luhua jumped in fright and hurriedly grabbed Xia Huiqing’s hand. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”

Still shaken, Xia Huiqing let out a long sigh of relief when she saw Yun Luhua, then shook her head. “I’m fine.”

With that, Xia Huiqing got out of bed, washed up, ate breakfast as usual, and went to class.

When she came home that evening, she once again skipped her late-night snack. She looked even worse than she had the night before.

Seeing how terrible Xia Huiqing’s condition was, Yun Luhua called her homeroom teacher that very night to ask for leave, then took her to the hospital first thing the next morning.

Just like the previous morning, Xia Huiqing seemed trapped in some sort of nightmare and only woke when Yun Luhua called her.

Mother and daughter went to the hospital, where the doctor told them it was nothing serious. She merely had a common cold, and the pressure from school had left her somewhat neurasthenic. Some medicine and rest would set her right.

With her senior year of high school approaching, Xia Huiqing really was under a lot of academic pressure. Her grades were not as good as her older cousin’s, so if she wanted to get into the same school, she would have to work twice as hard.

Yun Luhua knew that too, so the doctor’s explanation put her mind at ease.

After taking her medicine at noon and sleeping for a while, Xia Huiqing returned to school for class.

She took the medicine the doctor prescribed every day, but her condition only continued to worsen. Before long, even when Yun Luhua called her name, it would take her a full two minutes to react.

At six thirty on Thursday evening, Xia Huiqing came home for dinner.

Since evening study started at seven ten, she had little time to eat. Yun Luhua always prepared dinner ahead of time so it would be ready the moment she got home.

“Come sit down and eat.” Yun Luhua set out the bowls and chopsticks. When she turned around, she found Xia Huiqing still standing by the door, her face deathly pale.

Yun Luhua’s husband, Xia Chao, had just returned from a business trip. He was sitting at the table, hoping to finish dinner quickly and get some much-needed rest, but when he looked up and saw his daughter’s small, pale face, his heart immediately ached.

“Oh, Daddy’s precious girl, why do you look so awful? Are you sick?” Xia Chao instantly lost his appetite and hurried toward Xia Huiqing.

But Xia Huiqing bolted to Yun Luhua’s side like a frightened rabbit and timidly clutched the corner of her shirt.

She shot Xia Chao a terrified glance. The instant their eyes met, she ducked her head in panic.

Yun Luhua found it amusing. “What are you two doing? You’re both too old to be playing hide-and-seek.”

Father and daughter had always been close. Even at seventeen, Xia Huiqing still loved clinging to her father.

As it happened, Xia Chao doted on his daughter. He had even quit smoking for her after being addicted for six years.

“All right, let’s eat first. Huiqing has been under a lot of pressure at school, and she still hasn’t recovered from her cold. That’s why she looks so pale. I was just thinking that if she isn’t any better tomorrow, I’ll ask for another day off and take her to a different hospital.”

Yun Luhua led Xia Huiqing to the table. Xia Chao frowned when he heard about his daughter’s condition.

“Why wait until tomorrow? We’ll go see Doctor Zhang as soon as we finish dinner.” Xia Chao had a close friend who was a doctor and planned to ask him for a favor that very night.

Xia Huiqing had barely had an appetite all week. She picked at her food for twenty minutes, then put down her chopsticks without even finishing half of her small bowl of rice.

None of the three ate particularly fast. By the time Xia Huiqing finished, her parents were still eating.

After dinner, Xia Chao stepped aside to call Doctor Zhang.

Yun Luhua also took out her phone, intending to call Xia Huiqing’s homeroom teacher and ask for leave. But the moment she did, Xia Huiqing grabbed the corner of her shirt.

Trembling all over, she shrank back and glanced at Xia Chao. Her voice quivered with tears as she asked, “Mom, dinner’s over. Why hasn’t that man left yet?”
“What did you say?” Yun Luhua froze. She glanced at her husband, who was on the phone, and assumed Xia Huiqing was playing some kind of prank. She gave an exasperated laugh. “What uncle? That’s your own father!”

Xia Huiqing’s face grew even paler. She clutched at the hem of Yun Luhua’s shirt with nearly all her strength, her voice rising into an anguished sob. “When is that uncle leaving? When is he going to get out of our house?”

The girl seemed to have lost her senses. She repeated those two questions over and over until she was practically screaming them.

Yun Luhua was terrified. Xia Chao hung up the phone and, seeing what was happening, rushed over in alarm to check on his daughter.

But the moment Xia Chao approached, Xia Huiqing shrieked and hid behind Yun Luhua, screaming hysterically, “Stay away! Stay away! I’m not going with you! I won’t go with you!”

“Honey, what’s wrong with our daughter?” Yun Luhua was already forty, but she had always been timid. Seeing her daughter like this frightened her so badly that her voice began to tremble with tears.

As the head of the family, Xia Chao forced himself to stay calm. Keeping his distance from Xia Huiqing, he said, “I think our precious girl might be possessed. I’ll call Dad. You call your father too and ask what he thinks.”

People their age knew far less about such supernatural matters than the older generation.

Before long, Grandpa Xia and Grandma Xia arrived from the countryside. The two of them were nearly seventy, yet they had ridden an electric scooter more than twelve miles all the way into the city.

By the time they arrived, Xia Huiqing was hiding in her room, clinging to Yun Luhua and trembling uncontrollably.

“How’s our granddaughter?”

Grandpa Xia and Grandma Xia were famous throughout the area for doting on their granddaughter. The moment they stepped through the door, they called out anxiously.

Hearing their voices, Xia Huiqing looked up and saw Grandpa Xia and Grandma Xia entering her room. She had only just calmed down, but she immediately lost control again, shrieking and sobbing as she burrowed into Yun Luhua’s arms.

“I’m not going with them! I’m not going with them! Mom, make them leave! I’m not leaving! I’m not!”

Tears streamed down Yun Luhua’s face. She quickly wrapped her arms around Xia Huiqing and soothed her. “Don’t be afraid. Mommy’s here. Grandpa and Grandma won’t come in. It’ll just be Mommy with you.”

Grandpa Xia and Grandma Xia hurriedly retreated from the room, while Xia Chao stamped his feet in panic.

“Mom, Dad, what are we supposed to do?” Xia Chao was a man in his forties, yet at that moment, he looked as helpless as a child.

“She’s either possessed or she’s encountered a ghost. We need a spirit medium to deal with this. There’s a famous one near your in-laws’ home. We should take our precious granddaughter to her.”

Grandpa Xia quickly regained his composure. “Did you call Xiao Hua’s parents?”

“Xiao Hua did. They should be here any minute.”

Speak of the devil.

Grandpa Yun and Grandma Yun came panting up the stairs. The instant they stepped inside and saw what was happening, they decided to take Xia Huiqing to the spirit medium.

“But with my youngest daughter in this state, she can’t even make it downstairs,” Yun Luhua sobbed to her parents.

Xia Chao was strong enough to carry Xia Huiqing down, but she went completely hysterical whenever he came near her. There was no way he could get her downstairs.

Grandpa Yun touched the little wooden carving he had worn around his neck for years. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward uncertainly. “Let me try.”

He approached Xia Huiqing slowly, one step at a time, speaking in a gentle, kindly voice. “Qingqing, it’s Grandpa Yun. Why don’t you let me carry you downstairs? Let’s go see a doctor, all right?”

Xia Huiqing kept shrinking back. She stared in terror as Grandpa Yun approached, but unlike when she had seen Grandpa Xia and Grandma Xia, she did not scream or cry.

In the end, her elderly grandfather bent his already stooped back and lifted his granddaughter onto it. Then, one painstaking step at a time, he carried her down from the third floor.

His unsteady figure looked so small, yet so great.