Chapter 38
Chapter 38
As Cai Bin spoke, even the usually bold Li Qingying couldn’t help but glance at him through the rearview mirror.
But Cai Bin’s next words were even more terrifying. “Actually, if my wife was just obsessed with that painting and happened to love singing that song, I might still be able to accept it. But about half a month ago, she somehow got her hands on some fabric and started secluding herself at home to embroider a Red Wedding Dress.”
Cai Bin paused, pulled out a tissue to wipe the beads of sweat from his forehead, and opened a bottle of mineral water. He gulped down several mouthfuls before his tense nerves finally relaxed a bit.
He continued, “That Red Wedding Dress is bright red and embroidered with large lotus flowers in gold thread. But my wife never knew how to embroider before; she was the kind of person who struggled even to thread a needle. Suddenly, her needlework is incredible-the stitches are so neat they look like they belong in a museum. She spent half a month embroidering like that, and once the dress was finished, she started twisting rope…”
Screech!
The sharp sound of brakes rang out abruptly. Li Qingying pulled over to the side of the road and turned around to look at Cai Bin. “What did you say? Twisting rope?”
“Yes, twisting rope.” Cai Bin wiped his sweat incessantly. “She uses both hands to twist black hemp fibers together, forming a Black Hemp Rope as thick as a thumb. When I left the house today, I took a secret peek; it’s already this long.”
Cai Bin gestured with his hands; it was conservatively estimated to be fifty or sixty centimeters long.
A Red Wedding Dress, a Black Hemp Rope…
Li Qingying and I exchanged a look, both of us harboring the same suspicion. “Your wife finished the Red Wedding Dress and is twisting a Black Hemp Rope… is she planning to hang herself on the night of the fifteenth of this month?”
Cai Bin nodded vigorously. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. It’s too eerie. I tried to take that painting down and burn it before, but my wife threw a massive fit, crying and screaming at me. I finally managed to get her to sleep and went to light the fire, but that painting… in that painting, those little figures on the steps seemed to come alive. They were twisting and screaming. The painting wouldn’t burn, and it scared me half to death.”
Even though many days had passed, Cai Bin still felt a lingering fear whenever he brought it up.
“I looked for people to help before, but after all, one shouldn’t wash their dirty laundry in public, so I didn’t make a scene. The few people I found turned out to be charlatans who just wasted a lot of my money. Later, Tang Xun somehow heard about this and told me to find you, saying you might want to acquire this painting.”
Based on Cai Bin’s description, this painting was definitely an object of great evil and yin energy. Of course I wanted to acquire it.
However, I wasn’t sure if I had the ability to handle it, so I said, “Mr. Cai, I can go to your house to take a look, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to take the painting. I’m just starting out and my abilities are limited, so please bear with me.”
“No, I believe in Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu,” Cai Bin said with conviction. “I trust Tang Xun’s judgment even more. Anyone she recommends is bound to be the real deal.”
Well, I suddenly felt a bit of pressure.
As we entered the Huicheng area, I was immediately drawn to the local architecture. The beautiful scenery soothed my uneasy emotions.
Cai Bin lived in a villa halfway up a mountain in the suburbs of Huicheng. The interior was luxuriously decorated; it was clear he came from a wealthy background.
As soon as we entered, Cai Bin asked, “Where is my wife?”
A man dressed as a butler replied, “The Madam is still on the second floor. She hasn’t left her room.”
Cai Bin nodded and gestured for the butler to serve tea.
I took a few sips and suggested seeing the painting first. Cai Bin immediately led me upstairs.
In the small sitting area of the master bedroom on the second floor, Cai Bin led us over just in time to see his wife holding that Black Hemp Rope with both hands, measuring it against her own neck.
We were so terrified our souls nearly left our bodies. Just as we were about to rush forward to save her, the woman shook her head. Seemingly feeling that the Black Hemp Rope wasn’t long enough, she sat back down and continued twisting the rope.
She kept her head lowered, her expression intensely focused. Even though the three of us were standing right at the entrance of the small living room, she didn’t seem to notice us at all.
The painting hung on the wall of the small parlor. I craned my neck to get a better look, but the details remained a blur. “Mr. Cai,” I said, “is there any way you could ask your wife to leave for a moment? I’d like to examine that painting more closely.”
Cai Bin nodded. A moment later, he brought over a cup of tea and coaxed his wife into drinking it, feeding her one sip at a time.
Not long after she finished the tea, she drifted off to sleep against his shoulder.
Li Qingying and I walked up to the painting and looked at it.
The overall image didn’t differ much from Cai Bin’s description.
I had expected such a dark, malevolent object to be wreathed in visible sinister energy. To my surprise, I saw no such thing. Instead, a faint, shimmering golden light emanated from around the painting.
It was actually the power of Merit!
How could this be?
I leaned in closer, observing the painting with even greater care, yet I still couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.
Recalling Cai Bin’s story about trying to burn it, I took out a lighter and tried to set fire to the bottom right corner of the scroll.
But no matter how hard I tried, the paper simply wouldn’t ignite. However, just as Cai Bin had described, the tiny figures on the palace steps seemed to move, and the sound of sobbing drifted out from the painting.
It was the sound of many young women weeping!
As soon as I pulled the lighter away, the image returned to its previous stillness.
Cai Bin, having carried his wife back to the bedroom to rest, walked over and asked in a low voice, “Did Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu find anything wrong?”
I shook my head and told him the truth. “No.”
Cai Bin looked slightly disappointed, though out of respect for Tang Xun, he didn’t voice any frustration.
I kept staring at the painting, my confusion growing the longer I looked.
Why did every single one of those tiny figures on the steps look like a woman in a Red Wedding Dress, crawling on her knees?
Why were they all appearing here together, and what were they going to do inside that palace?
Red Wedding Dress, Black Hemp Rope, the night of the fifteenth, hanging in a row…
Hanging in a row!
A jolt of shock went through me. Could it be… were these little figures entering the palace as part of a pact to hang themselves together?
No.
That couldn’t be right…
An idea struck me. I turned to Cai Bin and asked, “May I borrow your wife’s Red Wedding Dress and Black Hemp Rope?”
“Of course.”
Cai Bin went to retrieve the Red Wedding Dress while I bent down to pick up the Black Hemp Rope that had fallen on the floor.
I asked Cai Bin to step out for a moment and told Li Qingying to stand in the corner. I instructed her to keep a close eye on me and to wake me immediately if she noticed anything abnormal.
Once everything was arranged, I put on the Red Wedding Dress Cai Bin had brought out, gripped the Black Hemp Rope tightly in my hand, and stood before the painting once more.
I slowly raised my hand and reached toward the building in the painting.
Almost instantly, the scene within the frame seemed to be infused with life. It became real.
The brilliant sunlight above the palace transformed into a full moon hanging high in the sky.
Candlelight flickered inside the palace, and I could vaguely see shadows hanging from the rafters, swaying in the wind.
And at the palace gates stood three girls in Red Wedding Dresses, side by side. Each of them had a thumb-thick Black Hemp Rope looped around her neck!
In unison, they reached out toward me, grabbed my right hand as it touched the painting, and dragged me toward the palace…