Chapter 81

Chapter 81

This was an ending I never could have imagined.

I asked, “Who cut it off?”

“She did it herself,” Tang Tang said sadly. “Xiao Jiu, can you understand what an index finger means to an artist? Without that finger, she couldn’t even hold a paintbrush steady.”

I could understand.

Of course I could.

Never mind whether Song Ruoqing could still hold a paintbrush steady after losing the index finger on her right hand-even an ordinary girl missing a finger would probably draw strange looks all the time, wouldn’t she?

“But why would she cut off her own index finger?”

“Her mother forced her to,” Tang Tang said. “Song Ruoqing’s father was an absolute scumbag. Her mother was his third wife, and he had countless women outside. In order to have a son, he had daughter after daughter.

“To make sure she could get her hands on the Song Family’s vast fortune in the future, Song Ruoqing’s mother raised her as the heir. None of her personal interests were allowed.

“She showed astonishing talent for painting from a very young age, but her mother kept suppressing it. That grand prize certificate was something she treasured. She’d clearly hidden it very carefully, but her mother still found it.

“Her mother went mad on the spot. She rushed into the kitchen, came back with a rolling pin, and told Song Ruoqing to smash her own index finger.”

If it was only smashed, the finger could be reattached. It wouldn’t affect how it looked, but she wouldn’t be able to use too much force with it afterward.

Holding a paintbrush required strength.

It seemed Mother Song knew exactly what she was doing.

“But what her mother didn’t expect,” Tang Tang continued, “was that Song Ruoqing didn’t take the rolling pin. Instead, she grabbed a kitchen knife and chopped off her index finger outright. She was sent to the hospital immediately. Actually, it could have been reattached, but she refused to cooperate and missed the best window for surgery. Just like that, she lost that finger.”

By the time I heard this, my heart felt heavy too.

“Xiao Jiu, do you think that was the end of it?” Tang Tang said with a bitter smile. “Life is just full of drama. That very day, her mother was so furious she passed out at the hospital. Afterward, they discovered she was pregnant. A few months later, she gave birth to a boy.

“The Song Family’s only male heir!”

I was stunned. “Then what happened to Song Ruoqing?”

“She was sent abroad,” Tang Tang said. “Once she had a younger brother, she became an abandoned pawn-and one with a missing index finger, a defective abandoned pawn at that. They claimed they were sending her overseas to pursue her artistic passions. Ha. How ridiculous!”

For a moment, I didn’t know what to say.

“After that, I never saw Song Ruoqing again. The contact information we exchanged in high school was lost long ago. I never thought that when I heard news of her again, it would be… like this.” Tang Tang’s eyes were red as she said, “Xiao Jiu, I want to go see her.”

I could empathize with what Tang Tang was feeling at that moment.

Perhaps deep down, she had always blamed herself.

If she hadn’t stood up for justice that day, Song Ruoqing wouldn’t have lost her finger, and she wouldn’t have been sent abroad.

But could Tang Tang really be blamed for that?

Even without that incident, once Song Ruoqing had a younger brother, would her days in the Song Family have been any better?

Now, it seemed the only thing we could do was go see her one last time and say our final goodbye.

What neither Tang Tang nor I expected was that by the time we arrived at the Song Family residence, we happened to catch Song Ruoqing’s funeral procession.

The Song Family had chosen not to cremate her. Instead, they were going to bury her on Wangting Mountain.

The entire Wangting Mountain belonged to the Song Family, so there was nothing inherently wrong with burying Song Ruoqing there.

That heavy Black Coffin was carried out of the mourning hall and loaded into a vehicle, which then drove all the way toward Wangting Mountain.

I actually really wanted to follow and take a look. After all, one of the reasons I had come to Huicheng this time was Wangting Mountain.

Before I could say anything, Tang Tang said, “Xiao Jiu, let’s follow them and take a look. The Song Family isn’t handling this properly.”

“You mean the burial?” I said. “It may not be in line with regulations, but with the Song Family’s power and influence, it shouldn’t be hard for them to smooth things over, right?”

Tang Tang kept shaking her head. “That’s not what I’m talking about. Xiao Jiu, don’t you think there’s something very wrong about the coffin leaving at this hour?”
The moment she said that, it clicked.

It was already past four in the afternoon. By the time they drove from the Song Family estate to Wangting Mountain, it would probably be almost dark.

Was the Song Family really planning to bury Song Ruoqing on Wangting Mountain after nightfall?

That was definitely strange.

As we spoke, Tang Tang had already followed the route Uncle Ming had drawn and started driving toward Wangting Mountain.

But I was still thinking that maybe the Song Family only meant to transport the coffin there first, then bury her early tomorrow morning.

Yet when our car stopped some distance away at the foot of Wangting Mountain, we saw something completely baffling.

At the base of Wangting Mountain stood a wedding canopy.

It had clearly been set up in a hurry, but both inside and out it was decked out in festive decorations. Red lanterns and red silk were hung everywhere.

Night had already fallen. We didn’t dare get too close, so all we could see were shadowy figures moving inside the canopy. Everyone seemed to be very busy.

Tang Tang and I crouched in the grass and waited.

Fortunately, it was already late in the tenth lunar month. The mornings and evenings were cool, and there weren’t many mosquitoes. Otherwise, the two of us would have been in for it.

We waited like that until midnight. Around eleven-thirty, there was suddenly movement inside the wedding canopy.

Gongs, drums, and suona horns led the way, followed by chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep as Offering and Sacrificial Offerings. Right after them came a large red bridal sedan chair.

Behind the crimson sedan were two lines of people escorting the bride.

Weren’t they supposed to be taking Song Ruoqing up the mountain to be buried?

Where was the coffin?

How had it turned into a red bridal sedan chair?

Tang Tang gritted her teeth. “Damn it. I knew it. The Song Family is using the same old trick. They’re going to Sacrifice Song Ruoqing to the Mountain God!”

Back then, after the Song Family’s pair of Dragon-Phoenix twins died, hadn’t they also been buried on Wangting Mountain?

Perhaps this was the “bright path” that expert had pointed out to the Song Family.

“Let’s follow them and see,” Tang Tang said.

At night, the mountain was pitch-black.

A place that should have been deathly quiet was now being disturbed by the deafening clamor of gongs, drums, and suona horns. The Song Family acted as if they were afraid the Mountain God wouldn’t hear them bringing the Sacrificial Offerings up the mountain.

But that also gave Tang Tang and me the perfect chance to blend in.

The two of us quietly slipped in at the very end of the procession.

In truth, with two extra people suddenly appearing at the back, at least the original last two people should have noticed.

But maybe they were already terrified. They weren’t sure what had suddenly appeared behind them, and they actually didn’t dare turn around to look.

The procession slowly moved forward, climbing all the way to the mountainside before stopping in front of an octagonal pavilion.

Wangting Mountain took its name from this very octagonal pavilion.

Inside the pavilion was not only an Altar Table, but beside the two pillars facing us stood two stones.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I kept feeling that the two stones were carved to look like two children.

Up ahead, the Song Family placed the chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep as Offering and Sacrificial Offerings on the Altar Table inside the pavilion. Then they lifted the red bridal sedan again and carried it past the pavilion, continuing forward.

The mountain path twisted and turned. At some point, fog had risen halfway up the mountain. From our place at the rear of the procession, we could barely make out the people at the very front.

At last, the procession stopped again, and the sounds of gongs and drums came to a halt as well.

Tang Tang and I both sensed something at once. Without a sound, we slipped behind a large tree nearby.

The red bridal sedan chair was slowly carried into the fog. It felt exactly like watching a sheep being delivered into the jaws of a tiger.

After another five minutes or so, the procession turned around and headed back down the mountain.

It was perfectly orderly-except the red bridal sedan chair was gone.

Only after the wedding escort procession had gone far away did Tang Tang and I quickly plunge into the fog ahead.

We hadn’t gone far when a cave covered in vines suddenly appeared before us.

At the top of the cave entrance, three large characters had been carved with startling clarity: Furong Cave…