White temples
In fact, no one knew that the first people Wen Ya exorcised and helped ghosts dispel their obsessions were her own parents.
She doesn't have a strong memory of the car accident because she was asleep a second before it happened. She remembers that her parents took her to a resort in a neighboring city that day.
In Wen Ya's memory, her father was a good-tempered man, and her mother was very gentle. Her parents had a good relationship; her father would play games with her, and her mother's hands were warm and soft. In her memory, mentioning her parents was always associated with warmth and affection.
When her mother failed to inherit the family tradition of exorcists, her maternal grandfather didn't say anything. It wasn't until Wen Ya's innate ability to see ghosts was discovered that her grandfather began to focus on training her.
She used to be afraid and resistant because of her ability to see ghosts, but her parents gently healed those fears.
When she was little, her mother often held her and teased her with a smile, saying, "Our Xiaoya will definitely be the most powerful exorcist in the future."
Little Wen Ya would solemnly declare, "Yes! I will help Grandpa to bring glory to the Wen family!"
The mother would laugh so hard she'd bend over backwards: "Then Mom will wait for that day!"
However, the Wen family still fell into ruin, and the mother ultimately did not live to see the day when she could support the Wen family again.
Wen Ya remembers that her father would take them out for trips every few days. Wen Ya would always be very happy on those occasions.
On that day, when they arrived at the resort, the sun was shining brightly. After spending the day at the resort, they had dinner and hurried back in the evening, when the sky began to darken.
Summer weather is unpredictable, with thunderstorms coming and going quickly. So even though dark clouds loomed overhead, Wen Ya's father still planned to drive off.
After a day of fun, Wen Ya fell asleep shortly after getting on the bus. Her memories afterward were like a dream shrouded in a gloomy black cloth, chaotic, magical, and melancholic.
She remembered being jolted awake by the screech of brakes, then the scent of her mother filling her nostrils, and realizing her mother was holding her. Immediately afterward, she felt the world spinning and colliding around her.
She didn't know what was happening, but even though her mother held her tightly, they couldn't control their bodies due to inertia. She didn't know what she hit or where she flew, only that the sound of the impact accompanied by pain swept through her body.
Xiao Wenya didn't know how much time had passed; it could have been a moment, or it could have been a very, very long time—so long that she thought she was going to become scrap metal along with the car. But soon, everything became quiet.
All she could hear was the torrential rain, mixed with the sound of her own violently pounding heart.
Xiao Wenya's vision was still black. Her mother's body temperature enveloped her, but perhaps because the car's air conditioning was too low, the touch was not warm, but rather a little cold.
Xiao Wenya felt a liquid, warmer than her mother's body temperature, flowing down her head and then sliding down her face. She tried to raise her hand to wipe it away, but her mother was too heavy; she was pinned down by her mother and couldn't pull her hand away.
She called softly, "Mom?"
But no one answered her. She didn't know if the liquid was blood, or whose blood it was, because she was in pain all over.
She called out again, "Dad?"
Perhaps her voice was a little louder than before, because it caught someone's attention. She heard someone faintly call out, "There are children inside! Someone come quick!"
Then, more voices poured in.
"Have you called the police? Where's the ambulance?"
"I made the call! The rain is too heavy, saving lives is the priority!"
"What's going on?"
"It seemed to have skidded. I was following behind when I saw the car suddenly sway from side to side... Luckily, I slowed down in advance."
"Enough talk! Save them first!"
Then, Xiao Wenya heard various sounds of hammering, and someone called out to her, asking if she was alright.
She didn't know who it was, so she remained silent. The people outside probably thought she was dying, and their voices became even more urgent.
Not long after, Wen Ya felt her mother being moved aside, and in her place came a strange man into view. The man stared at her with wide, dark eyes, paused for a moment, then seemed to let out a heavy sigh of relief, and said to someone, "The child is still awake! Where's the doctor?"
She didn't know what the person outside said, but the man gently reached out to hug her and said softly, "Little girl, uncle is here to save you. Come out first. Here, let me hug you."
Xiao Wenya simply turned her head to look at her father.
After she got on the bus, she sat in the back seat with her mother. At that moment, she realized that the bus had overturned. She couldn't see her father anymore, and could only see a blood-stained ear through the small gap in the back seat.
Seeing that she wasn't moving, the stranger assumed she was injured and unable to move. Fearing that picking her up rashly would cause further injury, he called a doctor.
The rain hadn't stopped yet, and it took everyone a lot of effort to get Xiao Wenya out of the car. After a preliminary examination, the doctor was surprised to find that, apart from some bruises, she had no other injuries.
Those around were astonished, but upon seeing the woman who had been moved out earlier and had already lost vital signs, they guessed the truth and fell silent again.
Xiao Wenya remained silent, staring blankly as rescuers carried her blood-covered father out of the mangled car in the pouring rain. The rain was so heavy that the water mixed with blood, forming a winding stream that reached Xiao Wenya's feet.
At that moment, someone blocked her view; it was a female traffic police officer.
Xiao Wenya looked up at her. The female traffic policewoman looked somewhat reluctant, but said in a light tone, "Be good, don't look."
No one knew that Xiao Wenya wasn't looking at her parents' corpses, but at two ghosts not far away.
Usually, newly deceased ghosts are not in a state of mind when they realize they are dead and cannot believe it for a while. But Wen Ya's parents, after all, understood this profession, so they were only stunned for a moment before looking at Wen Ya together.
Xiao Wenya finally spoke, softly calling out, "Daddy, Mommy."
This startled the people around her. The female traffic policewoman turned to look at her and hesitated before saying, "Little girl, your parents are just..." She probably wanted to tell some kind of white lie, but when she faced Xiao Wenya's dark eyes, she couldn't say anything.
But Xiao Wenya was looking behind her, tilting her head slightly as if she were meeting someone's gaze. The female traffic policewoman turned around in confusion, and immediately felt a chill run down her spine—there was no one behind her.
She couldn't see the ghosts, so she didn't know that the ghosts of Xiaowenya's parents were standing there, "they" in the position of being in a car accident, soaking wet, it was hard to tell if it was rain or blood.
The father awkwardly patted himself down and smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, Xiaoya, did I scare you?"
Little Wenya shook her head. Even at such a young age, she had already begun learning about exorcism, so she knew that ghosts could harbor obsessions. She asked seriously, "Do Mom and Dad also have obsessions?"
The mother laughed: "Thank God you're alright."
Xiao Wenya seemed to understand, but she sensed that something heavy had disappeared from her parents' ghosts the moment they saw her; it was a sense of relief.
That was the first time Wen Ya had ever felt the dissipation of a ghost's obsession.
The parents' obsession vanished effortlessly the moment they saw her and confirmed that she was safe.
They drifted somewhere, gazing intently at her, their eyes filled with a longing she had never understood.
But she was still thinking about what she had learned, and said, "After the ghost's obsession dissipates, it must be sent into reincarnation."
The parents smiled together, and the father nodded: "We would be very happy if Xiaoya came to see your parents off."
The mother chimed in, "Xiaoya can exorcise spirits now. Maybe she'll really help Grandpa revitalize the Wen family in the future."
Xiao Wenya nodded and said earnestly, "I will."
Then, she made a hand seal and used the soul-dispelling spell for the first time, sending her parents away. For the first time, she clearly saw the moment the ghosts were dispelled, turning into shattered stars and then disappearing.
However, the female traffic police officer who watched the whole process was terrified. From her perspective, Xiao Wenya was talking to herself the whole time.
She was convinced that she had been traumatized, and everyone else who heard this felt sorry for Xiao Wenya.
Soon, Xiao Wenya was taken to the hospital for a comprehensive examination.
She saw her grandfather at the hospital late at night. She had been through a lot at the hospital, but she had no internal injuries, only some bruises. She also passed various psychological tests and was even calmer and more sensible than most children. But the hospital wouldn't release her, saying they had contacted her remaining relatives.
Her only remaining relative was her maternal grandfather.
The accident happened outside the city, so when Grandpa arrived after receiving the news, he looked a little travel-worn. Upon seeing her, he breathed a sigh of relief and gently stroked her head with his large hand.
"It's alright now."
Everyone seemed to be telling her that everything was alright. Xiao Wenya looked up at her grandfather, not noticing the slight trembling of his hands. She calmly said, "Grandpa, I've seen Mom and Dad off."
Grandpa paused for a moment, then nodded: "That's fine too."
That night passed just like that, and from then on she and her grandfather depended on each other for survival.
No one mentioned it, and she didn't tell anyone. In the beginning, it was she who insisted on going home, so the family took advantage of the heavy rain to drive onto the highway.
Wen Ya knew she was dreaming because she saw the rain mixed with blood again, flowing like a stream past her feet. She kept thinking, how could a person bleed so much?
Suddenly, she heard someone calling her.
"Master? Xiaoya? Wake up, we've arrived."
Wen Ya slowly opened her eyes. The setting sun outside the car window was like blood. For a moment, she was stunned and thought she was still dreaming.
Si Mucheng thought she was blinded by the slanting sunlight, so he raised his hand and used his palm to shield her from the sunlight.
Wen Ya paused, gazing at the slender fingers before her, which were separating her from the blood, as if they had entered her dream.
"What's wrong?" Si Mucheng asked with a smile, leaning closer. "Still not awake?"
Wen Ya stared blankly at him. His puppy eyes were still wet, and he smiled with his eyes crinkling: "You slept for a long time. I was so bored with no one to talk to."
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