Chapter 1 In the sweltering heat of midsummer, these people before me are demons.
Great Heat, Jixiang Village at the foot of Xiaofu Mountain.
The woman, dressed in a simple ochre dress, carried a bamboo basket on her right arm and held the hand of a little boy eating steamed buns with her left hand, carefully selecting shepherd's purse from the vegetable stall.
"Yinyin, if a shepherd's purse costs three coins, and Mom bought four, how much would that cost?"
The little boy looked up at the wilted shepherd's purse in her hand, which looked like it had been sitting there for days. After hesitating for a moment, he whispered, "Mother, shepherd's purse isn't that expensive. Besides, this one is already wilted. Let's not buy it."
"I already said it's hypothetical. Calculate how much it would cost," the woman said, ruffling his head and placing the bunch of shepherd's purse in front of him. She coaxed him gently, "I bet you can't figure it out..."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the vegetable stall owner, unable to contain himself any longer, shook his leg and said, "Young lady, are you going to buy it or not? If not, make room for someone else."
Hearing the shopkeeper's words, the woman narrowed her eyes and glared at him, took out a few copper coins and slapped them in front of him, then picked out a few fresh shepherd's purse plants and took them away: "It's alright, Yinyin, we can settle this when we get home."
Seeing that she was about to leave, the vegetable stall owner picked up the coins, counted them, and said urgently, "You, as a mother, are teaching your child to do accounts? It should be four coins, you gave too much!"
Upon hearing this, the woman's face turned pale and then dark. She turned around in embarrassment and anger, took one from his hand, and was about to leave when she noticed the little boy staring at her.
We must set an example.
She paused, coughed lightly, and bowed politely to the vegetable stall owner: "I am deeply grateful and thank you very much. Yinyin, please thank the owner."
The little boy nodded blankly, then bowed and said slowly and softly, "I am deeply grateful, thank you, boss."
The boss watched her leave with the child, puzzled, and muttered under his breath, "That young lady talks in such strange ways."
An old woman buying groceries quietly approached and whispered, "That young lady lives in Xiaofushan. I heard that she and her husband eloped."
Unfortunately, her husband accidentally fell off a cliff and died, leaving her a widow. Raising her child alone was no easy task, and it's likely that the death of her husband drove her to such madness.
Hearing her words, the boss looked at the woman's retreating figure with some pity and sighed, "In this world, there are pitiful people everywhere."
The old woman responded, her face equally full of worry: "Who says otherwise? I've also heard that there's a demon in the south who's been killing people lately. He might come to our village any day now. We must make sure to lock the door at night."
The boss's expression changed upon hearing this, and he asked anxiously, "A demon? What demon?"
"You don't even know this?" The old woman licked her lips nervously and lowered her voice. "There are demons in the world who kill people for fun. They kill people and then eat their blood and flesh. They don't just kill the old and children... they even kill dogs."
"Good heavens, this is terrible!" The shop owner was terrified. He hurriedly packed up his stall and pulled his cart home. Then, he paused, remembering the poor young woman with her child.
Not long after, Chu Li was wandering around the street with the little cub when he was suddenly stopped by someone.
"Young lady, young lady!"
The man turned out to be the same vendor who had sold shepherd's purse earlier. Chu Li's expression darkened slightly. She looked him up and down and sneered, "So you finally realized that you miscalculated just now? I told you it should be five coins."
The boss didn't expect her to still remember this, so he didn't have time to argue with her and hurriedly said, "Let's not talk about this. We must lock the doors and close the windows tightly recently. I heard that a murderer is coming to Jixiang Village. Xiaofushan is right next door. Maybe the murderer will even run up the mountain."
Chu Li gave him a strange look and pulled the little guy behind her: "What nonsense are you talking about? Are you out of your mind... Yinyin, don't learn this sentence."
The little boy nodded, clutching Chu Li's clothes tightly with some fear.
Seeing that she didn't believe him, the shopkeeper said earnestly, "Those monsters don't even spare the elderly, children, or dogs. They eat human flesh. You must be careful. That's all I have to say. I have to hurry back to pack up."
He left after saying that, leaving Chu Li and the little boy completely bewildered.
The two exchanged a glance, and Yin Yin asked in a worried whisper, "Mother, are there really demons in the world?"
Chu Li pursed her lips, feeling somewhat uncomfortable at what the shop owner had said. She gripped the little boy's hand tightly and whispered, "Don't be afraid, Yin Yin. He must have felt ashamed for miscalculating the accounts earlier, so he came to scare us."
As he said this, a sense of unease and anxiety welled up inside him.
She had heard similar rumors before; someone had indeed told her that the world was not peaceful and that many evil people were lurking in the shadows and committing evil deeds.
These were the words spoken by Chu Li's husband, who had been dead for five years.
He said that if there are demons in the world, then there must be demons.
However, Chu Li never imagined that she would encounter a demon. The place where she grew up was different from Xiaofushan. It was an extremely wealthy and extravagant city where countless cultivators carrying long swords walked through the streets every day.
My husband said that it was precisely because of those cultivators that the demons dared not come into the city to kill people.
But Xiaofushan was completely different from where she originally lived. There were no cultivators here, it was a remote and impoverished place with few people, and there were only two or three small villages nearby.
If a demon were to break into this place... many people would die.
It's okay, it won't happen.
What kind of demon would come to such a remote place?
It was the height of summer, and the weather was already unbearably hot and humid. Chu Li tugged at her collar and frowned.
"Let's go home. Mom will make you shepherd's purse and egg buns tonight."
"Uh-huh."
*
As night fell, a white flash appeared out of nowhere on the horizon, and the sky suddenly darkened. Then, a strong wind came, carrying a strong earthy smell as it recklessly swept into the mountains, rustling the bamboo forests and causing the rice seedlings in the fields to sway incessantly.
With his hair disheveled by the wind, a dusty face lifted from the chicken coop, gazing at the overcast sky, and clutching four or five eggs in his palm.
A hint of surprise flashed across her bright, pearly eyes, and her brows furrowed. Chu Li hurriedly herded the chickens into the coop, then called out to the locust tree not far away, "Yinyin, it's going to rain, come to your mother!"
Under the locust tree, the little boy who was squatting by the tree watching the ants move their nest looked up, ran over, and grabbed the hem of her clothes.
A folk saying goes that during the hottest days of summer, there are often torrential rains, which can easily last for four or five plum rain seasons.
This rain is unlikely to stop.
Chu Li held the cub's soft little hand and warmed it with a steamed egg.
The steamed buns in the steamer are emitting a wonderful aroma; they'll be ready to eat in a little while.
Chu Li used a wooden stool to prop up the door bolt. She heard the howling wind outside, like ghosts wailing and wolves howling, sweeping through the mountains and the world. She was secretly relieved that at least she and her little one had a house to shelter them from the wind and rain.
If it were back when she was begging on the streets, let alone a place to stay, she could only hide under the eaves of other people's houses when it rained heavily, and she would be beaten if the servants found out.
She could have taken shelter from the rain in a dilapidated temple like other beggars, but she dared not sleep with male beggars and could only wander the streets.
It was really cold then. When it rained, the chill seemed to seep into your bones, and even wrapping yourself in ten tattered clothes wouldn't help.
But things are different now. She has a house to live in, can cook, and her deceased husband left her enough money to last her a very long time. Her Yinyin is obedient, sensible, and smart; she is already very happy.
Chu Li suddenly remembered that the quilts she had washed during the day were still drying in the yard. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly got up to move the quilts, otherwise they would have an unpleasant damp smell if they got wet during the plum rain season.
Seeing her move the wooden stool and go out, the little boy stuffed the egg into his mouth and ate it whole, then quickly followed her to collect the blankets.
"Yinyin, why did you come out?" Chu Li looked at the little one standing shakily in the wind and couldn't help but call out with heartache, "Go back quickly, Mother can do it herself!"
Yinyin shook her head, stretched out her thin little arms to help her lift the blankets, and shouted loudly, "I want to help Mother—"
Hearing his words, Chu Li's heart softened. In the five years she had been widowed, if there was one thing in the world that could bring her joy, it was probably her Yin Yin.
Braving the fierce winds in the mountains, the two took down the soft quilts that were drying in the yard, just as a torrential downpour began.
"Mommy, I... I can't carry it anymore..." Yinyin struggled to carry the rain-soaked blanket on her head, her two short legs wobbling and almost losing her balance.
Chu Li couldn't move it either. If it were a dry blanket, it wouldn't be so bad, but this soaking wet blanket weighed more than twice as much. With strong winds blowing from all directions, just standing still was a huge effort.
She gritted her teeth, folded the blanket haphazardly, and hoisted it onto her shoulder.
This weight is nothing; she used to carry cabbages for restaurants to earn a living.
In the dead of winter, a whole truckload of Chinese cabbages.
She was just a teenager, so thin she had no fat at all. She carried those cabbages one by one into the restaurant's kitchen, just so she could have a hot meal.
Although those heartless bastards ended up only throwing her a few frozen buns and a small dish of pickled vegetables that even dogs wouldn't eat.
"You're lucky to have anything to eat, and you still want meat? If our restaurant staff did all this work, it wouldn't take a whole day, they could finish in half a day. I'm giving you food out of pity, so get out of here."
She was thin from a young age and often slept outdoors, so she couldn't compare to those strong and robust men.
However, at that time, Chu Li realized a truth: there was nothing in the world that she couldn't do; she could accomplish it if she gritted her teeth and put in the effort.
"Yinyin, go open the door for your mother." Chu Li carried the heavy stack of bedding, each step in the wind extremely difficult.
The rain grew heavier and heavier, and the sky seemed to have completely sunk into darkness.
The little boy ran to open the door, and the two of them stepped into the house one after the other, soaked to the bone like drowned rats.
Chu Li threw the blanket on the ground, collapsed to the floor exhausted, and beckoned to the little one: "Yinyin, come here."
She tenderly cupped the little boy's cold, rain-soaked face and said softly, "Tonight, Mom will heat some hot water for you to take a bath. Go change your clothes first, or you'll catch a cold."
She couldn't get sick, because getting sick would kill her; most of the beggars she knew died from illness.
The little boy didn't answer her question, but stared straight behind her, his voice trembling slightly.
"Mother, who are they...?"
Chu Li stared at him in confusion. After a long while, she turned her head in the direction of his gaze, and her body suddenly stiffened.
A deafening clap of thunder followed, and a blinding flash of lightning illuminated the small house, filling the air with a thick, lingering stench of blood.
Three masks, like demons, like demons crawling out of hell, held blood-stained long knives in their hands. The sinister, grinning faces on the masks were cold and sinister. Some sat, some stood, their dark pupils devoid of any light, staring straight at her like wild beasts lurking in the dark, preying on their prey.
"Make sure to lock the doors and close the windows tightly lately. I heard that a murderer is coming to Jixiang Village. Xiaofushan is right next to the village, so the devil might even run up the mountain."
"Those monsters don't even spare the elderly, children, or dogs; they eat human flesh!"
The vegetable stall owner's voice suddenly appeared in Chu Li's mind, a chilling sensation creeping up her spine, her breath catching in her throat.
These people in front of me might not even be human.
—It is the devil.
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