Entanglements across lifetimes
Hostels are plentiful on Lichee Island. Given the exorbitant prices, most tourists, adhering to the principle of saving where they can, naturally want to spend their money wisely, hence the popularity of hostels. Having a large group was advantageous for Lai Wenyi; she chose the most popular hostel, but unfortunately, the situation upon arrival was completely different from her expectations.
Another characteristic of hostels is that they are a mixed bag.
She booked a seven-person room, but unfortunately, she was the only woman in the entire room.
When she entered the room with her luggage, she was greeted by the body odor of a foreign man.
The black man sitting on the lower bunk, the curtains still drawn, stared intently at her. He smiled and struck up a conversation with her in American English: "Hey! Beautiful Asian girl, maybe you'd like to spend the night with me?" He patted the bed next to him with a suggestive gesture.
Lying on the upper bunk above the black man was a white man in his thirties. He propped himself up and, upon seeing the beautiful Lai Wenyi, his reaction was much the same as the black man's. He raised his eyebrows and laughed, "Don't listen to his nonsense. But if you're worried about your safety, you can choose to sleep next to me. I'll provide you with protection, as long as you give me some of the rewards that a beauty can offer."
Lai Wenyi took two steps back. One gaze was blatantly malicious, while the other feigned innocence but made its implications clear. She had heard about casual sex in foreign backpacker culture, and she didn't want to become their prey. She closed the door again and stood in the narrow corridor, the dim yellow light making the chill behind her feel increasingly oppressive.
There are wolves in front and tigers behind.
She swallowed hard, standing rooted to the spot. Just then, a man who had just showered, wearing only a towel around his lower body, came to open the door. As he pushed the door open, he glanced at her briefly, his tone seemingly friendly: "Do you live here too? Want to come in? If you're scared because there are too many men inside, I can offer you some assistance."
Having been offered a reward by the previous white man, Lai Wenyi forced a smile and waved her hand to politely decline, saying, "Thank you, but no need. I just came to take a look."
She rushed down to the first floor, found the hostel's front desk, and said to the receptionist, "I don't want to stay in the room I booked. I'm worried about my safety, so you can continue to sell it to me. I'm not asking for a refund, but I hope you can let me rest on the sofa there, okay?" She pointed to the sofa by the door and cast a pleading look at the man sitting inside the glass window.
The young man, who looked remarkably like someone of Indian descent, hesitated for a moment. Lai Wenyi clenched her fist on the counter, her palms damp with cold sweat. "The living room is a common area. I didn't ask for a refund; I just wanted to rest on the sofa. You know, Asians often encounter difficulties when they come to a foreign country. Please help me with this small favor, okay? May Buddha bless you."
Having exhausted all the least useful favors, the man finally agreed, instructing him, "You can rest on the sofa, but don't do anything out of line that would damage our hotel's image."
After several reassurances, she settled down on the sofa, took off her bag and put it aside. She gulped down the coffee she bought at the convenience store on the way. She sank into the soft sofa, her cold bones feeling chilled by the central air conditioning.
The meaningful whispers between the two men she had overheard while standing at the doorway lingered in her ears, signaling a resurgence of her dormant memories. An inexplicable force compelled her not to sleep, not to close her eyes.
Having just survived a life-or-death experience, her current exhaustion was beyond the relief of even coffee. Despite her desire to push herself to the limit, she was powerless. Her weary eyelids finally drooped, and the coffee cup she was holding slipped from her grasp as her fingers gave way.
In her dream, the damp alleyway reeked of decay. The man dragging her forcefully ripped off her schoolbag and threw it down, along with her school uniform shirt. The broken buttons rolled on the ground, and the strong smell of alcohol from the man's breath hit her. He kissed her, haphazardly from her face to her neck.
If you want to escape, all you can do is wail.
He slapped her head with all his might, her numb cheeks swelling up rapidly. She cried incessantly, and when the man tried to grab her hand, she bit his tiger's mouth hard, but to no avail.
"You filthy bitch!" A sharp "slap" followed, and she was thrown to the ground. Enraged, the man pressed down on her, pinning her small body to the ground. In her dream, Lai Wenyi cried out desperately for help, only to be met with hands pulling her further down into the earth. Then, she was overwhelmed by a suffocating feeling, thinking she was about to die.
"Hey, wake up, girl, wake up." An anxious female voice pulled her from her nightmare. Lai Wenyi opened her eyes abruptly, the fear still lingering in her pupils. What she saw was a white-clad woman with a concerned expression.
The woman in white withdrew her hand from Lai Wenyi's shoulder, clutched her chest, and sat down next to Lai Wenyi. She let out a long sigh and said, "You were crying the whole time, and you were muttering something. I almost called the police."
Lai Wenyi then raised her hand, and when she touched her cheek, she felt that her hand was wet.
"...Thank you so much. I just had a terrible nightmare. I even thought I was going to die... Thank you so much." Lai Wenyi felt a surge of relief at surviving the ordeal. She knew her words were an exaggeration, but in the dream she really thought she was going to die—if she hadn't been woken up by this kind white woman, she might have actually died in the dream, probably from sudden death.
She shared some of the food she had brought from China with the white woman and thanked her again. During the remaining waiting time, she drank three bottles of coffee and, estimating that it was almost time, rushed to the airport—she didn't even dare to sleep on the plane.
Lai Wenyi rubbed her eyes, tilting her head slightly as she stared at the down jacket wrapped around her legs, her fingertips gently scraping it. Even the soft sound gave her a sense of reality. She murmured, "I just got back to the country yesterday and went straight home to tell my mom how scared I was, but I haven't told her the specifics of what happened yet... I slept with my mom last night and finally got a good night's sleep."
Lai Wenyi lifted Wen Dai's downcast eyes and gazed into them. "I really don't understand why this happened to me. I want to find out where it came from and deal with it before I tell my parents. Please help me. I will pay you, including this amulet you gave me."
"Ah, no need. I already said the amulet was for you. Don't you really feel your own situation? Actually, you just mentioned part of it yourself." Wen Dai frowned slightly, looking back into her eyes.
Seeing that Lai Wenyi still looked confused and conflicted, Wen Dai simply pointed it out: "Have you ever thought that the dream you had in the hostel might not be a dream, but something that actually happened to you?"
Lai Wenyi's fingertips, which were tracing the fabric of the down jacket, paused. She slowly curled her hand up, staring blankly at Wen Dai. It was as if a lock in her mind had suddenly been unlocked, and memories she had deliberately "forgotten" resurfaced—
Yes, it wasn't a dream; it was a replay of her past experiences.
Nine-year-old Lai Wenyi rarely walks home by herself, and she is very happy that her parents are willing to give her a little bit of freedom.
But she never expected to encounter a drunkard. A man in his twenties or thirties roughly grabbed her backpack strap and dragged her into an alley. Her mouth was covered, her backpack fell to the ground in the struggle, and her school uniform shirt was torn... just like in her dream. The difference was that in reality, before she could even be tackled, the man was smashed over the head by a kind passerby with a brick.
The man who was hit by the brick seemed to suddenly sober up, and he took off running, shaking off the passerby uncle who was still trying to beat him up.
“That man didn’t receive treatment after being injured and died soon after. There are actually entanglements between you from past lives. It’s either you killing him or him killing you. In this life, you did face a life-or-death crisis, but… it seems your parents did a lot of good deeds, and the good karma is on your side. Because there was a chance to turn things around in this crisis, you survived, but he will harbor resentment.” Wen Dai’s dark eyelashes obscured most of her pupils, and the unfocused pupils conveyed memories that Lai Wenyi had hidden.
After refocusing, Wen Dai's unfocused pupils focused on Lai Wenyi's face. She glanced into her eyes and said, "He is still by your side. He is waiting for you downstairs. His resentment has not dissipated. Unless you die, it will probably not dissipate. I cannot interfere with the karmic entanglement between you. It is impossible for me to help you resolve the entanglements of past lives just because you met me in this life."
Lai Wenyi immediately gripped the corner of the electric hot water bottle, her slightly hunched back straightening up. She stared at Wen Dai in shock, her voice trembling with fear: "What should we do..."
“In this world, everyone has spirits around them to some extent. People with strong yang energy are less susceptible to external evils. Helping you replenish your yang energy and seal your acupoints can prevent him from disturbing you.” The man leaning on the sofa crossed his arms, raised his chin at Wen Dai, and turned his gaze to Lai Wenyi. “She has quite a few protective items. Ask her to give you some more. If you don’t want to be dragged down to your death by that male ghost who’s following you, do more good deeds.”
Receiving Chen Sizhe's indifferent gaze, Lai Wenyi turned her face to Wen Dai again, looking at her with her last hope, "Is what he said true? If you can, please help me."
"Yes, he's right. The acupoints on your body were probably opened by the male ghost who's been haunting you. They need to be sealed, otherwise you'll probably see a lot more ghosts besides him; your unusually cold body is also probably related to that male ghost. As for replenishing your yang energy and sealing your acupoints, have him do it for you. I'll go to your room and find some protective magic items for you." Wen Dai nodded twice, propped herself up on her thighs, and gave Chen Sizhe a look.
She turned and went to the room where the ritual implements were stored. The shrine was also located in this room, with various statues of deities displayed on the altar against the wall, and the flickering candlelight that burned almost every day. As she squatted down to pick out a small ritual implement from the cabinet, a sudden throbbing sensation came from her lower back, and a somewhat aged voice sounded in her ear: "You can see clearly when you see others, but when it comes to yourself, why are you like a blind man groping in the dark?" It was the oldest spirit in her shrine—the Ghost Immortal.
The old lady rarely showed herself, and the information she provided was often ambiguous, requiring the old lady to decipher it herself, as was the case this time. Wen Dai retrieved the magical artifact and held it close to her chest. She carefully stood up and, before leaving the room, asked, "My profession is supposed to be about helping others resolve their karmic obstacles, enlightening them, and providing assistance. If I were to use my abilities on myself, you, Master, should know better than I what the consequences would be. I can objectively see things for others because I am not them."
"I don't want to know about my past life; let bygones be bygones. I only know that I am Wen Dai right now. As for the future, I'll leave it to the future."
She stepped out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her. She wasn't entirely ignorant of the past of her own soul—but knowing wouldn't help.
Standing in the living room, Lai Wenyi felt a little uneasy. Chen Sizhe didn't seem to have anything to do with fortune tellers or charlatans, although Wen Dai was one too. The man's series of hand gestures and incantations were very skillful, and his speed was much faster than Lai Wenyi had imagined.
Wen Dai came out of the room with magical artifacts and amulets, while Chen Sizhe had already taken care of Lai Wenyi.
"How are you feeling?" Wen Dai raised her chin, gesturing for Lai Wenyi to sit back on the sofa, and then she herself went over and sat down, carrying the things she was holding.
As she rubbed her shoulders, Lai Wenyi reached behind her back. Her previously listless eyes brightened slightly, and she tilted her head and smiled, "I do feel less tired now, and—I've finally escaped that freezing cold feeling! Before, no matter how many layers I wore, I still felt cold, but now I finally feel warm."
She glanced at Chen Sizhe, who was leisurely lounging on the sofa, moved closer to Wen Dai, and murmured in a low voice with a hint of amusement: "But... when he hit me, it really felt like a huge impact. Strangely, I didn't feel any pain."
With his good hearing, Chen Sizhe lifted his eyelids and glanced at Lai Wenyi with his fox-like eyes. "Of course you won't feel pain. I'm just sealing your acupoints, not beating you up."
Lai Wenyi shrugged, a smile spreading across her face. Her previously lifeless face finally regained its former vitality, though not as vibrant as when they first met.
She lowered her gaze to the objects placed on Wen Dai's lap and asked in surprise, "Are these the magical artifacts? I recognize the triangular cloth next to it; it's a talisman, isn't it?"
Wen Dai smiled back at her, picked up the small boxes on her lap, and opened them one by one to show them to her. "Yes. I brought some small magical artifacts for protection. You can keep them at home. As for the placement... that depends on the feng shui. If you don't care too much, you can carry the artifacts with you and keep them by your pillow. If you believe in feng shui, I can take a look for you."
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