Chapter 87 Paper replicas of children used to abduct children...
Didi clutched the hem of her clothes.
"Dad said, since the person is dead anyway, they can't eat anything."
"Instead of letting those offerings rot and grow mold in front of the grave, it's better to save us some money..."
She pouted unhappily, her eyebrows drooping.
"But I think doing that is too immoral, and..."
She bit her lip, her shoulders trembling almost imperceptibly.
"And today is the Ghost Festival on the 15th of the seventh lunar month. Grandma said that ghosts from the underworld come up here looking for food."
“I’m afraid that if I steal their food and they have nothing to eat, they will come after me…”
Grandma said that being haunted by ghosts during the Ghost Festival could be fatal.
“I didn’t do what my dad told me to do, and he wanted to beat me and force me to keep stealing.”
"You're saying that's not stealing, that's taking, because nobody wanted the stuff anyway..."
She clutched the hem of her clothes, which were now too small, and the whorl of hair on her head looked adorable.
"But I feel that's stealing. I'm afraid of ghosts and I don't want to be a thief..."
"..."
Chu Ci looked at the small whorl of hair on her head and gently patted her head.
"You did nothing wrong, and you said nothing wrong either; it was stealing."
He took the little girl's hand and led her towards home.
"If you don't want to go back, then don't. School's on holiday these two days, so you might as well stay here with me."
Didi's eyes lit up, and she grabbed her hand tightly.
Nodding vigorously, "Yes!"
She chewed on a sweet milk candy, and with Chu Ci holding one of her hands, she skipped and hopped towards the shop.
But when Chu Ci returned with Didi and a large bag of incense and paper money, Master Qiu was already waiting in the shop.
Upon seeing Didi, Master Qiu frowned but then breathed a sigh of relief.
"You silly child, running around during the Ghost Festival, you scared me to death!"
She quickly hugged Didi and circled around her, her tone anxious and concerned.
"How was it? Did you encounter anything unclean?"
She froze when she saw the child's face.
His eyes widened, his pupils trembling, "What...what happened to your face?"
Didi looked up and quickly glanced at her aunt's expression.
Seeing that her aunt's expression was much gentler than before, she shook her head and mustered her courage to speak:
"I didn't run around. I just went to the hospital with my senior sister."
She reached out to touch the injury on her face, but her aunt grabbed her wrist.
"Don't touch it, your hands are dirty, and touching the wound can easily cause infection."
Didi had no choice but to lower her hand, her voice low.
"My dad hit me..."
Master Qiu frowned and gave her muddle-headed younger brother a thorough dressing-down.
Finally, he took Didi's hand and said, "Forget it, your dad is a bastard, it's not worth getting angry with him."
"If you don't want to go home, go to your aunt's house. You don't have to go to school these two days."
She looked at Didi with a smile, "After the Ghost Festival, Auntie's dessert shop will open."
"Perfect timing, could you go and taste the dessert for me and see if it's good?"
She tried to pull her younger sister away, but couldn't move her.
Didi looked at Chu Ci and said, "Senior Sister, I'm going to my aunt's house."
Chu Ci met her shifty eyes and reassured her:
"If you don't want to go to your aunt's house, you can stay here with me."
Didi's eyes lit up, but she smiled and shook her head.
"Thank you, Master, but today is the Ghost Festival, you must be very busy."
"I'll just go home with my aunt. I'll come find you again when you're less busy."
She just wanted to see if Chu Ci's previous promise still held true.
If she found that Chu Ci's promise wasn't just a child's lie, she could leave with peace of mind.
Chu Ci smiled and patted her head, "I'm not planning to open the shop today, I'm not busy."
Didi's eyes were sparkling. Just as she was about to say she would stay, the shop door was suddenly pushed open.
Grandma stood up. "We're not open for business today."
Master Qiu recognized the person who came, but was also startled by her current state.
"Ah Chun?!"
The woman who came in was around thirty years old, dressed in business attire, but looked quite disheveled.
Her hair was blown into a mess by the wind and stuck to her sweaty face.
The meticulously drawn eyeliner and eye makeup were smudged by tears and flowed down her cheeks.
Two crooked black lines were left on his cheeks.
She first glanced at Master Qiu, who had called her, then her panicked gaze slowly fell on Chu Ci.
"master……"
Her voice was hoarse and choked with sobs.
"Could you please help me find my son? My son is missing..."
Seeing that she was swaying, Master Qiu quickly stepped forward to support her.
"Hey, sit down first, sit down and calm down."
When she helped Ah Chun up, she realized that Ah Chun's clothes were soaked with sweat.
She was missing a high heel, walked with a limp, and her stockings were covered in dust.
"Ah Chun, your son is missing? Have you called the police?"
Upon hearing Master Qiu's question, Ah Chun shook her head dejectedly, covered her face, and burst into tears.
"It's no use, calling the police won't help!"
"It was my father who took Zizai away, calling the police is useless!"
Grandma frowned, puzzled:
"Even if it's the child's maternal grandfather, if he takes the child away without permission, you should call the police."
Master Qiu's face immediately turned ugly.
Just as she was about to speak, Ah Chun screamed in despair:
"But my dad is dead! He died a year ago!!"
"He's long dead, but even in death he won't let me go, he won't let Zai Zai go!!!"
Her shout trembled as she lunged forward and grabbed Chu Ci's shoulder.
His legs went weak and he wanted to kneel down. "Master, please, please help me!"
“My dad took Zizai away, something bad is bound to happen to Zizai!”
"Please, please save my son! I'll pay any price..."
"Please, please, save my son..."
"Get up first." Chu Ci helped her sit down at the spirit table.
He frowned and asked, "When did your son go missing?"
"After breakfast..."
Master Qiu's eyes widened: "It's been all morning, why are you only arriving now!"
Ah Chun's eyes darted around, avoiding Chu Ci's gaze.
But she was worried that Chu Ci wouldn't help her find her son, so she made a tough decision.
"I...I dare not come!"
She covered her mouth and burst into tears, "Master, I was one of the reporters who were besieging your door early this morning. I was afraid you still remember me and wouldn't want to help me..."
Chu Ci: "..."
Looking at the woman crying uncontrollably, she felt inexplicably speechless.
"Then why are you here now?"
Ah Chun sobbed, "I've realized it's not a matter of finding it or not; what I'm experiencing is something science can't explain..."
She quickly explained, "Master, I know I was wrong!"
"Ever since I saw you talk about that female reporter and photographer, I knew you weren't a liar!"
"I didn't write anything about the subsequent reports about you, nor did I ask anyone from the publishing house to write anything!"
Please don't hold it against me, I really know I was wrong!
"It's all my fault, but my child is innocent..."
Grandma was both amused and exasperated. "With a mother like you, how can the child be innocent?"
Ah Chun bit her lip, not daring to retort, and sobbed softly.
Master Qiu, holding her niece's hand, stood aside, finding it difficult to offer any advice.
Chu Ci waved his hand, "Never mind, let's talk about this later."
She looked at Ah Chun, "How can you be sure your son was taken away by your father?"
Seeing that she was willing to help, Ah Chun was overjoyed and quickly explained:
"It all started last night. My son has always slept alone in his room."
“But last night around 1 a.m., he suddenly ran out of the children’s room and said that his grandfather was staring at him by his bed and that he was very scared.”
Recalling what happened last night, Ah Chun shuddered.
"My husband and I were so scared that we quickly took the child to our bedroom."
"The two of us stayed up all night watching over the child, and we didn't dare to close our eyes."
"Until this morning, after breakfast, my husband and I were so sleepy that we couldn't keep our eyes open, and we thought it was already daylight and everything should be fine."
"But we only dozed off for ten minutes, and the child was gone."
She sat on the spirit chair, her hands gripping her clothes tightly, her nails digging into the flesh of her palms along with the fabric.
"The front door was open, so we rushed out to look for the child. One of us went upstairs to look, and the other went downstairs to look."
“I went downstairs to look for him. I went out of the building and looked out onto the street. I saw my son being led by someone in the distance.”
"I was running that way, calling my son's name, when suddenly an old woman pulled me."
With that tug, her high heels lost their footing, and she landed hard on her bottom.
In the blink of an eye, her son, who was walking not far ahead of her, disappeared.
She wanted to blame the old woman for pulling her, but the old woman frowned and warned her:
"Young man, today is the fifteenth of July, a time when you might see unclean things. You must be careful."
She then realized that she was lying on the side of the road, and one more step forward would have meant a car speeding by.
If that old woman hadn't pulled her, she would have been hit by a car long ago.
Ah Chun clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and looked furious.
“I immediately realized that my dad not only wanted to take my son away, but also wanted to punish me…”
Ah Chun wanted to continue, but Chu Ci, sitting opposite her, made a "pause" gesture.
"We're too pressed for time, let's talk about this later. Let me check where your son is first."
Ah Chun nodded quickly, but then looked a little confused.
"Master, what's your opinion?"
Chu Ci: "Raise your head and look into my eyes."
The moment their eyes met, Chu Ci felt a sharp pain in his head, as countless images flooded his mind.
Grandma muttered, "Here we go again," and quickly went over to help her up, preventing her from falling off the chair.
In countless scenes, Chu Ci saw Ah Chun as a child being punished by her father by being made to stand and scolded.
When I was in middle school, I didn't keep a close eye on my younger brother, and he fell and broke his leg. My dad chased me all over the street, and I cried my eyes out.
After graduating from university and getting jobs, she and her younger brother got married one after the other.
The parents arranged a new house for their younger brother, and took away Ah Chun's savings without Ah Chun's consent.
In a fit of anger, Ah Chun severed ties with her parents and younger brother.
However, the satisfying storyline of the younger brother being unfilial and the parents suddenly realizing their mistakes and begging Ah Chun for forgiveness did not occur.
On the contrary, after careful selection by their parents, the younger brother and his wife had a very good relationship. They knew that their parents had sacrificed a lot for them and were very filial to their parents.
Even so, Ah Chun's parents still came to Ah Chun.
The reason is: Ah Chun's younger brother has a physical defect and cannot have children.
Ah Chun's son is their family's only descendant.
After approaching Ah Chun, her parents, especially her father, were extremely firm in their demands, insisting that Ah Chun give her son to her younger brother for adoption.
Ah Chun's father plays the bad cop, while Ah Chun's mother plays the good cop.
They said Ah Chun is still young and can have another child with her husband.
They also said that young people like them are under a lot of pressure, and that if they give their child to their younger brother, Ah Chun and her husband's lives will be a little easier.
She also said that even if the child is adopted by her younger brother, Ah Chun will still be her son's biological mother, and that is a fact that no one can change.
Anyway, we're still family. After the child is adopted, he'll have another pair of parents to love him, which is a good thing.
In short, the message was to persuade Ah Chun to give her child to her younger brother for adoption.
Ah Chun was naturally unwilling and was completely disappointed in her parents.
The two sides had a big argument that day.
Ah Chun cried as she told her parents about all the grievances she had suffered over the years, and returned the insults her father had hurled at her all those years ago.
She had heard those vicious words since she was a child, but her father couldn't even bear to hear them and suffered a heart attack on the spot.
He died on the way to the hospital.
Ah Chun's mother, younger brother, and sister-in-law blamed all the fault on Ah Chun.
Ah Chun took the opportunity to sever all ties with her family and stopped visiting them. Both families were safe and sound.
Until today, the Ghost Festival arrives.
An old man who had been dead for a year took the child from his home, intending to send him to his son.
Chu Ci opened her eyes, her blurry vision gradually focusing and landing on Ah Chun.
Do you know where your brother lives?
Ah Chun nodded quickly, "I know!"
"Go to your brother's house."
Ah Chun's husband was frantic. When he heard that the children were at Ah Chun's younger brother's house, he quickly drove them there.
Ah Chun's younger brother lives in the most bustling area of Wong Tai Sin District, in a high-rise building with an elevator, also over twenty stories high.
Ah Chun and his wife took Chu Ci straight to the floor where her younger brother was.
After knocking on the door, a young woman's voice came from behind it: "Who is it?"
As footsteps approached, the door opened.
Who is it?
The moment Ah Chun's husband saw the door open, he yanked it open, startling the woman who opened it.
"Brother-in-law?"
The woman frowned when she saw Ah Chun and his wife outside the door.
"How did you get here?"
In the corner behind her was a portrait of Ah Chun's father.
In the black and white photograph, Ah Chun's father gazes silently at everything before him.
Ah Chun's younger brother and mother came out of the house when they heard the noise.
The two were holding yellow paper to be burned, clearly preparing items for the evening's sacrificial ceremony.
Upon seeing Ah Chun, Ah Chun's mother became immediately agitated.
"You unfilial daughter! How dare you show your face here!"
She threw down what she was holding and shoved Ah Chun forcefully.
"Get out of here! Your father doesn't need your worship! Get out of my house!"
Ah Chun pushed her mother away, exchanged a glance with her husband, and the two went their separate ways to search inside the house.
"Zizai!"
"Zizai, did you hear me? Respond to Daddy!"
"Zizai, where are you?!"
The couple searched the room thoroughly, which infuriated Ah Chun's younger brother.
"If you're looking for your child, go look at your own home. What are you looking for in my house?!"
Ah Chun and his wife ignored him and searched their house thoroughly, but still couldn't find him.
"master!"
Ah Chun called out to Chu Ci softly, "Zizai doesn't seem to be here."
Chu Ci frowned, her gaze meeting that of the portrait in the room.
The old man in the black and white portrait had a furrowed brow, gazing at her through the glass of the frame.
Seemingly innocent, yet also seemingly defiant.
Chu Ci pursed her lips. "It's in this building. Let's split up and search again."
Ah Chun and his wife nodded and immediately began searching the building.
Ah Chun's mother shouted at their retreating figures from behind:
"Go to the hospital if you're sick, don't come to my house and cause trouble!"
"If you come to my house and act crazy again, I'll call the police!"
Ignoring her mother's screams, Ah Chun went to the building's emergency exit to look for her child.
The husband took the elevator from the top floor down, searching floor by floor.
Chu Ci wandered aimlessly through the building. When he reached the top floor, he suddenly heard a child's laughter.
Laughter erupted in waves, and it wasn't just one child.
She followed the sound and went to the rooftop.
On the rooftop, a group of brightly dressed children were playing a game around a little boy.
They laughed until they were bent over, seeing the little boy in the center crying so hard from fright.
As if sensing the approach of strangers, the children's laughter stopped abruptly, and they turned their heads sharply to look.
A chilling gaze fell upon Chu Ci, and the smiles on her delicate faces vanished, her complexion turning pale instantly.
A little girl in a green dress, her face as white as paper, with an eerie flush on her cheeks, pointed at Chu Ci:
"Bad guys are coming! Run!"
A group of children frantically tried to pull the hand of the child in the middle.
Under the clear blue sky, a thick fog suddenly rose.
Chu Ci frowned and reached out to stop them, but only managed to grab a child's hand.
The thick fog dissipated, and the children vanished without a trace.
Chu Ci lowered her head, still clutching the severed arm in her hand.
It wasn't a human arm, but a small, paper arm.
She frowned, walked around the rooftop, took the elevator down, and quickly arrived at the first floor.
Ah Chun and his wife were also on the first floor, and Ah Chun was already crying anxiously.
Upon seeing Chu Ci, she felt as if she had found her pillar of support and quickly ran over.
"master!"
She already looked disheveled, but now she looked even more disheveled.
"We searched the entire building, but we couldn't find the child!"
Chu Ci held the small paper arm in her hand and, following the same black aura as the arm, looked towards the corner on the first floor.
"The child is over there."
The two looked and saw a corner piled with miscellaneous items.
Ah Chun hurriedly asked her husband, "Have you looked for that place?"
“No,” Ah Chun’s husband shook his head. “It’s just piles of junk there, and it’s covered in dust.”
“I’ve checked, there are no signs of disturbance, the child couldn’t possibly be inside.”
But Chu Ci was adamant: "The child is inside."
Ah Chun's husband watched as his wife hurriedly ran towards the pile of junk, and stood still.
He pursed his lips impatiently, his eyes filled with worry for his son.
"master."
He called out to Chu Ci.
“We’ve lived in this building for so long and we’ve heard about you.”
But his first encounter with him still made him suspicious.
"You just said the child is with my wife's brother. We went to look for him, but we couldn't find him."
“You said it was still in this building, but we searched the whole place and still couldn’t find it.”
He pointed to the pile of dusty junk, "Look at that pile of stuff, it's covered in dust, there's not a trace of it being disturbed."
“My son is only five years old. How could he possibly climb into all those things!”
Chu Ci glanced at him. "Five hundred."
"What?" The man frowned.
“Five hundred,” Chu Ci looked away from him. “You have to give me five hundred to find the child there.”
The man laughed angrily, "We've lost our child and are going crazy with worry, and you're still thinking about money?"
He patiently rejoiced, then went to the pile of junk and took his wife's hand.
"Forget it, let's call the police and ask them to help us find it."
"There are no ghosts in this world. Zai Zai probably just went out to play by himself."
"We've already wasted too much time. What if something happens to Zizai if we keep delaying?"
His wife brushed his hand away, staring at him with her eyes smudged with makeup.
"I know my dad better than anyone! He must have taken Zizai away!"
Then, his wife's voice softened, "I know you're worried. If you're worried, go out and look for someone."
She tossed aside the clutter in front of her, saying, "I think Zizai is in here, and I'm going to find him."
Ah Chun's husband's breath hitched, and a surge of anger rushed to his head.
He was about to say something when a loud shout rang out:
What are you doing?!
Two burly security guards walked over, carrying batons.
He sized up Chu Ci and the other two, frowned deeply, and looked somewhat fierce.
"Who are you three from? What are you doing here?"
Just as Ah Chun's husband was about to explain, Ah Chun collapsed onto the pile of junk and burst into tears.
"We're looking for our child! My son..."
She pointed to a corner piled high with various discarded small appliances and cardboard boxes, her eyes red from crying.
"My son is inside! I heard him calling me! He's inside!"
As soon as she said that, the eyes of the two fierce-looking security guards instantly cleared up.
Ah Chun's husband also rushed over to listen, but he couldn't hear anything.
"No!"
"Get out of the way!"
Two security guards rolled up their sleeves and came over, pushing Ah Chun's husband aside.
"The child is inside, right? Make way, make way, we're here to find him!"
There was a lot of clutter piled up here, but fortunately it was close to the gate, so they moved the things out one by one.
When they encounter homeowners returning from outside, they ask them what they are doing.
"A child fell into that pile of junk on the first floor, and we're looking for him!"
"Fell in? That's so dangerous! That pile of junk has been there for so long, it should have been cleared away a long time ago!"
The homeowner complained a couple of times, but as they carried the clutter back and forth, the pile of miscellaneous items didn't seem to shrink.
With a determined heart, he rolled up his sleeves and started moving things too.
One by one, residents who heard the news came downstairs. Upon learning that a child was trapped inside, everyone rushed to help.
Chu Ci's arm was almost fully healed, and he rolled up his sleeves, ready to join in.
Ah Chun's husband, watching from the side, broke out in a cold sweat.
He grabbed Chu Ci's arm: "So many people have come to help. What if the child isn't inside? How are we supposed to explain this to all these kind people?!"
Chu Ci shook off his hand and said firmly, "The child must be inside."
"Besides," she glanced up and down at the man who wasn't doing any work, "is saving face more important than children?"
"Your child is lost, but there's hope of finding them now. Why don't you give it a try?"
After saying that, she ignored the man and joined the group carrying miscellaneous items.
The man watched as the number of people moving miscellaneous items increased from two or three to more than ten, and he became so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead.
But worrying won't help. As this person said, what if there's hope?
He steeled himself and started moving the miscellaneous items out as well.
The clutter decreased as they moved, but the child was still nowhere to be seen.
The well-meaning people who were initially full of fighting spirit have begun to feel tired and can't help but feel a little puzzled.
"We've almost emptied all this clutter, but where is the child?"
"Could the property management company have tricked us into doing this unpaid work?"
"Mom, are you sure you're here?"
Ah Chun wasn't sure either.
She moved aside most of the corner, but still couldn't see the child, and she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
I even wondered if I was hallucinating when I heard the child's voice.
She couldn't help but blame herself: if she had known this would happen, she would have told her husband to go out and look for someone instead of coming here to help her move junk.
But Chu Ci's answer remained firm: "Right here."
Looking at her sweat-drenched profile, Ah Chun's anxious heart calmed down.
She answered the kind person who had asked her, "The child is right here."
The kind-hearted people exchanged glances.
"Alright, let's look for it together."
"There aren't many left, so let's help each other out to the end."
"The child's mother would never joke about the child."
But as they moved and moved, they took four-fifths of the things away, leaving only a small corner.
The child was still nowhere to be seen.
After a whole afternoon of running around, everyone was exhausted.
Some people were getting a little irritated, and others were angry at being fooled after showing kindness.
"Your property management company is just using us as free labor, aren't you? Looking for kids? There aren't any kids here."
The two security guards were completely bewildered by the questioning.
"No! We only started looking for our child because we heard them say they were looking for him!"
"Still lying! Do you think we're blind?!"
One homeowner pointed to a corner that was already mostly empty, saying, "They've moved in like this, and I still haven't seen my child."
"How's it going? The kids are trying to squeeze in while we're moving things?"
The two security guards, who were forced to bear the brunt of the homeowner's anger, were also wronged. They frowned as they looked at Ah Chun, who was panting heavily.
"Hey, are you kidding us?"
Ah Chun moved a large piece of cardboard away, and upon hearing their words, shook her head weakly.
Why would I need to lie to you?
"But where's your child? Didn't you say the child was in the corner?"
The security guard pointed to the corner.
"It's not really like what this homeowner said, that while we're moving in, your kids are trying to squeeze in, is it?"
Ah Chun shook her head weakly, but seeing that Chu Ci beside her hadn't stopped, she followed suit and continued moving the last things away.
"I don't know how to explain this to you, but anyway, thank you."
However, the homeowners, who were exhausted from their work, were not satisfied with this answer.
"Isn't this a trick by your property management company? Saying you're looking for a child is just a way to lure us here and save a lot on cleaning fees!"
"Stop passing the buck! You're all in cahoots! You're treating us kind-hearted homeowners like donkeys!"
"I'm standing right here today, let's see where you conjure a child out of somewhere!"
No sooner had these words been spoken than Chu Ci suddenly spoke up:
"Found it!"
After removing all the clutter, in the innermost corner, there was an old-fashioned iron cabinet covered in dust.
But the cabinet door was locked and couldn't be opened at all.
Ah Chun looked at the cabinet and quickly went over to pat it:
"Zizai! Zaizi, are you inside? Answer Mommy!"
The homeowners stood by with a speechless expression, watching her talk to the broken cabinet, as if to say, "Keep acting."
Some homeowners felt they were being treated like fools.
"This cabinet was locked, and it's been here for who knows how long. Did your child climb in and lock it himself?"
Chu Ci didn't answer, but pulled a stick out from the clutter he had just tidied up.
"Ah Chun, move aside."
She wedged the stick into the cabinet handle and gradually applied force.
The air in Hong Kong is humid, and this cabinet has long been rusty.
As she slowly applied force, the rotten iron gate gradually deformed.
Finally, with a "snap," the cabinet door handle broke, and the lock on it also broke.
Ah Chun eagerly opened the cabinet door, only to be startled by the scene inside.
The homeowners waiting on the side couldn't help but gasp in unison, their eyes wide with horror as they stared at the opened cabinet, taking two steps back.
The cabinet was rotten, but inside were several brand-new paper effigies of boys and girls.
A group of brightly dressed boys and girls wore eerie smiles, their cheeks covered with red paper.
A pair of dark, unsightly eyes stared intently at the living people looking out of his cabinet, exuding a chilling aura.
Seemingly worried that the only living child behind them would be found, they blocked the opening of the cabinet tightly.
Without careful observation, it's impossible to tell whether the little boy with his eyes closed behind them is actually alive.
But Ah Chun spotted her son immediately.
"Zizai!"
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