Chapter 29: She Is a Monster
The image of the earlier warning still spun in her mind.
She squeezed her eyes shut in fear.
Seeing her tremble like a leaf, Shanshan let out a satisfied huff.
’If she’s scared, this will be easy.’
"Didn’t I tell you not to follow me?"
Shanshan looked down at her condescendingly.
"Are your ears just for show? You really think I wouldn’t dare to hurt you?"
"N-no, don’t kill me! I don’t taste good! I really, really don’t!"
Jiajia broke down, sobbing hysterically.
"Good people don’t kill kids... Please, don’t eat me... WAHHH... We have steamed buns at home, and my daddy... my daddy said he’d buy me a candied hawthorn skewer tomorrow... Don’t eat me... I don’t want to die..."
She shrank to the ground, wrapping her arms tightly around herself and curling into a ball.
Tears and snot smeared her face, soaking the collar of her shirt. Dark, wet patches spread across her pant legs.
Shanshan decided to play the part to the hilt, putting on a ferocious and menacing expression.
"I’m the most ferocious demon in these mountains! I have to catch a child every day for a snack! I came into this forest today looking for a meal! Since I ran into you, don’t blame me for being cruel. You’ll do just fine to start with!"
When Jiajia heard this, her whole body trembled, and tears began to stream down her face.
Shanshan waved her hand impatiently.
A gust of wind from her palm swept past, sending Jiajia tumbling into a nearby pile of dry leaves.
The leaves crunched and dust flew up. She just lay there curled up, without the strength to even struggle.
"That’s enough!"
Shanshan glared at her.
"I hate whiny, crying children! If you don’t leave now, I’ll change my mind! And when I do, no one will be able to save you!"
"I... I don’t know the way..."
Jiajia trembled, her voice barely a whisper.
"I... I can’t find my way home..."
Shaking, she climbed out of the pile of dead leaves, her face a mess of tears and snot.
Shanshan, annoyed to no end, flicked her hand to the left and snapped.
"That way! Go! If you dawdle any longer, I’ll throw you into a snake pit!"
Jiajia scrambled to her feet and ran for her life in the direction Shanshan had pointed.
Only when the small figure had completely vanished into the depths of the woods did Shanshan let out a soft sigh of relief.
The forest fell quiet once more.
The only sound was her, occasionally humming a few lines of an off-key tune.
Jiajia ran all the way home, crying. Her hair was a tangled mess, and her face was so grimy it was unrecognizable.
She burst through the courtyard gate, about to throw herself into Cao Daqiang’s arms.
But before she could even speak, an angry voice roared.
"Where the hell have you been?! You’re covered in mud! You look like you crawled out of a sewer!"
She flinched, and fresh tears welled up in her eyes.
"There, there, sweetie, don’t cry."
Cao Daqiang offered a few half-hearted words of comfort.
"Tell Daddy what happened. Did you see what she was digging for? Was it Golden Thread Grass? Or Purple Spirit Ginseng?"
Jiajia trembled in the corner, her teeth chattering so hard she could barely stand.
"N-no! Nothing!"
she finally cried out.
"She’s not a person! She’s a demon! When I fell, she just lifted her hand, and I was pulled right up! She... She said she eats children! Her eyes were gold! And vertical! Like a cat’s! I’m so scared! I’m really, really scared!"
The memory of those golden, vertical pupils made her face crumple, and she wanted nothing more than to throw herself into her daddy’s arms and cry her heart out.
But Cao Daqiang wasn’t listening to his daughter’s terrified pleas at all.
"Jiajia, don’t be scared. Daddy’s here," he said, feigning a gentle tone.
"Let’s just talk about it slowly, okay? Tell Daddy, what did you see? What kind of herb was she digging up? Where did she find it? Did you see the roots? Did you smell anything?"
"It was just like I said..."
Jiajia sobbed.
"Her eyes were gold... and vertical... like a cat’s..."
As soon as Cao Daqiang heard this, his expression changed.
SMACK!
He violently flung his arm out, shoving his daughter away as she reached for the corner of his shirt!
Jiajia stumbled back a few steps and fell hard onto the ground.
"Cao Jiajia!"
His voice rose to a shout.
"What have I always taught you?! Good children don’t make up stories! Do you think I’m an idiot?! Look at you! Your clothes are filthy, you lost your shoes, and you can’t even speak a coherent sentence! Are you trying to be the death of me?!"
"WAAAAH!"
Jiajia finally broke down completely, collapsing to the ground and wailing.
"I’m not lying! I’m not! I really saw it! She’s a demon! I saw her! I saw her!!!"
She lifted her tear-streaked face, utterly bewildered. ’Why won’t even Daddy believe me?’
’I didn’t do anything wrong. Why is everyone treating me this way?’
Liu Yingzi walked in right at that moment and saw the whole scene.
A roar filled her head, and for a second, her vision went black.
"Cao Daqiang! Have you lost your mind? That’s your own daughter! How could you be so rough with her?"
She rushed over and shoved Cao Daqiang aside.
Then she knelt on the floor, pulling Cao Jiajia into her arms.
"Shh, sweetie, don’t cry. Mama’s here, Mama’s here..."
Cao Daqiang opened his mouth to try and explain.
But before a single word could come out, Liu Yingzi cut him off with a furious tirade.
"What gives you the right to yell at her? She’s just a child! You’re her father! Instead of comforting her, you throw things and scream at her? Do you have any humanity left at all?"
The constant string of frustrations had long since worn his patience down to nothing.
There was no gentleness left in him now, only explosive rage.
CRASH!
He snatched the thermos of hot water from the nearby table, and with a flick of his wrist, smashed it violently onto the floor!
SHATTER!
The thermos shattered, and scalding hot water sprayed everywhere like a fountain.
Liu Yingzi instinctively spun around, shielding her daughter with her own body.
The hot water splashed onto her sweater with a SIZZLE.
Shards of glass scraped across her shoulder blades and back, leaving several shallow red lines.
She gritted her teeth, not making a sound, and simply held her daughter even tighter.
Even Cao Daqiang himself was startled by his own action and took a few steps back.
But a moment later, he was pointing a finger in Liu Yingzi’s face, his voice rising to a bellow.
"Liu Yingzi! How many years have I put up with you? Am I just supposed to let you and your whole family walk all over me? Who the hell do you think you are? The daughter you gave me is as dumb as a post! She can’t talk, can’t do anything right, can’t even crack a smile! The kid that country woman I’ve got on the side is raising is more sensible than her! No one’s there to look after or teach that one, but they can wash dishes, sweep the floor, everything!"
His words grew more and more vicious, completely heedless of the fact that he was speaking to his wife and in front of his own daughter.
Liu Yingzi, still holding her child, froze.
When his words finally registered, a lump formed in her throat, and the sting of tears burned in her nose.
She slowly turned around, her eyes unblinking, fixed on Cao Daqiang’s face.
"Fine. So you finally admit it. I always suspected you had someone on the side. So it wasn’t just my imagination after all."
"Cao Daqiang, you’re a real piece of work. All for my family’s money and connections, you put on this act and lived a lie with me for all these years."
"I must have been blind to marry a pathetic loser like you who lives off a woman!"
Jiajia suddenly burst into loud sobs.
She was terrified. ’What if Daddy leaves and never comes back?’
’What if she became one of those "fatherless kids" everyone talked about?’
His daughter’s cries were like a bucket of ice water, snapping Cao Daqiang out of his furious tirade.