novelaction Chapter 115 Backlash
Chapter 115 Backlash
Song Baiyuan's mother initially tried to maintain her composure, but perhaps due to excessive fear of the black cat, she couldn't maintain her composure at all. In the end, she simply said that she was a little tired and would leave first.
He Jinqiu's father looked at the black cat, his expression showing some fear, but he still maintained some rationality. He exchanged some pleasantries before subtly indicating to Yan Xun to quickly throw the black cat outside.
“Your aunt…was scratched by a cat before,” He Jinqiu’s father said, “so she’s very afraid of cats.”
Yan Xun said he could understand, and under the watchful eyes of He Jinqiu's father, he carried the cat into the yard.
He put the black cat down. "Let's go."
The black cat looked at him with its green eyes, then meowed once before leaving.
After seeing the black cat off, Yan Xun did not go back immediately, but wandered around the Yan family's courtyard at will... After walking for a while, he heard footsteps again, turned around and found He Jinqiu wearing home clothes.
"I knew my parents were back as soon as I heard the noise," He Jinqiu said.
He was holding a cardigan, and when he saw Yan Xun, he handed it to him, saying, "It's cold here at night, don't catch a cold."
Yan Xun came out in his pajamas, his trousers already damp with water droplets... He casually shook his trousers, then took the cardigan He Jinqiu handed him and put it on. "How did you know I came out?"
He Jinqiu pointed upwards.
"I saw you up there."
He looked around, seemingly trying to find traces of the black cat, but the black cat had already disappeared without a trace.
Yan Xun watched He Jinqiu's actions and asked, "You don't dislike that black cat?"
"Why would I hate it?" He Jinqiu found it somewhat amusing. He thought for a moment, "Although I keep dogs, I don't hate cats."
Seemingly unable to sleep, he didn't go upstairs or urge Yan Xun to go upstairs to sleep. Instead, he simply stood in the courtyard and chatted with him.
There were some flowers, plants and trees planted in the yard—unfortunately, Yan Xun didn't recognize any of them. He really didn't know anything about these plants. After walking around for a while, the two finally sat down on a bench.
Wearing a coat, He Jinqiu didn't feel cold and started telling Yan Xun about the origins of his family's dislike of black cats.
"Black cats used to appear in my house when I was a child."
He Jinqiu said, "But I was too young at that time, so I don't remember much."
“Your parents seem to really hate black cats,” Yan Xun said.
It wasn't just a simple feeling of dislike or bad luck, but a deep-seated aversion, as if the existence of this thing could destroy the entire He family.
Yan Xun had a guess in his heart, but he didn't say it, nor was he sure whether he should say it or not.
“Maybe it’s because I was almost scratched to death by a black cat when I was a child,” He Jinqiu suddenly said.
Yan Xun looked at him.
"Maybe it happened before I was 2 or 3 years old?" He Jinqiu recalled uncertainly, "The aunt who took care of me said that a black cat suddenly appeared in the nursery. The black cat squatted next to me and stretched out its claws as if it wanted to scratch me."
“My mother said this happened three or four times, and the black cat stopped coming after someone was always watching the nursery.”
"But even so, my mother still really hated black cats."
He Jinqiu couldn't quite explain how much her parents disliked the black cat, just as much as they disliked the unknown deity in their shrine and the brother they had brought home. Their dislike for the black cat was no less than their devotion to the latter two.
When he was in middle school, he subtly inquired among his classmates whether anyone had ever heard of this non-existent older brother.
Unexpectedly, the boy closest to him smiled and said—
"What's so strange about that?"
"They must be raising a ghost child."
“Otherwise, how would an invisible older brother appear?” he told He Jinqiu. “My neighbor is a male celebrity, and he keeps a ghost child.”
"Even though he lives alone, I always hear children crying and bouncing balls in the middle of the night."
“I’ve met him. I asked him, ‘Uncle, do you have any children at home?’ He said to me fiercely, ‘Don’t talk nonsense.’”
He Jinqiu felt a little uneasy because he felt that the description of raising a ghost child was very similar to his non-existent brother. So he asked his classmate what happened to that male celebrity.
"later……"
"Are you crazy?"
The student touched his chin and said, "He said his hand hurt so much because the child had nothing to eat and was so hungry that he was gnawing on his fingers."
"Everyone saw him when he ran into the public area."
“Even though there was nothing on his hands, he said his hands hurt a lot because a child was chewing on them.”
He Jinqiu was still young at the time, and was so frightened by these words that she didn't dare to see her brother for several days until her parents noticed something was wrong and learned about what He Jinqiu had said.
His father was furious and asked who had said it.
He Jinqiu racked her brains for a long time, but still couldn't remember who that person was or what their name was.
Or perhaps there's no such person in their class at all.
However, the news still mentioned the incident the man had mentioned, where a popular male star went insane, and in the end, it seems that the man couldn't bear the torment and committed suicide by lying on the railway tracks.
When they went to his home to investigate, they also found countless baby toys and some suspicious-looking bottles and jars.
What's even more terrifying is...
In the freezer in this male celebrity's home, there were two infant corpses placed at the very back. They appeared to have been born shortly before being placed in the freezer.
Even more terrifying is that the two children seem to be related to him by blood.
Because this incident was so bizarre, it sparked a lot of discussion back then, with speculations such as the backlash from raising a ghost child, or the idea of turning one's own child into a ghost child emerging one after another... If Yan Xun hadn't appeared at his house and he hadn't heard about the black cat again, He Jinqiu would have forgotten about this strange incident that happened in his childhood.
Thinking of this, he simply started talking to Yan Xun as well.
“That person is a senior colleague from our arch-rival company,” He Jinqiu said, taking out her phone to search for the news article for Yan Xun.
Strangely, now when you search for it, you can only find news that the male celebrity took his own life because of poor mental health.
Only when searching for that neighborhood can you find a little bit of the news from that time.
It is said that since that incident, the house has become a notorious haunted house, and many strange things have even happened in the neighborhood, causing the house price to plummet.
Yan Xun took He Jinqiu's phone and carefully looked at the news.
The photos from the scene are no longer available, but the messages left at the time remain.
This is what happens when raising a ghost child backfires.
I'm his neighbor, and I felt something was off. One time, I saw him carrying a lot of baby supplies home from the garage.
Everyone says even tigers don't eat their cubs, but I never imagined there would be such scum who would turn their own children into little devils.
This can be considered karma.
Yan Xun handed the phone back to He Jinqiu. "Do you think it's true?"
"Maybe?" He Jinqiu was also a little uncertain when he spoke. Perhaps he felt that the whole thing was too bizarre, and he was also in a state of half-belief and half-doubt. "I have never met that classmate, and I can't remember what he looks like."
We don't even know if this person exists.
Even after growing a little older, when He Jinqiu recalled this incident, it still stirred a deep-seated fear within him.
He didn't know if it was because his secret feelings had been touched upon, or because of this non-existent classmate.
At least in He Jinqiu's view back then, the fact that she had a non-existent older brother and that her business was booming was inextricably linked to raising a ghost child.
Even his parents, who always doted on him, would be furious when they learned that he had been lazy and hadn't put his snacks and toys outside his brother's room on several occasions.
In an instant, they became strangers, no longer his parents.
This strange and inexplicable phenomenon made He Jinqiu feel like an outsider ever since he entered puberty. Even in his dreams, there were always dark shadows outside the window and eyes staring at the window.
He could even hear the voice of that thing in his dreams.
He said he was watching him.
He Jinqiu initially thought it was her brother, but she quickly realized that it wasn't He Jinchun in the room; it was something else.
Occasionally, even stranger things would appear in his dreams, such as him chopping meat with a knife, or hearing people whispering about "human fetuses" or something similar. After waking up, he specifically searched for related information online, but found no clues whatsoever.
It was as if everything was just rambling nonsense from a dream.
After he grew up, he left this somewhat superstitious and eerie family and moved into the company dormitory. He never saw the shadowy figures in his dreams again, nor did he hear those whispers.
He was hesitant to tell Yan Xun.
He was worried that Yan Xun would think he was mentally unstable.
I hesitated for a long time before deciding to bring Yan Xun home... to let him know that he has an older brother.
Fortunately, Yan Xun did not find it strange.
He didn't even ask where his family's strange rules came from. He Jinqiu felt a sense of relief, but also a strong unease. Especially upstairs, when he saw Yan Xun carrying the black cat in the courtyard, he felt that Yan Xun seemed to know something.
His unease led him to leave the study, grab his coat, and go downstairs to find Yan Xun.
By the time he saw Yan Xun, the black cat had already disappeared.
“When I was in high school, I read a story about a black cat,” Yan Xun suddenly said.
He Jinqiu looked at him.
"You've probably seen it too, right? The protagonist kills his wife and seals her in the cellar, but little did he know that the black cat was also hidden in the wall..."
He Jinqiu certainly knew what story Yan Xun was talking about; it was too famous.
He always felt that Yan Xun was implying something, but his parents were still alive... He Jinqiu thought of that non-existent brother.
“I heard about the candy factory from Song Baiyuan,” Yan Xun said. “It’s quite interesting.”
"Your mother received a message from you in a dream, and you became rich thanks to the candy factory."
He stood up, looked at the black cat that had somehow reappeared in the bushes, and simply squatted down, waving at the cat.
The black cat looked at He Jinqiu warily. It hesitated for a moment, but finally slowly came to Yan Xun's side.
Yan Xun bent down and picked up the black cat.
"You yourself feel that something's not right, right?"
Yan Xun held the black cat and looked at He Jinqiu.
"My parents had a strange fear of black cats, I heard rumors about raising ghost children when I was a child, and my brother was always around in the house."
"The family business suddenly took off at some point. You must think it's related to the gods your parents worship and your brother, but you also feel something's not right."
"You've never heard of a family that raises a ghost child while worshipping gods."
"Unless God is not a true God but an evil god, or the devil is not a devil at all."
He Jinqiu remained silent, for what Yan Xun said was exactly what he had once pondered and feared.
He was somewhat afraid to delve into those truths.
"You can also pretend you don't know anything." The black cat in Yan Xun's arms meowed as he said this. "Anyway, it has nothing to do with you."
He looked down at the black cat in his arms. "This happened before you were born."
Yan Xun spoke so casually, as if it made no difference to him whether He Jinqiu spoke or not, whether he discovered or not—this realization made He Jinqiu feel somewhat bitter—he suddenly realized that Yan Xun had only ever treated him as an ordinary teammate, a colleague he had worked with for three years, and that it would be best if they had no connection after get off work.
They truly live up to their reputation as a plastic boy band.
"What is your relationship with Song Baiyuan?" He Jinqiu suddenly asked.
Yan Xun didn't understand how He Jinqiu had been brought up again. He thought about it and decided that it wouldn't hurt to tell her now.
"He is my uncle."
He Jinqiu's mind went blank for a few seconds, then she found it somewhat amusing.
He looked at Yan Xun and the black cat in his arms, and finally laughed, "So it was your uncle..."
He looked at Yan Xun, then thought about Song Baiyuan's appearance, and felt that the two really didn't look alike at all.
He reached out, gesturing for Yan Xun to hand him the black cat.
Yan Xun looked down at the black cat in his arms.
The black cat meowed and jumped into He Jinqiu's arms.
“I thought…” He Jinqiu looked at the black cat that jumped into her arms, and thought about her suspicions about the relationship between Song Baiyuan and Yan Xun, and found it a little funny.
"What did you think?" Yan Xun asked, puzzled.
He Jinqiu didn't know where to begin, so she could only shake her head and say, "It's nothing."
"I hate riddle tellers the most!" Yan Xun thought.
He Jinqiu didn't say anything; he decided to ask Song Baiyuan later.
He Jinqiu stroked the head of the black cat in his arms. He had just seen the shadow of the black cat emerging from the grass in the moonlight.
—A hunched body with long arms and legs.
“In my dreams… there are always dark shadows watching me through the window,” He Jinqiu said.
She told Yan Xun about her dream.
"A word also appeared in my dream: human fetus."
Yan Xun's hints were so obvious that He Jinqiu simply told him about her dreams.
He finally sighed and looked at Yan Xun, "So it's true?"
"Are my parents really...?"
Yan Xun made a stop gesture. "It's all just my guess," he said.
"What did your parents bury beneath the ground when they built this house? What is his relationship with your father? Who exactly is your brother? And what is He Jinchun in that room? What is the deity your family worships suppressing..."
"I don't know either."
Yan Xun said.
Unless the foundation of He Jinqiu's house is dug up.
Unless we investigate He Jinqiu's father.
Unless the original construction drawings can be found.
Otherwise, these are all just Yan Xun's guesses.
It is speculated that He Jinqiu's father had an illegitimate son who was a few years older than He Jinqiu. Perhaps he learned about the methods of "staking a birth stake" or the so-called "human fetus" from somewhere, and sealed that child and his pet underground.
After that, the family business flourished.
His parents, fearing that their deceased brother would seek revenge on the He family, invited the guardian deity and worshipped their brother at home in an attempt to appease his resentment.
Yan Xun originally thought that something in He Jinchun's room was a wandering ghost possessing the room—
Some people make offerings indiscriminately, and end up attracting things they shouldn't have.
Looking back now, the things in the room might just be pets that were buried with my brother.
Yan Xun looked at the black cat in He Jinqiu's arms, "What's your name?"