7
“That can’t be. Today is my birthday!”
Lộc Hà smiled gently and returned the ring to me. “That’s your lunar birthday engraved inside the ring. The lunar date and hour. Not only is your fate unusually strong, but you’ll also live your whole life in peace, free of worry. That’s what your husband wants most.”
The lunar birth date was engraved because my parents-in-law’s generation only remembered dates by the lunar calendar. Could this really be just a coincidence?
My heart suddenly began to race. “Then tell me, is there any way to save me?”
Lộc Hà clicked her pen and slipped it back into her pocket. “If you don’t believe me, find out for yourself. The dead don’t blink, and their eyes don’t move.”
“But I’m warning you, this family has used forbidden magic three times already. Your husband’s corpse is almost at its limit. They’ll keep a close eye on you until your birthday, when they’ll exchange your fate.”
As soon as Lộc Hà finished speaking, the shrill ring of a phone suddenly cut through the air.
Tống Thuận Dương’s hoarse, sluggish voice came through the phone. “Honey, where did you go? My parents and I came to pick you up… and take you… home.”
8
I’d never believed in the occult, but Lộc Hà’s words kept haunting me.
My parents-in-law brought Tống Thuận Dương to pick me up. As soon as I got in the car, my mother-in-law grabbed my hand and asked why I’d gone to the East Asian Medicine Hospital and why I hadn’t replied to her messages on WeChat.
I hurriedly came up with an excuse. “I wanted to get my health in order and see if there’s any hope of carrying on the Tống family line.”
The atmosphere in the car immediately eased.
Tống Thuận Dương chuckled softly from the front seat. “Honey, you’re such a silly thing.”
I had no idea how my parents-in-law had taken care of him, but after just three days apart, his voice was much clearer, his skin looked smooth and taut, and he was even well enough to go out in the car.
It was all so strange.
Thinking of Lộc Hà’s words, I raised my right hand and smiled. “Honey, look. I put my wedding ring back on. I was wrong the other day.”
In the rearview mirror, Tống Thuận Dương didn’t blink. He slowly raised his head, the corners of his mouth curling into a strange smile. “Of course I saw.”
“After all, you love me so much.”
9
After my parents-in-law brought us home, they busied themselves preparing a whole table of dishes for dinner. My father-in-law sat by the window smoking, while my mother-in-law personally tended to Tống Thuận Dương, leaving me no chance to speak with him alone.
It wasn’t until the evening news ended that the two of them seemed to remember they had something to take care of at home. I saw them to the door, then immediately grabbed my drawing board and hurried into the bedroom.
Tống Thuận Dương sat with his back to the door, writing something at the drawing table. I stepped into his field of vision on the right and called with a smile, “Honey, what do you think of the new design I drew?”
The room fell silent for a second.
At first, Tống Thuận Dương looked bewildered. Then he slowly turned his head to the left! The wrinkles in his neck bunched up, twisting and contorting, as his head turned more than ninety degrees, then a hundred and eighty…
With a series of cracks as his bones and windpipe snapped, his body and eyeballs stayed motionless, but his stiff head completed a full rotation and faced me on his right!
The moment our eyes met, I was so terrified I forgot to breathe.
10
Tống Thuận Dương froze for a second. Then, as if realizing something was wrong, his empty, pitch-black pupils suddenly dilated, and a piercing scream came from his windpipe. “No! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!”
Right after the scream, I lost consciousness.
Or, more precisely, I fainted.
My body seemed to be getting weaker and weaker.
I don’t know how long I was unconscious. When I woke up, the bedroom was eerily quiet.
My mind was clear. I could even feel that I was lying on my back on the floor, but I couldn’t control my body at all. I couldn’t move a muscle.
Just then, a cold, damp sensation came from my right hand.
My phone beside me lit up with an incoming call, flashing white. The sight before my eyes struck me like lightning, sending all the blood rushing to my head!
My husband, Tống Thuận Dương, was crawling across the floor in a grotesquely twisted posture, reverently lifting my right hand and greedily licking my three-carat wedding ring!
Every time he opened his mouth, I could see his rotting teeth and purple tongue, and a strange stench filled the room…
11
What should I do?
I quickly shut my eyes and tried to move my eyeballs to break free of the paralysis. A few seconds later, the sensation in my hand suddenly vanished.
What was going on?
I slowly opened my eyes, and Tống Thuận Dương’s shriveled, hollow-cheeked face appeared right in front of me, staring straight into my eyes!
At that moment, I was so frightened I forgot to breathe.
His eyes, the corneas clouded over with a crow-black hue, were rotting around the edges. He didn’t blink, and his eyeballs didn’t move!
Lộc Hà’s words echoed in my mind again. I thought my death had come, and lay there waiting helplessly.
But after a long time, Tống Thuận Dương still did nothing. The bedroom was so quiet it was terrifying.
Suddenly, someone opened the bedroom door, and a shaft of light spilled in…
“Quý Khinh, come out for dinner. Good heavens! Why are you sleeping on the floor?”
My mother-in-law, Chu Thải Phượng, hurried over and helped me up.
So strange—I could move again!
She took my hand and led me out of the bedroom. My father-in-law, Tống Huyên, was sitting by the window smoking, while Tống Thuận Dương was eating. Everyone looked at me in surprise.
“Are you exhausted, Quý Khinh?” Chu Thải Phượng brushed the dust from my hand and asked what on earth was wrong. She said I’d gone to sleep as soon as I got home, and on the floor at that, and had only just woken up.
Could it all have been a dream?
But that sensation couldn’t possibly have been fake!
“Hey, honey, your phone lit up. Did you get a message?”
That’s right! My phone! That call!
I rushed to the dining table and picked up my phone, but found that the call history was completely empty. No one had called me.
It was only 7:15 now.
Why? Could it really have been a nightmare?
Tống Huyên stubbed out his cigarette and told me to hurry up and eat. “The food will get cold soon. Oh, let’s see what the news says about today’s heavy rain… We’ve had so much rain this year…”
I sat down at the table in a daze and realized that even dinner was exactly the same as in my dream.
The arrangement, the placement of the dishes—everything was exactly the same!
For a moment, my mind was like a glitching program, replaying the same scene over and over.
Images of Tống Thuận Dương obediently eating and of him licking the ring kept alternating in my mind, real and unreal all at once, driving me nearly insane.
Suddenly, my phone chimed again.
My hands trembling, I opened it and saw that Lộc Hà had accepted my friend request and sent me several unread messages.
The first few messages were all strange old news articles. The last one said: [I called you at 9:30. Why didn’t you pick up?]
12
9:30? But it’s only a little after 7 now!”
Wait! The 10 o’clock news is going to air again. So I’m watching the rerun!
My phone password is our wedding anniversary. Tống Thuận Dương knows that!
So this isn’t a dream. They’ve all been deceiving me!
Could the whole family know Tống Thuận Dương’s secret?
“Honey, it looks like you’re dialing 110. What did you see on your phone?”
Tống Thuận Dương’s icy voice suddenly sounded right above my head…
13
My mind went blank, and I quickly turned my phone facedown.
“What’s so interesting on your phone that you don’t even want to eat?”
Tống Thuận Dương repeated the question with a smile and leaned in close to me.
My back stiffened. I immediately thought of a way to cover: “It’s some… recipes the traditional Chinese medicine doctor sent me earlier today to improve things between us. Don’t ask—it’s embarrassing!”
After a long silence, my in-laws’ faces gradually took on knowing expressions, while Tống Thuận Dương affectionately took my hand and stroked my wedding ring.
No one said anything more, and the tension gradually eased.
However, Chu Thải Phượng suddenly spoke up. “Your father and I know you mean well. Starting tonight, you two should move into the master bedroom. We’ll move over here to take care of you. We’ll cover all the expenses. Thuận Dương is so frail; who knows how much longer he’ll hold on? You two should try your best so we can have a grandchild by next year!”