After that, Dad took me mountain climbing.
The mountain was high and steep.
I was exhausted.
I said, “Dad, I’m so tired. I can’t keep climbing.”
Dad slapped me and said, “You’re useless. If you can’t climb, then jump.”
Then I really did accidentally fall.
Dad froze, then hurriedly grabbed me.
Terrified, I clutched Dad’s hand.
His hand was warm, large, and strong. He could definitely pull me up.
But then Dad’s expression changed, and his eyes flashed with emotions I couldn’t understand.
I heard Dad say, “I’m sorry, kid. If you want to blame someone, blame your mother. Blame her for not giving me a son.”
Then Dad suddenly let go.
My mind went blank.
Instinctively, desperate to survive, I grabbed Dad.
My father pried my fingers off, one by one.
Dad, I’d even accept you not loving me.
But why did you have to make me die?
The dream suddenly came to an end.
I jolted awake.
The little girl in my dream and the laughing ghost became one and the same.
I immediately ran to the bathroom to find her.
“What’s your wish? I’ll help you.”
The little girl froze, then slowly stood up from the corner.
She no longer seemed as cocky as before.
Timidly, she asked me, “Really?”
I was serious. “Really. However you want to get revenge on your dad, I’ll help.”
But she stared blankly for a moment, then broke into a radiant smile. “No. That’s not what I wished for.”
It wasn’t?
She suddenly smiled shyly. “I… I… want to go to an amusement park!”
…
Could kids really not hold a grudge?
12
More precisely, she wanted to go to an amusement park with her mom.
The laughing ghost said the other kids were always bragging that their parents took them to amusement parks.
In a child’s world, it was a privilege reserved for kids who were loved.
She’d once secretly called her mom.
But the moment her mom heard her voice, she got furious.
“Why are you calling me? Go find your dad! Don’t think you can trick me into coming back—don’t even think about it!”
Then her mom blocked her number.
At last, belatedly, she realized that her mom hated her dad—and her, too.
I said, “That wish of yours is a little difficult.”
Using love to impose a moral obligation on a woman who’d finally managed to escape was too cruel.
Even if it was done out of love.
The little girl grew more and more embarrassed.
“I’m not going to find her. I mean… could you be my mom for one day?”
I was stunned.
So I was the target all along.
I sighed and crouched down. “Okay.”
Just then, the Water Ghost, who was always lurking in the shadows, suddenly appeared.
“I can be her dad.”
Me: “…What is this, a haunted family?”
13
The little girl wanted to go to an amusement park, so of course she had to go as a living person.
But her body had long since been shattered. The moment she moved, she fell apart, pieces going everywhere.
Just imagine riding a roller coaster: she’s sitting there, then her head falls off, and the person behind her catches it, followed by her legs.
I can’t imagine anything more thrilling.
I sewed her body back together, bit by bit.
I wasn’t very skilled, so it was hard going.
I asked, “Does it hurt?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“I meant when you fell off the cliff.”
She was quiet for a moment. When she looked up at me, her eyes were red again.
“It was okay.”
“It’s good to be dead. Now that I’m dead, nothing hurts.”
But she was still so young. She should have had a whole long life ahead of her.
14
Once I’d finished sewing her body back together, I put makeup on her, trying to hide the stitches.
The amusement park would be crowded and full of yang energy, so I had to draw a soul-protecting talisman to keep that energy from driving her spirit away.
The Water Ghost was easier to deal with.
His black aura was so powerful that he could stand in a crowd under the midday sun without a problem.
I found it strange, too. With an aura that powerful, he must have been dead for a long time and should have been full of resentment.
But he hadn’t turned into a vengeful ghost.
How strange.
His face was just too pale, so I had to use foundation to darken it.
When I brushed his hair away from his eyes, my heart gave a start.
His face turned out to be so beautiful it was almost bewitching.
15
We went to the amusement park at night because tickets were cheaper.
But the ticket for the “kid’s dad” hit my wallet hard.
I asked the kid, “Can you go without a dad today?”
The kid: “…Who does that?”
Luckily, she was short—less than four and a half feet tall—so she only needed a half-price ticket.
That eased the strain on my finances.
As soon as we got inside, she said she wanted cotton candy that cost twenty yuan a stick.
I said, “In your dreams.”
She snapped, “Why not?”
I said, “Because I’m your mom.”
She clenched her fist. “Chinese-style parenting. Mom wins.”
…
We went on a lot of rides.
The carousel, the hammer ride, the pirate ship, the roller coaster.
We played so much that I didn’t even notice the makeup had worn off her face.
Until people started whispering behind our backs.
I thought, oh no.
Suddenly, someone came over and asked, “Hey, what are those stitches on your face?”
The little girl kept a straight face. “Cosplay. My mom… my mom did my makeup.”
The person immediately understood. “Oh, I get it! You’re cosplaying XXX from the anime XXX, right? You look just like them!”
As time passed, the amusement park gradually emptied out. The excitement faded into silence.
The little girl still didn’t want to leave. She kept saying, “One more time. Just one more time.”
The Water Ghost and I didn’t refuse. We kept going until the rides closed, but the little girl still hadn’t had enough.
She gazed into the distance.
I told her to wait a moment.
Then, just as the cotton candy stand was about to close, I bought the last one.
I turned away. “I only wanted to buy it because it was half off.”
The little girl stared in surprise, then accepted the cotton candy.
She took a bite and mumbled, “It’s so sweet.”
Suddenly, she looked up, as if she’d just made a big decision.
“Mom, can we take a family picture?”
Her body had already begun to turn transparent. Her wish was fulfilled, and she was about to be reincarnated.
I didn’t know why, but I felt a little sad. “Okay.”
After we took the picture, I looked at it.
“That picture came out awful. Don’t look at it.”
She struggled with us for a while, then suddenly stopped and let her smile fade. In a serious voice, she said, “Mom, thank you. I had a lot of fun today.”
My voice caught in my throat. “I had a lot of fun, too.”
She suddenly smiled brightly. “Mom, it’s okay that you left me. It’s important for you to be happy, too.”
Right after that, her body flashed with golden light and dissolved into countless golden specks.
I felt an emptiness inside. She didn’t blame the mother who’d never asked after her, and she didn’t want to hate the father who’d killed her, either.
Just one day at the amusement park had erased all her resentment and hatred, and she left this world in peace.
It was so unfair.
Looking at the family picture with only me in it, I thought, what right did evil people have to be happy?
I wouldn’t allow it.
16
I used a bit of magic to find the little girl’s father.
The Water Ghost stopped me. “If you do that, you’ll incur more karmic debt and suffer the backlash.”
I asked, “Are you trying to stop me?”
He paused. “Let me do it.”
I stared, seeing this cold Water Ghost clearly for the first time.
I opened my mouth, wanting to ask, What about you?
But in the end, I only said, “No need. I can bear the consequences of my own actions.”
17
I cruelly came up with all sorts of ways to get revenge. The cruelest, but most effective, was to make that woman abort her seven-month-old pregnancy, then leave that man.
He would surely weep and regret abandoning his only child, the laughing ghost.
I’d been a little hesitant. But after looking into the laughing ghost’s circumstances, I was so furious I wanted revenge on everyone, no matter the cost.
Ten years old. Phương Kiếm Nhẫn.
She wasn’t seven or eight, as she appeared to be.
She only looked seven or eight because she was malnourished.
Why should our sweet daughter have to bear a name like “Kiếm Nhẫn”?
Anger surged in my chest, roaring and churning through my mind.
I led the way to the woman’s workplace.
She was very gentle.
Even though I was clearly an unexpected visitor, after her initial surprise, she calmly led me into her office.
She made tea and brought me some cookies.
I suddenly felt uneasy and wanted to interrupt her. “Do you know that the daughter of the man you’re seeing has…”
The words suddenly died on my lips.
My eyes fixed on her flat stomach.
Huh?
My head buzzed, going completely blank.
“Your—where’s your belly?”
She looked stunned, then her expression turned sad and regretful.
She gently stroked her stomach. “It’s gone. If you’re here to talk about that man…”
She looked up at me, her expression turning brave and resolute. “I know everything now. When we were together, he never told me he had a child. He only said his ex-wife had psychological problems and would fly into a rage over the smallest things.”
“Then they got divorced. He told me how miserable and wronged he was. He seemed like a respectable, honest man, so I never suspected a thing. Later, I unexpectedly got pregnant, and he was very happy. He said he’d speed up the wedding plans.”
“I thought he was a responsible man and that I’d judged him right. That was until I heard his daughter had died.”
“I thought he’d meant to keep it from me, but then he fainted at the funeral and was taken to the hospital. The doctor called his emergency contact.”
“They called me. The police ruled it an accidental fall, but I always felt there was more to it. I could sense it. I just knew…”
Her voice choked with pain. “I truly had no idea he’d treated his daughter that way… I’m not capable enough to uncover the truth.”
Her fingers traced her stomach. “But there’s always something I can do.”
I was too stunned to speak. It seemed my pitying gaze had reached her.
She laughed. “You don’t need to feel sorry for me. I’m a mother, a daughter, and above all, a woman. I absolutely refuse to have a child with someone like that.”
Her gaze was gentle but firm. Warm yellow light fell on her head, as if casting a sacred glow around her.
“I had an abortion, broke up with him, and told people at his company what he’d done.”
“He quit soon after, but not because of that. I heard that at work, he’d often panic and shout, ‘Daddy was wrong, sweetheart. I’m sorry,’ or things like that.”
Strange. Could someone like that really be tormented by guilt and regret?
I’d thought people like him had no heart.