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The High Taoist walked ahead, with the female ghost trailing behind him. Her long hair obscured her face, and she seemed somewhat shy, even fearful at the sight of Jiang He. The scene was somewhat amusing—a female ghost following a Taoist dressed in women's clothing—but no one laughed; the atmosphere around them was heavy.
"What is going on here?" Jiang He asked. "The curse on the women in the village, the people dying one by one—did you have a hand in this?"
The High Taoist nodded, then shook his head. "Part of it is my doing, and part of it is not. In fact, after being here for so long, I can’t even tell if this is truly a curse at work. All I know is that there isn’t a good person in this village; they all deserve to die."
"So far, what I know about the village's secret is that they buy abducted women and children. Those hunters go into the mountains to find tourists, rob them of their possessions, and then cruelly push them into pits to kill them. Is that the secret of this village?"
The High Taoist nodded, his gaze turning fierce for a moment before shifting to one of resignation. "That's right. Sometimes I think poverty is the original sin. Look at those people in the village; they’ve never read a book in their lives. From the moment they are born, they know what kind of life awaits them."
"The only thing these villagers do their entire lives is farm, save money, and then buy abducted brides from outside the village, forcing these women to bear children. If a girl is born, they bury the infant in the cornfield's mass grave. If a boy is born, they raise him as a man."
"This boy will go to school, attend middle school, and receive compulsory education. But who will teach him? The literate people in the village. And what will those literate villagers teach? They’ll tell him to work hard in farming and save money so that when he reaches marriageable age, he can buy a bride from outside and then have a son to carry on the family line."
"These people are despicable; for their own selfish desires, they buy girls from traffickers and force them to bear children. They don’t know what a marriage certificate is; they only know that they must not let a woman escape. They don’t understand gender respect; they see those women merely as breeding tools."
"What's laughable is that those villagers who can afford to buy women are looked up to by others in the village. Yet every villager hopes that such people will die soon so that they can experience what mating feels like. The boys in this village never know what a mother is; those women who give birth are left with nothing but mating for the rest of their lives, becoming second-hand tools that can be sold off."
"But sometimes I feel pity for these people. Because from birth, what they hear, see, and experience is this kind of education—you can't expect them to grow up with any correct worldview. Their life's mission is simply to buy brides and have children; not one villager thinks there’s anything wrong with this."
"If anyone tries to stop them from pursuing their most straightforward desires, that person will face punishment from the villagers. They have never left this deep mountain forest; they don’t know what an airplane is, what KFC is, or what air conditioning is—they are like primitive people in modern society."
"Our motherland is vast; some places are highly developed and rank first in the world. Yet some areas are so backward that they rank last globally. But evil is still evil; they know that killing means paying with their lives and that buying brides from outside is illegal—but they do it anyway. What choice do they have?"
Listening to the High Taoist’s words, Jiang He felt there was a paradox within them that could not be explained no matter how hard he tried. But often it’s like this—some things simply cannot be explained.
"Some people are born with everything while others struggle their whole lives just to have enough to eat. Even more tragically, some people could have had normal lives but suddenly have everything destroyed." The High Taoist said with a bitter smile: "Buddhism believes in reincarnation; some will descend into hell—but look at where we are; isn’t this hell?"
"Endless Hell," he continued, "with no hope of liberation—beyond suffering, there are no other feelings; generations cycle through without pause or respite. Look at those villagers generation after generation—it’s just one cycle after another. No matter what they do, they cannot escape this place: ignorance and arrogance lead them through life after life."
The wooden house appeared before the three of them.
The High Taoist continued, "Those who are to be pitied must also have their reasons. You ask me why I am here; I have come to guide these souls. Generation after generation of reincarnation, I hope to put an end to it here."
The High Taoist pushed open the door directly, but there was no one inside the house. Jiang He wondered if Xu Yiman and Yuan Jun had ever returned here, and he had no idea where Old Shao and Wang Chao had gone. In such a vast place, Jiang He didn't know where to search, but he understood that he could not encounter any more villagers.
"We came here with Luo Yu," Jiang He said, glancing at the High Taoist, who was changing clothes. "Luo Yu is likely already suspicious of you. If it weren't for your three ghostly tricks, Luo Yu would definitely think that the matter of the female ghost is your doing."
The High Taoist nodded. "Thank you for the reminder."
"But you still haven't answered my questions. What is your purpose? Did you create the curse? What about this woman? Did you kill someone?" Jiang He pressed on with a series of questions.
At that moment, the High Taoist had finished changing into his robes and turned to the woman. "Xiangmei, go wash your face."
The woman nodded and went to fetch water from the basin to wash her face.
The High Taoist looked out at the night sky, dark as water, and closed the door. "My purpose? I have come to tell you a story."
There was a girl with bright eyes and white teeth, graceful and charming. At that time, she was eighteen years old, just graduated from high school, about to attend one of the best universities in the country to further her studies. Her life was filled with promise; people could already envision her landing a good job, marrying someone worthy of a lifetime commitment, and living a perfect life that everyone envied.
She was beautiful and talented, kind-hearted and humble. It seemed that when God created her, He bestowed upon her all the beauty of the world.
It was a wonderful summer vacation.
But suddenly, an unexpected event befell her.
One day, she was walking home with her best friend after watching a movie about campus romance. The two were dreaming about meeting their prince charming once they entered university, imagining love after being forbidden from dating in high school—love, such a sacred and beautiful word.
They stood at one end of the road, waiting for the green light to cross.
Suddenly, a van came to a stop in front of the two girls. Four burly men jumped out of the vehicle and without a word, grabbed her and her friend, dragging them toward the van. The ice cream cones they held fell to the ground; they had no idea who these men were.
"How could you be so heartless!" one of the men shouted. "That’s your grandfather! He’s lying in a hospital bed, just wanting to see you both one last time. How can you be so cruel?"
With that, several slaps landed on the girls' faces.
"I don’t know you! We don’t know you! What do you want? Let go of me!" they screamed, their voices hoarse from desperation.
"You don’t know us? After living for twenty years? How can you say such heartless things?" the man replied. "Get in the car, you two ungrateful descendants. Once grandpa is gone, do whatever you want; no one will care!"
"What are you looking at?" another man shouted, dispersing the crowd. "There’s nothing to see here! Let me tell you, this is what happens to those who disrespect their family. Filial piety comes first! If you can’t even love your own grandfather, what good are you?"
The crowd was skeptical and unsure of what to do.
An elderly woman, looking to be in her sixties or seventies, stepped out from the passenger seat and immediately knelt on the ground with a thud. Tears streamed down her weathered face as she pleaded, "Granddaughters, I’m begging you! Your grandfather has only you two left. I know you look down on him for being uneducated and for embarrassing you in front of your classmates, but I’m begging you!"
With that, the old woman began to bow her head repeatedly.
"Mom! What are you doing? Those ungrateful girls! Get them in the car!"
After a flurry of punches and kicks, the two girls were finally forced into the vehicle.
"We really don’t know them! We swear we don’t!"
Their cries echoed from inside the van as the crowd watched in outrage.
"These two are raising a pair of White-eyed Wolves!"
"Yeah, look at that grandmother, her head is about to crack, and those two are completely indifferent."
"If my daughter were like that, I would have broken her legs long ago."
"Look at their outfits; they clearly look like a couple of Harlots."
Amid the righteous indignation of the onlookers and the sympathy and sorrow of the crowd, the van drove away, disappearing without a trace on the wide Main Road. No one noticed that the van had no license plates. No one noticed that these people had never called out the names of the two girls. Even more so, no one noticed that once they got into the vehicle, the two girls were quickly silenced with tape.
The crowd soon dispersed, and people came and went along the road as if nothing had happened, as if they had never seen anyone pull two girls into a car.
Only the two melted ice cream cones that had fallen to the ground lay quietly there, with the ice cream water flowing through the cracks in the bricks. To avoid dirtying their shoes, everyone carefully stepped around it.
It was as if Sun Wukong had drawn a circle around it; no one could enter.
Jiang He heard someone crying.
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