Chapter 52

Li Mengxin's mother hesitated for a long time, then turned her electric scooter around. "Let's talk about it at home."

Hu Yuanfei glanced at the back seat of her scooter, his expression freezing for a moment. Was she... was she going to take him along with her?

He had never ridden an electric scooter before!

Li Mengxin's family lived in another residential complex two streets away from the kindergarten, in a two-bedroom apartment. When the two of them stepped inside, a man was resting in the living room. Hearing the door open, the man immediately sat up from the sofa.

The man was somewhat tan, with thick eyebrows and large eyes, looking to be nearly forty. Next to him lay a clean yet somewhat worn-and-torn work uniform.

He didn't speak, only using his gaze to question his entering wife.

Li Mengxin's mother, Ren Pingxiao, explained, "This is the owner of the rodent extermination shop across from the kindergarten. His daughter is in the same class as our Mengxin."

Li Jianfeng immediately said, "We don't have mice in our house."

Ren Pingxiao was amused by his remark and let out a small laugh, but she quickly reined it in. "He's not here for mouse extermination."

Hu Yuanfei stepped forward and introduced himself, "My name is Hu Yuanfei. Besides catching mice, my shop also helps people exorcise ghosts."

At the mention of ghost exorcism, Li Jianfeng's expression also tightened. He stood up, walked over to his wife's side, and asked in a low voice, "Did something happen to Mengxin again?"

Ren Pingxiao patted his hand. "No, it's just that I feel this matter should be resolved. Dragging it out like this isn't good for Mengxin either. Every time I see her get hurt, my heart aches."

Li Jianfeng nodded slightly and led them to the sofa to sit down.

Hu Yuanfei said, "Tell me what you know. How long have you noticed this?"

Ren Pingxiao's hands, resting on her knees, tightly clenched together as she slowly began, "It was when Mengxin was a year and a half old. Once, when I had a very high fever and was delirious, I saw a shadow behind my daughter. That shadow pushed my daughter down from a small stool. My daughter learned to walk late; she could only stumble around at a year and a half and was always falling. I always thought she had some medical condition and took her to see doctors many times. It wasn't until that day, when my daughter was walking, that the shadow blocked her path and tripped her. When she got back up, it pushed her down from behind. When she crawled onto the sofa to reach for something, the shadow snatched it away and smashed it on the floor."

At that moment, Ren Pingxiao finally realized why her daughter was always falling and dropping things. She had always thought it was divine punishment for giving birth to an unhealthy child. But now she discovered it was merely the revenge of another child.

Ren Pingxiao had excellent eyesight and clearly saw that the dark shadow following her daughter had a huge crack across its head. When the dark shadow was happy or angry, the crack would split open, dividing the head in two, and its arms would even detach from its body.

In an instant, Ren Pingxiao remembered the fully formed yet aborted child she had carried. When that child was removed, she had caught a glimpse of it. Fully formed, its head covered in blood, it was still recognizable as a child with very good features.

Yet no matter what, she could not keep that child.

Li Mengxin had always harbored a sense of guilt, going to temples to pray for blessings and offering incense for that child, hoping she wouldn't hate her and would find a good reincarnation in her next life.

She never expected that the child had never left and had instead appeared by her daughter's side.

Ren Pingxiao had sought out many masters, but most of them were frauds. On the rare occasion that someone truly capable noticed there was a ghost in the house, they would only say the ghost was too ferocious to handle and would leave in a hurry.

She didn't know if her attempts to have masters exorcise the ghost had infuriated the child, but afterward, Li Mengxin's condition grew increasingly severe. Where she used to get hurt at most once a day, she now suffered worse falls. Once, she almost tumbled out of the window, her body dangling outside. Fortunately, someone downstairs saw and rescued her daughter just in time.

Clearly, these were disasters brought on by her own decisions, yet the one suffering injuries was always her daughter. Ren Pingxiao blamed herself almost to the point of a relapse, weeping into the air all day long and pleading for that child's forgiveness.

Yet the child refused to face her, not even appearing in her dreams, only relentlessly tormenting Mengxin as if venting the resentment held in her heart.

Ren Pingxiao truly didn't know what else to do. As time passed, she gradually grew somewhat numb. She set an extra place at the table with chopsticks, bought an extra set of toys and clothes, pretending as though that child were still alive. This actually managed to pacify the child to some extent; Mengxin was no longer threatened with death, though the injuries on her body remained.

Ren Pingxiao sometimes thought perhaps their family would just go on like this forever, until Hu Yuanfei tracked her down. Only then did she finally wake up and realize this was completely abnormal.

"She was my child too. I failed her; I shouldn't have snuffed out her life," Ren Pingxiao said with trembling lips, growing more agitated as she spoke. "I am the one who deserves to die. It's all my fault."

Her appearance seemed somewhat off, her gaze hazy and chaotic as she muttered to herself. Reaching the peak of her agitation, she violently grabbed her own hair. "I didn't mean to. I really didn't mean to. I didn't want to do this either. Dandan, forgive Mom. Every single mistake is my fault; come after me instead. Don't hit me, don't hit me, I won't run anymore." She curled her body into a ball, wrapping her arms around herself, displaying an expression of extreme terror.

Li Jianfeng, standing nearby, hurried forward to pull her into his arms and soothe her. "It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong, she will forgive you. Stop thinking about it, Pingxiao, stop thinking about it. Look at me, it's all in the past now. You're safe now, don't be afraid, no one here will hurt you, I'm right by your side."

Li Jianfeng cupped his wife's face, forcing her to look at him. Ren Pingxiao's gaze drifted before finally locking onto Li Jianfeng's eyes after a long, long moment. She slowly calmed down, leaning against him with the lingering remnants of terror still on her face.

Hu Yuanfei watched this development with some astonishment, almost thinking Ren Pingxiao had been possessed by a ghost.

Only now did he notice that despite the scorching weather, Ren Pingxiao was wearing long sleeves and long pants, even buttoning her collar high up to conceal her neck. Because of her recent emotional outburst, a sleeve button had popped open, revealing the skin on her arm. It was covered in layer upon layer of old scars—burns and cuts of varying depths, densely packed together. Clearly, she had suffered severe abuse in the past.

Yet no matter how he looked at it, he couldn't see Li Jianfeng as the type of person who would do such a thing.

Hu Yuanfei hadn't mastered physiognomy, but he could sense that Li Jianfeng possessed an aura of profound peace; this was a man of steadfast honesty and absolute trustworthiness.

After comforting his wife, Li Jianfeng apologized to Hu Yuanfei. "I'm sorry, she suffered trauma in the past and gets like this when her emotions run high. Don't worry, she won't hurt anyone. Please don't be afraid."

Hu Yuanfei shook his head. "Tell me what really happened. Only when I fully understand can I help you resolve this matter more smoothly."

Li Jianfeng fell silent for a moment, then coaxed Ren Pingxiao into the bedroom to sleep. Afterward, he closed the door behind him and, in a low voice, recounted Ren Pingxiao's past to Hu Yuanfei.

Ren Pingxiao and Li Jianfeng were in a second marriage. Li Mengxin was their child, while the aborted child belonged to her ex-husband.

The story was both clichéd and tragic. A young Ren Pingxiao had met a husband who appeared gentle, interesting, and deeply attentive. She entered the marriage filled with beautiful expectations, never imagining that the husband who had behaved so well before the wedding would reveal his true colors afterward and begin subjecting her to domestic violence.

As a result, Ren Pingxiao suffered two miscarriages, both within the first three months. It wasn't until her third pregnancy that her ex-husband seemed to turn over a new leaf, remaining well-behaved for over six months.

Ren Pingxiao thought her ex-husband had genuinely changed, and her thoroughly chilled heart harbored a glimmer of hope that once their child was born, they could return to a normal family life. But when she was seven months pregnant, her ex-husband got drunk again.

That time, Ren Pingxiao spent half a month in the hospital, and she finally made up her mind to divorce him.

Her ex-husband adamantly refused. When kneeling and crying petitions failed, he resorted to threats, lingering near her home and workplace with a knife. No matter where Ren Pingxiao went, he materialized like a ghost.

Ever since her marriage, Ren Pingxiao had lived in constant dread, her nerves frayed to the breaking point. She couldn't sleep all night and couldn't work by day. To avoid causing trouble for others, she resigned and moved in with her parents, but whenever her parents went out, her ex-husband would appear again.

Ren Pingxiao endured the hardship until the day they were scheduled to collect their divorce certificate. That day, her ex-husband attacked her right before entering the hall.

It was Li Jianfeng, passing by, who saved her.

Her ex-husband was sentenced to several years in prison for intentional assault, and she finally gained a breathing space.

At that time, Ren Pingxiao's physical condition was abysmal; she was withered down to skin and bones. Her seven-month pregnant belly felt as though it was draining away all her remaining nutrients. She couldn't sleep and couldn't eat. After an evaluation, a psychological counselor determined she needed immediate hospitalization. The existence of this unborn child felt to her like an indelible brand of pain inflicted by her ex-husband, and her only option was to excise it.

She went and aborted the child, but upon seeing the child's dismembered body, she plunged into a new nightmare. Remorse and guilt over the child overwhelmed her.

Ren Pingxiao spent two years in a psychiatric hospital. After her release, she met Li Jianfeng, who was working near her home. She no longer remembered that this man was the kind stranger who had saved her, but as their interactions increased, she gradually found him steady and reliable, as dependable as a silent mountain. As long as she was by his side, she didn't need to live in fear, and her emotions stabilized. After interacting for two more years, they finally made things official.

The trauma from Ren Pingxiao's previous marriage was simply too immense, and it took a tremendous amount of courage for her to take this next step. Li Jianfeng had carefully guarded her present ever since.

Their married life afterward was plain and serene, filled with the simple matters of daily life. Ren Pingxiao reintegrated into society and resumed working.

Until the birth of their daughter—the events that transpired pulled Ren Pingxiao right back into the past.

Li Jianfeng hunched his shoulders, speaking with a mixture of helplessness and heartache, "If you truly can exorcise ghosts, I hope you can help her."

Hu Yuanfei nodded. Over the years, he was no longer the greenhorn he used to be; when he put on airs, he carried a certain air of a master.

"Of course. For my daughter's sake as well, I will properly resolve this matter."

At this moment, the minor ghost was still by Li Mengxin's side rather than at home, making a direct confrontation somewhat troublesome. Fortunately, since this minor ghost had emerged from Ren Pingxiao's womb, a thread still connected it to her even in death. Hu Yuanfei decided to use a special method to summon the minor ghost over.

He raised his hand, and demonic energy snaked forward along that invisible thread.

Back at the kindergarten, the first class had already begun. Yet before the mid-session break, Li Mengxin suddenly felt a strong urge to pee and could barely hold it in.

She was somewhat timid and didn't dare raise her voice to call out to the teacher, so she could only wrinkle her small face, hovering on the verge of tears with anxiety.

Qingyao noticed her appearance, turned her head, and asked, "What's wrong?" Li Mengxin hurriedly whispered that she needed to go to the bathroom.

Qingyao immediately grabbed her hand, raised it high, and said loudly, "Teacher, Li Mengxin wants to go to the bathroom."

Li Mengxin was completely stunned by her action. The teacher paused her lecture and instructed the daycare assistant to take Li Mengxin, but Li Mengxin wasn't very familiar with the assistant yet and was reluctant to go with her, silently clutching Qingyao's hand and refusing to let go.