Chapter 33: The Women's Cup

I initially thought she hadn't gone to the hospital, but after a long detour, she ended up here. Still, many things didn't make sense. How could a statue bestow children upon a living person? Everyone knows how a child is conceived—it requires pregnancy, and then... this was just too irrational! I wanted to use my phone to search the internet for information, but I hadn't brought it with me.

Whether I believe it or not doesn't matter; it only matters that the people seeking children believe it.

"You understand. Follow the instructions above," the monk wrote another line on a piece of white paper and handed it to the woman.

I desperately wanted to see what was written on the paper and asked the woman for it, but she hid it away, refusing to let me see. It made me furious, and I could only curse under my breath: "Stuffy, hopeless!"

Guided by the monk, we returned to our previous spot. The woman left. My mother hurriedly handed the queue slip to him. The monk glanced at it and asked, "Who is this for?"

Mother pulled me in front of him and said, "My daughter's eye sockets are completely black. Is there some significance to this?"

The monk signaled for me to squat down so he could observe me closely.

Mother was right in front of me. I felt extremely repulsed. I never imagined that crossing the highway to come here was all for the sake of my dark circles—what pure superstition! Forced by necessity, I squatted down and looked at him indifferently. He was an elderly, withered monk.

He had heard me say many unpleasant things earlier and had been holding back, but he still had to go through the motions.

The monk examined my face closely, chanted silently for a minute, then seemed to grasp something. He opened his eyes and said, "A ritual must be performed."

"What kind of ritual? Who would believe in this?" I finally exploded, unable to listen to anyone's opinion.

Mother truly believed him and even nodded. The Scar-faced Man stayed silent.

"Amitabha. Believe it or not, the choice is yours," the monk said, his face unchanging, his heart unruffled, as he pressed his palms together.

Mother was very devout, practically desperate, and began to consult with the Scar-faced Man.

"I won't do it!" I declared first, making sure Mother knew. In my heart, I secretly blamed the Scar-faced Man for leading the way, which was why Mother was so obsessed. I hated him to death! Not only did he steal another man's wife, but he also claimed I had an evil aura on my face, acting as if he knew everything. Isn't this just setting people up?

Mother took these words seriously and insisted on having a talk with me. After a long time, she found the most appropriate words: "Zhengtai, since we're already here, it doesn't matter if you don't believe it. Just let them look so your mother can stop worrying!"

I thought it over and over, but I couldn't figure it out. Why was Mother so insistent that I go through with this nonsense? If there was something wrong with me, wouldn't I know?

"Whatever the master does, it's for my own good, which is why he resorted to this..." Silence was interpreted as consent.

"Pay first, and use your phone for contact," the monk wrote a few words on a piece of white paper and handed it over. Mother glanced at it; it was just that brief.

"Can't you just say these few lousy words with your mouth? Why do you have to write them on paper?" I couldn't understand it at all.

I asked Mother, but she didn't know. I asked the Scar-faced Man, and he was the same. I asked the monk, but he only said, "Heavenly secrets must not be leaked."

How damn ridiculous. The words were already written—what heavenly secrets were left? It's a scam! A total scam!

The monk didn't react to my shouting, perhaps because he had seen too many cases like mine and wasn't surprised at all.

Mother ignored me and went with the Scar-faced Man to pay, whispering to each other right in front of me the whole way.

I listened carefully, but I couldn't hear anything over the ambient noise.

Mother returned to the first window, asked, and followed their directions through several other windows until she finally stopped at the back of a long queue.

My bad temper flared up, and I lost all sense of propriety. Ignoring the Scar-faced Man, I took the opportunity to pull a long face and huffed at him, "This was your lousy idea, saying I had an evil aura on my face. Are you trying to hurt me?"

"It wasn't me who said you had an evil aura; the master saw it too and said a ritual is needed. If there's nothing wrong with you, what are you afraid of?" The Scar-faced Man tried to stabilize my emotions. In his eyes, I was just a child, and he had already prepared a countermeasure.

His words reminded me: I had to consider the money. Mother had no money—where did it come from? It turned out the Scar-faced Man was paying after all.

I still felt something was wrong. Mother had only been away for one night; why did a ritual have to be performed? I wondered how much bad-mouthing the Scar-faced Man had whispered into her ears about me.

Even though he paid, I wasn't grateful; I still wanted to curse him. I felt it wasn't for my sake, but for their own.

When things reached this point, Mother wouldn't listen to anything else. She paid, got a slip of paper, and took it to the monk.

The monk, who was explaining things to another guest, took the slip, drew a circle on it, asked for Mother's phone number, dialed it, and said, "Wait for the notification."

Mother held the slip and looked at it carefully. It had an amount printed on it: 1,749 yuan. The circle drawn next to it...

Leaving the place, we walked down the path while discussing the writing on the white paper. Mother was utterly confused.

The Scar-faced Man was a businessman who had already noticed the clue and whispered, "Can't you tell? The monk who writes cannot handle cash."

"What does that mean?"

"The human heart is hard to fathom. They're afraid of embezzlement!"

Mother was stunned and couldn't help but ask, "Could it be..."

"Whose eyes don't light up at the sight of money? That's why there's a saying: 'Do not flaunt your wealth.' Especially for the workers—they can only do the work. They aren't allowed to touch the finances. When it comes time to pay, how much they get depends entirely on the accounting!"

After getting into the car, I felt gloomy... riding and eating... I didn't even realize how we got out of the car when we reached the residential gate.

It was pitch black. Mother left with the Scar-faced Man in his car. I went to the fourth floor, opened the door, and entered the house. Not wanting to see Zhengtai's father lying on the bed, I passed the doorway of the main bedroom, but I couldn't help glancing inside: there were bloodstains all over the sheets and quilt, which were in total disarray. Niu Zhenqing was not on the bed.

I felt something was wrong, and my heart started to race. I entered the room and searched everywhere, even under the bed. I went to the bathroom, kitchen, the small room, and the balcony, but he was nowhere to be found. Forced by desperation, I returned to the small room and picked up my phone from the bedside. There were many missed calls from Jiang Meili. I dialed Mother's number first.

It connected in less than a minute, and her voice came through: "Zhengtai, I'm not coming home tonight! Do your homework, you have school tomorrow, go to bed early, and don't be late!"

"Mom, this is an emergency! Dad isn't home!" I hadn't even finished my sentence, but she had already said a mouthful.

Soon, a hesitant voice came from her: "Can he walk? Or did he fly away?"

Her question left me bewildered. I replied inexplicably, "I don't know!"

"I'm coming over right now!" Mother thought it over, and the call hung up.

I felt stifled. Had something strange happened in the house? A living person—how could he just disappear? If he's alive, I should see him; if he's dead, I should see his body. My mind raced. Since Jiang Meili had called so many times, I took the opportunity to dial her back and held the phone to my ear, waiting. It rang once with no answer, then a second time, still nothing. Just as I was about to give up, the phone rang. I saw it was her and immediately answered, shouting into the receiver, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Where the hell have *you* been? I called you a million times and you didn't answer! Were you out looking for Lala while I was gone?"

"I just called you, why didn't you answer?" I didn't have time to mess around with her.

"My period started, I was in the bathroom dealing with it. I heard the phone ringing in the bedroom, but my arms weren't long enough to reach it," Jiang Meili said, not hiding her privacy at all.

"We share the same plight," I couldn't help but giggle into the phone.

"You don't have to be so silly. Use a menstrual cup; it’s easier, cheaper, and cleaner!" she laughed.

This was the first time I had heard that name. I used to be a man, but now I had become Zhengtai...

Just as she said that, my eyes nearly popped out of my head. No wonder Mother wanted to discuss doing a ritual with the Scar-faced Man; it turned out that both Zhengtai and Qu Shilai were inside my body. If something happened... what would I do?

"Hey, hey! Are you listening?" She couldn't wait any longer, her voice booming.

I couldn't tell her about this, so I just asked, "What is a menstrual cup?"

"I'll send you a picture, tell your mom to buy one!" She laughed for a while. It was hard to explain, so she just left it at that.

I was curious. How could a man understand women's things? I covered the phone and whispered to Zhengtai inside my body: "Do you know what a menstrual cup is?"

She didn't answer, but sent information from within my body, and my brain understood. It turned out she hadn't used one either, and perhaps even Mother didn't know.

I still had many questions, especially about the ritual...