My Family Is Very Odd?

Chapter 13: Am I Your Baby?

However, it was not allowed.

This child already belonged to someone.

The things in that house were beyond her means to handle.

The girl was not alone; the only one who was alone was herself.

The woman gazed at her with affection.

She really, really wanted to take her away...

"I can't go with you; my mom and dad are here," Li Xiao Gui said candidly.

The woman lowered her head, and her eyes gradually became filled with melancholy.

However, Li Xiao Gui was young, and her perception couldn't keep up with the woman's changing expression. Her eyes passed through the woman, focusing on the raindrops, and she softly said, "Sister, could you hold the umbrella? My hand is getting tired."

The woman: "..."

"Move it a bit that way, so it can cover both of us," Li Xiao Gui instructed.

The woman shifted the umbrella in the direction Li Xiao Gui indicated and placed it over her head, immediately receiving a refuting response from the little girl.

"Was I too forward? Then let me come closer." Li Xiao Gui's voice carried a childish tone as she took a step towards the woman.

The woman silently gazed at her, and with the umbrella sheltering them, the raindrops drummed loudly outside, creating a striking contrast.

The woman did not speak anymore. Her eyes, like two black holes, deeply fixed on Li Xiao Gui's face. Raindrops splashed on the umbrella. Facing her, the silent figure of the woman slowly disappeared.

The unsupported umbrella floated in the air for a few seconds, gently touching Li Xiao Gui's hand and slipping into her grasp.

Li Xiao Gui blinked in confusion, belatedly exclaiming, "Huh?" She raised her head and looked around in bewilderment.

"Sister?" Li Xiao Gui called out.

The woman did not respond, but someone else was drawn to her.

"Li Xiao Gui?" A pair of small black shoes approached through the rain mist.

"Ah?" Li Xiao Gui turned her head sensitively, looking towards the source of the voice in a daze.

Li Xiao Gui recognized the person as Shen Chen and said, "Brother Chenchen."

"Why are you here in such heavy rain?" Shen Chen asked, glancing around and suddenly inquired, "Besides you, were there others here just now?"

Li Xiao Gui: "There was another sister."

Shen Chen: "I feel a heavy resentment, and the trace is still fresh. Where is that sister?"

When a ghost comes into existence, it brings along a sense of resentment that may either fade away or grow stronger as time passes.

When resentment becomes too heavy, it's because it's related to the karma of the mortal world, involving wrongdoing.

Every time one commits an act that leads to someone's death, the deceased's resentment will linger around them, and after a week, it becomes part of their spiritual body.

Li Xiao Gui held her yellow umbrella and said, "Let's go."

Shen Chen frowned, "When did she leave? Which direction did she go? Why didn't I see it?"

Shen Chen seemed to be very concerned.

"Just now, she left and slowly disappeared here," Li Xiao Gui pointed at the ground under the umbrella, confidently stating, "It was Cinderella's magic."

It was unclear where she found such confidence.

Shen Chen said, "That is not magic; it's a ghost that can harm you. Since you can see them, you should know they are different from us."

Li Xiao Gui looked at him and candidly said, "I don't know, what's different?"

"You can see the black aura, right? Normal people living in a ghost house like you will have their bodies tainted with black aura, even individuals who are haunted by ghosts can experience it. But a person covered in black aura, without a shadow, with pure black eyes devoid of light, a body that can pass through objects, cannot be touched, and can do things that ordinary people can't—that's a ghost. The thicker the black aura and the heavier the resentment, the more dangerous it is."

Shen Chen explained it like reciting a textbook.

"..." Li Xiao Gui stared with wide eyes, suddenly thinking of her mom and dad, and everyone in the ghost house, feeling somewhat puzzled.

Shen Chen: "Do you still remember what that sister looked like?"

Li Xiao Gui nodded.

Shen Chen: "What did she look like?"

Li Xiao Gui: "She had long hair, wore a beautiful dress, had a very pale face, dark eyes with black aura, and I can't remember if she had a shadow."

Shen Chen: "That was a ghost. You should be careful of it; it can harm you."

Li Xiao Gui: "But she didn't harm me."

Shen Chen: "When she harms you, it will be too late. Do you know what it means that she still has fresh resentment? It means she just killed someone."

Li Xiao Gui looked somewhat bewildered, still staring with her eyes wide open.

Shen Chen: "I feel that this ghost is still nearby, but I don't know where she is. She might be attached to you. Li Xiao Gui, let me teach you some things so that you might find them useful when you encounter ghosts in the future."

The boy spoke to the girl like this, but the girl looked back and thought differently because she had just bid farewell to that sister.

The woman was observing them from not too far, at a distance where she could hear them talking and also have an easy escape. As she listened to Shen Chen straightforwardly telling Li Xiao Gui everything, her dress bore a deep mark where she clenched it tightly.

Today, accompanied by heavy rain, a major incident occurred at school. The principal drowned due to an accidental fall this morning. This was the second drowning incident in the area this summer, and they were separated by less than a month.

The school attached great importance to this matter.

The teachers were vague about who had drowned and simply told the children that someone had drowned in the town's river. They emphasized to the children not to play near the water or bridges and to be mindful of safety.

Chen Yuanyuan took a sudden sick leave this morning, and the teacher asked her close friend to inform her when she returns.

It was evident how seriously the school treated the situation.

Not only the school but also certain special groups in the town attached great importance to it. This was the second victim in this area, and Shen Yan would not let this rampant offender leave here unscathed.

Lin Zhi was a newcomer in Shen Yan's team, having just returned from an external mission. Despite her youth, she was an outstanding practitioner of one of the five techniques of exorcism. She possessed heterochromia with one eye capable of discerning truth and the other with the ability to travel through time. She excelled in tracking and hunting.

She stood by the river, where the victim had met with an accident. Placing her hand on her left eye, she closed it and then opened it again. Her pupils dimmed, turning into a light gray, and another scene gradually appeared before her eyes.

She focused on the man's appearance, and the vision revealed the man's image at the riverbank that day.

The man had passed by the river in the morning when it hadn't rained yet, and the sky was just beginning to brighten at six o'clock. There was a woman standing by the river.

Lin Zhi had an intuition that the woman was their target. Her eyes seemed to play out a silent film, showing the man and the woman confronting each other at the riverbank for five minutes. The woman pushed the man into the river, and the water instantly engulfed his struggling face.

The vision extinguished at the moment of the man's death.

Lin Zhi closed her eyes, absorbing all the information, and then headed towards the kindergarten. She needed to find out how this man had provoked that ghost.

This particular ghost, apart from the time of its initial birth, seemed to kill people without a clear pattern; it appeared to act entirely based on its own whims, targeting both the young and old.

Nevertheless, Lin Zhi still attempted to discern the pattern of its actions, or at least understand the reasons and targets of its recent attacks.

As Lin Zhi walked towards the kindergarten, the moment she stepped inside, her eyes turned light gray again. She reversed time to the day before the incident.

She followed the man's steps, meticulously exploring every corner of the kindergarten. It was quite draining for her.

Lin Zhi's head began to ache, and she couldn't find any intersection between the man and the female ghost.

Finally, they reached the playground, where Lin Zhi looked around, surrounded by students taking their physical education classes. The man suddenly headed in one direction.

In that direction, a girl was piling up sand.

The man seemed interested in the girl and watched her for a long time. Did they know each other?

Lin Zhi furrowed her brows, observing their interaction. Strangely, when she viewed the time reversal concerning the man, the girl's perspective was illuminated and had an unusual angle, making her feel uncomfortable.

Moreover, there was no sign of the female ghost.

Isn't it that day?

Damn it, Lin Zhi's upper eyelids were somewhat heavy. Time was running out; if it exceeded a week, the female ghost might escape at any time.

If she couldn't find it again... she would have to leave with an unsolved homicide case.

Just as she was thinking this, Lin Zhi suddenly noticed that when the man and the girl were talking, even when the girl ran away, the sand in the pile was still rolling, from top to bottom, bit by bit.

Lin Zhi: "..."

As Lin Zhi focused her gaze, she finally saw a palm print on the sand pile. Her eyes flickered, the gray color receded, and her eyes returned to their ordinary deep brown.

The world returned to its original state, and her mind hadn't quite recovered; she felt somewhat dazed.

That girl... that girl?

Lin Zhi memorized the girl's appearance, wanting to see clearly what was beside the girl, but she no longer had the energy to reverse time once again.

She wearily furrowed her brows.

Based on the recent vision, she couldn't make a hasty judgment. Her intuition told her that there must be something important beside the girl.

When kindergarten was over, the rain had stopped. Today, Li Xiao Gui seemed to be preoccupied, constantly glancing at the Young Ghost.

Unable to resist, the Young Ghost asked, "What's wrong?"

Li Xiao Gui raised her small face, pondered for a moment, then shook her head without saying anything.

"..." Young Ghost clearly didn't believe her, but he had no way to deal with Li Xiao Gui. "Alright then, tell me when you want to."

With a heavy heart, Li Xiao Gui returned home.

Once she arrived home, everyone noticed that Li Xiao Gui was different and looked strangely at Young Ghost. Young Ghost could only helplessly shake his head. The atmosphere in the ghost house became tense with the odd behavior of Li Xiao Gui.

At the dinner table, she finally spoke, "Dad, Mom, Brother, Grandpa, Grandma."

One by one, Li Xiao Gui called them, and the ghosts at the table unconsciously put down what they were holding, standing alertly.

"We are... ghosts?" Li Xiao Gui asked.

Female Ghost hesitated for a moment, tightly gripping her fork, and smiled, "You found out, my dear."

Li Xiao Gui also looked surprised and a bit confused as she asked, "Then why do I have a shadow?"

Female Ghost: "Ah, that's because we are ghosts, but you are not."

Li Xiao Gui was stunned for a moment, her big eyes filling with tears. "Then where did I come from? Was I picked up from the trash bin?"

Female Ghost hadn't expected that the next sentence from her would be about this, and the fact that she cried and asked if she was picked up from the trash bin was quite amusing.

It seemed that if she nodded, the child would burst into tears.

Unable to hold it in, Female Ghost burst into laughter.

Li Xiao Gui choked up, continuing to cry. Although she didn't feel anything when Shen Chen mentioned it in the morning, facing her family now, she couldn't help but feel more and more sad.

Wuwuwu, the trash bin was so dirty.

"Wuwuwu, am I an unwanted child?"

Ghost Granny said, "Of course not! You are our little baby."

Li Xiao Gui blinked, and a teardrop flickered in her eyes. "Really?"

Ghost Granny nodded, "Really."

Li Xiao Gui blinked her eyes and looked at Ghost Grandpa, asking, "Grandpa, am I your little baby?"

Ghost Grandpa didn't speak, but he nodded.

Li Xiao Gui nodded in satisfaction and asked the next ghost, "Brother, am I your little baby?"

Burly Ghost secretly took out a camera and took a picture of the teary little child with a "click." Then, he showed a mouthful of white teeth and smiled, "Yes! I really like the little ghost!"

The little ghost crying was also super cute!

Li Xiao Gui nodded, sniffed her nose, and asked Female Ghost, "Mom, am I your little baby?"

Only then did Female Ghost put down her fork, lazily yawning, and said, "Yes, my little baby."

Li Xiao Gui nodded, her eyes soaked with water as she looked at her dad, "Dad, am I your little baby?"

Young Ghost: "..."

Young Ghost fell into an awkward silence for just a second, and Li Xiao Gui immediately seemed to cry.

Young Ghost hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, you are!"

Young Ghost sighed with a touch of disdain.

Li Xiao Gui nodded, wiping away her tears with her little hand, and suddenly said, "Can I go to Miaomiao Dessert Shop and have two puddings tonight?"

Young Ghost: "..."

This child had truly mastered the skill of seizing every opportunity, acting spoiled, and relying on affection. Who knew where she had learned it from.

Fear was that she would end up eating more than just two puddings.

But what could he do? She had just cried, her eyes were watery, her nose was red, and the Young Ghost found himself unable to refuse. He gritted his teeth and said, "Fine. After dinner, I'll take you to eat."

No one deliberately concealed the fact of the ghosts, but no one could have expected that she would react like this upon learning the truth.

As if nothing had changed, she even took the invitation for two puddings.

Indeed, she was just a child.

Did she truly understand or not what being a ghost meant?

In the early evening at seven o'clock, as the city lights began to shine, the streets became lively with flickering lanterns, and the bustling crowd filled the air with noise.

This was the woman's protective umbrella.

The ghost fled among the people, pursued by a group of exorcists. They blended in with the crowd, looking like ordinary people but determinedly chasing after her.

The woman appeared disheveled and desperate, but in the end, she had not been caught.

Because she was incredibly fast, always choosing crowded areas to slip through, where the exorcists would be seen and blocked by the crowd.

But she had no such concerns.

She told herself it was time to leave, so when the exorcists pursued her, she ran with all her might to leave this small town.

She thought swiftly and locked onto a car. Through the window, she saw the driver drowsy but the speed didn't drop, and the next intersection was precisely a busy crossroad.

The woman examined the scene, realizing that the pedestrian signal would turn green in two seconds, and the speeding car would collide when the crowd was at its densest. Such an incident would undoubtedly cause panic, resulting in a large number of casualties and a surge of resentment. It was a perfect chance for her to escape.

With her thoughts in place, the woman's spirit slowly adhered to the car.

Fatigue driving increased the likelihood of accidents by 80%, and with the added influence of an evil spirit, the probability of a mishap skyrocketed.

The traffic light changed, and pedestrians started crossing.

As the woman had anticipated, the car showed no signs of slowing down and continued to speed ahead.

Just as the car was about to collide with the zebra crossing, a jarring horn suddenly exploded in the driver's ears. Startled, the driver widened his eyes and finally saw the glaring red light and terrified people in front. The driver's face was filled with fear as he subconsciously turned the steering wheel, rolling to the right side.

However, the right side was also a sidewalk, and the woman showed a smile.

Until she saw the person standing at the forefront of the sidewalk, Li Xiao Gui, the woman's pupils locked onto her, unable to see anyone else.

Without a second thought, the woman jumped off the car and used all her resentment to try to stop the vehicle.

At the moment the car finally stopped, the group of exorcists chasing after her caught up.

The exorcists didn't approach; the woman's current position was the center of an accident, and the crowd was dense. They stood about a hundred meters away from her, hidden in the dark corners.

Standing at the forefront was Lin Zhi. Her right hand was extended with her palm open, and her right eye turned golden. Lin Zhi saw the entirety of the woman's life as if written in the stars.

"Year of the Horse, Month of the Guiwei (Water Goat), Day of the Xinsi (Metal Snake), Hour of the Wuzi (Earth Rat)."

With each word spoken by Lin Zhi, a beam of light encircled the woman. When all four words were uttered, the beams of light converged, forming a prison that securely trapped her.

"You died in the year of Wuzi. You caused the deaths of 21 lives."

"Huang Meimei, I hereby judge you for these 21 lives."

The woman's entirely black eyes stared at her, seemingly unable to recognize her own name.

Lin Zhi's golden peculiar pupil fixated on the woman's face, imprinting it deeply in her mind:

"Annihilate."

The woman's body was enveloped in countless tiny particles, as if being torn apart and crushed, experiencing both pain and aches. She lifted her head, looking in a certain direction, and let out a heartbreaking scream.

Her expression was one of agony, but she kept looking in that certain direction.

Amidst her screaming, the woman turned into fragments of light.

The candy she had hidden in her bosom rolled down soundlessly, hopping and jumping in the flowing traffic, only to be crushed into countless pieces by passing cars.

Someone from the group asked, "Why did the car suddenly stop?"

"I don't know. It was running so fast that we almost lost it. Luckily, it stopped."

They conversed.

Lin Zhi silently gazed towards the direction the woman had been staring at. A girl was standing by the roadside, eating an ice cream and seemingly waiting for someone.

Now she was gone, perhaps picked up by her parents.

The scene had been too chaotic; Lin Zhi was focused on banishing the spirit and didn't notice it.

However, at a glance, the deep impression allowed Lin Zhi to recognize that girl.

Lin Zhi thought she might know why.

But it didn't matter now, she thought, decisively turned around, and left.

The street returned to its hustle and bustle.

While the driver received a lecture from the traffic police on the roadside, life carried on with people strolling through the night market.

The shattered candy was ground into the center of the road. A wriggling shadow slowly approached the candy, seemingly sensing something. It consumed each piece of candy one by one.

Then, it grew a little bit larger. The now bigger, soulless figure seemed to understand three words inexplicably.

Li Xiao Gui.

Notes

guǐwèi - The twentieth term of the Chinese sexagenary cycle, sometimes glossed as Water Goat from its associated terms in the Chinese elements and zodiac.

xīnsì - The eighteenth term of the Chinese sexagenary cycle, sometimes glossed as Metal Snake from its associated terms in the Chinese elements and zodiac.

wùzi - The twenty-fifth term of the Chinese sexagenary cycle, sometimes glossed as Earth Rat from its associated terms in the Chinese elements and zodiac.

The Chinese sexagenary cycle, also known as the Stems-and-Branches or ganzhi (Chinese: 干支), is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus a total of sixty years for one cycle, historically used for recording time in China and the rest of the East Asian cultural sphere. The sexagenary cycle is used in the names of many historical events, such as the Chinese Xinhai Revolution, the Japanese Boshin War, the Korean Imjin War and the Vietnamese Tet Mau Than. It also continues to have a role in contemporary Chinese astrology and fortune telling. There are some parallels in this with the current 60-year cycle of the Hindu calendar.