FMT 27

“Who told you that?”

After a long while, Chen Shuangning asked.

Liandan wiped his tears hard with his sleeve. “Mother said you are not her son, you are a bad man pretending to be him!”

Chen Shuangning lowered his eyelids, said slowly, “Anything else?”

Liandan’s chest rose and fell. He stared fixedly at the young man at the bedside. After saying that, he clamped his mouth shut, refusing to speak further.

Chen Shuangning gave a faint “hmph.” It was like a laugh, but also like a meaningless response.

Then, with his hoarse and strange voice, he mocked, “As expected, the weaker the host, the weaker the control over the parasite.”

These words were almost an admission that he was not Chen Hanwen.

Liandan looked at him in shock, his terror reaching its peak. He clutched Xiaodan tightly and retreated to the corner of the bed, pressing himself against it, trembling as he stared at him.

Chen Shuangning raised his eyelids. In the dimness, his eyes were black and cold. His thin lips moved, speaking almost word by word: “Zhang Xing said, the last time he came to visit his aunt, she told him about this. He dared not make it public, fearing she was delirious from illness. The next day, he went to Lingyun Temple.”

Liandan gasped, unable to suppress the sound in his throat. His eyes widened, his lips trembled. “You… you could hear what we said inside the house?”

The corner of Chen Shuangning’s mouth curved coldly. “He said the temple looked normal on the surface, but everywhere felt strange.”

Liandan broke down, crying silently, tears running down his face.

Chen Shuangning stepped slowly toward the bed. His cold, black eyes fixed directly on him. He continued, “He also said he once had some friendship with Master Yuanjing. But Yuanjing is now completely different.”

Liandan could no longer endure the pressure. He burst into sobs, and in his arms Xiaodan also cried loudly.

Something flickered quickly across Chen Shuangning’s eyes. His steps halted.

But Liandan was not only crying because of his approach. Unlike before, his first reaction was not to soothe the child, but to lean forward slightly and ask a question Chen Shuangning had not expected him to ask now.

In Liandan’s eyes was despair and pain, yet faintly there was also some hope. He suppressed his overwhelming fear of the young man, but still had to ask clearly.

His tone softened. Through tears, he asked, “Please, tell me the truth. The person that night at the temple, was it you?”

Outside, the sun had completely set. The room grew darker.

Xiaodan’s cries became hiccupping, broken sobs.

Chen Shuangning was silent for a long time, so long that Liandan almost asked again. At last, his shoulders moved. He turned slightly aside, gazed at some unknown point in the air, and said slowly, “No.”

As soon as he spoke, relief showed plainly on Liandan’s face. The pain he had carried seemed suddenly gone, like a dying man who saw a savior. Though still frightened, he was no longer in despair.

But soon, Liandan raised his head again, his body tensed. “But the bite mark on you…?”

Chen Shuangning gave no reply. He silently walked to the table and lit the oil lamp.

As the light filled the room, Xiaodan’s crying faded. The child stared curiously at the shadows on the bed curtain, his and his dad’s.

After lighting the lamp, Chen Shuangning turned, tugged down his collar.

Liandan’s first reaction was to quickly lower his eyes, but soon he raised them again, looking carefully.

On the young man’s collarbone, where once there had been a bite mark, now the skin was smooth, without a trace.

Liandan opened his mouth. “Before… why did I see…?”

Chen Shuangning pulled his collar back in place. “If I wanted to trick you, it’s easy.”

Liandan pressed, “But how would you know about that night?”

Chen Shuangning said, “That night, I was also in Lingyun Temple.”

Liandan lowered his head in silence. After a while, he looked up. “What is your relationship with Yuanjing? Why did you impersonate Chen Hanwen? Who are you really?”

Chen Shuangning did not answer. After glancing at him once, he said, “The milk will get cold.”

Liandan’s fingers moved around the child. He saw the young man shake his head slightly. “I cannot tell you.”

Then, under Liandan’s startled gaze, Chen Shuangning turned and walked away.

At the door, his steps paused. His voice calm, as usual, he said, “Food is warm in the pot. Remember to eat.”

Then he was about to leave.

Liandan called, “Wait, where are you going?”

Without turning, Chen Shuangning replied, “Tonight you rest with the child. I’ll watch the old lady.”

“No need!” Liandan’s voice rose. He looked at the young man’s back with vigilance, shouting, “This is not your home. Go away!”

Standing in the doorway with his back turned, Chen Shuangning did not speak for a long time.

Liandan’s emotions collapsed completely. He cried aloud.

After a pause, Chen Shuangning stepped out, closed the door behind him. Outside, there was no more sound.

Liandan cried for a while. Xiaodan squirmed in his arms, patting his dad’s face as if he was trying to comfort him.

Liandan buried his face in the child’s small neck. After calming a little, he said, holding the child, “From now on, it’s just the two of us.”

Then he cried again. But remembering the child was hungry, he wiped his tears, took the milk bowl. The milk was already cold.

He swaddled Xiaodan, strapped him to his back, carried the bowl to re-steam it.

At the door, he hesitated, then pulled it open. In the outer room, fire still burned in the stove. Steam puffed from the pot lid. But the place was empty.

Liandan lifted the lid. Inside was food. He bit his lip, put the milk in to heat, closed the lid without glancing again at the food.

After, he went quietly to the old woman’s room next door. He opened the door and looked.

Old Madam Chen lay on the kang, silent, her chest only faintly rising and falling. Other than her, there was no one else.

Liandan leaned his arm against the doorframe and exhaled. His body slid down slowly, and he sat weakly on the ground.

He sat there in exhaustion for quite a while. Only when he guessed the milk should be heated enough did he grab the doorframe, struggle to his feet, and take the milk out of the pot.

As before, he never looked at the food once. Back in his own room, Xiaodan finally had his dinner. He gulped the milk mouthful after mouthful, drinking greedily and quickly. Soon the bowl was empty.

Liandan carried him around the room, patting his back to burp him.

Xiaodan had slept a lot during the day. After eating, he wasn’t sleepy yet and still wanted to play.

Worried about the old woman in the next room, Liandan carried him over and sat at the kang side, keeping the child company while also watching the old woman.

Later, Xiaodan finally grew tired. Liandan walked back and forth with him in his arms until the child closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Liandan carried him back to their room, laid him on the inside of the bed, covered him with the quilt, then stacked the extra quilts and pillows at the outer side of the bed to prevent Xiaodan from rolling off at night.

After that, he went again to the old woman’s room. He set the oil lamp on the table by the kang and sat there quietly, alone, watching the dying elder.

He didn’t know how long it had been. His head nodded again and again, almost falling asleep.

But after nodding off a few times, he woke himself again, stood, and went to check the old woman, pulled her quilt up, tried calling her twice.

Naturally, Old Madam Chen did not respond. Liandan sat back down in disappointment, continuing to keep watch.

Another while passed. Liandan seemed to hear a rooster crow outside. He suddenly opened his eyes and realized he had fallen asleep on the table.

He quickly sat up, shook his head to wake himself. Outside the window, it was still dark, with no sign of dawn. Maybe he had just been dreaming.

He shook his numb arm and went toward the kang. What he saw nearly scared his soul out of him.

Old Madam Chen was lying on her back at the edge of the kang. Her body was on the kang, but her head drooped outside.

Her chest no longer moved. Her face was swollen and dark, her eyes forced wide, frozen in terror.

And her head was shaking side to side unnaturally. From the moment Liandan saw it, the movement grew faster and faster, as if it would soon be flung off.

Liandan shouted in fear. He staggered back, tripping over his own feet, about to fall. At that moment, a hand supported his lower back, steadying him.

Liandan shuddered. His body froze, a scream almost bursting out of his throat. A hoarse, strange male voice said behind him, “It’s me.”

Liandan stiffened, he turned and saw Chen Shuangning, wearing a familiar jacket, standing behind him.

But the man’s gaze was not on him. It was fixed on the kang. Following his line of sight, Liandan saw something he would never forget in his life.

Old Madam Chen’s head no longer shook. From her gaping mouth, a worm the size of a child’s palm crawled out.

It had many legs, its body bluish-green, shining with a sickly fluorescence under the lamplight.

Liandan gagged, bending over dry heaving. When he looked up again, Chen Shuangning had moved past him quickly to the kang.

He saw him take out a small porcelain vial from his sleeve. Pulling the lid, he carefully aimed the mouth of the vial at the worm.

There seemed to be something inside that attracted it. The worm stretched out a pair of legs, probed at the vial, then contracted all its legs together and went inside.

Chen Shuangning quickly plugged the vial. The worm was trapped.

When Liandan looked again at Old Madam Chen, she was still, gone completely. Liandan collapsed at the kang, weeping in grief.

After sobbing for a while, he raised his head, looked at Chen Shuangning through tears, and choked, “You killed her!”

Chen Shuangning stood tall, expressionless, his eyes lowered. He said flatly, “I did not kill her. That fall was outside my plan.”

Liandan’s face showed disbelief.

Chen Shuangning continued, “She was still useful to me. I was going to travel soon, and I needed her here.”

Liandan’s expression changed. He understood: with the old woman alive, she could watch him and the child.

“But now, there’s no need.”

After saying that, he gave no more explanation. He put away the vial and turned to leave.

Liandan’s voice trembled. “You… what are you going to do with that worm?”

“You are sharp,” Chen Shuangning said with his back to him. “I will put it on Zhang Xing.”

Liandan was horrified.

Chen Shuangning turned his head slightly. “I know what you’re thinking. It’s useless. You cannot stop me. I am leaving now.”

Liandan cried out, bit down, and lunged at him. But before he reached him, the window frame creaked , and Chen Shuangning’s figure vanished.

Liandan collapsed to the floor, crying weakly. After a long time, he stood, placed the old woman back on the kang, tidied her hair and clothes.

Then he wiped his tears and went to the outer room.

At the door, he stood dazed for a moment. Then he lowered his head, slipped the bracelet from his left wrist.

He pushed the outer door open a crack. Outside, the eastern sky was pale with the first light of dawn.

He crouched, set the bracelet on a folded cloth, and placed it on the ground outside the door.

He squatted there for a while. He recalled the old woman’s twisted face spitting out the worm, Zhang Xing’s angrily accusing him of traitor, and the broken body of the watchdog Laicai under the jujube tree.

Finally, he saw in his mind Chen Shuangning sitting by the window reading.

Liandan cried. The door creaked shut, he left the bracelet outside. He did not know if Chen Shuangning would ever return.

If he did, seeing the bracelet, he would understand. The bracelet had been returned. From now on, ties cut. Never to meet again.