My Brother Has Been Following Me Since His Death
CHAPTER 4:
15.
I changed my clothes and came downstairs. Dad pulled me to the young man named Master Li.
His voice was ingratiating. “Master Li, this is my youngest daughter, you should know her. You see…”
Master Li looked me over carefully, then looked at my dad and laughed mockingly.
“I told you, this birth chart can only be used once.”
“Mr. Xia, are you forgetful?”
Although he was smiling, his eyes were filled with bone-chilling coldness.
My dad shuddered. “I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Master Li.”
Then he pointed at my mom and sister. “So, what do you think…”
My mom couldn't stand being stared at by him.
“Xia Yuanbin! What do you mean?”
“What are you doing bringing so many people back?”
“You said you would help me find Yuan Yuan back, so I let you come back.”
“Now you bring back this slut and that bastard, and you even found some random Master Li…”
Before she could finish, my dad interrupted her:
“Meiyun! Shut up! Don't be disrespectful to Master Li!”
Then he lowered his voice and said, “The company's been doing poorly recently. The money I promised you and your daughter... I can't afford it right now.”
“But don't worry, this Master Li is very effective. Several times when the company was about to go bankrupt, he helped me revive it.”
“He said he wants to help me restore my fortune, and he needs my children to cooperate and perform a ritual…”
My mom seemed to be provoked by these words. She became agitated.
“What ritual? What kind of ritual are you going to do?”
My dad quickly pressed her down. “Oh, it's just a normal ritual, just leave it to Master Li.”
“You usually burn incense for Xia Shang, and you go to the temple on the first and fifteenth of every month, right?”
My mom is a traditional housewife, not very opinionated.
My dad has been having affairs, and his children are in elementary school, but he can coax her with sweet words, and she'll soften up and listen to him.
But I became more alert.
After all, after witnessing Xiao Qingzhi who lived for over a hundred years and Xia Shang, whose ghost lingered after death, my understanding of the world had deepened.
“So... Master Li, who do you think is more suitable?”
Master Li glanced at me, a hint of youthful playfulness in his eyes.
“It won't be you, anyway!”
16.
My dad, upon hearing this, quickly pushed my sister forward.
“Master Li, what do you think of Xi Xi?”
“She's my eldest daughter, I love her the most.”
My sister immediately protested:
“Dad!”
My dad's tone was a bit servile. “Xi Xi, help your dad.”
“The company's cash flow is severely short this time. If things don't get better, Dad will go bankrupt.”
“It's fine for me, but Dad doesn't want to see you suffer.”
“Don't you want to study abroad? Dad promises you, as long as you help Dad overcome this financial crisis, Dad will immediately send you to the best school abroad, how about that?”
My sister still wasn't willing and pointed at Xia Yang. “He's your child too, why not let him go?”
Xia Yang, at a young age, was quite a good actor.
He directly threw himself into his mom Xu Man's arms.
“Mom…”
My dad's face darkened. “That's your brother! He's my son, he'll inherit the Xia family business in the future.”
My sister rolled her eyes in anger, and the mother and son were smug.
Master Li glanced at my sister, his fingertips rubbing his chin, his eyes flickering, as if thinking about something.
It was clearly a young man's face, but it held an old-fashioned and dark quality that didn't match his age. At this moment, he gave off a feeling that was not human, but rather some kind of cunning and treacherous animal.
My sister, with her domineering personality, seemed like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered in front of him. She paled and cowered back.
Unfortunately, her leg was broken, and with this backward lean, she fell backward, chair and all.
My mom rushed to help her up, and in the process, scolded me.
“Xia Yuan, are you dead? You see your sister fall and you don't help her up!”
“Her leg broke because of you!”
I pursed my lips and went to help my sister up.
I quietly asked my mom, “Mom, Dr. Xiao…”
My mom glared at me. “What about Dr. Xiao? I haven't had time to take you to see the doctor lately!”
“...”
Sure enough... my mom letting her go to the police station to bail me out was all a lie.
But how did she know I was arrested?
She, or rather, he, what exactly are they trying to do?
I subconsciously wanted to look for Xia Shang's figure, then realized.
Xiao Qingzhi made me take medicine before she left this morning, and I can't see him now.
17.
My dad used coercion and enticement to get my sister to agree to participate in Master Li's wealth-attracting ritual.
Although my mother was worried, for the sake of the company and my sister's future, she could only agree.
The wealth-attracting ceremony was held at Master Li's shrine. My mother helped my sister and me get leave from school, and my dad took all of us to Master Li's shrine in the countryside.
Master Li's shrine was an old house that looked to be over a hundred years old.
The wooden structure looked dry and old, and the open door resembled the mouth of a giant beast.
Although it was noon, the cold air from the old house rushed towards us. Looking inside, it was an endless expanse of black.
I subconsciously grabbed my mother's sleeve: “Mom... maybe we shouldn't go?”
I had a bad feeling about this.
My mom disdainfully shook me off.
“If you can't help, don't cause trouble!”
“Originally, your dad wanted to take you, but now your sister is going in your place. She's doing this for the family!”
Xu Man, holding Xia Yang, made sarcastic remarks from the side:
“Big sister, Xia Yuan is just like that, teach her slowly.”
My mother was so angry that she slapped her. “Shut up, you bitch! When does it become your turn, an outsider, to talk when I'm disciplining my daughter?”
Xu Man pouted, looking at my dad aggrievedly.
“Husband!”
Xia Yang, like an angry little beast, rushed forward to fight with my mother.
“Bad woman! You dare hit my mom!”
My dad grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him back.
He comforted Xu Man. “Okay! What's the fuss?”
Xia Yang shut his mouth in fright.
Xu Man whimpered, crying aggrievedly.
Only when my dad said, “I'll buy you that bag you liked last week when we get back,” did she calm down.
Now my mother was unhappy. “Xia Yuanbin! Do you think I'm dead?”
My dad shamelessly said, “Lin Meiyun, it's because you couldn't give birth to a son that I found Xu Man. If it weren't for her helping you continue the Xia family line, would you and your two money-losing daughters still be living this good life?”
“I've told you, I won't divorce you, you'll always be Mrs. Xia, what are you making a fuss about?”
Listening to their conversation, I suddenly felt a spasm in my stomach, and I felt like vomiting.
At this moment, I desperately wished I had never come into this world.
Xia Shang, where are you?
18.
Master Li ignored our family's petty squabbles, the wealth-attracting ritual was already prepared.
In the main room of the shrine, various kinds of spirit tablets were arranged.
In the center, there was a black child statue, its entire body painted with golden scriptures.
In the middle of the hall, two vermilion lacquered coffins stood there, looking eerie and frightening.
The moment I saw that black child, a familiar feeling washed over me.
My sister looked nervously at the two vermilion lacquered coffins.
“What is this?”
Master Li said, “Your father wants to rise in rank and become rich, naturally you have to lie in the coffin.”
“Now, if you want to back out, it's still not too late!”
My dad immediately said, “No backing out!”
He comforted my sister. “Xi Xi, be good, you just need to lie in this coffin for three days, and Dad's wealth will rise!”
“Then, whatever you want, Dad will satisfy you!”
My sister wanted to protest, but my dad was no longer paying attention to her.
He curiously looked at the coffin next to him, “Master Li, why is there another coffin here?”
Master Li's gaze passed over me and fell on Xia Yang in Xu Man's arms.
“Just in case, good things come in pairs,” Master Li said.
My dad was immediately terrified.
“Th-this… how can that be?” he stammered. He was still very fond of this son who would carry on the family line.
My sister glared at Xia Yang, a hint of malice flashing in her eyes.
“Right! We're both Dad's children, why do I have to be the only one lying in the coffin?” she demanded. “He has to lie with me, or I'm not doing it!”
Master Li urged from the side. “The auspicious time is almost here, are you going to proceed or not?”
Dad looked at Xia Yang with difficulty. Under Xu Man's dissatisfied coquettishness, he picked up Xia Yang.
“Yang Yang, be good, you'll lie with your sister,” he said. “Dad will buy you Transformers, okay?”
Xia Yang was clearly a smart one too. Hearing this, he started bargaining.
“I want a blue car! And Ultraman!”
My dad agreed to everything.
“Okay, okay, I'll buy them, I'll buy them all.”
Then he personally put Xia Yang into the coffin.
And my sister, with my mother's support, also lay down in the coffin.
Outside, the sun was shining brightly, but inside the hall, it was chillingly cold.
My mother's favorite daughter and my father's favorite son, both lay in the coffin, for their dream of rising in rank and becoming rich.
I thought it was absurd, but it seemed everyone thought it was the right thing to do.
In this family, I had no say.
19.
Master Li instructed them that once the wealth-attracting ritual began, it could not be stopped.
During this time, no matter what they saw or heard, they could not move.
Otherwise, at best the ritual would be ineffective, at worst the family would be ruined.
My father nodded solemnly. “Understood.”
Then he instructed my sister and Xia Yang.
“You two heard what Master Li said? Be good, okay?”
The ritual began. Master Li opened the ceremony in the hall, holding a bell-shaped ritual object, chanting incantations.
Xu Man huddled in my father's arms, somewhat afraid, while my mother clasped her hands together, closing her eyes and silently praying.
Only I, with wide eyes, carefully observed the scene before me.
For some reason, I felt the scene before me was strangely familiar, as if it had happened before.
The ritual lasted for several hours, from noon until sunset.
Everyone in the room was drowsy.
Suddenly, Xia Yang, who was in the coffin, cried out:
“Ah! Dad, save me!”
He seemed to have seen something terrifying. He stretched out his hand, pleading for help.
Vaguely, I could see a dark mist swirling around him, looking like some kind of animal.
I quickly said to my dad, “Dad! There's something, something is trying to grab Xia Yang!”
My dad was immediately agitated, and then my sister also cried out:
“Mom! I'm scared, I don't want to lie here anymore.”
Master Li turned around and glared at me fiercely.
My dad immediately covered my mouth. “Shut up!”
Then he used his eyes to silence my mother. “Would I harm my own child?”
“Didn't Master Li just say that no matter what we see or hear, we're not allowed to move?”
At this moment, the shadow on Xia Yang was already very obvious.
It looked like a giant rat.
I struggled, trying to remind them.
But my dad covered my mouth tightly, and he called Xu Man to drag me out of the hall.
He pointed his finger at my nose and scolded me, warning me, “You better behave yourself!”
“Your sister and your brother are doing this for the family. You can't help, you should at least understand!”
But I really saw it.
“Dad, there really is a monster, the monster is going to eat Xia Yang.”
Xu Man heard my words and slapped me.
“What are you talking about? How can you be so malicious at such a young age?”
“Husband, your daughter has a mental illness, is she crazy?”
My dad also said, “I think she's crazy, we should send her to a mental hospital…”
Then the two of them pushed me away, closed the door of the hall, and left me outside to pound and plead, but they wouldn't open the door.
I was so anxious that I wanted to smash the door, but suddenly a hand grabbed my wrist.
I turned my head in surprise and found Xia Shang, who had disappeared for a day, standing next to me.
My tears couldn't stop flowing.
“Brother…”
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