Chapter 286: [Unswerving Devotion] Parallel Dual Lines
Bai Cha stepped through the side door, sizing up her surroundings in all directions.
This covered corridor was completely open to the elements on all four sides. When the wind blew through, it swirled into eddies, making the space feel all the colder.
It might be slightly better in the summer.
Not far off stood a fake rockery alongside water, but the water had already frozen into ice.
Walking all the way from her room to this point, although ghostly, eerie occurrences had transpired, no genuine dangers had arisen so far.
Bai Cha was equally incapable of determining what had once happened in this ancient manor based on the current supernatural occurrences alone.
Nor did she know what part she played in all of this that warranted the female ghost delivering her here—sending her to die, or perhaps bringing her a fate worse than death.
She walked at a rather unhurried pace.
Passing a corner, she caught the sound of footsteps behind her.
The footsteps sounded inconsistent, as if belonging to two distinct people.
Bai Cha halted her steps and turned her head to look back.
Behind her lay a pitch-black corridor, devoid of a single human figure.
Yet the footsteps steadily approached from far to near.
Just as they were about to reach her, they suddenly halted.
Then, one set of footsteps faded into the distance.
However, the other set of footsteps continued forward.
Strange…
While Bai Cha was pondering, those footsteps arrived right before her.
Thereafter, she felt the hem of her clothes tugged gently.
Or rather, it felt as though it had been lightly hooked.
Looking thoughtfully at her side, the candle light in her hand flickered, casting her shadow onto the ground.
Bai Cha looked down at her shadow.
There were two.
One belonged to her, while the other lay beside her.
The shadow beside her was far from clear; she could barely discern that it was a human silhouette.
Standing on the spot and observing for a moment, Bai Cha suddenly caught another set of footsteps.
It was the set that had departed earlier, returning now.
That set of footsteps halted beside her as well, whereupon both sets of footsteps moved forward together.
Bai Cha fell into step behind them.
She felt these sounds were quite interesting.
This felt different from typical hauntings.
Generally speaking, when specters generated these sounds, it was to terrify people.
They would progress step-by-step from small movements to loud noises, before finally manifesting themselves.
Yet moments ago, it felt far more like two people conversing, or perhaps this corridor had once recorded a scene from the past.
A phenomenon similar to a mirage, though this one leaned slightly more toward the supernatural.
Those footsteps moved forward all the way, vanishing completely upon reaching a courtyard.
Bai Cha surveyed the courtyard; it looked like the main courtyard.
Stepping up close, the courtyard gate was locked, the padlock hanging rather heavy.
Bai Cha gave it a gentle push, and the gate let out a creak; through the crack in the door, she could vaguely glimpse a fraction of the scene inside.
Yet it was merely an outlined silhouette; it was exceedingly dark here.
Abruptly, a pale, green-tinted, aged face appeared in the crack of the door.
It was an elderly man dressed in dark clothing.
Bai Cha fell silent for a second, whereupon she saw the padlock that had originally locked the door suddenly drop off, and the gate swung open all at once.
Several figures materialized before her.
Leading the group was that pale-faced elderly man, accompanied by a young child beside him, followed by two women behind.
Every single one bore a dead person’s face, pressing in toward Bai Cha.
Bai Cha stepped aside slightly.
Sure enough, just as if everything were merely a recorded scene, they continued forward, their target far from Bai Cha.
The lamp flickered, and the figures vanished.
Bai Cha silently deduced who those people were moments ago.
Given that the old man walked in front, his status ought to be quite high—could he be Xu Taotao’s father?
Yet his attire didn’t quite look the part.
It was primarily too dark; apart from catching a clear view of a face glowing with a greenish light, nothing else could be discerned.
Veering off the main path, Bai Cha walked further inside.
Just as she reached the door, she caught a shriek echoing from within.
The voice sounded thoroughly broken down.
Right on its heels came weeping—several people were crying.
Standing at the doorway, the lamp in Bai Cha’s hand flickered once more.
And then, a figure stood beside her.
It was a young girl.
Pretending not to notice, Bai Cha shifted slightly and knocked on the door.
The weeping inside cut off abruptly.
The wind swept across the courtyard, and the door opened.
Xu Taotao stubbornly flung off Lady Li’s hand.
“I will not kneel!”
Lady Li was enraged by her beyond belief.
“You unfilial daughter! Look at what you’ve done—are you unwilling to offer even a single apology to your father?!”
Xu Taotao felt that stifling, furious, miserable emotion surge up once more.
It proved even more unbearable than before.
To the point where she parted her lips, trembling for a long while, incapable of uttering a single word, as though she had lost the ability to speak.
Meanwhile, Lady Li’s tirade continued uninterrupted.
“I toil bitterly every day to manage this household, running around incessantly for your marriage every single day—what is it all for?! Is it not so that you can marry into a good family?! Knowing you will inevitably marry out one day, my heart naturally pained for you, so I doted on you a bit more—and this is how you repay me?! I truly have spoiled you rotten!”
“Your father and I have only you, our single daughter. I don’t expect you to care for us in our old age or handle our funeral, but what are you doing?! Huh?! Xu Taotao, let me ask you—are you worthy of your father and me?!”
Xu Taotao shook her head; she didn’t understand.
She didn’t understand how these words were tied together.
She hadn’t done anything; she had merely uttered a sentence she wanted to say—why had it turned out like this?
Her entire frame trembled, her chest choked with such stifling pressure that every breath came in ragged gasps.
Lady Li had already broken into tears.
Xu Taotao let out a shriek, unable to endure it any longer.
She shrieked using every ounce of strength across her body, her voice cracking as well.
Yet her emotions held zero outlet to vent—not a single shred could be vented out.
Clutching her chest in a total breakdown, she slumped onto the floor, weeping bitterly.
Seeing this, Lady Li cried all the more sorrowfully.
Unlike Xu Taotao, who had lost the ability to speak, Lady Li could count Xu Taotao’s faults even while crying.
“You’re still throwing a tantrum here! Is this what I taught you all these years?! Do you hold a grudge against me?! Or do you hold a grudge against your father?!”
“Do you blame us for failing to arrange a good match for you, failing to find a marriage you are satisfied with?!”
“Or do you blame us for failing to raise you properly?! I regret giving birth to you!”
Driven by intense emotional agitation, Xu Taotao’s entire body twitched in spasms.
She wanted to say that she hadn’t asked to be born—it wasn’t her choice—yet she was incapable of uttering a single word, as if her tongue had been severed.
Clearly holding ten thousand words to refute, she couldn’t articulate a single complete word.
Right at this moment, Xu Taotao caught three knocks on the door.
Knock, knock, knock—
The sound wasn’t heavy—in fact, amidst Lady Li’s barrage of accusations, it seemed exceedingly faint.
Yet she picked up on it in a single instant.
Slumped on the floor, Xu Taotao turned her gaze toward the doorway.
Someone stood there.
Standing outside the door, a silhouette was projected onto the paper-screen door.
Xu Taotao couldn’t describe what she felt; she suddenly stood up abruptly, walked to the doorway, and pulled the door open in one motion.
No one was there.
Only the maid on duty stood outside.
“What are you doing?! You want to leave again, don’t you?! If you refuse to apologize today, don’t you ever come back once you walk out!” Lady Li shouted behind her, hurling a teacup toward her.
The sound of the teacup shattering was so crystal clear.
Snapping back to her senses, Xu Taotao turned her body and looked back at the shattered cup on the floor.
She suddenly grew extraordinarily calm, even as those emotions continued to pummel her relentlessly.
She cast a deep, lingering glance at Lady Li.
