TBWE Chapter 17

Going Home

A hot, damp kiss pressed down instantly.

Savage, without technique, full of plunder. Like tearing off a gentle human skin to reveal inhuman qualities.

“Get away… mmph… mmph…”

The hand gripping the back of her neck was like an iron shackle. Chu Li’s voice had barely escaped before being swallowed by his tongue.

She pushed wildly, her fingernails leaving several bloody scratches on his neck. Xi Chu remained unmoved, his tongue prying open her teeth, invading her mouth inch by inch like some cold-blooded creature.

Heavy weight pressed down as Chu Li fell backward into the sofa with nowhere to retreat.

Ice-cold fingers contrasted sharply with the warmth of lips and tongue, sliding down her neck and shoulders, catching her flailing hands and forcefully intertwining their fingers until their palms were completely pressed together.

One leg forced her knees apart. This position set off all of Chu Li’s alarms, making her struggle even more violently.

She bit through the tip of his tongue, and the metallic taste of blood spread between their lips and teeth.

Xi Chu let out a muffled low laugh, his tongue penetrating even deeper.

The rich, peculiar sweet-metallic taste intertwined with lips and tongue as he freed one hand to grip Chu Li’s jaw, forcing her to swallow all the liquid completely.

“Ugh—”

Xi Chu finally pulled back slightly, blood on his lips, pupils dark and heavy.

“Why are you so resistant? We’ve done such things before.”

Chu Li raised her hand to wipe her mouth, her knuckles white with force. “Because back then, I didn’t know you were a monster.”

The air suddenly froze.

Xi Chu’s expression didn’t change, but all the shadows in the room gradually revealed their true form, twisting and writhing like boiling tar. His voice was as light as a sigh. “Ah, monster.”

The hand gripping her neck loosened slightly, turning to slowly caress her spine. Ice-cold, sticky sensations crawled up her calves, wrapping around her through the fabric of her nightgown like a snake measuring prey to strangle.

His fingertip brushed over her swollen lips, the movement gentle as if handling fragile porcelain.

“If I took his appearance, would you like it?” His voice was so soft it was like a snake’s tongue gliding past her ear.

A wave of nausea rose in Chu Li as she turned her head to avoid him, but her jaw was clamped by fingers, forcing her to look up directly at him.

“Answer.”

The disgust in her eyes almost overflowed. “You’re simply—”

As soon as she opened her mouth, her unfinished words were swallowed again by lips and tongue. Xi Chu’s face was ice-cold, almost biting.

Dark, twisted emotions fermented in his heart, prompting him to ask this question.

But suddenly he didn’t want to hear the answer.

Xi Chu completely devoured her gasps and whimpers, thinking coldly that no matter what she answered, she would never see Huo Xiu’s skin in this lifetime.

The sounds of gasping and watery entanglement continued for a long time.

For a moment, Chu Li thought she would be devoured by this monster.

She clearly felt the creature’s bone-chilling anger and hunger.

Her vision couldn’t focus due to dizziness, her mind blank, until the physiological tears that spilled out were licked away by his tongue, and she barely came to her senses.

Chu Li breathed with difficulty, her mouth filled with that familiar sweet-metallic taste.

A terrifying guess emerged.

She used all her strength to push away the constantly licking monster, her voice squeezed from deep in her throat. “The medicine you made me take—what exactly was it?”

Xi Chu licked his lips as if savoring the taste. His intense hunger was temporarily satisfied, and his anger had mostly subsided. He straightened up and put his gold-rimmed glasses back on, smiling gently. “Li Li is so clever.”

The praise was equivalent to admission. Chu Li’s mind buzzed, her lips trembling, her face white as paper.

It was the monster’s blood and flesh.

She suddenly pushed him away and stumbled to her feet. Her stomach churning, she rushed into the bathroom, leaning over the sink to dry heave, but nothing came up.

In the mirror, her lips were red and swollen, her face deathly pale, her eyes rimmed with red.

Footsteps came from behind.

Xi Chu was like a shadow, following her everywhere. His hands reached from behind to stroke her pale face, combing through her disheveled hair, and he wet a washcloth with hot water, gently wiping her face with tender movements.

He sighed softly. “Li Li, this can extend your life. Don’t resist, okay?”

“…Extend life?”

“In your body, there’s a Chu family gu curse. The human who took you away awakened it before he died. Li Li, I think you wouldn’t want to become a puppet of the curse.”

****

The nightmare began from this day.

Every day, Chu Li was forced to swallow the medicine. If she resisted, Xi Chu would grip her jaw and feed her blood directly.

No matter how much she tried to avoid it, she had to admit that the previous drowsy, sleepy symptoms had disappeared, and the occasional stabbing pains were gone too.

Recently she had consulted many materials and asked a senior student majoring in history about information regarding “shamanic rituals” and “curses.”

Shamanic culture had ancient origins, rumored in legends to be entities that could communicate with heaven and earth.

As for curses, there were all kinds of varieties she found, but none similar to her symptoms.

Chu Li didn’t understand why the Chu family had planted a gu curse in her body. From Xi Chu’s words, this wasn’t planted by Chu Sheng, but much earlier.

When could that have been? And for what purpose?

And why did the deity the Chu family worshipped insist on clinging to an ordinary human?

She felt bewildered.

As if walking in fog, stumbling along with no one to trust.

On social media, classmates and friends lived dazzling lives. A high school classmate went on a beach trip, complaining about being overcharged for seafood by a restaurant owner. A college alumnus posted pictures of their home being “demolished” by a small Beagle, with the caption “free to good home,” but then quietly deleted it a few minutes later.

Everyone lived in the normal world.

Only she had a monster living in her home, her life filled with absurdity.

There was still nearly a month before school started.

Chu Li felt she probably couldn’t return to her former life. Graduation, going abroad, studying overseas—these had all become very distant things.

Xi Chu took meticulous care of her, but she visibly wasted away.

A depressing, silent atmosphere permeated the house.

Recently he would occasionally go out alone, sometimes for ten minutes or so, sometimes for an hour.

When he returned, Chu Li would smell a faint scent of blood.

She didn’t care what the monster had done—whether killing or eating people, nothing could arouse even half her interest.

****

This morning, Xi Chu went out again.

Before leaving, he reminded Chu Li to eat her breakfast properly, and that he would return soon.

The rainy season seemed to have passed. The city had been sunny for several consecutive days, the public lawn outside the floor-to-ceiling windows lush and green, the sunlight bright and pleasant.

The phone on the table vibrated slightly, a calendar reminder popping up on the lock screen—

Mom’s birthday.

Chu Li stared at these four characters for a long time, then picked up her phone, took an old set of keys from the entrance, changed her shoes, and left.

She called a taxi, setting the destination as the Chu family villa.

On the way, the driver would occasionally observe Chu Li discretely through the rearview mirror, attempting to make conversation.

The car drove into the wealthy villa district. After seeing Chu Li’s face, the guard politely let them through. She didn’t say a single word until getting out of the car.

Chu Li stood before the familiar front gate. After facial recognition, the courtyard gate automatically opened.

The front yard was lush with flowers and plants, clearly tended to with long-term careful attention.

“Creak—“

Chu Li pushed open the first-floor door. Lights were on inside, the sound of a financial news channel filling the house.

A slender woman in an embroidered cheongsam was tending to camellia bonsai on a purple bamboo stand, her black hair casually pinned up.

A tall, sturdy middle-aged man wearing glasses was reading a newspaper.

On a single sofa by the floor-to-ceiling window sat a girl reading a book. She looked about sixty percent similar to Chu Li, with rather pale features and lips. She had been reading, but looked up when she saw her, her eyes crinkling with a smile.

Chu Li walked closer step by step and sat on the sofa. Her gaze lingered on each of the three people in turn as she smiled. “Mom, Dad, Xiao You, I’m home.”

The woman also turned around, her beautiful brows furrowing as she sat beside Chu Li and pinched her nose. “You’ve gotten thinner. Haven’t you been eating properly lately? I’ll have your dad make something appetizing for lunch.”

Father Chu put down his newspaper and looked her up and down. “Dad will stew you some nourishing soup for lunch.”

Chu You snorted softly and corrected. “It’s ‘big sister.’ You’re younger than me, you’re not allowed to call me by my name.”

“You were only born one minute before me, I’m not calling you sister.”

“Even two minutes earlier is still earlier!”

The sound of their bickering echoed through the house.

Chu Li laughed heartily, wiping the tears that seeped from the corners of her eyes, her gaze gentle. “Sister, dear sister.”

All three fell silent, looking at her with the same worried, loving expressions, their brows slightly furrowed.

Chu Li had been laughing, but gradually, the smile froze on her lips, becoming an ugly expression caught between crying and not crying.

She said softly, “I’m so scared.”

And I miss you all so much.

She couldn’t help but throw herself into her mother’s arms. Mother Chu held her gently, Father Chu gently patted her back from behind, and Chu You crouched in front of her, resting her head on her knees.

The suppressed emotions found an outlet, and tears rushed out one after another.

Chu Li buried herself in her family’s embrace, chattering on about many things. They always watched her with loving, tolerant expressions, wiping away tears that seemed to never end.

She didn’t remember how long she talked or how long she cried.

She only remembered having a very long dream where the family of four sat around the dining table, talking and laughing over lunch.

She and Chu You argued over who got to eat the only fish bladder.

The fish bladder ended up going to Chu You.

Chu You made a face, triumphant. “You can eat fish bladders for many, many more years, but I won’t be able to eat them for much longer, so of course you should let me have it.”

****

Chu Li opened her eyes in a daze, her eyes sore and swollen.

Before her was a dust-covered coffee table. The curtains weren’t fully drawn, and a line of sunset came through the gap between them. The air was filled with a faint smell of dust.

She lay curled on her side on the sofa, covered with a thin blanket. Someone sat beside her—a familiar silhouette who had been sitting there for who knows how long.

His eyelashes were lowered, lost in thought, and a rare trace of fatigue showed between his brows.

Chu Li stiffly looked around.

No parents—only a cold, long-uninhabited house covered in dust cloths.

On the low cabinet in the living room sat three black and white photographs, from left to right: Father Chu, Mother Chu, Chu You.

She hazily remembered that her parents and sister had died several years ago.

She just never accepted this fact, gradually developing split personality disorder. Dr. Chen, having no other choice, had hypnotized her. Actually, subconsciously, she knew—she just didn’t want to face it.

The huge house was empty, with only her and a monster wearing human skin, with unknown things beneath, keeping her company.

Chu Li pulled at the corners of her mouth, tears flowing out unconsciously.

“…Li Li?”

That trace of fatigue vanished instantly. Xi Chu sensitively noticed she had awakened. The monster originally had no heart, but at this moment, the fabricated human body’s chest throbbed painfully.

Like the day he was stabbed with a dagger, even more painful than that.

His movements were very gentle as he silently lifted her up, held her against his chest, pressed her against his shoulder, and somewhat clumsily patted her spine in the way humans do.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have forced you to eat things you don’t like. You won’t need to eat them anymore.”

“Don’t cry, Li Li, don’t cry.”

The monster, who didn’t understand human nature, apologized incoherently.