The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 135: Luomeng River

"Pah!" The surveillance screenshot, tinged with the smell of rain, slammed against the rosewood tabletop, leaving five streaks of water on the paper. Raindrops dripped from Qi Fei's soaked bangs, ricocheting onto the marble floor like shattered silverfish. "I remember now. There was another me when I was little." Each of his words was like a bullet fired from a gun, accompanied by the sudden sound of spring thunder outside the window, crushing Lu Man's exclamation in a rumbling echo.

Qi Dongjun took off his glasses like he'd hit the pause button, the temples leaving two crescent-shaped indentations on the tabletop. When he looked up, the wrinkles in his eyes, like the cracks of the plateau, were thick with the frost of time. "Eleven years ago, here..." The old clock's pendulum swung, as if time was turning back.

"You're wrong!" Qi Fei's clenched fist shook the table. Outside the window, the rain was pouring down like a waterfall. The streetlights shone through the cascade, casting scaly spots of light on his father's face. It was hard to tell whether it was the movement of light and shadow or the twitching of his cheeks.

"He still won't let you go." Qi Dongjun's sigh was as deep as an old dragon at the bottom of the sea, revealing his rare fatigue. However, this sigh was more shocking than Qi Fei's questioning.

As if he had been electrocuted, Qi Fei released his hand that was pressing on the photo. The edge of the matte photo paper curled up, reminding the father and son to look at the date marked on the surveillance camera - that was Xi Ziyun's memorial day.

"I advised Ziyun not to go to Nanling..." Qi Dongjun turned his back to Qi Fei, slightly raised his head, and his shadow on the rain-soaked window was somewhat sad: "It was your mother who insisted..."

The shadow cast by Qi Fei's brow covered his eyes like an iron curtain: "What on earth happened?" The old chandelier in the living room suddenly flickered. In the alternation of light and darkness, the shadows of the father and son sometimes overlapped and sometimes split.

"You're right. When you were very young, you had a playmate who was more than just a playmate." Qi Dongjun's ashtray was filled with a half-broken cigar, and the ash fell onto the rosewood table like the falling snow on that bloody night eleven years ago. "You don't understand how much I love your mother. Ziyun married me when I had nothing. We started from scratch, and the hardships of starting a business are beyond words. I still remember that day, Ziyun was still busy at the factory, even though she was pregnant. I didn't know how to express the debt I felt, but I could only tell her that this first child must have her last name. I wanted to give her everything, to the child in her belly. Back then, I imagined that our child would carry my beloved surname, continuing our bloodline. Everything was so beautiful from the beginning." His veiny fingers stroked the sunken indentation on the corner of the table—the word "Mom" faintly visible there, scratched with a paper cutter. Each stroke was decisive and crisp, contrasting sharply with the childish handwriting.

"The first child? But my last name is Qi, so does that mean..." In Qi Fei's mind, it seemed as if a secret door was slowly opened, and what came out from the door was not light, but unsettling gusts of cold wind.

Qi Dongjun seemed to be immersed in his own memories. He moved to the bay window on the east side. The mirror was floating with the sparkling light of the Luomeng River. He did not respond to Qi Fei's words. The pendulum of the old-fashioned clock suddenly stopped, as if blocked by the silt of memories. He took a deep breath and continued his story. "He was born by the Luomeng River. When he was born, his cry was so loud that it seemed to be heard throughout the river. I don't know why it was such a coincidence. When he cried, a strong wind suddenly blew outside. In an instant, heavy rain poured down, and all the black-sailed boats on the Luomeng River were overturned. The old nurse in the hospital said tactlessly that it was the river monster responding, but your mother smiled and said that this was a child sent by the Luomeng River." His Adam's apple rolled and he swallowed the sob. The hands in his pockets clenched into fists. "When he was born, I dug up the first pot of gold in my life. It's really Just like the river's name, "Luomeng," a dream of heaven descended upon earth. Ziyun and I said, let's name our child "He," Xihe. From trickling streams converged into a river. We thought this child would carry our dreams. No one considered that while the river could carry dreams, it could also soak them into a rotting corpse. A sudden, shrill cry of a jackdaw flew past the window, startling a newly blossomed magnolia petal from the courtyard's magnolia tree. Qi Dongjun gazed sadly at the misty river. "Now that I think about it, ever since the torrential rain that brought him his birth, Luomeng River has been a reminder that all the gifts bestowed by fate have already been paid for within its basin."

"Xi He..." Qi Fei murmured the name. It was as if a gentle voice from the distant end of a tunnel had called out the same name. Fragments of yellowed memories surfaced through the ringing in his ears: his mother's apron embroidered with wisteria brushed against his cheek, and in the wind as she turned, she called out, "Xi He!" Her voice, stern yet doting, echoed through the years, overlapping with the raging wind outside, rattling the windowpanes. Qi Fei's temples throbbed with blood.

Yes, she often called this name. He was too young at that time. These memories were mixed with dreams and never gave him any confirmation of reality. He never thought that these fragments that occasionally emerged in his mind were real.

"That is to say..." Qi Fei subconsciously covered his right ear to block out the mixed sounds of falling glass bullets and the repeated auditory hallucinations of his mother calling "Xihe". He barely concentrated and squeezed out the second half of the sentence, "I have a brother named Xihe...?" The last two words were drowned out by the sound of rain, so soft that only he could hear them.

"You don't remember, it's not your fault. You were only three years old at that time. Who can clearly remember things before the age of three?" Qi Dongjun returned to the desk and stroked the word "Mom" engraved on the table again.

Qi Fei looked at the two words and suddenly realized something: "Mom said I carved them when I was a kid, but I don't remember them at all. Could it be that..."

Qi Dongjun smiled bitterly after hearing this. "Old people often say that a child's character can be seen at the age of three. Only when you have a child will you understand the true meaning of this. You have been a well-behaved child since you were young. You never do anything destructive, let alone destroying furniture with a utility knife. Even with colored pencils, you only draw on paper properly, never on the wall like other children. But Xihe..." His tone suddenly darkened. "I know you have always resented your mother and I for separating. Your resentment is justified because I was the one who initiated the separation. But it wasn't because of the relationship problems between your mother and me. When you were three years old, it was a watershed year. It was the year your mother and I decided to separate."

Besides his mother's murder, Qi Fei found his parents' separation the most difficult thing to get over. He asked hoarsely, "Why?!"

"Because of Xihe." Qi Dongjun turned around and looked at Qi Fei.

(End of this chapter)