The Nightmare Experience of a Useless Person

He was an elderly village chief, well past fifty, leaning on a cane, searching everywhere for a doctor who could cure the plague. All the major medical clinics turned him away, and in despair, after many twists and turns, he finally found a group of people living in the mountains.

Looking at the old village chief, Manniang seemed to see a glimmer of hope. Perhaps this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She resolutely led everyone to this poor, remote place where flowers bloomed everywhere.

Manniang visited the families suffering from the illness, inquiring about their daily lives and the strange tales in the village. They heard many rumors, went to many places, and finally found the well on the back mountain.

They learned from the village chief that if a girl in the village couldn't afford to be raised, she would be thrown into this well. The well was located in a remote mountain area, far from the people, and it was a dry well. The villagers all thought it wouldn't affect their normal lives.

This was the second devastating blow to Man Niang's life. She knew that life was hard for women, but she never imagined that there would be such a vicious person who would throw a child into a well and kill him. And this vicious person actually had an entire village!

She was furious and almost abandoned the village, but the group of people had come a long way through the mountains and had no extra strength or money to go any further.

The infants' remains rotted at the bottom of the well, attracting many birds, beasts, and poisonous insects. The well walls were slippery, and once inside, these creatures found it difficult to escape, eventually dying along with the infants. It was a dry well, and no one would come here to use water. However, the well wasn't completely dry; after heavy rains, the poisonous water seeped into the ground, flowed into the stream, and was then carried home by the villagers.

Knowing that the problem lay with the well in the back hill that the villagers usually kept quiet about, rumors and strange tales spread like wildfire.

"They brought it on themselves!" The two youngest sisters stomped their feet in anger.

"Sister, let's go. Let's just let everyone in this village die."

Manniang's heart wavered. Should she abandon it and commit murder? The epidemic spread extremely quickly. In just a few days, the village went from a vibrant place to a dead village where paper money was scattered everywhere.

In the end, Man Niang still didn't leave.

Since these rumors are everywhere, why not take advantage of them! While researching a cure for the plague, Man Niang sent several of her sisters to spread rumors in the village: a dry well in the back mountain, a female ghost, a vengeful spirit, Guanyin weeping, taking lives; if you want to completely resist this plague, you need a goddess to ask the goddess Qiongxiao for medicine, and then you can have peace.

Man Niang refused to believe it. With the goddess revered, would the villagers dare to abandon a baby girl so casually? Clearly, she underestimated human nature. Even the day before the "goddess" appeared in the world, someone secretly went to the back mountain to abandon the baby.

A small sedan chair brought back an innocent and naive child. Looking at her sleeping peacefully, Man Niang couldn't bring herself to be cruel. But as if fate were playing tricks, on the same night, a great fire swept away everything the child had. Man Niang had no way back.

Although the child was young, she was well-behaved and sensible. Since coming to the mountain, she had never cried or made a fuss. As the little girl grew up, she became more detached from worldly affairs. Under Man Niang's guidance, she became exceptionally innocent and pure. She truly regarded herself as a goddess, studying and practicing diligently, praying and chanting scriptures, never daring to slack off. However, she never knew who she was praying for or what kind of deceased souls she was performing rituals for.

Man Niang developed a medicine and ordered the well to be filled in. The epidemic was quickly brought under control, but the abandonment of babies into the well continued despite repeated prohibitions.

Man Niang and her group tried various methods: hiring people to guard the area, sealing off the mountain and prohibiting entry, and even spreading rumors that to appease the spirits of the dead, they would have to pay one tael of gold as a toll. One tael of gold was the annual income of a family in this village from an acre of flower field, but they were willing to give up one tael of gold, yet they were unwilling to raise a daughter.

In fact, a secret was passed down by word of mouth: just one or two taels of gold could suppress the evil spirits. From then on, not only the villagers, but also outsiders who heard the rumor would travel all the way to this poor place, just for... the abandoned baby.

Manniang's heart was dead; it only began to beat when she was with her sisters and Nannan. Her sisters advised her to let go, saying they had done their best. How could they, by themselves, change this reality, or overturn the ideas passed down for thousands of years? The world was wrong; one person after another piled up and became that murderous demon.

All they could do was save those who hadn't died, adopt those abandoned at the mountain gate, collect the toll money to build a temple, and ask the people of the world to offer incense to the souls lost in the well.

"I was wrong, but the only mistake I can admit is that I fabricated the words of the goddess, making Nannan into that unsmiling idol on the high tower!" Recalling that chaotic world, Man Niang's body trembled. She wanted to become a doctor, but she could not heal people's hearts or the world.

"If it weren't for me, my daughter wouldn't have lost her family. If it weren't for my daughter, I wouldn't have experienced the pain of being a mother who couldn't save her. But all of this is unsolvable, there's no turning back!"

"So, should the goddess live like this her whole life?"

"So what? Should we make her suffer unbearably after learning the truth? Should we make her leave and give up being a goddess? There are no gods in this world, and people only believe what they want to believe. A goddess can't become a goddess just because of my words. Rather, the world needs a goddess to cover up their mistakes and pray for their peace. Without Nannan, they'll just snatch another child to fill the void!"

Man Niang's eyes were filled with determination. She turned to look at Jiang Zhiyang, took out a silver needle, and Aunt Jing loosened a bundle of hemp rope.

"Isn't that right?" Man Niang pressed.

Jiang Zhiyang was speechless. He had misunderstood and underestimated human nature. In the face of this massive, well-functioning social machine, he was like an ant, insignificant.

However, given Man Niang's relentless pressure, it seems there's no way things will end well today.

Is it true?

A trembling voice came from behind.

Yu Qingjun appeared on the dirty mountain path wearing a thin white silk dress. Her disheveled hair hung down her forehead and fluttered in the cold morning wind. In her eyes were tears and despair.

"It's all over," Jiang Zhiyang thought.

She turned and ran away. Jiang Zhiyang, disregarding his confrontation with Man Niang, ran after Yu Qingjun with all his might.

After leaving the Guanyin Hall, Yu Qingjun stood on the Hundred Steps and quietly gazed at the land—the land she saw every day, which now seemed so unfamiliar.

She could never have imagined that on this land where the lotus flowers were planted, on this sea of ​​flowers where the king prayed for his daughter, countless daughters had died in that dark, damp, dry well. How ridiculous, how ironic!

A stench of decay seemed to linger around her nose; her wounds were exposed to the damp air, flesh and blood were being gnawed at by wild beasts and poisonous insects, and bones were broken in the putrid soil. In her memory, the cries of those infants were like a blade, repeatedly sawing and slicing at her heart, dragging her from that magnificent throne to the bottom of a cold well.

Jiang Zhiyang slowly approached her and met Yu Qingjun's tear-filled eyes. This time he was wrong. It was his selfishness that caused Yu Qingjun to wallow in pain.

He kissed Yu Qingjun's cold lips, and in that instant, he seemed to feel a bit of power being drained from his body.

"Yu Qingjun?"

"I'm here." She's back, Jiang Zhiyang knows, but her eyes are still full of despair.

She turned to look at the land bathed in warm sunlight. The world blurred into a golden haze through her tear-filled eyes. She understood. She understood what it meant for "the world to be wrong, for the order to be wrong."

She held the bone knife to her neck, and the sharp blade pierced her skin instantly.

"Pure and immaculate, a true gentleman, that's really not suitable for me."