Cheng Fengfeng closed her eyes in fright, even An Jing and Moya turned their heads sideways at the moment the brick dropped.
The two turned their heads and looked at me suspiciously as they didn’t hear anything. Cheng Fengfeng was sweating profusely. She slightly opened a small gap in her eyes and found that I was holding the brick but didn’t hit it. She was relieved but still did not forget to blame me, “Why didn’t you smash it?”
“I’m afraid of hurting you.”
“We don’t have time. Hurry up. I really can’t stand it anymore.”
Cheng Fengfeng kept urging me. I gritted my teeth and picked up the brick again. I had to smash it this time.
I didn’t dare exert too much force, nor did I dare not use any strength. I was terrified. I was afraid that I would injure Cheng Fengfeng’s arm when I hit it.
“Why don’t we go find something else? We should be able to borrow pliers or something else from the school maintenance workers,” I suggested.
Cheng Fengfeng was impatient. She shook off An Jing and Moya, who were holding her, and grabbed the brick away from my hand. She puffed her cheeks out and aimed at her wrist, trying to smash it. I quickly stopped her.
“Don’t be so impulsive. What would we do in case you get yourself hurt?”
She opened her eyes wide and almost burst into tears.
“It is better to get injured than be tortured to death by this jade bracelet. I can feel my body becoming more and more uncomfortable. I can’t stand it anymore. I must smash this bracelet into pieces today.”
She lost control of herself. She desperately picked up the brick and smashed it on her wrist despite us trying to stop her. There was a loud bang, accompanied by Cheng Fengfeng’s scream. The jade bracelet was intact, but the brick was split in half.
Cheng Fengfeng gritted her teeth in pain. A large piece of skin had been scratched on her wrist. Blood kept flowing out in a rush but all of it was quickly absorbed by the jade bracelet without even a drop of blood wasted.
I was astounded. This jade bracelet fed on human blood…
Cheng Fengfeng’s face became paler and paler. She collapsed onto the ground when she saw such an unusual scene happen to her.
I found that the jade bracelet was continually absorbing the blood that flowed out. I hurriedly took out a pack of tissues from my pocket and firmly pressed the tissue paper on Cheng Fengfeng’s bleeding wrist.
“It looks like we have to go to the infirmary.”
Cheng Fengfeng looked at me with resignation. Her tears kept shedding down. She stood up with the help of An Jing and Mo Ya.
We all sent Cheng Fengfeng to the infirmary. My heart welled up with chills watching the school doctor get Cheng Fengfeng’s wrist dressed.
The jade bracelet was too evil; even bricks couldn’t break it. Cheng Fengfeng’s wrist would be disabled if it went on like this. It was deinitely unusual that the jade bracelet fed on blood.
I went straight to the maintenance room after I asked An Jing and Moya to send Cheng Fengfeng back to the dormitory.
The maintenance room was located in the northernmost corner of the school and was challenging to locate. When I finally found the right place though, there was no one in it.
It was probable that the maintenance workers were having lunch breaks at this time.
I stood outside the door and didn’t know what to do for a while. I couldn’t help but think that the jade bracelet was too weird. I was afraid that a plier couldn’t even break it. Did we want to watch the jade bracelet getting smaller day by day and break Cheng Fengfeng’s bone in the end?
The more I thought about it, the more I felt a chill down my spine as if something deadly was approaching quietly behind me.
I turned around abruptly and acted defensively out of reflex, but the person who stood one meter away from me was no one else but Liu Ruoyi; the one who had been protecting me for three years.
This was our first meeting since she left last night. She still looked cold and there was no glow in her eyes.
“Sixi, I have been summoned back to the netherworld. I cannot go on to protect your safety for a long time. Take care,” She said word by word in a flat tone.
I couldn’t detain her from leaving. She had an essential job in the netherworld, after all.
I seized the chance to ask her if she knew the jade bracelet’s origin on Cheng Fengfeng’s hand. She thought about it for a while and said coldly, “It’s a blood jade that is suppressing an innocent ghost who died uncleared of a false charge.”
It blew up my mind when I heard the words innocent ghost.
Liu Ruoyi went on to tell me everything she knew steadily, “The owner of that jade should have died of injustice. The jade was soaked in her blood. The owner’s soul was probably suppressed in that piece of jade due to heavy resentment.”
“Suppressed in the jade?” I didn’t understand.
She went on to say, “The jade itself is an object that avoids evil spirits. However, it was tainted with blood. Coupled with the owner’s innocent soul, it had formed the current blood jade over time.”
I nodded thoughtfully, and suddenly remembered the faintly visible red blood in the jade bracelet, and then I realized it.
“How do I break the jade bracelet?”
“It cannot be broken. It must be fed with blood once it is put on. It will continue to shrink without blood until it is embedded in the skin of the person who wears the jade bracelet and feeds on enough blood.”
Liu Ruoyi’s explanation confused me.
“Will the jade bracelet only swell and become bigger when there is enough blood?”
“You may say so.”
I clapped my hands excitedly. It would be a lot easier to handle if it worked this way, but where could I get so much blood?
“Any blood will do?”
“Not exactly,” Liu Ruoyi was silent for a few seconds and said solemnly, “It works as long as the blood of a person is the same age as the owner of the jade bracelet.”
“Do you know the story of that jade bracelet?”
“I have heard about it.”
“Can you tell me about it?”
Liu Ruoyi frowned and clearly looked impatient. She told me briefly what she knew after she hesitated for a few seconds, “The owner of the jade bracelet was sixteen years old. She was a beautiful girl. She was forced to marry a sixty-year-old man in the early Republic of China. She was treated like a slave by the old man and had so much resentment that she committed suicide by cutting her wrist in the end.”
Committed suicide by cutting her wrist…
I couldn’t help but think of the female student who suicided by cutting her wrist that Moya had mentioned to me today.
“That’s how it happened,” Liu Ruoyi finished speaking and bowed deeply to me. I could not help but stop her again.
“Could you please send Elder Brother a message?”
She nodded and stared at me coldly.
I took a deep breath and told her, “I hope Elder Brother will not show up in front of me in the near future. I don’t want to see him. Please send my words.”
She was stunned for a few seconds and asked, “Why?”
“…”
I didn’t know how to answer her question. All in all, I wouldn’t want to see Ming Si again for a long time. He proceeded to touch me without even considering that I was a juvenile. How could I still like him and trust him as before?
I had a temper too, okay!
“You have to tell him every word I said. He will understand what I mean.”
Liu Ruoyi narrowed her beautiful eyes. After a while, she nodded her head slightly and disappeared after a quick turn.
I knew that she would surely take my message to Ming Si.