"Pinch the philtrum."
"Harder."
"Press on the chest."
"Harder."
Jiang Changtian and Jiang Feng happened to return at that moment.
Mianmian heard the sound and went out to greet them.
But then she heard noises from the room, so she pushed the door open and found her great-aunt lying on the floor...
Her first thought was to perform emergency first aid.
Could this be a heart attack or stroke?
But with her small frame, she definitely couldn't manage it alone. She pushed the door wide open.
She called for her Elder Brother and Father to come.
Even in ancient times, people knew emergency procedures like pinching the philtrum.
And thumping the chest.
On the second thump, Aunt Yin opened her eyes.
Seeing the two people in front of her, and little Mianmian leaning over her, she finally came to her senses.
"I'm fine."
By this time, Mother and Elder Sister had also heard the commotion and come over.
Aunt Yin asked Elder Sister Yu to take Mianmian away.
Jiang Changtian told Sister Xia to go brew a calming herbal medicine.
Then he closed the door.
They were all sharp people, and from Aunt Yin's look, he knew she had something to say in private.
Sure enough, Aunt Yin tremblingly pulled out the drawing Mianmian had made from beneath her.
In the last moment before she fainted from fright, she had actually remembered to hide the drawing, but probably didn't have time and just pressed it under herself before losing consciousness in terror.
Aunt Yin had seen her fair share of dead bodies before.
But this was still excessively frightening.
Ancient people had a great respect for the human body.
The body and hair are gifts from one's parents, not to be damaged carelessly.
Even after death, they wouldn't desecrate a corpse by cutting it open to see what was inside.
But this drawing... one side of the face was beautiful, one could say rarely beautiful. The eyes, brows, neck, nose, and lips were all lovely, and composed a very attractive whole.
But the other half depicted what lay beneath the skin and flesh. It was hard to imagine that this was really what was packaged under a person's scalp and face.
Veins? Strips of muscle? Bones? Teeth?
The framework, the direction of blood flow, how it all connected...
Could a normal person draw this?
Could a normal child draw this?
They couldn't imagine it being like this, because no one had ever peeled back the skin to look, or cut it open to see.
Even a coroner wouldn't do this.
And it certainly wouldn't be cut open in such detail.
Jiang Changtian was also startled when he saw the drawing.
Jiang Feng was even more terrified when he saw it, unable to utter a word.
"It's alright, it's alright, don't be afraid, it's fine. Children have pure eyes, they can see things adults can't. It's alright," Jiang Changtian said, though he was quite horrified by the drawing himself.
Human fear of the corpses of their own kind is a genetic instinct, preventing cannibalism.
Jiang Changtian noticed his son's body trembling slightly.
He still hadn't killed enough people.
Actually, it's really nothing to worry about.
Aunt Yin had also calmed down, and hearing the master's explanation, it seemed to make sense.
That child Mianmian's eyes had always been different.
It was just a bit too frightening.
"It's nothing, Aunt Yin. Sorry for scaring you. You should rest a bit more," Jiang Changtian said, taking the drawing and leading his son out.
Jiang Changtian took the drawing and his son, walking quite far, to where they usually rode horses. It was a spacious place with no one around.
Jiang Changtian found a spot to sit where he could see both the village and the area beyond.
The view here was excellent.
"Feng'er, is there something you're hiding from Father?"
Seeing his sister's drawing, Jiang Feng felt as if he had returned to that lightless underground.
Watching bodies slowly decay from flesh to bone, the bones slowly decomposing, crumbling, becoming one with the soil. No light, only endless darkness, stretching on without end.
In that moment, tears streamed from Jiang Feng's eyes like a spring.
Jiang Changtian had actually noticed some strange changes in Feng'er.
Before his injury, he had always been a bit of a wastrel.
He hardly listened when his father spoke.
But after that injury, he suddenly matured overnight, as if he had changed in a single night, becoming more sensible, obedient, and steady.
But Feng'er was unwilling to say what had happened.
He had kept his son under close watch, but hadn't noticed anything unusual.
Now it seemed there really was something out of the ordinary.
He reached out to put an arm around his son's shoulders, patting his arm firmly, and said, "It's alright, it's alright, Feng'er. It's fine. You can tell Father anything, you don't need to hide it from me. I can bear it."
Hearing his father's words, Jiang Feng cried even harder.
He, a grown man, was sobbing and choking with tears.
His whole body shook.
"I know why Sister is like this, why she can draw such pictures."
Jiang Feng spoke through gritted teeth, one word at a time.
He told his father about what he had seen when he was injured and nearly died.
Several times during the telling, he opened his mouth wide, paused, unable to continue.
Looking at the wisps of smoke rising from the village, he forced himself to go on.
"That fool Little Jiang Yu got herself lost. Me, Mianmian, and Mother were all buried together. Then one day, I couldn't hear the crying from above anymore. Father, I don't know where you went. Suddenly I woke up, and I found I was different. I had come back to life, my strength had increased greatly, and my mind had become much sharper."
Jiang Changtian listened to his son's account without interrupting once.
But the blood flow in his body slowed, and his hands and feet grew cold.
It turned out he couldn't bear it after all.
He really couldn't bear this outcome.
Jiang Changtian also opened his mouth several times, but said nothing.
The act of opening his mouth could greatly stretch the facial muscles, keeping the tears from falling.
"I think Sister also came back from there. She died very young, so even coming back from there, she doesn't understand much. But because she stayed underground for so long, that's why she likes to play with ants. That's why... that's why she draws bones and corpses. Her body must have changed too."
Jiang Changtian gripped his son's shoulders, sitting beside him, listening to him recount that experience.
For some reason, he knew that this was really what they had been through.
Because if Feng'er had died that time, everything seemed predictable.
His health was poor, he couldn't look after Yu'er, she might foolishly sell herself off or get lost. He and Jiang Wan would go looking for Yu'er, but they would lose Mianmian too. Mianmian looked extremely similar to him, so Old Lady Jiang definitely wouldn't want her alive and would have her poisoned. Jiang Wan would want revenge and end up with a broken neck, killed instantly.
Leaving only him, this useless one, still alive.
And what could he do while alive?
He wanted to kill, to slaughter everyone in the world as a burial offering for his wife and children.
"It's nothing, it's nothing, really, Feng. It was just a nightmare. You're alive, Mianmian is here, Elder Sister Yu is here, Mother and Father are all here, and now we even have Aunt Yin. Everything will be alright, life will only get better," Jiang Changtian comforted his son.
Each word, each sentence, was spoken with gentleness.
As if possessing a magical power.
Jiang Feng's heaving chest gradually calmed down.
With reddened eyes, he said, "Father, if Mianmian is different in any way, don't treat her like a monster. She, she is just Mianmian, she's my sister, your child. She's very good, very obedient. Her life in the previous incarnation was too short, she didn't even breathe for a full year. She lay in that tiny coffin, so small, only occupying a corner. Father, in this life, what I want most is for Mianmian to live long and prosper, to live for hundreds or thousands of years, to make up for what was lacking in her previous life."
Mianmian, who was playing with ant blocks in the courtyard, suddenly burst into tears.
Her hearing was very good.
So she heard the conversation between her brother and father.
She hadn't imagined, hadn't thought that they had suffered so terribly.
If she didn't have the Spirit Spring, the whole family would have died, leaving only Father alone. What a desperate scenario that would have been.
She cried, and more and more ants gathered on the ground.
Because the little tree sensed the great change in its little master's emotions and became a bit panicked.
Jiang Changtian comforted his son.
He slowly walked back.
He walked very slowly, stepping on the ground one foot at a time, feeling the hardness of the soil.
Under such soil, lying there, unable to turn over, unable to move, what would that feel like?
He didn't cry. After hearing his son recount such a tragic experience, he didn't shed a single tear.
Instead, he carefully examined Mianmian's drawing.
Mianmian drew extremely well, the flesh vivid, the bones rounded.
This person must be Jiang Wan.
Jiang Wan was a beautiful girl, with beautiful bones and flesh.
Jiang Changtian walked back step by step, not crying, not shedding tears. He numbly thought, if all his family were gone, leaving him alone in the world, what would he do?
What would he do? He would go mad, he would kill, he would overthrow this dynasty, he would make everyone accompany them in death.
Every moment he lived longer would be to make one more of them die.
Besides this, he had no reason to live on.
Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.
He believed he could do it.
Jiang Changtian reached the doorway of his home, saw Mianmian surrounded by ants, saw her sitting in the midst of the ant pile, tears streaming down her face, reaching out to him, wanting to be held.
Jiang Changtian walked over and gently picked up the child.
"Don't be afraid, Father is here." Jiang Changtian finally shed tears. He saw the ants surrounding a tiny skeleton, eating her bit by bit. She was so soft, when she was born she only knew how to smile.
