Just after New Year’s, before dawn had fully broken, Shen Yi was jolted awake by a loud clatter coming from downstairs.
She rolled over and pulled the quilt over her head, trying to shut out the noise.
But instead of stopping, the commotion downstairs only grew louder.
When Shen Yi went downstairs, the scene before her made her wonder if she had somehow traveled through time.
Three enormous suitcases lay spread across the living-room floor. Wen Ya was kneeling in the middle of a pile of clothes, desperately stuffing garments, towels, bottles, and jars into them.
“Why are these suitcases so small?” she complained, pressing down hard on a lid that was already bulging. The zipper didn’t budge. “I don’t even have that much stuff.”
Shen Sixing stood beside her, staring at the suitcase, which had already been stuffed into a grotesque shape. He looked somewhat embarrassed.
“I’ll pack it, honey.”
He crouched down, took everything out of the chaotic suitcase, and began folding it properly. He rolled the trousers into tight cylinders and tucked them into the grooves at the bottom.
In an instant, the suitcase that had been bulging moments ago became neat and flat.
“Packing is such a hassle.”
Wen Ya had very little patience. Shen Sixing, on the other hand, possessed an ample supply of patience for everything.
“Oh, right, my babies.”
Wen Ya clapped her hands and stood up. Looking around, she saw that several of the children had already made their way downstairs.
She told them something in advance: “We’re all going back to my hometown today. But I don’t have a house there, so when we arrive, we’ll have to stay at someone else’s place for a while.”
“None of you have any objections, right? Then once we get to the village, we can go stay at Third Aunt’s house next door for one night.”
Shen Yi took the large suitcase herself. “Mom, are we all going home together?”
In Wen Ya’s original plan for returning to her hometown, she hadn’t intended to bring Shen Sixing along.
But after thinking it over, she decided that after all these years, even if her husband was as ugly as could be, she still had to take him home to meet everyone.
“Yes,” she said. Then, with unusual excitement, she added, “Although changing vehicles might be a bit of a hassle. There are so many of us, so I’ve already called the neighbors and asked them to pick us up. Once we reach the entrance to the village, we can just go with them.”
Shen Yi couldn’t help feeling that the whole arrangement sounded bizarre.
Changing vehicles, a remote mountain village, strangers coming to meet them, and instructions to simply follow them.
It was practically the standard opening of an anti-kidnapping public-service announcement.
But since her mother had put it that way, they obviously had no room to object.
So, early that morning, the family packed five suitcases.
Carrying her awe of the mysterious village with her, Shen Yi was the first to get into the car.
They changed vehicles many times along the way. Shen Yi vaguely remembered the sequence as a bus to a minibus, a minibus to a van, a van to a three-wheeled vehicle—and in the end, even the three-wheeler couldn’t go any farther, so they had to get out and walk.
Shen Sixing trudged along at the very back, the wheels of the suitcase bumping and jolting over the gravel road.
“How much farther do we have to go, honey?” he asked weakly.
Wen Ya walked along the mountain path as easily as if she were on level ground. “Ten minutes or so.”
The mountain road grew narrower and narrower, while the trees on either side grew denser. The branches blocked out the fading light, leaving the path dim. Every now and then, an unfamiliar bird cried out from deep within the woods, its call sharp and piercing.
It was Shen Yi’s first time walking along a mountain road. “Do you think there are ghosts here?”
Shen Wenta walked in front, using one hand to push aside a branch hanging over the path. His voice was grim. “I wouldn’t find it strange if this place were haunted.”
At last, at the end of the mountain road, a village emerged from the mist.
With its gray-tiled roofs and stone-gray walls, along with wisps of smoke rising from chimneys, it looked fairly normal.
Shen Yi and Shen Xun exchanged a glance. Shen Xun took her by the wrist and led her forward.
A middle-aged woman stood at the entrance to the village. As soon as she spotted them from a distance, she warmly hurried over to greet them.
“You must be Xiaoya’s children, right?” the woman called out in a booming voice, her face wreathed in smiles. “It’s been so many years. None of us went to visit when Xiaoya had her children, and she never told us anything about them, either. Goodness, look how big you’ve all gotten!”
Wen Ya seemed a little nervous now that she was back in her hometown. She adjusted her expression, then quickly put on a smile as well.
She stepped forward and exchanged pleasantries with the woman.
“Third Aunt, it’s been so long. How have you been all these years?”
“Pretty well. Everything’s more or less the same.”
Shen Yi lowered her voice beside them. “Big Brother, don’t you think this place is a little…”
“A little what?”
Night had fallen, and Shen Yi pulled her clothes tighter around herself.
Night came quickly in the mountains. As soon as the sun went down, the temperature plummeted. Dampness seeped up from the ground and wormed its way into their bones.
She whispered, “It’s like the beginning of a horror movie. City kids returning to the countryside, overly friendly relatives, an isolated village—and then people start dying in the middle of the night.”
“Compared with the usual opening of a ghost story…” Shen Zhizhao pondered for a moment. “I’m wondering where exactly we’re supposed to sleep tonight.”
Compared with ghosts, he felt that having nowhere to sleep was even more frightening.
Reminded by him, Shen Yi fell into thought as well. “…Oh, right. How many rooms does Third Aunt’s house have?”
Shen Xun answered without even turning his head. “Based on the village’s building density and the average size of its houses, her available living space is most likely insufficient to accommodate all seven of us separately. We’ll probably have to squeeze together.”
Shen Wenta’s expression became exceptionally strange.
Clearly, the idea of a bunch of people crammed into a single room had never once existed in his mind.
A few of the younger ones trailed behind the group, each dragging a suitcase. Wen Ya was walking at the front, chatting with the neighbor and catching up on old times.
With a hint of shyness, she introduced the distant relative in front of them.
“This is the husband I found outside. His name is Shen Sixing.”
“Sixing? That’s a good name. Sounds like he’s well-educated.” Third Aunt’s gaze swept over Shen Sixing, sizing him up from head to toe. She nodded. “He’s decent-looking, I suppose, but he doesn’t look very hardworking.”
Shen Sixing: “……”
“And another thing…” She hesitated for a few seconds. “He’s too skinny. He doesn’t look like the kind of person who could protect anyone. If you went out, someone could probably knock him dead with one punch. I’ll stew a chicken for you later to help you build up your strength.”
Shen Sixing forced out a polite smile and thanked her weakly. “…Thank you, Third Aunt.”
“Thank you, Third Aunt.” Wen Ya smiled and promptly helped explain on his behalf. “Even if he isn’t very strong, he’s still doing his best to protect me.”
Third Aunt frowned, looking at Wen Ya with bafflement. She became even more convinced that this girl was hopelessly love-struck.
The family continued toward the village with their suitcases in tow. They had arrived too late, and darkness had already settled over their surroundings.
The village streetlights were few and far between. There was one only every long stretch of road, each casting a dim yellow glow that barely illuminated the path beneath their feet.
Dense swarms of insects circled the bulbs, while fine dust floated within the halos of light.
Along the way, Third Aunt proved to be an especially warmhearted woman, constantly chatting with them.
With a beaming smile, Third Aunt asked Shen Yi, “Xiao Yi, are these people all your brothers?”
Shen Yi nodded. “Yes, Grandma.”
“Your mother really is beyond saving. Such a hopeless romantic.” She patted her forehead and sighed. “She gave birth to so many children in one go. What a burden. There’s another family in our village with five boys and one girl. Your mother can take you over to visit them sometime.”
Shen Yi merely murmured agreement, her mind having wandered off long ago.
At last, they arrived at Third Aunt’s house.
Just as Shen Xun had predicted, the house was small, with very limited sleeping space.
Third Aunt enthusiastically ushered them inside. “Come on in, come on in! Don’t be shy—make yourselves at home! There’s nowhere else for you to sleep in our house, so you’ll have to squeeze together. If there aren’t enough beds, just sleep on the floor. You’re all tired today, so make do for one night.”
Wen Ya smiled and nodded, saying it was no problem.
For her, it truly wasn’t a problem.
After all, this was where she had lived for many years.
Shen Yi had no objections either. She had grown used to sleeping packed in with a group of children back at the orphanage.
They dragged their suitcases into the room that had been arranged for them. A large bed stood inside, with several quilts spread out on the floor beside it.
Shen Zhizhao entered, set down his luggage, and volunteered, “I’ll sleep on the floor.”
Shen Ruxu immediately followed him in. “I can sleep next to Big Brother!”
Shen Xun walked in and surveyed the old house from every angle before turning around. “Why is the bed higher than the floor bedding? From a physics standpoint, sleeping lower down is safer, since the distance of a fall is shorter.”
“Please stop with the nonhuman commentary, thanks.”
As she spoke, Shen Yi sat down sideways on the bedding on the floor and began unpacking her suitcase.
Only Shen Wenta remained standing in the doorway, unable to bring himself to step inside.
“Third Brother, where are you planning to sleep?”
Shen Yi looked up at him.
An extremely complicated expression appeared on Shen Wenta’s face. “Are you sure this place is fit for human habitation?”
He had never stayed anywhere like this in his life. The wooden bed frame creaked ominously, and the quilts carried the stuffy smell of having been dried in the sun before being shut away in a cabinet for far too long.
Shen Wenta could not even be sure when the bedsheet had last been washed.
For a moment, everyone looked at him in bewilderment.
Clearly, they were all capable of adapting to this sort of environment. After all, most of them had experienced places far worse.
“I’ve slept in places worse than this,” Shen Xun told him calmly.
Shen Wenta’s lips moved, but he did not reply.
After all, Shen Xun wasn’t trying to comfort him. He was merely stating a fact.
Yet that fact was of no help to him whatsoever. If anything, it made him even more aware that everyone in the room except him could tolerate this environment.
In the end, Shen Wenta walked to the bed with an almost tragic determination and sat down at the spot farthest from Shen Zhizhao, facing the wall.
He did not even remove his trench coat. He simply lay down fully dressed, his back rigid and straight, without moving an inch—like a delicate young husband refusing to surrender even in death.
Shen Ruxu cheerfully squeezed in beside Shen Zhizhao and waved at Shen Yi. “Yi-yi, come over! Sleep next to me!”
Shen Yi ignored him and chose to lie down beside her mother instead.
Shen Xun had already settled onto the bed as well, both hands folded over his chest.
The boy’s posture was so proper that he looked as though he were lying on a dissection table.
He stared at the ceiling and suddenly said, “If someone knocks on the door in the middle of the night, don’t open it. According to the rules of horror movies, the first person to open the door is bound to be the one who gets into trouble.”
“That’s right,” Shen Ruxu said ominously. “Generally speaking, villages all have their own supernatural legends. We need to be careful.”
Shen Wenta faced the wall and said in a neither-here-nor-there tone, “If ghosts ever came to this poor place, they’d probably take pity on us and toss down a few coins.”
Shen Yi couldn’t sleep and was still a little overexcited. “I’m not afraid of ghosts.”
“How could my village possibly have ghosts?” Wen Ya retorted, frowning in displeasure. “Even if there really were ghosts, Mommy would definitely protect you.”
Shen Sixing was already drowsy as well. Hearing this, he quickly soothed her in a gentle voice, “That’s right. Compared to you, my lady, even ghosts seem far less authoritative. All right, go to sleep. Today’s been exhausting.”
