Yun Luhua's heart lurched. She quickly grasped Huiqing's hand. "Sweetie, are you alright?"
Huiqing, visibly shaken, saw her mother and let out a long, relieved sigh. She shook her head. "I'm fine."
After that, she got up, washed her face, ate breakfast as usual, and left for school.
That night returning home, she again skipped her snack, looking even paler and more exhausted than the night before.
Worried by her daughter's worsening state, Yun Luhua contacted Huiqing's homeroom teacher overnight, requesting leave for the next morning to take her to the hospital.
The following morning mirrored the previous day. Huiqing seemed trapped in a nightmare, needing to be shaken awake by Yun Luhua.
At the hospital, the doctor found nothing seriously wrong – just a common cold compounded by exam stress causing mild mental fatigue. Medication and rest were prescribed.
Huiqing, approaching her crucial senior year of high school, indeed carried immense pressure. Determined to attend the same university as her accomplished cousin, she pushed herself relentlessly. Yun Luhua was aware of this, so the doctor's diagnosis offered some relief.
After a nap following her midday medication, Huiqing returned to class.
She took her pills faithfully each day, but her mental state deteriorated instead of improving. Her reactions grew sluggish; even hearing her own name took a disconcerting minute or two to register.
Thursday evening, 6:30 PM. Huiqing returned home for dinner before evening self-study at 7:10. Dinnertime was tight, so Yun Luhua always had the meal ready.
"Come sit and eat," Yun Luhua said, setting the table. She turned to find Huiqing still frozen in the doorway, her face chalk white.
Xia Chao, Huiqing's father, had just returned from a business trip. Sitting at the table, eager to eat quickly and rest, he looked up and felt a pang of paternal anxiety at his daughter's pallor.
"Oh dear, Daddy's precious girl! You look terrible, did you fall sick?" Xia Chao abandoned his food, hurrying towards Huiqing.
Instead of welcoming him, Huiqing flinched back like a startled rabbit, darting to Yun Luhua's side. She clutched her mother's sleeve, eyes wide with terror as she glanced at Xia Chao. Meeting his gaze only seemed to terrify her more; she quickly dropped her eyes.
Yun Luhua found it oddly amusing. "What's with you two? Playing hide-and-seek at your age?" Father and daughter had always been incredibly close; the seventeen-year-old still adored clinging to her dad. Xia Chao, a complete doting father, had even quit a six-year smoking habit for his daughter's sake.
"Alright, let's just eat," Yun Luhua said, pulling Huiqing towards a chair. "She's been under a lot of pressure studying, plus this stubborn cold isn't helping her looks. I was thinking, if she's not better by tomorrow, I'll get her to another hospital." She settled Huiqing at the table. Xia Chao, hearing this, frowned deeply.
"Don't wait until tomorrow. After dinner, we're taking her to see Dr. Zhang." Xia Chao had a doctor friend he planned to call in a favor for that very night.
Huiqing picked at her food with little appetite. Twenty minutes later, she pushed her bowl away, less than a quarter of the rice finished. The family ate leisurely, so Xia Chao and Yun Luhua were still eating when she finished.
Xia Chao moved to the side to call Dr. Zhang. Yun Luhua pulled out her phone to call the homeroom teacher and excuse Huiqing. But as soon as her phone appeared, Huiqing gripped her sleeve.
Huiqing trembled violently. She shot a terrified glance towards Xia Chao, her voice choked with tears. "Mom… dinner's finished… why isn't that uncle leaving?"
Yun Luhua was stunned. She looked at her husband on the phone, assuming it was a strange joke. She sighed in exasperation. "What uncle? That's your father!"
Huiqing's face turned ashen. She yanked Yun Luhua's sleeve with desperate strength, her voice rising to a near-hysterical shriek. "When is he leaving? When is he leaving our house?"
The girl seemed detached from reality, fixatedly repeating the questions, her voice escalating into raw screams.
Yun Luhua was petrified. Xia Chao, hanging up and seeing this, rushed over, frantic with worry.
His approach triggered chaos. Huiqing screamed, scrambling behind Yun Luhua, shrieking hysterically: "Don't come near! Stay away! I won't go with you! I won't go!"
"Husband! What's wrong with our daughter?" Yun Luhua, forty but perpetually timid, was on the verge of tears herself.
Xia Chao, forced into the role of family pillar, held his ground away from the distraught girl. "I think… I think our sweet girl might be… possessed," he said, his voice low. "I'll call Dad. You call yours, ask what we should do." Their generation, they felt, understood far less about such supernatural matters than their elders.
Soon, Huiqing's paternal grandparents arrived. Nearly seventy, they had ridden their electric bike twenty kilometers from the countryside into the city. They rushed in, anxious cries of "How's our granddaughter?" echoing.
Their arrival shattered Huiqing's fragile calm. Hearing their voices, seeing them enter her room sent her spiraling back into terror. She buried her face in Yun Luhua's chest, screaming. "I won't go with them! I won't go! Mom, make them leave! I'm not going!"
Yun Luhua cried helplessly, hugging Huiqing tighter. "It's okay, sweetie, Mom's here. Grandma and Grandpa are leaving, just Mom with you." Huiqing's grandparents hastily retreated. Xia Chao could only pace helplessly.
"Mom, Dad, what do we do?" The forty-something man sounded lost as a child.
"Possession or demonic encounter," Grandpa Xia declared, quickly steadying himself. "We need a spirit medium. Your in-laws' village has a famous one. We take her there." He looked at Xia Chao. "Have you called Xiao Hua's parents yet?"
"She called. They should be here soon."
No sooner said than done. Maternal Grandpa Yun and Grandma Yun arrived, huffing from climbing the stairs. Assessing the scene instantly, they were decisive: Huiqing must be taken to the spirit medium.
"But darling is like this, how can she get downstairs?" Yun Luhua wept to her parents. Xia Chao could carry her, but Huiqing flew into hysterics the moment he got close. It was impossible.
Grandpa Yun touched the small wooden pendant hanging perpetually around his neck. He took a deep breath, approaching hesitantly. "Let me… try." He moved towards Huiqing with excruciating slowness, his voice radiating grandfatherly warmth. "Qingqing, it's Grandpa. Let Grandpa carry you down, okay? We'll go see the doctor."
Huiqing still shivered, watching his approach with frightened eyes. But unlike her reaction to the other grandparents, she didn't scream or wail.
Silently, the aged grandfather, burdened by a lifetime's stoop, lifted his granddaughter onto his back. Step by painstaking step, he descended three flights of stairs.
His shambling figure was small against the task, yet profoundly great.