Chapter Forty-Eight: The Past of the Crimson Maiden (Part One)

That night, the moonlight hid behind the clouds. Their father came home drunk, very late. When he returned, he found no light welcoming him; his wife and three daughters were all asleep.

Perhaps spurred by the ridicule from other men in the village, he was unusually irritable that night. Seeing no one to greet him, no hot water prepared for his feet, his anger flared.

“Bang!”

He pushed open the door roughly and grabbed Chen Yan by the hair, pulling her off the bed.

“Ah!”

Chen Yan woke up in pain, facing her father’s face twisted with rage. Instead of joy, her expression was filled with fear.

Seeing his youngest daughter so afraid, his fury only grew. The strong liquor burned like fire, igniting his frustration and resentment. He snarled harshly, “You’re afraid of me? I’m your father, bound by blood. How can you fear me?”

“I, Chen Long, have lived in Chenjia Village with my head bowed all my life, all because of you three women! And you still fear me?”

“You’re so useless, yet I haven’t abandoned you, haven’t thrown you away!”

“Why? Why can’t any of you awaken your spiritual power? Why is our whole family a bunch of failures, a bunch of worthless people?”

As he cursed, he picked up a wooden stick and struck Chen Yan viciously.

Chen Xi and their mother rushed over to intervene. Their mother’s face was full of worry as she reached out to block him. “Don’t hit Yan’er, don’t...”

But the father shoved her aside and struck her back with the stick. The woman, hardened by years of farming, collapsed to the ground in pain, curling up, unable to stand.

Chen Xi’s gaze turned icy. Clenching her teeth, she summoned all her strength to lift a heavy wine jar and smashed it down on the man.

“Bang!”

The jar shattered into pieces. The man staggered, stunned by the blow, but his anger only deepened.

Flushed and unsteady, he snarled, “You ungrateful brat, how dare you hit your father? You’re worse than that little one. Today, I’m going to beat you both to death!”

With that, he drew a cold, deadly iron rod from the shadows—an instrument of agony that would tear flesh and bone with each blow.

The two girls clung tightly to each other, eyes tightly shut, overwhelmed with terror. Their mother lay helpless on the ground, sobbing and begging.

“No, please don’t...”

The man ignored her pleas, raising the iron rod high. Just as the rod was about to strike the two girls—

A brilliant blaze of scarlet flame suddenly tore through the night, illuminating the sky.

Two fierce and scorching flames burst forth—both girls had awakened their spiritual power almost simultaneously.

Their awakening was raw and uncontrolled; driven by fear, they lashed out wildly without mastery of the overwhelming force.

The man, closest to the flames and caught off guard, was struck repeatedly by the red fire.

“Ahhh!”

He screamed in agony, desperately dousing himself with water from a basin and even jumping into it. Water splashed everywhere, but it was futile.

The flames summoned by spiritual awakening were extraordinary, not extinguishable by ordinary water. The man’s figure became a dark silhouette in the fire. At first, his sharp cries echoed as he struggled and writhed in the blaze, but soon he fell silent, motionless.

Once the mother and daughters recovered and approached, they saw the man reduced to a charred corpse.

The girls’ eyes were filled with terror and confusion. Their mother, forcing herself to stand despite the pain, was equally shocked and breathless at the scene.

She was an ordinary woman who had spent her life working the fields. Witnessing such a brutal death, she could not hide her panic.

Yet, she had two more fragile children to care for. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself. Perhaps recalling something, her gaze hardened as she looked at the girls with solemn seriousness.

“Xi’er, Yan’er, listen carefully. This has nothing to do with you.”

“Leave this place.”

“Don’t look back, don’t care about anything—just leave!”

…

Under cover of night, the mother pulled her two children and fled, running wildly through barren hills.

They reached a thicket where the grass grew waist-high. The two girls huddled close together.

Their mother gently stroked their faces and pressed a heavy kiss to their foreheads. Fighting back a flood of tears, she looked deeply at them one last time before resolutely turning back.

…

Chen Yan curled up on the ground, her body trembling uncontrollably. Her sister Chen Xi stared coldly at the people emerging from the village.

Once, the village chief’s son had tried to assault her. When she told their father, he said it was her fault for being improper.

Their father had boasted countless times of his youthful bravery and achievements, claiming to be the most successful in Chenjia Village. Yet Chen Xi recalled only his sycophantic demeanor before the village chief’s family, like a dog begging for scraps.

…

A noisy crowd gathered around a middle-aged woman, bound and disheveled, her clothes filthy.

Chen Xi’s expression changed drastically. Though she had maintained a fierce and cold exterior for years, her eyes now brimmed with tears.

Her throat seemed blocked, her voice strained as she forced out a single word, “Mother…”

Then, breaking through years of suppression, her cry rang out loud and clear, echoing in the air: “Sister, it’s Mother!”

Chen Yan dared not lift her head, overwhelmed by confusion, but hearing her sister’s voice made her recall the one person who had devoted her life to protecting and loving her.

The one she longed to see even in her dreams.

Yet fear still gripped her—fear of everything in Chenjia Village.

If this was the final test of the misty illusion, she knew she could not pass. She truly could not…

Chen Xi’s fear was no less than her sister’s.

As a child, her pride had caused her far more harm than Yan’er had suffered.

But the woman before them—this was their mother.

Resolute, Chen Xi gripped her sister’s hand tightly and helped her up. Looking earnestly into her eyes, she said, “We can’t keep running away like this.”

“Mother, Yan’er, look! That’s Mother! It’s really Mother!”

Startled by the heartfelt cries, Chen Yan’s trembling ceased immediately. Tears of fear gave way to tears of longing as she looked up to see the woman she had missed day and night, the woman who haunted her dreams.

Her tears burst forth uncontrollably—not tears of fear anymore, but of yearning.

Blurred by tears, she turned to her sister in a daze. “She’s… she’s Mother…”

Chen Xi’s voice was cold and hard as she asked, “Do you want us to be like before?”

Before…

…