When Mu Dai walked out carrying the laundry, Thirteen had been dragged to the floor by Yan Hongsand, and the two of them tangled in a mess of complaints. Luo Ren stood nearby, laughing. But when he saw Mu Dai, he gave her a look—loaded with meaning.
To her shock, Mu Dai blushed.
Cao Yenhua brought the basin of water to the coffee table. Everyone crowded around, leaning in.
The water’s reflection didn’t appear right away.
“Just wait,” Luo Ren said. “It’ll come when it comes.”
They weren’t in a hurry. The room quieted, exhaustion settling over them after all the chaos. Mu Dai leaned against Luo Ren, eyelids drooping. Luo Ren patted her hair. “Sleep a bit.”
She mumbled assent and lay down across his lap. She was drifting when Cao Yenhua suddenly shouted, and a splash of water hit her face. She shot upright to see Cao Yenhua and Yan Hongsand on their feet, Cao Yenhua gripping Yafeng with a thunderous expression.
Mu Dai blinked in confusion. Luo Ren wiped the water from her face. “It’s nothing. Yafeng tried to knock over the basin.”
More accurately, she hadn’t just tried to knock it over. Seeing everyone relaxed, Yafeng had suddenly forced herself upright and hurled herself toward the basin—Luo Ren suspected she meant to drink the water.
Thankfully, Yan Hongsand and Cao Yenhua had quick reflexes and yanked her back in time—though the basin had been jostled enough to splash Mu Dai.
No one dared let Yafeng anywhere near it again. Cao Yenhua practically flung her into the farthest corner of the room. Luo Ren looked at Mu Dai. “Still tired? Sleep a bit more.”
Mu Dai didn’t answer. She lifted a hand, touching the spot on her cheek where the water had landed, dazed.
Luo Ren noticed. “What’s wrong?”
What was wrong? The moment that water hit her, she had seen something—felt something—like the entire environment around her had shifted.
She stared at the basin. The water still rippled. She bit her lip, hesitated, then reached out and dipped her fingers in.
Luo Ren instinctively moved to stop her, but paused. The murderous bamboo slip wouldn’t attach to any of them.
Sure enough—Mu Dai’s eyes fluttered closed. The moment her fingertips touched the water, her whole body shivered. She grabbed his hand. “Luo Ren.”
He understood. He looked at the others, nodded, and placed his hand into the basin.
Thirteen and the others exchanged looks, then followed suit.
There was no way to describe the sensation.
When Mu Dai’s fingers touched the water, the world around her shifted—blue sky, warm sun, a gentle breeze—but incomplete, like a fragment of a scene.
When the others joined, the fragments snapped together like puzzle pieces. Suddenly, they could see, hear, and smell.
Mu Dai opened her eyes. Luo Ren and the others were there too, standing bewildered on a stretch of bluestone ground. People walked past in short mandarin jackets, the front halves of their heads shaved clean, long braids swinging down their backs.
The Qing dynasty? But they were invisible—the passersby didn’t notice them at all.
From a nearby private school came the rhythmic sounds of recitation. Through the half-open window, they could see young students with braided queues, chanting from their books.
“Heaven and earth mysterious and yellow, the universe vast and wild…”
At the front, an elderly teacher in spectacles sat behind the desk, ruler in hand. Whenever he felt the students lacked energy, he slapped the ruler against the table—instantly, the voices grew louder.
What did it mean? Mu Dai had no idea.
Just then, a young woman stepped out of the school—oval-shaped face, bright eyes, glossy braids, a scallion-green blouse with black trim. She carried a large food bowl and stirred its contents with a wooden ladle. She walked to the center of the courtyard and tapped the ladle against the bowl three times.
The clattering sound echoed. A scruffy dog with a metal ring around its neck came trotting out of the bushes and rushed to the bowl, devouring the contents noisily. The young woman giggled and stroked the dog’s head.
The dog lifted its head—
Its eyes locked directly onto Mu Dai.
Mu Dai screamed. The entire scene dissolved instantly. When her vision cleared, she was back in the hotel room. Luo Ren and the others stood around her, all visibly shaken.
Mu Dai’s heart pounded. She finally asked, “Did all of you see that?”
They must have. Cao Yenhua shuddered and muttered, “Another dog… Why is it always a dog? Why can’t we escape that damn dog?”
Silence fell.
Then Yan Hongsand suddenly trembled and called out, “Luo Ren.”
Everyone turned. Her face was pale, forehead beaded with sweat.
“I’ve seen that woman before.”
Luo Ren stiffened. “When?”
“In Wuzhu Village.” Her voice shook. “I had a dream… It was supposed to be my uncle’s cremation. But on the monitor… the figure inside the furnace… was a burned woman.”
She swallowed hard.
“That woman—she’s the same as the girl we just saw feeding the dog.”
Meow meow On TPH Chapter 26.1