Lin Banxia once heard a saying.
“She was still young at that time, and she didn’t know that the gift given by fate had already been marked with a secret price.”
This sentence couldn’t be more appropriate for Cheng Yuliu.
Cheng Yuliu used her secret to get rid of poverty. Logically speaking, she should be happy. She could eat exquisite food and wear gorgeous clothes in a mansion that was once exaggerated in her imagination. However, Cheng Yuliu found that it was getting harder and harder for her to feel happy. This was not pretentiousness, but an intuitive expression. The emotion called happiness seemed to be sucked away by something continuously. She spent money desperately, but it was difficult to achieve even one percent of the original joyful emotions.
“At first, it was only tens of thousands of dollars.” Cheng Yuliu said casually, “I was so happy. Later, I won millions and millions of dollars, but I couldn’t feel anything.”
The two listened quietly without interrupting.
“But fortunately, my husband still loved me.” Cheng Yuliu continued with a smile, “He really loved me, and his family also loved me. I was an orphan, but his parents were like my biological parents and loved me as much as I did them. We had a smart and beautiful child, and everything was so beautiful…”
Although money could no longer bring happiness to Cheng Yuliu, fortunately, the warmth of family relieved her inner anxiety. She began to put more energy into her husband and children and began to stay away from her secrets. At this time, Cheng Yuliu also vaguely felt that there was something else hidden in the secret. She couldn’t explain it, but she instinctively felt the danger.
However, is it really that easy for a person trapped in a swamp to leave?
Cheng Yuliu lit another cigarette, and her thin face looked particularly ferocious in the flickering candlelight and dense smoke. She squinted her eyes and glanced at the unclearly shaped piece of meat on the ground, red. She pursed her lips into a mean line and grinned: “It’s a pity, I loved the wrong person. He cheated.”
Even though his wife was so rich, he still cheated on her. Cheng Yuliu still hadn’t figured out why he fell in love with a woman who had no merit. She was even several years older than him. She had neither money nor beauty, but her husband seemed to be possessed. In general, he was so fascinated by her that he even wanted to divorce Cheng Yuliu.
Cheng Yuliu collapsed. From cursing at the beginning to pleading later, she begged her husband not to leave her. She even went to her children and mother-in-law and asked them to help her, but what Cheng Yuliu didn’t expect was that no one would stand on her side.
The child, who usually didn’t embrace her very much, looked indifferent to her, said he hated his mother, and hid behind her husband without mercy. The husband’s mother, while criticizing her husband, told Cheng Yuliu to be more open-minded, saying that if a man changed his heart, even ten cows would not be able to win him back. She could just find another one.
She comforted Cheng Yuliu with a smile, but her usually amiable face was twisted like a devil. Cheng Yuliu sat on the ground blankly, her ears ringing. It was clearly her house and her relatives, but everything in front of her felt extremely strange, as if she had never had it before.
“It’s okay to get a divorce. Everything and the children belong to me.” Cheng Yuliu said with difficulty.
“It’s yours? Why should it be yours?” The man’s usually gentle eyes were gone, and he looked at her as if he was looking at something dirty. “They are all the lottery prizes you won after our marriage. They are considered our property after marriage. You still want to take them all?” He laughed out loud. Seeing Cheng Yuliu’s embarrassed appearance, he didn’t feel any guilt at all. He even took out a divorce agreement from his arms without hesitation and threw it in front of Cheng Yuliu, ” I advise you to sign quickly, otherwise I will have many ways to get you.”
Cheng Yuliu’s tears had dried up, and she was like a wooden figure. She looked at the man blankly and said, “Why? Why?”
“Why?” the man said, “You said there is no monster like you. You are not allowed to light the lamp after dark and only dare to go out when it is cloudy? Are you a vampire? Living with a monster like you, sooner or later everyone would go crazy.”
Cheng Yuliu fell into silence.
After that, the man took the child and left, leaving her alone in the house. Before leaving, he asked her to think carefully and sign as soon as possible so that they could go through the formalities. It was impossible to leave the house to Cheng Yuliu. He planned to live here, and part of the deposit could be given to Cheng Yuliu. After she took the money, she had to leave immediately.
That day, Cheng Yuliu sat at home for a long time.
The empty and large room was like a cave, with howling cold wind constantly pouring into it. The whispers in Cheng Yuliu’s ears became louder and louder. She felt as if someone was speaking to her softly. It said, “Don’t cry, I’m with you. Tell me, it said, or they will leave.” It said, “What are you worried about? If you hesitate any longer, you will lose everything.”
Cheng Yuliu had heard this voice countless times, and it was it that had given her everything she had today.
Cheng Yuliu stumbled up from the ground and fumbled for the light switch in the living room. After she discovered something, she hadn’t turned on the light for a long time. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but she didn’t dare.
With a clicking sound, the switch made a soft sound, and bright light illuminated the entire living room, but this light seemed to burn Cheng Yuliu’s skin. She folded her hands on her chest, let out a shrill scream, and squatted down slowly. The shadow cast by the light formed a black hole under her body that looked like it was about to swallow people up. The reflection that was supposed to be a flat surface actually began to squirm and struggle, and then slowly rose up from the ground, forming a shadow behind Cheng Yuliu. The appearance of a humanoid.
Cheng Yuliu’s face was filled with tears. She did not dare to look back and shivered in place like a frightened animal.
She heard a voice exactly like her own coming from behind, asking her softly: “What do you want?”
Cheng Yuliu was quiet for a moment, then she spoke numbly. She said, “I want the family to never be separated.”
The voice said: “Okay.”
Then everything disappeared, and the sound seemed to be just Cheng Yuliu’s illusion.
Cheng Yuliu wiped away her tears and put on a trembling smile.
No one knew that she had a shadow that could grant wishes. As long as she made a wish to the shadow, all her wishes would come true. Wealth, beauty, a handsome husband and lovely children, she had it all, but it was a pity that when she made a wish, she forgot to ask for a happy family for herself.
However, this desire gradually took away all the joy she could feel. No matter how exaggerated the numbers in the bank card were, no matter how beautiful others praised her to be, she could not raise the corners of her mouth even one centimeter.
After making the wish, Cheng Yuliu called her husband and invited them to travel. The husband at first wanted to refuse, but she threatened that if he did not go with her, she would die in front of him. Probably out of fear that Cheng Yuliu would do something extreme, her husband’s family reluctantly agreed.
Although they agreed to Cheng Yuliu’s request, they were not willing to ride in the same car with her. So, on this last journey, Cheng Yuliu was left alone, driving her car on the highway. The surrounding scenery was distorted by the speed, the windows were open, and the cold night wind blew hard on her cheeks. On the road, she seemed to be walking on a road with only one person, unable to go back or turn. Only a hard impact could make her stop.
It was just a moment of trance. A huge crash from behind brought Cheng Yuliu back to her senses. In the rearview mirror, she saw an out-of-control truck and smoke rising. The smoke hovered in the night sky, vaguely seeming to turn into a long and thin black shadow, looking down at the ground indifferently.
Cheng Yuliu slammed on the brakes and parked awkwardly in the emergency lane. She opened the car door and stumbled back. There was chaos in her sight.
The large truck fell in front of her, and the heavy carriage tipped to one side. A familiar car was firmly pressed under the carriage. The car was completely crushed, and the height of the car was only about 20 centimeters. No one could survive in such a situation.
Cheng Yuliu slowly collapsed to the ground, her eyes turned around, and she saw the dark sky. There was no light in the sky. It was just as dark as her shadow, staring at her eerily.
The rescuers came very quickly and took out the completely deformed bodies from the wreckage. When they were doing all this, Cheng Yuliu was beside herself. She watched them transport the body into a body bag and then carry it away. When they got to the car, and were about to transport it away, she finally couldn’t bear it anymore and burst into tears, shouting that it was all her fault. If she hadn’t had to come out, they wouldn’t have died. If they didn’t die, they could be with her forever.
The police helped her to the car and took her off the highway. They originally wanted to hand her over to relatives, but unexpectedly, after investigation, the police found that the woman had no other relatives at all. She was an orphan, and her husband’s family were her only relatives.
“I want to go to the funeral parlor.” Cheng Yuliu, who had been crying, suddenly stopped crying. Her eyes were fixed as if possessed by a demon, and she insisted on going to the funeral parlor.
The police sympathized with her but could not be persuaded. However, for safety reasons they had no choice but to send her there.
As soon as they arrived at the funeral home, they saw the car used to carry the corpses. The door was opened, and the faces of the people standing outside were particularly ugly.
Cheng Yuliu also saw the pieces of meat piled up in the messy carriage. This time, she showed a weird smile. At this time, she finally understood that the car accident was not an accident.
Shadow once again fulfilled her wish – the family would be together forever.
It’s just that there was no place for Cheng Yuliu in their family.
The author has something to say:
Song Qingluo: What do you think after hearing this story?
Lin Banxia: No…don’t…
Song Qingluo:?
Lin Banxia: Don’t want to get married?
Song Qingluo:………
Translator’s comments:
Hey guys, I’m the translator for this novel. If you have any questions or thoughts feel free to comment and I’ll do my best to answer everything. If you notice any inconsistencies or errors, drop a comment and I will fix it. I am new to this, but I want to learn and give the best translation that I can to the readers. Thanks so much for reading Phantom Skeleton Painting, I hope that everyone enjoys the novel.
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