Chapter 7: Remnants of the Republic

  That year was the 20th year of the Republic, also known as 1931. The first master of the Tang family passed away, and Tang Mo-wen, the eldest young master of the Tang family, inherited his position. In 1935, the Japanese army occupied the three eastern provinces, and Tang Mo-wen sent his son abroad to study. It was also that year that the 17-year-old old lady followed her husband, Old Liu, into the Tang family to work as a servant.

  The old woman stopped here and seemed to be thinking about something. After a long time, she continued: "Tang Mo Wen is a devil."

  At that time, Tang Mo Wen was also a well-known young master, good-looking, educated, and had a lot of literary talent, obviously the dream lover of many girls. However, he got married early and had a teenage son, under 40 years old, successful in his career, with a harmonious family, and could be considered a successful person. But this man was always flirtatious, never changed his ways, and would take any woman who came to him, and also kept two concubines at home.

  It happened in the autumn when his son was about to return home from studying abroad.

  "I and Old Liu were in charge of the front yard gate, we usually close it at 8 o'clock to go to sleep. That day I don't know what happened, Tang Mowen suddenly said he wanted to go out...". The old woman paused for a moment, "It was probably around 1 am when he came back, Old Liu was too tired, it was me who opened the door for him."

  Tang Mo-wen went out dressed to the nines, but when he came back, his clothes were disheveled and his pants legs were covered in mud. His usually polished leather shoes were also dusty. He took off his jacket and pressed it against his forehead, and the old woman caught a whiff of strong blood smell.

  "Close the door!" Tang Mo said viciously, and then hastily left. The old woman vaguely heard him muttering to himself: "Damn woman, doesn't know what's good for her."

  The old woman looked up at the sky and suddenly felt that the sunlight was a bit cold. As soon as she moved, a jacket fell onto her chest. I saw Jiang Zhen withdraw his hand and turn to smile at me, and I couldn't help but curve my lips slightly.

  This meticulous man...

  The old woman coughed twice and continued, "Tang Mo-wen must have gone out to harm a good family's daughter. I remember when I first entered the Tang household, he had his eyes on me..."

  At that time, the old woman was in her youth, looking pure and harmless, loving to smile and talk. As soon as she entered the door, she was stared at by Tang Mowen. However, the old woman had married a good husband, Old Liu was a man who protected his wife with his life, and after several attempts, Tang Mowen also gave up.

  "Later... about two days later, I think..." the old woman continued, "a woman came looking for him."

  It was a gloomy afternoon, and the old woman was sitting at the door sorting vegetables when suddenly a woman rushed up, grabbed her sleeve and shouted loudly: "Let Tang Mowen come out! Tang Mowen! Get out for me!"

  That woman had rosy lips and white teeth, her skin was as delicate as the jade bangles worn by wealthy ladies. On her palm-sized face, there was a bloodstain, and on the exposed skin, the purplish-blue bruises were particularly noticeable; an experienced person would know at a glance how they were caused.

  The old woman didn't want to make things worse, so she tried to persuade the girl with kind words, hoping that she would swallow her anger and let it go. But unexpectedly, this woman was relentless and began to loudly curse at the entrance of the Tang family home, cursing Tang Mowen as a beast, saying he had no humanity, and wishing him to have no descendants.

  Finally, Tang Mo Wen came out and had his bodyguards drag the woman away.

  The old woman said here, can't help but sigh: "Dragged away, it's just a life."

  My heart skipped a beat, thinking of the lives lost back then. I had seen so many scenes in TV dramas where people's lives were ended with just a wave of the hand, and I would only wrinkle my brow. But at this moment, hearing such a story, such a tale of treating human life as worthless as grass, it felt like each word was drinking blood, like a knife cutting through my heart, making it ache.

  Jiang Zhen stretched out his hand and patted my shoulder, then silently moved closer to me. The breath beside him was dry, warm, calm, and slightly fragrant, I didn't know if it was the scent of shower gel or something else.

  Suddenly all the annoyance, coldness and darkness in my heart disappeared.

  I looked at the old woman and asked: "What happened next?"

  "Later..." The old woman's eyes revealed a terrified expression, "Later, the mansion started to be haunted, and it didn't stop. Tang Mowen also contracted a terrible illness, his mind was unclear. On the night before Young Master returned home, Tang Mowen fainted in his bedroom, and never woke up again..."

  "Didn't they send her to the hospital?" I couldn't help but ask.

  The old woman hummed softly: "It's gone... useless..."

  As I walked out of this tailor's shop, I let out a deep sigh. I didn't know that such a place could exist in the city, making me feel as if I had stepped into another dimension, with the past and present suddenly seeming like two different worlds. The hustle and bustle of cars and people in front of me suddenly seemed unclear for a moment.

  Jiang Zhen stretched out his hand to support me and asked with concern: "Are you okay?"

  "This is a strange place..." I sighed, then turned back and smiled, "It's okay, I'm also considered someone who has seen the world. It's just that...I feel a bit chilled."

  "Come on, stop thinking so much, you girls always think too much." Jiang Zhun withdrew his hand and strode forward with big steps.