“The police were busy processing the scene and investigating the case, and I requested custody of Mengmeng, which they granted. I took Mengmeng home, bought formula, and fed her with a bottle. Soon, she regained her spirits and became as lively as any other infant. Later, the police located Fangfang’s older sister living in Miaocun—Mengmeng’s biological aunt. So, I went with the police and delivered Mengmeng to her aunt. They changed her name, raised her as their own daughter, and planned to keep the story of her birth parents a secret forever. They even instructed me that even if I saw Mengmeng, I had to pretend not to know her, allowing her to completely sever ties with her parents' past.” Xiao Shu sighed, as if lamenting the impermanence of worldly affairs—how such a loving couple could meet such an end.

“Is the Miaocun you mention the one next to Xizhi City?” I mused, wondering what connection this Miaocun had to the one I had visited before.

“Yes,” Xiao Shu nodded affirmatively. “Mengmeng’s biological aunt is the village chief’s wife. They renamed Mengmeng to Ali, hoping the name of a small cat would dispel the misfortune in her destiny and allow her to live on strongly.”

Ah! This story was an absolute surprise to me! I remembered secretly mocking the village chief when I first learned that Ali’s father was a man in his seventies having a late-in-life child. Now, I realized my judgment had been small-minded. Still, Ali was incredibly sensible and beloved by everyone; she was surely destined for happiness as she grew up.

Thinking of this, I suddenly remembered the matter of the covered passage, and pointing toward it, I asked Xiao Shu, “When was this covered passage discovered? And how did you get in after the police sealed off the area?”

Xiao Shu fell silent for a moment before continuing, “After the case was closed, the police returned the house to Mengmeng’s guardian—the Miaocun village chief’s wife, who is Ali’s current mother. After getting the keys, she visited once and was terrified by the sight of blood everywhere. She intended to sell the house, but unfortunately, the entire property rights were inherited by Ali. Property law stipulated that real estate belonging to a minor could not be disposed of unless it was for the minor’s benefit. Since the house couldn't be sold, she let it fall into disuse.

“One evening, as I was walking home from school and just reached the doorstep, I suddenly saw a disheveled woman squatting by the door. As I moved closer, I saw that the woman bore about seventy percent resemblance to the village chief’s wife, though her dress and appearance were slightly more chaotic. She told me she was the village chief’s wife, Ali’s adoptive mother.

“I asked her why she was at my door. She said that Ali’s biological mother had been coming to find her every night recently. Each time, she appeared drenched in blood and with wild, unbound hair, crying and lamenting to her that her death resulted from murdering her own husband, that her sins could not be absolved, and her spirit could not pass on. She was forced to possess the body of a merchant’s mistress. One day, the mistress visited a fortune teller, hoping to learn when she might become the official wife. The fortune teller immediately saw through the presence of Ali’s birth mother and seized the mistress’s wrist, intending to capture the spirit. In her desperation, Ali’s birth mother revealed her tragic life story to the fortune teller, hoping to elicit some sympathy. The fortune teller was indeed moved by compassion and showed her a clear path: she could only gain a chance at reincarnation if she collected enough stamps featuring the two realms—stamps that could be used to bribe the judge responsible for rebirth.

“So, Ali’s birth mother used the mistress’s body and the merchant’s money to search everywhere for old stamps circulating in the market. Most of these stamps were issued during the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty and featured a five-clawed golden dragon; those that have survived to this day are already priceless. Once, Ali’s birth mother saw information about a set of Great Qing Dragon stamps on an auction notice. Using the mistress’s body, she begged the merchant to bid on them. At first, the merchant was reluctant to spend the money, but he eventually gave in to the mistress’s incessant pleading and went to the auction. This bid caused a huge problem: the merchant’s legitimate wife discovered the mistress through the auction records. She immediately sent people to teach the mistress a lesson and then had her own husband committed to a mental institution under the pretext of insanity…”