The Hand of Confession – Chapter 420
by Little PandaEpilogue: The Final Instance
Mother Lou
Were these two heads’ eyes open yesterday?
Shen Maomao froze completely.
She knew there was something on her shoulder, but she hadn’t expected it to be in such a state.
She stood stiffly for a long time, watching through the crack in the door as the little black cat gnawed the thing clean, piece by piece, until nothing was left.
The little black cat let out a burp, leaped down from her shoulder, and darted through the kitchen door.
Shen Maomao reached for it, but she was a beat too slow and didn’t even manage to grab a single cat hair.
She placed her hand on the kitchen door, held her breath, and pushed it open.
A foul smell assaulted her nostrils. Flies and various small insects scattered with a buzz, flying everywhere.
The cat in the trash can seemed to be in a worse state of decay than the last time she’d seen it. Shen Maomao pinched her nose and looked around, but the little black cat was gone again.
It seems the two cats were one and the same.
She went to the balcony and found an opaque plastic bag and a small shovel. After putting the bag over her hand, she placed the little black cat inside, preparing to give it a proper burial.
Once that was done, she set the plastic bag and shovel by the entrance and walked, step by step, to the refrigerator.
She yanked open the refrigerator door, and the first thing she saw were the two human heads inside.
The two heads, which had originally been stacked one on top of the other, had somehow changed positions. One was now in the back left, and the other was in the front right, staggered so that both were staring at her with lifeless eyes.
Shen Maomao began to doubt her memory. Were these two heads’ eyes open yesterday?
The teddy bear was in the front left, its back facing inward, face-to-face with the woman’s head. It was a little shorter than the head, perfectly revealing the woman’s eyes behind it.
Shen Maomao was absolutely certain that although the woman’s eyes were lifeless, her line of sight was fixed on the teddy bear.
She took a deep breath and reached for the teddy bear.
The instant she reached out, the man’s eyeballs next to it swished and moved from the center to the left.
Shen Maomao grabbed the teddy bear’s arm and instantly pulled her hand back. She slammed the refrigerator door shut with her other hand and threw her whole body against it.
The next second, violent thuds came from inside. Several times, the impact was strong enough to knock the door open a crack.
Shen Maomao wanted to run, but she would have to get to the entryway and open the door. The time that would take could very well get her caught.
She summoned Puck and ordered him to open the door.
Puck was good at playing pranks, but opening doors wasn’t his forte. The door’s weight was a bit too much for him. He struggled with it for a long time, gritting his teeth, but with minimal effect.
Shen Maomao pressed her entire body weight against the refrigerator, but the banging from inside grew more and more violent. The crack in the door widened, and a cold, slimy tongue licked her fingers, disgusting and revolting her. She was on the verge of losing her grip.
In that critical moment, with a thousand jun hanging by a hair1, the front door was suddenly pulled open from the outside. A small Lou Jingmo appeared in the doorway, looking at her with astonishment.
Shen Maomao was even more surprised than her. “How did you get in?!”
Lou Jingmo said, “The door was unlocked.”
Puck: “…”
Shen Maomao: “…” That useless Puck! I told him to open the door, and he just fiddled with the lock. It never even occurred to him to just push it…
She pressed against the door with all her might and yelled to Lou Jingmo, “You go downstairs first! Don’t close the door, I’ll be right out!”
Lou Jingmo didn’t ask why, simply turning and heading downstairs.
Shen Maomao estimated the time in her head. Once she was sure Lou Jingmo had made it downstairs, she yelled for Puck and bolted for the entrance.
The sound of the refrigerator door slamming against the wall came from behind her. She bolted out the front door in a few quick steps, snatched the plastic bag off the ground, and slammed the door shut behind her with a loud BANG.
The neighbor across the hall pushed their door open and started cursing, “Are you trying to kill someone?! Why are you slamming the door so loud?!”
Shen Maomao pressed her back against the door and apologized immediately. “Sorry, Auntie. My dogs are a little rowdy.”
As if to prove her words, two more thuds came from inside the door.
The neighbor looked suspicious. “When did you get dogs?”
Shen Maomao said, “I just got them. They’re a bit aggressive, but they’ll calm down in a few days.”
The thudding from inside continued, but there was no barking. The neighbor didn’t think much of it, only complaining, “You’re being way too loud. You have no consideration for others.”
Shen Maomao quickly put on an apologetic smile. “They’ll stop in a bit. I’m so sorry, Auntie. I’m in a hurry to get to school, so I’ll be going now.” With that, she turned and ran downstairs.
The neighbor swore a couple more times. Shen Maomao clutched the bear and sprinted away, pretending she didn’t hear a thing.
Lou Jingmo was waiting for her downstairs. Shen Maomao ran over, grabbed her hand, and pulled her along as they ran toward the school.
She didn’t know how far they ran. Only after they had left the entire residential complex behind them did Shen Maomao slow down, panting for breath on the side of the road.
Lou Jingmo asked, “What happened up there?”
Shen Maomao said, “Children shouldn’t ask about such things.”
Lou Jingmo rolled her eyes at her.
Shen Maomao was quite intrigued. “You know how to roll your eyes?”
Lou Jingmo rolled them at her twice more, and the two of them burst out laughing on the side of the road.
After they had laughed their fill, Shen Maomao found a nearby spot to bury the little black cat.
Lou Jingmo didn’t ask what was in the bag, only, “What’s with the teddy bear? Is it useful for something?”
Shen Maomao observed the bear for a while but couldn’t find anything unusual about it. She answered truthfully, “I don’t know. I might have to compare it to your bear to find any commonalities.”
Lou Jingmo said, “Let’s do it tonight. I’ll go with you.”
Shen Maomao agreed.
There was still plenty of time. The two kids skipped school together and started wandering around outside.
Shen Maomao used Police Officer Bai’s money to take Lou Jingmo on a spending spree. They played until dusk before starting to head back to her house.
As expected, the scum wasn’t home. Lou Jingmo knocked on the door, and Mother Lou walked over with stiff steps to open it.
Lou Jingmo took her hand and walked past Mother Lou into the house.
Shen Maomao felt a scorching gaze on her back. She turned to look but only saw Mother Lou, who was following behind them imitating their every step2, a stiff smile plastered on her face.
Mother Lou’s gaze fell on their clasped hands. She asked softly, “Maomao, would you like some fruit? Let Auntie wash some for you.”
Shen Maomao replied, “Okay, thank you, Auntie.”
Mother Lou’s lips twitched, as if forming a smile. “You two go on and play then.” She turned and walked toward the kitchen.
Lou Jingmo climbed onto the bed, opened the chest at its foot, and began rummaging through it.
Shen Maomao pulled up a stool and sat by the bed, studying the bear.
This bear was relatively small, about twenty centimeters tall including its legs. It was brownish-yellow and wore a blue-and-white striped short-sleeved shirt with a bow sewn on the chest.
Shen Maomao thoroughly felt up the bear from top to bottom but couldn’t find anything wrong with it.
Before Lou Jingmo could find her bear, Mother Lou came out of the kitchen. She was carrying a platter of glistening fruit and enthusiastically pushed an apple into Shen Maomao’s hand.
Shen Maomao took the apple. “Thank you, Auntie. You don’t have to worry about us, we can play by ourselves.”
Mother Lou wiped her hands on her apron. “Alright, you two play then. I’ll go get busy in the back.”
After she left, Shen Maomao placed the apple back on the platter. As she did, she thought she saw something and picked it up again, bringing it close to her eyes.
There was a round little hole on the apple’s smooth skin.
She took out her dagger, placed the apple on the table, and began to slice it in half.
Lou Jingmo, holding her own bear, looked over. “What’s wrong?”
The dagger only cut through a thin layer before it couldn’t go any further. Shen Maomao could clearly feel that she had hit something metallic.
She pinched one end of the object between her index finger and thumb and slowly pulled it out of the apple.
It was a needle.
A short sewing needle.
The tip was facing outward. Swallowing it in one gulp might have pierced through a person’s mouth.
Lou Jingmo was incredulous. “Is this…?”
Shen Maomao continued to search for needles. In the end, she pulled twelve of them from the small apple. They were of various lengths, all with their tips pointing outward, as if to ensure they wouldn’t fail to kill her.
Lou Jingmo’s expression turned grim. “Did she do this?”
Shen Maomao, trying to quell the trouble and pacify her3, said, “It’s fine. I didn’t eat it anyway.”
If Lou Jingmo had harbored any illusions before, she was now forced to face reality.
How could someone as gentle as her mother do something like this?
Lou Jingmo was silent for two seconds before handing her the bear. “She’s not my mother,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about my feelings.”
Shen Maomao took the bear. “If the situation calls for it, I won’t hesitate to act against her.”
She placed the two bears side-by-side on the table in front of her.
The two bears didn’t look very different. Both had curly brown fur. Lou Jingmo’s was slightly larger, wore no clothes, and had its arms stretched forward, hugging a heart-shaped pillow.
Lou Jingmo’s bear was missing an eye.
The fur around that eye seemed to have been wet with something and was matted together in a dark clump.
Shen Maomao rubbed it with her hand, and a pile of reddish-brown powder came off.
She brought her hand to her nose and smelled it. It was the scent of blood.
“Is it your blood?” she asked.
Lou Jingmo thought for a moment, then said with certainty, “No. I’ve bled on it, but on its arm, not around the eye.”
Shen Maomao took two steps back and watched the two bears from a distance.
After a moment, she walked forward again. She whipped out her dagger with the speed of swift thunder that leaves no time to cover one’s ears4 and stabbed it into the little bear’s missing eye.
She was clearly stabbing cloth, but it felt like plunging into flesh. Puchi! A spray of fresh blood gushed from the wound, drenching Shen Maomao’s hand.
Lou Jingmo’s eyes widened in shock. She saw the other bear, which had been sitting perfectly still, suddenly scramble to its feet. It leaped off the table and bolted for the door. “That bear!” she shouted.
At the same time, a scream erupted from the kitchen behind them. It was Mother Lou’s voice, filled with agony, a particularly miserable shriek.
Her guess had been correct.
Shen Maomao grabbed the bear that hadn’t escaped. “After it!”
The two of them jumped out the window and chased after the bear in the direction it had fled.
The second before she left the yard, Shen Maomao glanced back. Blood was spraying from Mother Lou’s eyes as she crawled after them, her movements twisted and distorted.
Footnotes
- Hanzi: 千钧一发 | Pinyin: qiānjūnyīfà | Context / Meaning: A metaphor for a critical or perilous moment; to hang by a thread. A ‘jun’ is an ancient unit of weight.
- Hanzi: 亦步亦趋 | Pinyin: yìbùyìqū | Context / Meaning: To blindly imitate someone’s every action or mannerism.
- Hanzi: 息事宁人 | Pinyin: xīshìníngrén | Context / Meaning: To resolve a conflict by making concessions, often to avoid further trouble.
- Hanzi: 迅雷不及掩耳 | Pinyin: xùnléibùjíyǎn’ěr | Context / Meaning: Describes something happening with extreme and unexpected speed.
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