Blind Forgiveness

Right after the burning ceremony, the Ping resudence organized a feast in behalf of the bravery of the men, women, and even children that went with Mr. Ping at the break of dawn to confront Lianming. As the people who came to help entered the place one by one, crowds of spectators and other family members cheered and clapped their hands.

Mrs. Ping stood at the entrance of their house and smiled gently to those in front of her, her two children standing side by side with her, as the crowd was finally complete, the three of them bowed gracefully and the crowd bowed back. Mr. Ping went in last and everyone bowed at him with great respect.

He raised his right hand and motioned to co tinue the party and so it did. His wife was eyeing him as he walked towards her but the smile plastered in her face was clearly mixed with worry. As he arrived beside her, she told her children to go and have fun which they gleefully nodded with. She faced her husband with a face full of worry and fear afterwards.

"What I heard, was it true?" she asked. Mr. Ping shook his head and smiled at her assuringly, "It may be true but you've seen with your own eyes that his body was burned down and his ashes was thrown away never to be collected again" Mrs. Ping's worry didn't seem to lessen after what her husband assured her.

She felt that everything was going so smooth, way too smooth. If there was really a bloody spell circle on the shack, then why didn't the shack smell like blood at all? or if it was indeed placed with a demonic charm to protect Lianming from the outside world, then why did it break so easily?

Thoughts kept swirling at her head, "Mrs. Ping? are you ok?" one of the visitors asked, she went back to her senses and smiled back nodding slowly, "I'm just tired" she excused. Mr. Ping laughed as he heard it "my wife, you've been worried sick about me and my men! you deserve a well rest" he spoke, the crowd cheered once more.

Mrs. Ping smiled and bowed down as she went inside their home and further towards their bedroom. She sat on the endge of the bed with face still plastered with immeasurable worry. Lianming's face kept flashing on her mind as well as the images of his family and tge old man that they killed. All their long running framing schemes went to her head almost flooding her thoughts with it.

She slowly took a picture frame placed on a small drawer beside the bed, it was a picture of her two children, the eldest a female and the young one a male. Her hand shook with fear, and tears slowly fell from her cheeks. If Lianming did practice demonic cultivation, then its not impossible that he will come back at them and haunt them.

Thinking thoroughly, she stood up and took her elegant long coat, along with some incense sticks, she slid away from their house and went at the back door leading to the field Lianming once worked at from daylight to midnight. The wind was chilly, and she shivered as she looked around the deserted field, even though its still afternoon the eerie silence gave her spine quite the chills.

She shrugged it off and quickly walked past the field, she wanted to head to the lake where Lianming's ashes were scattered. Her plan was to forgive Lianming of all his crimes in a way to apoease him. As well as to ask the heavens to keep Lianming's demon devoured soul in the depths of no return.

The lake was serene and calm, the trees surrounding it rustled gently along with the passing breeze, the waters were clear and reflected the beautiful afternoon sky. But for Mrs. Ping, she felt very uncomfortable at the sight of these things, in her eyes, it was too eerily silent and serene, too much that anyone in the right mind will sense that there is something wrong.

She knelt at the lake's edge and lighted an incense, the smoke rised out in the air gently and she sat there and paid her respect. After paying her respect she started talking to the lake as if it was Lianming himself.

"You are dead now, and the dead has only one role in thus world. You need to rest, rest easy and peacefully. Death is somethjng beautiful for you, no one will throw things to you as you walk down the street, whips and chains won't bind you anymore, murmurs and rumors won't make it to your ears."

Her tone was gentle, almost as if she was talking to a child in her bossom, however, as calm as her voice sounds, her eyes were darting everywhere, and her hands wer shaking ever so slightly. Once again she shrugged it off and kept running her mouth.

"Lianming, you're crimes in this city was paid with your life, the people inhabiting it has accepted your offer and they are also forgiving you for your crimes. The Ping family also forgives you for everything you've done. There is no flaw instilled in here this time, we forgive you deep in our hearts and we will forget your actions as we forget your crimes and your family's history."

From gentle, her voice and her message slowly turned into a scolding, she was trembling now but her face plastered a smile, almsot identical to her husbands smile back at the shack.

"You've reaped what you have sown Lianming, you've always dreamed for a savior but that person never came, your thirst for revenge was never quenched and you ended up sadly leaving the world without seeing a single revenge on us. However, it's ok now, as I said, we had forgiven you, we don't need your forgiveness because your already gone along with your whole family. So it is our obligation to forgive you."

Her words were now half meant and there was a boastful air around it. She stood up and bowed before leaving without a word. Her chest was calm now, without a hint of fear. At the lake's edge, the incense stopped burning, as it fell to the water a puddle of blood engulfed it.