06 Black Star

Chapter 6: Black Star

Whack!

"Ah!"

Father Bai reacted swiftly but not as quickly as he could to avoid being hit. Mother Bai's bamboo fan struck him square on the head.

"Won't you act your age?" she scolded, and the poor man could only whimper.

Her delicate features, looking as if she was only in her late twenties despite being older, etched with annoyance.

"B-But honey—" Bai Fenghai still tried to make reason, only to be silenced by another fierce glare coming from the lady of the house, Huang Meiyin.

In the end, he shut his trap and decided to turn mummed as he rubbed the spot where the fan had landed, regretting his ill-timed suggestion.

Ah, he could only feel wronged and cry without tears lest he want another smacking.

Meanwhile, Little Chenchen was wiser to squirm under the sheet, avoiding the crossfire. Silent as an empty kettle, he wished he could disappear altogether.

'Father is a big adult, while Chenchen is just a kid. He should bear it alone and not drag his kid down with him,' the boy cautiously peeks, clutching the hem of the sheet not daring to make a sound nor heave another bout of his previous sobbing.

Hmm… Sniff! Sniff! 

Oblivious to this, Bai Fenghai didn't know he had been sold and cast by the little instigator to solely bear the brunt of his wife's ire.

"You know, Chenchen's cluelessness is one thing, but you're no child to spout the same nonsense." Mother Bai chastised with a dark look looming on her face, "Yinyin is fine; she doesn't need a shaman or monk to perform her rituals much less…!"

Much less exorcise her!

Mother Bai pursed her lips and eyed him with discontent unable to say such a heinous thing pertaining to none other than her only daughter.

"Really, this muddled old man!" Mother Bai huffed and Father could only sigh in his heart.

'Honey, I get that you're angry but why do you always call me an old man as if I've gone senile? I'm barely in my forties!'

Hu~

Father felt he was being deliberately bullied without rhyme or reason. However, he knew better when to shut his mouth, seeing how his wife was anything but please.

Sure enough, Mother Bai was brooding. How could her husband say such a thing?

What would her dear daughter feel if she had heard him insinuating that she had been done in by a bad spirit?

Ha… the lady held her throbbing temple and sighed heavily.

"Stop spouting nonsense otherwise, I won't talk to you anymore. I'd rather kick you out of the house to live with the hens and dogs!" she threatened.

Though her anger was genuine, she knew all too well that her husband didn't mean anything ill. His words were solely born out of concern. Thus, she can only utter empty threats.

Regardless, no matter how good her husband's intent was, in the end, that wouldn't mean others would think so as well. If those gossipmonger folks heard him just now, wouldn't that affect their daughter for the worst?

A mother's woe for her daughter's prospect is carved deeply. How on earth would she get wed into a good family if she was labeled as a black star?

Forget about a decent family, once she was marked as a harbinger of bad luck even without rhyme or reason, no one will accept her hereafter. A single baseless rumor was enough to eventually cripple her life.

Considering how superstitious the people in this domain and period, Mother Bai shuddered thinking about how it would ruin her daughter's future. Once again, the woman glared at her husband.

"Humph!"

Besides the mess it would bring to her reputation, the astronomical fees charged by those spiritual practitioners were beyond their means.

In light of that, had Bai Feiyin really heard her father's suggestion, she'd erupt like a volcano. Not due to feeling emotionally hurt but more like due to the picture of her pocket bleeding!

Wasting money on such superstitions?

Even if one is loaded, he should still think with his head, all the more with someone who lacks a penny and a coin!

She had been in many lifetimes and at some point she had become a person from modern society. She had more or less drifted away from superstitions as it was just unthinkable!

Not when she had been scammed by a particular deity damn it!

Huffing, Mother Bai's tears glistened in the lamp's faint glow. Father Bai and Little Chenchen scrambled to console her.

"Hush, honey," Father Bai murmured, sounding guilty with his puppy-like gaze and downcast expression. "I'm sorry. It's my fault for being rash. I know my wrong, I was just worried…"

"M-Mother," Chenchen piped up, his round eyes all watery, "It's my fault too. Please don't be upset. Sister Yinyin will be fine. I promise to play with her tomorrow to cheer her up."

Mother Bai's gaze softened as she looked at her son and patted his head lovingly.

"En. Good. Little Chenchen is such a good child for thinking of his sister."

The boy then beamed, momentarily forgetting his fear of being near Bai Feiyin after their last encounter.

Turning to her expectant husband, Mother Bai folded her arms squarely. "Humph! Even a child is more sensible than an old man," she pouted.

Father Bai chuckled helplessly, knowing he'd been alluded to.

"You still have the gal to laugh?" she continued now faking her anger, "Instead of fretting, go fetch some ice apples tomorrow. The sugar palm trees are in season so get as much as you can to coax Yinyin. It's your fault for always keeping Yinyin cooped up."

She then sighed, "That child... Now, look what it's turned her into…"

Hemmed with their woes, the troubled bunch had failed to notice the noise dying down. 

Bai Feiyin sat cross-legged like a monk in meditation on her bed, her palms cupped together. Beads of cold sweat drowned her forehead, trickling down to her cold, pallid face. Her bottom was soaked in black, putrid liquid she had discharged through her pores as she went on purifying and cleansing her body.

The light of the moon that seeped through the holes of her roof cast a shadow on her contorted face. The delicate features of the ten-year-old girl crumpled as if she were in extreme pain. Her right eye burned like hell as if she had been submerged inside the lava lake.

Unbeknownst to everyone, these few days, the reason for the girl's constant swearing was due to the torturous pain she had to endure as Bai Feiyin tried to assimilate with Hong's divine eyes.

'Damn it. It hurts so much! It wasn't like this when I had it last time!' Bai Feiyin cursed.

She felt like dying!