Yun Song’s Perspective (Part 3)

Chapter 35

Sha Niu had a needle stuck in her head. It must have been driven in when she was a child. In the past, it might have reached a delicate state of balance, but when Sha Niu was pushed recently, the needle shifted from its original position. It could cause a disaster at any moment.

What was even more terrifying was that although she had pulled one out, there were likely more.

Even though she was still just a medical student, she had actually seen many patients. There had been a similar case where a parent lost control of their emotions and drove a needle into the back of a child’s head. Although surgery removed the needle, the child’s intelligence was permanently damaged.

Initially, Yun Song wanted to take Sha Niu to the city. She could only take a gamble. She didn’t dare think about what would happen if she failed; she could only force herself to stay calm as she always did.

The Village Chief wouldn’t let them go to the city. Only then did she realize how united this place was. Once the Village Chief spoke to the others, she was watched no matter where she went.

Yun Song had no choice but to perform the surgery on Sha Niu herself. It lasted a full four hours. By the time it was over, she felt as if every cell in her body was aching.

At that moment, the Village Chief killed the animals she had saved. Both Sha Niu’s Mother and the Village Chief thought her distress was because her merit was gone.

Whether it was merit pearls or gods and immortals, these were just tools she used to comfort her companions. She never believed in them.

She was hurting for Sha Niu, and for the animals she had originally saved.

She was miserable, but Sha Niu’s Mother was even more so. Overnight, Yun Song felt Sha Niu’s Mother regress to her former state.

Yun Song could only comfort her, telling her she had a way. She decided that as soon as Xingzi gave birth, she would force her way down that cliff.

She didn’t know if she could succeed. She told Sha Niu’s Mother to go to Ping City, to report it to the police, and to tell the police she knew Yun Song.

She didn’t reveal that she herself was Yun Song. She worried that her too-specific origins would cause Sha Niu’s Mother to lose faith in her identity as an immortal.

She hoped that even if she failed, Sha Niu’s Mother could get out. As long as she reached Ping City, her grandmother would be there, and she was surely looking for her.

At night, she went to the cliff once more, gazing at the yellowish dirt road under the moonlight. That was her path to life. As long as she could step onto it, there was hope.

Xingzi’s delivery went smoothly. Yun Song prepared to leave as soon as she finished assisting the birth.

But heaven does not always grant human wishes. That night, a torrential rainstorm broke out.

Descending directly from that cliff, she had at least a fifty percent chance of survival.

In a rainstorm, it was certain death.

As it turned out, it rained every day for the next several days.

With the rain, the rock walls were too slippery, and the survival rate was too low.

Yun Song could only wait for the rain to stop.

On the day the rain finally ceased, Yun Song received bad news. The infant she had delivered was gone.

She felt something was wrong, especially when Sha Niu’s Mother mentioned that children who died young were buried near the temple of the Immortal Lady.

How was that possible?

Yun Song had practically scoured every inch of that cliff area.

That night, she once again imitated the way Sha Niu climbed out of windows and snuck out.

She planned to force her way down the cliff tonight. However, just as she reached the forest, she heard human voices.

The other party was on the hillside ahead. There seemed to be three of them, carrying torches.

“Hold it properly! Don’t let the red cloth¹ drag on the ground!”

Yun Song was somewhat puzzled. Why would they go to the cliff at night to worship the immortal?

Yun Song came out every night and had never encountered anyone before.

Because of her familiarity with the terrain, the people over there didn’t notice her. Instead, she used the cover of the tree shadows to observe their situation.

Among the three, the last person was holding a length of red cloth. He apparently hadn’t noticed that the cloth was dragging on the ground.

This red cloth?

Yun Song thought of the red cloths in the Immortal Lady’s temple. She had been here for so long and had seen these people go to the temple to worship during festivals, but she had never seen them offer red cloth.

Usually, when worshipping the Immortal Lady, these people brought incense oil and candles.

She had found it strange at the time. With so many red cloths, could they have been offered during the New Year?

Now it seemed the red cloths were delivered at night.

Yun Song followed them. The three men entered the temple of the Immortal Lady, lit an oil lamp, and soon came back out.

At this point, Yun Song also saw that they were cradling something in their arms. Immediately after, the three men circled around to the edge of the cliff behind the Immortal Lady. Because the temple blocked her view, Yun Song couldn’t see what they were doing back there.

Yun Song was also very familiar with that side of the cliff. The cliff there wasn’t like the rock wall in front of the temple. The front wall bulged outward; standing at the edge, one could see the smooth rock face below.

The back wall curved inward, making it impossible to see the state of the rock below. In Yun Song’s understanding, the back was even more dangerous, and there was nothing behind the Immortal Lady’s temple anyway. What were those three doing back there?

At this moment, a full moon traveled lonely through the black curtain above her head. Yun Song felt a chill.

After about twenty minutes, the three men emerged from behind the temple. The things in their hands were gone.

Yun Song waited for them to leave before going into the temple to check the situation. There was one more piece of bright red cloth in the temple.

The fabric was very clean; it must have been purchased recently.

Even now, Yun Song still didn’t understand the meaning behind their actions.

She went to the back of the Immortal Lady’s temple again. There was only bare ground and the cold wind constantly blowing up from beneath the cliff.

Could it be that they threw the things down from here?

Yun Song leaned out to look down. The spot where she stood was a piece of rock that jutted out from the entire cliff. She couldn’t see what was down there either.

She was about to head back when she suddenly noticed something wrong with one of the temple’s pillars.

There was a hemp rope tied at the bottom.

Yun Song untied the hemp rope and walked to the front edge of the cliff. She was going to slide down slowly from here today.

This bit of hemp rope certainly wasn’t enough. She went back into the temple, pulled out the red cloth ropes she had previously torn and knotted from under the stacks of red cloth, and then tore up the new red cloth the men had just brought.

Because there were so many red cloths here, she hid the ropes she made every time, and they had never been discovered.

“Waa—”

A trembling sound was carried inside by the cold wind from outside.

Yun Song stopped tearing the red cloth and paused to listen.

“Ah—”

“Ah—”

She hadn’t misheard; it was the cry of a baby.

Yun Song swallowed hard, but then she reconsidered. She had nothing to be afraid of.

She walked out and followed the sound until she reached the back of the Immortal Lady’s temple.

The sound was drifting up from beneath the cliff.

She lay flat against the edge of the precipice, becoming increasingly certain of it.

Wait, this cliff was so high. If there were a baby down there, the crying shouldn’t be able to reach her at all.

In an instant, her mind flashed back to the items those three men had been carrying earlier.

They had come to the back of the temple once, and then the items were gone.

And now, a baby’s cry was rising from below.

Then there was the hemp rope on the pillar.

Yun Song hurried to fetch the hemp rope and the red cloth strips. She tied three ropes to herself: two long ones secured to the temple pillars on the cliff, and one short one that she left unattached.

When it came time to actually descend from here, Yun Song’s heart leaped into her throat. On the other side of the cliff, the rock face at least protruded outward, allowing a person to find a foothold.

Here, she couldn’t see the situation below. There was a very real possibility she would end up dangling there, unable to go up or down.

In the air, the baby’s cries grew weaker and weaker.

Yun Song gritted her teeth and began her descent anyway.

The hardest part was the very beginning, because her entire body was suspended without support, held only by the two ropes.

As her body lowered, she pushed her feet inward with all her might, trying to reach the rock face.

Soon, the full view of the cliff wall was revealed before her. Under the moonlight, one hole after another appeared in front of her eyes.

Square and neatly arranged, they looked like small coffins.

They were clearly man-made.

The hair on the back of Yun Song’s neck stood on end. The holes were pitch black inside. Using her feet for leverage, she pulled herself toward the cliff face until she was clinging to it like a spider.

She already had a suspicion, but when she reached out and pulled a set of skeletal remains from one of the holes, she was still startled.

Something suddenly occurred to her, and she reached in to feel again. This time, she felt the skull.

Sure enough, an iron nail² had been driven into it.

No wonder. No wonder no midwife³ was willing to come to Xinghua Village to deliver babies. Perhaps they had discovered the truth of this place.

She quickly forced herself to calm down and listen for where the crying was coming from.

It was still further down.

It wasn’t difficult now. With these holes as handholds, she used both hands and feet to slowly climb down.

Soon, she reached the source of the crying.

It was the baby girl she had delivered. Yun Song checked her head, terrified of seeing the mark of an iron nail, but fortunately, she found no wound.

The baby girl was wrapped in a piece of red cloth. Yun Song struggled to tie the infant securely to her own body.

The child seemed to sense the warmth of a human body, and her tiny hands gripped the clothes on Yun Song’s chest tightly, as if afraid of being abandoned.

Yun Song was not a sentimental person, but at this moment, her eyes grew red.

“It’s okay. I’m taking you out of here.”

As she spoke, she adjusted the red cloth. The sea of red before her eyes made her suddenly realize the truth behind the red cloth she was using as a lifeline.

Every time they disposed of a child like this, they would offer a piece of red cloth to the Immortal Lady.

That was where all those red cloths came from.

The wind from beneath the cliff blew upward, sobbing and wailing, sounding like the cries of countless baby girls.

Yun Song wiped her tears and continued her descent.

Below the cliff, there was only darkness.

Translator’s Notes