Chapter 64: The Prolonged Pregnancy

An evil spirit?
Since when do people diagnose themselves?
If she could diagnose herself, why come to me?
I said nothing.
Instead, I looked at the old woman’s face.
Her palace of destiny was glowing.
There was not the slightest trace of dark qi.
Back when I was in the car coming to the city, I had met a short-haired girl, and that kind of destiny palace was the sign of encountering something unclean.
Yet this old woman’s destiny palace was radiating light.
The light was even slightly overflowing.
This was supposed to be the sign of an impending windfall.
Seeing that I remained silent and just looked at her,
she immediately asked, "Little Master, are you listening?"
I snapped out of it and nodded. "Please continue. Why do you think your daughter has encountered an evil spirit?"
Only then did the old woman begin to tell me the sequence of events.
Her daughter was a teacher at Jiangshui University, commuting back and forth every day with no other social activities.
As a result, she severely lacked a social life.
Almost all the eligible male teachers at the school were already married.
Yet the old woman’s daughter had reached the age of marriage with zero exposure to any other men.
She had become an older spinster.
Seeing that she was already past thirty, her family grew anxious.
So, like many families, they arranged blind dates for their daughter.
The first few blind dates
did not go smoothly at all.
Every single candidate was either a grotesque weirdo or a creepy man who wanted to score all the way on the very first meeting.
Therefore, every time her daughter returned from a blind date, she wore a gloomy expression.
When the family asked how the date went,
she refused to say another word, brushed them off perfunctorily, and retreated to her bedroom.
To be honest,
she was anxious herself and wanted to find a satisfying husband,
get married and have children,
and live a proper life.
It was just that none of them were suitable.
Originally, the family had given up, thinking they would leave everything to fate.
If worst came to worst,
staying unmarried was quite common nowadays.
Yet just when both she and her family had given up hope,
a man appeared.
This man was tall
and looked quite handsome.
Moreover, his speech and manners were refined.
This immediately made the old woman’s daughter fall for him.
The two of them had a wonderful conversation that very evening.
The daughter even felt that going all the way tonight might not be entirely out of the question.
After all, it was rare to meet someone she genuinely liked.
She did not want to lose this exceptional man simply because she was too conservative.
However, the man did not make any excessive demands.
Instead, he drove her home.
He did not make any inappropriate advances in the car, and his overall demeanor appeared poised and graceful.
The two exchanged contact information and agreed to go out together next time.
Then they parted ways with lingering reluctance.
Returning home happily, the daughter’s face was wreathed in smiles.
The family inquired about it.
Upon learning that the man was so wonderful and that her daughter liked him,
it was naturally a joyous occasion for all.
They encouraged her to interact with him more in the future.
Back in her room, the daughter began to daydream about the sweet dates she would share with the man.
Ordinarily, the daughter was a rather rigid teacher,
and her attire was extremely proper.
Starting from that day, however, she began to pay attention to how she dressed.
Clothes make the man, just as the saddle makes the horse.
Once she started caring about her appearance, the male teachers at school also became more willing to chat with her.
She simply felt that everything was turning for the better.
During their subsequent dates,
the daughter was extremely happy, humming little tunes every time she returned home.
She had fallen deeply in love.
Hearing this,
I observed the changes in the old woman’s destiny palace and interjected, "Doesn't that sound rather good?"
The old woman nodded.
"It was quite good indeed, but after about two months, my daughter's belly grew big..."
I froze slightly,
but said nothing.
The old woman continued, "She got pregnant before marriage. Originally, I was somewhat conservative and found it a bit hard to accept, but my daughter told me they were getting engaged the following month and would bring him home for us to meet."
"I figured that since they were getting married anyway, having the child first wasn't necessarily a bad thing if we looked at it from a different perspective."
"So I didn't say anything more. But three months later, the man still hadn't shown up, and I started to feel that something was wrong—I felt like my daughter might have been deceived."
"Yet she was so stubborn, insisting that the other person was busy with work and would come after a little while."
By this point,
the old woman was teary-eyed and on the verge of crying again.
Seeing this,
I poured her a cup of tea.
Clutching the teacup, the old woman regained much of her composure and spoke once more, "But her belly grew larger day by day, and the man simply never came. This dragged on for seven whole months!"
"In just two more months, her due date will arrive!"
"Tell me, how can I, as a mother, not be anxious? With her like this, how can she possibly stay at school?!"
"I told her that he must come immediately, or else I would go find him myself. Only then did my daughter cry and tell me that she could no longer contact the man..."
"When I heard that news, the hatred I felt!"
Clenching her fists, the old woman said, "I wanted nothing more than to slaughter that bastard with my own hands! My daughter got pregnant with such a big child before marriage, and her whole life is ruined! How can she ever marry anyone now? How is a woman like her supposed to raise a child on her own?!"
"But I couldn't find him! My daughter and I cried for a long time and wanted to call the police, but my foolish daughter didn't even know his real name. If we went to the police, there was simply no such person on record!"
"Wuwu... Little Master, what kind of terrible karma have I brought upon myself?!"
I furrowed my brow slightly as well.
This man was truly detestable.
Even if you just wanted to sleep with a woman, you could have done that—why did you have to get her pregnant?
Getting her pregnant aside,
had she undergone a procedure, it would still have been a case of mending the fold after losing the sheep, not too late to turn back.
Instead, he left her carrying his child,
fobbing her off with endless excuses,
until finally, after seven months,
he vanished.
What kind of freakish monster was this?
Did he lack even a shred of conscience?
My expression turned solemn, though I remained silent.
The old woman wept as she said, "Yet that was only the beginning... The child was already so big, and it was a life too. I thought to myself, I still have a pension, so worst case scenario, I would raise it myself. My daughter could still marry someone else later; there was still a remedy. But right when my pregnancy-ready daughter was about to give birth, a strange thing happened."
"What?" I asked curiously.
"She wouldn't give birth!"
I froze once more. "What do you mean?"
The old woman cried so hard that snot was running down.
"When the time came, the child inside wouldn't come out. The doctor said to wait a bit longer, but that waiting turned into another month. Nine months of pregnancy—where on earth has anyone ever heard of carrying a child for eleven months without delivering? We went to the hospital, and the doctors found it strange too, having never seen such a thing in their entire lives, so they immediately decided on a C-section."
"But my daughter acted as if she had suddenly gone mad! She screamed that she would rather die than let us perform the surgery, and kept shouting that the child wasn't grown up yet and had to stay inside her belly!"
"No matter how we tried to persuade her, she simply refused to listen. Her mental state also became abnormal, just like a crazy woman. She would pull a knife on anyone who dared to touch her belly!"
"We were completely helpless. Seeing that her belly had grown so huge she couldn't even walk, and had even turned a dark purple—it looked utterly terrifying—yet she still wouldn't allow the surgery!"
I frowned and looked at the old woman's destiny palace.
Something wasn't right...