“It was pretty much the same as the rumor you heard.”
“On the eve of the Honey Rite, the village chief approached my father and warned him bluntly to keep his daughter in check. He told him not to let me seduce anyone from the wedding planning team and break the village rules.”
“My father had spent his whole life guarding the village and feared its rules. He came home that night and beat me.”
“I went to see him in secret.”
“But he, who had always been so gentle, had completely changed. His words were harsh, his attitude cold, and he wanted to draw a clear line between us.”
“Later, I overheard some of the other team members gossiping. Before that, the village chief had pulled him aside, and the two of them had a long, secret talk in the utility room.”
“Once the conversation ended, the village chief left, and he was completely unharmed.”
As she said this, Shen Jiayi's shoulders trembled slightly, and a faint shimmer of tears welled up in her eyes, concealing a deep, lingering pain.
Once the pain was buried and hidden away, all her emotions returned to a flat calm.
“I don't blame him.”
“Really, I don't blame him.”
“He never deceived me, nor did he ever ask for anything from me. He only promised to take me away, and in the end, he was just protecting himself.”
“I can only blame myself for falling in love and indulging in wishful thinking.”
“Even now, knowing he isn't the person I thought he was... I still can't let go of every little moment we shared.”
“I've turned myself into a lunatic.”
Bai Ci felt a wave of sadness for the woman's plight.
But at the same time, she noticed that Shen Jiayi had seemingly never considered the possibility of him being replaced. She simply assumed she hadn't known every side of him.
Did she really not know about the replacements?
Bai Ci handed the torn half of the red-lined letter to Shen Jiayi and suggested, “Take a look at this. It might give you a different perspective.”
Shen Jiayi's thin, pale hand pinched the corner of the paper. As she unfolded it and quickly scanned the words, a look of sheer bewilderment washed over her face.
As her gaze moved down the page, her breathing grew rapid.
Though it was barely half a page, it seemed to drain every ounce of her strength. Her lips parted and trembled several times before she could squeeze out hoarse, broken words.
“I didn't know... he wrote this. Replaced... What do you mean by replaced?”
Bai Ci observed the genuine shock and confusion on Shen Jiayi's face. The progression of her emotions felt completely real and consistent, not faked.
Shen Jiayi truly didn't know about the replacements.
This didn't make sense.
In his report letter, Wang Huizong had explicitly mentioned that he had persuaded a knowledgeable villager who was willing to testify. She had always assumed this person was Shen Jiayi.
But now, it seemed that wasn't the case.
A new question arose: if it wasn't Shen Jiayi, then who else could it be?
Despite her racing thoughts, Bai Ci's expression remained perfectly neutral. She had already mastered the art of multitasking during her experiences with the Anomalous Infection.
“Replacement means exactly what it sounds like. Someone—or not necessarily a person, but something else—completely took over another person's identity.”
“In other words, the Wang Huizong who walked out of Tianmi Village after last year's Honey Rite wasn't the real Wang Huizong. He wasn't the man who was gentle and sincere with you.”
What did this mean?
What was this?
Shen Jiayi's head buzzed, her thoughts turning into a thoroughly shaken, chaotic mush.
She had always believed that Wang Huizong had simply compromised to protect himself under the village's pressure. She thought his heart wasn't bad, but he just lacked the courage to stand up to this man-eating village.
But Bai Ci's words completely shattered her long-held beliefs.
This man-eating village literally ate people.
True and false replacements, people quietly swapped out...
Countless fragmented memories replayed in her mind. Details she had previously overlooked due to grief and a lack of understanding now floated to the surface.
The suddenly cold eyes, the harsh and distant words, the look of utter unfamiliarity whenever he faced her...
It turned out that person wasn't him at all.
Of course. How could his gentle eyes ever harbor such sharp thorns?
And yet, she had actually accepted it as normal, misunderstanding him for so long.
Confusion, bitterness, resentment, regret... A tangle of emotions choked Shen Jiayi, suffocating her.
In the next instant, before Bai Ci could offer any comfort—
Slap—
A crisp, loud slapping sound rang out abruptly.
Without warning, Shen Jiayi raised her hand and slapped herself hard. She used so much force that her pale cheek instantly turned bright red.
Bai Ci was genuinely startled by this sudden, self-harming act, instinctively taking a half-step back.
She now truly understood the weight behind Shen Jiayi's words about turning herself into a lunatic.
She hadn't been exaggerating in the slightest.
This sister was as real as it gets.
Seeing that she had startled Bai Ci, Shen Jiayi slowly turned her head back. The red mark on her cheek was stark, but the chaotic emotions in her eyes had begun to settle.
She curled her lips into a smile.
It was a faint, cool, and airy smile.
Shen Jiayi raised her hand, touched her burning cheek, and gently reassured Bai Ci, “Don't be afraid. This is my way of making myself calm down quickly.”
Ever since she was a child, whenever she did the slightest thing against her father's wishes, he would beat her.
For her, physical pain triggered the most direct and intense hatred, which could drown out all other emotions—love, regret, resentment, anger...
As long as hatred held the upper hand, she could think calmly about what to do next.
It was a survival instinct forced upon her by being trapped in this village.
Bai Ci managed a faint smile. She didn't understand, but she respected it.
She couldn't empathize with this extreme, self-harming method of calming down, but she respected the survival habits everyone developed in their own environments.
Besides, saying anything about Shen Jiayi's behavior right now would feel awkward.
It was better to bring the conversation back to the main point.
Bai Ci spoke up, steering the conversation back on track. “I originally assumed that the knowledgeable villager Wang Huizong mentioned in his letter was you.”
“But now it seems you had absolutely no idea about the replacements. Is there anyone else in the village who might have had the motive and the knowledge to testify for him?”
Shen Jiayi leaned against the mottled wall, looking down as she rubbed her burning cheek.
Hearing Bai Ci's question, she thought seriously for a long time, her hand movements coming to a halt. Finally, she slowly shook her head and said with absolute certainty, “No.”
“He only stayed in the village for a few days last year. You're part of an outside team, so you should know how short your stays are.”
“He was soft-hearted, and he did help out the villagers quite a bit—chopping wood and carrying things for the elderly living alone, helping neighbors clear out their junk...”
“He seemed popular, but the goodwill returned by those old traditionalists was purely superficial.”
“The old traditionalists who hold all the power in this village definitely know all about replacing outsiders. The small favors he did wouldn't be enough to make them change their minds.”
“Once this secret gets out, the village will be ruined. Those old traditionalists would never let that happen.”
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