"I won’t eat!" An Shuchao pushed the cake aside, her eyes intently fixed on Bai Xue, "Do you also think that your man is useless? Even if I tell him he’s been bullied, it’s pointless?"
"No," Bai Xue shook her head, how could she dare to say anything!
After speaking, she feared that she might even lose her life over it.
An Shuchao relentlessly pressed on, seeing that she couldn’t muddle through this, she had no choice but to bring up the story she crafted the night before, "Old An, don’t be scared when I tell you this!"
"Speak!" An Shuchao stared at her.
Bai Xue said through gritted teeth, "I’m saying, what if I ran into a ’ghost barber’? Do you believe that?"
In the ignorant and backward village, there were such superstitions. Before in An Hao village, such things had happened—hair that was fine during the day, but come morning, it was falling out in clumps.
Originally, this term came from the village chief’s foolish son—Wang Er, the fool. The kids in the village, thinking he was dumb, often bullied him.
He would often say this line, "If you keep bullying me, at night the little ghost will come with a knife and shave your head clean."
An Shuchao had witnessed this phenomenon herself, and strangely enough, the children who bullied Wang Er would wake the next day to find their hair gone.
They also claimed to have dreamt of the little ghost shaving their heads.
Because she had experienced it herself, An Shuchao believed it quite readily, "How did you come across such a thing? You should stop wandering around at night from now on. Just stay home. If things get too bad, we can ask Yanjiao to go to the temple to burn some incense, pray to the Bodhisattva, and talk to him about this matter."
"Yeah," Bai Xue secretly heaved a sigh of relief.
An Ping, seeing how easily Bai Xue got off the hook, felt annoyed, "You explain why nobody else in the village gets visited by the ’ghost barber,’ why is it just you? You must have done something guilty!"
"What guilty thing could I have possibly done?" Bai Xue gave An Ping a blank look, cursing the meddling little brat inwardly, but realizing he had learned from her.
"You’ve done nothing guilty? Then what about Zhang Juyun and her daughter bullying my sister? See? They encountered a ghost, didn’t they? That’s because they’ve done too many guilty things. And you? You bullied my sister too! So the ghost came to pick at your head!" An Ping said angrily.
"Tch! What nonsense are you spouting, An Ping?" Bai Yanjiao came in carrying a meal and, seeing An Ping and An Hao on the side scheming and plotting against her mother, she couldn’t stand it and chimed in, "Do you know who shaved my mother’s head? Your mom did! She just insisted that my mom drove you out, feeling resentful, so she started looking for trouble! Tell me, was it us who drove you out? Wasn’t it you who wanted to move out on your own?"
Her words gave An Shuchao an uneasy feeling.
"That’s enough. Let’s put an end to this matter. No more reckless talk!" An Shuchao didn’t want to listen any further.
This man, An Shuchao, was like that—when he encountered something that made him uncomfortable or afraid, he habitually escaped.
He wouldn’t face it!1
It was precisely because of this that An Hao felt it was a far-fetched dream to have her father drive Bai Xue and her daughter away!
Therefore, this formidable struggle was up to her to undertake!
She knew it would end , but fortunately, she had given Bai Xue a beating in advance as a lesson. At least for the coming months, she probably wouldn’t have the face to meet anyone.
Wouldn’t it be much harder for her to go out and mess around now?
After leaving An Shuchao’s house, An Hao headed home—now that these troublesome matters were dealt with, it was time to revise her schoolwork.
But just a few steps out, An Ping followed and said, "Sis, look, she escaped again! It’s so infuriating!"
"Ah Ping, there’s a saying that the older ginger’s the spicier. It’s normal for her to escape! At least we taught her a lesson," An Hao said.
"But what about Li Wangfu? Are we just going to let him gloat?"