Observing Wife Under the Lamp - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I let out a scream right then and there.

It was so shrill that even I found it grating.

Zhou Yan lunged at me and clamped his hand over my mouth.

His hand was as cold as if it had been soaking in well water all night.

“Shut up,” he said.

“If she hears your voice, you’re truly beyond saving.”

He held me so tightly I nearly suffocated.

But in that moment, I didn’t even think to struggle.

Because the “me” behind the bed curtains had slowly stood up.

She stood perfectly straight, her footsteps light.

She took a step forward.

As the lamplight hit her, I finally saw her feet clearly.

She had no shadow.

My limbs went completely weak.

I nearly tumbled off the daybed.

Zhou Yan dragged me behind him, using his own body as a shield.

He snatched the lamp from the table and thrust it toward the creature.

The woman seemed distressed by the proximity of the flame, her head tilting slightly away.

Yet her face was still mine.

Even the faint mole on my chin was exactly the same.

“It’s not her tonight,” Zhou Yan said, his voice hoarse.

“You’ve got the wrong person.”

The woman didn’t respond.

She simply stared at me, her gaze sliding slowly from my face to my wrists, then coming to rest on my abdomen.

It was as if she were confirming something.

As if she were looking at something that was supposed to belong to her.

Suddenly, she raised the snuffed-out lamp in her hand and made a gesture as if to pass it to me.

Like she wanted to place that lamp in my hands.

My head throbbed.

I didn’t know what it meant.

But I knew instinctively that I must not take it.

Zhou Yan clearly knew it too.

He raised his hand and hurled his own lamp at her.

With a sharp *crack*, the lamp shattered at the woman’s feet.

Porcelain shards sliced through the hem of her skirt.

She was finally provoked.

She lifted her face, her eyes gradually turning red.

That face-the one identical to mine-actually began to split, a thin crack appearing at the temple.

Like paper that had been scorched by fire for too long.

Like a layer of human skin about to peel off a face.

My stomach churned violently.

I nearly vomited right there by the bed.

Zhou Yan, however, acted as if he were used to seeing such things.

He quickly bit his finger and smeared blood onto the lamp’s wick.

In the next instant, the lamp roared to life.

The flames shot up, nearly singeing the top of the bed curtains.

The woman recoiled as if she had been physically burned by the fire.

She shot me one last look before retreating into the darkness.

A shadow flickered.

The space behind the bed curtains was empty.

But a trail of wet footprints remained on the floor.

They stretched from behind the bed all the way to the window.

Each footprint was small.

Yet they were as black as ink.

I stared at the trail of footprints, my entire body trembling.

Zhou Yan’s hands were unsteady as he went to close the window.

He slammed the last pane shut and turned around, his face as white as paper ash.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

I raised my hand and slapped him.

I put all my strength into it.

*Smack.*

My own palm went numb.

“Explain yourself,” I demanded.

“What kind of place is this?”

His head snapped to the side from the force of the blow. It took a long moment for him to look back at me.

“The Zhou Family,” he said.

Fury surged to my head.

“I know this is the Zhou Family!” I snapped. “I’m asking what that thing was just now!”

He looked at me, enunciating every word.

“A wife of the Zhou Family.”

I didn’t understand at first.

“I am your wife,” I said.

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

A look that resembled pity flickered in the depths of his eyes.

“No,” he said.

“You’re just the one who’s still alive this time.”