Chapter 19: We Are Being Watched

As soon as the words fell, Bai Peiyu calmly remarked, "The child loves sneaking out; her elderly father at home is already frantic with worry. If we don't bring her back today, I fear he might lose his mind."

"So that's the case," the woman in the couple said, clearly siding more with Bai Peiyu. Hearing this, she grew even more distrustful of Qiu Yiyao.

"You're so young, why do you lie so much? Hurry up and go back—don't make your father worry."

As she spoke, she tugged her boyfriend away.

"Don't go," Qiu Yiyao pleaded anxiously, trying to catch up, but Bai Peiyu gripped her arm tightly; she could not break free and had no choice but to watch them disappear from view.

"You're even better at lying than I am, yet you manipulate others into thinking I'm the liar. How arrogant of you!" Qiu Yiyao shouted in frustration. "Let go! You said yourself that if even half a person appeared, you wouldn’t take me back."

Bai Peiyu did not deny it. "That's right. If even half a person shows up, I'll let you go. But did half a person pass by just now?"

Only then did Qiu Yiyao realize he was playing word games with her.

"You… Hmph, you’re ruthless. Bai, if you want to go against me, then let’s see who prevails," she snapped, turning away in anger.

Suddenly, Bai Peiyu tugged her arm forcefully. "Here."

Qiu Yiyao nearly fell to the ground, her arm burning with pain as if it had been dislocated.

Anger surged inside her. "Bai, do you want me dead?"

Bai Peiyu gave her a disdainful glance. "I'm not that cruel."

...

For reasons unknown, whether Bai Peiyu and Qiu Shengming spoke behind her back or not, Qiu Shengming began to watch Qiu Yiyao even more closely.

Her plan to inquire about the case at the police station had to be put on hold.

In the end, the case on the wasteland was ruled a suicide.

Yet Qiu Yiyao felt something was off. She thought about her favorite pastime—browsing forums—and wondered if Yueli Town might have one too. Perhaps she could find some clues there.

She opened her laptop and typed "Yueli Town" into the search bar. The results were sparse, but the first link was to a forum.

Her heart stirred with excitement.

After logging in anonymously, she found that aside from some recent popular posts, all other threads dated back years.

Most new posts discussed the two recent cases.

She clicked on the hottest thread, and the first sentence from the original poster startled her:

"We are being watched."

That was the entire first sentence; the rest of the post was blank.

Qiu Yiyao scrolled down endlessly but found no second sentence.

Staring at the blank screen, for a moment she wondered if her computer had frozen or malfunctioned.

Only when antivirus pop-ups suddenly began appearing nonstop did she realize her computer was fine.

But when she closed the pop-ups and tried to return to the forum, she discovered the browser had accidentally been closed.

Checking her browsing history, she saw a string of nonsensical letters—no trace of the forum's address.

She searched "Yueli Town" again, but the page displayed a gray message: "Sorry, no matching information found."

Qiu Yiyao was utterly bewildered. She sat dazed in her chair, staring blankly at the screen.

After a long while, she snapped out of it and patted her head hard.

"Am I having another episode?"

Though aware of her illness, she refused to believe what she had just experienced was a hallucination or a figment of her imagination.

Especially the phrase: "We are being watched."

So abrupt and strange, yet somehow carrying a hint of truth, the memory of those words sent chills down her spine whenever she recalled them.

But if it wasn’t her imagination, then what had just happened?

No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t make sense of it and finally convinced herself that her condition had worsened, causing the hallucination.

She took a few pills from a bottle in her drawer, washed them down with water, and lay down on the bed.

"God, please make my illness better soon. I can’t endure much more of this," she whispered, eyes closed, forcing herself not to spiral into wild thoughts but to focus on sleeping.

Soon enough, she drifted off.

This time, her dream held no horrors—only warmth and tenderness.

She dreamed of her mother, just as she had been in life: wearing a floral dress, high heels clicking softly, holding her hand as they walked through a field of rapeseed blossoms.

"Yiyao, do you miss Mommy?"

"Yes, of course I do," Qiu Yiyao stopped walking. "Mom, I wish I could always be with you."

Her mother smiled, gently tickling her nose. "Silly child, though Mommy isn’t by your side anymore, there’s still Daddy. He’s grown old; you must take good care of him and keep him company."

Qiu Yiyao nodded earnestly. "I will care for Daddy. But Mom, this is the first time you’ve come to see me. Will you come again?"

"Of course. Whenever you miss Mommy, just call out loud, and I will appear."

"Really?" Qiu Yiyao beamed, throwing herself into her mother’s arms, tears streaming uncontrollably. "Mom, I really miss you."

"Mommy misses you too."

Her mother gently patted her back, repeating those words over and over.

Qiu Yiyao woke, her pillow soaked with tears. Recalling the scene, she couldn’t stop crying.

...

"Yiyao, didn’t sleep well last night? Look at those dark circles," Granny Wang called from the chicken coop, where she was feeding the hens. She looked up to see Qiu Yiyao walking by, head down and listless.

"Oh," Qiu Yiyao touched her face and smiled. "I was watching a good show and lost track of time."

She didn’t want to reveal her illness as the reason for her poor sleep.

Granny Wang put down the dustpan and came to the railing with concern. "You young folks are always on your phones or computers. You have to take care of your health."

"I will," Qiu Yiyao smiled, tilting her head unconsciously toward the chicken coop.

The hens pecked at corn, occasionally glancing up at her with small eyes that reminded her of that night’s chilling moment, causing her to shiver.

"I’m going to take a walk downtown. Goodbye, Granny Wang."

Qiu Yiyao hurried away as if escaping.

She did not notice Bai Peiyu stepping out of the house, hands in his pockets and expressionless.

He glanced at Granny Wang but said nothing, quickly following after her.