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Luo Luo hugged her knees, sitting on the bed, motionless as she stared at Fang Ping's back.
Just a moment ago, she had heard a strange sound in her sleep, which woke her up. Instinctively, she looked out the window. The moon was bright and the stars sparse, a rare clear night after the rain. Moonlight streamed through the window bars, illuminating her. She dozed off again, turning to look at Fang Ping, who was sleeping beside her.
In recent days, due to her medication, Fang Ping had stayed in the cottage to take care of her. At first, he merely leaned against the side of the bed, fearing that too intimate a gesture would ruin her reputation. However, for Luo Luo, who grew up freely in the mountains, the concept of propriety between men and women was not something she cared much about. Moreover, it was colder in the mountains than in the valleys, and she couldn't bear to see Fang Ping suffer from the cold. After some argument, Fang Ping finally compromised.
The two of them almost slept fully clothed. Fang Ping was a gentleman; even though he intended to marry Luo Luo, he adhered strictly to gentlemanly conduct and never overstepped his boundaries. Luo Luo wasn't sure whether to feel happy or unhappy about this.
She gazed at Fang Ping's profile and reached out with her index finger to gently trace his features. Fang Ping was of average appearance, but upon closer inspection, he was quite handsome. His eyebrows were not thick but just sparse enough; his nose was not high but well-defined; his skin was neither as fair as a scholar's nor as dark as a farmer's from the mountains; instead, it had a wheat-like hue that radiated warmth from the sun. His lips were not particularly striking but were neither too thick nor too thin, with clear lip lines. She had once heard a fortune teller on the street say that men with evenly proportioned upper and lower lips tend to be principled in their actions and straightforward in their dealings with others but can also be somewhat conservative and inflexible. Generally, those with such lips lead regular lives and pay attention to health. As Luo Luo carefully traced Fang Ping's lips, she felt that what the fortune teller said closely matched her own observations of him.
As her fingertip lightly brushed against his lips, it startled Fang Ping from his dreams. He opened his eyes and saw Luo Luo looking slightly flustered; he smiled gently and playfully took her finger into his mouth. A tingling sensation shot from Luo Luo's fingertips straight to her heart. Initially wanting to shyly pull her finger away, she inexplicably leaned down and lightly kissed his forehead.
Fang Ping's drowsy eyes instantly darkened; something stirred within him as he instinctively rolled over and pinned Luo Luo beneath him. In the dreamy moonlight, a soft moan escaped Luo Luo's lips like an enchanting melody that stimulated every nerve in Fang Ping's body. What followed seemed inevitable; Luo Luo became Fang Ping's true wife, and after their passionate encounter, he fell into a deep sleep with a satisfied smile.
Luo Luo had also been asleep but for some reason—perhaps due to her physical condition—she slept lightly enough that when she heard that sound, she immediately opened her eyes. By the light of the moon, she saw something lying on Fang Ping's back.
There were many wild animals in the mountains that sometimes wandered into her home, so she quietly got up to chase away whatever it was. The object was hidden under Fang Ping's clothing and seemed to be wriggling. As she reached out to grab it, she slowly lifted Fang Ping's shirt. Then she froze in shock and quickly let go as if burned.
It turned out that what was hidden under Fang Ping's clothing was not an animal but a fist-sized lump of flesh that appeared to be growing out of his back and was now trying hard to crawl away.
Luo Luo felt terrified but feared even more that this thing might harm Fang Ping. Taking a deep breath, she cautiously reached out again and grabbed hold of the lump where it connected to Fang Ping’s back, trying to pull it off.
Fang Ping cried out in pain and woke up. The lump quickly escaped from Luo Luo’s grasp and swiftly burrowed back into Fang Ping’s back.
Luo Luo stared blankly at this scene, completely stunned!
"Luo Luo, what's wrong?" Fang Ping covered his back with one hand while waving his other hand in front of her face. "Strange... why does my back hurt so much?"
"Fang Ping! Fang Ping—" Luo Luo anxiously grabbed him, her eyes filled with fear as she stared at his back.
Fang Ping understood and smiled, turning around to show his back to Luo Luo. "Are you scared by the scar on my back?"
In the silver moonlight, Luo Luo could see Fang Ping's back clearly. There was a scar the size of a bowl on his spine. It looked somewhat unsightly but was not exactly ugly. The scar was deep red, appearing as if it had been burned into his skin.
Luo Luo stared at the scar, recalling the terrifying scene she had just witnessed, her heart still racing. She looked at Fang Ping with eyes filled with fear.
Fang Ping smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, Luo Luo. I hid some things from you."
"What things? Does it have to do with what's on your back?"
"Sort of!" Fang Ping took Luo Luo's hand and felt how cold it was, making him feel even more guilty. "When I was born, I had a tumor on my body, a red fleshy one. When I was born, both me and the tumor were there, but as I grew up, that tumor also grew slowly. My parents took me everywhere seeking medical help, but after visiting all the major Medical Halls in the capital, those doctors were helpless. Later, a Taoist priest who claimed to be from Zhongnan Mountain found my family and said he could help me get rid of it. My parents had no other methods left, so they let this Taoist named Mo give it a try. I don't know exactly what he did; according to my mother, he probably used talismans to burn that tumor off my body. Don't worry; I don't remember if it hurt at the time. It's mostly healed now, but the scar looks a bit unsightly."
"Was it really just a tumor?" Luo Luo tentatively reached out her hand but hesitated when she recalled the horrifying scene.
"I’m not sure if it was a tumor or not, but this scar is real; it's been on my back since I can remember. Strangely enough, this scar has never hurt since I have memory; maybe I just dreamed it earlier when I thought my back hurt." Fang Ping said as he moved his shoulder and turned his face to see the scar better. He could only vaguely see a deep red mark. Seeing Luo Luo hesitate, he smiled and pulled her hand over. "It's okay; you can touch it; it's just a scar."
Luo Luo bit her lip and placed her hand on the scar. At first, it felt uneven under her fingers, but soon she felt something wriggling beneath the scar, and that sensation grew stronger. Looking at Fang Ping's expression revealed a hint of pain.
"Ping, what's wrong?"
Luo Luo quickly withdrew her hand but was horrified to discover that the scar on Fang Ping's back had transformed into a face—a face that appeared equally pained and struggling to break free.
"Ping! Your back—there's a face growing out of it!"
"What face?" Fang Ping asked in confusion, but the pain radiating from his back left him unable to think about anything else as he lay gasping on the bed, cold sweat dripping down his body. The heat and pain tore at his nerves as he struggled in agony while holding onto Luo Luo's hand, forcing out a smile to comfort her. "Luo Luo, don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid!"
"Ping!" Luo Luo looked anxiously at Fang Ping; she didn't know what to do or how to handle that strange thing growing on Fang Ping's back.
Just as she felt helpless and nearly overwhelmed with despair, a bright white light suddenly illuminated the room, followed by the appearance of a man in white robes who seemed ethereal. He quickly glanced at Fang Ping's back and uttered, "Evil spawn!" A beam of white light shot from his fingertip directly onto Fang Ping's back. The face screamed strangely before burrowing back into Fang Ping’s body as he fainted.
"How is it? How is it? What happened to the Parasitic Fetus?" Xing Ruyi hurriedly ran in, lifting her skirt, and without looking at the man in white, she dashed straight to the bed to check Fang Ping's back. Then, with Luo Luo looking completely bewildered, she lifted her skirt again and rushed to the side of the man in white: "Did you hit the scar on Fang Ping's back?"
"Is that you, Ruyi?" Luo Luo finally found her voice, "You still have him."
"He is my Husband, but we haven't officially gotten married yet. His surname is Yin, and he is a..." Xing Ruyi's eyes darted around until she finally thought of a reasonable explanation: "He is a cultivator; you can call him Brother Yin, or you can follow me and call him Fox. Yes, I named him Fox because his eyes look very much like a fox's, don't they?"
"They do!" Luo Luo nodded foolishly but quickly came to her senses and crawled over to Fang Ping, carefully holding him in her arms: "Ping... what about him?"
"Don't worry, that thing should have been beaten back by Fox." Xing Ruyi said, glancing at Fang Ping's back. Fox, feeling displeased, covered her eyes with his hand and muttered, "You are not allowed to look at other men!"
"I'm just looking at the scar; I'm not looking at his back." Xing Ruyi pried open Fox's hand: "What happened to that thing on his back?"
"Just like what you saw earlier; I beat it back." Fox stepped forward, blocking Xing Ruyi from getting closer to Fang Ping. "Alright, the situation has been temporarily resolved. Before dawn, as long as they don't engage in overly intimate actions, that thing shouldn't come out again. As for tomorrow's matters, we'll deal with them when the time comes."
After finishing, Fox turned around and pointed at Fang Ping, saying to Luo Luo: "Tomorrow morning, take Fang Ping to Xing."
"Brother Yin!" Luo Luo straightened up, her gaze sweeping over Fox's handsome face before finally landing on Xing Ruyi: "Brother Yin, Ruyi, can you tell me what that thing really is?"
"In terms of the Fox Demon, that thing is called a Parasitic Fetus, which means it is either Fang Ping's unborn brother or sister." Fox explained from the side: "Fang Ping's Mother was likely carrying twins initially, but due to insufficient nutrition, the two children began to fight for resources in the womb. Fang Ping won; he not only took all the nutrients but also absorbed this sibling as nourishment, thus becoming a Parasitic Fetus. This child died before being born and naturally harbors some resentment, which is why it lingers within Fang Ping, unwilling to leave. This is what people refer to as Dual Souls!”
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