Although I knew everything was just a fantasy, it looked so real. I was angry and clenched my fists tightly. That man was absolutely despicable! 

For the sake of money, he had sold his lover, the woman he had made many promises to.

After the servants satisfied themselves, they left, leaving the disheveled woman with bruises and scratches all over her body. Even so, she still held the clock tightly against her chest. 

The fat woman pointed at her and shouted, “All right, if you like this clock that much, I’ll bury it with you.” 

Then, she turned to her husband and threw him a glare. “Push your little lover down the well, and I’ll forgive you…” 

The man hesitated for a while. Then, he asked the servants to drag the woman to the well and threw her inside. Since he was afraid that she might have survived the fall, he carried over some big rocks and dropped them into the well. 

The woman’s body was now a dough of blood and flesh. Her limbs twisted and broke, but she didn’t feel any pain. There was only a grudge in her heart now. She used the last bit of her strength to scratch the clock with her fingernail…

“Rumble

!”

Thunder crashed and rain fell. The entire dry well was now filled with dark mud. Only the sound of the clock kept her company. 

All of a sudden, everything in front of me disappeared. I found myself in the middle of the well one more time. 

Then, the ground underneath me started to shake, and a twisted, deformed arm stuck out from the ground! 

Another arm followed right after. It seemed the owner of this pair of arms was trying to get out of the bottom of the well. 

I lowered my head and saw Miss Dong, the woman I had seen in my dream. She was crawling out of the soil. 

Miss Dong’s neck was broken. Although blood covered her face, she stared at me with fierce eyes. 

She slowly crawled toward me, dragging her several-meter-long hair along. I knew that she was the evil soul that dwelled in the clock.

I was scared and instinctively retreated until my back touched the cold wall of the well. She moved slowly toward me.

I saw many bones piercing through her flesh and skin. Those white bones looked strangely scary. 

Eventually, she reached me and grabbed my legs. Using my legs for support, she crawled onto my body… 

It felt as if a giant centipede was creeping onto my body. Eventually, she tried to get up and snatched the clock from my chest. 

“

Tik tok! Tik tok!”

When the clock was returned to its rightful owner, the sounds it made were pleasant to the ear. At this moment, the ground under my feet felt so soft, just as if I was in the middle of a muddy swamp. Even though I had used all my strength to wiggle around, I couldn’t escape. 

Miss Dong looked at me with her malicious eyes, sneering. In the meantime, the mud submerged my legs and then my shoulders.

Miss Dong spoke in a hoarse voice, “You men are all heart-breakers. None of you can be trusted. All men in this world all deserve to die…”

Hey lady! Someone cheated on you, but that doesn’t mean that you should take it out on others!

Why do I deserve to die? 

Although I wanted to debate with her, my mouth was somehow zipped. 

Am I going to die tonight? Right here, in this well? 

At this moment, a dazzling light shone from above. Miss Dong was scared and let out an ear-splitting shriek. She hid in the corner. 

Then, an umbrella slowly descended. 

My Yin and Yang Umbrella has come to save me! 

I grabbed the handle and felt a warm flow of energy rush to my body. 

The Yin and Yang Umbrella could balance the Yin and Yang energies. It was the best defensive item in this world.

Since my body had been controlled by Miss Dong, the Yin and Yang Umbrella was here to help me resist her Yin energy.

Miss Dong crouched in the corner and gritted her teeth, glaring at me. All of a sudden, she stormed toward me and slashed at me with her sharp, long fingernails. I didn’t have time to think and kicked her away. 

“Bang!”

She hit the wall, and I hurried to pick up the clock in the mud. 

Miss Dong screeched horribly, looking extremely sad.

In desperation, she hid in the shadows and cried her heart out. 

Sigh, she’s really pitiful. 

I held the clock and hesitated for a moment. Then, I gently tossed it to the ground toward Miss Dong. 

Miss Dong reached her deformed fingers and gently stroked the clock. She mumbled to herself, “I hope that every second this clock ticks by, you and I will have each other. We will never leave each other again.”

Disgusting white maggots wormed out of her mouth, but her expression was exceptionally focused.

Time seemed to have returned to that scorching summer day. It was the Jiaqing period of the Qing dynasty. A man with a queue opened the gate to Miss Dong’s courtyard and shook the western, chiming clock in front of her. He told her, “I hope that every second this clock ticks by, you and I will have each other. We’ll never leave each other again.” 

The sweet words were there, but the promise to be with each other forever didn’t exist.

Miss Dong now had a deformed face and was hurt by the big rocks he had thrown into the well. Although she looked gruesome, her eyes were tender. 

I couldn’t stand this and said to her, “If time can rewind, you should hope not to meet that scumbag again.” 

Miss Dong was surprised and lifted her head to look at me. She looked puzzled. 

I contemplated then said, “If you hadn’t known him, you would have had a peaceful life until you grew old. Perhaps you would have found a man who really loved you and lived happily for the rest of your life.” 

Miss Dong lowered her head for a while. Then, she laughed mournfully. 

Humans are like this. Although we think that we have experienced all kinds of things, in the end, we still fall victims to love. 

Miss Dong gently raised her hands and handed me the clock. 

At this moment, I knew she had let it go. I didn’t need to do anything. She had let go of the grudge in her heart. 

I found that among the evil souls I had met during my career as an otherworldly merchant, she was the most friendly one…

Was she thinking of her previous self at this moment? Her beautiful, innocent self before the terrible events happened? 

I received the clock and saw that the deep scratch had disappeared.

The clock had stopped working. And, it would never move again. 

When I lifted my head again, Miss Dong had disappeared. She had left me alone in this muddy, dry well. I sighed and took out a cigarette box from my pocket. I lit up a cigarette as a memorial service for her.

Buddha once said, “Because of love, people worry. Because of love, they hate. One who doesn’t love will not worry, nor hate.” 

If time could be reversed, I hoped that Miss Dong could live a normal, happy life. I hoped that she would never meet those scumbags. 

At this moment, a light shone from above. I heard Li Mazi shouting. “Little Brother Zhang! Little Brother Zhang! Are you down there?” 

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m here.” 

“Merciful Buddha. Deities everywhere, thank you for protecting us!” Li Mazi shouted.

I couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Why are you still standing there? Pull me up!” I then yelled. 

Li Mazi said, “You need help? I’m going to get some strong men from the village!” 

I was speechless. “Why don’t you get down and help me?” 

Li Mazi was thick-faced. “Oh… I have to stay here to support you. It’s very important. I can’t ask other people to do this!”

You bastard!

Shortly after, a rope was thrown to me. I tied the rope around my waist and slowly climbed out of the dry well.

Li Mazi and another burly man were sweating hard. On the way back to the tea farm, the man bargained with Li Mazi. “Give me fifty more. I came from far away to rescue him. One hundred renminbi is too little.”

“Why are you raising the price now? We agreed that I would pay you one hundred, right?” 

“I helped you pull him up!” 

Li Mazi was annoyed. He had to pay the man another fifty renminbi. Then, he said, “Little Brother Zhang, how did you deal with that otherworldly item? You didn’t bring anything with you. Did you subdue it with your bare hands?”  

I didn’t answer Li Mazi but asked, “At Old Gang’s age, he must have a wife and children, right?” 

“Yeah, of course. His son’s studying abroad, and his wife is with his son to take care of him.” 

I realized what happened. “Is he living alone? No, he has a mistress, doesn’t he?” 

Li Mazi held an ambiguous smile. “We’re all men. Do you need to ask?” 

“So it’s true.” I sighed. “That clock had huge resentful energy. It hated cheating men the most. Mr. Song did cheat, and so did Old Gang.” 

“What about Mrs. Chen? Did she cheat, too?” Li Mazi couldn’t believe it. 

“Who knows. Perhaps, only she knew.”

When we returned to the tea farm, Old Gang had woken up. He sat in a daze by the gate of the storage. When he saw me and Li Mazi return, he feebly got up. “Mazi, why am I here?”

Li Mazi laughed. “There are many things you need to know. When we return home, I’ll tell you.”

The man who had watched the storage wanted to earn more money from Li Mazi, so he purposely cooked a pot of instant ramen to feed us. He even washed the muddy off-road Jeep.

While he washed the car, Li Mazi asked, “What happened last night? I was sleeping, and when I woke up, Old Gang and I were soaked in stinky mud. I didn’t see you anywhere, so I knew that something had happened. I didn’t think twice before spending money and having people search for you. What do you think? I’m your good brother, right? Are you touched?” 

“You should stay far away from me. I’m going to throw up,” I retorted.

The clock sat quietly on the front seat of the off-road vehicle.