8 A Snow-White Hand

The two of them looked at each other, obviously not expecting such an outcome either. Yuan Ge threw away the brass chains in his hand and said, "Now you can rest assured. There's nothing at all at the bottom of the pond, it's probably tied to a big rock or something to attract peoples' curiosity. That's why legends are just legends, nine times out of ten they lead to disappointment when you try to verify them."

Amélie nodded in agreement, "You are right, it's reassuring, but the truth is just not that interesting at all."

Seeing her somewhat disappointed, Yuan Ge smiled and tried to cheer her up, "You sit here and wait for me. Maybe my future wife will be coming up from the water soon, someone has to greet her when she arrives."

"It's not funny! You are terrible!" Amélie jumped up and grabbed Yuan Ge's arm straight away, "I'm not going to wait here by myself. I'm going with you."

"What a chicken, how dare you egg me on … When Professor Fu comes back, I'll make sure to ask her to help you grow gutsier..."

As the chatter and laughter faded and their backs disappeared into the cold winter night, the Dragon Pond returned to undisturbed silence.

The night breeze rustled the jagged branches of the old ginkgo tree, and throughout the entire Rong Mansion, only the faint shadow of the moon could be seen from time to time through the dense clouds.

The dark pond appeared still in the night breeze, without a single ripple, the frosty white chain began to slide slowly under the water, as if it had suddenly been pulled by some mysterious force from below. As less and less chain was piled on the grass, it sank back into the water faster and faster, and with a final click the chain sank all the way back into the water at last, interlocking until it was tautly stretched to the same old groove tied to the old tree.

As night fell, thick clouds covered the sky and the faint moonlight was finally completely obscured by the clouds, leaving a total darkness behind. Raindrops fell, but the freezing temperatures at the edge of the pond turned them into a knife-sharp sleet shower.

Suddenly, a burst of bubbles rose from the thick pond of water, as if something was stirring underneath and a bubbling splash spread out as a vermilion coffin slowly surfaced from the bottom of the pond.

The top panel of the coffin was engraved with the character "fu"[1] in seal script, and the red paint on the body of the coffin was mottled, vaguely revealing the thick greenish black wood beneath. The coffin was half floating on the water, tied tightly to the other end of the brass chain, but it was impossible to tell how many years it had been at the bottom of the pond. Beneath that ornate exterior was something ghostly, unsettling and sinister. An icy mist lingered nearby the floating coffin for a long time without dissipating, making the atmosphere unspeakably eerie.

There was dead silence around the pond except for the rustling sound of sleet falling in the air.

Suddenly, a faint rattle came from the coffin, as if something was banging and flapping inside, then the coffin sank and shook violently, bobbing up and down in the water. Intermittent cries accompanied by moans or coughs were vaguely audible but difficult to describe.

After a long time, the cross-locks on the brass chain tied around the coffin fell off and sank into the water. The lid of the coffin tilted slightly, and several pieces of bright yellow talisman paper floated out of the cracks and scattered on the surface, some bloody characters vaguely visible. Then a few strands of long black hair, like lush black water weeds, emerged from the cracks of the coffin and floated around it, rippling along gently with the water waves.

As the coffin shook violently again, a snow-white hand emerged from beneath the lid, trembling slightly in the cold air and rain and snow. If we ignore its excessive pallor, the hand can be described as exceptionally beautiful: the fingers are slender and long; the knuckles are well defined; the skin is jade-like in the faint moonlight; the slight tendons show the strength with which it pushes against the coffin lid, while through the widening gap, only the deep, thick blackness inside can be seen...

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[1] Chinese character, pronounced as "Fu", means fortune, luck, happiness, blessings, etc.