Husband Rigged Ritual Seven Times, Killed Child; Family Struck

They cast the clan elder sacred ritual cups seven times, and every time the answer was the same: the child in my belly was cursed, born to bring ruin on the Gilberts.

The clan elder told Boris Gilbert,

This child cannot be kept.

Boris held my hand too, coaxing me.

We're still young.

If this one's no good, we'll just have another. Maybe the next one will bring nothing but luck.

And as it happened, that same day Candice Fox, the fiance of his late brother, had her own fortune read.

The very best of omens. A blessing on her husband, a blessing on the whole family.

Boris had her brought to the old estate at once to rest and carry the child in comfort.

Faced with my tears, he only sighed.

"I'm carrying two burdens on one shoulder. I have to keep my brother's line going."

I looked down at the appointment slip for the procedure in my hand and said nothing. Because the Gilbert family precept was clear: only the eldest son had the right to inherit the family estate.

So he would rather kill my child than let it stand in the way of the one in Candice's belly.

If this child was in his way, then fine. I would clear the path for him.

The child, I didn't want anymore.

And Boris Gilbert, I didn't want anymore either.

1.

After the abortion was over, I sat in the hospital for a long time.

A nurse asked whether I wanted them to dispose of the baby.

I shook my head, wiped my eyes dry, and had her put it into a box for me.

When I got home, the place was loud with celebration.

The long table was covered with food and wine. Nearly every one of the Gilbert relatives was there.

I stood there a few seconds, and then I understood.

Today was Candice's birthday, and now there was the added joy of her carrying an auspicious child, so they had thrown a celebration in my home.

Candice sat beside the head of the table in a red dress, one hand resting on her belly.

Boris stood right next to her.

When someone came over with a drink, he put out his hand at once and waved it off for her.

"She's pregnant. She can't drink."

Candice looked up at him, smiling, wheedling. "Not even one sip!"

Boris steadied her by the waist and tapped her nose with fond indulgence. "You. You're going to be a mother, and still so careless."

The way they looked, anyone who didn't know better would have thought this was their own wedding banquet.

Not until I walked in holding the box did the room finally fall silent.

The moment Boris saw me, he instinctively let go of Candice's waist.

But Candice swayed as if she couldn't keep her balance, and he caught her again at once.

The clan elder's face darkened.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you told to stay away from home for a while, so you wouldn't bring bad luck onto Bo and Candy?"

The people around him frowned too.

"That's right. The child in your belly is cursed, but Candice is carrying the blessed one who'll bring fortune to the Gilberts."

"What if you disturb her baby?"

I gave a soundless, thin laugh.

This was the very home Boris and I had set up piece by piece when we married, our wedding home.

And now, because Candice was carrying my husband's son, I wasn't even allowed to come back to my own house.

I walked up to the table and set the box down.

"I'll leave as soon as I've given my gift."

Candice's eyes reddened, and she smiled at me carefully.

"You moved out because of the whole baby situation, and you still remembered to bring me a gift... now I feel even worse about it."

She was beaming as she took the box and opened it.

"But still, thank you"

And in the next second,

she screamed in terror, staggered violently backward, and crumpled to the floor in a heap.

The laughter around the table cut off all at once, and every face changed.

Boris looked as though he'd been struck across the face with a club, staring at the box, the color draining out of him entirely.

His mother shrieked.

"Have you lost your mind! How dare you bring something this cursed back here!"

The clan elder barked out too.

"Get it out of here! Now!"

"Candice is still carrying a child. You did this on purpose to frighten her. Are you trying to kill the Gilberts' firstborn grandson?"

Candice's face was ghost-white, and she instinctively burrowed toward Boris.

But Boris shoved her away and strode toward me.

He was staring at the box on the table, his voice coming out wrong.

"What is that?"

I looked at him, numb and cold.

"Can't you tell? That's our child. The one you used to read a bedtime story to every night before you'd go to sleep."

Boris's eyes went red in an instant.

"You aborted the baby?"

His breathing broke apart, and he suddenly seized my wrist.

"Why! Who told you to actually go through with it!"

The whole room stood frozen.

But Boris looked utterly out of control, tears simply crashing down.

"Something this huge, and you didn't talk to me about it?"

"Why didn't you tell me a single word?"

I looked at him for a few seconds, and then I laughed.

"And what would that have changed?"

Boris froze.

I pointed at the box on the table.

"If I had talked to you, would you have let me give birth to it?"

"What exactly are you performing here, Boris?"

"Why did I get rid of the baby? Boris Gilbert, don't tell me you don't know better than anyone."

I twisted my hand out of his grip.

"Isn't this exactly what you wanted?"

"My child was cursed. Candice's is the most blessed omen there is."

"Mine is gone, so hers gets to stay, and become the Gilbert family's firstborn grandson."

"I stepped aside for her. So what are you crying about now?"

Something guilty flickered in Boris's eyes, gone almost at once, buried under grief.

"You think I could stand to lose him?"

"If the ritual hadn't come up cursed all seven times, I'd have wanted to keep him more than anyone."

His eyes were red, his voice thickening.

"He was my child too. I wasn't ready to really lose him."

The tears finally broke and fell, landing on the back of my hand, shockingly hot.

His grief was frighteningly convincing.

If I didn't know that all seven castings of the sacred ritual cups had been rigged, every single time, by him and the clan elder,

I might really have believed he couldn't bear to let the baby go.

Seven times. My child tried seven times.

His own father never wavered once.

He was even afraid I'd refuse to end the pregnancy, so he slipped saffron into my pregnancy meals every day.

Every time I wept over another prenatal report streaked red, he'd say lightly,

"Tabby, it's just our child's bad luck. He was never meant to be born."

I laughed all at once and turned to face the roomful of Gilberts.

"Do you people know?"

"I never once believed my child was cursed."

The living room went silent in an instant.

My gaze moved slowly over the clan elder and Boris.

"Casting the sacred cups before the ancestors is supposed to ask the will of heaven."

"But if someone dares to make a fool of even the ancestors, to rig the result"

I let out a soft laugh.

"That's the kind of thing heaven strikes you down for."

The words landed, and several of the elders went pale.

Boris's pupils shrank hard.

Narelle scolded me in a panic.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting!"

The clan elder slammed the table.

"How dare you!"

"You bear a cursed child of your own, and still spit venom before the ancestors and the gods!"

"Someone, bring the family punishment!"

Several people moved forward at once.

Boris stayed where he was, his face grim.

I looked at him.

The man who'd just been crying about not wanting to lose the baby now only avoided my eyes.

After a long moment, he finally spoke in a low voice.

"You lost the baby today. You're too worked up."

"It wouldn't hurt to go to the ancestral hall and calm down first."

He paused, his tone almost gentle.

"Once you've calmed down, we'll talk."

I stared at him for a few seconds, and suddenly it struck me as absurd.

The Gilbert family punishment, of course I knew it.

A woman who committed a grave wrong was made to kneel on thorned branches,

the ancestral precept tablet carved with the family creed weighing down on her head, bowing until the ancestors forgave her and gave the cups of pardon before she was allowed to rise.

The year I was newly married, the first time I went back to the old estate with Boris, I wore a bright red qipao on purpose to serve the tea.

When the eldest sister-in-law saw me, her eyes suddenly went red.

Narelle's face darkened on the spot.

"You know perfectly well your eldest sister-in-law just lost her husband, and you still dress up this loud. Are you flaunting your new-wedded bliss in front of her on purpose?"

I hurried to explain, that I'd only thought a new bride serving tea for the first time should wear something festive, that I'd meant nothing by it.

But the Gilberts had already decided I was disrespecting the eldest sister-in-law and slighting the dead.

That night, I was forced into the ancestral hall, the heavy ancestral precept tablet on my head, bowing over and over to beg forgiveness.

By Gilbert rules, only when the ancestors gave the cups of pardon could I rise.

But I knelt from daylight into the dead of night, my forehead beaten bloody, and the clan elder shook his head, again and again.

"Not the sign of pardon."

"The ancestors haven't forgiven you yet."

Back then I truly believed it.

I was afraid I'd angered the ancestors the moment I married into the Gilbert family, and afraid of dragging Boris down with me.

That night, I lost my first child. I hadn't even known I was pregnant.

For a while I even thought the sin from those years hadn't been paid off, and the ancestors had brought the punishment down on my child instead.

It wasn't until many years later that I found out.

It was Boris who told the clan elder to hide the result.

He felt sorry for the eldest sister-in-law, newly widowed, and feared I wouldn't tolerate her once I married in, so he used that family punishment on purpose, to put me in my place.

He said,

"Let her kneel a few more hours. Once she's really scared, she won't dare bully Candy later."

And now they actually meant to keep bullying me in my own home, with these same rules.

Two younger Gilberts came over, reaching out to seize me.

I flung them off hard.

"Get away from me!"

The clan elder's face turned iron-gray.

"Once you're in the Gilbert family, you live by Gilbert rules!"

"If we don't teach you a lesson today, who knows how you'll defy your elders from now on!"

They came forward again, actually meaning to drag me to the front door of the apartment.

It faced straight onto the main road of the complex, neighbors coming and going the whole time.

Shaking all over with fury, I grabbed the door frame.

"I'd like to see who dares carry out family punishment on me today!"

"This isn't your Gilbert ancestral hall. Anyone who touches me, I call the police, and not one of you gets away."

"You love talking about family punishment, don't you?"

"Then go talk about your precious Gilbert family punishment in a prison cell!"

Everyone froze.

The clan elder was so furious his beard trembled.

"Rebellion! This is outright rebellion!"

Narelle rushed over and jabbed a finger in my face, screaming.

"Throw all her things out! Since she won't honor Gilbert rules, then get out!"

"And you're not welcome back here again!"

The servants hesitated and looked to Boris.

Boris stood where he was, his face grim, and never once said a word to stop it.

Soon my clothes, my luggage, my shoes were thrown out the door, one after another.

Even our wedding photo, sitting on the entry cabinet, Narelle snatched down and hurled to the floor.

Glass shattered across the ground in an instant.

I looked down at it for a couple of seconds.

Then I smiled.

"You won't let me come back? Then don't count on living here either!"

I took out my phone and made a call, right then and there.

In under twenty minutes, several construction trucks pulled up downstairs.

When the workers came in with barriers, mortar, and tools, everyone in the apartment was stunned.

The clan elder shouted at me.

"What did you call these people here for?"

I pointed at the doors and windows.

"Seal them."

"Every door and window, bricked up and filled with concrete."

The whole room changed color in an instant.

Eyes red, my hand trembling, I pointed at the box on the table.

"Aren't you the ones who care most about the Gilbert ancestors' rules?"

"Didn't you say my child was cursed, not even fit to pass through the Gilbert family's door?"

Then I laughed.

"Fine."

"Since he can't come through the Gilbert door, then today, no one leaves through it either."

I pointed at the roomful of Gilberts, my voice climbing all at once.

"So you can all stay right here, and go into the grave with my child!"

The whole room dissolved into chaos in an instant.

Narelle's face went white.

"Lunatic!"

The clan elders who, moments ago, had been shouting to put me under family punishment now leaned on their canes and ran faster than anyone else.

The guests surged toward the doors in a stampede, terrified that a second's delay would leave them sealed inside with me.

Candice was helped out by someone, her face pale, her eyes rimmed red.

She cradled her belly, her voice thin.

"Boris, my stomach hurts."

"I'm scared. Will you come to the hospital with me?"

Boris took a step toward her on instinct.

But he stopped almost at once.

His eyes fell on me.

In all that struggling and shoving just now, the incision from my abortion, only just done, had split open again.

Blood soaked into the hem of my dress bit by bit, running down my leg, pooling across the floor.

Boris's face changed in an instant. "You're bleeding."

He strode over and caught me by the arm.

"I'll take you to the hospital."

Every trace of color drained clean from Candice's face.

But I didn't move.

I only stared, hard, at the golden charm locket clutched in Candice's hand.

A few small words were engraved on the little plate.

Son of Boris Gilbert and Candice Fox Rick Gilbert.

Something roared in my head.

Rick. Boris had spent three whole nights going through books for that name.

Back then he'd held me, his palm pressed to my belly, reading it to me over and over.

"Rick. A lifetime of peace and safety."

"Our child has to grow up safe and sound."

The tears came crashing down.

"Boris!

"That's the name you chose for our child!

"He was barely dead, and you handed his name to the baby you had with Candice?"

Boris's lips moved. "It's not what you think."

Candice hurried in too, red-eyed, explaining. "Don't misunderstand. I heard Boris mention the name, and I thought it had such a good meaning, so I only..."

"My child has no father. I just wanted him to have a good omen too."

Boris's throat worked, and at last he forced the words out.

"By then they'd already divined that our child couldn't be saved."

"The name was already chosen. It seemed such a waste to just..."

He avoided my eyes, his voice dropping lower and lower.

"Giving it to Candice's child, it's also a way to keep something of our own child alive."

I stood frozen for two seconds, then suddenly laughed out loud.

"Something to keep?"

"Weren't you the ones who said my child's fate was cursed, that he'd bring ruin on the Gilberts?"

"While he was alive, you were even afraid to let him near Candice in case he disturbed her blessed pregnancy."

"So how is it that once he's dead, you're not afraid his name brings bad luck anymore?"

"Or is it! That from the very moment you chose that name! The one you had in mind was Candice and the child in her belly!"

The words had barely left my mouth when Candice let out a scream, clutched her stomach, and collapsed.

The Gilberts fell into chaos in an instant.

Boris's face changed on the spot. He scooped her up and headed for the door.

I watched his back and said coldly,

"Boris, I want a divorce."

His steps hitched, but he didn't turn around.

"Your name has already been announced to the ancestors and entered into the Gilbert family registry."

"Until the clan strikes you off, you can't divorce me."

With that, he carried Candice out in a hurry.

Of course I knew the Gilbert rules.

The Gilberts prized the clan above all else. A daughter-in-law entering the registry required an announcement to the ancestors, and a divorce that struck her name off required opening the ancestral hall, with the clan elder's approval.

But so what.

Let the Gilberts have a thousand years of lineage. It still gave them no right to set a few worn-out registry pages above the law.

The next day I changed into a black dress, took the box, and went to the funeral home.

I set up a memorial for my child, arranged the flowers and the eternal lamp, and only wanted to see him off in peace, one last time.

But before he could even be laid to rest, the doors of the memorial room were kicked open.

Boris burst in with the clan elder and a crowd of Gilberts.

They overturned the offering table and rushed straight forward to throw back the coffin lid.

"Hand the child over."

I planted myself in front of the altar, glaring at them.

"Get out."

"Anyone who lays a finger on my child fights me to the death!"

But my mother-in-law screeched back:

"You still have the nerve to protect that cursed thing?"

"Candy nearly lost her baby yesterday!"

"Her pregnancy was fine all along. It only went wrong after you dragged this unlucky child home!"

The clan elder's face was grim as he brought his fist down on it:

"This child cursed the Gilberts while it lived, and dead its ill fortune is even heavier. It cannot stay."

"We have already asked the ancestors! The ancestors have spoken! This cursed thing must be brought back to the ancestral hall. Seven warding nails driven into the coffin, given to the strays to devour, the bones burned as an offering to heaven, to soothe the ancestors' wrath."

"And the ashes scattered into the sewer behind the family hall, so this evil washes away with the water and never sets foot in the Gilbert household again."

My eyes went bloodshot as I clutched the box tight.

"You had no room for him alive, and now that he's dead you won't even let him leave in peace!"

My mother-in-law sneered.

"Being able to take the fall for Candy's baby is the last bit of use he'll ever have!"

Several of the Gilberts rushed forward at once to snatch it.

In the shoving my wound tore open again, blood soaking through the hem of my dress.

Boris clamped a hand around my wrist.

"Tabitha, stop this."

I stared him dead in the eye.

"He's your child too! You killed him once for Candice, and now you'd give up even his ashes for her?"

His face went white, but he still said in a low voice:

"He's already dead. Candy's child is still alive."

"I can't risk a living life for the sake of a dead one."

A chill went through me.

Yesterday he was still crying, saying he couldn't bear to let go.

One day, and just because it was Candice's baby in danger, our child had become a dead thing that meant nothing.

While they held me down, the Gilberts wrenched the box away and tied me up and hauled me back to the ancestral hall.

Candice leaned against a chair, her face pale.

"Tabitha, I'm sorry, I didn't want this either"

Boris stepped in front of her.

"This has nothing to do with Candy."

"The elder has already cast the sacred ritual cups again. This is the ancestors' will."

The sacred ritual cups again.

He crouched down in front of me, his voice almost gentle.

"Tabitha, be reasonable."

"Once this cursed fetus is burned as an offering to the ancestors, your sin of offending them is wiped clean."

"Once the ancestors' anger is gone, the next child will naturally be a blessed one they grant you."

"And then we'll bring the baby safely into the world."

I swung my hand and slapped him hard across the face.

"Boris, you truly make me sick."

"You think that after killing this one and burning him to ash, I'd still go on bearing another for your Gilbert family?"

The whole hall erupted.

The clan elder roared:

"Defying your husband, desecrating the ancestors!"

"Bring the sacred cups, hand down family punishment!"

The cups came down.

The elder announced at once:

"The ancestors are enraged. Twenty strokes of the cane!"

My mouth was full of blood, and suddenly I laughed.

"The ancestors are enraged again?"

My head snapped up.

"You've gotten addicted to lying, haven't you!"

Their faces changed in an instant.

I turned toward the wall of tablets and screamed until my voice broke:

"Do you dare swear it before every ancestor of this line!"

"Swear that not one of those seven casts of the cups was ever rigged by you!"

"Swear that today's cast was real too!"

"Swear you didn't kill my child on purpose for the sake of Candice's baby!"

The clan elder barked:

"Shut your mouth!"

"Why won't you dare?"

I fixed my eyes on Boris.

"Swear it, if you've got the nerve! Say it! Whoever deceived the ancestors, whoever used the gods' name to kill an innocent child"

"let him be struck dead by lightning!"

"Let the Gilbert ancestors punish him with their own hands!"

"Silence!"

The clan elder slapped me to the ground.

"Burn it!"

"Burn this cursed fetus as an offering to the ancestors, now!"

I lunged forward.

Boris caught me from behind and held on tight.

The next second, the box was thrown into the fire.

I fought like a woman gone mad, and all I could do was watch the flames swallow the last trace of my child.

The clan elder lifted the ashes and walked toward the sewer behind the family hall.

"Wash the ill fortune away, and the ancestors will bless the Gilberts with a blessed son."

I struggled wildly in Boris's arms, biting and clawing, and could not break free.

Despair closed over me, my face covered in blood, and I threw my head up toward the wall of ancestral tablets and screamed until my voice tore:

"Ancestors of the Gilbert line, above us all! If you truly have spirits, then open your eyes and look at these animals who kill in your name!"

"They deceived the gods, killed my child, and now they'd leave him without even a grave!"

"If you can hear mesend down your judgment, strike them dead!"

Several of the younger men went white in an instant.

But the clan elder only sneered in contempt.

"A set of cups some woman begged for at random, and that counts as the ancestors' will?"

With that, he poured the ashes straight into the sewer, sneering:

"Judgment?"

"I'd like to see just where any judgment is going to come from!"

The words had barely left his mouth when a bolt of thunder crashed down.

The blinding flash struck the hundred-year-old ancestral hall plaque head-on, and the whole hall shook violently.

The room screamed.

Several of the clan elders went ashen, their legs buckling, and dropped to their knees on the spot.

"The ancestorsthe ancestors have shown their wrath!"