The Secret of the Fox Bracelet

Since childhood, I have been frail and sickly, and at the age of three, a white jade bracelet was placed on my wrist. The fortune-teller at the village entrance said that the day the bracelet is removed will be the day I die. On my twentieth birthday, my mother suddenly called me back to my hometown for some sort of coming-of-age ceremony. In the middle of the night, paper money floated outside, and a stranger held my wrist, saying it was time for me to repay my debt. My name is Bai Ci. When I was about to be born, my father killed a fox. It was an arctic fox, much larger than ordinary foxes, with fur that shone brilliantly in the sunlight. My father, a fur trader, knew at once that it was a premium material. After confirming, it wasn't a protected animal, he killed it with a shovel, planning to take its pelt home to make a fur coat for my mother. My grandfather came home from a walk to find my father raising a cleaver, decapitating the fox with one swift strike. Grandfather immediately dropped his smoking pipe and slapped my father across the face. "You beast! Such wickedness..." Grandfather was so enraged that his mustache went askew, and he fainted on the spot, passing away that very night. Before he died, he went mad, falling unconscious and yet moving on all fours like a human spider, biting the chickens in the coop to death, knocking over the fridge, and gorging on raw meat until he literally burst. Seeing this scene, my grandmother lost her sanity too, pointing at my father and laughing hysterically. “Retribution is here… retribution! You will all die, hahaha, all of you!” My mother, already near her due date, couldn't handle the shock and went into labor that night. There was no time to reach the hospital, so I was born in a small clinic in town. When I was born, lightning and thunder roared, wind and rain lashed, and a large group of foxes appeared from nowhere, howling and staring at me with their green eyes through the window. My father went out with a butcher knife to chase the foxes away, but they were unafraid, baring their teeth at him. As a child, I was extremely weak, frequently falling ill with high fevers. The hospital could find no cause, and several times they issued critical condition notices. Old Liu, the town fortune teller, said our family had offended the fox spirit and that I would not survive. In desperation, my father knelt and begged Old Liu to save me. Old Liu, who had once been favored by our family, finally agreed out of compassion. He said he would seek the fox spirit’s mercy that night. If he returned, it would mean I had a chance to live; if not... Before he finished, Old Liu left. My parents held me in their arms, terrified, waiting for his return. Fortunately, Old Liu returned in the middle of the night, handing a white jade bracelet to my father and instructing him to put it on me, never to take it off. He warned that the day the bracelet was removed would be the day I died. Though not a superstitious man, my father believed him this time. Once the bracelet was on, I immediately stopped crying, my fever subsided, and my complexion gradually returned to normal. My parents were deeply grateful to Old Liu. The next day, they brought gifts to thank him, only to find him dead. Old Liu’s body was found on the mountain. The coroner said he had died around midnight, scared to death. So, who was the one who came down the mountain to give the bracelet to my parents? The more my father thought about it, the more frightened he became. When I was a little older, he moved our family to the city, rarely returning. My mother said I behaved strangely as a child, often laughing for no reason and reaching out towards the window as if someone was really there. White hairs, like those from a fox, frequently appeared in our house, making cleaning a hassle. From as long as I can remember, I often saw my mother staring at the bracelet on my wrist, sighing deeply. When I asked her, she would only shake her head and tell me not to ask. As I grew older, I often felt something watching me, but when I tried to find it, the feeling would vanish. The bracelet has always been on my wrist, not because I liked it, but because it wouldn’t come off, as if it had grown into my skin. The older I got, the more intense the feeling of being watched became. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night, feeling a furry touch on my face, but when I turned on the light, there was nothing there... I am now twenty years old. Today, after class, I received several WeChat messages from my mother. She insisted I return home alone tomorrow to attend a coming-of-age ceremony. I was puzzled. I had never heard of such a ceremony in our hometown. I tried calling my father, but couldn’t reach him. Although it was strange, I didn’t have any classes in the next few days, so I packed my things and left the campus. The journey to my hometown was not short. After three hours on the road, I was exhausted but finally arrived before nightfall. My hometown is a small town. Many young people have moved away for work, and in recent years, many others have also left. Not many people live there now. As soon as I entered the town, I shivered. The evening wind blew a few dry leaves across the empty streets. Though the town had few residents, it shouldn’t be this desolate. I didn’t think much of it and followed the photo my mother sent to find our house, only to be met with a face full of dust upon entering. The house had been lent to my uncle, but since his daughter went to middle school in the city a few months ago, it had been unoccupied. Having been pampered all my life, I wasn’t used to cleaning, but I had no choice but to tidy up a bit since I had to stay overnight. The house wasn’t small and was covered with white hair like that from my childhood home, making it particularly difficult to clean. I cleaned until dusk. Just as I was about to rest, someone knocked on the door. I opened it to find the town madman, Wang Fengzi, who started clapping and laughing upon seeing me. “You’re back to die? Hahaha…” “What nonsense are you spouting?” Annoyed, I gave him some candies to get rid of him and closed the door. Even after closing the door, I could hear Wang Fengzi mumbling outside for a while before he finally left. Wang Fengzi, now in his fifties, was once a normal person. My parents said he started losing his mind after killing some foxes on the mountain, becoming erratic. The townspeople said he had offended the fox spirit and could see unclean things. Ever since then, I avoided him. If he saw me, he would either kneel and kowtow or pull at my clothes until we moved to the city, and I was free of him. By now, it was completely dark. The wind outside picked up, and a few pieces of white paper money blew in through the window I had forgotten to close. Startled, I quickly threw out the paper money and shut the window tightly. Outside, it was eerily silent, beyond mere quiet—it was dead silence. I vowed to leave first thing in the morning and confront my mother. Lost in thought, I suddenly heard knocking at the door. “Cousin, are you home?” I was taken aback. It was my cousin Bai Rou’s voice, but she should be in the city studying. Why was she here? “Cousin, could you open the door? I had a fight with my dad and ran back overnight. I saw you returned… It’s so dark outside, please let me in!” The knocking grew louder, and Bai Rou’s voice took on a sobbing tone. Before I could respond, a fierce wind blew outside, mingling with Bai Rou’s screams. “Ah! What are these things? Get away… go! Cousin! Open the door, help… help!” Frowning, I instinctively moved to open the door. But as I reached out, my hand froze mid-air as if someone held my wrist. The jade bracelet suddenly felt icy, sending a shiver through me, snapping me back to reality. The room seemed to have gotten much colder, and I vaguely felt someone pressing against my back, holding my wrist. Then, a ghostly voice whispered in my ear, “Little girl, don’t move.