Chapter Twenty-Five: Weaving Fate Like a Spider’s Web

Old Ma’s lecherous gaze squeezed out a trace of strange benevolence as he said, “Don’t be scared. Just tell us what happened. We only want to understand the situation.”

Yue Wanqi glanced at Old Ma with caution, her voice flustered and uncertain. “I—I’m afraid you won’t believe me…”

From her words, it was clear this was no ordinary matter.

Teacher Wang sensed something was wrong. “Wanqi, what exactly did you all do?”

Questioned so directly, Yue Wanqi became even more nervous. Her hands twisted together, turning red and white by turns.

“Don’t worry, little girl. I’m an old man—I’ve seen everything. There’s nothing I won’t believe,” Old Ma feigned a kind expression, but his shriveled face could never truly look gentle.

Hearing this, Yue Wanqi seemed to relax slightly. Timidly, she said, “Grandpa, do you… do you know about Spider Silk Marriage Divination?”

Spider Silk Marriage Divination? What was that?

A flicker passed through Old Ma’s eyes, as if recalling something. “You played that game?”

His reaction made it clear he was familiar with it. Yue Wanqi nodded. “We were just curious, but never expected that after that night, Xinman and the others…”

“This Spider Silk Divination has existed since ancient times. Though the details differ across regions, nothing serious has ever come of it. Tell me exactly how you all played!” Old Ma’s expression grew grave.

Yue Wanqi answered softly, “It was Jiang Lei’s idea. She said we could divine our future marriages. We didn’t take it seriously—just thought it was an interesting old game. We never imagined that after we played, something would happen to Xinman and the others…”

Late August, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month—the Qixi Festival.

Also known as the Festival of Pleading for Skills or Daughters’ Festival, the Qixi Festival is, as the name suggests, a day when girls traditionally plead for dexterity and seek blessings for love. Various rituals for this purpose have been passed down since ancient times, among them the Spider Silk Divination. Here in Leizhou, it takes a different form, known as the Spider Silk Marriage Divination.

With modernization, such ancient games have faded into the river of history and are now all but forgotten. Naturally, Yue Wanqi and her friends hadn’t known about them.

According to Yue Wanqi, it was near the Qixi Festival when Jiang Lei suggested the idea. Everyone thought it sounded novel, and since it was the holidays and they had plenty of time, they decided to give it a try.

Yue Wanqi had always been terrified of spiders—the sight of one would make her legs go weak. Asking her to catch a spider was as good as asking for her life. She absolutely did not dare to play. But her friends were so enthusiastic that she didn’t want to spoil their fun, so she reluctantly agreed to accompany them as a witness to the “miracle,” but refused to participate.

On the night of Qixi, Xinman and the others caught spiders, prepared fruits and a duck, and went to an old, remote house. Besides themselves, there was an elderly woman Jiang Lei knew.

Yue Wanqi was so frightened of spiders, and the unfamiliar setting made it worse. She shrank into a corner, trembling as she watched them.

First, the old woman sang a long ritual chant. When she finished, Xinman and the others each took a sewing needle they’d prepared in advance. Following the old woman’s instructions, they pricked their fingers and let drops of blood fall into a bowl…

“Wait, blood? That old woman had you give blood?” Old Ma interrupted.

Yue Wanqi nodded. “Yes. I was really scared, but Xinman and the others were braver, so they did it.”

Old Ma squinted, lost in thought. “How many of you were there in all?”

“With the old lady, five. But only Xinman, Jiang Lei, and Lingyi did the actual divination.”

“Why? Is the number important?” I asked.

Old Ma ignored me and signaled for Yue Wanqi to go on.

She continued, “After the blood, Xinman and the others followed the instructions—each stuck their needle into a piece of fresh fruit, placed it in the bowl, then put the spider inside and covered the bowl. The next day, if the spider silk threaded the needle’s eye, it meant good fortune and that one’s wishes would come true—one would marry a good husband.”

The next day, when they uncovered the bowls, the spiders in all three were gone, but a silk thread ran through the eye of each needle. The three were overjoyed and teased Yue Wanqi for not joining in—now she was the only one not to have succeeded.

It’s better to believe than to doubt, so Yue Wanqi felt a little disappointed at the time, but her fear of spiders was so great that even if she could go back, she would never dare play.

Not long after, the three who had performed the marriage divination—Xinman, Jiang Lei, and Lingyi—began acting dazed and strange. The new school term was about to start, so they hadn’t seen much of each other and didn’t think much of it.

But after school resumed, the symptoms grew worse. The three became quiet and withdrawn, avoiding sunlight, and began taking sick leave at home. That was when Yue Wanqi realized something was wrong and began to suspect the Qixi ritual might be connected. But no one would believe her, and she herself couldn’t be sure.

That was the whole story.

Old Ma’s expression grew rarely solemn. “Do you remember the words of the ritual chant?”

“I can’t recall. I was so scared, I didn’t listen closely,” Yue Wanqi replied.

“Listen and see if this is what you heard,” Old Ma said, then began to chant:

“On the seventh of the seventh month, cover the spider,
Seven sticks of incense, seven cups of tea,
Seven maidens kneel in a row, inviting the Weaver Girl and Cowherd star,
Inviting the holy Buddha from the Western Heavens, all together to drink a cup of tea…”

Yue Wanqi cut him off immediately. “No, it wasn’t that. I remember something about ‘Bewitching Night of Qixi’, and ‘Nourishing the Spider with Three Shadows’…”

Old Ma’s expression changed. “What did that old woman look like?”

Frightened by his reaction, Yue Wanqi stammered, “She… she wore tattered clothes, her hair was a mess, and she was very thin.”

A chill ran through me. This was eerily similar to the case of the lost child before—could that old woman have been the Ghost Crone?

“Did you know her?” Old Ma pressed.

“No… no. Only Jiang Lei did, but she never mentioned her before…”

Again, an old woman of unknown origin!

The ritual Old Ma chanted just now revolved around the number seven—the Qixi Festival is the seventh day of the seventh month, and the number of participants should likely be seven as well. But this time, only three performed the ritual, and the chant was entirely different. What Xinman and the others had done was probably not the Spider Silk Marriage Divination at all, but some unknown sinister sorcery!

This matter was definitely tied to that mysterious old woman!

Old Ma’s gaze grew grim. “How many spiders did they catch?”

“Each person caught two…”

So it wasn’t just one spider per person!

Yue Wanqi hesitated, then added, “We were told to catch one big and one small—mother and child spiders.”