Love on the Turquoise Land

In mid-September, while the Jiangnan region was still sweltering in the lingering summer heat, autumn's chill had already begun creeping into the areas along the Qinling-Huaihe line.

By around ten in the evening, the area around Xingbazi Township in Shihe County, Ankai City, was almost completely pitch-black, save for a few dim lights in the western corner—surrounded by looming mountain shadows and the rustling of wind through the trees, the flickering glow resembled unsteady candle flames.

The residents of Xingbazi Township were accustomed to living in the eastern part, while the western side was wild land. Before liberation, there had been temples and sacrificial altars built there, and shamans had even been invited to perform exorcisms. Later, during the political campaigns, the structures were smashed and burned, leaving the area abandoned. Over time, for reasons unknown, vast fields of corn sprouted there—though the variety was poor, only fit for feeding pigs.

By this season, most of the corn had already been harvested, leaving only withered, yellow stalks standing as tall as a person, their slender forms densely packed together. When the wind blew, they rustled eerily.

The faint lights came from a crumbling, dilapidated temple at the center of the cornfield and an off-road vehicle parked outside.

The driver’s side window was half-open, and Sun Zhou, a cigarette pinched between his fingers, rested his left hand on the window ledge as he chatted on the phone with his girlfriend, Qiao Ya. Caught up in the conversation, he hadn’t taken a drag in a while, letting the cigarette burn idly, occasionally flicking off the ash.

"It’s the countryside, not a soul around for miles… I’m telling you, I’m really creeped out."

He glanced around and suddenly felt uneasy leaving his left hand exposed outside the car, so he stubbed out the cigarette and pulled his hand back in.

Qiao Ya had heard about this place before. "It’s a mountainous area, right? My grandpa told me that before liberation, it was bandit territory—lots of people were killed there, and it was even haunted."

Goosebumps rose on Sun Zhou’s arms as he instinctively scanned his surroundings. To his left was a dark expanse of cornstalks swaying gently in the wind, exuding an eerie, sinister chill. To his right was the temple, its faint light drifting like ghostly fireflies.

"What can I do? Miss Nie wanted to see the clay sculptures. She’s an artist, you know."

"Also my fault—I took a wrong turn on the way, so we got here late. Miss Nie got absorbed in looking at them, and I didn’t want to rush her…"

He was a hired driver, and Miss Nie was his client. Whether they left or when they left was entirely up to her.

Qiao Ya grumbled, "If she wanted to see sculptures, why not go to Longmen or Dunhuang? Why come to some backwater village…"

Sun Zhou replied, "Like I said, she’s an artist. She’s already seen all those famous grottoes by the time she was a teenager. Nowadays, they’re into finding these rural, untouched places for creative inspiration."

Qiao Ya had no comeback. After a pause, she asked, "I heard she sells a single sculpture for tens of thousands?"

Sun Zhou actually had no idea, but he pretended to be in the know. "You think art’s that cheap? At least a hundred grand or more."

Qiao Ya marveled for a while before finally remarking, "This Miss Nie’s got some nerve."

"No kidding," Sun Zhou agreed wholeheartedly. "It’s pitch-black out here, deep in the Qinba Mountains. I’m telling you, my heart’s pounding—what if some criminals jump out and kill us…"

Qiao Ya scoffed. "That’s not what I meant. I’m saying, she’s a young woman, daring to go to such a remote place in the middle of the night with you, a man—isn’t she afraid you might get any ideas and do something to her?"

"I’m being paid to do a job. I have professional ethics. Besides, we’ve known each other for days now—she’s practically an acquaintance."Qiao Ya sneered, "An acquaintance? They say half of all sexual crimes are committed by someone the victim knows. Women should be wary of men, whether they're familiar or not. If it were me, I'd never dare ride with an unfamiliar male driver to the countryside in the middle of the night—not even male colleagues or classmates."

Sun Zhou grinned shamelessly, "What about me? Would I do?"

Qiao Ya cooed back, "You would."

Sun Zhou felt a simultaneous itch in his heart and lower regions, about to spout some flirtatious nonsense when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark shadow flitting past the left rearview mirror.

He startled so badly he dropped his phone, "Who's there?"

Only the rustling of wind through the cornfields answered him.

Sun Zhou opened the car door and scanned the surroundings. The cornfield seemed empty, yet somehow full of unseen presences.

Picking up his phone, the call was still connected. Qiao Ya sounded urgent, "What happened? Who was it?"

A chill ran down Sun Zhou's spine, "Never mind. I’ll... go hurry Miss Nie along."

He hung up and jogged toward the temple—though he stood at 1.8 meters tall and looked robust, it was all superficial brawn. If anything really happened, he wouldn’t be much help.

Especially not with this delicate Miss Nie in tow.

The temple was small, its main hall just beyond the gate and courtyard. Years ago, it had been vandalized and burned, then partially restored by the Cultural Relics Bureau before the project was abandoned—whether due to lack of funds or deemed unimportant was unclear.

The altar in the main hall was crowded with clay sculptures. That Miss Nie—Nie Jiuluo—wore a white blouse and black skinny pants, straddling the top of a portable aluminum alloy extension ladder. In her left hand was a flashlight, meticulously examining the eyebrows of one clay figure. A delicate spiral bracelet dangled from her wrist, shimmering with a soft silver glow.

The temple was dim, dust particles floating lazily in the flashlight’s beam.

Sun Zhou remembered that when they arrived in the evening, these sculptures had been covered in grime. But the one she was inspecting now had clearly been cleaned—its features distinct, colors vivid.

He called out, "Miss Nie."

Nie Jiuluo turned her head.

She was in her mid-twenties, slender, with jet-black hair and porcelain-pale skin. Her hair was so dark it gleamed, her skin so fair it had a cool, ceramic tone—flawless enough that any makeup would be superfluous. Hence, she wore only a deep red lipstick—those with cool complexions often have naturally pale lips, and without color, they can appear tired.

As she turned, the face of the clay sculpture was also revealed. Though damaged, it was beautiful—but not in a dignified way. It resembled a seductive demon. Nie Jiuluo’s bangs hung low over her brows, her dark eyes and snow-white skin contrasting with her crimson lips, her face positioned right beside the sculpture’s.

Two faces—one alive, one lifeless; one flesh, one clay. Sun Zhou’s mind wavered, struck by the thought that Nie Jiuluo’s face held even more unsettling allure than the sculpture beside her.

He recalled Qiao Ya’s comment about lust at first sight and thought, Even if I had the chance, I wouldn’t dare lay a finger on her.

"Miss Nie, it’s past ten. Let’s head back and come again tomorrow. This area isn’t very safe, and the roads are bad..."

Nie Jiuluo caught on immediately, "Alright, I’ll just take a few photos and we’ll go."

After snapping the photos, Sun Zhou packed the ladder and other items into the trunk. As he closed the lid, he glanced back.

There was a sound—mournful, resentful, like a woman... sobbing.

Sun Zhou’s hair stood on end at his own imagination, and he quickly scrambled into the car.Nie Jiuluo sat in the back seat, carefully reviewing the photos she had just taken.

Sun Zhou cleared his throat. "Miss Nie, did you hear any... strange noises just now?"

Nie Jiuluo looked puzzled. "What strange noises?"

As expected, Sun Zhou realized he couldn't count on her. These artistic types were always too absorbed in their work—once they got immersed, not even gongs and drums could snap them out of it.

He changed the subject. "Never mind. You're not from around here, so you wouldn't know... this area used to be called the Nanba Old Forest. Bandits used to kill people here, and the place is thick with dark energy..."

Nie Jiuluo replied, "I know about Nanba Old Forest. It was originally a primeval forest. From the Eastern Han Dynasty onward, the mountain area was restricted—'every hill was a sea, no land without trees.' During the Qing Dynasty, a large influx of displaced people settled here. The White Lotus Rebellion started from this area. Later, bandits took over, and it wasn't cleared out until after the founding of the People's Republic."

Sun Zhou stared at her in astonishment. "You know all that?"

Nie Jiuluo lowered her head again to examine the photos. "I was interested in regional history during college. It was my minor."

A minor? Her main field was already so impressive, yet she still had time for a minor. No wonder she could make big money and ride in the back seat, while he was stuck driving for people in the dead of night.

Sighing inwardly, Sun Zhou started the car.

The roads here were rough, and Sun Zhou, being protective of his car, drove slowly. Just as he was about to make a turn, a woman suddenly appeared in the cornfield to the right.

At that moment, the headlights illuminated the spot, and Sun Zhou saw her clearly: her face was deathly pale, smeared with blood, her eyes bulging grotesquely, the corners stretched to the point of splitting. It looked as though she was trying to rush out and call for help, but a thick, dark-brown arm wrapped around her neck from behind and yanked her back into the cornfield in an instant.

The scene vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but the visual impact was so intense that even after she was gone, the image of those bulging eyes remained burned into Sun Zhou's retinas.

Blood rushed to his head. With a sharp gasp, he instinctively slammed on the brakes.

The car jolted violently, and Nie Jiuluo, caught off guard, nearly hit the seat in front of her.

Steadying herself, she looked up at Sun Zhou. "What happened?"

What happened?

Sun Zhou panted heavily. Left, right, front, back—all around them, the cornstalks swayed gently, their rustling occasionally punctuated by the brittle snap of a dried stalk breaking.

Was it a hallucination?

He didn’t think so. Right now, at this very moment, something terrible was happening outside the car.

What should he do? Sweat beaded on Sun Zhou's palms. Should he intervene, or pretend he saw nothing?

When Sun Zhou didn’t answer, Nie Jiuluo grew even more puzzled. "Is there something wrong with the car?"

"N-no," Sun Zhou steadied himself and restarted the engine. "Something just darted across the road. Scared me for a second."

Nie Jiuluo didn’t question it further. "Probably a rabbit or a mouse. This is wild land, close to the mountains. There are lots of small animals around."

The car finally reached the county road, but Sun Zhou's mind was in turmoil.

What had happened to that woman? Was she dead? And if she was, would it be his fault?

He quickly justified himself: he had done the right thing by avoiding danger. Not everyone was capable of playing the hero. What if the person who dragged her away was a murderer? If he had gotten out to help, he might have ended up dead too—and Miss Nie would have been dragged into it as well...

So, this was the right choice.

Lost in these thoughts, he drove all the way back to the hotel.Shihe County was a small place, and this quasi-four-star hotel called Golden Light Hotel was considered the most upscale accommodation available. Before Nie Jiuluo returned to her room, she arranged with him to set off for Xingbazi Village again at nine the next morning.

Again. They were going back.

Sun Zhou went to bed with a heavy heart, tossing and turning all night. He had fragmented dreams that wove together all sorts of bizarre legends he'd heard—so vivid they were terrifying.

In the dead of night, Nie Jiuluo was cleaning the statue of the demoness in the abandoned temple. She was alive, and the clay figure absorbed her yang energy, gradually coming to life, its features twisting grotesquely—yet she remained completely unaware.

His car wouldn’t move no matter what. He got out to check and saw the tires tangled with corn stalks. He desperately tore at them, but the stalks seemed alive, growing wildly, wrapping around his body, piercing his orifices.

That woman was dragged into the cornfield. He pretended not to see. The car sped onto the county road when suddenly, a cacophony of rustling sounds filled the air. The asphalt road sprouted dense cornstalks, and within that forest of stalks, shadowy figures drifted—the woman’s face flickering between anguish and eerie grins.

...

At nine in the morning, Sun Zhou, sporting dark circles under his eyes, drove Nie Jiuluo back to Xingbazi Village.

This time, they took the right road, arriving at the abandoned temple shortly after ten.

As usual, Nie Jiuluo entered the temple and became utterly still, lost in her work. Sun Zhou waited outside, scrolling through Weibo, watching Douyin, basking in the sun. At one point, he even climbed onto the car roof to gaze into the distance. The entire morning, only one motorcycle passed by in the distance, its engine sputtering. Three burly men—driver plus passengers—were piled onto it, overloaded and stacked like a moving mountain of flesh.

By noon, the sunlight was scorching. Sun Zhou chewed on bread washed down with a sports drink, but his gaze kept drifting toward the dense cornfields nearby.

That woman—the one dragged into the cornfield—had she been dumped nearby or taken away to be disposed of?

Or maybe he was overthinking it, making it worse than it was. Maybe there was no bloody crime. Maybe it was just a domestic fight, and she’d only been beaten.

Sun Zhou forced his eyes away and kept chewing. But soon enough, his gaze wandered back.

A voice in his head whispered: Look. Go over and look. Then you’ll know.