Evil Spirits (On the Run with a Baby)

Chi Ying was born at the transition between the Hai and Zi hours. He was naturally heavy with yin energy and prone to attracting evil spirits.

When he was seven, he fell gravely ill. No medicine could cure him, and with no other options, his family sent him to a Buddhist temple, where he was registered as a temple resident.

He grew up peacefully there until, at seventeen, he suddenly began suffering from nightmares night after night. In his dreams, beneath the merciful gaze of the Buddha's golden statue, an evil creature pinned him to the altar and copulated with him.

At a temple bustling with worshippers, not one person noticed the evil energy clinging to him.

Every day, Chi Ying drank a cup of tea to ward off evil and calm his spirit, but his belly kept growing.

To his horror, he discovered that he was pregnant.

Could a man... get pregnant too?

Chi Ying fled the temple that had sheltered him for ten years. Pregnant, he was afraid to go home and had nowhere else to turn.

By chance, he met a kind and noble young gentleman on the road. The man took him in, and as they spent their days together, they gradually fell in love.

Chi Ying wrapped his belly tightly in cotton cloth, terrified that someone would discover he was a monster. But one night, the man noticed that something was different about his body.

Yet the contempt and disgust Chi Ying expected never came. The man simply smiled at him, calm and gentle, and confessed his feelings.

"Don't be afraid. Once the child is born, I'll be his real father."

The noble gentleman married him in a grand ceremony, and Chi Ying became his wife.

The child was born safely. Pale-faced, Chi Ying asked first, "Is... anything wrong with it?"

For months, he had worried constantly, afraid the child would be born a monster too.

The man looked at the baby in his arms, whose face had no features, and smiled calmly. "Strong and healthy. A fine child."

At last, Chi Ying's heart was at ease.

Theme: Be true to yourself.