My boyfriend of eight years dumped me a month ago, and quickly got married in a flash.
He said I was only good-looking, but completely unworthy of him. Now he was bored with me, and he wanted to marry a woman of equal status and wealth, telling me to roll away from him knowingly.
But he didn't know that I was a witch, passed down from generation to generation, specializing in treating unfaithful men.
——
My name is Catalina, and I've been dating James for eight years.
In freshman year, it was him who pursued me, but I knew there was too big a gap between us, so I initially rejected him.
It took him two whole years to win me over, but later, he only took a minute to break up with me.
After being with him, I always kept a respectful distance. I didn't spend his money just because James was well-off.
We were just like ordinary college couples, eating ten-yuan spicy hot pot and five-yuan fried dough twists.
After graduating from college, James said to me, "Catalina, don't go to work, let me support you."
I loved James very much, and when he said that to me, his eyes shone like stars.
My heart was beating really fast at that moment, and I cried with emotion and a lump in my throat.
It was that very night that I gave myself to him, four whole years after I first met him.
I finally confirmed that this man was worth my trust.
I still remember that night, James was very gentle and considerate of my feelings.
Because of his care, I felt very happy.
Nowadays, in this new society, compared to others' casual relationships, I was already quite conservative.
I don't oppose cohabitation before marriage, I just need to make sure that this person is really worth my trust.
Once I confirmed that James was worth it, I went all out.
Every time we kissed, he felt so uncomfortable, but I had already noticed it.
Since I've decided that he's the one for this life, what's the harm in giving myself to him?
James said he wanted to support me, but I never really let him do that.
After all the hard work I put into getting into college, everything I've learned, and all the effort I've made, I'm not allowing myself to be just James's caged bird.
I want to be someone standing shoulder to shoulder with him.
During those four years of working, there were times when we had to go on separate business trips.
But whenever we were free, we were like conjoined twins, hating to be apart from each other even for a moment. James even took me to meet his parents.
His parents didn't like me because my family was poor and I came from a remote little village - I was just a country bumpkin.
I didn't care about any of that. In order to be worthy of James, I started learning wine tasting and tea brewing.
James's mother liked painting, so I took classes too, and after a long time I became quite skilled at it.
I thought the more I ran towards James, the more we could walk side by side, get married, have children, and live happily ever after.
But I never imagined that in the year I turned 28, James would break up with me in just one minute.
He said I wasn't good enough for him, that we didn't belong together.
He said he was getting married next month and told me not to cling on.
He said his family was powerful and influential, and if I clung on, I knew the consequences.
His loving eyes turned tormenting as he said, "Catalina, you're so stupid. A country bumpkin like you, with just a bit of looks. Did you really think you could soar up and become a phoenix? I was after you because you're an ice queen, I could tell at first glance. A pure, innocent girl like you, unlike those vain women who lose their innocence at such a young age."
"I could date you, but not marry you. We had a good run, and after all these years I let you have a good time too, right? We each took what we needed. On the 26th next month I'm getting married - if you're willing, you can come have a celebratory drink, I'd be happy about that."
James said this with a smile on his face.
Seeing my trembling body, he seemed very satisfied with the result.
I was trembling uncontrollably, because for me this felt like a dream.
James, who had been so good to me, who loved me and cared for me so much - how could that have been fake?
With a loud 'bang', James moved out all his belongings.
In this small one-bedroom, one-living room, one-kitchen, and one-bathroom apartment, I was left alone.
My heart ached painfully, and it felt like all the strength in my body had been drained away in an instant.
I collapsed onto the floor, opening my mouth countless times but unable to utter a single word.
I reached out my hands innumerable times, longing to grasp something, but my hands were empty.
I was completely dazed. The twenty-fourth of this month would be my twenty-eighth birthday.
Just a few days ago, James said he would give me a big surprise for my birthday this year.
But he hadn't given me that big surprise before breaking up with me...
No—
I suddenly opened my eyes wide and froze. The big surprise, James had already given it to me.
The breakup, being upfront was the big surprise he had mentioned, wasn't it?
Heh heh heh—
I felt a sharp pain in my heart. I curled up my body, trying to hug myself into a ball.
It seemed like this way, I wouldn't feel so sad anymore.
Countless tears streamed down from my eyes.
I silently screamed to myself, 'Catalina, don't cry, don't cry. The sadder you are, the happier he'll be. Don't cry.'
But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop my tears from flowing. I broke down and wailed loudly.
The apartment had poor soundproofing, and my cries attracted knocks from the neighbors.
But I couldn't care about anything else. My heart ached so much, and I was overwhelmed with sadness, feeling like I was going to die.
I cried louder and louder, remembering how close James and I used to be in this apartment.
Due to poor soundproofing, I had to suppress my voice when doing that. James would mischievously say, "You sound like a kitten meowing."
He seemed to love me so sincerely, yet he let go so easily.
I cried my heart out, and even the neighbor's knocking faded away.
I don't know how long I cried, but afterward, my throat was hoarse, and my eyes were swollen and painful.
I even lost consciousness.
When I awoke again, sunlight was shining on me.
I sat up in a daze, staring blankly for a while before recalling that yesterday, James and I had broken up.
He's getting married next month.
He abandoned me, he toyed with me.
James, James—
I gritted my teeth, silently uttering his name. James only knew that I came from a remote village in Guizhou.
But he didn't know that my family has been practicing witchcraft for generations.
My mother, my grandmother, they all knew the art of witchcraft, passed down only to the daughters.
Although society is now open, my mother didn't want me to get involved in such practices.
She taught me the methods of making voodoo dolls according to tradition, but forbade me from casually practicing witchcraft.
Because practicing witchcraft harms others, and harming others ultimately harms oneself.
I cannot casually practice witchcraft, but I must know how to do it.
I remember my mother saying, "We don't harm others, but if someone harms us, we must retaliate. Even insects have a fighting spirit, let alone humans."
I thought I would never touch witchcraft in this life.
But now, a thought has taken root in my mind.
I want to put a curse on James. I want him to suffer immensely and pay the price for toying with my emotions.
I won't harm others if they don't harm me, but if they do, I'll return it a hundredfold.
He's getting married next month on the 26th, which will be the perfect opportunity for me to curse him.
2.
After deciding to curse James, I finally got up and tidied myself up.
I went to the bathroom and looked at my disheveled self in the mirror. My hatred for James grew even stronger.
My eyes were very swollen. After washing my face and brushing my hair, I put on sunglasses and left with a cloth bag.
I first went to buy small clay pots, getting two around the size of watermelons weighing two pounds each.
Then I went to the pharmacy and bought some scattered Chinese medicinal herbs.
These herbs are usually used for making nourishing soups for the body. Even if James later finds out he's been cursed and tries to trace it back to me, he won't find anything.
After all, there's no law stating that a woman can't buy herbs for nourishing soups after a breakup.
After buying everything, I went home and ground the herbs into powder.
I melted some candle wax, mixed in the herb powder, and then let the wax solidify again.
Once that was done, I requested vacation leave from work and booked a flight and accommodation for the evening.
I threw a couple of clothes into a large suitcase and packed the herbs, clay pots, and everything else I had bought.
After packing, I headed straight to the airport.
Four hours later, I arrived in the south.
I went to an ancient town with a higher temperature and dense jungles, which have more snakes and insects, making it ideal for brewing a potent curse.
By the time I reached the ancient town, it was already pitch black. I first checked into the accommodation.
I turned on my phone and a flood of missed calls popped up, some from James and others from my friend Anna}.
I was just about to call Anna back when she called me first, so I quickly answered.
"Catalina, where did you go? Where are you?
Let me tell you, that son of a bitch James, I'm not done with him. He's a beast. Don't bother with him, don't do anything stupid, okay? Tell me where you are, I'll come find you right now! That dead piece of trash, he'll get what's coming to him. Honey, please don't do anything stupid—"
Anna didn't even wait for me to open my mouth before she started pouring it all out. By the end, her voice was choked up.
In the few hours since I turned off my phone and boarded the plane, she must have been worried sick. Anna is a friend I met in college, and she's my best friend.
She witnessed the years I was with James, she knows how much I loved him, so she's afraid I might do something stupid because I can't accept it.
Fighting back tears, I opened my mouth: "Anna, you don't need to worry about me. I'm fine, I won't do anything stupid. It's just that this happened so suddenly, I can't adjust my emotions right away, so I went out to clear my head. I'll be back in a week. Really, I'm in this ancient town now, I'll show you tomorrow, it's very beautiful online."
"You scared me to death, you know? I couldn't get through to your phone, so I asked James what you were doing. He said you broke up, and he's getting married next month. He told me not to ask him about you anymore. I was so scared—I called your company, they said you took ten days off. I went to your rental place, no one answered the door, your neighbor said you cried for a long time yesterday—Wah wah wah, I was so scared—"
Anna spoke in a sobbing voice, breaking off repeatedly.
Listening to her, I felt tears welling up too.
James suddenly broke up with me, didn't that deal me a huge blow too?
Actually, it's not like I can't live without him. If he had just told me properly that he doesn't love me anymore, that we're not suitable, that would be fine.
Instead of using that mocking tone to break up with me, to say those things.
He toyed with me, and I'll make sure he pays the price.
"Catalina, don't be sad. I'll be with you. In life, what difficulty can't be overcome? If Heaven itself has cut off this connection, it's a good thing. You'll find someone better than James in the future, wah wah wah—Where are you, I'll take leave and book a ticket to come find you right away!"
Anna took a deep breath and tried to comfort me with her words, but she ended up crying again.
She's not really the type to comfort others. I know she wants to comfort me now, to keep me company through this difficult time.
But I still have things to do, and I don't want Anna to know about this.
So I sniffed and said, "Anna, I want to be alone for a while. I won't do anything stupid. You're right, there's no difficulty that can't be overcome. I am feeling down right now, but I'll be okay. It just so happens that I haven't really relaxed for two years, so I'll take this time to calm down."
Anna knows my temper, but she's worried about me. After I assured her multiple times that I just wanted to be alone, she felt relieved.
Not long after hanging up the phone, James called me.
I didn't answer, and he sent me a text message. I took a glance at it and sneered coldly.
James said, "Catalina, what adult hasn't gone through a breakup? Whether you live or die has nothing to do with me. Even if you die, I won't have to compensate your parents a single penny."
Just this one sentence made me imagine how ugly his expression must have been on the other end.
How can a person have so many faces? I wondered.
I ignored James and rested at the inn for a day.
The next day, after eating something to fill my stomach, I left with my suitcase.
There were many scenic spots in the ancient city, and I went to one randomly, avoiding the crowds and entering the forest.
After making sure there was no one around, I took out the things I had prepared.
First, I lit the wick made of powdered herbs and put it in a jar, then sat and watched over it.
A faint smoke drifted out of the jar, and before long, some insects started crawling over.
They crawled into the jar.
As more smoke drifted out, more and more snakes, bugs, mice, and ants crawled into the jar.
There were venomous snakes, big black ants, and warty toads.
When the jar was full and the candle wick burned out, I stepped forward and looked at the swarm of various creatures writhing inside the jar.
I took out a small knife and cut my ringfinger.
As my blood dripped into the jar, the creatures thrashed about more violently, and it was impossible to tell who was eating whom.
I put the lid on, tidied up, and sat quietly waiting.
It wasn't until after six in the evening, when there was no more movement from the jar, that I packed up and hiked back to the inn.
It's been a long time since I've eaten anything, but I'm not hungry at all.
Over the next few days, I'll come here every day to get these bugs back to my hostel, and I won't let anyone clean up, or else these things will be a hassle if the cleaners accidentally see them.
Luckily, it's the height of summer now, and I need a lot of bugs for refining the insect corpses, which are easy to find.
Anna will video call me at night to check on my condition. I'm very calm and tell her that I'll be back in a couple of days.
During the day in the mountains, the signal is poor, so we can't get in touch.
Today is already July 1st, and in two more days, I'll have collected the things I need.
Thinking about the insect corpses, I'm a bit distracted from the video call with Anna.
"Catalina, you've lost so much weight. You have to eat well, or Auntie would be so upset if she saw you like this."
Anna choked up again.
I unconsciously touched my own face.
These few days, for the sake of refining the insect corpses, I haven't been eating properly, just having some buns and dumplings to get by, and it has indeed taken a toll, my skin is loose.
Anna is right, I can't neglect my health.
I smiled at the camera and said, "Anna, I'll eat well, don't worry. The night market here is great, I'll go and eat something now."
3.
The night market in this small town is quite good, with barbecue and hot pot galore.
I had some barbecue and a few drinks, which put Anna's mind at ease before I hung up the video call.
What Anna didn't know was that after the call, I couldn't hold it in anymore and threw up somewhere.
I lied when I said I'd adjusted well, how could I get better so quickly?
The harm James did to me was so great, I can't swallow this, if I don't take revenge on him, I'll never recover.
I actually don't want to mess with insect corpses, if I could, I'd never touch them in this life.
It's because the curse has never been a good thing from beginning to end. I understand that this is harming the enemy by a thousand while hurting myself by eight hundred, but I can't swallow this anger.
Revenge is what sustains my belief.
Two days later, I returned to Safe City from the ancient city.
I sealed the jar well. The stuff inside will become a real curse in half a month.
Anna came to find me and accompanied me in a drunken debauch.
The alcohol numbed me. The next day, I only vaguely remembered hugging Anna and crying bitterly.
I said so much, but I can't recall what specifically.
Anna has left. I went to wash up, and felt much better after washing up.
Seeing the note left by Anna, my heart warmed. There was shredded chicken porridge cooked by Anna in the kitchen, at just the right temperature.
I started eating it. Just as I finished eating, James called.
I frowned, feeling nauseated in my heart.
But thinking of my plan, I still answered the phone: "What's up?"
It wasn't James on the phone, but his colleague, who said urgently: "Catalina, you'd better come over. Your friend came and beat James up, sending him to the hospital. She was also injured."
What?
I immediately asked: "Which hospital?"
James's colleague immediately told me the address, and I rushed over.
At the hospital, Anna and I stared at each other wide-eyed.
I looked at Anna's arm in a sling, pained: "Anna, thank you."
Anna had broken James's nose, and her own arm was also fractured, which shows the force she used.
According to James's colleague Tom, at that time James's nosebleed just gushed out, and couldn't be stopped no matter what, while James also quickly passed out.
Anna spread what James had done in James' company.
When Tom said these things, Anna's face turned red, but she still said spiritedly: "Who let him deceive women's feelings? Such a scumbag man should be beaten every time I see him."
Tom smiled awkwardly and scratched his head, then said: "You did the right thing, you're a heroine."
Hearing Tom's praise, Anna blushed.
Tom saw me coming over, so he said what he had to say. He felt awkward staying, so he said he'd leave first and left.
After Tom left, I sat down by the hospital bed.
I looked at Anna and thanked her again: "Anna, thank you."
Anna smiled and sighed: "Catalina, I know it takes time for wounds to heal, but you have to believe that there will be something better in the future. You and James aren't married yet, and you don't have children. Before that, heaven has stopped you two, what a great blessing!"
I felt warm in my heart and nodded.
Indeed, that's how it is.
A marriage stopped by heaven is a good thing.
James stormed in angrily. He looked at me with an awkward expression, and when he saw Anna, his eyes seemed to want to spit fire.
Anna was also very angry, gritting her teeth and glaring at James: "What, do you want me to punch you again?"
Just as James was about to speak, I stood up and blocked his view. I looked at James and said, "This is what you owe me."
James looked at me, seeming to think I looked too haggard.
His expression was a bit awkward, and he said impatiently: "Let's just leave it at that. Don't come looking for me again in the future."
I gave a cold laugh and looked at James: "Didn't you say you'd invite me to your wedding banquet? Are you going back on your word now?"
James frowned. He did seem to regret it a bit, but he was also worried that I would keep bothering him in the future.
He looked at me, and his voice softened a bit: "Catalina, it's over between us. We have no future together. You're only twenty-eight now, you still have a long life ahead of you. You don't need to keep bothering me, understand?"
I smiled, understanding what James meant.
He just wanted to say that my obsession with him would not lead to a good outcome.
I looked at him, his face was so familiar, yet now it seemed completely foreign, as if I never knew him.
I smiled and said, "Attending your wedding, drinking to your joy, even though I couldn't marry you, it's not too much to ask for a drink to your happiness, is it?"
James looked at me and nodded, "If you're only here to drink to my happiness, I welcome you."
My heart was bitter, and I smiled back at him, "Of course, I'm only here to drink to your happiness."
James felt there was nothing more to say, and he prepared to leave.
I looked at James, took a deep breath, and called out to stop him, "James."
James stopped and turned to look at me.
I decided to give him one chance, if this time, he was honest.
I took a deep breath, then looked up at him and said, "James, you're marrying her only because you're a good match, and you have no feelings for each other, right? I want to hear the truth."
I looked at James, if he told me the truth this time, I would let him go.
I would forgive him for the pain he had caused me, and I would stop putting a curse on him.
James looked at me, smiled slightly, and said, "Catalina, I've already fallen for her, fallen in love with her. I'm marrying her not only because we're a good match, but also because of love."
The smile instantly faded from my face.
James saw my reaction and thought I still had feelings for him.
He said again, "Catalina, don't think I'm marrying her just for the benefits or anything like that, that's not good."
I swallowed hard and said hoarsely, "I understand, you can go now."
"Don't say anything more, I know you love her very much."
I didn't want to hear another word from him, he had already made his choice.
Since you say you love her so much, then I'll see just how much you really love her.
This was my last chance for him, but he didn't take it, so I won't hesitate anymore.
James wanted to say something, but the silent Anna shouted at him: "Are you leaving or not? If not, I'll get up and beat you right now, you old hag! From now on, I'll hit you every time I see you!"
James twisted his mouth and walked away.
After James left, Anna quickly comforted me: "Catalina, we're not going to that damn wedding, there's nothing good about it."
"That hypocritical scumbag will eventually come to no good end."
Anna cursed James and his ancestors furiously.
I smiled wryly.
With the struggle gone from my heart, everything seemed easier.
I left it all to fate. If James had apologized to me properly during those days, I would have stopped my actions.
But until July 26th, the day of his wedding, I never received his apology.
I had planned to secretly attend the wedding banquet and drink the wine.
But Anna refused to let me, worrying about me, and eventually came with me to the hotel.
The Venus Hotel, a famous luxury hotel in the city, charged thousands for a single table at the banquet.
At the entrance was a wedding photo of James and his bride, looking like a perfectly matched couple.
What a pity...
