The Cursed Keystone
Language: en
I was the sacrifice. My brother was the prize. All because the village elders said: "A daughter's fate is too strong; she'll crush the son's life force. You must use a 'Keystone' to suppress her!" My mother believed every word of this superstitious nonsense. If my brother coughed, I starved for a day. If he had a fever, I knelt until dawn. My mother always said, "You're the older sister; it's your duty to take the bad luck for him." When I was eight, my brother's illness worsened. The local witch, Granny Zhao, handed my mother a grey brick carved with runes: "Let her hold this…