Chapter 3

Egg, what are you doing here? Do you want to scare me to death? I couldn't help but feel annoyed, looking at his back, not planning to get closer because I sensed something ahead that my instincts told me not to approach.

And Sister-in-law's hand seemed to be pulling me from behind, but I knew that even if I turned around suddenly, I wouldn't see her.

Is it you, Brother Tian? Brother Tian, don't go back.

Zhang Yidan spoke to me in a trembling voice without turning around. His back was hunched, and he was wearing dirty clothes, as if they had been soaked in mud water, and his shoes were made of paper.

Hearing his voice, I knew something was off, and my face turned grim. "You little brat, are you planning to scare me by pretending to be a ghost?"

Following his silhouette, I really wanted to kick him to teach him a lesson so he wouldn't scare me again at night. But just as I was about to get closer, a cold wind blew right in front of me, and the fog instantly blocked my view.

I immediately stopped in my tracks. When the fog cleared, Zhang Yidan was nowhere to be seen.

I lowered my head in deep thought. Could it be that I was hallucinating, or had Zhang Yidan been catching field mice nearby and decided to play a prank on me?

I felt that I was still a little more than halfway to Xiaoyi Village. Although I found the incident a bit eerie, I didn't plan to return to Kanglong Village. When I turned around, I again felt something pulling at the hem of my clothes, and it was even stronger in the direction of Xiaoyi Village.

Even if I knew there was danger, sometimes I had to choose the lesser of two evils.

So, I could only grit my teeth and head back to Xiaoyi Village.

Standing where Zhang Yidan had been, I saw a puddle of yellow water. I didn't know where the water came from on the otherwise dry road, and the stench was overwhelming. It seemed Zhang Yidan might have fallen into a stinky ditch and was in a bad mood, so he decided to play a prank on me.

Sister-in-law's warning and Zhang Yidan's mysterious disappearance made me feel an ominous premonition about this night journey. As I walked, I began to pay more attention to my surroundings.

However, after walking for another half an hour, nothing strange happened, and I began to relax a bit.

In front of me, the thick fog gradually revealed a two-meter-wide stone bridge. The heavy stone in my heart finally lifted.

It was the ancient bridge called Siquiao. According to the village elders, it had existed since Xiaoyi Village was established, and they said it was built before the founding of the People's Republic of China. I thought it must have been when Xiaoyi Village was still a small settlement.

Regardless of its age, the other end of the bridge was the village, and I could faintly see the dim lights of the village.

I touched the ancient bridge, remembering how, as a child, I used to swim in the river below with Zhang Yidan and other friends. The river water was clear, and we could see the pebbles at the bottom.

Bathed in the moonlight, I looked down at the river, and this sight made my hair stand on end!

Under the bridge, a group of monks were using bamboo poles to fish out bodies from the water, and a few children were skipping and singing nursery rhymes as they ran by the river.

A thousand flowers, ten thousand flowers, floating, sprinkling, piling up, building a snowman, not afraid of the cold, not afraid of the freeze.

These bodies included children, women, and the elderly. They were pale from being in the water for a long time, and some even had maggots crawling on their faces, writhing in a terrifying state. After being fished out, the monks stacked them into a small hill, and another group of monks performed rituals, sprinkled talisman water, and buried them.

Sister-in-law suddenly pulled at my clothes from behind, and I stopped in my tracks, too shocked to move.

A cold mist blew past, and when I looked down at the bridge again, there was nothing there!

The water still flowed gently under the bridge, and the monks and children seemed to have never existed. I was extremely suspicious. Was it because I was too tired and hallucinating, or was it a mirage caused by the fog?

But how did the nursery rhyme work? Could a mirage transmit sound over such a distance?

Brother Tian! Why are you still standing there? Come back to the village quickly.

Just as I was pondering the strange sight under the bridge, a girl's voice called out to me from the other end of the bridge.

I was startled by the voice and turned around, relieved to see it was Yu Xiaoxue, my childhood friend who used to follow me around.

She used to be a little girl with a runny nose, but now she had grown into a beautiful young woman. If I remembered correctly, she should be around sixteen or seventeen years old. She had previously written to me about wanting to work in Guangdong, but I had stopped her, citing her age and lack of an ID card. After all, I couldn't let the only remaining girl in the village be harmed by bad people.

As I looked at her, I felt a chill, but then I noticed her father standing at the door of her house. It was Uncle Yu Gen, who was staring at me with a blank expression, not saying a word.

Xiaoyi Village was still a wasteland when my grandmother arrived, and it gradually gained a population over the decades. Many people from different regions came to live here.

Why are you here? I greeted her and walked toward her house, intending to say hello to Uncle Yu.

Xiaoxue ran over and said sadly, "Brother Tian, why did you come back so late? Grandma has been gone for two days. Let's go to her place."

Hearing this, my heart sank. It seemed that what was bound to happen had indeed happened. My grandmother had really passed away.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes but quickly pinched my brow to hide them, thinking it would be better to cry in the memorial hall.

Uncle Yu didn't walk with us; he just stood far away, watching me silently. I didn't understand why the once warm and talkative Uncle Yu had become so quiet.

It was completely dark by now. As I passed by, I noticed that the lights in every house were on early, but the doors were tightly shut. This wasn't unusual, as the village had no streetlights, and people generally didn't move around after dark.

However, in addition to Uncle Yu, I noticed that other neighbors were standing at their doors, watching me enter the village. I was still some distance away, so I didn't greet them, thinking they must have known I had returned.

I hurried to my grandmother's house. The door was already draped in white, and the memorial hall was set up. There were paper horses and paper figures at the entrance.

Strangely, no one was around. Normally, there would be a few tables set up, and relatives and neighbors would gather to chat and drink tea.

But I thought, since my grandmother was a respected shaman, her passing might be different.

Two door gods, drawn by my grandmother, were pasted on the doors. They were twisted and distorted, but the brushstrokes were very strong. On the doorposts, there were white papers with my grandmother's surname, name, and birth and death dates. I noticed that she had written them herself, and the handwriting was very messy.

It seemed she had indeed foreseen her own death.

In the hall, a red paper-covered coffin lay quietly. This was the treatment given to the elderly who passed away naturally.

No one was keeping vigil, and the incense in front of the coffin had burned out. I hadn't had time to grieve, but my heart sank. The incense for the vigil should never be allowed to go out. Had no one come to pay respects?

I looked at Yu Xiaoxue, who shook her head, her face pale. "Brother Tian, it wasn't like this. I just lit the incense a few minutes ago. I saw you at the village entrance and came to meet you. How could it be out already?"

My grandmother's house was in a higher position in the village, and there were no close neighbors nearby, so she could see the village entrance. It was normal for her to notice my return.

It seemed that the merchants' consciences were really bad, making money off the dead, even faking the incense, which burned too quickly.

I quickly stepped into the house, but as soon as I did, I felt a chill run through my body. Cold winds seemed to blow from all directions, and I felt Sister-in-law pull at me.

However, I had no choice. It was necessary to pay respects to my grandmother. I knelt in front of the coffin and lit four incense sticks.

After extinguishing them, I placed three in the ash tray in front and one in the ash tray behind.

There was no abnormality.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Sister-in-law wasn't entirely right. Nothing had happened to me.

I stood up and sat on the straw mat to the left of the coffin. Yu Xiaoxue looked around, then, seeing me sit down, shrank her shoulders and came in, sitting on the right side of the coffin.

Although we weren't in mourning, it wasn't inappropriate for Yu Xiaoxue to keep vigil with me. In the past, when neighbors' elders passed away, we would occasionally sit with the family and chat.

Moreover, her family and mine had a good relationship. When I was away, Yu Xiaoxue often visited my grandmother, calling her "Grandma" because my grandmother's house never lacked sweets and cookies. Yu Xiaoxue was a little foodie and often snuck snacks from the offerings to the gods.

My grandmother's passing left a void in both our hearts, and we felt lost. Although we hadn't seen each other in a long time, we had nothing to talk about.

The silence inside and outside was terrifying. I could feel the cold air gathering, so I prepared to say something to break the silence.

Suddenly, I noticed the smoke from the three incense sticks in front of me becoming chaotic. I frowned.

The three incense sticks burned irregularly, with the left one longer, the right one shorter, and the middle one burning the fastest. When I saw it, it was the shortest, and the words "evil incense" immediately came to mind. I felt something bad was about to happen.

"Grandma, I came back late, please don't be angry. The incense burns quickly, so please bear with it." I thought that the elderly might be upset if the incense went out during the vigil, so I patted the cold coffin to comfort her. However, I noticed something shocking:

The coffin had not been nailed shut.

A cold, eerie feeling washed over me, making my heart race. Why hadn't it been nailed shut? Could the person in charge of the funeral have forgotten?

"Brother Tian, I'm scared. I want to sit next to you," Yu Xiaoxue said, looking at me fearfully.

"Sure, come over," I said, trying to stay calm. My heart was pounding, and I could feel the cold air around us.

The coffin had been unnailed for two days, and no one was around, as if no one knew my grandmother had passed away.

In previous years, when other elders passed away, the funeral would never be this quiet. There would always be someone in charge of the arrangements.

I also noticed that no one was cooking a large pot of food nearby. Had no one come to pay their respects?

This was not a good omen.

As I watched Yu Xiaoxue walk toward me, my heart tightened. After all, Sister-in-law's warnings had made me overly cautious.

However, this time, Sister-in-law didn't pull my clothes, and Yu Xiaoxue seemed to pose no danger.

"Xue, where are the others?" I looked around. The hall was covered in white paper, making it look desolate.

Bang!

Before Yu Xiaoxue could answer, the two old doors were suddenly blown shut by the wind, startling both of us. Yu Xiaoxue jumped up, screamed, and clung to my arm.