Chapter 13: The Night of the Soul

The chief's son let out a low cry, and they hurried up, put on their clothes, and came in a panic to chase me, but by this time I had run away, and under the cover of night in the woods, they should not have seen me.

I trotted all the way, not daring to delay, and ran home in one go. I immediately closed the door, my heart was still pounding, and it had already jumped to my throat.

My hair was all gone, and I was busy sorting it out with my hands, only to find that the hairpin on my head didn't know when it fell off.

I'll calm down first, I just saw something I shouldn't see, and I hope I won't get a needle's eye.

I thought that today was the seventh day of Grandpa Zhang's and grandma's disappearance, and if the two old men were really killed, then today would be the night of resurrection.

I went home and covered the yard with white flour and ash from my house.

If God has eyes, let me meet Grandpa Zhang and them again, and I will also ask who killed them and where their bodies went.

After doing this, I took two bowls of rice from the pot and a bottle of baijiu and placed them on the small square table. I know that Grandpa Zhang can't live without wine all the time.

I put three sticks of incense on each of the white rice, and there were a few bells tied around the small square table, and if something came and touched the table, it would cause those bells to ring, and I could hear them.

When I was done, I hid in the house. There is only a wooden door between the outhouse and the inner room, and I will hear any movement outside.

I don't know how long I waited, but I felt that the eyelids were too heavy for me to lift, so I fell asleep on the kang with clothes on.

I don't know how long it took, but all of a sudden, I heard a crisp bell outside. I awoke abruptly from my slumber, rubbed my eyes, rolled down to the ground, and ran to the door, where I secretly looked outside.

I nervously held my breath and looked out, but I didn't see anything unusual, except for a dark kitten eating bite after bite of white rice on the offering table I had set.

I had a false alarm, and I was about to blast the cat away when I went out, but as soon as I stepped out of the house, I felt the cold to the bone.

It's still summer, and the word cold can't be used. It's just a little wind blowing outside, and it's all hot. It's not going to get cold all of a sudden, and it's weirdly cold.

I hurriedly looked up, and saw a series of footprints magically appearing in the distance where the flour was sprinkled. There are two pairs of footprints, side by side.

The footprints are so clear that you can see that you are stepping on them with bare feet, and you can see that the direction of the footprints is coming in from the outside.

Are they really back?

At this time, the kitten let out a terrible cry, and it didn't care about eating, but just turned around with a big and round star, facing the direction of the door.

When I saw it like that, I sensed that something had come in. The cat immediately jumped off the small square table and hid under the cabinet with its tail between its legs.

I was very envious of it at this time, the kitten was small and could hide in narrow crevices, and I could only pestle here in a daze.

When the footprints came to me, I saw the two vague figures, and I gasped when I saw their slightly clumsy figures.

These two people were Grandpa Zhang and Grandma Zhang, and my eyes suddenly moistened.

The two old men staggered over and crouched down to the small square table, and the bell of the small square table rang again.

Grandpa Zhang picked up the rice and kept pulling it into his mouth, although the rice did not decrease substantially, but I saw that the snow-white rice began to turn black with a rapid speed that could be seen by the naked eye.

I was afraid that they would not have enough bowls, so I filled them with new ones, bowl after bowl, and a pot of rice bottomed out, but they were still unsatisfied, and I was not ready.

How much have they suffered, how much have they eaten, and have they not been satisfied?

Thinking like this, I also felt sad.

I gave them raw rice again, and I don't know if they will eat it or not. A bowl of uncooked rice also darkened at a speed visible to the naked eye, and after they had eaten a bowl of uncooked rice, they didn't ask for it again.

I saw that Grandpa Zhang was trying to open the wine, but he touched the bottle, and I forgot to prepare it for them in advance.

I wanted to help, but I was scared.

Thinking that Grandpa Zhang is usually so good to me, if I can't meet people's expectations after the old man dies, am I too unkind.

Thinking of this, I was bold, slowly reached forward, and finally grabbed the bottle of liquor with my hand.

When I saw Grandpa Zhang's sudden sight of my hand, his face turned slightly hideous, and I saw that those eyes flashed scarlet.

He also noticed me, the green tendons on my hands bulging, and my fingers pinching the bottle tightly.

"I'll open the wine, open it!" I said and comforted Grandpa Zhang, and at the same time clumsily went to open the wine, the lid of this wine bottle, as if against me again, it is not easy to open it today.

I finally opened the wine stopper, I just saw that Grandpa Zhang was so anxious that he showed his sharp teeth, and if he couldn't open it again, I was afraid that he would really come to bite me.

I didn't know what would happen if I was bitten by a ghost, but it must not be good, so I pushed the bottle to him in a hurry, and it fell down. It's over, this old man won't resent me, right?

No one in my family drinks alcohol, I still bought a bottle of this wine at the village store, and there is only this bottle at home, I can't get the second bottle, what if Grandpa Zhang is angry?

I was so anxious that I saw the wine that had flowed to the ground, but it had disappeared in the blink of an eye, but there was no wet mark on the ground.

That's when I realized that when I toasted my ancestors, didn't I always fall to the ground? It turned out that this approach was the right one, and seeing Grandpa Zhang's full-fed appearance, I also calmed down.

They were going to leave when they had finished eating, and it didn't alarm anyone, but I still had something to ask them?

I want to know where their bodies are hiding now.

So I was bold enough to get up and stop them.

"Grandpa Zhang, Grandma Zhang, you go slowly, I want to know where your body is, who harmed you like this?"

I asked a series of questions, I wonder if they can still understand me?

And at that moment, these two ghosts came towards me. I'm seeing them more and more clearly.

The two ghosts looked terrifying, they had no intact flesh, their eyes were bulging, their lips were rotten, and their gums were bare, and they looked like skeletons.

Step by step, they came towards me, as if they were going to eat me piece by piece.

"Grandpa Zhang, Grandma Zhang, don't!"