She was a woman with a difficult fate. Two years ago, her purity was taken from her, and then two years later, she encountered the son of her enemy. No matter how indifferent a person was to revenge, it was hard to control emotions.
Regarding the woman's plight, Grandpa seemed to also have some sympathy, letting out a long sigh and saying, "When will this cycle of retaliation end? By imposing your own grievances on a child, do you know that this will prevent him from even becoming a lonely ghost?"
The woman, teary-eyed, said, "Master, I really didn't know it would have such serious consequences."
Grandpa waved his hand and said, "Well, earthly matters should be dealt with by earthly people. As long as you are willing to surrender another soul, I can find a way for you to be reincarnated."
The female ghost quickly said, "Thank you very much, Master."
Grandfather remained silent, and once again tore a piece of yellow paper into the shape of a paper person, then laid it flat on the ground and nodded at the female ghost. As the female ghost closed her eyes and sank into the water, the paper person suddenly stood up. Grandfather sighed as he looked at the water's surface, picked up the paper person, and started to walk back.
I remained silent along the way. Some things are just so unpredictable.
Two years ago, Du Feng's father killed this woman, but he could never have imagined that because of this mistake from two years ago, he almost killed his own son.
I had made up my mind. As long as I could save Du Feng's life, I would call the police next. I couldn't allow a murderer to go unpunished.
When we arrived at Du Feng's house, it was already getting dark. Seeing us return, Du Feng's grandmother, who was guarding him, quickly wiped away her tears and stood up, saying, "Brother Yin, please, you must save my grandson."
"Don't worry," Grandfather comforted her, then went straight to Du Feng, bending down to pick up the kitchen knife and handing me six willow branches and the last paper person to arrange them in a straight line above Du Feng's head.
After arranging them, Grandfather took out three white candles and placed them under Du Feng's feet. After lighting them, he murmured some words and lit two yellow papers. When the yellow papers were nearly burnt halfway, he waved the flames across Du Feng's body, then immediately lit the seven paper people.
In the moment when the paper people caught fire, it seemed as if they had come back to life and began to squirm intensely on the ground, almost as if they had been injected with life, and they all headed towards Du Feng who was lying on the ground.
I watched in astonishment, while Du Feng's grandmother quickly covered her mouth, staring in shock at everything happening before her eyes.
As the seven paper people were attached to Du Feng, they had almost completely burned out, leaving only seven clusters of ash attached to his body. Grandfather seemed to be very satisfied with everything and turned to scoop a bowl of water, sprinkling it over the ash.
After the ash was wetted by the water, it seemed as if seven small snakes were creeping into Du Feng's body.
This was called soul returning. Grandfather had talked about these things before, but I didn't take them too seriously as a child. Today, however, I was quite amazed.
After all seven soul fragments returned to his body, Du Feng started to violently tremble on the ground, as if being electrocuted. What surprised me was that the thin white threads binding his hands and feet didn't break, but seemed to be getting tighter and tighter.
Seeing her grandson in such pain, Du Feng's grandmother wanted to rush over and hold him, but was reprimanded by a stern shout from Grandfather: "Stop, if you touch him for a moment, he will die right in front of you!"
"Brother Yin, but it's my grandson...”
Before she could finish speaking, Grandfather said, "Don't worry, his seven souls have been wandering outside for a day and a night. After readjusting, he will be fine."
I also walked over to comfort her and said, "My grandfather's judgment is always right, so just relax."
She nodded, looking at her grandson trembling on the ground with a heartache.
After waiting for nearly five minutes, Du Feng's intense trembling finally stopped. Under Grandfather's instructions, I carried Du Feng back into the room. The previous cold air had disappeared, and the water stains on the ground had also evaporated.
After turning around, the room behind the door was empty, and the drowned ghost must have completely departed.
I covered Du Feng with a blanket, closed the door, and walked out.
Du Feng's grandmother kept expressing her gratitude to Grandfather in the courtyard. Seeing me coming out, she also thanked me. I smiled and patted my forehead, saying that it was nothing, and that she should just thank my grandfather.
After the round of thanks, Grandfather didn't rush to leave, he sat on a chair, took out a tobacco pipe and took a puff, then said, "There are some things I don't know if I should say, but since I've encountered them, I must speak up."
Du Feng's grandmother nodded eagerly and said, "Brother Yin, just say anything. As long as I can do it, I will definitely do it."
Grandpa waved his hand and glanced at me, saying, "Mingyang, go ahead."
I was stunned, organized my thoughts, and hurriedly spoke, "We just went to the other side of the creek and found out that the reason that the drowned ghost did this was for revenge."
"Revenge?" Aunt Du nearly collapsed to the ground, her empty eyes looking pale as she said, "Our family has never provoked any trouble, nor harmed anyone. This has nothing to do with us."
I squinted, putting on a dignified and mysterious look and said, "It's not related to you, but that doesn't mean it's not related to your son."
Aunt Du hastily waved her hand and said, "My son? It's not possible. He's doing business in the county town and hasn't come back for a long time."
I squinted, not telling her about the heinous things her son had done, but tactfully said, "If you don't believe it, call and tell him that a woman named Yu Li is looking for him."
Aunt Du hesitated for a long time, then reached for her phone and dialed a number. After the call connected, she quickly asked, "Zhan Xiong, do you know a woman named Yu Li?"
Even though it was over the phone, I could still hear Zhan Xiong's surprised inhale. His voice wasn't very loud, but it was very quiet at the moment, and I could still hear him, "Mom, she's looking for me?"
Aunt Du's brows trembled, and she asked, "Do you really know her? What did you do to offend her? She's now going to kill Xiaofeng!"
I didn't listen carefully to what Zhan Xiong said on the phone, but after hanging up, Aunt Du's emotions were very bad.
I looked at Grandpa, not knowing whether to tell Aunt Du about Zhan Xiong's act of murder and abandoning the body. But Grandpa just continued smoking without saying anything, so I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.
Aunt Du stood still for a while, and suddenly squatted on the ground and started crying. I touched my nose, intending to go and comfort her, but before I could do anything, Grandpa suddenly stood up and threw his pipe to the ground, urgently saying, "We're in trouble, Mingyang, we've been tricked!"
I was confused and had no idea what Grandpa was talking about. It was then that a mysterious and creepy laughter suddenly came from Xiaofeng's room.