Chapter 21: Borrowing Blood The sun had already set, and the rays of light were fading away. I sat up from the coffin in a daze. The room was empty, and the sunlight shone through the tiles, casting shadows all over the room. The girl is awake, awake. Yeah, why is she sleeping in a coffin if she’s not dead? Hehehe, who knew why this girl had such a hobby, it’s so scary. There were bursts of whispering. Who was talking? I stood on tiptoe and tried to climb out of the coffin to take a look, but my body was staggering. Tian'er, are you awake? Grandpa walked in quickly from outside, his kind face full of worry. The whispers that were just going on suddenly stopped. I listened carefully and the only sound in the room was the sound of my grandfather sucking on the old tobacco leaves. Where did the strange sound come from? I couldn't help but frown. But you feel uncomfortable? Grandpa came over and touched my forehead. It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt, Grandpa, I rubbed my swollen temples with my hands. Are you dizzy? Grandpa used his hands like dry tree bark to massage my head.
Outside the house, by the moss-covered pond, my mother turned over all my clothes, and the bedding that had caused my nosebleed yesterday was washed clean. I walked over quietly, stood beside the washing table and looked at my mother quietly. My mother's eyes were red: "I know that if you stay with me all the time, you will not survive. But if you leave, I can't let you go." "This is fate, there is no need to force it." I said lightly. The mother stared at the girl in front of her in a daze, as if she were examining a stranger, full of doubts and confusion... In a blink of an eye, Shijia Bay ushered in a new round of nightfall. In the night sky, the moon was dim, the stars were sparse, and the whole earth seemed to be sleeping. The oil press workers were chatting and playing cards in front of the brazier. The warm house made me so sleepy that I yawned and fell asleep in my grandfather's arms. Suddenly, the wild barking sounds of Ah Huang and Ah Wang were heard. I rubbed my eyes and said in confusion: "Grandpa, there are people and souls outside." Grandpa froze while blowing smoke rings. Then he whispered, "It's okay, kid, just go to sleep." Grandpa, didn't you say, bite humans quickly, bite gods slowly, and bite ghosts slowly? At this time, the dog barked rapidly, but it was difficult to distinguish between humans and ghosts. "Tian'er, what are you looking at?" Grandpa asked in a low voice. "Grandpa, those guys outside are looking at me, and there are other people." I hugged my grandpa in fear. Outside the window, a strong wind suddenly blew. The starry sky, which had just been warm and bright, changed in the blink of an eye. The wind made the old oilcloth on the window snap. As the wind demon approached, the strong wind blew up the sand and rain that hit the pines and cypresses, making a rustling sound. The whole sky seemed to be covered with a brown curtain. The moon had long disappeared. It was dark and gloomy, and nothing could be seen beyond a few feet... "What's wrong? Are you scared?" Grandpa patted my back gently, with a smile on his kind face. I shook my head. "Oh, why is it suddenly windy and rainy? I was just about to go to the toilet." Worker Lao Zhang stood up and looked outside. Then he tightened his clothes and walked out. As soon as Lao Zhang walked out of the door, the wind roared and slammed the door shut. The rain hit the wall and poured straight into the house. The warmth of the firewood in the house was blown away in an instant, and a low whimper broke out from the chimney... "Old Zhang, you are so lazy that you pee and shit a lot. It's raining heavily now, why are you going to the toilet?" The workers laughed and scolded Old Zhang when they saw him going to the toilet in the rain.
As soon as he finished speaking, a scream was heard from outside the house. The workers' laughter stopped abruptly. Grandpa quickly stood up, hugged me and rushed out. The yard was already pouring with rain, but there was no sign of Uncle Zhang. The workers also ran out and went to the toilet separately. At this moment, a bolt of lightning struck, and I suddenly found a woman in the cemetery outside the yard looking at me. Her side bangs were wetly stuck to her face, her small cherry mouth, with a trace of blood between her lips and teeth, was filled with a faint smile. Through the wide neckline of her red robe, her pointed chin and beautiful collarbone were amazingly perfect. Her slender body was also wrapped in a blood-red long skirt, and the floor-length cotton skirt swayed in the wind... "Grandpa, it's her, it's her, that bad woman." I stammered and pointed to the cemetery. Hearing the sound, Grandpa threw all the black bamboo hexagrams in his hand over. It was extremely bizarre. These two pieces of black bamboo, which were old and mottled, were my toys from time to time. But at this moment, they seemed to have eyes and flew towards the woman. In an instant, I heard rat-like sounds coming from the yard, like moans and complaints. In less than a minute, there was complete silence. The woman's figure trembled, and she casually threw a pair of souls in front of my eyes. Grandpa loudly rebuked, "This poor fellow actually resorted to the tactic of sacrificing pawns to protect the king. I looked at the two souls on the ground coldly without saying a word. "Girl, please spare me, girl, please spare me." The fat third brother ran over holding the thin fourth brother's head, and knelt down when he saw me. "It seems that you have no intention of living well." I glanced at them sharply. "No, no, no. We can't control ourselves at all, and we don't have the ability to escape." Fat Third was so anxious that he was about to cry. "Uncle Bold, please come in and take a look. Old Zhang seems to be dead." The workers' anxious voices came from inside the house. Grandpa hummed. He said to the two souls sternly, "You are so bold, you managed to escape from my formation. You really thought you escaped, didn't you?" After he finished speaking, grandpa bit his index finger and flicked out the blood. A puff of green smoke flew up at an angle. Skinny Fourth Brother had no head and was unable to dodge and was splashed directly. After two hissing sounds, he disappeared into thin air. The fat third brother saw his soul shrinking. He was so anxious that he was shaking all over. He knelt down and begged for mercy: "Grandpa, please spare my life. Please spare my life. My ancestors have only one son for seven generations. I died young, and there will be no descendants from now on. I just want you to cast a spell to let me return to my soul and see my parents. I have no intention of staying in the world forever." I waved to Grandpa, signaling him not to do anything yet. I walked over, stood beside Fat Third, took out the lighter from my arms, and took it out beside him. Fat Third was so scared that he was crawling on the ground, crying bitterly. "Girl, we didn't escape by ourselves, but someone let us out. You also saw that there are not only the two of us, but many of them were just beaten back by the master's magic power. "Grandpa, please go inside." I slipped out of Grandpa's arms, my clothes soaked with rain. Grandpa said nothing, threw the bamboo hat from the yard over to me, and walked straight into the house. Fat Third looked at me nervously. I took out the lighter from my arms, gently lifted up Fat Third's chin, and asked coldly, "Why were you able to escape from Grandpa's formation? Who helped you? What are you going to do?" "Girl, don't. It was a woman who helped me. I don't know her name. But she promised that as long as I could kill you, she could help me regain my soul. However, I know that I have no ability to kill you, and I don't want to kill you, because we have known each other for a long time, right?" Fat Old Third's fat face was covered with tears, and he was sobbing a little. I felt a slight headache starting to build up, and I couldn't help but frown and stare at him impatiently. "I'm telling you, because she got your blood, all these souls came out, and they all want to borrow her blood to return their souls." The fat third brother said all in one breath. "My blood...my blood again." I suddenly felt a little angry. Fat Third nodded dejectedly. "I don't know how the blood was obtained. But this woman did return to her true form. This way, more people will come looking for you, girl. I don't want to hurt you. After all, I watched you grow up." "I didn't expect you to be so kind? But now I want..." After saying that, grandpa flashed from behind me, opened the tattered ancient book in an instant, and the fat third brother flew in. When I went into the house with my grandfather again, I saw Uncle Zhang lying straight on the bench, his face lifeless, and a pool of something under him that I couldn't tell whether it was water or urine.
(End of this chapter)