In the evening, I knocked on Li Xiulan's door, carrying a sachet of mugwort and several medicinal herbs.

The moment the security door opened, a smell mixed with rotten wood and incense wafted out.

The man who opened the door was about forty years old.

Beneath his thick eyebrows were a pair of cloudy, lifeless eyes; his lips were bluish-purple as if frozen; and there was an unnatural bulge on his neck, as if it were stuffed with cotton.

He stared at me, looking me up and down, his tone distant: "Who are you?"

"He's the new neighbor, an old man, and also a traditional Chinese medicine doctor!"

Hearing the door open, Li Xiulan rushed out: "I told you before, I said I'd have him take a look at Huwa's poor appetite."

She forced a smile as she took the medicine packet from my hand.

I smiled and held up the medicine packet: "Young man, Xiulan said the child hasn't been eating well lately? I brought some herbs to stimulate his appetite."

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the carved cabinet in the corner of the living room.

Black viscous liquid seeped from the gaps in the cabinet doors, winding into irregular patterns on the floor.

Tiger Cub was playing with building blocks on the sofa when he heard the sound and slowly turned his head.

He was holding a tattered rag doll in his arms.

The doll's limbs were twisted and entangled with hemp rope, and its face was made of cotton cloth.

The original eye positions were filled with two black holes oozing wax by red crayon, while the corners of the mouth were drawn in an upward curve, like a sinister smile that was forcibly pulled out.

"grandfather……"

He suddenly said, "You smell wonderful."

The hairs on my body stood on end instantly.

Li Xiulan hurriedly interjected, "What nonsense is this child talking about! Quickly thank Grandpa."

She quickly winked at me, gesturing for me to look at the family photo on the coffee table.

The eyes of the four people in the photo were repeatedly smeared with blue-purple watercolor pens.

It looks like someone gouged out his eyes.

Even more strangely, the rag doll on Tiger Cub's lap suddenly tilted its head.

The button that was originally fixed at the joint clicked and turned, giving me a mechanical smile.

A few strands of gray hair peek out from among the tangled hemp ropes, trembling slightly amidst the cotton filling.

I stared at the gray-white strands of hair peeking out from between the ropes of the rag doll, my throat tightening: "Tiger Cub, this doll..."

Before she could finish speaking, Li Xiulan suddenly knocked over a water glass on the coffee table, causing the water to splatter across the family photo.

She forced a smile as she bent down to tidy up, her voice trembling: "The child is clumsy and always likes to take things apart to play with."

Tiger Cub suddenly shoved the doll into my arms, and a stench of decay mixed with the smell of wax hit me.

I touched the doll's back and it felt hard, as if some kind of bone had been sewn in.

"Grandpa, touch it."

He looked up at me and smiled, blood seeping from his gums: "These are new eyes."

"Uh...very, very unique!"

I find it hard to imagine that a child's mind could be so twisted.

"Grandpa, touch it."

Tiger Cub looked up at me and smiled, his gums were bleeding, and dark red bits of food were stuck between his baby teeth.

"These are new eyes."

The rag doll in his arms had its head tilted to the side, and two black buttons had been stuffed into the places where the eyes were sewn on, with semi-solidified wax still sticking to its surface.

I reached out and touched the doll's stiff cotton face.

"Very, very unique!"

Li Xiulan suddenly squeezed next to me, her plastic slippers screeching on the floor: "Sweetie, let Grandpa take your pulse? Let's see if you have worms in your tummy?"

Tiger Cub's face instantly contorted, and he shrank back, clutching the doll to his chest. His elbow, entangled in rope, slammed against the sofa armrest with a dull thud: "No!"

"Be good, Mom will take you to the amusement park tomorrow."

Li Xiulan gripped Huwa's shoulders tightly.

The child suddenly grinned, revealing neat white teeth: "I don't want to go to the amusement park, I want to..."

He suddenly leaned close to my ear and said, "I want Grandpa's eyes, to match the baby's."

Li Xiulan's knee slammed heavily against the corner of the coffee table, causing the porcelain cup to fall to the ground.

Tiger Cub had already grabbed the doll's severed limbs and stuffed them into his mouth, the hemp rope twisting between his teeth, drawing out dark red juice.

"Stop fooling around!"

Her husband poked his head out of the kitchen, his apron stained with dirt: "If the child wants it, let him have it..."

"Oh dear, the child is naughty! And you're naughty too!"

Li Xiulan suddenly raised her voice and hugged Huwa tightly.

I shivered and quickly changed the subject: "Where are the two elderly people?"

"Dad is playing chess downstairs, and Mom said she has a headache and is resting inside. I'll take you to see her."

Li Xiulan's fingers twisted around Huwa's collar, her knuckles turning white.

...

The moment the door was opened, a stench of decay mixed with the smell of sawdust hit me.

The old-fashioned five-drawer chest was covered in a layer of dust, and the blue cotton quilt on the bed was crumpled up, looking nothing like someone had ever lain on it.

I went around and even opened the wardrobe to check, but it was empty except for a musty smell.

"Didn't you say your mother-in-law was in the room? Where is she?"

Li Xiulan's face turned deathly pale as she screamed, "Mom! Where are you?"

She lifted the curtains and peered under the bed from the floor.

I crouched down and just as I saw a wad of tattered cotton stuffed under the bed, a withered hand suddenly darted out of the darkness, its icy fingers gripping my ankle tightly.

Li Xiulan's mother-in-law crawled out from under the bed with her back hunched over. Her gray hair was stuck to her sweaty face, and there were wood chips stuck in her fingernails.

Holy crap!

Didn't Li Xiulan just lie under the bed and look?

Where is she hiding?

Could it be...?

A picture suddenly popped into my mind.

An elderly woman, around sixty years old, clung to the bed frame with her hands and feet like a gecko, hanging precariously from the bottom of the bed.

When she grinned, black slurry seeped from her toothless mouth, and she suddenly pressed my ear against the cabinet door.

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