Corpse Resurrection
That night, the lonely night hung high in the sky, and the cold night light poured down, shining through the mottled shadows of the trees onto the courtyard and houses. The street where the Zhao and Chen families lived was already remote and deserted, and the silent night made it even more desolate.
The evening breeze howled, and the sound of shovels digging soil rang out again in the Zhao family's backyard. Hei Lizi, who was on the wall with sharp ears, bent down and stood up, stretching his limbs. Hei Li jumped off the wall, squatted in the shade of a tree, and watched the man who was busy working alone.
Mr. Zhao turned around and saw the black cat squatting in the dark shade of a tree, licking its paws. Its pair of vertical pupils, emitting green light, stared straight at him, making him feel a little uneasy.
Mr. Zhao still remembered the legend his grandmother had told him when he was little, about a black fox stumbling upon a corpse. He quickly tossed the two bodies on the ground into the dug pit, then casually shoveled a few shovels of dirt over them.
Looking back, Heilizi hadn't left yet.
He picked up the shovel and waved it around, trying to scare it away. But when Mr. Zhao almost walked under the shade of the big tree and the shovel in his hand was about to hit the black cat, it still did not move, still staring at him intently.
A bad feeling crept up on his body along with the goose bumps stirred up by the cold wind, and Mr. Zhao took several steps back.
After a stalemate, Heilizi came out from the shade of the tree.
Only then did Mr. Zhao see the true appearance of the black cat. It was a little thin, and its fur was shiny black without any other color.
For some reason, his mind flashed back to his grandmother's last breath. She stared at him with those old eyes, gritting her teeth and cursing him, "Zhao Hu, I will never let you go even if I die. One day, I will transform into a black cat and come after you to claim your life."
In fact, he often dreamed of the scene where his grandmother died and cursed him, but it was never as clear as the fear he felt today. Even his grandmother's appearance became clearer in his memory.
His legs weakened with fear, and he couldn't move. Heilizi bypassed him and headed towards the barren pomegranate tree in the yard. The moonlight began to fade, and Zhao Yuanwai looked up to see dark clouds slowly moving towards the moon, obscuring most of its light.
The view from the yard gradually darkened, and Mr. Zhao couldn't quite see clearly. The black cat seemed to be digging the soil with its claws. It looked frail, and its claws were small, but somehow it had the strength and ability to quickly dig a hole.
The dark clouds completely obscured the moon, leaving only the afterglow from the corners to illuminate the ground.
I don’t know if it was Mr. Zhao’s eyes, an illusion, or the truth, but the black cat seemed to be getting bigger as the soil piled next to it got higher and higher, turning into a big black ball. It even looked a bit like a figure squatting on the ground, hunched over, with his head hanging very low, digging the soil frantically like a madman.
Mr. Zhao was covered in cold sweat, and his heart was so nervous and frightened that it almost jumped out of his throat.
Because, where Heilizi dug, his grandmother was buried.
When his grandmother died, she was filled with resentment and her eyes could not be closed. Even when he tried to close her eyes with his hands, before he could withdraw his hand, her eyes quickly opened again, glaring with anger.
He was so terrified that his grandmother's last words would come true that he summoned a renowned fortune-teller to perform a ritual. During the ritual, the fortune-teller suddenly became possessed, unaware of anyone. She began to speak several different voices, then suddenly calmed down. Like his grandmother, her eyes widened and she stared at him fiercely. Her grandmother's voice echoed through the fortune-teller's lips, repeating her own death curse.
"Zhao Hu, I will never let you go even if I die. One day, I will transform into a black cat and come after you to claim your life."
As soon as the witch finished speaking, everything returned to normal. Mr. Zhao saw fear on the witch's face.
The witch finished the rest of the ritual as quickly as possible and returned half of the silver note she had given him in advance. She said in a trembling voice that her grandmother's resentment was too deep and she was unwilling to leave. By the seventh day, even she would not be able to save her life, so she asked him to seek help from someone else.
Mr. Zhao sought help from many Taoist priests and fortune-tellers, but none of them were of any use. The fortune-teller who was possessed by his grandmother was any more effective.
So Mr. Zhao brought money and gold to the witch again and finally paid a heavy price in exchange for the witch's favor. The witch then came back to Zhao's house with him.
She performed a ritual, dug a deep pit under the pomegranate tree, wrote spells all over the grandmother's body with blood, and buried her upside down in the pit. She also nailed two yellow spells of suppression on the soles of her feet and buried her.
Before she left, the witch left him a message: "If you want peace for generations to come, take a descendant from your family and live here to guard the pomegranate tree. Never dig it up. It will not be over until the pomegranate tree blooms and bears fruit again."
At first, Zhao Hu was a little skeptical, but when he saw that the pomegranate tree did not bloom or bear fruit every year, and even no new branches or leaves grew, he began to believe the witch's words more and more.
He tried to run, but found his feet were nailed to the ground, unable to move an inch. He tried to shout, but no sound came out. Instead, his throat felt strangely itchy and painful, as if someone was constantly scratching it with their fingers.
Until the moment Heilizi stopped digging the soil, the dark clouds that blocked the moonlight quickly moved away, and the yard was illuminated again.
Zhao Hu could now see the dark shadow clearly. There was no black cat there, only a person squatting there. The person kept coughing as if something in her throat was preventing her from speaking.
The moment the coughing stopped, my grandmother's voice sounded again after many years, saying the same words.
"Zhao Hu, I will never let you go even if I die. One day, I will transform into a black cat and come after you to claim your life."
The shadow stood up and faced him, his eyes wide with anger.
This is clearly the buried grandmother!
Grandmother was just as she was when she was buried, the bloodstains and talismans still clearly visible on her body. She teleported to Zhao Hu's side, not saying a word. She stood only three steps away from him, staring at him intently.
Zhao Hu closed his eyes in fear, but the next moment his grandmother used her hands to force open his eyelids, forcing him to open his eyes and look at her.
Now, Zhao Hu didn't dare to close his eyes.
Grandmother pushed Zhao Hu down, and Zhao Hu lay straight on the ground, unable to move and dared not open his eyes.
His grandmother sat on the ground beside him, looking at the full moon in the night sky with him.
I don't know if it's because he's buried too many corpses over the years, or if he's become numb to the killing. For a normal person, being frightened like this would result in either insanity or sudden death. But he was not only conscious, but also alive.
He sat with his grandmother like this until the moon seemed to be setting. Then she stood up, looked back at him and said, "It's been a while since you watched the moon with me, hasn't it? Look at you, my dear grandson, you're so happy that you can't speak. Tonight, I'll be waiting here for you to watch the moon."
After saying that, grandma went straight to the house where she used to live.
As soon as Zhao Hu regained his mobility, he ran out of the house. He wanted to report the incident to the police, but when he reached the busy streets, the clamor of the crowds brought him back to reality. He felt his body gradually warm up, and the thought of being deliberately teased began to well up in his mind.
People on the street looked at him as if he were a madman, just as always.
Zhao Hu turned around and ran towards the witch's residence. Regardless of whether the grandmother in his family was real or fake, the blood talisman on the grandmother's body was only seen by the witch and his wife and children. His wife and children would never tell anyone about it again. Only the witch could cause trouble or spread the news.
His mind was so focused on what happened that night that he didn't notice someone was following him.
When the witch first arrived in Dishui Town, no one believed her and she was not welcomed, so she lived in the deep mountains of Dishui Town. Even after she was believed by people, she did not move away.
When she came, she told those who looked at her as if she were an alien that one day they would devoutly set out on the road to her house to ask her for help.
Later, she really did it.
When he ran to the witch's house, he saw that the gate was covered with dust, but the house was still intact. The witch was nowhere to be seen, and instead, a crazy and dirty woman was sitting on her bamboo chair.
He called out for a long time, but the witch didn't come out. Instead, she called the dirty woman over. She opened the door, looked at him and kept repeating: "Shh! The witch is asleep. Shh! The witch is asleep. Shh! The witch is asleep..."
Zhao Hu was so angry that he wanted to push the dirty woman aside, but since he needed help, he had to restrain himself and not touch anyone in the witch's yard. He didn't dare to rush into the house, so he could only sit in the yard and wait. The dirty woman was standing behind the large water tank in the yard, peeking out and looking at him with a silly smile.
When Zhao Hu was about to faint from hunger, the witch called the dirty woman in.
After a while, the dirty woman came out and said, "Grandma said that if you're here for the pomegranate tree, you don't have to wait. She's almost done with her life and won't be in charge of anything anymore. She wants you to find someone else. Grandma also said, hehe, hehe, that you're my father and asked you to take me back to the Zhao family."
"Nonsense! How could I possibly give birth to a daughter as old as you! I'm not your father! Get away! Don't touch me!"
The dirty woman took out a wooden sign and showed it to him. The sign had been rubbed so hard that the words on it were a little unclear, but the two words "Zhao Ling" were very clear.
"Ah wow, ah wow, baby wants to eat steamed flower cakes. Daddy is here to light the stove, and grandma is kneading the dough to make flower cakes. What's the filling for the flower cakes..."
She clapped her hands and sang the ballad that Zhao Hu had made up to appease the child. Only then did Zhao Hu believe that she was Zhao Ling.
Zhao Hu felt guilty about his daughter, whom he had not seen for many years, and decided to bring her back to the Zhao family.
Maybe if Ling'er were at home, grandma wouldn't make such a fuss...
As they reached the mountainside, Zhao Hu was so hungry that he had no strength left. Just as he sat down with his daughter, a young man stopped in front of him and gave him and his daughter a steamed bun each.
"My name is Li Ci. I'm a demon catcher and fortune teller. I see a strong demonic aura lingering on you. I'm sure something's happened at home. For an ingot of gold, I can help you solve it."
Zhao Hu took out a few copper coins and gave them to Li Ci. "It's money for the steamed buns. Thank you. I don't believe in this. Go away."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
