Chapter 100: Joyful Wedding, Mourning Cry 31
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When Yan Shixun tried to pull Yang Tu out of the village house where they were temporarily hiding, Yang Tu clung to the door frame, reluctant to move.
“Brother Yan, I’ll tell you anything you ask, but please don’t pull me outside.”
Yang Tu shivered, his eyes filled with fear. “Outside, outside is full of dead people!”
Yan Shixun released his grip, understanding Yang Tu’s reluctance. He raised his arms, indicating that he had no intention of forcing him to move.
“Alright, then you stay here alone.”
He chuckled and shrugged, “Hope those things won’t discover you hiding here. Who can say for sure? Maybe in a group of dead people, someone alive like you will stand out.”
With that, Yan Shixun turned and walked away, striding with long steps.
Yang Tu, horrified, quickly let go of the door frame, took a few steps, and grabbed Yan Shixun’s clothes.
“Brother Yan, you can’t leave me alone here! This, this is where Yang Duo is buried, and it’s also the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Yang Duo, Yang Duo will come back!”
“Yang Tu.” Yan Shixun’s voice was calm, not loud, but it carried a peculiar sense of intimidation. It made the previously anxious and frantic Yang Tu abruptly halt his words, raising his head to look at Yan Shixun.
The handsome and unrestrained young man tilted his head slightly, the corner of his eye glancing towards behind him.
He seemed to be lightly laughing.
“You should know Yang Duo far better than I do. You heard from Yang Han himself about what happened to Yang Duo back then, and you’ve personally experienced her revenge against the Yang family over the years.”
Yan Shixun asked in a soft voice, “A person who has been dead for decades still refuses to let go of her resentment from when she was alive. Yang Tu, tell me, do you think she will overlook it so easily?”
“Do you believe that by waiting here, you can avoid all the dangers?” His lips, tinged with a hint of red, lifted in a mocking smile. “Yang Tu, you’ve grown up. Don’t be so naive.”
“——Every minute and every second you waste now brings danger closer to your life. You are pushing yourself towards your own death.”
It felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over Yang Tu’s head, freezing him to the core.
He looked up, feeling Yan Shixun’s mocking smile towering above him.
“If you are so afraid, don’t rely on the kindness of ghosts. She doesn’t have that. If you don’t take the initiative, all you can do is sit and wait, shivering in the corner, waiting for Yang Duo to come and kill you.”
Yan Shixun said to him like this.
The hand that Yang Tu was clutching onto Yan Shixun’s clothes slowly slid down the fabric as if losing strength, hanging weakly.
“I…”
Tears welled up in Yang Tu’s eyes, his voice trembling. After hesitating several times, he finally gritted his teeth and said, “Brother Yan, please take me with you!”
“Don’t leave me alone in this place.” His voice carried a sob, “If I really die, Brother Yan, you must take me back home.”
What had Yang Duo done in these decades to make Yang Tu, a young man who had never seen her when she was alive, fear her to such an extent?
A hint of doubt crossed Yan Shixun’s mind, but he quickly softened his expression and assured Yang Tu, “Don’t worry, your time of death will come after mine.”
The blood-red full moon hung high in the night sky, casting the mountains and forests into a sea of blood for this night.
After the villagers carrying red lanterns passed by, the area around the abandoned rural farmstay, which was already devoid of people, seemed even more quiet and desolate.
As Yan Shixun walked out from the dilapidated village house, he instinctively squinted his eyes, scanning the surroundings.
It was eerily silent nearby, with only the gentle sound of Moonlight Creek flowing. All the houses around remained still.
Just like the one where Yan Shixun had been hiding, as if they had been abandoned for many years, their owners long gone
However, before the owners of these houses left, they seemed to have experienced a period of extreme panic. Thick wooden boards were nailed over the windows of each house, and several homes even had their fences heightened. Yan Shixun could vaguely discern the stark contrast in colors at the junctions of old and new bricks and tiles.
He couldn’t help but think of the fence around the rural farmstay.
In theory, in a village where everyone shared the same surname, due to blood ties and common interests, there should be a higher level of trust among the villagers. They wouldn’t fortify their homes as if preparing for attacks and dangers from the outside.
Moreover, even if there were conflicts with neighbors, not many people would construct three or four meters high fences topped with broken glass and nails.
In most villages Yan Shixun had seen, the fences were usually less than two meters high. Especially in close-knit communities, some neighboring houses even had fences low enough to pass things to each other over the wall.
To fortify to this extent, and judging by the fading and damage to these red bricks, the time since the new high fences were added shouldn’t exceed two years.
So, what could have happened during that time to make the villagers living near the farmhouse become so vigilant and eventually abandon their homes?
In this vicinity, there weren’t many people to ask around, and Yang Tu had been coming here less and less as he grew older. Apart from a few childhood friends, he wasn’t very familiar with the details of other people’s affairs.
Yan Shixun’s mind took a turn, but he had no choice but to temporarily set aside his doubts and continue walking along the village road.
Yang Tu nervously followed behind Yan Shixun, constantly glancing nervously every few seconds. Before long, sweat had soaked through his clothes.
After walking about a hundred meters inward, the desolate scenery along the roadside gradually changed. The village houses on both sides of the road began to exude a more vintage vibe, bustling with life and activity.
Unlike the area near the Moon Creek, here they were officially entering the village. Generations of villagers had built their homes here and lived for decades or even centuries.
Yan Shixun also keenly observed the villagers emerging from their yards, all dressed in brand-new, neatly pressed suits. Though most of the sizes didn’t quite fit properly, resembling something hastily put together, their starkly different attire from daytime wear indicated the solemnity of the impending event.
Seizing the opportunity while the villagers proceeded deeper into the village, before they could turn their heads and spot Yan Shixun and Yang Tu, Yan Shixun swiftly grabbed Yang Tu’s arm and hurriedly ducked to the side of a fence. They cautiously peeked their heads out, scanning ahead along the fence’s surface.
The villagers gradually opened their respective yards, stepping onto the village road from their homes, all beaming with joy as they walked uniformly in one direction.
However, Yan Shixun suddenly noticed something strange—there was absolutely no communication between the villagers.
The houses here had been standing for decades, and the residents were already familiar neighbors, seeing each other every day. However, as they gathered for the grand occasion of a wedding, there was no exchange of greetings or even eye contact when they caught sight of each other.
It was as if they had no need for communication whatsoever.
Or perhaps the conditions they possessed for sensing each other were not sufficient to support any form of interaction.
Yan Shixun furrowed his brow, realizing that beneath the villagers’ apparent joy, there lay a hidden stiffness and emptiness.
Though the villagers were all smiling, it wasn’t genuine warmth or courteous smiles; rather, it was a more artificial kind, like smiles painted on. Every person’s smile had the same curvature of the lips and the same degree of squint in their eyes.
Their eyes were very dark, unlike the faces of ordinary people one might encounter in daily life. Instead of less dimensional features, their faces were defined by distinct shadows and lines. Their dark pupils seemed intentionally inked, and their eyes had sharp, angular quadrilateral shapes. The shadows of their noses and mouths on their faces remained unchanged as they walked from beneath the Blood Moon, appearing as if drawn on, unmoving.
Regardless of gender, they all had bright red mouths. When they grinned, everyone displayed a set of teeth as white as paper.
It almost seemed as if they were deliberately emphasizing their joyfulness, as each person, male or female, had two blushes on their faces, making them look overly spirited and eerie.
It was as if hurried craftsmen, eager to finish their work, hastily painted faces on their creations, completing them roughly.
Even upon Yan Shixun’s careful observation, he noticed that each villager’s stride length and rhythm were identical.
Instead of the usual chaotic footsteps when a group of people passed by, these villagers walking along the village road sounded like a steady drumbeat, “thud”, “thud”, “thud”…
Yan Shixun squinted, deciding not to hastily reveal himself from their hiding spot upon noticing the villagers’ peculiar behavior. Instead, he patiently waited for several nearby villagers to move a distance away before slowly emerging.
“Brother Yan? What’s going on?”
Yang Tu, who was crouching behind Yan Shixun like a quail, was so frightened by Yan Shixun’s actions that, though he didn’t know what Yan Shixun had discovered, he still lowered his voice and whispered nervously, “Don’t worry, Brother Yan. I recognize these people. They’re all alive, unlike those others from before.”
“That auntie used to give me candy when I was a kid,” Yang Tu pointed with his finger at one of the middle-aged women who had already become a blurry figure in the distance, as if afraid Yan Shixun wouldn’t believe him, he even mentioned her identity and age.
It’s just unclear whether Yang Tu was trying to convince Yan Shixun or reassure himself.
Yan Shixun chuckled meaningfully, “Is that so?”
“Maybe… you can only be sure after seeing it with your own eyes.”
Yan Shixun directly grabbed Yang Tu by the collar and lifted him up, striding towards the nearest house.
And just as Yan Shixun left their hiding spot, in the very spot where he had been standing, the wall that had been made of red bricks, even the one Yang Tu had leaned against just a moment ago, suddenly rippled, as if the illusion of the sea surface had been shattered, and the appearance of the red bricks vanished into thin air.
Amidst the flowing and overlapping blood-red hues, everything seemed hidden beneath the surface of water, space and time compressed and fragmented, images intertwined and entangled, reality and illusion, past and present… all tangled up in confusion.
A figure in blood-red gradually emerged from where the wall had been.
The woman wore a blood-red bridal gown, her delicate skirt revealing red embroidered shoes, her heels not touching the ground.
A red veil covered her head, obscuring her face. Only a segment of her pale neck and a beautifully curved chin were visible, her lips painted thickly with a deep crimson red.
As if dyed with blood.
The woman’s head, veiled in red, slightly turned as Yan Shixun moved, as if constantly silently watching his back, staring intently at his every move.
Yan Shixun didn’t perceive anything unusual and continued walking towards the adjacent courtyard.
He had just noticed that the timing of the villagers leaving their homes followed a pattern, as if prearranged. They started from the row of houses farthest from the village core, near the ancestral hall, and then gradually progressed inward. Once the villagers furthest away had left, those closer to the center would follow suit, and so on.
Though he wasn’t sure what caused this unconventional behavior, it did make another task easier for Yan Shixun.
— Since the people had already left their homes, the empty houses were perfect for exploration.
The villagers didn’t close their doors when they left, leaving the courtyard gates slightly ajar. Through the gap, Yan Shixun could faintly see the tree planted at the center of the courtyard.
Yan Shixun slowly pushed open the gate, emitting a slow and drawn-out “creak”.
The appearance of the courtyard unfolded before him.
Generally, people living in villages would keep chickens, ducks, geese, or dogs in their yards, or they’d cultivate vegetables and flowers, giving the courtyard a strong sense of life. And if the lady of the house was diligent, then the home would be well-organized.
But the house Yan Shixun pushed open was different.
Perhaps the residents of this house had once kept livestock, as there were still chicken coops and duck pens in the yard. He could even see a doghouse near the gate, with a rusty iron chain discarded nearby, indicating it had been abandoned for a long time.
There wasn’t a single sound in the courtyard, nor any presence of livestock. Only household items were strewn haphazardly on the ground, in such disarray that it seemed the owner had long been exhausted, lacking the energy to tidy up the house.
As for the tree Yan Shixun had glimpsed through the gate, it was already dead, with unsightly lumps and gnarled branches intertwining on the trunk, silently pointing towards the Blood Moon.
“Brother Yan? Are we trespassing?” Yang Tu exclaimed in astonishment.
“Trespassing?” Yan Shixun repeated softly, with a mocking laugh. “The premise of trespassing implies there are occupants to begin with.”
With that, Yan Shixun strode forward, stepping directly into the courtyard and making his way towards the house.
As Yang Tu entered the courtyard, he couldn’t help but wonder, “Isn’t this the house of Second Grandfather’s cousin’s uncle? I remember they had quite a few ducks and even a little white dog. Where are they all? Did they stop keeping them?”
Just as Yan Shixun reached the door of the room, he glimpsed inside through the window covered with a layer of gauze.
Upon hearing Yang Tu’s muttering, Yan Shixun’s hand, reaching for the door, paused for a moment before slowly pushing it open.
The door’s hinges emitted a dry friction sound.
The sound was rough and unpleasant, drilling into the head like a power drill, sharp enough to make one feel dizzy and throbbing, prompting an instinct to cover one’s ears.
Then, Yan Shixun, standing at the doorway of the room, remained still, unmoving.
His hand, originally reaching to push open the door, slowly fell down, hanging by his side.
Yan Shixun’s sharp eyes widened slightly, and the tension in his expression relaxed for a moment.
It seemed that what he saw had surpassed his expectations, causing him to momentarily hesitate and appear somewhat stunned.
“What’s wrong, Brother Yan? Shouldn’t we leave? It feels a bit wrong to be here when they’re not home,” Yang Tu, who had never done anything mischievous, was quite nervous. As he walked up from behind, he tried to persuade Yan Shixun.
“No.”
Yan Shixun said softly, his gaze fixed on everything before him. “I think the owner is here.”
“Ah? But weren’t they all just out…
Yang Tu’s face filled with confusion as he approached, but as he crossed past Yan Shixun’s arm and saw the inside of the room, his question abruptly halted.
His eyes widened instantly, his face filled with astonishment and fear.
—Inside the room was actually set up like a memorial hall.
As Yan Shixun pushed open the door, the wind blew in, causing the white cloth hanging down from the sides of the door to flutter. The white cloths hanging in the room also swayed gently with the breeze.
It was as if a long-sealed box had been opened, and the fermented smell of mold and the stench of decay, sealed within, rushed out all at once when it was uncovered, choking the senses.
In the center of the room stood a black coffin.
In front of the coffin were fruits and candles, but the fruits had long rotted in their dishes, and the white candles were snapped in half at the middle of the candlestick, lying askew.
The yellow paper money that had originally been placed to the side was lifted by the sudden gust of wind, fluttering in the air before cascading down like a waterfall.
Yan Shixun squinted and, through the gaps between the yellow paper money and the white cloth, saw the black and white portrait placed at the forefront.
In the photograph was a middle-aged man who seemed somewhat uncomfortable in front of the camera, his smile appearing a bit forced but suggesting a generally honest demeanor.
Using his keen observational skills, Yan Shixun quickly gleaned information about the man from the elegiac couplets placed beside him.
He was not even fifty years old.
In an era with such advanced medical technology, dying at this age was too young.
However…
Yan Shixun quickly noticed something amiss.
On the elegiac couplets beside him, it seemed there wasn’t just information about one person. Even on the cabinet nearby, there were other memorial tablets and portraits displayed.
They indicated the deaths of a woman in her eighties, a middle-aged man in his sixties, and even… one tablet hastily half-engraved with no name or information written yet.
Who would leave an unfinished memorial tablet at home, as if preparing for the future? Wouldn’t they find it ominous?
What could be the meaning behind so many memorial tablets and portraits? Why would there be such an abundance of them in a single memorial hall?
But in a traditional place like Family Tomb Village, Yan Shixun knew very well that the more traditional the place, the more importance they placed on these rituals.
Logically speaking, judging from the layout of this house, it should be the middle-aged and young adults, the pillars of the family, who would be responsible for handling the affairs of the elders. However, it wouldn’t be customary for them to disregard etiquette to the extent of placing several memorial tablets and portraits together. Such actions would even draw scolding from the elders in the village for their lack of manners.
Unless…
Everyone no longer had the energy to care about these matters, and perhaps they were too preoccupied to put away these tablets and portraits, not even having the time to remove the elegiac couplets before hurriedly hanging up new ones.
Yan Shixun had initially intended to step inside and closely inspect the death dates on the memorial tablets to confirm his suspicions.
But before he could make a move, Yang Tu, standing beside him, suddenly turned pale with fear and dashed away in a panic, his movements frantic and clumsy.
With lightning reflexes, Yan Shixun swiftly reached out, grabbing Yang Tu by the head with a forceful grip, preventing him from escaping and pulling him back by sheer strength.
“Why are you running?” Yan Shixun furrowed his brow, his voice stern as he chastised Yang Tu, “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
The situation in Family Tomb Village became increasingly perplexing, and Yan Shixun could sense the hidden danger lurking beneath the current calm. He had an intuition that even a single misstep or wrong decision could lead to a terrifying crisis, perhaps even total disaster.
Yet Yang Tu dared to act so recklessly at a time like this?
It would have been somewhat manageable if they were by the Moon Creek, despite its heavy gloom and the presence of many corpses and skeletons. That area was still on the outskirts of the village, allowing for more space to react if any danger arose.
But here was different.
They were already in the middle of the village, surrounded by densely packed houses.
Yan Shixun couldn’t ascertain the safety of every house. After discovering the hidden memorial hall in this courtyard, he couldn’t help but speculate whether similar situations existed in other houses.
Perhaps, in a corner of another house, there lurked the same “people” who had died yet reappeared.
Yang Tu’s rash actions in such a place would only invite unnecessary trouble. If Yang Tu’s voice or actions attracted those things over here, Yan Shixun would truly be caught in a crossfire, unable to do anything effectively.
But Yan Shixun’s anger only surfaced for a moment. He quickly regained his composure, furrowing his brow as he asked Yang Tu, “What made you so scared? What did you see inside the house?”
Yang Tu’s eyes widened, his pale face filled with fear, his mouth trembling uncontrollably. He could only look up at Yan Shixun, unable to utter a word.
Yan Shixun’s emotions paused for a moment before he sighed slowly, releasing his grip on Yang Tu and instead patting his shoulder. “Yang Tu, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. You can even leave from here right now, and I won’t stop you.”
“But I need you to understand, we’re in this together now. Any concealment or reckless behavior from you could get us killed. I have means to protect myself, but what about you, Yang Tu?”
Yan Shixun coldly retorted. “Can you guarantee that you’ll survive in case of danger or accidents?”
Yang Tu’s complexion looked terrible, as if he might faint at any moment.
After Yan Shixun finished speaking, Yang Tu didn’t attempt to run again. Instead, his lips trembled for a long time before he finally spoke with a trembling voice, tinged with a hint of tears. “Th-those memorial tablets…”
He choked for a moment, his eyes reddening. “There are only a few people left in his family! Aren’t they… aren’t they all dead? How could this happen!”
Yan Shixun furrowed his brow and pressed on, “When was the last time you saw them alive?”
“Half a year ago.”
Yang Tu replied. “But at that time, they were acting crazy. Even the slightest friction would drive them into a frenzy, almost wanting to strangle each other. Because his family and a family in Jia Village are close relatives, there was more interaction between them. Half a year ago, his family members almost choked their relatives to death in public in Jia Village and went on a crazy tirade against us. My grandfather got angry, so after incidents like that kept happening, he completely cut off contact with them and blocked the road to prevent them from passing through our area.”
“But I never expected…”
Yang Tu glanced tremulously back at the memorial tablets in the mortuary, his voice blurred with tears. “It’s only been a little over half a year, how could they all be dead, how could this happen?”
“It’s Yang Duo, it’s Yang Duo, Brother Yan!”
Yang Tu’s eyes were filled with almost despair as he gripped Yan Shixun’s arm tightly, almost digging into his flesh. “It must be Yang Duo who’s back. Otherwise, there’s no explanation for their whole family’s deaths! This isn’t a normal death, Brother Yan!”
“It’s the Ghost Month now, there’s no mistaking it. It’s Yang Duo!”
Yan Shixun calmly let Yang Tu vent his fear and panic. After a moment, when Yang Tu had exhausted himself from shouting and crying, he finally began to calm down. Yan Shixun then reached out and gently patted the young man’s head.
He’s still too young…
Can’t blame him.
Yan Shixun sighed inwardly, comforting Yang Tu. “I know you’re scared, but as I said, we can’t just sit around waiting for Yang Duo to come kill us. Since you know what kind of fate awaits us, we need to desperately find a way to escape from here.”
“Yang Tu, your Second Uncle and grandfather are still waiting for you to come home for dinner,” he whispered, lowering his voice. “So, are we going together?”
Terrified and disoriented, Yang Tu slowly regained his senses under Yan Shixun’s patient and skillful reassurance.
Looking up at Yan Shixun, Yang Tu felt as if a shot of adrenaline had been injected into his body, filling him with newfound energy and reassurance.
In that moment, Yan Shixun’s image loomed larger than life in Yang Tu’s eyes.
Every solid muscle and sleek contour on Yan Shixun’s slender frame, the combat-honed instincts borne from countless battles, even the old scars on his palms – all of these were testaments to Yan Shixun’s strength in Yang Tu’s eyes.
——This man isn’t lying to himself.
He really can lead himself out of this ghostly place and find the way home.
Yang Tu hesitated for a moment, tears shimmering in his eyes, then nodded solemnly. “Okay.”
Yan Shixun smiled gently, his dry and warm palm patting Yang Tu’s head lightly. “You’re brave. You’ll make your Second Uncle proud.”
Comforted by Yan Shixun, Yang Tu seemed to find his backbone and followed closely behind him, no longer as fearful as before.
The two stepped into the mourning hall.
Their boots trudged over scattered joss paper and candles, heading straight for the coffin in the center of the room.
Yan Shixun wanted to know if the man in the coffin matched the image on the memorial tablet, and what the deal was with the other memorial tablets.
Even… how long the body had been lying in the coffin.
Yan Shixun’s palm rested on the coffin lid, then suddenly exerted force.
“Creak… Crack—”
A heavy, muffled sound reverberated slowly in the silent mourning hall.
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