Chapter 28: He’s back (2)

It was after 8 o’clock that night when the village quieted down. Usually it didn’t quiet down so early, it was more like late at night. Recently, because of my second sister’s situation, everyone rested especially early. As soon as it got dark, they stopped going out, for fear of bumping into something unclean.

My house was still lit up, waiting. After all, the night had lost any meaning for my family. We always had to stay by my sister’s side.

At this time, my mother and eldest sister were standing by my sister’s bed. My mother was holding her hand and crying, and my sister’s face was also covered in tears. She looked particularly depressed and numb. She had received too much orthodox education, and in these few days, her world view had undoubtedly changed, but she still found it hard to accept. What she found even harder to accept was that her younger sister was being tormented by that mysterious thing, and she, as the older sister, was unable to help.

And my father? He was sitting on the step under the eaves, smoking, his eyes a little vacant. He had been in this state of mindlessness recently, and whenever he was like this, I would sit beside him and watch over him. I felt bad inside, and the sight of the two of them, the old and the young, was so sad.

Men are always different from women, even at a young age. When sad things are kept inside, silence follows. Even though the silence is like a mountain that crushes people, he can’t cry.

Just when things were relatively normal for my family, there was a knock on the door.

My father stood up suddenly, threw his cigarette on the ground, and angrily cursed, “This son of a bitch, who else is she going to harm? Come at me!” After that, he ran to open the door with his eyes wide open, and I followed him angrily.

At this time, no one would knock on the door. You have to know that the village was already in a panic! So, the first thing my father and I thought of was evil spirits.

It’s no wonder we were so scared. After a long period of torture, even the slightest stimulus could make our already fragile family ‘go crazy’.

Afraid? We were already used to it. Sometimes we even wished we could take the place of our poor second sister and suffer the torture ourselves. All that was left was sadness and pain, the wounds of helplessness.

So, my father could rush to the door without hesitation, and I could also follow without hesitation. Even if there was a demon with green skin and fangs at the door, we could fight.

“I’ll show you what you’re fucking doing!” My father opened the door angrily, and I clenched my fists and looked determined.

“I’m here to drink and eat meat.” A lazy voice rang out at the door. A dirty old man was standing behind my house with his hands behind his back, his eyes smiling at me.

I was already in a desperate mood, but under his gaze, I couldn’t help but take a step back, because the smile was as lewd as it could be, and the old man really made me feel a chill.

Shit, what’s his purpose?

In contrast to my vigilance, my father saw the person coming, but suddenly his whole body relaxed. It was a state that I could not describe in words. It was like the whole person had finally found a support, and then the will that had been supporting him was relieved, and the whole person felt relaxed.

My father was crouching on the ground, crying, and it was a howling cry.

I was dumbfounded. I thought, if my dad wasn’t afraid of ghosts, how could he be scared to tears by this lecherous old man?

But then my father’s actions surprised me even more. He suddenly grabbed the old man’s leg and cried out, “Master Jiang, help, help!”

What, what, what…? Was my father already crazy? Or was he just desperate and desperate? Why did he call for help from that lewd old man?

“Ah…” a scream sounded behind me. It was my mother’s voice. The next moment, I saw my mother, like a gust of wind, run to the door and look at the old man, unable to speak, just weeping.

What’s wrong with my family?

But the old man was very calm. I don’t know where he got the strength, but he picked up my father, who was crying like a little child, and then stepped inside and closed the gate to our courtyard very naturally and familiar.

“What are you crying about? With me here, that blind thing can’t take your second sister away!” Once in the yard, the old man said very calmly, and this sentence made my father and mother, who had just been crying miserably, suddenly stop crying and start wiping their eyes.

“I said I would take care of it and I would come back, so you can rest assured. As it turns out, my good apprentice and I are destined to be together.” The old man suddenly laughed lewdly, and then his dirty “big paw” reached out to touch my head.

In fact, he whispered, “I thought I was going to die, but it turns out I’m going to live to see my good apprentice.”

But his voice was too low, and my parents didn’t hear him at all. I, on the other hand, heard nothing but gibberish.

“Bah, bah… who are you? Why should I believe you can help my second sister!” The old man’s stare and smile made me so angry that I jumped up to avoid his ‘magic claws’ reaching for me, and I argued with him, just to make things difficult for him.

“Sanwa…” my father scolded me, and my mother quickly came to catch me.

But the old man didn’t care at all. He smiled, waved his hand, and placed his hand on my head. No matter how I tried to get away, I couldn’t shake off the hand on my head!

What followed was my nightmare. He grabbed me and squeezed my face with both hands, rubbing my face and head until I had dirty fingerprints on my face. He then looked at me and said, “Well, that’s more like it.”

I pouted in frustration, not daring to make a fuss. First, my father glared at me angrily, as if he was disgusted with me for disobeying the old man. Second, I was scared by him. My face was numb and my head was dizzy.

“Xiu Yun, go quickly and get Master Jiang something to eat. It has to have meat and wine!” My father had already dried his tears and shouted at my mother.

“Eh, eh…” my mother also hurriedly agreed.

“No hurry, no hurry, I’ll go see my second sister first.” The old man put his hands behind his back, said to my parents, and then walked into the house, followed closely by my parents.

Although the old man surnamed Jiang was very annoying to me, for some reason, I was also very curious about him, so I quickly followed him in.

When he entered the room, the old man saw my second sister lying on the bed. At this time, my second sister was as thin as a stick, her face was as pale as paper, and her breathing was very weak. The old man sighed and looked angry.

The eldest sister also saw the old man Jiang. She stood up and looked at him in surprise. The old man Jiang smiled and said to the eldest sister, “You’ve grown so big! Hehe, the little yellow-haired girl has grown up to be so pretty. Not bad, not bad.”

My sister had some impression of the old man, and she pointed at him, wanting to say something, but the old man’s expression suddenly became serious, and he said, “Just watch, don’t make a sound and disturb me. I want to fight this evil spirit with a deep heart!”

My sister was silent, my parents were even quieter, and even I held my breath, wanting to see what this old man had up his sleeve.

I saw the old man look up and down at my second sister for a while, then open her eyelids and take a look, and say, “Three souls and seven spirits, one soul and four spirits are missing, I’m afraid I have to find them back. I’m afraid that if this evil spirit comes again, more souls will be squeezed out of the body. By then, I’m afraid I’ll be in big trouble for a while.”

My father couldn’t help but say, “Master Jiang, is this thing on my second sister right now? If all the souls are lost, what will happen to the person?”

“It’s not there now, and it can’t always take over your sister’s body. It depends on the time and the situation. If all the souls are lost, and the living body is still alive, then it will become a living dead person who will never wake up again. If the living body is already dead, what do you think will happen? Even the immortals will be helpless at that time.”

After that, the old man Jiang pondered for a while, then looked at my father and said very seriously, “To put it another way, most of the angry ghosts and evil spirits are also pitiful people who have been reincarnated. The third son has a boy’s life, so he should do more good deeds to try to eliminate his bad luck, or turn bad luck into good luck! In addition, although Taoism does not save the world, it only cultivates one’s own nature and follows the natural order of things, but it will not violate the goodness contained in the natural order of things unless it is absolutely necessary. That is to say, it will not allow the ghosts to scatter unless it is absolutely necessary. However, seeing my sister like this, I am afraid that you also have a lot of anger in your hearts. Whether you accept it, persuade it, or fight it, you decide!

This talk was indeed too profound for my parents, who were both illiterate, but they probably understood what the old man meant, and they understood that it also involved my good karma, so they couldn’t help but think about it carefully.