Chapter 5: The Pretentious Taoist Priest

I hid in a corner of the pigsty. The house next to mine was closest to the village entrance. To be honest, I was so scared that I almost ran into Aunt Li's house to tell her that I had seen Yang Jian. But remembering the severe beating from last time, I held back.

I curled up like a hedgehog, listening to the sounds outside. Soon, the dogs' barking gradually faded away, and the chickens stopped clucking.

At that moment, a thought struck me: Dead? Could they have made a deal with the dogs? Did the dogs let them into the village? Fear spread throughout the pigsty, and every breath I took was filled with terror.

After a while, the village fell into a deep silence, so quiet that I could hear my own breathing. I had a lingering fear that Yang Jian and his wife might still be at the village entrance.

I trembled as I got up, moving silently, afraid they might hear me and come for me. I peeked through the crack in the door. Although I was still scared, I needed to make sure they were gone. I didn't sleep all night, too frightened to rest.

Outside the door, except for the big locust tree at the village entrance, there was nothing. The moonlight bathed the village entrance, making it eerily quiet.

Once I was certain they were gone, I sighed in relief and lay by the door, slowly falling asleep.

The next day, I woke up early, cooked breakfast, and then went to chop wood. Wu Dazhuang hurried out after breakfast, and Aunt Zhang quickly followed, coquettishly saying, "Brother Dazhuang, it's a bit cold, put on a coat."

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I inwardly mocked, "Cold? I'm sweating through my clothes, and you're adding more layers." Of course, comfortably lying in bed with a lovely wife every day, how could he understand what it’s like to sweat from five in the morning?

Ever since Aunt Zhang came, Wu Dazhuang slept in her room every night, neglecting Aunt Li. Because of this, Aunt Li would vent her anger on me whenever she was upset. Although Aunt Zhang was more cunning, she didn't hit me as Aunt Li did.

Aunt Zhang loved to dress up, changing clothes twice a day, and kept her room spotless. This made me very busy all day, with only the pigsty as a refuge at night.

After Wu Dazhuang left, Aunt Li stood in the yard and happened to see Wu Dazhuang kissing Aunt Zhang. She was furious but couldn't express it, so she went back to her room.

Days went on like this, repeating until strange events began to occur again.

After a night of heavy rain, half of the village's chickens died, and more poultry were getting sick. The whole village fell into a plague. Many villagers also contracted the disease.

The village chief brought in a Taoist priest, though we didn't know if he was reliable. That night, during the ritual, I saw them again.

The village chief had the sick villagers carried to the ancestral hall's entrance, gathering everyone afflicted by the plague. He said that if it weren't for ghosts, how could our prosperous village fall into a plague?

The sick villagers lay on the ground, barely breathing. Many children cried for their mothers but were pulled away by their families.

The village chief said to the Taoist priest, "Master, you must kill the ghosts and protect our village!"

The Taoist priest shook his yellow robe and said, "Hmph, no one dares to claim first place if I claim second in Taoist arts!"

I thought he was a fraud, but to the villagers, he was a deity.

The Taoist priest picked up a healthy rooster and slit its throat with a sharp knife, letting the blood flow into a bowl. He threw the dead rooster in front of the altar.

The priest lit all sorts of offerings—gold ingots, candles, incense—chanting, "Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits, reveal the demons and ghosts…"

Ha? Reveal? I laughed inwardly. If Yang Jian and his wife's ghosts were really back for revenge, they’d scare everyone to death, never mind revealing themselves. What a pretentious Taoist priest.

I stopped watching and sneaked into the ancestral hall. Aunt Li had been withholding food from me lately, and I was starving. I planned to steal some offerings. To me, hunger was the greatest fear.

The villagers kept kowtowing, following the Taoist priest’s commands. It was laughable, but I still had to kneel and bow along.

After we finished bowing three times, something strange happened.

The previously quiet sky suddenly changed, as if a storm was coming. The moon shone brightly, emitting a pale, eerie light.