It’s not unheard of for pregnant women to get tattoos, sometimes to protect their babies or bring good fortune for the child’s future. Some even get tattoos of figures like the God of Literature (Wenquxing) or the God of War (Wuqixing), or even someone like Einstein, hoping their child will be gifted with intelligence. However, it’s not recommended as the process can cause mild pain, which isn’t ideal for a pregnant woman.

When Chen Cuilian arrived, she greeted me politely and immediately asked for my grandfather. I told her that Grandpa had gone to the city, but if she needed anything, I could help. Upon hearing this, her face changed. She frowned, looking pale and fearful.

Noticing something was wrong, I pressed her to tell me what was going on. After a long pause, she finally whispered, "Haozi, do you know how to do ghost tattoos?"

My name is Tang Hao, but everyone calls me Haozi. I nodded, telling her that I could do them, and asked her what had happened.

Ghost tattoos are like prescriptions from a doctor—they are effective only when tailored to the right issue. If she wanted one, I needed to know what kind of trouble she was in before I could decide what tattoo to give her.

Chen Cuilian grabbed my hand as if she had found a lifeline. "Haozi, please help me... help me…" Tears welled up in her eyes, and she seemed unable to hold back any longer.

I urged her to calm down and tell me what had happened. After a deep breath, she lifted her shirt, revealing her swollen belly. But it wasn’t just the size of her belly that shocked me—it was the strange, vein-like protrusions that seemed to form shapes of… snakes.

Seeing this, a terrifying thought immediately flashed through my mind.

“What is this?” I asked, dumbfounded.

"I went to the hospital to check. The doctors were so shocked they thought they had made a mistake. I couldn’t bear to go back, so I fled." Her voice trembled with fear, her face pale with terror.

The situation was so strange, it seemed more like a curse than anything else. Cuilian hadn’t even dared to tell her husband about it. She had tried asking a few Taoist priests and monks to perform rituals, but it didn’t help.

Cuilian then remembered my grandfather, Tang Yun, and his reputation for using ghost tattoos to ward off evil. She had heard of his skill from others in the village and came to seek help.

Cuilian paused for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, “Wait… I know what happened!”

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At about three months into her pregnancy, a snake had slithered into her home. Cuilian wasn’t scared of snakes like most people, so she took a bamboo stick and killed it. Afterward, she simply tossed it outside, not thinking much of it.

When she mentioned it, I immediately realized the problem. Snakes are considered very ominous, and in the North, they are often associated with wild spirits. Pregnant women should never kill a snake. It’s a bad omen for the baby, and according to Grandpa, if a snake enters a house with a pregnant woman, it’s actually a good sign—but killing it would incur wrath.

I remembered a real case I had heard about—a woman who had twin babies. One day, two small snakes slithered into her house, and her husband killed one while the other escaped. Both babies were born, but tragically, one of them died.

Cuilian, now terrified, began to tremble. She knelt down, begging for forgiveness, mumbling apologies to the snake spirit, saying that if there was any retribution, it should fall on her and not harm her baby.

I helped her back up, telling her not to be afraid. It was a bad situation, but if I performed a ghost tattoo for her, it could resolve the issue.

Grandpa had told me before that when people came asking for tattoos, I could help them. It was the time for me to use my ghost tattooing skills.

I thought for a moment and decided that the best solution was to give her a “Devouring Meiluo,” a powerful demon spirit that could ward off evil and control snakes.

The Meiluo is a figure from Buddhist mythology—a demon that devours snakes. Once a man, his monstrous form became a creature that ate snakes and other dangerous creatures, making sure they would never return.

When Cuilian heard there was hope, she bowed deeply and thanked me. I helped her up, but I reminded her that ghost tattoos weren’t cheap. The price for this one would be 10,000 yuan.

She hesitated, but given her situation, she didn’t have much choice. Ten thousand yuan was a lot of money in the countryside, but she would rather pay than risk having snakes appear on her child.

Cuilian agreed, and I led her to the tattoo room. I opened a black box in the corner and retrieved three long bamboo tubes. Inside them were ingredients for the tattoo—dead man’s blood, bone ash, and corpse oil—materials that my grandfather had prepared. He never told me where they came from.

I gathered the necessary tools and prepared the ingredients. I didn’t dare tell Cuilian what was in the tattoos because if she knew, she might faint or even miscarry in fear.

After reassuring myself that I was a professional, I forced my nerves to settle and began working on the tattoo.

The Devouring Meiluo wasn’t too difficult to draw, and after a few hours, I was finished. It was an ugly demon, with twisted limbs and scales like those of a snake, but it was effective. After finishing the tattoo, I applied a special solution to hide the design, which would gradually fade in a few days.

Once it was done, Cuilian looked at the tattoo and grimaced. “It’s so ugly…”

Indeed, the Devouring Meiluo’s appearance was grotesque—its face twisted, its body covered in snake-like scales, with disgusting lumps all over it. But Cuilian had to keep her thoughts to herself. Ghost tattoos were powerful, but they were also sacred, and disrespecting them could lead to dire consequences.

I warned her that once the tattoo was done, it would bind her to the spirit. If she ever insulted or took it lightly, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Cuilian immediately fell silent, but just as I was about to reassure her, something strange happened. Both of us froze, unable to speak, as an eerie feeling washed over the room.