What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

Although my heart was ice-cold, my hands kept moving.

He took a few pieces of yellow paper from the side, lit them with a lighter, threw them into the copper basin, and then poured in half a bottle of liquor.

The flames in the copper basin suddenly leaped up a foot high.

Then, the flames in the copper basin instantly turned into an eerie, ghastly green, and the clump of hair, once ignited, did not emit the stench of burnt hair, but instead released a sweet, cloying aroma similar to rotting meat.

sizzle-

The clump of hair twisted and struggled violently in the fire, emitting a faint sound like the scream of a rat.

At this moment, the second uncle exclaimed in surprise, "This hair is alive?!"

I took off my rubber gloves, threw them into the fire and burned them, then turned to my second uncle and said, "Second Uncle, this thing is called 'Fa Gu'. It's not a method from here, but a sinister method from the Miao region in the south."

Then I asked, "Second Uncle, in the days before Grandpa passed away, who did he see last? What did he eat?"

Upon hearing this, the second uncle remained silent for a while, then took out a pipe, lit it, took a couple of puffs, and suddenly slapped his thigh.

"I remember now! Three days ago...yes, three days ago! A woman came by!"

"A woman?" I frowned slightly. "What kind of woman?"

"They're not from our village," Uncle said, gesturing with the welding fumes to indicate their origin.

"She looked quite young, maybe in her early twenties. She was wearing a blue cloth dress, a headscarf, and lots of silver ornaments that jingled as she walked. She said she was just passing through and wanted to ask for a bowl of water."

Miao woman.

"And then?" I pressed.

"The old man was kind-hearted, so he let her come inside and have a bowl of water," the second uncle recalled.

"When the woman was leaving, to thank the old man, she took out a small jar from her basket and said it was herbal wine she had brewed herself, and insisted on leaving it for the old man to taste."

The old man loved this drink, and he drank two ounces that night… The next day, he was in critical condition.

Herbal Wine? It's probably poisonous.

"Where's the wine jar?"

"I think the alcohol made him sick, and in a fit of anger, he threw him into the pigsty in the backyard."

Strange runes... Miao girl... The strange girl on the train holding a jar...

The various clues, when pieced together, did not resolve my doubts; instead, they only deepened them.

I stood up and looked around the desolate mourning hall.

Besides my second uncle, there is no other living person here.

"There's something else."

I turned around, my gaze becoming somewhat deep. "Grandpa has passed away, such a big thing, where are my parents?"

I assumed they were back since you didn't mention them on the phone, but it's so late, and I haven't seen a single one of them.

Upon hearing me say the words "Mom and Dad," my second uncle's expression instantly turned even more unpleasant, becoming even more unnatural than when he saw the curse.

He lowered his head, avoiding my gaze.

"This... Yangzi, it's not that your second uncle doesn't want to call you..."

"Can't get through on the phone?" I asked.

"It's not that I can't get through," my second uncle sighed. "It's...it's that no one answers. Besides, when I called that number the day before yesterday, it said it was out of service."

Is the number invalid?

My heart skipped a beat.

My parents left Huilongzhai when I was very young, saying they were going to do big business elsewhere. They only sent money back every year and rarely showed up.

Grandpa always kept this a secret, only telling me that they were doing a business that "accumulated good karma in secret but shortened one's lifespan," and that I shouldn't ask any more questions.

But now that Grandpa is dead, they've lost contact at this critical juncture?

"Actually..." My second uncle hesitated for a moment, as if weighing whether to tell me or not, but finally gritted his teeth and said, "Actually, about half a month ago, the old man received a letter. There was no stamp on the envelope, nor was there any sender's name written on it, just a drawing of... a black butterfly."

Black butterfly?

"After reading the letter, the old man's face changed, and he locked himself in his room and didn't eat for a whole day."

Later... later he began preparing for his funeral, even choosing cypress wood for his coffin himself.

The second uncle looked up, his eyes filled with fear. "Yangzi, tell me... has something happened to your parents? Is this curse related to that letter?"

My heart clenched suddenly.

Black butterflies, Miao witchcraft, the death of the grandfather, the disappearance of the parents... all of this is like a giant net, slowly tightening.

I took a deep breath to calm the turmoil in my heart.

Now is not the time to panic. Grandpa's body hasn't been properly disposed of yet. If we can't break this "Arhat Sitting in Evil" formation, my uncle and I will both die here tonight.

"We'll talk about Mom and Dad later."

I put on a new pair of rubber gloves, and my eyes regained their previous clarity and coldness.

"Second Uncle, go and catch that big rooster we've been raising in the backyard for three years. Also, find a chalk line; I need to 'ward off evil spirits' for Grandpa."

"No matter who harmed Grandpa, now that I'm back, this feud is over."

I looked at my grandfather's ashen face and said softly, my tone gentle but with a hint of ruthlessness.

Just then, a clap of thunder sounded outside the window, and large raindrops pounded against the tiles.

A moment later, my second uncle rushed in, soaking wet, carrying a large, brightly colored rooster in his arms.

The rooster seemed to sense the evil energy in the room, and it flapped its wings frantically, crowing wildly, scattering feathers all over the room.

"Yangzi! The chicken is here! I've also found the inkwell for you!" Uncle said, wiping the rain off his face.

I nodded, took the rooster, pinned its wings behind its back with one hand, and held its comb with the other.

The rooster stopped moving the moment I grabbed it, its round eyes fixed on my grandfather in the armchair, and the feathers on its neck all bristled.

"Second Uncle, hold the ink line steady!"

My second uncle quickly did as I was told. I took out a scalpel from my suitcase and made a light cut on the rooster's comb. Crimson blood gushed out instantly and dripped into the inkwell of the inkstone.

Then, I took out some cinnabar from my suitcase and poured it in, using the tip of a knife to mix the rooster's blood and cinnabar evenly.

"Alright, Uncle, let the chicken go." I took the ink line from my uncle's hand and handed the chicken to him.

After my second uncle returned from putting the rooster back in the backyard, I picked up the ink line and walked up to my grandfather.

"Grandpa, your grandson has cleansed you."

I murmured softly, "You were a strong-willed person all your life, and you refused to lie down even in your final moments. But we can't break the rules. We need to leave this world with dignity and respect, so that outsiders won't laugh at us."

After saying that, I had my second uncle hold one end of the ink line, and I held the other end. The two of us stood on either side of the armchair.

"bomb!"

I gave a low shout.

Snapped!

The ink line, stained with chicken blood and cinnabar, struck Grandpa's forehead hard, leaving a straight red line.

The moment the ink line hit him, Grandpa's body trembled violently, and a muffled "uh" sound came from his throat, as if his last breath had finally dissipated.

Those wide-open eyes slowly closed halfway.