Chapter 6: The Corpse Rises

It was a little after 3 pm on a winter afternoon. The sky was even darker than usual due to the wind and snow. Many families were still shoveling snow.

Xiang Wentian, once again carrying the motionless, blood-soaked Leng You, followed by the strangely behaving Wen Jiuyue, walked through the village.

“Hey… this is…” Seeing Xiang Wentian’s face, colder than the weather, the villagers turned their gazes to Wen Jiuyue, who was wiping her eyes as she walked.

“Oh dear! Xiao Leng is done for?” someone said bluntly and without restraint.

“She really is done for! Tsk tsk…” This sigh was filled only with lamentation.

“It’s not entirely a bad thing, saves her from being beaten and scolded all day. Alas… what a tragedy!” With no Leng family members around, someone revealed their true feelings.

…

Many villagers stopped their work, showing signs of wanting to gather around.

“They say there are those who return from the dead, I believe Heaven will pity this child.” Wen Jiuyue’s hoarse voice sent a chilling shiver down the villagers’ spines.

“Aaah!”

“Oh my god!”

“My goodness!”

…

The previously indifferent gossip turned into a chorus of terrified screams, followed by a hasty retreat to their homes.

In their chilling fright, the villagers forgot to consider one thing: Xiang Huaixin lived in the northwest corner of the village, while Wen Jiuyue lived in the north, and the two places could be reached without passing through the village.

Therefore, before Leng You and the others reached Wen Jiuyue’s home, news of Leng You’s death and Wen Jiuyue, who had loved Leng You and wanted to adopt her, going mad from the shock and carrying the corpse home, had already spread throughout Daheishan Village.

Early the next morning, another terrifying piece of news quickly spread throughout the village. It was said that the man surnamed Bai who lived in the earth cellar in the west of the village had been screaming all night with wide, staring eyes—

“Grandpa Bai, all my blood has drained out, it hurts so much!”

“Grandpa Bai, why didn’t you save me?”

“Grandpa Bai, I’m back to see you, I’ll come back to see you every day.”

…

Even more terrifying was that Leng You, who had long since breathed her last, suddenly sat up straight before the first crow of the rooster, motionless and silent, only staring straight ahead with bloodshot eyes in the direction of her home.

After the rooster crowed three times, she suddenly lay down straight again. Her cold body seemed to have regained some warmth, but she still showed no signs of life.

This terrifying news struck the originally remote, impoverished, and peaceful Daheishan Village like a thunderbolt, sending everyone into a panic.

Although they had recently experienced a long decade of hardship, it hadn’t erased the deeply ingrained superstitious beliefs of the people of Daheishan Village. They firmly believed that Leng You’s resentful spirit, filled with anger after her death, had attached itself to Bai Changpu.

After much effort, finding that they couldn’t dispel the resentment, they believed that through some kind of demonic help or empowerment, the spirit had returned to its own body. In other words, Leng You hadn’t resurrected, but had reanimated as a corpse.

As for who she would seek revenge on next, although the answer was self-evident, countless people had already urinated in fear upon hearing the news.

Those who hadn’t wet themselves were busy recalling or reviewing the past eight years, reflecting on whether they had ever been cruel to this poor and helpless child.

The conclusion they reached was that even if they hadn’t, they had at least shown extreme indifference to her plight, even though sometimes a little help from them could have saved the child from misery.

So before noon, not a single villager in Daheishan Village was bothering to shovel snow anymore—or rather, they dared not go out to shovel snow. Every household was shut tight, fearing that a vengeful ghost might wander into their homes.

The unusually silent mountain village, the gloomy sky, and the increasingly dense and large snowflakes all add to the extremely terrifying and weird feeling.

Xiang Huaixin and Bai Changpu, having finished shoveling snow, returned to their dimly lit earth cellar. They were now huddled around a kang stove made of adobe bricks, contentedly waiting for the sweet potatoes inside to cook.

“Although Little Genius was only eight years old when we left Pingdu, the same age as Xiao Youyou now, I could tell at a glance that he was no ordinary child.

Do you remember the first two years we were sent to the suburbs? Somehow, that little guy would suddenly appear in front of us once a month.

Such a small person, carrying a bag almost as big as himself, with a small face bearing the same expression as yours, taking out various kinds of food from his bag one by one.

It was because of him that we survived those difficult years of hunger.

If it was because of the relatively short distance at that time, this remote village is more than a thousand kilometers from Pingdu. This kid is only fifteen years old, and he dared to sneak onto a train alone to come here. This is a courage that most adults cannot possess.”

Bai Changpu’s eyes were filled with overflowing admiration.

“This little rascal has been rebellious since he was a child. He looks taciturn, but he’s very stubborn. No matter what you say, he always has his own way.

Back then, he just followed his mother to the Pingdu suburbs to see me once, and later he dared to sneak onto a train to go there alone.

His mother was terrified at first, but after several times, she finally relaxed and even prepared food for him to send every month.

And now, this has emboldened him even more to sneak onto a train and come here.

He needs a good lesson, otherwise, he’ll get into even more trouble in the future!”

Xiang Huaixin pretended to frown, but his words already revealed the pride and satisfaction of an old father towards his “successful work.”

“Brother Xiang, that’s not very fair of you! You should show some mercy! You’re deliberately hurting me! You know my two sons are weak, yet you use this to stab me in the heart.

Alas! It’s true what they say, like father, like son!”

Bai Changpu sighed, shaking his head in extreme disappointment.

This was indeed his lifelong regret—

Two sons, the elder son inherited his mantle, but his talent was mediocre and couldn’t uphold the reputation of the Bai family’s generations of national medical masters;

The younger son, on the other hand, had better aptitude, but had no interest in medicine. After entering the factory, he still tinkered with a bunch of bottles and jars, saying he was doing research.

When the movement came, the three of them were sent down to different places, and they hadn’t seen each other for five whole years.

He didn’t know to what extent his elder son’s medical skills had deteriorated from his daily farm work, and he could only imagine that his younger son must have reached a point where he couldn’t even touch bottles and jars anymore.

“Your two sons are also good… at least they wouldn’t do anything to harm their old father, right?

Unlike Wentian, that stinky boy, making his upright old father spread those shameful rumors. He’s ruined my Xiang Huaixin’s lifelong reputation.

Alas! A lifetime of glory, ruined in an instant!”

Thinking of how he, a general who once made enemies tremble on the battlefield, was actually instructed by his son to spread rumors about Leng You’s “reanimation” throughout the village, Xiang Huaixin felt like hitting his chest.