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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 7: Corpse (Part Eight)
Tian Baigan's mother was a hardworking woman, married into the family, living a diligent life. Her only hobby was playing Mahjong. She had little education and relied on her strength to fetch water and grow vegetables. Playing Mahjong was just an occasional pastime for her.
Baymax was busy in the fields, only having free time in the evenings. Not far from the tea shop, there was one at Ten Li Slope. It used to be run by Zeng Shufen, but after she drowned, it was taken over by someone from Ten Li Slope.
Ten Li Slope was just over three miles from Zeng Family Bay. Although there were many graveyards along the rural path and the dark areas were relatively wide, there were many people out at night, so there wasn't much to fear.
Zeng Shufen had drowned, and Tian Baigan's mother knew about it. Therefore, she hadn't gone out for several nights until after Zeng Shufen's seventh day of mourning when she started going out again. The shop was fine for everything else, but the people who came to play always seemed to bring up one person—Zeng Shufen, the deceased.
Tian Baigan's mother didn't like jokes, yet some people loved to tease her. Her name was Zeng Aixiu; her husband called her Xiuer, while others referred to her as Xiuxiu.
When Zeng Aixiu arrived at the shop and had just sat down, someone joked, "Xiuxiu, aren't you here alone today?"
She felt uneasy coming to the shop in the first place, and suddenly being asked that made her feel even more anxious. She replied with a hint of nervousness, "If I'm not alone, what else could it be?"
Usually, when Zeng Aixiu came to play and returned home, there were still quite a few people from Zeng Family Bay around. They would laugh and discuss their card-playing experiences and strategies before heading home safely. She always came alone to the shop; there was never anyone she arranged to meet—everyone just came and went together without any prior agreement.
Now this person’s comment about her not being alone felt as if someone was actually following her. Thinking about it made her slightly tense, prompting her to ask, "If I'm not alone, could there really be someone else?"
Everyone in the shop turned to look at her pale face that showed signs of anxiety.
The joker continued, "I clearly saw someone following you in; yet when I looked again inside, it was just you."
"That's impossible; you're just trying to scare me." Zeng Aixiu felt a chill run down her spine as if someone were standing behind her blowing cold air. Her voice wavered in pitch, causing those who had scared her to burst into laughter.
With laughter echoing through the shop, everyone joined in.
That night, Zeng Aixiu didn’t enjoy herself while playing; she lost over a hundred in just two hours and became increasingly frustrated. By ten o'clock, she declared, "I'm done; I want to go home."
Those who played Mahjong at night usually wrapped things up around eleven o'clock, so her sudden departure didn’t sit well with some people.
"What the heck, it's only ten o'clock."
Zeng Aixiu said, "I've lost so much already. If I want to clean up, I will. Are you asking me to keep losing?" She stormed out of the shop, only to realize that she was all alone at the end of the street, which led straight to Zeng Family Bay.
The lights from the tea shop at this end were a bit better, but as she walked further, it became pitch dark. To save electricity, she always borrowed light from others when heading home. So now, apart from a few coins in her bag, she had nothing else.
Zeng Aixiu thought to herself: "What am I afraid of? Walking alone and complaining about having too many shadows? Am I really scared?" She had walked this night road many times, usually heading to the county town around three or four in the morning to sell early vegetables, wholesale to street vendors before returning home for a nap.
With that in mind, she felt there was nothing to fear.
However, thinking back to the jokes made in the shop earlier, she recalled that she and Zeng Shufen were cousins. Yet due to prejudice, they had never exchanged a word. Not only that, but they had even fought over territory.
That territory belonged to Grandma Zeng and contained a basket of Mao Bamboo. The Mao Bamboo thrived, with Bamboo Shoots constantly sprouting. Knowing the market price for Bamboo Shoots from selling vegetables, she took advantage of Zeng Shufen's absence and decided to make a move on them. She managed to pry out several Bamboo Shoots and sold them for quite a bit of money.
When Zeng Shufen returned home and saw her taking Bamboo Shoots from her territory, she confronted her. Zeng Aixiu thought that since there were no signs indicating ownership and Zeng Shufen was rarely home, she could claim them as her own. This led to a fierce argument and fight between them.
Recalling this incident made Zeng Aixiu shiver; her hair stood on end as she nervously glanced around, genuinely fearing what she might see. To her surprise, she did see something.
It was a dark figure scuttling quickly across the ground. What was it? Zeng Aixiu's heart raced as she instinctively ran forward. She ran fast, but so did the creature, almost as if it were chasing her. It didn't resemble a cat or a dog; it looked more like a child with four limbs crawling like a person.
But whose mischievous child would be out here crawling on the road? Zeng Aixiu doubted it was a child at all. She sprinted home and slammed the door shut, feeling slightly safer. Her husband worked long hours at a construction site far away, and due to her frugality, they didn't even have any means of communication at home. So even after being startled, she couldn't reach out to him; she could only keep her fears bottled up inside until she calmed down enough to tell her middle school son about it.
Since that night, Zeng Aixiu had been listless and distracted while working. Later on, there were reports in the village of livestock being attacked sporadically, and she muttered to herself: "She's come back for revenge; she's going to eat everyone in the village."
Then inexplicably, she developed a high fever and started rambling incoherently. Tian Baigan took his mother for an examination; it turned out she had late-stage lung cancer.
"Cancer? Could it be that she's had it for a long time without anyone noticing?"
Tian Baigan shook his head. "Impossible. Before my mom got sick, she had regular check-ups and was fine. It was only after seeing that creature that she fell ill."
"Yeah. This is serious. You should go home and rest. Tomorrow we'll come find you and go somewhere together; you can lead the way." Seeing Tian Baigan's gloomy expression and pallid complexion made my heart sink; I quickly took out a talisman and instructed him: "Stick this above your bed; it will help ease your mind."
Qin Jian also noticed Tian Baigan's poor condition—he looked drained and excessively pale with dark circles under his eyes—and frowned: "Instead of staying like this, you might as well go with him."
"Tian Baigan" heard, "That's not possible, my 'Stepmother' is still at home..."
"What does your 'Stepmother' think of you?"
"She's okay," "Tian Baigan" replied, turning to leave.
I watched his back and shook my head, "Sigh! It's fate, can't blame others. It's all up to your own fortune."
"Qin Jian" asked, "What do you mean?"
"'Evil Energy' is surrounding him..."
"Aren't you going to save him?"
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