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墨書 Inktalez
"Mom was killed by your dad."
Dad said with a trembling voice, his large, pudgy hands tightly gripping a cloth bag. "That night, he beat me so badly that I could hardly breathe; I felt like my soul was about to leave my body. Just when I was on the brink of death, Granny A-Lan appeared."
" Granny A-Lan said that with the forbidden technique of exchanging souls for seven days, I could come back to life and let your dad experience the pain of being beaten and scolded."
Dad's eyes suddenly turned fierce. "I agreed. I wanted him to feel that kind of pain too!"
A chill ran down my spine.
Even though I knew Mom's soul was now in Dad's body, hearing those words come from his lips made me shiver.
"Mom, let's escape!"
I urgently grabbed his arm. "Before Grandma comes back, we need to leave this cursed place!"
But Dad slowly shook his head. "No, Xiao Yan. Your grandma suddenly went out today; something must be wrong. She understands those dark arts just like Granny A-Lan does. If we try to escape, she'll probably catch us."
My heart sank. "Then what should we do?"
"You need to find Granny A-Lan."
Dad tore off a corner of a yellow paper with runes from the cloth bag. "She lives in a small house on the back mountain. Tell her that Grandma might cause trouble. The seven-day deadline isn't up yet, and my soul is still unstable."
I took the piece of yellow paper and followed the overgrown mountain path until I found the lonely little house.
An old hunchbacked woman sat in front of an altar, as if she had been waiting for a long time. The room was lit by black candles and filled with a dizzying scent of incense.
"I knew you would come," she rasped, glancing at the yellow paper in my hand. "Your mother's resentment is too strong; I couldn't bear to let her soul scatter, which is why I used this forbidden technique."
I stepped forward anxiously. "But Grandma has already found out!"
Granny A-Lan's expression suddenly turned serious. "Exchanging souls and reversing the natural order is inherently dangerous."
She leaned closer to me, and the mixed scent of herbs and decay hit me hard. "Now your grandma must be suspicious; she understands these matters well. On the day of Qingming, when the yin energy is at its peak, she might cause trouble and forcefully try to set things right. At that time, your mother's soul will be unstable and could scatter!"
I broke out in a cold sweat and stumbled back home.
When I returned, I found Grandma standing in the yard, holding a black cloth bag that occasionally wriggled and emitted faint sounds.
She looked at her father with eyes that had completely changed. There was no trace of the indulgence from before. Instead, there was a piercing coldness, as if she were gazing at a sworn enemy.
"Go, chop the firewood in the backyard," she commanded suddenly.
Her father froze. His plump body had never done any heavy labor.
"What? You unwilling?" Grandmother sneered. "Should I, an old woman, go chop it?"
Her father glanced at me, his eyes filled with an unfathomable fear. He shook his head slightly, signaling me not to act recklessly, and then he trudged off to chop the wood, burdened with worry.
I hid in the corner, watching as my father awkwardly swung the axe, sweat quickly soaking his back. Grandmother stood nearby, watching coldly and occasionally letting out a derisive snort. "Is that tiring? You useless man!"
I noticed the black cloth bag in her hand trembling incessantly, making a "gurgling" sound. The atmosphere in the yard suddenly grew tense as Grandmother opened the bag and pulled out a black rooster. The rooster was entirely black, without a hint of other colors, its eyes blood-red, emitting an ominous cry.
In rural legends, such a pitch-black rooster was believed to be a spirit medium capable of connecting the realms of the living and the dead. Grandmother took out a sharp knife and gently drew it across the rooster's neck. Blood dripped onto the ground as she swiftly drew a strange pattern in the yard.
Seeing this, my father was so frightened that his hand trembled, nearly causing the axe to hit his own foot. Only then did I notice that the ground of the yard had been covered with dense runes drawn in lime at some point, connecting with the blood symbols.
Everything had been meticulously prepared. Grandmother had known all along; she was just waiting for the right moment.
Realizing this, I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me.
Grandma pulled out a set of silver needles from a black cloth bag and walked into the woodshed.
Through the crack in the door, I saw her inserting the needles one by one into my mother's acupuncture points.
With each needle, my mother's body convulsed violently, yet her eyes held a strange sense of reassurance, as if she were anticipating something.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Dad asked, his voice trembling.
Grandma turned around and suddenly let out a cold laugh, pulling out a small porcelain bottle from the bag. "Come on, drink some talisman water to regain your strength."
Dad's face turned pale as he stepped back repeatedly. "N-No, it's fine..."
"What? Afraid to drink?"
Grandma narrowed her eyes. "If you were my son, why would you be scared of this?"
Before he could respond, she grabbed Dad by the collar, her nails digging into his cheek as she forced the talisman water into his mouth.
He immediately clutched his throat and collapsed to the ground, retching in agony.
"You impostor!"
She spat fiercely. "How could my son become so pathetic? Once Tomb-Sweeping Day arrives tomorrow, I will drive this wretched soul out of you and bring my son back to his own body!"
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