I ran ahead, Uncle Er followed behind me, heading towards the ancestral hall. Just before reaching the ancestral hall, Uncle Er seemed to realize where I was going and his expression suddenly changed. He quickened his pace and rushed into the ancestral hall.
At that moment, I suddenly felt that I had misunderstood him.
When he realized that his brother was in danger, he chose to rush out instead of remaining indifferent.
When I arrived at the ancestral hall, I found it completely dark inside. The eternal light had gone out, and Lin Sanshui had probably tampered with the lamp, making it impossible to light it. The ancestral hall had turned into something resembling a haunted house, and from outside, I could hear intense fighting inside.
"Dad, Uncle!" I picked up something from the ground and rushed in. (There were many bricks and wooden sticks on the rural ground, so don't ask me why I could keep picking up things from the ground.)
When I rushed in, I felt a chilling atmosphere throughout the entire ancestral hall, even though it was the height of summer, it felt like there was air conditioning inside.
"Don't move!" As soon as I entered, the sounds of fighting inside stopped, and instead, someone covered my mouth; the voice telling me to not move was Uncle Er.
He covered my mouth and nose, making it impossible for me to breathe, but he didn't move either. I had no idea what he was up to.
After a while, he let me go, then moved to the front. I couldn't see anything, just smelling a strange scent slowly emerge in the ancestral hall, like incense, but not quite.
With a lighter in my hand, I didn't dare to do anything. I regretted coming here now - I was just causing chaos for Uncle Er, and I couldn't help at all. I had no idea how my father was doing at this point. In the darkness, I felt a deep fear, unable to even recall where the red ghostly coffin was. I felt like I was surrounded by nothing but red coffins and ghostly shadows.
"Run!" At this point, I suddenly heard Uncle Er yell.
I almost instinctively ran, but before I took a few steps, I saw the dim moonlight outside the ancestral hall, and was suddenly grabbed by something at my ankle with tremendous force, dragging me backward in a straight line.
At that moment, I saw my second uncle rushing out of the ancestral hall, carrying my father on his back, who had come to find the person desperately searching inside the red coffin.
As I resisted, I found more and more things clinging to my body. When I reached out, I realized the feeling was like unwashed, greasy hair, giving me chills all over my body.
Then, I was pulled onto something soft and plush, and despite my struggle, it was futile.
As I pushed forward, I seemed to forget my resistance because my hand seemed to touch a breast. Cold, yet incredibly soft and delicate, the touch was unmistakable.
I was completely bewildered and forgot what was happening as I felt the cold breath on my face and sensed a figure leaning toward me in the darkness. Subsequently, cold and soft lips pressed against mine, and the hair entangled my whole body. Although I could move my head, I forgot to resist, perhaps my consciousness had been controlled, or the sensation from the cold lips had me intoxicated.
Naturally, I reacted, and I felt the "woman" respond with a faint moan, and I felt lost.
The scent inside the ancestral hall, the softness on my hand, and the cold lips seemed to gradually break down my willpower like an aphrodisiac. I even had a brief burst of thoughts.
Even if I die under the peony flowers, I would die in a romantic way.
Just as I was about to sink into this feeling and lose myself, a thunderous voice suddenly sounded in my ear: "Bite your own tongue!"
It was my second uncle's voice.
This furious roar briefly restored some clarity to my mind. Although I was enjoying this sensation, I still followed it because I knew the one embracing me was a ghost!
Normally, biting one's own tongue requires a lot of willpower, but at that moment, I had no time to hesitate. I bit my tongue and sprayed blood directly at the mouth that had just kissed me.
Instantly, the hair binding me loosened, and I rolled on the ground and rushed toward the door, but the hair immediately wrapped around me again. Just then, my second uncle suddenly threw a torch inside!
The hair immediately recoiled from the fire, but the torch also extinguished in an instant. For some reason, after the lantern went out, the entire ancestral hall seemed to lack oxygen and could not support combustion, although the people inside did not suffocate due to lack of oxygen. This was something that couldn't be explained by the things I learned in school.
As the space in the ancestral hall was limited, I almost lost my life as I dashed forward. My second uncle stepped in and pulled me out. Just as I emerged, I suddenly had a strong urge to glance at what I had just passionately encountered in the dim light of the torch.
I had seen *Liaozhai* when I was young. During that era, the internet was scarce, and I found a version with illustrations in the school library, and I read it like erotic literature. I had fantasized countless times about scholar encountering female ghosts and spirits. My classmate and I had even discussed how Tang Sanzang from *Journey to the West* was a fool. If it were us, we would definitely have had a romp with the beautiful spirit before talking about obtaining the scriptures. Today, this kind of thing actually happened to me. Did I or did I not want to have a look at the mysterious being I had just had a passionate encounter with?
After reaching the doorway of the ancestral hall, I did not stop, but instead glanced inside. I saw a vague figure, graceful, dressed in red, with long, black hair, resembling a stunning fairy.
If she didn't want my life, as a grown man, what was wrong with coming back one more time?
My second uncle stood still at the door, staring at the ancestral hall. I called to him, "Aren't you going to run? Waiting to die?"
"The peach wood branch hasn't been broken, so she can't come out," my second uncle replied. He seemed to be willing to share with me what he knew about many things this time.
I heard him, but instead of running away, I went back to see my father lying unconscious on the ground, and the first thing I did was check his breath, which was very weak.
"Let's take him to the hospital," my second uncle said.
"The hospital?" I asked, puzzled.
"When you're sick, you go to the hospital. Where else can you go?" He looked at me, equally puzzled. After a while, he sighed and said to me, "Xiaofan, I'm not a deity."
I nodded and said nothing, picked up my father, and went to find a dimly lit, dilapidated lantern and tied my father to my back with a rope. Then, I rode my bicycle toward the town. When I arrived, I registered and paid the fee. When I returned to the emergency room, my father had already woken up!
"Dad!" I called out.
"I'm fine," he said, his face a little pale, but he managed to force a smile. Then, he stood up and said to me, "Let's go, visit Miao Miao, and then we can leave the hospital and go home."
I was a little incredulous and asked the doctor, "Doctor, my father?"
The old doctor laughed and said, "It's nothing serious, just a bit of low blood sugar. Take a couple of bottles of medicine, and he'll be fine. The kid is very filial."
I felt an impulse to beat my second uncle for making me ride a bicycle all the way here in the middle of the night for my father's low blood sugar, which was a recurring old problem. After bidding farewell to the doctor, it was almost dawn after all the commotion. According to my recollection, I found Miao Miao's hospital room. In the corridor outside the room, I saw Lin Sanshui slumped there, asleep, with disheveled hair. He hadn't changed his clothes in days and looked quite disheveled.
"Uncle Sanshui?" I called out to him.
He lifted his head, opened his eyes, bloodshot and dazed, and after a while, he suddenly stood up and asked, "Xiaofan, are you here?"
"Yes, my dad has a problem, so I came to see him," I said.
"What's wrong with Yutang?" Lin Sanshui bypassed me and asked about my father with great concern.
Lin Sanshui wasn't a stranger, and there was no need to hide anything. I told him about the situation in the village, as he was the village head, and the only person who could contact Xu Lin, who was also in the know. It was necessary for him to know.