I was scared out of my mind and curled up on the bed, not daring to move.
The banging sound didn't stop for several minutes.
Finally I got brave enough to grab a pair of scissors from under the bedside table, opened the door a crack, and looked outside in fear.
When the door was pushed open, the banging sound became louder.
I saw neither my mother nor my third uncle.
It was also quiet at the funeral shed. Only then did I realize that the sound was not a knock on the door. It seemed like something was hitting the threshold of the courtyard.
Since it's not my mother and third uncle, it must be my grandma and my father who are back.
I breathed a sigh of relief, wiped off the cold sweat, and pushed the door open completely.
The night was very dark, and the candles in the mourning hall were extinguished. I walked out cautiously and saw an old woman with a stooped back and short gray hair, muttering and squatting outside the threshold of my house.
"Grandma, didn't you go to the hospital? Where is my dad?"
I recognized at a glance that the back figure belonged to my grandma, so I quickly walked over and asked her why she came back.
Grandma was still carrying her back and refused to pay attention to me.
After what happened last night, I didn't dare to approach her easily. I just pressed my back against the door panel and stared at grandma's back.
The night breeze was cold, and grandma was only wearing a thin underwear, holding a rusty hatchet in her hand, and was hacking at the threshold of her home.
That "thumping" sound was caused by grandma chopping the threshold with a hatchet.
Grandma's back was stiff. She kept this posture for who knows how long. She had cut half of the threshold.
While she was chopping, she was cursing vaguely in her mouth, "I asked you to build the threshold so high, you damn old man... You made me unable to get in!"
What on earth is grandma doing?
I was completely dumbfounded. I was too young at the time and didn’t realize what was going on. I just thought my grandma’s reaction was abnormal, so I had the courage to call her,
"Grandma, please stop cutting, the threshold will be broken!"
Grandma's hand holding the knife suddenly froze, half of her hand was hanging up, and her fingers were still tightly clenching the hatchet.
Then, she turned her head mechanically, revealing a pair of blood-covered eyes, and a face full of furrows and wrinkles, resembling an old piece of tree bark.
"The remnant of the Zhou family, there is still a little brat like you, geez..."
Grandma kept smiling sadly, slowly got up, and approached me with a hatchet.
"Grandma, what are you doing? You, no, you are not my grandma!"
Only then did I finally realize something was wrong, because when grandma walked, she was completely padding her feet, and her heels never touched the ground!
His face maintained a sinister and frightening expression, and that stern face was covered with a twisted and malicious sneer.
"ah!"
I almost fainted from fright. Without saying a word, I turned around and ran to the back room, trying to escape from the house through the back door.
Yesterday it was my third uncle, and today it is my grandma. No matter how stupid I am, I know that I cannot stay in this family.
But grandma with her little feet moved very quickly. As soon as I turned around, I realized that I couldn't move. Grandma actually hugged me from behind with her arms and pressed her skinny and shriveled chest against my back.
"Zhou Xuan, where are you going?"
I heard that this was not my grandma's voice at all, but a low and hoarse man's accent.
"Let me go, help, ah..."
I was so frightened that I couldn't speak coherently. I tried to struggle, but I couldn't break free from my grandma's arms. She pinned me to the ground and I couldn't move.
"Why are you still alive when we all have to die? Geez, I'm going to kill you...kill you!"
Grandma's voice was terrifying and full of viciousness. She suddenly raised the hatchet in her hand and was about to chop it at my neck.
"Grandma doesn't want it!"
I yelled with all my strength, and just when I was feeling desperate, the ajar door was kicked open, and a familiar old growl came out,
"Kid, bow your head!"
I didn't have time to think, my mind was completely blank at the time, so I subconsciously followed the instructions and hung my head hard.
"ah!"
Then I heard my grandma scream, and something warm passed over my head and poured directly on my grandma's face.
A lot of the sticky and fishy liquid also stained my neck. I reached out and touched it, and it was blood!
I was completely stunned. I raised my head sluggishly and found my grandma lying on the ground twitching all over, with strange white smoke coming out of her mouth and nose.
An old figure appeared in the middle of the yard. It was the grandfather who left my house yesterday.
He was holding a bloody porcelain bowl in his hand. There was a lot of blood in the bowl and it was also covered with chicken feathers.
I was stunned for a long time, then stammered and asked, "Grandpa, grandma, she..."
"The evil spirit has entered the body. Your grandma is in trouble, thanks to this bowl of chicken blood."
The grandfather's face was full of exhaustion. He threw the porcelain bowl containing chicken blood on the ground, walked to the unconscious grandma, and tested her breathing with his hands.
"There is still hope. Help me find a rope and tie up your grandma first. The evil spirit in her body has not been removed. Her mind will be very confused when she wakes up, and she may continue to do things to hurt you."
I said "Oh", feeling numb with fear. I went to the main room to find a rope and handed it to my grandpa. Then I watched my grandpa tie up my grandma with his own hands and stuff her into the demolished house where my mother was originally imprisoned.
Then the grandfather found a bowl of water and poured it directly on grandma's face.
Being stimulated by the cold water, grandma woke up immediately. She opened her cloudy eyeballs and found that she was tied up. She suddenly changed her face and shouted,
"Old beast, why are you tying me up? Let go!"
She acted very excited. Seeing that her grandpa ignored her, she twisted her body even harder and cursed at her.
"You are a man who has been stabbed a thousand times and killed my whole family. Old Bangzi, you will go to hell sooner or later!"
The grandma's mind was indeed abnormal. She respected the grandpa before and never dared to speak rudely in front of the grandpa, but now she actually cursed the grandpa for being an old beast and wanted him to die early.
Grandpa still ignored grandma, found a rag, and forced it into grandma's mouth. Grandma's intermittent scolding stopped.
I leaned against the wall and watched like a fool, at a loss what to do and forgetting what I should do.
Grandpa sighed and came over, patted my head and said, "Oh, I've only been away for a day, and so many things have happened to your family. It seems that there is really no way to make things right this time."
My nose felt sour, and I weakly pointed to the demolished house where grandma was being held, "I nursed her..."
"It will be okay for the time being. The evil spirit entered the body and caused your grandma's sanity to be taken away. That thing probably wants to use your grandma's hand to get rid of you."
The Taigong’s eyebrow lines became deeper and he gently pulled my arm.
I felt uncomfortable and leaned directly into my grandfather's arms.
My family has been destroyed, my grandma has become crazy, and my dad is still unknown. Now the only person I can rely on is my grandfather.
"Don't worry, poor kid, even if you risk your life, your grandpa will protect you."
Grandpa sighed deeply, took my hand and sat down.
With Grandpa's comfort, my mood gradually stabilized.
The Taigong was recognized as a good man in the village. When he was young, he read Feng Shui and told fortunes for others. When he was old, he set up a school and taught several children in the village to read and read for free.
Only by staying with this kind old man can I feel better.
Grandpa said that he disappeared for a day to find a helper, but unfortunately the helper was not at home. Grandpa couldn't wait and was afraid that something would happen to me, so he had to leave a letter and hurried back to Zhoujiagou as quickly as possible. I knew that as soon as I entered the door, I saw my grandma trying to hurt me.
After his emotions calmed down, Taigong began to ask what happened after he left.
I wiped my nose and told the story intermittently. When I heard that my grandma had brought back two red coffins from the town, my grandfather was stunned and stood up suddenly and said,
"What kind of blood coffin? What I asked your grandma to order is obviously an ordinary birthday coffin. How could anyone paint the coffin with blood paint?"
He was horrified and dragged me to the place where the bodies of my uncle and aunt were parked.
Looking at the two bloody coffins placed under the funeral shed, Grandpa trembled on his heels, took two steps back and said,
"No, someone is clearly trying to harm your family!"
