Chapter 2: The Scent of Yin Souls

  It was the first time I heard about my grandmother from my grandma's mouth.

  My parents left home to work elsewhere, occasionally returning to our hometown and being affectionate with me for a brief moment, but it's just superficial courtesy. In this small village where boys are highly valued and girls are not, my existence seems to represent nothing to them. Especially on my grandmother's side. My grandmother had three sons and three daughters, and her children gave birth to more than ten grandchildren, so she doesn't need me as a filial person. So, I won't go.

  I hung my head and said nothing.

  Grandma was about to persuade me again, when suddenly a singing voice came from my body: I want to drink another bowl of your simmered tea soup, warm up and lightly wave to cross the river, crossing the river to that distant cold north, you're afraid my hands will freeze...

  My aunt spat out her tongue and smiled awkwardly, then took out her mobile phone from her pocket.

  It was an unfamiliar call.

  I hesitated for a moment, then pressed the answer button, and the nice song stopped abruptly.

  "Hello? Is that Ji Yunhe? I'm your uncle, is your grandma in? I have an urgent matter to discuss with her." Before I could even respond, a man's loud and hoarse voice came from inside.

  I glanced at my phone with disgust, just about to hang up, when my grandmother gave me a stern look. I was startled and my hand shook, almost dropping the phone. My grandmother took the phone from me and spoke to the man on the other end who called himself my uncle. From what I gathered, it seemed that my grandmother was seriously ill and they were begging my grandmother to save her life.

  I muttered under my breath, "The yellow earth will cover us all to the top of our heads, what's the difference if we're dead?" My grandmother slapped the back of my hand hard over the phone, and I gritted my teeth in pain, but didn't dare resist.

  My grandmother often taught me to be kind to others, especially when it comes to treating relatives. This life has the fate of being a relative, but who knows where we will be in the next life?

  But I always think that doing good and accumulating virtue is a matter of who treats me well, I will treat them well!

  She hung up the phone, and my grandmother told me to go to her house tomorrow, but remember, I couldn't sleep in the same bed as grandma. I smiled secretly. This didn't need to be reminded by grandma, I wouldn't do it anyway. Grandma and I weren't close, and I was timid, leaving grandma's side, I was afraid of ghosts, what if the paper fetus ghost that harmed grandma came back to harm me?

  As I walked back, as soon as I entered the village, I saw the mother of the girl next door, Niu Niu.

  She has a mother with long legs and a slender waist, fair skin and a melon-seed-shaped face. In our village, she is considered a rare beauty.

  She saw us and greeted us from afar, very enthusiastically.

  Grandma nodded to her and chatted happily, asking where Niuniu's mom was going. Niuniu's mom said she was going to the pond in the back village to catch crayfish. I said it's only March now, not a good time to eat crayfish yet. Niuniu's mom blushed and said she was just going to take a look, if there weren't any, she would go home. After saying that, she ran away quickly, looking very strange.

  I asked Grandma if she wasn't afraid of encountering perverts with her good looks. Grandma knocked on my head, saying how could I have such an open mind at a young age. I rolled my eyes.

  No choice, I've seen this kind of scene in my dreams too many times.

  After walking a few steps, I bumped into Niu Niu, her face was red and there were still bloodshot eyes, the whole person looked like an inflated green frog.

  "Niang Niang, you're three months younger than me, why are you acting like a shrew?"

  I and NiuNiu are neighbors and classmates, we have a good relationship and often tease each other.

  Niang Niang heavily hummed: "If your mom was also outside cheating, you'd definitely be more violent than me!" She didn't stop for a step, running in the direction her mom had gone earlier. I yelled from behind, telling her not to go near the pond, but she didn't listen.

  Back in the house, I felt something was off, and when I mentioned it to my grandma, she said with a smile: "Little Buddha, did you smell something?"

  I slapped my thigh, ah, I smelled a sour smell on Niuniu's mother's body, just like the yin and yang scent emitted by that couple in my dream.

  How can there be a yin soul smell on Niang's body?

  Oh no! Something's wrong! Mom is going to be in trouble!

  I said hello to my grandma and grabbed a bamboo pole, then ran quickly to the pond at the back of the village. When I arrived, I saw that Niang Ma and Niang Niang were not there, the whole pond was quiet and deserted, without a single person. I let out a sigh of relief, fortunately they didn't drown in the water, it scared me to death. Just as I was thinking this, I bumped into Niang's father carrying a load of grain on his shoulder pole, walking towards me with a fierce expression.

  "Yinhe, how are you here? Have you seen my wife?" my father-in-law asked me.

  Most people call me Bai Yunhe or Yunhe, Xiao Bai, only my grandmother calls me Little Buddha.

  I shook my head: "Originally I saw it coming this way, but now it's gone."

  "Those stinky girls! They must have slipped away from here to the village chief's house. Just you wait, I'll catch those adulterous couple!" Old Man Ni said angrily, shouldering his carrying pole and heading west towards the pond.

  Isn't this the "land of death" often talked about by villagers? How can there still be a small path leading to the village chief's house?

  I twirled the bamboo pole in my hand, deciding to follow and take a look. On one hand, I was very curious about what the scene of catching an adulterer would be like; on the other hand, I was also genuinely worried that something would happen to Niu's mom, after all, I had truly smelled the aura of evil spirits on her.

  The west side of the pond was all overgrown with weeds, taller than people. My dad went in and started wildly slashing at them with a hoe, as if this could vent his frustrations. I used a bamboo pole to try and clear a path, but it was no use. In the end, I had to take off my thin jacket, cover my head with it, and charge forward without caring about anything else, as long as my feet were on solid ground.

  After walking for four or five minutes, we came to a cornfield. Once through the cornfield, it's the village chief's home.

  The girl's father leaned on a carrying pole on the ground, panting heavily.

  It's really not easy for an honest farmer to go to the village chief's home to find a wife, and it seems that he has been forced to do so out of desperation.

  "My dear..."

  It's Mom's voice.

  I exchanged a glance with Niya's dad, and he swallowed hard.

  It's clear that Dad's initial anger has been worn off by the weeds on the road just now.

  We crouched down in tacit agreement, trying not to make a sound as we moved forward. After a few steps, the girl's father parted two corn stalks and saw the village chief sticking out his tongue and licking the back of the girl's mother's neck.

  The girl's mother was shouting "dead ghost" and "lightly", while constantly twisting her body, with both hands tugging at her clothes.

  Through the thin shirt, the village chief's mouth was already pressed against Niang Ma's chest, soft and fragrant peaks.

  "Hmm..." Her mother murmured.

  The old man squatting beside me swallowed a mouthful of saliva, making a loud noise. I was afraid that the mother and the village head would hear it, so I quickly turned my head to remind him, but he suddenly started panting rapidly, his eyes fixed on the woman lying in front of him without blinking.

  I suddenly came back to myself.

  What's with this old man watching others doing that here? It's not right.

  I took a look around, quietly holding the bamboo pole, turned around and walked back to where I came from. Not far away, the woman's moans mixed with the man's heavy breathing, one sound after another drilling into my ears. I dropped the bamboo pole, covered my ears with both hands, not caring if the weeds scratched my face, and kept rushing forward. A sour smell spread through the air, and a numbness in my lower body made me want to find a man to pounce on immediately!

  As I turned back, I vaguely saw that Dad was still squatting in the cornfield. My whole body shook and I had a chill.

  Luckily I left in time, otherwise the consequences would be unthinkable! If I had been impatient and knocked down Niya's dad, how could I have explained it to Niya?

  I rushed to the edge of the pond, not caring if anyone had drowned in it before, and squatted down to scoop water onto my face. I splashed water on my face more than a dozen times, and only then did my thoughts gradually clear up. As soon as I came to, I felt a burning pain on my face and hands. Looking into the clear pool of water, I saw a small patch of blood oozing out from between my eyebrows, about the size of a fingertip. My hand was also covered in cuts of various sizes. It seemed that I had been cut by the grass as I hurried along the path earlier.

  I was afraid of being scolded by my grandmother, so I used water to wash the blood stains on my skin clean first, making it look less obvious.

  "Girl, you've dirtied my pool water."

  A male voice came from somewhere, and at the same time, a huge whirlpool appeared on the surface of the pond in the middle.

  I let out a loud cry and sat down on the ground with a thud, then my feet slipped and I rolled into the water. Fortunately, there were few people around the pond, and the wild grass was overgrown, so when I fell, I grabbed a handful of grass and managed to avoid falling directly into the middle of the water. The water was quite deep, even near the shore it was extremely deep, my feet kicked wildly trying to find something to support me to get out of the water, but each time I kicked, I felt nothing. As I hung there, thrashing about like a dog swimming, I suddenly felt a hand grab my foot.

  I was suddenly frightened and tears gushed out, begging non-stop: "Immortal sir, spare my life! I'm very ugly and haven't fully developed yet."

  That hand stayed on my foot for a while, moved up to my calf, and then continued moving up...

  Is this just an ordinary water ghost, or is it a lustful water spirit?