Chapter 25: The Black Silhouette with Its Arms Around Its Waist

  Qin Shu's words left me stunned, and I couldn't understand what he meant by his last words. It seemed like he was saying that someone beside me wasn't human? The implication being that the person beside me is actually a ghost? Who could it be? And how did Qin Shu know about this?

  After the villagers collectively buried Qin Shu and Qin Shu, they discussed where their child Huwa would go. Now Huwa has become an orphan without a father or mother, and is only one year old, still breastfeeding, who will raise her? Someone suggested that the government should solve this problem, but Liu Dajie said not to mention the government, she would take care of the child herself.

  They say that when this tiger cub was born, everyone in the village said she had a good fate. Why did they say that? Because she was born alive. These past two years, something strange and evil has been happening in our villages of Huangjia yuan, Lichun and Wuchun - many families have given birth to stillborn babies, so much so that the women in the village are afraid to get pregnant again, and even young wives who do get pregnant immediately leave their homes and run far away, trying to escape this disaster, fearing that they will give birth to another dead baby.

  I had asked Li Shenpo to take a look before, and Li Shenpo said that this was the work of an infant spirit, but for some unknown reason, the infant spirit was not exorcised, and the matter was left unsettled.

  When Qin Aunt was pregnant with Tiger Wa, she had thought of going to a distant place to avoid evil spirits. However, Qin Uncle did not believe in evil spirits. At the age of five, he followed his father up the mountain to hunt, possessing exceptional skills and having a fearless heart. He didn't believe in those ghostly sayings and firmly wanted Qin Aunt to stay at home, without going anywhere. So, he hung a tiger skin in front of the house door. It was said that the tiger skin was obtained when he was sixteen years old, when he went up the mountain with his father to hunt a tiger. During that time, they killed the tiger, but his father lost his life to the tiger's mouth. Qin Uncle had peeled off the tiger skin and someone offered a high price to buy it, but he refused.

  It's strange to say, but the three villages had stillborn children, while Huwa was born smoothly, complete and healthy. After Huwa's full moon, Qin Shu wrapped her in tiger skin and named her Huwa. The hunting dog of the Qin family went mad and bit Qin's wife to death, but it didn't touch Huwa in Qin's wife's arms. Of course, the dog wasn't blind to Huwa, it might not have wanted to bite Huwa, or maybe it didn't dare to.

  Now the tiger skin is still wrapped around the tiger cub. Some people say that Liu Dajie raised the tiger cub because she coveted the tiger skin, but Liu Dajie snorted in disdain, saying that she took pity on the tiger cub and therefore raised her, as for the tiger skin, she would give it to the tiger cub when she grew up.

  In our village, everyone was originally living a peaceful and happy life, but then evil spirits and Huang Pizi appeared, causing the village to be in an uproar and people's hearts to be disturbed.

  The day to leave school is getting closer and closer, but my father and Li Shenpo followed the mysterious old Yang and never came back, and there was no news. Today, I tried to call my father's mobile phone again, and what I heard was still that cold voice: Sorry, the user you dialed has powered off...

  I put away my mobile phone and was about to go back home when I saw someone hastily running towards my house. It was Huang Shi Shu from the village, who asked me from afar: "Xiao Dao, has your father come back?" I said no, and Huang Shi Shu let out a heavy sigh, turned around and left. I quickly caught up with him to ask what he wanted with my father, and Huang Shi Shu said: "Your aunt is having severe stomach pain, don't know what's wrong."

  I heard that Aunt Huang was pregnant, I said it's normal for the stomach to hurt a bit when you first get pregnant. Uncle Huang Shi said it's not just a little pain, it's very painful, your aunt is rolling around on the bed in pain! I said why don't I prepare some medicine to calm the fetus and have Aunt take it, if that doesn't work we'll have to send her to the hospital. Huang Shi sighed again and said there's no other choice.

  These years following my father, who has a high level of medical skills but doesn't show them off, I've picked up some basic medical knowledge. At home, we have prepared many Chinese and Western medicines. I learned from my father how to prepare a prescription for stabilizing the fetus and gave it to Huang Shu. He took it and hurried back with an anxious look on his face.

  Looking at the back of Huangshi Shu, my heart also became worried and decided to follow him home to take a look.

  Arriving at Huang Shi's house, the sunset was setting in the west, and a ray of twilight was shining on his brick house, making it look somewhat desolate. This house was built twenty years ago, and at that time, only a few people in the town could build such a house. At that time, Huang Shi's family was very rich, and he married the most beautiful girl within a hundred miles, who is now Huang Shu. At that time, Huang Shu became pregnant, but one day when Huang Shi came back home, he got drunk and quarreled with Huang Shu for some reason. In a fit of anger, Huang Shu took a strange medicine, which resulted in her miscarriage. Since then, Huang Shi's spirit was depressed, and his family situation gradually declined, to the point where most people in the village had built new houses, but he still lived in this old brick house, and for more than ten years, Huang Shu did not become pregnant again.

  Eighteen years after the first child was aborted, Huang Shu finally became pregnant. Now both Huang Shi and Huang Shu are almost forty years old, so they attach great importance to this child in Huang Shu's belly. However, Huang Shu has been having stomach pains for several days now.

  As soon as I heard Aunt Huang groaning in pain inside the house, my heart was already aching. When I entered, I saw Aunt Huang rolling around on the bed, her forehead covered in cold sweat, and her clothes were all soaked through. I called out to her, but she just looked at me with a glance before continuing to moan. At this moment, even though I was still a meter away from Aunt Huang, I felt a chill emanating from her body, like facing an open refrigerator. My heart skipped a beat, and a sense of foreboding rose up in my mind.

  Normally, people's bodies wouldn't have such severe cold energy.

  Huang Shi hugged Huang Shu, anxious and helpless, I hurried to help decoct medicine.

  When decocting medicine, I don't know why, maybe it's just my mind playing tricks on me, but I always feel like there's something behind me, like someone is standing behind my back. But when I turn around, there's no one there. This feeling is driving me crazy, I wonder if the ghost from Huangshi Village has come to haunt me?

  But I have yin-yang eyes, so why didn't I see any ghosts?

  Gradually, Huang Shu's groaning sound became smaller. I went to take a look and saw that Huang Shi was holding Huang Shu in his arms. I guess Huang Shu felt safe, so the baby in her belly also calmed down.

  After brewing the medicine, I went to give it to Huang Shu to drink. At this time, Huang Shu was sleeping in Huang Shi's arms. Huang Shi asked me to put the medicine on the bedside table and said "thank you for your hard work". I said "it's nothing" and then asked him how many months Huang Shu had been pregnant and when she started having stomach pain. The reason I asked these questions is that I wanted to treat her symptoms accordingly. Huang Shi said that the child had been conceived for more than three months, and everything was fine until today when it suddenly started hurting.

  I saw Aunt Huang's hair was disheveled, her face was pale, and her complexion was extremely poor. This reminded me of Da Hei, who had a similar expression on his face after he and Huang Pizi hanged themselves. My heart sank, wondering if this time it was also the work of Huang Pizi. I asked Uncle Huang Shi if Aunt Huang had gone anywhere in the past few days, such as to the mountain slope or in front of the grave. Uncle Huang Shi said no, since Aunt Huang became pregnant, he has been treating her like a treasure and hasn't let her leave home for a moment, letting her rest at home to take care of her pregnancy. I asked Uncle Huang Shi again about what he had been doing these past few days, trying to figure out if he had provoked Huang Pizi. Uncle Huang Shi said he was building houses for people, going out early and returning late every day, and didn't expect that today when he came back from work, he heard Aunt Huang shouting in pain on the bed.

  It seems that Huang Shi didn't provoke Huang Pizi, so it's not Huang Pizi's fault. I guess I was too suspicious. As far as I know, pregnant women do have some belly pain.

  "If Aunt's stomach still hurts, why don't we send her to the hospital in town to take a look?" I suggested.

  As soon as the words were spoken, Huang Shu suddenly opened her eyes and stared straight at me. I was taken aback for a moment, what kind of gaze is this? It seems like she has a grudge against me.

  Huang Shi Shu replied: "Yes, I originally planned to take her directly to the county hospital, but it was too late and I thought your dad had returned, so I wanted to ask your dad to take a look."

  "I'm fine." Suddenly, Huang Shu pushed open the door and walked out from the bed, glanced at me and then turned around to walk outside.

  When she walked to the door, my eyes blurred for a moment, and I only felt a black shadow flashing in front of me. Then the black shadow, like a person, hugged Huang Shu's waist and followed Huang Shu step by step out of the door.