Chapter 4 Midnight Terror

  I suddenly tensed up all over, feeling a chill run down my spine, and stared fixedly at the pigpen.

  All that could be seen was a dark shape standing still under the eaves of the pigpen, its outline unclear, and it was unknown whether it was human or something else. The suppressed panting sound in the darkness sounded like some kind of wild beast.

  Cold sweat broke out on my back, at this moment, not only was the black shadow under the eaves of the pigpen very eerie, but I also felt like someone was standing behind me. However, this feeling wasn't so terrifying, on the contrary, it was as if your closest person was standing behind you to accompany you, making you fearless no matter what danger you faced.

  This feeling has actually been with me from childhood to adulthood, especially when I encounter danger, this feeling of having a mountain behind my back becomes clearer. I don't know what it is, I just think that the strange things that have happened to me since childhood may be related to this.

  The sense of reliance behind me made my heart calm down a lot, and after swallowing a mouthful of saliva, I shouted loudly under the eaves of the pigpen: "Who's there?"

  When I was a kid, my second uncle told me that if you encounter something unclean at night, don't be afraid. Living people have yang fire on their bodies, which can ward off ghosts and evil spirits. The bolder the spirit, the more vigorous the yang fire is. So as long as a person has a strong spirit, there's no need to fear those unclean things.

  At this time, I remembered what my second uncle said.

  After my loud cry, there was a moment of silence all around, as if time itself had stopped flowing.

  The atmosphere suddenly became overwhelmingly oppressive, making people feel suffocated.

  Just at that moment, a man's cough sounded in the dark shadow under the eaves of the pigpen, breaking the stifling atmosphere in the yard. Then a familiar figure slowly walked out from the dark shadow under the eaves and looked at me quietly, saying: "Xiao Yu, it's me."

  "Second Uncle?" I jumped in fright and exclaimed loudly.

  That figure was Second Uncle. He hadn't completely emerged from the dark shadow under the eaves, half of his body hidden in the shadows and the other half exposed to the moonlight, gazing at me quietly.

  "Second Uncle, what are you doing there?" I came back to myself and hastily asked.

  Second Uncle cleared his throat and said lightly: "It's convenient for Second Uncle to get up. Oh, Xiao Yu, were you also woken up by the barking of dogs and couldn't sleep?"

  I listened to Ershu's voice without any abnormalities, and my heart finally relaxed a bit. I quickly replied, "Yeah, the barking is too disturbing..." Before I finished speaking, my heart suddenly skipped a beat because I realized that the barking had stopped, but I didn't know when it stopped.

  At this time, Second Uncle walked out completely from under the eaves of the pigpen and let out a light sigh, saying: "The dogs in the village won't bark for no reason." As he spoke, he raised his head to look at the moon slanting to the west, his expression serious, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

  I sensed a hidden meaning in Second Uncle's words and hastily asked: "Second Uncle, why are the dogs in the village barking?"

  Second Uncle was taken aback for a moment, but quickly reacted and said calmly: "I'm afraid something unclean has entered the village." Sighing, he looked at me and said: "Xiao Yu, go to sleep, the dog won't bark anymore."

  I nodded and turned around, but suddenly I was startled in my heart: why did Second Uncle's tone sound so certain just now, as if he knew very clearly when the dog would bark and when it wouldn't.

  This...

  I hastily turned around to look at Second Uncle, and was suddenly shocked. Under the moonlight, the courtyard was empty, where was Second Uncle?

  What's going on? I just felt a chill run from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

  Just then, a voice suddenly sounded behind me and quietly asked, "Xiao Yu, what are you looking for?"

  "Second Uncle..." I was startled and quickly turned around, only to find that it was indeed Second Uncle standing behind me.

  When did he quietly stand behind me?

  Before I could think more, Second Uncle gently patted my shoulder and said, "Silly boy, what are you daydreaming about? Alright, go to sleep quickly."

  I mechanically nodded and returned to my bedroom, my mind unable to calm down.

  "What just happened?" I thought to myself, unable to understand why my second uncle appeared silently behind me. He's not a ghost, is he? Or did I just space out and not notice earlier?

  I carefully recalled Second Uncle's expression and demeanor when he spoke, but found nothing out of the ordinary, and my heart became increasingly suspicious.

  After sitting on the bed for a while, I still couldn't determine anything. On the bright side, I soon began to believe that Second Uncle had indeed gotten up in the middle of the night to use the restroom and happened to run into me.

  That night after midnight, the dogs in the village did not bark again. I slept very soundly and slept until dawn.

  Waking up to see the sun rising in the milky white fog, my heart was filled with beauty and I no longer doubted what happened last night. My second uncle got up as early as usual, saw me, and asked if I slept well last night. This sentence undoubtedly implied that he saw me last night, and my doubts were completely dispelled, and I thoroughly settled down, revealing a smile.

  At this time, Erniang suddenly walked out and said: "The barking of the dog last night was really noisy." As she spoke, she subconsciously glanced at Ershu, who unknowingly dodged and shifted his gaze elsewhere.

  I didn't notice anything unusual about Second Uncle, but instead looked at Second Aunt and said: "Second Aunt, were you also woken up by the barking of dogs last night?"

  The second daughter yawned and smiled warmly: "I was woken up in the first half of the night, but I slept very soundly in the second half."

  "Second Sister shouldn't know about me and Second Uncle meeting in the courtyard at midnight, right?" I thought to myself.

  This afternoon, while having lunch, Second Uncle announced to us that from today on, he would start being a vegetarian.

  We asked him inexplicably why he was doing this, and Second Uncle said very seriously that he had a dream last night, the King of Ksitigarbha appeared to him, telling him to become a vegetarian to eliminate the sins accumulated in his first half life, otherwise disaster would befall him and affect his family.

  He spoke seriously and with conviction; we didn't know what to say in response.

  The second daughter fell silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed and scolded: "You can just be a vegetarian from now on, the meat at home belongs to us two sisters. In the future, don't envy us when you see us eating meat."

  Listening to Erniang's words, it seems that she doesn't care about Erbo's decision, but I still see a flash of sadness and worry in her eyes when she lowers her head. My heart aches secretly, the reason why Erniang agrees with Erbo's decision so readily is that she doesn't want to argue with Erbo, so as not to make me and my little sister worried.

  Little sister didn't notice anything unusual, she just thought that Second Uncle was joking and laughed saying: "Dad, I don't believe you can persist in being a vegetarian, next time when we eat meat, you mustn't be greedy."

  Second Uncle showed a slightly embarrassed smile and repeatedly said: "No, no."

  When eating, Second Uncle indeed did not eat meat again. He used cold tea to soak his rice, and even vegetarian dishes had to be washed with tea water before eating, without a hint of oil. This strict and peculiar vegetarian diet made us feel unexpected and also somewhat unpalatable in our hearts. Little Sister deliberately picked up meat and waved it back and forth in front of Second Uncle, tempting him to eat meat. But Second Uncle was completely unmoved by this, which made Little Sister feel very frustrated and helpless.

  Second Uncle had spoken first, now he uses cold tea to cook rice, without a hint of oil fumes, it is to fulfill his own promise, we have no way to persuade him.

  Watching my second uncle eating tea-soaked rice, I suddenly remembered something from when I was a kid. In our place, on the first morning of the Lunar New Year, we had to burn incense and offer sacrifices to our ancestors with clean tea water. That time, while I was eating, I felt that the rice was dry, so I saw the clean tea water on the ancestral altar in the main hall and poured some into my bowl to soak the rice. My second uncle found out and was so scared that he directly knocked over my bowl, scolding me severely.

  I was young at the time and didn't know why my second uncle was like that, I was scared stiff. Later, when my second aunt comforted me, she told me that the clean tea water on the offering table had been used to worship our ancestors, in other words, it had been drunk by ghosts and had absorbed yin energy, if a living person drank it, they would have problems, warning me never to use clean tea water to cook rice again.

  Because of this, no one in our family has ever used tea to cook rice. It's not that tea-cooked rice is inedible, but rather because in our subconscious mind, especially cold tea-cooked rice, seems more like something you'd serve to the dead.

  Thinking of this matter, looking at Second Uncle eating tea and rice porridge, I feel a lump in my heart, wanting to speak but stopping myself.

  But on the other hand, my uncle ate several bowls of rice with cold tea, which made us feel much more at ease than before when he could only eat one bowl of rice because of the greasy smell. In our opinion, as long as a person can still eat a few bowls of rice, their body won't be too bad.

  As long as it's good for Second Uncle, we're willing to get used to anything.

  Erniang made the change first, when making dinner, she specially prepared vegetarian dishes and rice for Ershu, without any greasy smell. Ershu expressed his gratitude, while eating, Dabo suddenly came to our house, saw Ershu eating cold tea porridge, and asked what was going on. Ershu told Dabo about his dream, Dabo didn't doubt Ershu's dream, but pointed out that Ershu shouldn't eat cold tea porridge, lest outsiders see it and misunderstand.

  Second Uncle naturally understood what Eldest Uncle meant, so the next day at mealtime, he stopped using cold tea to soak his rice and switched to using cold water instead. Second Aunt was worried that he would get an upset stomach, saying she would cook a pot of thin porridge for him in the evening. After Second Uncle started drinking clear broth porridge, he gradually became much better. His appetite was not bad, and he could drink several bowls at each meal, which made us feel more at ease.

  Since the night I and Er Ye came back, for several days in a row, at midnight, all the dogs in Yunlongba would go crazy and bark non-stop. This made everyone take notice, and the villagers discussed whether something unclean had come to the village, asking Old Village Chief to make a decision.

  The old village chief thought for a moment and then came to our house, asking my second uncle to burn some talismans and ward off evil spirits. My second uncle nodded in agreement and immediately took me to the village to sprinkle the talisman water everywhere. I had originally thought that my second uncle would use his peach wood sword to perform some rituals, but he didn't. When I asked him why, he just said lightly that it wasn't necessary.

  After splashing the symbolic water, the village indeed calmed down for a few days. The villagers admired Second Uncle's methods even more and couldn't stop praising him when chatting in private. This made me and my little sister feel proud of Second Uncle as we walked around the village.

  However, three days later, something sensational happened in Yunlongba.

  The day before this happened, in the afternoon, Erniang and Xiaomei went to visit their grandmother, leaving only me and Erbo at home. At dusk, I returned from cutting pig grass and saw Erbo tearing off the talismans on the wall of the house.

  "Second Uncle, what are you doing?" I asked in surprise.

  "Second Uncle casually replied: 'These talismans look too dazzling at night.'"

  "Are you dizzy?" I felt a chill run down my spine and stared at him with wide eyes.

  "No," Second Uncle hastily cleared his throat and corrected himself, "What I mean is that these talismans are useless and don't look good on the wall either."

  Those charms were put up by Second Uncle himself, saying they could ward off evil spirits and bring peace to our whole family. Now how can he say they're useless? I'm very puzzled, so I asked him.