Human skin envelope

  The most striking feature of this village is the extremely high courtyard walls, about two meters high, all made of green bricks. The gate is even higher, and from a distance, it looks like a giant tombstone standing at the entrance. The old man took me to the house in the deepest part of the village, pushed open the door, and a gust of cold wind suddenly blew towards me, leaving me stunned. This feeling made me feel somewhat familiar.

  As I walked into the yard, my first feeling was that this house seemed familiar to me. Yes, that kind of déjà vu feeling had never been so strong before. But thinking carefully, it's absolutely impossible, I hadn't even heard of this place before. I stood hesitantly at the gate, dawdling for half a day but still didn't have the courage to take a step forward. At this moment, a tender voice entered my ears, followed by a thin child in his teens rushing out of the house, running and jumping while saying: "Grandpa, why are you back so late today?"

  The old man smiled slightly, then gently stroked the child's head with his hand. The child was not tall and looked a bit thin, with big eyes and seemingly large pupils that almost occupied half of their eyes, but they looked very spirited.

  "Jin Douzi, what did you do at home today?" The old man said, pulling the boy towards the house and beckoning me to come in. I hastily followed him. The house was very large and clean, and as soon as we entered, I saw a Ba Xian table in front of us, with an incense burner and some strange objects on it.

  "Guess what, Grandpa?" the little kid said with a smile, and that smile was very infectious. Then he turned his head to look at me, furrowed his brow, shook his little head to one side, and then continued walking forward.

  To the left and right of the main gate, there was a room respectively. The old man invited me into the left room, and the interior decoration was also very ordinary. There was only a wooden table on the kang, with several bones placed on it, and many bone fragments scattered on the surface. Those bones were all carved with strange patterns. At this time, the old man took out a few dry clothes from the cabinet and handed them to me, saying: "I don't know if they fit!"

  I took over with a smile and said thank you, then changed into the clothes that had been soaked by the rain. It was strange, those few pieces of clothing seemed to be tailor-made for me, and they fit perfectly on my body. The old man also changed his clothes, then glanced at me and was stunned. He still looked at me with that curious gaze.

  "Golden beans, is this what you did today?" The old man said, picking up one of the bones.

  The little boy nodded happily, with two small dimples appearing on his face. But I noticed that the old man's expression didn't seem too good, he looked at one after another, his face gradually darkening, and suddenly shouted: "I've told you many times not to draw these things!"

  Jin Douzi hung his head in distress, with tears welling up in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

  The old man's temper flared up, and he swept everything off the table, then walked outside and threw it all into the stove fire that was cooking dinner. A moment later, I heard a faint "popping" sound near my ear. Jin Douzi kept his head down, his thin body trembling slightly, but he didn't cry out. After a while, the old man came back in. Jin Douzi suddenly looked up, and the tears in his eyes had disappeared. He smiled and said, "Grandpa, you must be hungry after being out all day! Come eat quickly!" As he spoke, he walked out happily. The old man motioned for me to sit across from him at the table, then took out a bottle of white wine and put it on the table, saying, "I didn't scare you just now, did I?"

  "No, no!" I hastily waved my hand and said, "But what did Jin Douzi draw just now? After all, he's just a kid, why get so angry?" As soon as I spoke, I noticed the old man's face change slightly. After a long while, he let out a deep sigh and said, "Do you know why I'm catching these earthworms?"

  I shook my head, it's still a mystery in my heart, what's the use of those disgusting things?

  "Do you know how old Jin Douzi is this year?" The old man didn't answer my question directly, but instead asked a seemingly unrelated question.

  "Probably over ten years old!" I said out of my own speculation, but unexpectedly, the old man couldn't help but smile.

  "What? Did I say it was small or big?" I asked in puzzlement.

  "How old are you this year?" The old man asked with a smile.

  "I'm going crazy!"

  "So you and he are about the same age!" This sentence really made me wide-eyed, just then, Jin Douzi walked in with a plate of steaming buns, smiled slightly at me, put down the buns and went out to get something else.

  My gaze followed him until he disappeared at the door, then looked more puzzled at the old man in front of me.

  "But... but it looks so small?" I stuttered, to be honest, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have dared to believe that everything in front of me was real.

  "This is a long story!" The old man sighed and said, "My surname is Jin, this child is my grandson, this child, ah..."

  This made me feel confused, he didn't look like he was around my age. The old man must have seen the doubt in my heart and quickly explained: "The thing with this child is very strange. My daughter's name is Jin Hongying, at that time she had just turned 20 and was already married to a young man named Tang Jun from Daqi Town. After the New Year, Jin Douzi was born. Tang Jun's parents had passed away when he was young, so I agreed to my daughter's request and lived with them as a family of three. Life was pretty good. My family has been hunters for generations, but by my generation, we started helping the production team raise horses. At that time, conditions weren't bad, so every winter, I would take my gear and go into the mountains to hunt some wild rabbits and other things to bring back home to improve our food."

  "Hongying was not like a girl from the very beginning, she was very tall and had a good physique, so she often accompanied me to go hunting, we never returned empty-handed. It seems that this matter also had an early sign, one day I and Hongying chased a rabbit all the way to the wasteland we saw today, the rabbit was frightened and rushed into a hole in a grave mound. Because it was winter at that time, knowing that those earth dragons would not move, my daughter and I plucked up our courage and walked into that piece of wilderness." Old Jin's excitement grew as he spoke.

  "At that time, the sky had just darkened, but as soon as I walked into that patch of wild grass, everything in front of me suddenly turned pitch black. I couldn't see my fingers when I stretched out my hand. I thought to myself, 'Could it be that I've encountered a ghost wall?' I'd always known that this place wasn't clean, but the idea of a ghost wall was also quite mysterious. As a hunter, I'm skeptical of those things, and I didn't believe in them at all. But everything in front of me really did turn black. In my panic, I loudly called out my daughter's name, and she quickly responded to me. I kept walking in her direction, but after taking about a hundred or so steps, when I shouted for my daughter again, it seemed like she was still very far away from me, and the distance hadn't changed at all." Old Jin's words piqued my interest.

  "I had a bad feeling, I must have encountered something dirty. When I used to raise horses for the production team, I often heard those old men say that if you encounter a ghost at night, don't be afraid, bite your middle finger and swing the blood in the air, and those obstacles will naturally disappear. Although I didn't believe it before, now I can only try anything, thinking of this, I bit my middle finger and swung it forcefully in the air several times, sure enough, the black fog in front of me immediately disappeared, there was a faint light, but just as I was clearing up, I suddenly caught a glimpse of my daughter beside me, at that moment she was lying on an abandoned grave, and her body...” Old Jin's voice became extremely excited here, his fingers kept trembling, pointing behind me.

  I hastily turned around, and on the table behind me was a bottle of nitroglycerin pills. I picked it up and handed it to Old Jin, who swallowed several after which his eyes closed slightly, lying quietly for a while before letting out a long breath.

  "His heart has been bad, once excited...” Old Jin's words had just reached this point when a loud "bang" was heard from the outside room. My eyes met Old Jin's, and then he immediately jumped down from the kang, lifted the door curtain, and a burning smell rushed into my nostrils.

  Alas, I knew that Jin Douzi was cooking, but those who didn't know would have thought he was secretly manufacturing military explosives. However, it's strange to say that when Jin Douzi went to serve the meal, he suddenly vanished without a trace. I followed him down from the kang and was walking out when Old Jin Tou rushed into the house holding Jin Douzi, quickly bringing out that peculiar knife and a bamboo basket. From it, he picked out several larger, bluish-green frogs, rapidly peeling off their skin to reveal tender flesh. I have tried this thing before, although its appearance is quite revolting, but it can be considered delicious!

  But unexpectedly, Old Jin Tou didn't feed the meat of the raccoon dog to Jin Douzi, instead he carefully picked out two black things from the white and tender meat and put them into Jin Douzi's mouth, then threw the meat aside.

  After a few minutes, Jin Douzi's body suddenly shook violently, and then his whole body was shaking intensely. He suddenly stood up, like he had caught a violent gust of wind, with his head lowered and his body trembling uncontrollably.

  Old Jin took off his shoes in a hurry, pried open the golden bean's mouth, and then stuffed the shoe into its mouth. I understand this point. Generally, people who are prone to epilepsy tend to bite their tongues off, holding the shoe can avoid biting the tongue.

  Jin Douzi's body convulsed for about ten minutes, then suddenly lay down again. After a while, he slowly opened his eyes and smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, saying: "Grandpa, is he here again?"

  Old Jin nodded and said to Jin Douzi: "Go, go rest in that house!"

  Jin Douzi listened carefully and his body recovered to normal, walking lightly into another room. Old Jin Tou simply tidied up and returned to the house saying: "Alright, I'll continue telling you about my daughter!"

  I nodded, although I was a bit hungry now, but that story was really too attractive.

  I saw her lying on a mound, with a black shadow behind her. Although I didn't know what it was, I felt that it was definitely not something good. I rushed over and pulled out a short knife used for hunting. The thing seemed to have noticed me, and as soon as I rushed over, it disappeared without a trace. That's how I carried my daughter back home. When she woke up, it was already past 11 at night. She kept shouting that she was thirsty, so I quickly got Tang Jun to boil some hot water. After drinking several pots of water, she fell asleep again. My heart was filled with unbearable pain as I watched Yingzi suddenly fall down in front of me, while guarding our newborn baby, Jindou. But since that night, strange things started happening at my house." Old Jin said, pouring himself a cup of wine and drinking it all in one gulp.

  "Huh? What's going on?" I curiously widened my eyes, Old Jin glanced at me and filled the cup in front of me with wine, also pouring himself a cup. He raised his cup, took a swig, and downed it in one gulp. My eyes remained fixed on Old Jin as I picked up my own cup and drained it too. The wine had a faint, strange aroma that was hard to describe - it was an indescribable flavor, but it felt incredibly refreshing.

  "After Hongying fell asleep, I also went back to my room and poured myself a glass of wine, preparing to calm down and rest. Unexpectedly, Tang Jun couldn't sleep either, and after hearing about our ordeal, he was worried sick about Hongying's safety. Alas, wasn't I too?

  Saying this, he took another deep breath and continued: 'It must have been around midnight when suddenly I heard a faint "drip-drip" sound coming from the wind chimes near my ear. The sound of the wind chimes got closer and closer, and soon I could also hear the sound of drums and cymbals getting louder, all heading in the direction of my house. Both Tang Jun and I held our breaths, wondering what was happening outside the door.' Old Jin said this while tightly gripping his wine bottle with one hand."

  "A midnight wedding?" I said incredulously, but apparently my guess was feeble.

  Old Jin laughed and then said something that made my heart skip a beat, "Hehe, there's something you might not know. When we just entered the village, did you see how many households were here? But I'll tell you, those people left this village long ago. So for a very long time now, our household has been the only one left in the village. That's why I found that sound of drums and gongs so strange."

  I nodded: "So it was!"

  Old Jin let out a long sigh and said, "Yes, so at that time my heart was hanging in the air. I've also lived more than half of my life, experiencing countless winds and rains. But that night, I really got a shock. And amidst the sound of gongs and drums, there were actually several people's loud laughter. I immediately signaled to Tang Jun to extinguish the kerosene lamp in the house, and pulled out the chopping knife pressed against the edge of the bed. This knife was passed down from my ancestors, and when my dad joined the guerrilla team, he had cut off many Japanese dogs' heads with it, and the blood-stained knife should also be able to ward off evil spirits! Tang Jun usually didn't hunt, but since childhood, he had been doing farm work, having a strong physique. At this time, he also sensed that something was wrong, took out the dagger from his waist, ready for any emergency."

  Tang Jun saw my panic and quietly opened the door, holding a dagger as he slowly moved out. "Dad, stand still in the house, there's nothing at our doorway." This was already within my expectations. I sat in the house with a knife, feeling annoyed, and the night passed like this. The next morning when I got up to cook, I found Hongying still sleeping, so I started preparing food. However, I discovered that something was off in the house, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. Suddenly, I remembered that we originally had three water jars at home because there was only one well at the entrance of the village, so we prepared several jars and went to fetch water every few days, which could be used for a long time. But now, there were only two water jars in the house. Old Jin's lips cracked as he spoke, and he lightly licked them.

  "Tang Jun seemed to have noticed something too, and expressed his doubts: 'Dad, I'm always vigilant when I sleep. If someone sneaks in, I'll definitely notice. The water tank isn't a small object, and the three tanks were just filled with water yesterday. Now there's not even a drop of water on the ground. To steal those three tanks would require at least three or five strong young men to lift them together. There's no way I wouldn't have heard anything, let alone the fact that there are no footprints on the ground.'"

  "Yes, we hunters have always relied on observing animal tracks to follow the trail of our prey, so we are extremely sensitive to footprints." Old Jin's words made my heart hang completely.

  "For the whole day, I was worried about the fate of those two children. Hongying woke up, but she kept shouting that she was thirsty and hardly ate anything, only drinking water. Jindouzi cried all day and night because he had lost his mother, but Hongying seemed to treat this child as if he were air, not caring about him at all. This exhausted us two men, and we finally managed to feed the hungry child with millet porridge after a whole day and night without food."

  "So, the day finally passed, and that night I extinguished the kerosene lamp early, holding a knife in my hand, leaning against the edge of the kang. If I heard that sound again today, I was ready to rush out and take a look." Old Jin said with a slight cough.

  "How was it that night?" I couldn't help but ask.

  "Has it happened again?" I asked further.

  The old man fell silent again, heaved a sigh, and then said in a smooth tone: "The second night passed the midnight without hearing that noisy suona sound, everything was very quiet. I leaned against the wall with my knife, and I actually fell asleep in a daze, and in my dream, I vaguely heard the 'yiyaya' sound, like an actress singing on stage, only lacking accompaniment, the voice was extremely piercing, as if it had directly drilled into my brain. I suddenly woke up, but the 'yiyaya' sound still lingered in my ears, and when I listened carefully, the sound seemed to be coming from the door again. I thought, I couldn't hesitate anymore. So I took out my knife and rushed out. With a kick, I opened the door, who knew that at this moment, Tang Jun was standing in the middle of the courtyard, motionless, staring at some place with a wooden expression. And the sound I heard earlier suddenly became as thin as silk, as if it were floating in the mountains."

  Old Jin's description was extremely detailed, making me feel as if I were there in person. My entire back was drenched with cold sweat.

  "This time was different from the last, that voice never disappeared. I hurriedly went forward and patted Tang Jun's shoulder, only to see him standing in place as if his soul had been scared away, no matter how hard I shook him. So I quickly helped him into the house, making sure he was okay before taking the knife and chasing after the sound. That night was particularly dark, I tightly gripped the machete in my hand, quickening my pace, the farther I went, the louder the voice became, I suddenly froze, that voice was surprisingly similar to Hongying's.

  Old Jin's words reminded me of something, he continued, 'Without thinking much, I quickly rushed forward again, at the village entrance, in front of that stone, I saw a figure wearing a red long gown from who-knows-where, with a phoenix crown on his head, constantly making 'yiya' sounds. But I was certain this person wasn't someone I knew, where did he come from?"