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In a single breath, Liu Granny drew a strange, ghostly symbol on the forehead of the Zhang family's fifth son with soot. Then she suddenly slapped the top of his head.
The fifth son of the Zhang family shuddered before collapsing back onto the bed. He became completely still, without making another sound, once again turning into an ordinary corpse.
Afterward, the eerie green light in Liu Granny's eyes gradually faded, returning them to their normal state. She released Zhang's fifth son and took several steps backward.
Grandpa walked forward, examined Zhang's fifth son's corpse, and cautiously asked, "Little Sister, has that weasel spirit left?"
Liu Granny took a deep breath and said, "I sent it away. Brother Wu, have the Zhang family come inside."
Grandpa hurried outside and called several of the Zhang brothers into the room. They had been frightened out of their wits by the sudden revival of their fifth brother and naturally didn't dare to enter. Grandpa persuaded them for quite a while before they finally entered the room together.
When they saw Zhang's fifth son lying motionless on the bed, the brothers finally felt somewhat reassured.
"This corpse can't remain in the house. It would be best to bury him first thing tomorrow morning. The weasel spirits definitely won't disturb his corpse again tonight. However, you brothers need to be careful. They might come after you instead. Especially you, Second Brother. During the day, you flattened that weasel spirit's corpse with a shovel. They might come after you because of that."
As soon as Zhang's second son heard this, his entire body trembled with fear. He hurriedly said, "Why would they do that? That weasel spirit killed our fifth brother. Can't I at least take out my anger on its corpse?"
"You know how evil and sinister weasel spirits can be, yet you still dared to touch its corpse. If it weren't for you, would the weasel spirit have possessed your fifth brother's corpse?" Grandpa scolded angrily.
After hearing this, Zhang's second son lowered his head and fell silent.
"The way weasel spirits think is something ordinary people can never understand. But you should all know that weasel spirits are extremely vengeful. If you offend them, they'll torment your family until you're completely ruined. I'll stay at Brother Wu's house for the next few days. If anything happens, come directly to me. Of course, I'll still have to charge you. You brothers can pool your money together."
The brothers had no choice but to collect one hundred yuan and give it to Liu Granny.
There was a rule among the chuma xian, or spirit mediums: they could never help someone without accepting payment. [1]
She could refuse to take money from the Wu family, but when it came to other families, she had to accept payment. That was the rule.
After dealing with the matter concerning Zhang's fifth son, Liu Granny followed Grandpa back home.
Before leaving, Liu Granny reminded Zhang's second son that he should keep several local dogs in the house and raise several large white geese indoors.
Zhang's second son agreed.
Liu Granny always had a feeling that something else was going to happen, so she decided to stay at our house for a few days and wait until I got through this calamity before leaving.
Unexpectedly, something happened again in the middle of the night.
It was around midnight when a terrible scream rang out through the village. Half the villagers heard it.
The scream woke our entire family from our sleep.
A few minutes later, there was a frantic knocking at our courtyard gate.
Grandpa got up and opened the door, only to find Zhang's second son's wife standing outside, trembling all over. With tears in her voice, she said, "Uncle, please, hurry and bring Liu Granny to our house. Come take a look! The second one has gone mad. He must have been possessed by a weasel spirit!"
Upon hearing this, Grandpa hurried to call Liu Granny. She had already been awakened by the commotion and immediately followed Zhang's second son's wife to their house.
When Grandpa left, he even brought along his large machete.
We really hadn't expected that Zhang's second son would also end up being targeted by the weasel spirits.
One member of the Zhang family had already died. Could it be that because Grandpa had slapped his own grandson once, the weasel spirits intended to take two lives from the Zhang family?
That was simply too much.
When they arrived at the Zhang family's house and took a look inside, both Grandpa and Liu Granny were stunned.
The Zhang family's house was a complete mess. Chicken blood was splattered all over the walls and courtyard. Several chickens that were still barely alive were flapping helplessly on the ground.
Meanwhile, Zhang's second son stood shirtless in the courtyard. He was gripping a hen tightly with both hands, baring his teeth as he gnawed at its neck. He gulped down mouthful after mouthful of chicken blood.
Beside Zhang's second son lay a weasel spirit whose head had been completely crushed. Clearly, it had already been dead for quite some time.
When Zhang's second son saw Grandpa and Liu Granny enter the courtyard, he wasn't afraid at all. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and stared at them with a venomous expression.
His face was covered in chicken blood, making him look extremely savage and terrifying.
Suddenly, Zhang's second son threw down the half-eaten hen in his hands. A strange sound came from his throat.
He dropped onto all fours and began moving toward Grandpa and Liu Granny with an eerie, unnatural gait.
"Second Brother Zhang, if you take another step forward, I'll chop you down!" Grandpa shook the large machete in his hand and shouted angrily.
Perhaps it was the sight of the knife in Grandpa's hand that intimidated Zhang's second son. He remained crouched on the ground, continuously making strange noises, but he didn't dare come any closer.
Second Brother's wife stood behind him, crying uncontrollably from fear.
Grandpa asked, "Second Sister-in-law, what happened here?"
"During the middle of the night, we were sleeping inside the house when we heard the chickens in the courtyard flapping and squawking nonstop. My husband got up and went outside to check. Then he saw that all the chickens in the coop had been bitten to death. A huge weasel spirit was standing in the courtyard, staring straight at him.
"When my husband saw that all the chickens in our house had been killed, he grabbed a hoe and rushed over. He smashed that weasel spirit to death with it. Then, all of a sudden, my husband went crazy. He started shouting and screaming. I... I ran over to call you two."
Second Sister-in-law spoke in a trembling voice.
"That yellow weasel spirit wants to exchange its life for Zhang's second son's life. Once it's done tormenting him enough, the second son will be dead," Granny Liu said.
The moment Grandpa heard this, his temper flared. He thrust the large knife in his hand into the ground, then walked straight toward Zhang's second son.
Zhang's second son did not run. Instead, he stared straight at Grandpa and gave him an eerie smile.
Grandpa grabbed Zhang's second son by the hair and slapped him hard across the face several times. As he beat him, he angrily shouted, "You yellow weasel! If you keep tormenting people, I, Old Wu, will fight you to the death! All they did was slap my grandson once. Is there really any need to take someone's life over that?"
The loud slaps rang out crisply, and Zhang's second son's face quickly became swollen.
Although Zhang's second son was being beaten badly, he continued to smile eerily. Then, all of a sudden, Zhang's second son let out a strange cry. It was extremely shrill, a sound that no human being could possibly make.
Immediately afterward, Zhang's second son's eyes rolled sharply upward, and his body fell straight backward. His legs kicked wildly as fresh blood began to trickle from his nostrils. Grandpa could no longer restrain him by himself.
At that moment, Zhang's second son looked as though someone were gripping his throat and choking him with all their strength. Blood continued to flow from his nose, while white foam also began to spill from his mouth. He looked as though he could die at any moment.
"Little Sister, come over and take a look. What the hell is going on with him?" Grandpa called out while pressing down on Zhang's second son.
Granny Liu walked over to take a look and hurriedly said, "Quick, hold him down!"
There was no way Grandpa could control him by himself, so he had no choice but to call over the Second Sister-in-law, who was standing nearby, completely frightened out of her wits. The two of them worked together and only barely managed to restrain Zhang's second son.
At that moment, Granny Liu suddenly reached into her clothes and pulled out several silver needles. She located several acupuncture points on Zhang's second son's body and forcefully drove the needles into them.