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Ma Laosan's wife died in an extremely strange and terrifying manner.
Later, according to what Ma Laosan said, everything had been perfectly normal that night. He and his wife had gone back to sleep with the children as usual. In the middle of the night, they suddenly heard some movement coming from the courtyard. However, they had worked in the fields all day and were exhausted to the point that they could barely keep their eyes open. In his half-asleep state, Ma Laosan vaguely seemed to hear someone calling his wife's name, but even he wasn't sure whether he had actually heard it or was simply dreaming.
Not long afterward, Ma Laosan's wife suddenly climbed out of bed.
Still groggy with sleep, Ma Laosan asked her, "What are you going to do?"
His wife didn't answer.
Ma Laosan assumed she was going to the outhouse, so he didn't think much of it and quickly fell back asleep.
But when he woke up the next morning, he discovered that his wife wasn't in bed.
He searched everywhere, but there was no sign of her.
He then called several neighbors over to help him look. They searched the entire village, but they still couldn't find her. In the end, everyone in the village was mobilized to search for her.
Eventually, they found her body on the mountain behind the village.
The moment everyone saw Ma Laosan's wife's corpse, they were so frightened that none of them dared to approach.
The people in the village had never seen anyone die such a gruesome death. Her body was covered in bloody wounds, as though something had bitten her all over. One of her feet had been gnawed until nothing remained but gleaming white bones.
Most horrifying of all, there was actually a strange smile hanging at the corners of Ma Laosan's wife's mouth, and her eyes were still open.
She had died such a miserable death, and yet her face still seemed to be smiling.
Just thinking about it sent chills down everyone's spine.
Ma Laosan wept bitterly. With the villagers' help, he had his wife's body prepared for burial and placed it inside their home.
According to Jiushan Village's traditions, a corpse had to remain at home for three days before it could be buried.
During those few days, people came one after another to pay their respects.
Everyone was from the same village, after all. They were neighbors who saw one another every day, so my father also bought some paper offerings and went to pay his respects to Ma Laosan's wife.
However, something strange happened when he was burning the paper money in the brazier in front of Ma Laosan's wife's coffin.
Everyone else's paper burned normally. Before long, it would burn completely, leaving behind nothing but a pile of ashes.
But when my father threw the yellow joss paper he had bought into the brazier, it simply refused to catch fire.
Even after he poured strong liquor over it, only half of it burned before the flames quickly went out.
Then, for some unknown reason, a strange gust of wind blew in.
The ashes in the brazier were blown out of it, covering my father's face and body in soot and leaving him looking utterly disheveled.
Since the paper offerings couldn't be burned, my father decided to offer three sticks of incense instead.
But not long after he lit them, two of the incense sticks snapped.
The incense stick in the middle remained perfectly intact, while the two on either side broke in the middle.
This was what was known as three long and two short.
The moment the people nearby saw this, their expressions changed.
For the incense to burn in such a manner clearly meant that the deceased was harboring resentment toward the person who had come to offer incense.
She was refusing to accept the incense and paper offerings.
My father was frightened as well. He hurried home alone and told my grandfather what had happened.
My grandfather let out a sigh, knowing that this matter was far from simple.
In fact, anyone with a little sense could figure out that Ma Laosan's wife's death had something to do with me.
It was because I had given blood to his son, Little Fatty, that Ma Laosan's wife had beaten me. And that very night, something happened to her.
Back then, Wu Banxian had said that every three years, I would face a calamity. Either I would die, or someone else would die.
Now that Ma Laosan's wife had died, it seemed that my calamity had come true.
Moreover, the various wounds covering Ma Laosan's wife's body were clearly caused by some kind of wild animal. Judging from the bite marks, they looked very much like they had been inflicted by yellow weasels and foxes.
Everyone in the entire village knew that on the day I was born, hundreds of yellow weasels and foxes had surrounded my family's house and bowed down in worship.
Every day, yellow weasels and foxes even brought wild prey to my family.
Now, the villagers had begun discussing the matter among themselves, saying that I was the one who had caused Ma Laosan's wife to die.
At first, the villagers were merely suspicious.
But the next day, their suspicions were confirmed.
That night, after my father returned home from paying his respects to Ma Laosan's wife, my entire family had a terrifying dream.
Everyone except me.
In the dream, Ma Laosan's wife came to my house.
She was standing on one foot, while the other leg was nothing but bare bones. A sinister, vicious smile hung at the corners of her mouth as she told my family, "It was him who killed me. He has to pay with his life. You must kill him. Otherwise, the entire Wu Family will have to be buried with me!"
That same night, Ma Laosan also had a dream.
He dreamed that his wife had returned and was crying before him, telling him that I was the one who had caused her death.
She also told Ma Laosan to kill me.
Only then would she be able to leave in peace and reincarnate.
Early the next morning, Ma Laosan came straight to my house.
His eyes were filled with murderous intent as he demanded an explanation from my family, and in his hand was a woodcutting knife.
My parents were extremely flustered and didn't know what to do. In the end, my grandfather stepped forward and pushed me out in front of him. With a cold expression, he said to Ma Laosan, "If you truly believe this child caused your wife's death, then you can kill him and let him pay for your wife's life. If you've got the courage, do it right now."
How could Ma Laosan actually dare to kill me?
If he really killed me, he would probably be shot himself.
In the end, he could only leave dejectedly.
The coffin remained at Ma Laosan's house for three days.
Finally, it was time to bury her.
On the day of the burial, the entire sky was gloomy and gray, without the slightest breeze.
The village found several young men to carry the coffin. However, they had only carried it as far as the entrance of the house when the ropes holding the coffin suddenly snapped.
This was an extremely ominous sign.
There was a saying in the village that once a coffin left the house, it could not touch the ground again until it reached the graveyard.
Yet the coffin had only just been carried out of the house when the ropes broke, causing it to crash heavily onto the ground.
This was extremely unlucky.
It meant that something terrible was bound to happen.
The moment Ma Laosan saw this, he was terrified as well. He threw himself onto the coffin and burst into tears, sobbing as he said, "Mother of the child, I know you died unjustly and can't bear to leave. If you've got any grievances in your heart, then go find the person who harmed you. Please, don't torment the people in our family..."
Just as Ma Laosan was hugging the coffin and crying bitterly, a sudden burst of chattering and squeaking sounds came from behind him.
It was exactly like what had happened on the day I was born.
Near the entrance of Ma Laosan's house, hundreds of yellow weasels and foxes suddenly appeared.
Among them was one yellow weasel that was extraordinarily large. From the top of its head all the way down its back ran a strip of white fur.
This enormous yellow weasel led hundreds of yellow weasels and foxes straight toward the coffin.
The people surrounding it were so frightened that they hurriedly backed away to both sides. Some of the more timid ones were so scared that their legs went weak and they couldn't run. They simply collapsed onto the ground.
The yellow weasel with the white fur on its back approached Ma Laosan's wife's coffin.
It walked around the coffin three times.
Then it extended one furry paw and slapped the coffin three times in succession.
Thump, thump, thump.
The dull sound echoed through the area.
Afterward, the huge yellow weasel led the group of beasts and quickly left.
Once the yellow weasels and foxes had disappeared, the young men carrying the coffin tried lifting it again.
This time, the coffin could actually be lifted.
After that yellow weasel with the white fur on its back had struck the coffin three times, the burial was finally able to proceed smoothly.
However, on the second day after Ma Laosan's wife was buried, people discovered that her grave had been dug open, and her corpse had disappeared without a trace.