C6 Extortion

Because tomorrow, my mother and the others have to go to the crematorium early to deal with cremation, so she told me that it was forbidden to guard the spirit, so I went back to my room to rest.

My mother originally wanted my aunt to go with her and rest. In the end, my aunt refused to listen. She wanted to keep the guard, so she repeatedly advised me to just let it go.

My mother told me some of the taboos of wake that I remember. First, you mustn't touch the chopsticks stuck in the water. Once the chopsticks fall down, my mom tells me to wake her up immediately. Second, you mustn't eat the tribute by the corpse's side. Thirdly, the incense couldn't be extinguished for the entire night.

I know we have a lot of customs, such as having to be plain, having to cut our hair, not wearing skirts and heels, not smoking or making a racket (except crying), having to wear white cloth shoes, and not entering the mourning hall with shoes other than cloth shoes.

Aunt's face did not look too good from start to finish. She had been kneeling in front of the mourning hall the entire time. Occasionally, she would see the candle burn out before she stood up to continue.

And I had been kneeling on the ground, looking at the unmoving grandma, tears began to roll in my eyes again.

Around one in the morning, I saw that my aunt was about to fall asleep. I hurriedly walked over and gently woke her up, "Aunt, how about I send you back to your room to sleep? I can't even open your eyes from being so sleepy."

His aunt looked at his grandmother who was lying on the ground, and said in a tired tone, "It's been hard on you …"

"En, let's go. I'll send you back to your room."

After sending my aunt back to the back room, I hurriedly returned to the mourning hall, afraid that the incense would burn out and break.

After kneeling for a while longer, I saw that the incense was reaching its end. I quickly cleared my head, got up, took out three incense sticks from the side, lit them up again, and inserted them into the incense burner.

After doing all of this, I felt a little thirsty so I went to the side and poured myself a cup of water. After drinking two mouthfuls, I felt much more comfortable, and knelt down in the mourning hall again. Right at that moment, a gust of wind blew in from outside the door, and caused my entire body to tense up, causing goosebumps to rise all over my body.

The wind came and left quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was gone. After feeling the cold wind disappear, my taut bowstring loosened slightly. I turned my head to look at the entrance behind me and discovered that there was nothing.

Am I overthinking it?

After so many terrifying events that happened one after the other recently, the slightest movement in the wind at this moment was enough to make me immediately tense up. With this stimulation, a thin layer of sweat faintly seeped out from my forehead.

Wiping away the sweat on my forehead, I finally feel better. It seems that I was too nervous, so how could something so strange happen so easily.

Only then did I notice that the white candles on the sides of my grandmother's head had already been burnt out. I quickly got up and went to a cabinet nearby to take out two new white candles. I lit them and switched off the two that had burnt out.

"Bada …" A soft but exceptionally striking sound suddenly came from the silent mourning hall. When I saw that the three chopsticks standing by my grandmother's feet had already fallen to the ground … … Two chopsticks were already standing on their own, I immediately cursed in my heart.

I clearly remember what my mother told me about one of the taboos of wake. Once the chopsticks in the bowl fell, I would immediately go and call her.

What should he do? Even though he had only taken two, he had still, in the end, fallen. But how did it fall when no one touched it?

He looked at the chopsticks on the floor and thought that if he put them back, they might be fine.

With that in mind, I immediately picked up the two chopsticks on the floor and carefully inserted them back into the water before placing them in a triangular position together with the one in the water.

When placing the chopsticks, he would always touch one of the standing chopsticks, only then did he realize that the chopsticks were like the bottom of a bowl stuck to the bottom.

Only now did I realize that I had done something I shouldn't have done.

But things had come to this, and I had to force myself to go on. No matter how I put it, the two chopsticks were either unable to move or could not stand. After several tries, I realized that it was impossible.

He couldn't help but shake his hand out of fear. This shake of the chopsticks was even worse.

In a short moment, his forehead was covered in sweat.

"Phew …" Another strange wind blew in from outside the door. It actually went around the mourning hall for a while before disappearing.

This time, I was even more scared. I wanted to give up on these chopsticks, but when I thought about what my mother had told me, and that the one lying on top was my grandmother, I resisted the urge to do so.

Because the bowl was at my grandmother's feet, I was half crouching at the moment, so when I raised my head slightly, I could see my grandmother's feet under the white cloth. Just as I tried to fail again, I accidentally raised my head, scaring me so much that I sat back on my butt, feeling as if I had fallen into hell, my scalp tingling.

I moved, I moved. Grandmother's right foot actually moved just now. I was so scared that I couldn't breath for a long time. I moved back a few steps and only stopped when I reached the entrance.

Leaning against the door, he looked at his grandma lying in the middle of the room with empty eyes. He stared at her feet for a long time, but nothing happened.

Am I wrong again?

Impossible, impossible! I immediately denied my guess. I definitely didn't see wrong in that slight movement just now. Even if I was in a state of high mental stress, I wouldn't have been able to see wrong.

If he hadn't seen wrongly, then how did he move his toes just now? Could it be that this was a fake corpse that the old man from the village had once mentioned?

However, after looking for a long time, he found that other than that one strike, there was no other movement.

As time passed, the fear in his heart gradually dissipated. He braced himself and took a step forward. He glanced at his grandmother, but found nothing.

He took another step forward and glanced at his grandmother, but there was still no sign of her.

His courage seemed to have increased a lot as he walked all the way to where he was kneeling before.

"BOOM!" Suddenly, a loud sound came from my front, scaring me to the point that my legs went limp. At the same time as I raised my head, I saw Grandma jump up from the chair.

At this moment, I couldn't control myself anymore. I turned around and abruptly ran to the entrance, running all the way to the courtyard. I hid by the corner of the wall and couldn't help but shiver.

"Bam!" Hiding in the corner, I peeked through the window and saw that my grandmother, who was sitting up, had already fallen to the ground. She stood up with a 'swoosh' and headed for the exit of the mourning hall.

Uncle Wang should have come over to give some words of caution for going to the crematorium that night. When he arrived at the entrance of the courtyard and saw the granny who was jumping around in the courtyard, he was so frightened that his reading glasses fell off and he stood there dumbfounded, not moving an inch.

"Hehehehe …" I heard my grandma's sneaky laughter. Then I saw my grandma pounce towards Uncle Wang and actually hug him tightly. No matter how much Uncle Wang struggled, he couldn't break free.

He had heard from the village's old man that once a person faked his corpse, he would hug it like a snake until it was strangled to death. He also heard that after it was strangled to death, the faker would eat the person that was strangled to death like a snake.

The only difference was that the snake was devoured, while the corpse was torn apart.

Grandmother is hugging Uncle Wang, getting tighter and tighter. No matter how Uncle Wang struggles, he can't break free. I saw that Uncle Wang's face is already incomparably white. If I continue to restrain him, Uncle Wang really won't be able to live.

I don't know where I got the courage, but I immediately rushed forward, and coincidentally saw Grandma's face, this I didn't know, but when I looked at her, she was scared half to death. At this moment, Grandma's face was completely purplish black, her eyes were wide open, and I couldn't even see her eyeballs, white liquid kept coming out of her mouth, her nose was collapsing, her ears were shriveled, and at the same time the corner of her mouth was slightly raised.

He swallowed his saliva and quickly looked away. He grabbed his grandma's left hand with both of his hands and tried to pull it away from her, but it was only after pulling that I realised that my grandma's arm didn't show any signs of loosening after a long time.

This time, I knew that wanting to save Uncle Wang with my two hands, it was simply wishful thinking. At this moment, Uncle Wang's lips were already purple, and the whites of his eyes were exposed. I knew that Uncle Wang wouldn't be able to last much longer.

I was so anxious that I couldn't decide what to do or what to do to separate them. At that moment, my eyes lit up as I saw something.