C1 A woman in a city temple

My name is Yang Yu, and I was born in a remote village in the north. The village was not big, and there were about twenty families.

The one that chatted the most was the temple at the back of the mountain where the village was located. It was said that during the famine, two women had come and starved to death. In the following days, the sound of crying women would come from the temple every night.

Later on, someone in the village became curious, and when he heard the crying sounds at night, someone went to take a look with a flashlight, and he died the next day. According to others, he had been sucked dry of his Yang essence and died.

Afterwards, the villagers tried everything they could to tear down the temples, but dozens of them failed. They discovered that there was something inside the temples, and once they started to tear down the temples, it would immediately enter their minds and cause them to faint on the spot.

So now, the temple had become the forbidden area of the village. The entire village had moved to a ravine a mile away from the temple, changing the way to and from the village. From time to time, it passed down word of mouth, preventing descendants from going near the temple.

When I was young, my father had always told me not to go to the city temple. If anyone dared to take even half a step there, then he would break my legs. Thus, he didn't have the childlike heart of a child and didn't have the body of a city god temple.

However, I couldn't hold it back anymore on the third day of last year. At that time, I was already a kid of half a year old and my courage was really great. Even my father hadn't been fierce towards me.

One noon, when the sun was shining, I sneaked into the temple of the city god.

After several decades without anyone visiting, this place has already turned into a barren mountain. The two storey city temple was standing alone in the middle of a large pile of dead trees. At that time, the gate was already nailed shut by the villagers, and it took me a lot of effort to kick it open.

I found that the temple of the city god was in ruins, with an especially large banana tree growing in the middle of it. The statue of the god of the city god fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

I have never seen such a large banana tree. It is known that when the banana tree reaches a certain period of time, it will be replaced by a new trunk. It won't grow very thick, but this banana tree is at least as thick as my waist.

I didn't pay much attention to it at the time. Being an adventurous person, I walked to the second floor, but I didn't expect to see 'people' on the second floor. The second floor seemed to be managed by someone, and it wasn't as messy.

A long-haired beauty suddenly sat up from the barrel. She was scared and quickly hid at the foot of the stairs to peek. She was a girl with long hair flowing down her shoulders. It was like tens of thousands of black strands of hair fluttering in the breeze blowing in from the outside.

All I could see was the girl's back, her snow-white shoulders reflected in my eyes. She extended her slender, snow-white hands, scooped hot water out of the bucket, and poured it onto me with such grace that I reacted on the spot.

At that time, he didn't know why, but it was as if his soul had been attracted by that back view, causing his eyes to go straight to the point.

After a while, the girl suddenly turned around and looked at me. Her petite face, big eyes, pink mouth, and fair skin were clearly visible to me, but at this moment, she suddenly hugged her chest and shouted 'Ah!'.

When I woke up and found myself at home, my father was not there, and beside him was my uncle and mother. When my uncle saw me awake, he immediately scolded me loudly, saying, "Kid, are you tired of living? Did you know that there is something dirty inside the temple?"

My mother cuddled my cousin and told him that if I hadn't been seen walking in that direction, my soul would have been lured away by that thing. Afterwards, my father came back to find out about this and didn't reprimand me. He looked at me who had lost my soul and said that he was bewitched, just like how Chen Erzi was all those years ago.

Chen Erya was the person that people said had strong curiosity, and that went to the city's godly temple at night to kill everyone. That afternoon, my father brought me to the old Elementary Scholar's house in the village. The old Elementary Scholar was a title given to him by others, and he was known as the "Honest" of our generation.

When the old Elementary Scholar saw the blank look in my eyes, he took out a brush and asked me to write a few words. Without another word, I wrote the word 'beautiful'. I didn't know why I wrote it, but during the entire process, I thought about how beautiful that girl was.

The old Elementary Scholar slapped me in the face and said that I had been possessed by a ghost and might not be able to be saved. When I grow old enough to take care of matters, that thing will definitely come to seduce me.

I am the only son of the family, and my father, a big man, immediately knelt down before the old Elementary Scholar and begged him to save me. The old Elementary Scholar sighed. From the day "she" appeared, anyone who saw her body would die. I had no other choice, but I could think of a way to do it.

Just like this, the old Elementary Scholar used an embroidery needle with red threads through it and placed a little bit of blood on my index finger. Then, for the next seven to nine days, he would have to grab a red rooster to sleep with me.

After forty-nine days, I finally regained my consciousness, but I still couldn't forget about that beautiful girl. However, after hearing what my parents said, I felt a chill run down my spine.

Time passed quickly. I had already forgotten about this matter. After finishing high school, I went to a middle-class university. My family held a banquet for me to celebrate. That night, many relatives came to my house. It is not easy to have a college student in the countryside. Many people think that they will become a government official once they go to university, so they came to curry favor with me in advance.

At that time, I was exactly eighteen years old, which was the banquet held on my birthday. When my relatives and friends saw me, they all said that they wanted to be my matchmaker, that the Zhang family's second daughter was really pretty, that the Li family's eldest daughter had big breasts and buttocks, that she was also beautiful, and that she could even have a son. These words left me speechless.

I didn't expect the old scholar to come, so he went straight to the point. He wanted to tell me about the matchmaking ceremony, and I had to agree to it. At that time, my parents were involved, so it was fine if I said so, but first I had to meet them.

Who knew that the old Elementary Scholar would say no? He would only meet her on the day of the wedding. His parents had also said that this girl was definitely beautiful, so they could rest easy. At that time, independent thought was very serious, and I refused to do anything about it. Later, when things got out of hand, my parents said that if I didn't listen, then they wouldn't recognize me and I would go as far as I could.

My mother was both crying and making a ruckus. She even said that there were a few grandchildren in our village and they looked down on us, the ones who had no grandchildren, so I had no choice but to accept.

The next day, the old Elementary Scholar came to ask for a gift from me, saying that he would not be able to take a single step outside my house during this period. He even tied up two big black dogs and a rooster, saying that if the big rooster was not around these days, and the black dog was barking furiously, he would bring a red thread to the front of the hall.

I don't know what that means, but my parents stayed close to me for a few days, and they wouldn't let me go to the bathroom. They gave me a chamber pot and forced me into my room, and if I made a scene they'd break off their relationship with me.

On the night of the full moon, the roosters at the gate of the house began to crow, which was very unusual. It was impossible for a rooster to crow in the middle of the night, and then, from the village, came the hysterical barking of the dogs, which kept coming towards us from the village entrance, and then the two black dogs in my house began to bark.

When my parents went out to look, I followed them to take a look. Under the moonlight, there was no one outside, but the two black dogs were roaring in that direction, as if they were about to puke!

His parents were so anxious that they immediately closed the door. They circled the door with a red thread and called the old Elementary Scholar. The old Elementary Scholar said to sprinkle a bowl of water on the door and surround the threshold. If the dog was still barking, then ignore it.

After I finished making these black dogs, I was still barking furiously, but the rooster didn't make a sound. Father told me to go back to my room to sleep, but tonight, no matter who it was that called me, I'm not going to agree!