The folk legend of rebirth made Gan Tang lose interest in “borrowing flesh.”
But clearly, Yu Huai did not.
The dark-skinned boy’s eyes lit up whenever he mentioned “borrowing flesh,” and he seemed particularly excited about it.
“Tang Boy, let’s go check it out! It’s been years since they did ‘borrowing flesh;’ this is a rare opportunity!”
He nudged Gan Tang with his elbow.
Gan Tang hesitated for a moment and weakly shook his head.
“Forget it… Even if we wanted to go, we probably couldn’t. My grandma has told me many times not to get involved in this. She definitely won’t let me go.”
As he spoke, Gan Tang’s mind once again flashed to his grandmother’s strange attitude, and…
The oppressive atmosphere that had filled the village when every household was killing chickens to make masks.
Gan Tang couldn’t explain why, but he had a feeling that the so-called “borrowing flesh” ritual was somewhat unsettling.
“Ah, why are you so obedient?” Yu Huai clearly didn’t catch that Gan Tang was just using his grandmother’s words as an excuse. “…If she doesn’t let you, then we’ll just sneak over. It’ll be fine.”
“That’s not good…”
Gan Tang replied dryly.
However, after hearing his response, Yu Huai acted as though he hadn’t heard anything. He was still as eager and energetic as ever.
“Alright, alright, stop being so wishy-washy; it’s settled then. When they start, I’ll come get you! We’ll sneak over together.”
“But, but—”
Gan Tang still wanted to refuse, but at that moment, a few loud “bang” sounds came from Uncle Zhang’s house next door.
His house was close to Uncle Zhang’s, and if there was a loud noise in the neighbor’s yard, Gan Tang could usually hear some of it faintly.
However, Gan Tang had lived in high-rise apartments before, and the soundproofing in the countryside was far better than in the city, so he never paid much attention to it. But today, those few sounds felt as if they were directly hitting his eardrums, and he involuntarily shivered slightly.
The “bang-bang” sounds continued.
It sounded like flesh was being chopped… but it wasn’t that crisp.
It sounded like flesh was being slapped, but there was a faint noise that didn’t seem quite right.
After the sound interrupted his thoughts, Gan Tang immediately broke out in a cold sweat. At the same time, Yu Huai had already decided on the time and place, and with a roll, he jumped out of the window into the yard, walking away without a care.
“Yu Huai—”
Gan Tang shouted several times from the window, but no one responded.
In the end, he could only sit back on the bed, feeling frustrated and helpless.
*
Gan Tang’s grandmother didn’t come back until it was dark.
He wasn’t sure if it was because of her old age or if the “borrowing flesh” business had been particularly tiring. But when she pushed open the door and entered, Gan Tang was startled by the unusually grim and pale expression on her face.
“Grandma? What’s wrong?”
Gan Tang felt a little anxious and quickly poured a pot of tea, wanting to bring it to her.
However, just as Gan Tang was about to walk over to her, he heard his grandmother call out, “Ah, don’t come over, don’t come over—”
Grandma hurriedly stopped him and took two steps back.
“I’m very dirty, don’t get it on you.”
After a pause, the old woman hoarsely explained.
People in the countryside didn’t like to use high-wattage light bulbs because they were too glaring and wasted electricity. Plus, the houses were built with high ceilings, so even when the lights were on, the room was dim and yellow. This made Grandma’s face look like a walnut, full of wrinkles, stiff and hard, almost like a strange mask.
“Just put the tea wherever you want, dear. I’ll go change and come out to drink it.”
Gan Tang: “…Okay.”
Gan Tang clearly saw that there was a vein on his grandmother’s forehead that seemed to be bulging, throbbing.
He felt a little uneasy.
He was about to ask again when his grandmother swayed and hurried into the room.
When the old woman came out again, she hadn’t changed into her casual clothes. Instead, she had draped on a strange red robe.
Moreover, she didn’t drink the tea Gan Tang had prepared. After glancing at the time, her face slightly changed, and she immediately started walking out the door.
Before leaving, she didn’t forget to repeatedly tell Gan Tang not to go out that night, to stay home.
As for herself, she explained that she would likely have to stay at Uncle Zhang’s house the entire night.
“…I have to help with some things.”
The old woman spoke vaguely.
But Gan Tang could guess immediately that his grandmother was busy with the “borrowing flesh” business.
However, those two words seemed to be like hot potatoes to her. Whenever she spoke of it to Gan Tang, she always avoided saying them directly.
Gan Tang blinked. “Grandma, you’re going to stay outside all night? Can your body handle it?” he asked, then paused and added, “How about I go with you? I can help—”
Before he could finish, his grandmother hurriedly shook her head.
“It’s not something good.”
The old woman’s face tightened, and she muttered quickly.
Only when Gan Tang promised to obediently stay at home did she shakily leave the house.
Gan Tang stood behind her, watching her slightly hunched figure, and his delicate brows furrowed even more.
It really… felt strange.
He thought to himself.
Gan Tang had genuinely not wanted to see the so-called “borrowing flesh,” but seeing his grandmother like this, a sense of unease rose in his heart, one he couldn’t quite explain.
Maybe Yu Huai wasn’t wrong after all… He really did need to follow and see what was going on.
*
Several hours passed. The noise from Uncle Zhang’s house grew louder.
It wasn’t the kind of noisy commotion, but rather the rustling sounds made by many people gathering together and working in unified silence.
By around midnight, Gan Tang’s window was knocked again by Yu Huai.
“They’re getting ready to leave. We need to follow.”
The boy looked up at the pale and slender Gan Tang inside, grinning with excitement.
“Mm.”
Gan Tang nodded.
But as soon as he stepped outside, he felt his heartbeat accelerate uncontrollably.
During the day, when he was walking home, Gan Tang had already felt something was off in the village. Now, under the cover of night, the village of Fengjing, where he had been staying for several days, felt unusually unfamiliar and eerie.
The village was completely silent.
But there were plenty of people.
Hiding behind a wall, Gan Tang peeked at the road and saw that the villagers, each wearing a ghost mask, had formed a long, winding line and were slowly heading out of the village in complete silence.
If “borrowing flesh” was truly some kind of traditional folk ritual… then this ritual was way too quiet.
Gan Tang couldn’t help but feel uneasy in his heart.
There were no drums, no firecrackers, no sounds at all.
In the procession, a few people were carrying small boxes, and Gan Tang thought about the chickens killed earlier in the evening. He figured those boxes probably contained the offerings for the ritual.
Once they left the village, the feeling of desolation and silence grew even stronger.
The pace of the procession wasn’t fast, probably because most of the villagers were older and walked carefully. The night breeze rustled through the dark trees, and the temperature was low, causing damp mist to rise from the ground, as if it could seep through the skin and reach the bones.
Most of the people in the main group were holding flashlights, which lit the path clearly. However, Gan Tang and Yu Huai, who were trailing far behind, had a harder time. The mountain road, soaked with dew, was slippery. But for Gan Tang, what was most frightening was the environment.
Though it was the same late night, the deep night in the city felt completely different from the one in the mountain village.
The narrow mountain path was lined with lush trees, and Gan Tang felt like something was moving in the corner of his vision, but when he looked closely, he could only see vague shadows, motionless, crouching in the bushes.
Everything around was silent, except for the faint, scattered footsteps of the villagers participating in the “borrowing flesh” ritual.
Along the way, Gan Tang almost tripped several times, only managing to stay on his feet thanks to Yu Huai pulling him along.
After much effort, Gan Tang finally stumbled up the mountain.
The villagers stopped in their tracks.
Yu Huai pulled Gan Tang behind a tree.
Then, Gan Tang saw the legendary “borrowing flesh well.”
The well was far more ordinary than Gan Tang had expected. Given the large scale of the “borrowing flesh” ritual, he had imagined the well would be something special.
However, the well in front of him looked simple and unremarkable.
It didn’t even have a proper well edge. At first glance, it was just a dark hole in the ground.
The opening was very narrow, reminding Gan Tang of the narrow well he had seen in the Forbidden City (he had been shocked by how narrow that well was).
This well was even narrower than that one.
Around the well’s opening were a few flat blue stones, and Gan Tang could vaguely make out some blurred characters, which he assumed were the strange words Yu Huai had mentioned earlier.
Then, Gan Tang saw an old woman kneel beside the well with a “plop.”
It was Uncle Zhang’s mother.
As soon as she knelt, almost everyone in the group dropped to their knees at once.
Right next to her was the village chief of Fengjing.
The village chief’s face was expressionless.
Perhaps due to the light from the flashlight, Gan Tang felt that his expression seemed a little stiff.
The man was muttering something under his breath, but it was too far away for Gan Tang to hear clearly what he was saying.
He could only guess from his lip movements that he was repeatedly chanting “borrowing flesh.” Then, the village chief and the old woman began leading the villagers in bowing to the “borrowing flesh well.”
Everyone was wearing masks, and despite straining his eyes, Gan Tang couldn’t find his grandmother. He could only see the figures of people repeatedly bowing.
The ritual was long and tedious, without any excitement.
There were no loud drums, no pleasant music as background, and even the ritual itself didn’t seem particularly suspicious (of course, there was nothing interesting about it either).
Gan Tang was still quite nervous and fearful, but gradually, he felt his mind go numb.
He almost yawned, and he began to feel drowsy.
It wasn’t until the village chief, after a long prayer, suddenly raised his voice and shouted a few words in the local dialect.
Then, the few people who had been carrying the small boxes hurriedly ran toward the village chief.
And it was at this moment that the unexpected happened—perhaps due to their old age and the fatigue of running around all night, one of them suddenly stumbled as they walked.
Soon, the other three lost their balance as well.
As they fell, the small box they were carrying crashed heavily to the ground.
“Bang—”
The sound startled Gan Tang, and his nerves snapped back to attention.
He instinctively looked at the box, which had already opened due to the impact.
Something fell out of it with a thud.
At first, Gan Tang couldn’t recognize what it was.
He vaguely sensed that it wasn’t what he had thought it was—the usual offerings for the gods. It was a sticky, damp leather pouch.
When it hit the ground, there was even a squelching sound.
Gan Tang squinted in confusion.
At that moment, the people who had been carrying the box scrambled to their feet and hurried over to pick up the “leather pouch” from the ground.
Something was hanging from it.
It was a completely swollen and darkened hand, the nails long gone.
Then, there was a limp head hanging from the arms.
The head was so swollen that it was impossible to recognize its face.
But the eyelids, lips, nostrils, and even ears had been sewn up with extremely fine stitching, done with great care.
So, no blood poured out from the openings.
Only after the fall, a thin trickle of black blood seeped through the stitches and stained the face.
The nearly eggplant-colored subcutaneous bruising made the blood on the face almost unnoticeable.
Gan Tang’s eyes widened in horror.
When he saw the body, he even went into a daze, doubting whether he was having a nightmare—
What exactly was he seeing?
His brain couldn’t comprehend it.
Yet his body was already trembling uncontrollably.
Cold sweat dripped down his spine, and the hairs on his body stood on end.
He wanted to ask Yu Huai what was going on, but he also wanted to scream and run away, or rush out to question what this was all about.
However, countless chaotic thoughts surged like a tsunami in his mind, and Gan Tang’s body stood frozen in place, unable to move.
…
Even much later, Gan Tang wished he had been a little braver at that moment.
*
If… if he had truly gathered the courage to run away back then, how much better would that have been?
