Chapter 11 Hum, woman!

Later, they directly dragged my grandaunt's body to the side and patted her in neck; a white mist floated out and formed into a human shape. The white reaper blew a breath into the mist, and the mist merged with the disheveled-hair ‘people’ behind her into one.

Not until now did I knew those ‘people’ were the souls and senses of my grandaunt. With the dim light and the messy hair, I did not recognized them in the very first place.

After all this, the Black and White reapers took my grandaunt, turned into a few wisps of smoke and disappeared.

I began to look up to the demon; even the Black and White reapers seemed to be afraid of him; the way that black reaper looked at him was hilarious. It seemed that I had found myself a guardian ghost!

"Umm...Since we're this close to the village, could you take me back? Although you are the ghost and I am the human, but as the old saying goes -- a day together as husband and wife means endless devotion the rest of your life, let alone we have been married for four years...” The dead silence around me was even terrifying after everything; he was the my last straw to clutch at.

He seemed too lazy to talk to me and turned away brushing with his sleeve.
I followed up hastily: "Demon, not for the sake of me, for the sake of the thing in my belly!? Are you really going to watch me die?"

He suddenly stopped: "Call me husband! One more ‘demon’, I will turn you into one."

Husband...? I......I can't.

"I promise I won't call you ‘demon’ any more. Could you take me back to the village?" I said, patting my chest.

The ghost said nothing more, but walked with me at the direction of the village.
I refrained myself from asking...couldn’t you just use your power to send me back? Why were we walking? I had used up all my energy after all this , okay? My feet hurt so badly, too. After all, I was so grateful that he could be here with me; I have nothing more to wish for!

Except for, my grandpa! "Wait, what about my grandpa? His head..."

Ghost said lightly: "Don’t worry, I was bluffing, your grandpa’s ghost has been taken to the underworld last night, the good man will go directly to reincarnation. The reason why he can't inhale his last breath is because of you, now it is time to inhale that breath, the rest would be the body. After you get back, tell your people to come here and bring the body, and I'll cast spell to keep it from being eaten by wild things."

Despite of what he said, I couldn't help crying.
Grandpa had loved me so dearly that he even retained his last breath for me, and in order to protect me, his head was snapped off after death. I placed his head next to his body, then knelt down and banged my head on the ground for three times: "My Grandpa...Rest in peace...I'm not going to die easily, I'm going to live..."

When I got up, the ghost said, "Out of the way, I would cast spell now."

I stepped aside and watched the ghost raise his left hand, twirling his thumb and middle finger in a strange gesture; a dull red light engulfed the body of grandpa and formed a translucent barrier around him.

Following the demon, I cried and turned from time to time back to look at my grandpa all the way home till I can no longer see him at all.

"Stop crying, would you? It is very annoying...”
The demon was fed up with my crying and said angrily.

I gave him glare and continued my crying; I was sad, was a mess and had just been through life and death; my foot was painful; didn’t I have the right and justified reason to feel broken down and cry?

He couldn't take it anymore, "If you keep crying I am gonna leave you here!”

My eyes staring at him, my cry turned into silent sob with my tears continued streaming out. He was getting impatient: "what exactly do you want now?"

I wiped away my tears and asked, "The Black and White reapers, why are they afaird of you? So much!"

He answered plainly: "I am powerful..."

I followed up in asking: "so my grandpa was going into afterlife easily as you said?"

He replied, "Yes..."

I continued: "What will become of my grandaunt?"

As if he was going to explode at my inquiry, he turned to glare at me. "That old woman wanted you die; why do you even care? Evil spirits like her would have to go through purgatory before she could go on into the afterlife!"

I paused and said: "She was, after all, my grandaunt...could you pull the strings in the hell and save her some torturing punishments?”

He tried to thrust his finger into my forehead, as if to open it to see what was in my mind but refrained; instead he poked at it gently and said: “ I am not in charge of this, my word is not going to work, either; we have rules as you humans does."

I was a bit disappointed. "Oh...Well, forget it, she's pretty pathetic actually...Her daughter and her granddaughter were both dead. I really want to know why all the women born in our Fan family had to marry you ghosts. My grandma never told me the specific reason. You should have known, right?"

He suddenly sneered: “He...Want to know? Ask your ancestors."

I tugged at his sleeve. "It would be the same if you tell me?"

He brushed me off and said, "I don’t have the time. If you speak one more word from now on, I'll have your tongue pulled out."

Disgusted at the imagination of tongue pulling, I shut my mouth at once, not daring to utter another word.


Finally we arrived at the entrance to the village; the familiar and cozy lights of each household thrilled me to tears. Ignoring completely the demon, I ran like crazy to my home; four years, it had been four years since I left last time; everything remained the way it was.

Running, a woman carrying a basin looked at me in surprised and inquired: "Rae?Aren’t you Rae?
When did you get back?"

I did not stop, but left her a great smile: "Just come back, good to see you, aunt Mary!"

Aunt Mary was the well-known big mouth of the village; as a full-time housewife, she had got nothing better to do than move her fat ass around the village and gossip with other women about the affairs of other families--all about whose father was dead, which shameless woman committed adultery with other man, who stole the poultry of other households...

I did not know whether the four years had changed her gossipiness, but she remained the same roundness as I left her, in her thirties, the fair skin of her more-than-decently-exposed juicy chest was still a good scenery to watch.

In front of my house hanging the white clothes every corner; inside, people were talking.

I was gathering my courage to go in; apparently people inside did not know my grandpa’s missing body. At the thought of my grandpa, my nose started tingling again.

"After all this, you're not afraid to go in, are you?"

The voice of the demono came from behind me.
I was surprised. He was still following me?
I thought he would leave when he walked me back to the village.

He said sullenly: "Hum, woman! Heartless woman, after being escorted for so far, you are gonna dump your husband now?"