The Three Ghost Stories of Jinzhong

Chapter 3

According to the "Weiyu County Annals", in 1980, a peasant woman went to a temple to worship the gods but was raped by the monks. After returning home, she told the villagers. The villagers then arrested all the monks, destroyed the temple, and found three skeletons inside the Buddha statues. Countless children's remains were unearthed in the hall, scattered and unrecognizable.

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Tai Sui destroys the city

(one)

On August 23, 1966, in the Confucius Temple on Chengxian Street in Beijing, over a hundred Chinese writers, led by Lao She, were subjected to public criticism and struggle sessions. Thousands upon thousands of books of various kinds, both ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, were burned in public, while countless irrational onlookers shouted and cheered. From then on, a large-scale cultural destruction campaign under the guise of "destroying the Four Olds" began in China. Numerous cultural relics and historical sites were destroyed by hammers, shovels, explosives, ignorance, and fanaticism. Such acts have occurred many times in history, but none have been as concentrated, frenzied, and bloody as this.

Although Weiyu City in Shanxi Province is far from the capital and the central government is in power, it was not immune to the impact of this event. However, unlike many other places, the entire city paid a heavy price for their blind and reckless participation.

No one expected it at first, or rather, no one could have imagined it would be so cruel!

1968, the year of Ji-You in the Chinese lunar calendar, late summer and early autumn.

At the foot of the south city wall, hundreds of men, shirtless, were working. Following an order from the county revolutionary committee, they were to demolish the only remaining section of the city wall. One man, with a red armband wrapped around his arm and a Mao Zedong portrait pinned to his muscular chest, was Wang Tiegen, the director of the leadership office for this "Destroy the Four Olds, Tear Down the City Wall, Welcome the New Air" campaign. He paced back and forth on the construction site, rushing to direct help wherever needed, loudly reprimanding anyone slacking off, and occasionally shouting slogans to boost morale. Perhaps destruction is human nature; the city wall, built with untold effort, had now been completely razed to the ground, leaving only the "barbican" inside the city gate remaining.

Those who have visited Pingyao might understand the meaning of "Wengcheng" (瓮城). As the name suggests, Wengcheng is a city wall shaped like an urn. This is a key difference between the city walls of various counties in Jinzhong and those of Beijing and Xi'an. Entering through the city gate doesn't immediately lead into the city; one must turn a corner within the "urn" to enter. Therefore, the south gate of the city wall faces east, a testament to the clever wisdom of our ancient Shanxi ancestors. Compared to a simple city wall, it offers greater security. Even if the enemy attacks through one gate, there's another gate for defense, and the enemy, trapped inside the "urn," is trapped—they can't escape. For thousands of years, Wengcheng has swallowed countless lives, and the blood of many has soaked this land. According to the *Weiyu County Annals*, whenever the enemy attacked the Wengcheng, boiling oil was immediately poured onto the top, causing the enemy "first to be scorched and their flesh to peel off; those following behind retreated in fear." After the enemy retreated, there was no time to clean up the battlefield, so "they threw fires and burned the corpses, the stench soared into the sky, the smoke drifted for miles, and it took several days to dissipate."

Because the barbican was the last line of defense for the entire city, it was built with a deep foundation, and the mortar between the bricks was mixed with glutinous rice soup and egg whites, making it as solid as an iron barrel. An entire morning passed, and they had only managed to remove a few loose bricks from the top of the wall. Seeing this, Wang Tiegen frowned, but he immediately thought of a solution. A former miner, he turned and ordered his men, "Go to the command post and get some explosives!"

Wang Tiegen circled the barbican, marking the areas he had chosen with white circles. He personally wielded the hammer, while another man held the chisel, and they began drilling holes. The others also joined in, chiseling holes in the circled areas. By the time the explosives arrived, all the holes were drilled. Wang Tiegen inspected them with satisfaction, then waved his hand and said, "Let's eat. After we eat, we'll level all this old stuff."

Little did he know that this was the last meal he would ever eat in this world!

---janeadam

Reply [3]: After lunch, Wang Tiegen led his men to the construction site again. He carefully filled each blast hole with explosives, inserted detonators, and connected the fuses. After everything was ready, he and the workers retreated to a safe distance, found cover, and then detonated the detonators.

After the deafening explosions, smoke filled the air, and the air was thick with choking dust. Wang Tiegen peeked out from behind his bunker. The once solitary but majestic barbican was now shattered, with pieces of the wall still collapsing. Wang Tiegen shouted excitedly, "Chairman Mao taught us to be determined, unafraid of sacrifice, overcome all difficulties, and strive for victory! Comrades, let's work harder!" The crowd roared and surged onto the construction site like a chaotic flock of sheep.

Zhang Yongwang's main task was to clear the center of the barbican. He stacked the intact blue bricks on one side and piled all the broken bricks on the other, waiting for the movers to carry them away. He was vigorously shoveling away the debris with his shovel when suddenly a protruding rock struck the blade, sending a shiver through his hands. The 30-year-old man, full of youthful vigor, angrily grabbed someone else's hoe and quickly pried open the rock. Muttering curses, he glanced at what lay beneath the rock and gasped, shouting, "Come and see!"

The workers all crowded around to watch the spectacle. Beneath the rock was a hollow hole. Because the opening was so small, and it was pitch black inside, they couldn't even tell how deep it was. Everyone speculated about what was below. One impatient man said, "What's there to guess? Let's dig it open and see!" Immediately, five or six men began digging. The opening grew wider and wider, and gradually they could see what was below. Everyone couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow!"

Beneath this ancient walled city, which has stood for a thousand years, there is actually a tomb.

The tomb was small, only about four or five square meters, surrounded by blue bricks carved with patterns of deer and cranes. On the north wall was a large yin-yang symbol. A solitary brown coffin lay in the center of the tomb. A tattered piece of yellow paper was pasted on the coffin lid, with incomprehensible symbols drawn in cinnabar on it.

A chill spread through the crowd; everyone fell silent and retreated. Fear was etched on every face. Some knelt first, then everyone else followed. On the vast construction site, a sea of people knelt in prayer.

Wang Tiegen rushed over, furious, shouting and kicking the workers, but not a single one stood up. Although they had unearthed many skeletons in the past few days, this was the first time they had found an intact grave. These simple-minded workers believed that digging up graves would bring retribution. So, despite Wang Tiegen's attempts to persuade them, no one was willing to continue digging. They all begged to be spared this section. Wang Tiegen shouted hoarsely for a long time, seeing no effect, he steeled himself, jumped into the grave with a "thump," and forcefully pried open the coffin lid.

Everyone present stared at him in disbelief.

---janeadam

Reply [4]: As soon as his hand touched the coffin lid, Wang Tiegen had a strange feeling. The coffin lid was neither gold nor wood, the surface was very rough, the structure seemed very tight, but it was not very heavy, and the elastic feel made people feel itchy and tingly. He put his hand under the coffin lid and lifted it up with a little force.

Without any creaking or groaning, the coffin lid was silently lifted, and a putrid stench rushed into Wang Tiegen's nose. He sneezed and forcefully moved the coffin lid to the side, revealing the contents of the coffin.

A skeleton lay in the coffin, tall and thin, with a whisk beside it. One or two fat rats squeaked and scurried away from the decaying coffin.

“What’s there to be afraid of? We proletarians dare to fight against heaven, against earth, and against man. Are we afraid of a dead reactionary secret society member?” Wang Tiegen cursed, pointing at the crowd above the grave. He then turned to the skeleton and said, “To cooperate with the revolutionary masses’ work of destroying the Four Olds, we’re going to move you somewhere. Bah, what bad luck.” He spat on his hand. He thought to himself that saliva could ward off evil. He bent down to gather the skeleton.

The skeleton seemed to grin. Wang Tiegen thought he was seeing things. He blinked and suddenly saw a dark red object clearly visible in the skull's mouth, against the backdrop of its white teeth.

"I've heard that in ancient times, when people died, they would put a gemstone in their mouths to prevent their bodies from rotting. Could this old Taoist's mouth contain such a gemstone?" Wang Tiegen thought to himself. He blocked others' view with his body and pretended to hug the skeleton, but his hand reached into the skull's mouth and pulled out the gemstone.

The moment Wang Tiegen held the object in his hand, he knew something was wrong. It lacked the coldness and weight of a gemstone; instead, it was warm and moist, gently wriggling in his hand. It felt as if it were—?

lick!

Yes, it's licking!

"How come the old Taoist priest is dead but his tongue is still alive? This is too strange, let's go up quickly!" These were Wang Tiegen's last thoughts in this world.

The people kneeling above the tomb only saw Wang Tiegen's back suddenly stiffen, and then he lay motionless on the coffin. Seeing that things were not going well, Wang Tiegen's subordinates disregarded their taboos and jumped into the pit one after another, lifted his body up, and turned him over to look at his face.

It was a completely withered face. In a mere instant, a mysterious force had completely drained Wang Tiegen's flesh and blood, leaving only a loose skin covering his bones. In his sunken eye sockets, his two eyeballs looked much larger than before, staring blankly at the crowd.

Chaos erupted as the crowd stirred in fear and unease. Someone shouted, "It's karma! Quickly fill the pit!" Everyone grabbed their tools and began throwing dirt into the pit. In no time, the grave was covered. Wang Tiegen's body was moved to a makeshift shed next to the construction site, and someone was sent back to his hometown to inform his family. As darkness fell, the crowd, filled with fear, gradually returned home, praying that they wouldn't be cursed. On their way home, they discussed the strange events of the day in small groups. In their minds, Wang Tiegen had died because he had offended the deceased; they hadn't touched the body, so perhaps they would be fine.

Kind people, always remember to keep your eyes wide open and vigilant. The nightmare has only just begun.

As night fell, the grave, hastily filled in by the crowd, throbbed slightly and slowly cracked, as if something wanted to break through the soil.

---janeadam

Reply [5]: Zhang Yongwang parted ways with his companion at the intersection and returned home, thinking about what had happened that day. His wife, Cuihua, was cooking in the kitchen, happily humming a song, unaware that he had returned. Zhang Yongwang quietly walked up behind her, grabbed her, and instinctively covered Cuihua's full breasts. Cuihua was startled, turned her head and saw it was him. She was anxious, angry, and ashamed, and hit him hard on the head with the spatula in her hand, saying:

"What's wrong with you in broad daylight?"

"Hey, if I can't even touch my own wife, am I supposed to touch someone else?"

"I'll give you two guts and see if you dare!"

"I'd like to, but I've already given you everything. You're so listless when you work, how can you have the energy to look for someone else?"

"You foul mouth, you're asking for a beating!"

Cuihua chased after Zhang Yongwang, brandishing a spatula, when she suddenly saw her 7-year-old son coming home from school. Her face flushed, and she urged, "You two, father and son, go wash your hands and get ready to eat."

The family of three sat around a small round table and began to eat. Zhang Yongwang slurped his noodles while recounting the events of the afternoon, which terrified Cuihua and her son. The room fell silent; the three looked at each other, a chill running down their spines. Just then, the lights suddenly went out.

"Ah------!" Cuihua screamed.

"What are you yelling about?" Zhang Yongwang said impatiently. "The electricity has all been sent to Beijing, and we don't have enough for ourselves." He groped in the dark, found a candle, and lit it. The three faces flickered in the candlelight.

"Dad didn't wash his face!" the son said.

"Really?" Zhang Yongwang raised his face for Cuihua to see. "Where is it dirty?"

Cuihua looked closely and said, "Children talk nonsense. Where is your father's face dirty?"

The son pointed directly at Zhang Yongwang's forehead and said, "It's dark here."

Cuihua looked again carefully, then gently tapped her son's head and said, "Are your eyes playing tricks on you? Not at all!"

The son muttered, "It's definitely there! It is!"

"Okay, okay, I'll have your dad give you a good wash later." Cuihua said to her son, "There's a power outage today, so don't do your homework, or you'll hurt your eyes. Go to bed early after dinner, okay!" She winked at Zhang Yongwang.

The son was very obedient; he went to bed after finishing his meal. Cuihua was in the kitchen clearing away the dishes when Zhang Yongwang carefully washed his face, brushed his teeth, and washed his feet. Then, he went outside, splashed the water outside the door, and shouted into the kitchen as he passed by, "Hurry up, I'm done washing!"

---janeadam

Reply [6]: The couple lay on the bed chatting, looking at their son on the other bed in the room. When he started breathing evenly, the couple began to caress each other and kiss each other. Finally, Zhang Yongwang got up and covered Cuihua. Cuihua hugged her husband tightly with one hand and covered her mouth tightly with the other, breathing rapidly through her nose. The bed creaked under the weight, the sound clear in the empty and quiet night. The son, who was not yet asleep, was awakened and said in a daze, "Mom, there are mice."

The couple were startled. Cuihua released her hand from her mouth and said, "No way! Go to sleep!"

After a moment of silence, their son turned over and whimpered as he fell asleep. The couple exchanged a smile, and Zhang Yongwang's restless desire returned.

“Listen to me, listen to me!” the son shouted again.

Zhang Yongwang rolled over in frustration, his hands behind his head. Cuihua, still wanting more, lay on his chest, gently touching him, trying to rekindle his desire. However, Zhang Yongwang had already lost interest and remained unresponsive for a long time. Cuihua sighed helplessly, pulled her hand up from under him, and stroked his face, saying, "When you have money, we'll get a new bed."

“Bed board, bed board…” Zhang Yongwang pondered, then suddenly thought of something, “That can also be used as a bed board, right? Yes, it’s big and flat, and it’s a single piece. It hasn’t rotted in all these years, so it must be good material.” He got out of bed, put on his clothes, and told Cuihua, “I’m going out for a bit, don’t lock the door.”

"Where are you going so late?" Cuihua asked in surprise as she sat up from under the covers.

"Don't ask anymore, you'll find out in a little while." Zhang Yongwang stood at the door and turned back to smile at Cuihua. In the hazy moonlight, Cuihua suddenly noticed that there really was a patch of black between Zhang Yongwang's eyebrows.

Under the cover of night, Zhang Yongwang quietly arrived at the dark construction site. Only a single kerosene lamp hung from the morgue, casting a cold, dim yellow light in the darkness. Zhang Yongwang tried to avoid the morgue, not wanting to be seen. He quickened his pace, glancing at the morgue as he did so, but suddenly bumped into someone, his heart leaping into his throat.

An old man stared at him coldly, his face as withered as Wang Tiegen, who had just died during the day.

Zhang Yongwang suppressed his wildly beating heart, cleared his throat, and struck up a conversation with the other person: "Still not asleep?"

The old man sized him up: "What are you doing here?"

"I just couldn't sleep, so I came out for a walk."

"What's the point of improvement? It's just ruins. Go home and get some sleep. The time between noon and midnight is when the gates of hell are wide open. Be careful not to lose your soul." After saying this, the old man turned and walked towards the shed, his figure leaving a long, desolate trail on the ground.

---janeadam

Reply [7]: Zhang Yongwang hummed in agreement, but his feet didn't move. He watched the old man return to the morgue, then hurried a few steps to the spot where the grave had been dug during the day. He picked up a shovel from the ground and, using the distant lamplight, began digging in the direction he remembered. The soil was loose because it hadn't been compacted when everyone buried it during the day, and soon the coffin reappeared. Zhang Yongwang jumped down, pulled off the coffin lid, and peered at the ground—there was no one there. Under the cover of darkness, he carried the coffin lid and tiptoed, trying not to make a loud noise. Suddenly, he heard the old man calling from behind. In his haste, Zhang Yongwang didn't care about anything else and fled the construction site.

After parting ways with Zhang Yongwang, the old man returned to the morgue. Under the dim light, Wang Tiegen's body lay stiffly, a bottle of liquor and a small bag of peanuts given to him by the command post beside him. The old man was a local bachelor. According to local custom, the living must keep watch for the deceased for the first seven nights, but Wang Tiegen's home was too far from the county town, and his family couldn't arrive immediately. The remaining family members passed the buck, none of them willing to do it. Left with no other option, the command post gave the old man a few yuan to keep watch that night. Poverty makes one weak-willed, and a thin horse has a long mane. The old man was initially unwilling, but for the sake of the few yuan, he agreed.

The old man sat on the ground, reached for the wine bottle, took a swig from the bottle opening, and then picked up a few peanuts to chew on. He hummed a line from the Jin opera "The Trial of the Ghost": "This whip of mine can strike ten reincarnated true emperors above, and lash out at the nine kings of hell below—" He seemed quite pleased with himself. He reached for the peanuts, but instead grabbed something strange from the plastic bag. The old man examined it with a puzzled expression.

It was a dark red piece, about the size of a steamed bun, but without the softness and chewiness of a bun. Squeezing it, it felt more like the firmness of meat. The old man sniffed it; there was no strange smell, but he couldn't identify what kind of meat it was either. "Sigh, what good stuff can these construction workers make? They've wasted this piece of meat," the old man thought, taking a big bite. The meat was like dried, cured meat, difficult to chew. "I must say, it tastes pretty good. If the seasonings could be fully absorbed, it would be even better," the old man thought. But when he looked at the cross-section of the meat, he was startled. The outside was dark red, but the inside was white and smooth like tofu, completely lacking the animal fibers and fibrous texture that meat should have. "Could it be a piece of fried tofu? No way, fried tofu shouldn't be this hard." The old man pondered, his gaze falling on the zombie lying there. Remembering what had happened that day, he looked down at the piece of meat more closely, and an ancient legend suddenly flashed into his mind. His eyes widened in terror, and the piece of meat fell from his hand to the ground. He bent over and reached down to gag his throat, trying to vomit up what he had just eaten.

It's too late!!!

The old man's abdomen swelled rapidly, as if something was growing inside, his belly bulging like a ball. Unable to bend over, he frantically ripped open his shirt, revealing clearly visible veins on his bulging belly. The skin was almost transparent from the swelling, and the organs inside were vaguely visible. With a "pop," the old man's belly burst open, and his internal organs gushed out like waves, dragging across the ground. The old man stared incredulously at his hanging organs and screamed.

This was the sound Zhang Yongwang heard as he stole the coffin lid and was furtively leaving the construction site. If he had listened more carefully then, he would have realized the old man wasn't calling him. If he had run over to see what was wrong, things might not have turned out so tragically; at least he himself might not have died.

---janeadam

Reply [8]: If------suppose------maybe-------? What a pity!

Zhang Yongwang, carrying the coffin lid on his back, jogged into his courtyard and closed the gate behind him. He tiptoed into the house. Cuihua, still awake, saw the plank on his back and asked in surprise, "What's this? Where did it come from?"

"Get down, get down!" Zhang Yongwang urged Cuihua to get out of bed without waiting for a reply. The couple moved all the bedding off the iron-framed bed and removed the bed board. They busied themselves putting the new board on top. The board was a little longer than the original bed, but luckily the bed was adjustable. After the bedding was remade and the couple lay down together, Zhang Yongwang finally told Cuihua about the board's origin.

Upon hearing this, Cuihua sat up abruptly, exclaiming in alarm, "Why did you bring back such an unlucky thing? Take it back quickly! I dare not sleep on this thing!"

Zhang Yongwang put his arm around his wife's shoulder, pulling her back into his embrace. He stroked her back and said, "It's alright. It's just been buried underground for a few years. If I hadn't told you, would you have known? Many families around here don't have beds. The children are sleeping on the coffins their grandparents prepared. Many people still have their food stored inside."

Cuihua twisted her body forcefully and said, "No, you have to put it back. Wang Tiegen died there today, this thing is evil!"

"What are you afraid of? It's nothing. If something had happened, how come I didn't die on the way back?" Seeing Cuihua's persistent attitude, Zhang Yongwang rolled his eyes and said, "Besides, a good bed board costs several dollars. When we have the money, we'll buy a bed board and then I'll throw this one away, okay?"

When money was mentioned, Cuihua fell silent. Yes, in this chaotic era, saving so much money to buy a bed board was a luxury, even just thinking about it. Having a decent board was a blessing if the couple could sleep without disturbing their son. A family nearby, afraid their child would hear them doing their business, gave him sleeping pills, which resulted in the child becoming mentally disabled.

When Zhang Yongwang saw that his wife was silent, he knew she was tempted.

...200 words deleted here

What?

Cuihua's two legs were tightly wrapped around his waist, while the legs that had been rubbing his legs and tickling his soles were two other legs. They gleamed with a white, eerie light in the darkness.

---janeadam

Reply [9]: "Whose legs are these?" Zhang Yongwang was startled, and his enthusiasm vanished instantly. He knelt up and looked in the direction of the two legs. Only then did he realize that they were not legs, but two snow-white objects. What were they? Zhang Yongwang reached out to touch them. The objects suddenly stood up, like a person without an upper body standing on the bed. Cuihua woke up from her pleasure, opened her eyes and saw this scene, and cried out "Ah!"

Only then did Zhang Yongwang vaguely see that the two objects had actually "emerged" from the "bed board." He reached out again to grab them.

In an instant, countless snow-white, strip-like objects emerged from the "bed board," waving in the air like thousands of ropes, then tightly coiling around the couple who had just been blissfully happy, tightening and tightening. Their eyes bulged and tongues lolled out, veins bulged across their faces, and their joints cracked with a series of snapping sounds. More and more of these objects appeared, layer upon layer binding them tightly, quickly obscuring their terrified faces and gasps.

Zhang Yongwang's son was awakened by the shouts and timidly called out, "Mommy, Mommy, Daddy, Daddy." When he heard no answer, the child started to cry.

---janeadam