I watched the villagers crowding around my house, drawn in by the strange fragrance, their faces full of curiosity. My mind was a mess.
At this point, I couldn't keep hiding the truth, so I spilled everything—everything Grandpa had been secretly doing over the years.
My father, who'd been honest and dutiful all his life, couldn't hold it in either. After hearing me out, he gave Grandpa's coffin plank two furious kicks.
That's when my second uncle, who had been away from the village for years, was the first to calm down. He looked at me and asked,
"How much of Grandpa's teachings did you actually learn?"
I answered truthfully, "Bits and pieces."
He didn't question whether Grandpa's stuff worked or not. He just stared at me and asked,
"So, what now?"
What now?
I froze for a moment. But since I'd already promised Grandpa, no matter what happened, I had to come up with a plan.
Trying to stay calm, I looked again at the female corpse lying flat on the bed, as if peacefully asleep. My feelings were complicated.
Given the current situation, the best thing to do would be to burn her.
But after all these years of Grandpa's influence and subtle brainwashing, the moment we opened that coffin, something indescribable stirred in me.
Still, even a three-year-old knows—you can't marry the dead.
I clenched my jaw, steeled my heart, and was about to suggest burning the corpse while Grandpa was being buried.
But then I suddenly remembered something Grandpa once said: "Corpse fragrance is the scent of a forming inner elixir."
In other words, the female corpse had already developed an inner core, which meant she had an extraordinary origin—definitely not someone to casually destroy.
Grandpa had taught me a lot over the past ten years, but most of it was incomplete.
Just then, my mother, who had finally calmed down, looked at my second uncle with concern and asked,
"Brother-in-law, Grandpa was never reliable… how can you expect a child like Yangyang to handle this?"
My dad also looked at my uncle with a face full of worry.
My second uncle turned to them with a dark expression and said,
"Then what do you suggest?"
Neither of them had an answer.
Uncle turned back to me. I took a deep breath.
Grandpa said someone would come to steal the body—but that didn't necessarily mean today.
I still had time to prepare.
After a moment of thought, I said,
"Uncle, I want to move the female corpse to the old house."
Our family's old house was halfway up the mountain, away from the village. When we divided the property, it was given to my uncle, but it had been empty ever since he moved to the city.
Uncle hesitated for a moment but agreed.
My father dispersed the curious villagers. When no one was looking, I wrapped the female corpse in a black cloth and carried her on my back to the old house.
The place was nearly falling apart from years of neglect, barely able to keep out the wind and rain.
I found a room and, not caring about cleanliness, laid her on the bed.
Maybe it was the mountain breeze, but the corpse fragrance had faded a lot by then.
After laying her down, I was ready to leave. After all, Grandpa still hadn't been buried yet.
But when I reached the door and looked back at the bare mattress, something tugged at my conscience.
I went back and found a clean sheet from the cabinet.
While changing the bedding, I had to lift the corpse to slip the sheet underneath her.
In the process, there was naturally some physical contact.
Face to face, I suddenly froze.
Not because of any impure thoughts—but because I had a strange feeling.
It was as if… under the black cloth, her eyes were open.
My heart skipped a beat.
Could she really reanimate in broad daylight?
Hesitating, I cautiously pulled the black cloth aside.
Even seeing her for the second time, her beauty still stunned me.
She wore no makeup, yet looked like a flawless work of art.
Her delicate lips curled slightly upward in a faint, eerie smile.
I didn't dare breathe too hard, but when I finally saw her eyes were tightly shut, I let out a sigh of relief.
Yet the moment I covered her back up, that feeling returned again.
Something wasn't right.
I hadn't personally witnessed many strange events, but I'd heard plenty from Grandpa over the years.
For a moment, words caught in my throat, and my thoughts were a tangled mess.
My worldview had long been different from the average person's.
Still, facing something like this made my skin crawl.
All I wanted was to finish up and rush back to bury Grandpa—the coffin alone was probably going to be another headache.
I spread some plant ash around the bed to temporarily mask the corpse fragrance, then turned to leave.
But just as I reached the door—thump—a sound came from behind me.
Startled, I turned and saw an old book on the floor beside the bed.
It looked like it had fallen from the female corpse.
In that exact moment, I felt—under the black cloth, her head had turned, now facing me.
Hiss—
I sucked in a breath, quickly stepped over, and picked up the book.
Not daring to look any longer, I shoved it back under her waist with my eyes closed and rushed out the door.
I locked it behind me and sniffed the air.
The plant ash was working—the corpse fragrance had faded significantly.
The mountain wind was strong. Hopefully, it would blow the rest of it away soon.
If it didn't…
Well, then whoever wanted her could come take her.
That was part of why I moved her here in the first place.
Far from the village, fewer people would get involved.
If someone did come and take her, that'd save me the trouble.
That thought gave me some peace of mind.
As for Grandpa's final instructions… well, only if I had the strength to carry them out.
Given how half-baked his skills were, I didn't believe they could really protect that woman.
Back home, Uncle asked me how it went.
I lied and said everything was taken care of and there would be no more problems.
He didn't question it.
I didn't have much say in Grandpa's funeral anyway.
Uncle and Dad handled everything.
Maybe it was the whole incident with the female corpse, but I didn't have much time to mourn.
I hid in my room, pulled out Grandpa's chest, and opened it.
He was always a meticulous man—maybe not powerful, but well-equipped.
There were peachwood swords, compasses, coin swords… even a yellow Daoist robe at the bottom.
After some picking, I took the peachwood sword and the coin sword, putting everything else back.
But despite my careful preparations, Grandpa's funeral went surprisingly smoothly.
Three days later, just as he wished, we buried him in that old coffin.
As the relatives gradually left, I let out a quiet sigh of relief—but my thoughts drifted back to the female corpse.
I figured after all this time, she'd probably been taken already.
But that night, I couldn't sleep.
Tossing and turning, I finally gave in.
When everyone was asleep, I snuck out with the peachwood and coin swords and headed to the old house.
On the way, I kept thinking—if I really could protect her, maybe I'd help.
If not, I'd just let things play out.
After all, according to the book, whatever the corpse fragrance drew in wasn't anything good.
Even one of them would be more than I could handle—more than I'd even seen before.
As for the "wife" thing…
There are plenty of living, breathing women to marry in this world.
While I was lost in thought, I reached the mountainside. Just a few more steps, and I'd be at the old house.
But right then, I saw a group of people coming up the mountain path.
They were headed straight for the house.
Shit.
Just as Grandpa warned—this was happening.
I quickly crouched down, hiding beneath the edge of a field.
A moment later, the group arrived at the door of the old house.
The moonlight suddenly grew bright and clear—
And when I got a good look, I drew in a cold breath. My scalp prickled with fear.
Those weren't people.
They were paper figures—bright red and green, stiff-faced paper effigies.