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墨書 Inktalez
Old Wei sat on the ground, crying one moment and laughing heartily the next, as if he had gone mad. His hands kept slapping the ground, looking utterly heartbroken.
Yuan Jun stood beside Old Wei and said, "You've eaten what you wanted, you've made enough noise. Can you talk properly now?"
Old Wei ignored Yuan Jun, his snot and tears soaking his clothes.
"What on earth is wrong with this old guy?" Yuan Jun looked at the distraught Old Wei and wondered aloud.
Jiang He walked over to the coal stove, bent down, and picked up a strip of meat. He held it to his nose and sniffed it before turning to Yuan Jun. "I think I know why he's like this."
With that, Jiang He handed the strip of meat to Yuan Jun.
Yuan Jun sniffed it too; it was just ordinary dried roasted meat, without any seasoning, and it didn't have any particularly special smell.
"What kind of meat is this?" Yuan Jun almost took a bite.
"Don't eat that." Jiang He snatched it back from Yuan Jun's hand and said, "That's human flesh."
"Human flesh?" Yuan Jun shuddered.
Jiang He nodded and placed the strip of meat on the stove. "And it's entrails. Old Wei, Corpse Robbers don't exist. I've figured out that story from back then, and you probably have too. Before, I only asked you where the girl was; now I need to ask you another question: where did you bury that person's body?"
Yuan Jun still hadn't grasped what was happening. He looked at Jiang He, who spoke so confidently, unsure of what he meant.
Old Wei, rolling on the ground in despair, finally heard Jiang He's words and stopped all his movements. He stared blankly at Jiang He for a moment before saying, "Since you understand, go ahead. I won't come out."
Jiang He nodded. It would not be easy for Old Wei to speak these words himself. Jiang He understood that Old Wei had lived his entire life in ignorance. Now, as he approached the end of his days, he finally learned the truth. But perhaps this truth was not what Old Wei had wanted.
When Old Wei was still a child, everyone was poor—people in the city and those in the countryside alike. It was a time when death was commonplace, yet for Old Wei, having his parents was enough. Moreover, at that time, his mother was pregnant with a child whose gender was unknown; the family hoped for a girl, so they referred to the unborn child as "sister."
Having a sister was something to be happy about, but sorrow soon followed.
At that time, Old Wei's mother felt unwell but did not know why. Old Wei's father called for the village's Barefoot Doctor, who also could not determine the cause of her ailment. After some time, he suggested taking Old Wei's mother to a proper hospital in town; lingering like this could be detrimental to both mother and child.
Old Wei's father borrowed a cart from someone in the village and laid blankets inside it to carry Old Wei's mother to the town hospital. Young Old Wei insisted on going along but was refused by his father. The journey would take an entire night.
Left alone at home, Old Wei sat at the entrance, waiting from dawn until dusk and then from dusk until dawn again. He lost track of time as his parents did not return. Fear gripped him; it was an era where one could hear of deaths every day, and he dreaded that his parents might never come back.
Finally, in the early hours of one morning, someone pushed open the door. The sound startled Old Wei awake from his sleep on the kang. He looked up to see a figure silhouetted against the bright stars and moonlight at the doorway. The tall figure frightened him, and he hid under the covers, too scared to make a sound.
Peeking out with squinting eyes, it took him a moment to adjust to the darkness. A man stood at the door, covered in blood, sweating profusely and gasping for breath.
“Father!” Old Wei finally recognized him. “What happened? Where is my mother?”
That day marked the first time Old Wei learned what a Corpse Robber was. It was a day he would never forget—the day when a Corpse Robber took his mother's life and that of his sister.
Old Wei's father immediately called for help from the villagers and recounted a story that would haunt Old Wei for life:
After visiting the doctor in town, they received some medicine. As they made their way home, the journey felt long and treacherous under the cover of night; the mountain paths were obscured by darkness, hiding unknown dangers within the woods. Old Wei's father found a flat stone and laid out blankets for his wife to rest on for the night.
Old Wei's Father started a fire, feeding his wife Steamed Bun while silently shedding tears.
After eating, Old Wei's Mother slowly fell asleep. Old Wei's Father tended to the fire, keeping watch through the night, preparing to set off at dawn. The night was quiet, and before he knew it, fatigue overcame him, and he fell asleep. When he awoke, everything seemed fine.
His wife was still lost in her dreams.
He gently placed his hand on her forehead but felt something was wrong. There was no warmth at all. As he pulled back the covers, he saw spots of blood. When he fully uncovered her, he discovered a corpse that had been gutted of its Entrails.
Afterward, the necessary funeral arrangements were made; they buried her with little to their name, keeping things simple as they moved forward with their lives.
Some time later, Old Wei's Father gave Old Wei a piece of meat. It was the first time Old Wei had tasted meat at the age of seven or eight. They had always struggled to have enough food, often going hungry. Old Wei's Father told him that it was a gift from a wealthy family in town who had heard about their plight.
From then on, Old Wei and his father ate meat for an entire year.
Old Wei firmly believed in the tale of the Corpse Robber, but now he understood that there were no ghosts in this world.
The story was captivating, but Old Wei's Father had lied.
When Old Wei's Father took his wife to see a doctor, the physician prescribed medication but ultimately had no cure. He informed Old Wei that his mother did not have long to live; even if she returned home to rest, she wouldn't survive much longer. To avoid alarming the patient, the doctor only shared this news with Old Wei's Father.
On their way back home through the mountains, the wind howled through the trees. There were no villages or shops in sight—only solitude. That night, a fire blazed as Old Wei's Father watched over his wife, who had just eaten some dry rations and fallen asleep.
Throughout their journey, Old Wei survived by foraging for wild vegetables along the roadside. He was extremely hungry; as the head of the family, he shared whatever little food they had with his son and wife. His wife didn't have much time left; death was inevitable for everyone. But he and his son still needed to live on.
Old Wei's Father pondered through the night and finally decided to take action.
Even if he did not act, she would not survive; a person without food could resort to anything.
"I have done all I can," Old Wei's Father murmured. "If there were even a glimmer of hope, I wouldn't do this. You’ve been married to me for ten years; you know how I’ve treated you. My son and I need to survive. In these times, you never know when hunger will strike. Forgive me, and in the next life, I will be the meat in your mouth."
With that, a knife plunged into Old Wei's Mother's belly.
Thus, Old Wei's father became a Corpse Robber.
He had roasted meat over the fire for an entire night, and it was Old Wei's first time eating meat—human flesh, no less. As Old Wei's Father ate, tears streamed down his face; human life was as fragile as grass, and dying early meant peace.
He sliced all the Entrails into strips, and Old Wei prepared the remaining strips for roasting, wrapping them tightly in a bundle. Under the cover of night, he hurried home and hid the bundle securely before pushing open the door to his house, leading to the events that followed.
In those days, no one had enough to eat; who would provide a nameless villager with a year's worth of meat strips? This was a secret that would forever remain in Old Wei's Father's heart; he hoped that Old Wei would never discover it. He wanted to bear such guilt alone while raising Old Wei to adulthood.
If nothing unexpected happened, Old Wei would go through life unaware of this secret. However, there are too many coincidences in the world. By chance, Old Wei found himself with human Entrails once again. He roasted these Entrails on a Coal Stove, and soon enough, strips of roasted meat were ready.
As Old Wei looked at these meat strips, he inexplicably recalled events from decades ago. He remembered the most delicious meat he had ever tasted in his life—strips far better than any food he had now.
Finally, he placed a strip in his mouth and took a gentle bite; it tasted just like it did back then.
At that moment, Old Wei also came to understand what had happened all those years ago. As he chewed on the meat strips, he reminisced about his mother and sister.
He searched for a lifetime, wanting to know what he had eaten back then, and finally, he got his wish.
But this fulfillment was not what he had hoped for.
"Did I make a mistake?" Jiang He asked Old Wei.
After hearing the story, Yuan Jun stood silently by, unsure of what was on his mind.
Old Wei slowly said, "My parents were married for ten years, and their relationship was very good. My mother was a very attentive person; she probably knew everything long ago. She told me that every night she was in so much pain that she couldn't sleep. But to avoid worrying my father, she never showed it."
"How could my mother possibly sleep under those circumstances?" Old Wei cried.
Perhaps Old Wei's Mother lay on the stone slab, unable to sleep at all. She listened to her husband's words, knowing that he loved her.
I love my husband and son; I can't go on living, but I hope you can survive.
Eat me; I love you both.
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