Chapter 40: Grandmother's Terror

“What? What’s cracked?”

Xu Buhuo, who was just discussing how to handle Uncle Qian’s body, turned to look at my mother, as if he hadn’t heard clearly that something was wrong with the corpse-sealing kiln in the old house.

“The old house… the mouth of the well has cracked.”

I nearly blurted out ‘corpse-sealing kiln,’ but Xu Buhuo understood what I meant, and his expression changed abruptly.

“Find the iron chain and tie your father up for now. I have something urgent to deal with,” Xu Buhuo hastily instructed Qian Yong, not caring for his response, and rushed outside. I wanted to exchange a few polite words with Qian Yong, but held back and asked Cao Guangshan to help keep watch here, then hurried out.

My mother followed closely, explaining that she had been caring for Sister Liu at Brother Li’s house when she suddenly heard a noise from the old residence. She thought the wall had collapsed, so she went out to check.

Unexpectedly, a cracking sound came from the ancient well nearby. She watched as cracks quickly spread along the well’s rim, and the stone slabs on the ground began to splinter and shatter.

At the same time, there was the sound of water rushing inside the well. My mother said she wanted to see what was in the well, but as soon as she leaned over the opening, a chilling cold surged out, making her shiver and feel uneasy. She didn’t dare look further.

Hearing this, I was glad my mother hadn’t shone a flashlight down the well.

The sound of water was clearly caused by the two children’s corpses chained at the bottom, stirring restlessly. If she had seen four hands clawing in the water, she would have been terrified.

When we arrived at the old house, my mother was about to enter, but Xu Buhuo spoke sternly: “Sister, we’ll handle this. You should go about your business.”

From her words and actions, it was clear my mother didn’t know about the two children’s corpses locked beneath the well. Since she was unaware, it was best she remained so—that was my thought. Even if Xu Buhuo hadn’t stopped her, I wouldn’t have let her enter.

After my mother left, I locked the courtyard gate behind us.

The small yard was quiet. If you listened carefully, you could hear faint, crisp cracking sounds from the well, like insects gnawing. For now, there was no movement inside.

Shining the flashlight onto the ancient well, I saw its rim covered in dense cracks, as if it would collapse at the slightest touch. The stones forming the ritual array around the well’s mouth had mostly shattered, each bearing fissures.

During the day, standing by the well, I hadn’t sensed any of its biting cold.

But now, even approaching the well made me shiver, proof that something was wrong with the corpse-sealing kiln; otherwise, the chilling cold sealed within would never leak out.

Staring at the changes in the kiln, I hadn’t expected this moment to arrive so soon.

When I saw Brother Li emerge from the kiln after just one day and become so difficult to manage, I felt the kiln was a ticking bomb, liable to explode at any time.

I’d felt uneasy then, thinking it would change soon. But this change had come far quicker than I expected—just a few hours.

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According to the timing of the children’s deaths, the corpse-sealing kiln had been established for eighteen years, and nothing had happened in all that time. Why would chaos erupt at this critical moment?

Was it, perhaps, as my father foretold before his death—that the deaths of those who carried my grandmother’s coffin were only the beginning, and the entire village would follow?

I’d wondered before, if this was unstoppable, how would so many villagers meet their end.

Now, seeing the kiln’s upheaval, I understood: if the two vengeful corpses within escaped, everyone in the village would truly be in danger.

Earlier, Xu Buhuo had analyzed that the two corpses were sealed at the well’s bottom because grandmother couldn’t deal with them. Thinking carefully now, I saw obvious contradictions in his explanation.

If the corpses hadn’t been chained, it would make sense that grandmother couldn’t handle them and sealed them away. But in reality, both were chained, meaning grandmother had the time and ability to act. Otherwise, how could she have secured the chains around their ankles?

Clearly, she had the opportunity to destroy them with fire, yet she chose not to, leaving them behind. For the ten-plus years she lived after, the vengeful corpses remained still. Now, shortly after her passing, the kiln is changing.

A terrifying guess suddenly struck me.

If this guess is correct, grandmother is far more frightening than I ever imagined—not the person I thought I knew.

The suspicion: it was all part of grandmother’s scheme. The vengeful corpses were deliberately left to punish the villagers; otherwise, why would those who carried her coffin die first?

I also thought, the prophecy my father gave my mother before his death wasn’t true foresight, but something he deduced from grandmother’s plan, and told her secretly while grandmother was away.

With that, my muddled thoughts suddenly cleared, as if I’d figured everything out.

Grandmother was the architect of all the strange happenings in the village. While alive, she kept things quiet, partly so as not to arouse suspicion, and perhaps also because she couldn’t bear to watch her fellow villagers suffer.

But once she was gone, it became a case of “out of sight, out of mind.” Whoever died, however they died, she wouldn’t see it anymore. That’s why, when coffin bearers like Brother Li and Uncle Qian died, they faced grandmother’s grave.

My mind had never been so clear.

I couldn’t imagine what must have happened in the past to drive grandmother to such ruthless planning, aiming to destroy the entire village.

At that moment, I desperately wanted to see grandmother again, to ask her face-to-face if everything was her doing, and why she would plot against everyone.

If it were only one or two deaths, I wouldn’t think much. But grandmother’s target was obviously the hundreds of villagers, young and old.

What baffled me most was her targeting Brother Li. In my memory, he’d always respected grandmother deeply, yet after helping lay her to rest, he became the first victim of her scheme.

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What hatred could drive grandmother to such extremes? I felt I needed to find someone who knew what happened in her youth that made her so ruthless.

Thinking of her kind face, rarely seen angry, I kept telling myself this was all speculation, all false—that grandmother couldn’t have done such things. But every incident pointed to her, making it hard to deny.

Otherwise, how could my father have known what would happen when he died? Why did the coffin bearers face grandmother’s grave in death? I don’t know how they died, but knowing grandmother’s abilities, it’s not impossible.

“Ziwu, what are you thinking about?”

Xu Buhuo shook me from my trance, looking surprised. “I’ve called your name several times—what’s got you so engrossed?”

I took a deep breath and wiped the cold sweat from my palm, then looked seriously at Xu Buhuo. “I think I’ve found the source of all these strange events.”

I decided not to keep my suspicions to myself. Xu Buhuo knew grandmother and could shed light on her history. After all we’d been through, I trusted him.

The scene was quiet. Xu Buhuo stared at me for more than ten seconds before saying, “You’re not joking with me, are you?”

“Do you think this is a time for jokes?”

My retort made his expression solemn. He took a deep breath, momentarily shifting his attention from the self-destructing kiln, and said, “Go ahead, tell me—I’ll see if you’re right.”

I sorted my thoughts and laid out my terrifying guess to him, matching each point with events. When I finished, Xu Buhuo frowned deeply. “How could this be? Sister Chen wouldn’t do such a thing.”

I didn’t believe grandmother would either, but now every clue pointed to her. I even thought, perhaps the fire that consumed the old house was part of her plan.

Grandmother had lived in the old house all her life. No one knew what she’d arranged in secret. With her passing, her plans unfolded, and the secrets of the house would disappear with them.

The best way to erase them was fire.

The more I thought, the more convinced I became—grandmother was the mastermind behind it all. She shattered my understanding of her, revealing the terror beneath her gentle smile.

For a moment, my heart was tangled and speechless. I could hardly believe all this was orchestrated by my own grandmother.

I wondered if her scheme would even spare me, her grandson, and my mother, her daughter-in-law.