Chapter 4, Boldness

The two of them hurriedly stepped aside from Second Uncle, using all their strength to restrain the struggling old lady. It is no wonder that Fat Dog and Brother Zhu are so strong; their strength is indeed considerable. With the two of them as reinforcements, I could hardly feel the old lady's upward resistance. Moreover, Fat Dog took over the hand that Second Uncle was pressing down, holding it tightly, and indeed, there was no sign of movement, unlike Second Uncle, whose face turned red from exertion.

Uncle Er, infuriated, stamped his foot and, disregarding Yang Ersheng, turned to walk into the room, not forgetting to remind us: "You must hold on, our lives tonight depend on you, I will go inside to find some rope"

What should we do? Hurry over and hold her arm down. The old lady wants to get up. Fat Dog Brother, press down hard. I don't want to die yet—" I scolded Pillar Brother, not caring that he was actually much bigger than me, nor did I have time to fear the dead hand he was holding. In order to save my life, I had already set aside fear and terror; at this moment, I felt no fear like I did earlier.

The fat dog replaced the second uncle, allowing him a moment to catch his breath and think of a way to deal with the zombie. Fortunately, the elders often spoke of such matters, and the second uncle had not forgotten them. He quickly turned to Yang Ersheng and said, "Ersheng, hurry and find some rope, the longer and thicker, the better. What are you standing there for? Are you waiting for your mother to rise and look for you?"

Holding the old lady's bloodied hand, Brother Zhuzi appeared somewhat dazed. Seeing me staring at him, he couldn't think of anything and merely stammered, "Haizi, the hand— the hand has fallen off, what should we do"

As the voice fell, the weight of one hundred and fifty to sixty jin charged recklessly towards Er and the librarian, shaking the ground and mountains. The high-decibel voice echoed throughout the quiet night, resonating across the entire village, causing many villagers' homes to light up, presumably eager to witness the commotion. After all, in the dull mountain village, there is hardly anything worth paying attention to on ordinary days. Even if a family has a quarrel, the villagers would gather to watch. Moreover, tonight the Yang family is in mourning, and Er Da Ye has started a fight with Yang Ersheng, promising an exciting spectacle to behold. This certainly drew many villagers out of their homes, eager to see the lively scene.

Of course, there were even more astonishing events. As for Uncle Er, there is no need to elaborate. The three of us—Fat Dogzi, who was originally invited to guard the spirit, the temporary substitute me, and Uncle Er—were like madmen, pressing down on the old lady, each of us gritting our teeth, our faces flushed with exertion.

Fortunately, after a brief moment of panic, Pang Gouzi and Zhuzi Ge proved themselves to be the famously bold youths of the village. They got up from the ground, gritted their teeth, and charged forward. In an instant, they pounced on Er Daye, pinning him down, which caused Er Daye to let out a muffled groan and curse, "You two little rascals want to crush me to death? Hurry up and pin down the old lady instead; you're killing me here."

Brother Zhuzi was already so frightened that he could not make a decision. At my sharp reprimand, he jolted awake, instinctively got up, and lunged forward, gritting his teeth as he pinned down the old lady. Sometimes, when a person reaches the peak of fear, they no longer feel afraid. All three of us were in this situation; we had experienced fear, but whatever was meant to happen still happened. So, we simply let go and ceased to be afraid.

In fact, these matters may seem tedious, but they can be resolved in the blink of an eye. At this moment, the second uncle regained his composure and stepped forward to grab the fat woman's hand, startling her. She thought he was trying to be lewd, not to mention that there were three shameless perverts lying on the bed. Before the second uncle could say anything, the fat woman reacted, fueled by both new grievances and old grudges. She slapped him hard across the face, cutting off the words he was about to say. Given his age, the second uncle could hardly withstand such a blow from the fat woman and fell to the ground in a daze. The fat woman, hands on her hips, looked like a typical shrew, pointing at the second uncle and scolding him: "You old shameless man, trying to take advantage of me. Do you believe I will slap you to death?"

With both hands firmly gripping the old lady's hands, I could not allow her palms to turn over no matter what. I had to exert force to press down on her body. I could feel her straining to push herself up. It turned out that the phenomenon of rising from the dead was indeed real; there was truly something to it. How could that stiff hand possess such incredible strength? I was almost losing my grip. My left wrist was throbbing painfully, and I began to suspect it might be dislocated. If this continued, I feared I would not be able to hold on much longer. Indeed, there was something to it; how could that stiff hand possess such incredible strength? I was almost losing my grip. My left wrist was throbbing painfully, and I began to suspect it might be dislocated. If this continued, I feared I would not be able to hold on much longer.

Seeing that Yang Ersheng was completely indifferent, the Second Master was filled with rage, his eyes flashing with a glint of determination. Gritting his teeth, he disregarded everything else and struck Yang Ersheng's face with a slap. When one slap failed to wake him, the Second Master simply continued to rain down slaps, determined to rouse Yang Ersheng. If he couldn't wake him and couldn't find a rope, it seemed that they would not make it through the night.

Yang Ersheng shivered, his whole body trembling like an egg. However, he was slightly better than his younger brother, as he did not wet his pants. His face was as pale as that of an old lady, and his mouth opened wide as if he had seen something shocking, yet he remained speechless. A hoarse sound escaped his throat, but he still did not move when he looked at Er Daye. He was completely paralyzed with fear. Seeing him, I realized that my own courage was actually quite considerable.

As a result, Yang Ersheng ignored them and had already vanished from sight, leaving the Yang family members exchanging glances, unsure of what had transpired. Of course, Yang Chuanming's wife and two sons had no time to concern themselves with the affairs of the family, as Yang Chuanming was still clutching his leg and wailing in agony, unaware of what had happened. His wife rushed to his side with their two sons, holding him tightly, nearly in tears from worry. No matter how much they shouted, Yang Chuanming only continued to scream in pain, uttering not a single word.

Oh, Uncle Er, what an injustice this is. This fat woman doesn’t even take a look at her own appearance. To put it bluntly, it’s just that Yang Ersheng was blind to have chosen her; otherwise, all the women in the world could die, and the men would still prefer to remain single. To speak in the coarsest terms, she should take a moment to look at herself in the mirror. Unfortunately, at this moment, I can’t even pay attention to Uncle Er, because I truly can’t hold on any longer

The old lady's struggle grew increasingly intense, to the point where my hand lost all sensation. I could see that I was about to give in, so I gritted my teeth and pressed my body down. However, with the stout dog blocking my way, I naturally couldn't reach her chest and could only push down above it. Yet, after doing so, I realized I had made the wrong choice, as my face was nearly pressed against the old lady's face. That distorted visage was right in front of me, and I had forgotten to close my eyes, simply staring blankly at her. I saw my own face reflected in her eyes, along with what seemed like flames burning.

Yang Ersheng let out a strange cry and, with a swift leap, turned and ran away. He dashed past his wife like a whirlwind, and before the Yang family could react, he had already vanished from sight. No one knew what he was up to, leaving the Yang family somewhat dumbfounded. The woman attempted to reach out and grab Yang Ersheng, but her hand grasped nothing but air. In a state of confusion, she called out, "Husband, what is happening to you?"

Second Uncle let out a bitter laugh, shook the blanket in his hands, and tossed it onto the spirit bed, only to find it was still too short. An awkward twitch crossed his face as he gritted his teeth and turned to walk briskly towards Yang Ersheng. At that moment, Yang Ersheng and his brother Yang Chuanming both wore blank expressions, clearly still trapped in their fear. However, this was to be expected; in contrast, the three of us who were foolishly bold seemed somewhat abnormal.

Soon, I saw Uncle Er come out of the room, his face darkened. However, he had nothing in his hands except for a sheet, and there was no rope in sight. Who knows what Uncle Er was up to? Nevertheless, I knew I could hardly hold on any longer; my hands were almost dislocated from struggling with the old lady, and my fingers had lost all sensation. I couldn't help but call out to Uncle Er: "Uncle Er, I can hardly hold on any longer. What should we do?"

At that moment, due to Yang Chuanming's scream, the Yang family sisters-in-law in the front yard and a group of children were startled. Although they were referred to as children, none of them were much younger than I was; only Yang Xiufeng and Yang Qiming from the second branch were two years younger than me. Naturally, upon hearing their father's scream, they all rushed from the front yard to the back yard to see what was happening. As soon as they entered, they saw Uncle Er furiously attacking Yang Ersheng, as if he were trying to beat him to death. Upon witnessing this, Yang Ersheng's wife and his two children were certainly not going to stand by, especially Yang Ersheng's fierce wife, who was the first to shout: "Liu Xianzhou, are you out of your mind? If you dare to hit my husband again, I will fight you to the end."

Indeed, the shout from the daughter-in-law of the Yang family truly made the second uncle stop his actions. At that very moment when the second uncle halted, coincidentally, Yang Ersheng also regained consciousness. Terrified, he felt no pain from the second uncle's earlier actions; instead, he was preoccupied with the rope that the second uncle had wanted. With a sudden cry, he leaped up from the ground and dashed outside, startling the second uncle in the process

Second Uncle went to find a rope, leaving us to exert all our strength against the old lady. The power that people can unleash in times of crisis is unimaginable. The dead undoubtedly possess great strength, an amount that is hard to fathom. Yet, with my small frame, I managed to firmly hold down the hand that kept trying to flip over. As for the much stronger Fat Dog, it goes without saying; his nearly 200-pound body pressing down on the old lady was like a small mountain. Brother Zhuzi was also not to be outdone, firmly pinning down the other hand. I was quite impressed by Brother Zhuzi's strength, being able to exert such force in such a critical moment. I only saw Brother Zhuzi sway and suddenly fall to the ground, still holding onto one of the old lady's hands. In the midst of the chaos, Brother Zhuzi inadvertently twisted the old lady's hand off.

As he approached Yang Ersheng, Er Da Ye wore an anxious expression and called out in a deep voice: "Ersheng, Ersheng, for heaven's sake wake up, bring me back to my senses, where is the rope at home, hurry up and tell me, this is something that could save a life, if your mother wakes up, this thing will show no mercy, and then the whole village will suffer because of you, so hurry up and tell me—"