Later, my grandma gave birth to a baby boy prematurely, who was my dad.
But my grandma seemed to have suffered a major blow, her eyes were dull and she remained silent.
And my father was born with a vague human face near his heart.
They all survived the famine disaster, but this was not lucky, because the shadow left in their hearts was enough to torture them for life.
If grandma had a choice, she would rather starve to death with the child in her belly than eat the meat.
Ever since my father was born with a human face, my grandparents knew it must be related to that.
Seeing that face getting bigger and clearer with age, my grandparents took my dad to the hospital to see it. The doctor said it was a parasitic fetus and that he needed an operation.
But my grandparents hugged my father and fled home in a hurry. They knew that this was definitely not a problem that could be solved by surgery.
When my father was three years old, a Taoist priest came to our village. He saw the human face on my father's body and listened to my grandfather's account of what happened that year.
The old Taoist priest sighed.
"You have done evil, do you know what was eaten by you back then?"
The old Taoist priest shook his head repeatedly.
"This is not an ordinary crime. There is no cure or solution. Let's just wait for generations of baby boys to die a short and tragic death."
After saying this, the old Taoist priest shook his fly whisk and left, never looking back again.
This incident spread throughout the village from then on, until the face opened its eyes, my father died tragically, and the discussion in the village reached a climax.
Grandpa stopped when he said this. When he told the story again after so many years, he seemed to have calmed down a lot.
He looked up at me, as if observing my reaction to this incident.
I felt a huge wave of shock in my heart, that such a thing had happened.
And the first question I asked was: "Grandpa, who is that thing? Why does my dad grow a human face after eating it?"
"She, she...she is..."
Grandpa suddenly laughed a few times, and his whole face became a little distorted.
But after all, he never told me what it was? And it was only many years later that I discovered the astonishing truth on my own.
"From the first piece of meat that he ate, your father has been cursed, and this curse will continue to be passed down..."
"But now I have found a way to understand the curse."
"What is it?" I asked impatiently.
Grandpa didn't answer. He just handed me his half-smoked cigarette and said in a commanding tone: "Here, smoke this half cigarette."
"I, I don't know how to smoke."
"Take it off." Grandpa's words were unquestionable.
I had no choice but to take the half of the cigarette and take a puff. A spicy smell filled my lungs. When I took the fifth puff, I felt dizzy and fainted.
I don't know how long it took, but I woke up in a daze and found that I was still in the old house, but my grandpa was gone.
My whole body was limp, my head was swollen, and then I fainted again.
When I woke up again, I found myself lying on a cold table with a stool under my butt.
Still in the old house, grandpa is sitting behind me.
"Are you awake?" he said.
I saw a long silver needle in his hand, as well as scissors, a writing brush, a screwdriver, etc.
I was shocked.
"Grandpa, what are you..."
"Don't move." Grandpa held me down and quickly took off my shirt.
My entire back was exposed in front of Grandpa.
He started to use the tool in his hand to work on my back.
Dense pains came from time to time. He first used a pen to draw some pattern on my body, and then used a silver needle to saturate the blood-like liquid and pierce it into my skin.
Later I found out that he was giving me a tattoo.
My whole body was still limp, my head hurt so badly, I didn't even have the strength to move, so I could only be at the mercy of grandpa.
There was a mottled mirror in the opposite corner of the wall. Through that mirror, I saw my grandfather’s face that was full of vicissitudes of life and was missing an eye.
He was working on my back and muttering in his mouth.
"We are born with human faces and humans die, and humans with ghost tattoos and ghost bodies live."
"My soul protects your soul, one life is worth one life."
My head was getting more and more dizzy. What else did he say after that? I didn't hear it clearly at all. I just saw my grandpa in the mirror becoming more and more transparent.
Finally I passed out again.
I heard a voice ringing in my ears: "My dear, grandpa is gone, you have to live well."
Then, a rapid knock on the door penetrated my eardrums, almost breaking the mottled door of the old house.
I suddenly woke up and quickly walked over and opened the door.
My mother stood outside anxiously and said, "Let's go home with me quickly."
I stood there stunned.
There is still some dense pain in my back.
"Grandpa, my grandpa was giving me a tattoo just now. Where is grandpa?"
Mom was stunned.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Your grandfather died three days ago. He brought you to the old house that day and told us not to disturb you. He came back not long after and left you alone in the old house. I
I’m worried, I want to call you back, but your grandpa won’t let me.”
"Then he... he died suddenly. Before he died, he told you that it would take three days before he could call you out of the old house."
"No, it's been three days, and your grandfather's funeral is going to be held. I just came to the old house to call you."
After listening to what my mother said, my mind went blank.
Grandpa died three days ago? No, who gave me the tattoo just now? Am I dreaming?
I walked to the mirror and suddenly opened my clothes from the back.
On the back is a bright red animal face tattoo, criss-crossing and strange, similar to the patterns on ancient bronze vessels.
I looked at the ground again, and there were some tattoo tools scattered around in a mess, including needlepoint pens, hook pens, a motor-driven tattoo pen similar to a screwdriver, and a long silver needle with bright red blood stains on it.
Everything tells me that this is not a dream.
But grandpa died three days ago, so the one who gave me the tattoo just now...is grandpa's soul?
At my grandfather's funeral, I cried a lot.
After grandpa was buried, grandma handed a suicide note into my hands.
This is the suicide note left by my grandfather.
Grandpa explained three things in his suicide note, which are actually the three steps to break the curse.
The first step is to get ghost tattoos on your body.
I guessed it right, the person who gave me the tattoo was my grandfather’s ghost. This is called a ghost tattoo.
His ghost not only tattooed me, but also tattooed his own soul into my back. This is called soul tattooing.
I have a human face on my heart and ghost marks on my back, which are called ghost marks on a human face.
The second step turned out to be a lifelong event for me.
Grandpa repeatedly told me that I must marry Xiaocui from the village.
The third step is to marry Xiaocui and take her away, drop out of school, find a man named Zhang Sangui, and never come back to the village again.
As for what was the one that was eaten back then? And what did grandpa go through in the outside world over the years before he found this method to solve the curse? He didn't mention a word about these.