Today was supposed to be my birthday.

But the person I least wanted to see here in the temple came.

It was Wang Qiang's wife, the neighbor next door.

When I was young and being scolded by my grandpa and dad, she would quietly call me back home to apply medicine for me.

When my mother wouldn't give me any food, she would sneakily give me a piece of sweet potato when no one was looking.

She always held me and said, "Er Ya, don't cry, it will be alright when you grow up."

She was one of the few lights in my life.

But now, she was walking towards me step by step.

Trembling, she touched my face and kept saying, "I'm sorry... Er Ya... Auntie apologizes to you... I'm sorry... Your uncle Qiang forced me to come... You know, my son Hua Zi is naturally unable to speak... I'm sorry..."

She fed me a piece of pork fat residue, which was the sweetest thing I had ever tasted in my life.

Then Uncle Wang Qiang brought a bowl of hot oil over.

I didn't want to, I shook my head frantically, shouting at Wang Qiang's wife, hoping to awaken her conscience.

"Auntie! You watched me grow up! When my dad beat me, you gave me medicine! Someone will die from this, spare me, please spare me..."

Wang Qiang's wife shook her head as she cried.

But she still took the bowl from Wang Qiang's hand and poured the oil into my mouth.

Ah! Ah! Ah! It hurts! It hurts!!

I let out an inhuman scream.

My voice became hoarse and strange.

Like everyone who had punished me over the past few months, a black thread emerged from Wang Hua's mouth in the crowd, wrapping around the wrists of their family of three.

"...Dad, Mom?" Wang Hua suddenly spoke.

"Ah! Ah!" Wang Qiang and Wang Qiang's wife couldn't help but cry with joy as their family of three embraced each other and wept.

No one cared about me, barely breathing and tied to a pillar.

The black thread, like dense fog, clouded my vision.

My light went out.

The first body discovered was that of an old man with a long beard.

His mouth and chest were so decayed that only black water remained.

The villagers didn't recognize who he was, except for my dad, who shakily dragged my mother back home.

I laughed softly.

Hehe, you're afraid of being exposed for your deceitful ways and created the tragedy that befell me.

Let this rotten heart and mouth be the first to be punished by you.

The villagers rolled him up in a mat made of straw and casually tossed him into a make-shift burial ground.

...

Just three months later, pregnant women in the village started giving birth one after another.

The black gas rose to the sky, even becoming visible to ordinary people.

But they didn't care, gathered in front of the village chief's house, waiting for the babies to be born.

If this was the first baby boy in Wang family village in five years, everyone was eagerly anticipating it.

With a loud cry, the full moon soaked in black gas suddenly turned red.

Along with the crying, there was the shrill scream of the midwife.

Everyone rushed forward, watching the midwife walk out in a daze.

"How is it, is it a boy?" someone in the crowd asked eagerly.

"It... it is..."

"But... it's missing something..." The midwife was still immersed in the horror of seeing the child.

But no one heard her second sentence.

Even if they heard, what does it matter? As long as it's a boy, that's all that matters!

But when the village chief came out holding the child, everyone's faces changed.

Autumn deepened, and the rustling of falling leaves echoed.

After a while, a trembling voice broke the eerie silence.

"Is... is it because we haven't punished the sinful woman enough and angered the god king?"

It was my dear dad, afraid that the villagers would no longer believe me and lose the generous share.

"Wang Dajian makes sense!"

"Yes! It must be so!"

"This disaster!"

"We have been too kind to her!"

"Let's go, let's punish her and appease the god king!"

They were extremely angry and marched in a vast crowd towards the dilapidated temple.