1. Baiguli Hutong
When Yang Yi arrived at Baiguli Hutong, the afternoon sun had just hidden in the thick clouds, and the sky suddenly darkened. The wind was no longer warm, but cold, and when it got the chance, it blew violently into the cracks between Yang Yi's bones. Yang Yi stood at the entrance of the alley, looking at the rusty sign, and swallowed hard. The narrow and rugged bluestone path stretched under Yang Yi's feet. The further he walked, the colder he felt. So his legs became heavier and heavier. It was not right to walk like this, and it was not right not to walk. Turning all the way, it was like a flesh line sewn on the skin, and every turn was extremely mysterious.
Yang Yi slowed down his pace. He didn't know why he came here. He just heard that someone could bring the dead back to life, so he came here without knowing why. He didn't know how many corners he turned, and finally a wooden door of a house appeared in front of him. He was startled and stopped suddenly. Staring at the door, Yang Yi, who was already full of hesitation, didn't have the courage to knock on it.
At this time, the sky was completely overcast, like the evening when the sun is about to set. The path behind me was much more blurred in the dimness, and it was not raining, and the air pressure was so low that it could suffocate people.
What should I do? Since I have come all this way, I should not miss this only chance. Otherwise, I can just turn around and leave, treating this outing as a joke. Yang Yi's face flushed, and he could even hear the sound of his heart beating. He was extremely nervous.
With a creak, the door opened. Through the crack of the door, two twin children with long hair slipped out. They wore red jackets embroidered with large peonies. They had two identical big watery eyes. When they saw Yang Yi, they smiled warmly. Children are easy to coax. He took out the Korean imported fruit candy that he had prepared in advance and handed it to him. The two children gladly accepted it and took Yang Yi into the courtyard.
The courtyard was very deep. Apart from a few ornamental stones, the only thing that could be seen were a dozen huge weeping willows. The branches with lush willow leaves looked particularly strange in the dim sky. The wind blew in gusts, and the twisting willow branches almost covered the road ahead tightly. Yang Yi was tall, and he followed the little boy stumbling along the willows. He wanted to put his hand on the little boy's shoulder and ask him something, but the two little boys didn't know what to say. They talked a little, and Yang Yi couldn't understand. Until he walked around the willow trees, the scene in front of him suddenly became clear. It was an old house with a large yard filled with various water tanks of different sizes. The mouths of the tanks were tightly wrapped with cloth. No one knew what was in them, but the two children drooled when they saw the tanks, and pursed their lips eagerly. Yang Yi scratched the hair on the back of his head, feeling puzzled.
"——Even eating candy can't stop you two from talking?"
The scolding was so sudden that it almost scared Yang Yi out of his wits. When Yang Yi turned around, the two children had already run away. The wind was stronger now, blowing the fallen leaves along the way onto Yang Yi's body, like a ghost scratching his face stiffly. Yang Yi narrowed his eyes, his plaid shirt flew backwards, and for a moment he was caught in the dust and lost his composure.
"Come in," the owner of the house called out. Yang Yi didn't think much about it, he ran a few steps and pushed the door open.
2. Corpse Doctor
The room was dark, and one could vaguely see the nameless paintings of strange fairies hanging on the wall. The room was filled with strange fragrance, and an oil lamp was placed on a somewhat broken wooden table, which seemed a little lonely. At the other end of the table, a person sat with overlapping wrinkles on his face, and the loose skin hung dangerously on his bones, which could fall off at any time. The whole body was huddled in a pile of white cloth, and it was unclear whether it was a man or a woman. The person raised his face and peeked through a small gap, revealing the white of his eyes, but no black pupils. He was blind.
Yang Yi swallowed hard. If the previous scene seemed to have taken him back to ancient times, then now the Yin-Yang Ghost Doctor Tong Nan had undoubtedly fallen into the underworld. He would never come to this world again in his next life.
The man spoke, his voice hoarse and lifeless: "Who wants me to treat you?"
Yang Yi got goosebumps all over his body. That sound, grinding teeth.
"He just died one day ago. He can be brought back to life by treatment." The man shouted at the top of his voice.
Yang Yi's eyes lit up immediately. Before he could say anything, the man answered him: "Is there any medical treatment for my wife?"
"I can heal you. But the old rules apply. Leave some blood for me." The man pointed to a large jar in the corner of the room and said, "Fill this jar with your blood."
Yang Yi's hands trembled, and he finally knew what was in the jar outside the yard: "Such a big jar can hold a person. Do I have enough blood?"
The man laughed, and then he raised his voice like he was crying: "Enough, I can cure a person's death, so I can certainly help you walk out of this door. Here's the medical fee. If you can't pay, you can leave."
Yang Yi shook his head, stretched out his hand and handed it to the man.
The man raised his hand, wrote a line of words with a brush, and placed it in front of Yang Yi: "Are you willing?"
Yang Yi took the letter, argued for a while, relaxed his frown, smiled and nodded: "I do."
The man was very skillful, his fingertips brushed across Yang Yi's wrist, cutting a line on the skin. Blood gushed out, flowing warmly over Yang Yi's wrist, forming a stream on the wooden table, and then disappeared in mid-air.
Yang Yi's vision gradually blurred, his head felt heavy as if it was filled with lead, his heart was beating ten times faster than usual, and blood was flowing out of Yang Yi's body like a pillar. The moment Yang Yi closed his eyes, the man's skin slowly became much tighter. Such young and fresh blood was the reward for his treatment of the corpse.
– Remember, go find her on time at twelve o'clock midnight.
Yang Yi fell asleep. In his dream, he felt warm and cold…
3. Find the corpse
When Yang Yi woke up, it was already dark. He climbed up from the car seat and found that there was no trace of Baiguli Hutong except a whole willow forest. He couldn't care less. The matter was uncertain, so how could he think about verifying the real existence of Baiguli Hutong. Yang Yi looked at his watch. There was still one hour and ten minutes to midnight. Maybe after a bad sleep, he couldn't remember any details, but he remembered it firmly to find her on time at midnight. Yang Yi knew what the man meant. If he didn't pick her up immediately, and she was really alive, she would be frozen to death, or scared to death.
Thinking of this, he started the car. Along the way, the car drove very fast. Street lights flashed in front of Yang Yi's eyes one after another. Yang Yi felt a little dizzy. The wound on his wrist had long disappeared, but the blood vessels on the back of his hand were slightly shriveled. He felt relieved, as long as the corpse doctor in Baiguli Hutong was not a dream of his.
The lights were getting fewer and fewer along the road. The neat rows of tombstones on the hills on both sides of the road were white and creepy. A few wild dogs were running around in front of the cemetery with their eyes shining. There was also a black cat squatting on the road calling for sex. Yang Yi's car drove by, and a black shadow suddenly jumped up, scaring Yang Yi. Yang Yi's palms were sweating for a while, and he comforted himself, saying that I had seen ghost lights when I was in the army, so what was there to be afraid of?
The car drove all the way to the entrance of the funeral home in the eastern suburbs before stopping. Several concrete houses were looming in the mist. The gatekeeper was watching TV with the volume very loud. Yang Yi lowered his body, passed the window of the guard room, and squatted outside the two-meter-high wall. It was estimated that at this moment, the gatekeeper would never have thought that there would be a living person who dared to climb over the wall of the funeral home in the middle of the night.
Yang Yi has been a soldier for nine years, and his skills have never deteriorated. He climbed over the wall and landed lightly without making any sound. It was suffocatingly dark all around, and there was a fog just now, covering the eyes with a layer of white. Yang Yi's figure quickly disappeared in the thick fog. There was still half an hour until twelve o'clock. There was no wind, and the surroundings were dead silent, with occasional owls, like women crying. Fortunately, Yang Yi's previous army also had this thing, if it were an ordinary person, he would probably be paralyzed by now. Yang Yi picked up a stone on the side of the road, and when the cry sounded again, he hit it upwards, "flutter, flutter–" the owl flew away.
Yang Yi chuckled and looked at the time. Ten minutes had passed, but he still hadn't found the morgue. The fog was thicker, making it easier for him to hide, but also more difficult for him to tell the direction. Where was the morgue?
As he was hesitating, he saw a dim light suddenly lit up in the distance, and then he heard the sound of a car approaching from behind. Yang Yi reacted very quickly and hid behind a tree on the side. He saw the car drive by, stop in front of the light, open the back door, and pull out a paper coffin. A hunchbacked old man walked out of the small door next to him, took the key, opened the door lock, and the coffin was pulled directly into the room by two men. That was the morgue.
Yang Yi quickly slipped over, and when no one saw him, he ducked inside. A gust of wind blew in from the door, very cold, with thick fog and a few withered leaves. The light bulb hanging overhead swayed in the wind, and the shadow cast on the paper coffin was particularly eerie. The two corpse carriers looked relaxed, chatting with each other. Occasionally, they teased the hunchbacked old man who opened the door, and there was another burst of laughter. After completing the registration, the corpse carriers left. The hunchbacked old man carefully arranged the clothes of the deceased, and then pushed the body cabinet in. He was finally leaving.
Yang Yi hid behind a corpse cart, breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at the time. It was only four minutes to midnight. His heart began to beat fast. This old man, why don't you leave quickly?
"——There's a new one here, please be nice, those who need to sleep can continue sleeping, don't make a fuss——"
The old man's shout at the dead body was sudden enough that Yang Yi's heart felt like a magnitude 9 earthquake. Yang Yi covered his chest and took a long time to relax, but he still didn't feel better. With a creak, the door closed. Yang Yi came out from the dark corner and stood up. The lights were turned off, and the morgue was particularly cold. Even the only moon in the night sky had already compromised with the thick fog and hid away quietly. Yang Yi didn't dare to turn on the light, so he simply took out a lighter to illuminate. The bean-sized flame jumped up and down, strangely illuminating the numbers on the morgue cabinets, but unfortunately, cabinet number 13 could not be found. Yang Yi became even more anxious. He had been here before, so it was impossible for him not to know where cabinet number 13 was. Why now?
Hehehe——this laughter?
It was the two twin children in red again. They gathered around Yang Yi's lighter. Their round little faces were warmed by the warmth, without any ghostly look on their faces.
He stretched out his hand and handed it to Yang Yi. Yang Yi understood and took out the remaining candy in his pocket and gave it to them: "You two are the ones who did this, right?"
The two children burst into laughter and each took a step to the side. As expected, the corpse cabinet No. 13 was here.
"——You two greedy ghosts, come back here quickly." It was the corpse doctor, who was much more muscular than before, wrapped in a white shirt, with a stern look on his face. The two children rushed to the corpse doctor's side, holding candies in their mouths, and followed the corpse doctor out the door.
Yang Yi suddenly became excited, like a soldier who had won a victory. He pulled open the corpse cabinet No. 13 with all his strength, but it was empty.
4. Escape
Yang Yi was stunned. Where was Xue Man's body? The cold air shuttled back and forth in his nostrils with his rapid breathing. The silence of the dead imprisoned him. He was confused for a moment. Should he pull out every cabinet to look for it? Yang Yi was shaking like a leaf in the cold wind. He was an unqualified soldier. He admitted that he was afraid of corpses from the beginning to the end.
So, he took a deep breath and opened the cabinets one by one. Looking at the cold and unfamiliar faces, Yang Yi became more and more desperate. Xue Man, where are you?
"Dang——" With a kick, he tripped over one of the legs of the corpse transporter in panic. The corpse transporter immediately crashed into the iron gate. The louder noise startled the hunchbacked old man guarding the corpse. He heard the old man's scolding from the next room again: "What are you making a fuss about? I serve you during the day, and you don't let me sleep at night——" With an authentic Henan accent and a very good mental quality, Yang Yi's legs were frightened.
Outside the door, footsteps were heard. Yang Yi immediately shrank into a dark corner, holding his breath, not letting out any sound. The door was opened, and the old man hunched over and turned on the light. Cabinet No. 13 was still open——
The old man seemed to be very experienced. When he saw a figure behind him, he didn't panic at all. He picked up the shovel beside the door, turned around, and shouted loudly: "You are pretending to be dead! You are so immoral!"
Yang Yi's heart sank, it seemed that his whereabouts were exposed. The old man laughed and smashed the big shovel down on Yang Yi. Yang Yi jumped out of the door with all his strength, and ran out of the door frantically. How could the old man's legs be faster than him? Yang Yi's figure flashed and disappeared in the thick fog, and no trace of him could be found.
At this moment, the street lights were on. The old man probably called the security guard. Yang Yi didn't know where he ran to. Anyway, the fact that there was no one around was secondary. The most anxious thing was that he couldn't find Xue Man's body. Yang Yi was panting and shivering with cold. He had to run around blindly. Should he go back? Xue Man must still be in the morgue, otherwise, where else could her body be placed? He didn't believe that the corpse doctor lied to him. He only believed that Xue Man would be alive.
The owl had flown back to its nest at some point. This home-loving bird actually helped Yang Yi a lot. Yang Yi took a deep breath and walked towards the sound of its call. The light from the street lamp was pale and even colder when it shone into the fog. Yang Yi didn't dare to walk into the light, because only a fool would be stupid enough to walk over and let others catch him. He slipped to the corner of the wall, and groped his way forward along the wall in the dark.
The door of the morgue was already wide open, and several staff members were already rummaging through the bodies, probably checking whether anyone had stolen the bodies or organs. Yang Yi's heart sank. Could it be? Could it be that Xue Man's body was not here at all? Otherwise, how could she be alive without being discovered by these people? Unless… Yang Yi smiled bitterly, unless he was stupid and didn't know that he was deceived like a fool. Xue Man's body must still be lying in some cold corpse cabinet, and there was no way she could be resurrected.
Yang Yi sat down dejectedly on the ground along the corner of the wall, as if the faith that had been supporting him all along shattered and collapsed in an instant.
5. Redemption
The cold second hand was still ticking quietly. A shadow flashed past Yang Yi's eyes, and Yang Yi raised his head suddenly. It seemed to be an illusion, and the surroundings were still dead silent. The door of the morgue was still open, and the staff inside were nowhere to be found. Yang Yi stood up, and the bright and empty morgue seemed to be waving to him. There was no one here, can I go in? Can I go in?
Yang Yi moved his feet and then stopped. He didn't believe that while he lowered his head, everyone in the morgue left silently. What if this was a trap?
Yang Yi bit his bloodless lips and crouched quietly in the corner, his eyes unblinking as he quietly observed the movements around him. After a while, Yang Yi suddenly heard footsteps beside his ears, and then an old hand gently patted Yang Yi's shoulder. Yang Yi shuddered and quickly turned his head away. It was the hunchbacked old man.
The old man was now triumphant. He chuckled and said weakly: "Is that all you can do?"
This was the first time Yang Yi had seen the hunchbacked old man so closely. His skin was very dark, he was very thin, and his eye sockets were deep, like a person dying of a terminal illness. The most unbearable thing was his black eyeballs, which were very large, almost filling the entire eye sockets. Every time he blinked, it was enough to make people's hair stand on end. Yang Yi's palms were sweating all of a sudden, and he was stunned for a moment with his mouth open. The old man guarding the corpse stretched out his hand to look at the morgue, and twisted his cheeks uglyly: "Looking for someone?"
Yang Yi nodded, not knowing what to say.
The old man went on to say, "In the afternoon, a woman who had just died a day ago came back to life. I heard that she recovered on her own because of postpartum hemorrhage. When I found her, I immediately rushed her to the hospital for emergency treatment."
"Postpartum hemorrhage?" Yang Yi's eyes, which had been gloomy all along, suddenly lit up: "Is her name Zhao Xueman? Yes… She's my wife."
The old man was happy: "Really? She will be here soon. Why don't you wait inside?"
Yang Yi frowned: "She's coming? Isn't she in the hospital?"
"The hospital just called. She knows you're here, so she wanted to come. I guess she'll be here soon," the hunchbacked old man said, then turned and walked towards the morgue.
"How did she know I was here?"
Yang Yi quickly stood up, wiped his tear-stained cheeks, and followed…
As long as Xue Man is alive, Yang Yi will feel satisfied. He joined the army when he was 18 and served for nine years. Xue Man waited for him for nine years, from the age of 17 to the age of 26. The best years of youth passed away in the years. Finally, Yang Yi was discharged from the army due to injury a year ago. After marriage, Xue Man became pregnant. Three days ago, their daughter was born, but Xue Man died of postpartum hemorrhage. He was sorry for her. When she left, she didn't even leave a word to Yang Yi…
After Yang Yi finished talking to the hunchbacked old man, the corners of his eyes became wet again. He wiped them vigorously and stopped talking.
There was the sound of a car approaching outside the door. Yang Yi stood up immediately. The person who entered the door was a petite woman, obviously very weak, with thin cheeks and a pair of tearful eyes. A pure white flower was tied on her long black hair. Yang Yi felt something was wrong, froze his feet, and looked at Xue Man.
The hunchbacked old man came forward first. Maybe because he had saved her life before, Xue Man was not afraid of the old man's strange appearance.
Instead, the old man turned around and walked towards the corpse cabinet, opening No. 27. No. 27, Yang Yi still remembered the newly delivered corpse at midnight.
Yang Yi and Xue Man walked towards the corpse cabinet quietly. A stream of icy cold air attacked his soul and bones. Yang Yi's face gradually turned from pale to pale. The white sheet was pulled down, and the familiar face that couldn't be more familiar made Yang Yi gasp.
Xue Man cried and rushed over, hugging the body until her voice became hoarse. Yang Yi felt heartbroken, holding onto the corpse cabinet, looking at his own body lying inside, as if he understood everything.
The hunchbacked old man walked over and quietly patted Yang Yi on the shoulder.
Yang Yi's eyes were red, his nose was twisted, and he said slowly: "So I'm dead."
"Yes, I heard it happened in the afternoon. There was a car accident and the car crashed into a willow tree. He was still breathing at the time, but he couldn't be saved. He bled to death at 10:50 pm. He was sent here before midnight. Your wife was still unconscious at the time."
Ten fifty… Yang Yi smiled. If he remembered correctly, it was exactly when he woke up in front of Baiguli Hutong. Baiguli Hutong, the corpse doctor…
The hunchbacked old man sighed and shook his head: "You two are a pair of star-crossed lovers…" This sounded very heavy. Xue Man heard it and cried even louder.
Yang Yi whispered a few words in the hunchbacked old man's ear, and then snuggled up to Xue Man. The illusory chest could no longer give Xue Man support, but he only knew that being alive was the happiest thing.
The hunchbacked old man reached into the pocket of Yang Yi's corpse and fumbled for a while. He picked up a piece of silver with his old fingertips and placed it in front of Xue Man: "Yang Yi asked me to give you this ring. It's yours, right? He had it repaired and inlaid a diamond on it. I heard that this is what he promised you."
Xue Man was stunned, and looked at the hunchbacked old man with swollen eyes: "Uncle, how did you know?"
The hunchbacked old man smiled and said, "I have two pupils. I can see what you can't see."
"Then, then where is he… tell him… I don't want the ring anymore… I want him back…" Xue Man was a little at a loss. She didn't know how to make Yang Yi stand in front of her again. She could only helplessly grab the old man's arm and beg him bitterly.
The old man smiled. He had seen a lot of separations between life and death, and the Yin and Yang. "Yang Yi is gone…" The old man raised his head, looked at the desolate and dark night outside the door, and Yang Yi's gradually disappearing figure, and said slowly: "He said that being alive… is the happiest thing… He loves you very much…"
Yang Yi's eyes were wet, tears were held back in the corners of his eyes, and finally rolled down two lines of big tears, and the last smile was gone with the wind. The fog gradually dissipated, and a ray of dawn sun dyed the eastern sky red. Today, it must be another sunny day…
Even if there really is a corpse doctor in this world, even if I could do it all over again, I would still be willing to do it… and would never regret it!
Under the dim light, the corpse doctor sat at the table and smiled at Yang Yi. He raised his hand, wrote a line of words with a brush, and placed it in front of Yang Yi: "Are you willing?"
Yang Yi took the letter and argued: "Life for life, death for life!" Yang Yi took a deep breath, his frowning brows relaxed, and he nodded with a smile…
"I do." As long as she lives – (end of the article)