When Mrs. Quebec saw Stowy, her feeling seemed to be a mixture of both fear and respect. She was trembling all over as she knelt, but she dared not move even a muscle.
Stowy’s low-pitched voice sounded again, “I have been protecting the Quebec family for many years. Are you going to disregard my help?”
“Forgive me, my lord. I dare not, I dare not!” Mrs. Quebec's voice trembled.
“Do what you’re supposed to do!” Stowy turned into the bracelet again and wrapped himself around my wrist.
Not until Stowy disappeared did Mrs. Quebec get up. Her blue coat seemed to be thoroughly soaked. She stared at me, while holding the door like she was going to fall.
Her eyes were piercing as if she can see right through me. It made me panic.
I was soon pulled aside by my grandma, who pointed ahead, asking me to step forward.
“Now, you should return and get ready. Tomorrow we will look for that sarcophagus.” Mrs. Quebec said while holding the door. She was overstressed. “And Aurora, remember to hold the white goose tight on your way back. And be careful!”
The big white goose had its feet pricked and was put down.
Realizing the seriousness of the matter, I hurriedly held the goose up.
“Mr. Han, the one who guarded your village, offer him something nice and better ask him to watch the door for your house tonight! Otherwise, I am afraid you won’t last through the night.” Mrs. Quebec stared at the black bracelet on my hand and said coldly, “Even with lord Dracula to protect you, you can’t defeat that ghost serpent!”
Listening to her faint voice, I felt a chill inside.
With her promise to help us locate the sarcophagus, my grandmother was pleased, and she returned home with me.
On the road back, grandma told me, “Quebec took over the channeling business after her aunt died. But her ill temper and constantly driving people out had earned her a bad reputation. Few people knew this business now. Now, even fewer people are willing to come to her door.
I had to say I was impressed that she had the strength to pull the old woman out.
Nowadays, many motorcycles were running across the nearby villages. My grandmother and I took one to get home.
Grandma also told me that every village has a guardian, which is usually the person who had committed unforgivable sins in the last life and was stripped off a fraction of the soul, and has sworn to guard the village with his or her life to atone the sins.
This person was usually very kind in heart and could guard the village against disasters, but may look dumb because his soul was not whole.
Mr. Han was the one who was guarding our village.
Thinking of Mrs. Quebec's words, grandma stopped the motor at the village entrance. She tried to coax Mr. Han to our house for dinner and to stay overnight.
“I won’t go. Snakes are in your house!” Mr. Han sat on the stone tablet that was knocked down by me earlier, and shook his head, “A lot of them! I won’t go.”
“There’s no snake,” Grandma explained impatiently.
I looked at Mr. Han, while the thoughts of the snake babies in the eggs, and the incident with David’s wife struck me. I pulled at my grandma’s sleeve and said, “Leave it.”
“Shush.” Grandma went to pull Mr. Han.
I stopped her quickly. “Never mind. Whatever might happen, we can deal with it. Why drag others along? “
Mr. Han was actually quite nice. He would always do his best to help whoever was hosting an event. Villagers often bullied him and gave him all sorts of dirty works but only let him eat the leftovers. And he was okay with it. Mrs. Quebec said he can protect me against the disaster. But the accident that happened in David Russell’s house made me realized that we were letting Mr. Han die for me.
“Aurora, don't pull me!” Grandma tried to grab Mr. Han again, coaxing him, “I will cook a chicken, big rooster, very fat! And you can have the whole chicken! And drinks too, beer, wine, I will give you whatever you want.”
“Granny!” Seeing grandma beguiled him like tricking a child, I shouted seriously, “Don’t do this, okay?”
I pushed Mr. Han away, “There’re snakes in my house, and I have one on my body too! If you ever come to my house, you will be dead! Do you understand me? Go away! Run!”
Mr. Han looked at me and giggled, stretching out his dirty hand, pointed at my grandma. “Fascinating, your granddaughter is fascinating!”
Grandma stared at me, with tears in her eyes, before she swung her hands fiercely and went home.
Mr. Han was still there, giggling, “Fascinating! Fascinating!”
I looked at him, taking out all the cash from the bag and gave it to him, and then I cruelly said to him, “If you dare to come to my house, I will beat the hell out of you. Got it?”
Mr. Han ran toward the village shop with the money while laughing.
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