The villagers say that anyone who uses this method will quickly become pregnant and give birth to a boy after eight months.

At first, my grandmother didn’t believe it, but now, after Auntie Pearl repeatedly gave birth to baby girls, she had no choice but to try it herself.

Early one morning, my grandmother went to several houses in the village, asking about the method of "summoning a boy."

But, without exception, everyone just mumbled and couldn’t explain it clearly. Eventually, they told her to go to the Mad Monk who lived in the dilapidated temple at the top of the mountain.

I knew that Taoist priest. I often ran into him when I took the cows up the mountain. He came to the village about a year ago, and it was he who brought the method of "summoning a boy" to the village. The villagers respected him to some extent.

Reluctantly, my grandmother packed a basket and hurried up the mountain with Auntie Pearl.

On their way out, she didn’t forget to scold me a few times.

"You worthless girl! Stop trying to slack off by holding this little burden all day. Remember to feed the pigs and wash the clothes."

I nodded obediently. After all, in this house, if you wanted to get a meal, you had to work hard.

By the time the moon was high and the stars few, I had reheated dinner several times before my grandmother and Auntie Pearl finally came back.

I gently comforted my little sister in my arms when I noticed the sharp glint in my grandmother’s cloudy eyes as she looked at the baby in my arms.

Auntie Pearl gritted her teeth and took the baby from me.

I returned to the pigsty, curling up in a pile of hay.

In the dead of night, my sister’s cries became unbearably sharp.

Not only that, smoke began rising from the kitchen. Curious, I stretched my neck to look in the direction of the kitchen.

I saw my grandmother moving about the kitchen, while Uncle Vance sharpened the kitchen knife.

The cries of my sister grew louder, but soon, they quieted down.

I couldn’t help but swallow nervously and wrapped myself tighter in the worn-out quilt.

Before long, Auntie Pearl came out holding a large bowl and set it on the small table in the yard. She was holding ritualistic items.

She began to bow in front of the bowl, muttering words I couldn’t understand.

But I knew that Auntie Pearl was "summoning a boy!"

Afterward, she bowed heavily to the bowl.

Suddenly, a cold wind swept through the peaceful night. My grandmother, frightened, hid behind Uncle Vance.

A moment later, my eyes widened in shock. I saw three dark figures surrounding Auntie Pearl, laughing eerily.

Then they rushed into Auntie Pearl’s body, one after another.

I couldn’t control myself and screamed.

"Ah~!"

The figures were startled by my scream. My grandmother, realizing what had happened, came over angrily and grabbed my ear.

The pain was sharp, and my ear burned.

"You stupid girl! If you scare the ‘boy’ away, you’ll pay for it."

Looking at my grandmother’s furious face, I clamped my mouth shut. My eyes had always been able to see things that others couldn’t.

Those so-called "boys" were just a bunch of "wandering spirits!"

But I couldn’t tell my grandmother. My mother had always warned me before she passed away: never let anyone find out this secret.

Especially not the family!

I lay awake all night with my quilt wrapped tightly around me. The next morning, I saw Uncle Vance carrying a small red box and heading out.

I knew, my sister was gone.

I felt a pang of sadness. She was so small and had never even had a taste of her mother's milk.

I quietly followed Uncle Vance, watching as he carelessly tossed the box containing my sister into Grief Hollow. That was the place where deceased infants were left to rest.

After Uncle Vance left, I quietly opened the box that held my sister. Her once-pink skin had turned an ashen gray, her tiny body curled up, and there was a large, blood-soaked hole where her heart should have been.

I didn’t have the proper tools, so I dug a large hole with my hands and buried her.

I sat by her grave, tears falling uncontrollably.

More than fear, it was guilt.

"Little girl, do you think it’s too late to cry now?"

I turned around to see the Mad Monk, wearing tattered clothes, standing behind me.

It was the same Mad Monk who lived on the mountain.

I watched him warily but didn’t speak.

He wasn’t angry. Instead, he walked over to me, his eyes filled with a greedy, undisguised hunger.

"Your eyes... they're really beautiful!"

My hand instinctively touched my eyes, and I took a cautious step back.

He didn’t mind and plopped down on the stone beside me.

"Why are you afraid? I won’t touch you until I’ve kept my promise."

I pressed my lips together and asked the question that had been on my mind.

"The ‘boys’ that entered Auntie Pearl’s body... are they ghosts? And what about the others..."

Mad Monk took a swig from the wine flask.

“You're not a fool, kid!”

Hearing him say that, a chill ran down my spine. Thinking of the boys born from the "Child Summoning" method, I couldn't help but swallow nervously.

It seemed like Mad Monk could see right through me.

“Don't worry. Other people’s results will be different from your Auntie Pearl’s. This ‘Child Summoning’ technique is basically just giving an unconverted wild ghost a chance to be reborn as a human. It's a good deed, in a way. But, if there’s some vengeful spirit tied to your family, heh, the results will be different.”

“What will happen then?”

I was genuinely curious.

Mad Monk chuckled darkly. “Well, it’ll play out as you expect. But before that, I’ll give you something to protect yourself.”

He threw me a half-broken branch. “This is fifty-year-old thunderwood. It’ll ward off any evil spirits.”

I hesitantly took the branch.

The death of my little sister was like a tiny stone thrown into a calm lake. It created ripples, but soon everything returned to normal.

After all, back then, the death of an infant wasn’t exactly something rare.

Auntie Pearl soon became pregnant again.

At three months, her belly looked like someone five or six months along.

The village doctor said Auntie Pearl was carrying multiples. I couldn’t help but think back to the three dark shapes that had entered Auntie Pearl’s womb.

With the previous incident in mind, my grandmother didn’t rush to slaughter chickens or ducks for Auntie Pearl’s nourishment this time.

But that didn’t mean Auntie Pearl went hungry.

By the time she was five months pregnant, Auntie Pearl’s appetite became absolutely monstrous—far beyond what a normal pregnant woman should have.

We three watched in disbelief as Auntie Pearl devoured a massive bowl of rice meant for four people. Not only that, she finished every single dish on the table.

My grandmother scowled, “Are you a pig? Eating that much, don’t you worry you’ll burst?”

Auntie Pearl wiped her mouth with her sleeve and glanced at the now empty table.

“I’m so hungry. Can you make me another bowl of noodles?”

Reluctantly, I went to the kitchen and made her a huge bowl of noodles. Before I could even season it, Auntie Pearl grabbed the bowl and wolfed it down in seconds.

I was a bit puzzled. Could it be that Auntie Pearl was carrying three starving ghosts in her belly?

The next morning, I heard my grandmother cursing outside by the chicken coop.

“Damn beast, how dare you steal my chickens!”

My sharp eyes caught sight of a few chicken feathers in Auntie Pearl’s hair, and my heart skipped a beat.

But Auntie Pearl only smiled.

“I must’ve bumped into the chickens while chasing them yesterday.”

But that wasn’t the worst part.

Over the next few days, our chickens, ducks, and geese started disappearing or mysteriously dying. Some were eaten so thoroughly that only their heads remained, others were left with nothing but a pile of bloody feathers.

When Auntie Pearl reached her seventh month of pregnancy, we found one of our goats dead in its pen. It had been devoured, leaving only half its body behind, its insides spilled across the ground. The sight was truly horrifying.

Grandmother couldn’t sit still anymore, no matter how much she reinforced the pen, it seemed useless.

“I’ll be damned if I don’t get to the bottom of this.”

So, I was moved from the pigsty to the sheep pen.

“If you can’t keep watch, you might as well stop eating here for free.”

I clutched my worn-out quilt, trembling.

At midnight, familiar rustling noises came from the sheep pen.

Under the faint moonlight, I saw Auntie Pearl crawling on all fours, her movements unnaturally twisted.

Saliva hung from her lips, her eyes gleaming with a greedy look as she gazed at the goats in the pen.

I was terrified, but if she ate the goat, then I wouldn’t have to stay in this house anymore.

I swallowed hard, grabbed the peachwood stick I had prepared earlier, and swung it hard at Auntie Pearl.

The moment the branch touched her, she let out a sharp scream and scrambled out of the sheep pen.

I sighed in relief, looking at the peachwood stick in my hand. It seemed that Elder Monk Gideon hadn’t lied to me.