This story began about a month ago. After Wang Mazi became a small boss, he didn't become arrogant and condescending like the rich people on TV.
He still diligently ran his small business, knowing the preciousness of good days because he started from scratch.
But one day, a beggar suddenly appeared at his house. Wang Mazi's wife didn't pay much attention to this, just smiled and asked if she wanted money or food.
Because beggars were rare these days, and finding enough to eat and wear was not a problem with a little effort, especially in a time of famine...
"I... I want food..."
The beggar's words surprised Wang Mazi's wife, but she didn't think much of it. She simply reheated the leftover food at home and served it to her. Seeing that the beggar was young, about the same age as her two daughters, she let her take a bath at home after she finished eating and gave her her daughters' old clothes.
The cleaned beggar looked to be in her early twenties. Without the dirt covering her, Wang Mazi's wife discovered she was actually a delicate girl. After finishing her meal, Wang Mazi's wife, out of curiosity, asked about her background.
The girl didn't hide anything. She said she was from Nanyang and was called Xiao Nuan. She had been deceived into believing she could earn money by working in China, so she had stowed away with a snakehead. However, upon arriving, she learned that she wasn't meant for work but to be a wife to a dirty and ugly man.
Such things, though not common in the Northeast, still happened. Some men who couldn't find wives, due to the feudal idea of continuing the family line, would resort to crooked means. If they couldn't find someone in their village, they would try to buy one with money. Thus, in those years, there were many women who looked like Chinese but couldn't speak Chinese.
Hearing the girl's plight, Wang Mazi's wife naturally felt compassion. After discussing it with Wang Mazi, they decided to keep her. Wang Mazi's pig farm wasn't large, but besides the couple, there were five or six workers.
Since Wang Mazi's wife also had to look after their two daughters' schooling, they were short one person to watch the feed warehouse. This girl was perfect to fill that vacancy.
Although Wang Mazi was honest and slow-witted, he wasn't stupid, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to run such a large pig farm. The first thought that came to his mind upon learning the girl was an illegal immigrant was to call the police.
This was because television and radio broadcasts at the time promoted that human trafficking was illegal and must be reported. Wang Mazi immediately thought of calling the police, as harboring illegal immigrants could lead to trouble.
Upon hearing this, the girl immediately knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, promising that she could speak Chinese and no one would know she was an illegal immigrant. She begged them not to hand her over to the police, and assured them she was hardworking and ate very little...
Hearing this, Wang Mazi's wife immediately softened and agreed without Wang Mazi's consent. Although Wang Mazi still wanted to object, his wife always had the final say at home, so he vaguely agreed.
At first, life was peaceful. But as Wang Mazi's wife went to the county town to take care of their daughter, things slowly began to change.
This was because the workers at the pig farm were all young men in their early twenties. Moreover, Xiao Nuan was nimble and diligent in her work, and she cooked delicious meals. Even Wang Mazi, the slow-witted honest man, felt much younger. Although he knew it was wrong, he couldn't help but want to do something.
One day, the pigs were ready for market, and they sold for a good amount of money. Wang Mazi, in his excitement, had a couple of extra drinks. Coupled with Xiao Nuan living at his house, he took advantage of his drunken state and succumbed to his male desires...
Xiao Nuan refused vehemently and threatened to tell Wang Mazi's wife about it. Hearing the word "wife," Wang Mazi sobered up considerably. He then apologized and promised he would never do it again, and also agreed to give Xiao Nuan a large sum of money, which is how the matter was settled.
Speaking of this, Wang Mazi's face, already dark and sallow, showed a hint of shame.
I also revealed a look of disdain, thinking to myself, with your toad-like appearance, you still want to eat swan meat, and furthermore, this swan is from Nanyang. Aren't you afraid that after eating it, your descendants' roots will rot away?
However, these thoughts could only remain in my mind. Since we were neighbors, saying it out loud would be too hurtful.
"But what does this have to do with your whole family being murdered? Don't tell me Xiao Nuan did all of this?"
Upon hearing the word "murdered," Wang Mazi's ghostly demeanor resurfaced. However, due to the previous lesson, he did not reveal his ghostly form.
Sighing, Wang Mazi continued, "Who else could it be? After that, she always found opportunities to ask me for money, and she always threatened to tell my wife about that day. So, in a fit of anger... I told my wife about it. You know my wife's personality..."
Although Wang Mazi's wife wasn't as fiery as Widow Ma, she was no pushover. Upon hearing the news, she naturally cursed Xiao Nuan for being a good-for-nothing, seducing her man when she was away. She completely forgot that the incident was caused by Wang Mazi's lustful intentions when he was drunk.
Once this news spread, Xiao Nuan no longer had a place at the pig farm. Upon learning that she was an illegal immigrant, some of the workers at the farm harbored malicious intentions. On a rainy day, they wronged Xiao Nuan.
When Wang Mazi returned from the county town after pacifying his wife, he discovered that Xiao Nuan had slit her wrists, and blood had pooled everywhere. He had originally intended to call the police, but considering she was an illegal immigrant, reporting it would mean being charged with harboring an illegal immigrant. Not only would he be fined, but he might also be imprisoned.
Furthermore, since Wang Mazi hadn't succeeded, he harbored some resentment. Thus, under the cover of the heavy rain, he buried the body.
From that day on, accidents began to happen one after another. First, one of the workers at the farm was hit against a wall by a pig while feeding them at night. He fainted on the spot. By the time he was discovered, his intestines had already been eaten by the pig, and the man was long dead.
Some might ask, aren't pigs herbivores? Why would they eat people? Here, I must explain that pigs are not purely herbivores. Pigs are omnivores and do not only eat plants; they occasionally consume meat.
Due to the surveillance cameras, the police ruled it an accident. Wang Mazi paid a large sum of money to the deceased's family, and the matter was dropped without escalating.
A few days after the first worker died, the second worker also met with an accident. He wasn't eaten by a pig, but his back was broken while carrying feed.
These were all young men in their twenties who were accustomed to physical labor. A bag of pig feed weighed only a hundred jin. Even a sixty-year-old man who had been doing physical labor for years wouldn't have his back broken by a bag of pig feed.
When the last worker fell headfirst into the feed mixing machine and died, Wang Mazi finally felt that something was amiss. If one accident could be explained, and two could be considered coincidental, then with five workers at the pig farm, a string of accidents was too much of a coincidence.
The remaining two workers, fearing that "accidents" might befall them, directly told Wang Mazi they were quitting. After all, no matter how much money they earned, they needed to be alive to spend it.
Even after Wang Mazi doubled their wages, he couldn't retain them. Angrily, Wang Mazi had to do the work himself. Fortunately, most of the feeding at the pig farm was mechanized, and only the feed needed to be moved.
On the first night he personally fed the pigs, he saw Xiao Nuan at the pig farm. She was holding a cup of water, looking at Wang Mazi with concern, and asked why the big boss was working himself.
This scared Wang Mazi so much that his soul almost flew out of his head. Xiao Nuan was someone he had personally buried, so how could she possibly appear at the pig farm? It was clear that the person in front of him was not human.
Wang Mazi, though slow-witted, was not foolish. Seeing Xiao Nuan's appearance, he naturally connected the previous accidents of the workers to her. Therefore, he quickly knelt down, begging Xiao Nuan to spare his life.