Night fell.

To keep me from ruining their plan, the Taoist had me hung upside down in the center of the main hall.

“We’ve laid formations all around the house. The moment your grandpa comes back, he’s guaranteed to die here.”

The Taoist stared at me, growing more and more puzzled.

“Why is it that even hanging you upside down hasn’t brought any color into your face?”

As he spoke, he reached out and checked my pulse.

“Dead. You’re already dead. Looks like the weasel has been keeping you alive.”

The instant I heard his words, a blur of memories suddenly flooded into my mind.

I should have died on the way back after going to get the doctor.

My kidney, damaged by Mom and Dad’s brutal kicks when I stole the money, had never stopped bleeding.

The doctor was the one who carried me back to Grandpa.

When Grandpa saw my corpse, blood seemed to fill his eyes.

He kept cursing through gritted teeth.

“Those beasts deserve horrible deaths. If my girl can come back to life, I’ll trade my own life for hers.”

The weasel Grandpa had fed for years heard his curse and came down from the mountain that very night.

“If you’re willing, old man, I can bring your granddaughter back to life. I can help you take revenge too.”

Grandpa was already close to death.

He had no choice but to trust the Weasel Immortal.

Sure enough, the first cup of whisker water the Weasel Immortal gave me brought me back to life.

The second cup was meant to keep that life going.

When the full moon rose, countless weasels surged in from the distance.

They gathered around the courtyard, then began kneeling in my direction.

“Grandpa, run! Don’t come back!”

I screamed with everything I had until my throat turned hoarse.

Only when exhaustion began setting in did I see the same little weasel that had spoken to me before scurry over to my feet.

“Told you you’d be better off following Grandpa.”

The little weasel chattered as it gnawed through the rope binding me.

Third Uncle and Eldest Uncle rushed out and poured gasoline over the little weasel.

The instant it caught fire, my own body seemed to burn with the same searing pain.

Third Uncle cursed under his breath.

“You little beasts. I’ll burn every last one of you. You think you can ruin our wealth? Dream on.”

Grandpa dropped from the rafters.

By then, he seemed to have fully merged with the weasel.

He had a pointed snout and ratlike ears.

A long black tail hung behind him.

Eldest Uncle grabbed a machete and tried to chop Grandpa down with one strike.

Grandpa thrust a hand straight through his heart.

Blood poured from Eldest Uncle’s mouth.

“Why…? Didn’t they say that if we drank the whisker water, we wouldn’t be hurt?”

I stood at a distance and smiled.

A green light glowed in my eyes.

“The whisker water? I drank it long ago.”

Grandpa smiled and walked toward Eldest Aunt.

The yellow fur covering his body gradually darkened to a deep blood-red.

Without the slightest mercy, he tore out all her organs and ate them.

“Mm. A black heart really does make the organs taste better.”

“Everyone who ever made a wish to me has to return their organs and their fortune.”

His gaze turned vicious as he looked toward the Taoist standing at the entrance to the stairs.

“Little Taoist, I saved your life with a cup of water all those years ago. You managed to survive until today, and you still dare come back?”

The Taoist dropped to his knees, crying.

“Weasel Immortal, I only tricked these people into coming back because I wanted to repay you for saving my life. I knew from the start that the whisker water your granddaughter gave me was only leaf water.”

Grandpa walked up to him and gripped his chin.

The sharp nails of his other hand stopped just above the Taoist’s chest.

“Then why did you try to steal the whisker water?”

The Taoist kowtowed again and again.

“I wasn’t trying to steal it for myself. I lied about possession because I needed to frighten her into stopping. If I’d told her the truth then, she might have drunk it anyway.”

He lowered his head even farther.

“If your little granddaughter drinks three cups of whisker water, she’ll never be able to reincarnate as a human again. From then on, life after life, she’ll have to be reborn as an animal.”

Grandpa froze.

The look in his eyes when he turned toward me was filled with reluctance.

“But if I hadn’t saved her, she wouldn’t have lived until now.”

Hearing Grandpa say that made my heart ache.

If he had saved me only to feel guilty about it, then I truly deserved to die.

“Grandpa, I don’t want to be human either. If I can be a little cat or dog in my next life, that’s good enough for me.”

Grandpa looked deeply comforted by my answer.

He plucked out another whisker, dissolved it into water, and handed it to me.

“Drink it. Once you do, you’ll be healthy and safe for the rest of this life.”

The Taoist’s words echoed in my ears.

The Weasel Immortal’s whiskers were made from his own cultivation.

Whether the one standing before me was Grandpa or the Weasel Immortal, he was still the one who had saved my life.

I wiped away my tears and drank it all in one gulp.

“Grandpa still has debts to collect.”

With that, Grandpa chuckled and walked out of the house.

The Taoist froze.

“Do all those people deserve to die?”

My gaze was steady.

“At the very least, Grandpa and I deserve to live well.”

From that day on, I never saw Grandpa again.

Only sometimes, on streets and alleys around town, I would accidentally catch sight of a few furry little weasels.

Six months later, a news story shot to the top of the trending searches.

A top student in City A and his older female cousin had been gnawed to death by rats and weasels while camping.

The photo of the boy in the article looked exactly like the photo of my younger cousin from the giant honor-roll poster after his gaokao results came out.

The Taoist tugged on my ear and made me redo the homework my teacher had assigned.

I stared off into the distance, feeling hollow.

“Is Grandpa doing okay?”

The Taoist sighed.

“That great immortal has profound powers. He’s definitely doing fine. As for your real grandpa, he’s surely already reincarnated as a human.”

Not far away, in the grass, a pair of green eyes flashed once and disappeared.

I hid the green glow in my own eyes, picked up my pen again, and went back to my homework.

“Grandpa, thank you.”