Before grandma was buried, I lifted the white cloth covering my face——
Her eyes were sewn shut stitch by stitch with red thread.
The stitches are even and stable, a suture method only used in surgical operations. But grandma is eighty-three years old, has no illness or pain, and sleeps peacefully.
Who would sew the eyes of an old man who has died?
My name is Shen Deng. I worked as a forensic doctor for three years. Later I changed my career to become an embalmer, cleaning up the last bit of dignity for the dead. I went back to the southwest mountains to attend the funeral. I wanted to see my grandma off and leave, but she ended up in Qihuai Town with a will.
Take the position of "ancestral mother".
The rules of the town: Anyone who dies violently must be carried into the ancestral hall first and sent to the ancestral mother for the last time before being buried.
The first one I sent away was a girl who "hanged herself".
I just took one look at her neck and called the police.
There are two marks on it. One was hung out, and the other was strangled from behind.
The director advised me not to cause trouble, but the whole town stopped me from checking.
They said that the temple mother only cares about the dead, not the living.
But the eyes of the dead were sewn shut——
Someone has to open it up for them.
