This work is a Chinese-style folk horror short story, using first-person narrative, integrating black humor and double-sacrifice BE tragedy, setting up a double-layered reversal, and constructing a unique world view of the temple folk custom in an isolated mountain village.
The story revolves around the century-old taboos in the Chenjiaao Ancestral Temple: no one is allowed to enter the temple at midnight, the paper figures in the temple are not allowed to look at each other, and intruders are unable to leave the village. The protagonist Chen Ye has been working abroad for three years and returns home late at night because his brother Chen Zhou went to the temple to sort out the paper figures and stayed behind closed doors. Chen Zhou is the one who supports the whole family. Chen Ye, who does not believe in ghosts and gods, ignores the cold and strange visions in the mountain village and breaks into the forbidden ancestral hall.
An eye-opening paper man with the same appearance as Chen Zhou appeared in the ancestral hall. Chen Ye heard his brother's dissuasion one after another, but insisted on taking him away. The first layer of reversal reveals the truth: the paper man is not a life-seeking evil ghost, but an ancestor who has voluntarily locked up his soul and suppressed the miasma in the mountains. Chen Zhou is the destined guardian of this generation and has voluntarily stayed to protect the safety of the whole village.
Unwilling to accept his fate, Chen Ye took out the Zhenyang red rope given by his brother and wanted to die in exchange for it. The sudden sound of "Alipay has arrived" on a modern mobile phone breaks the balance of yin and yang and triggers a second layer of tragic reversal: forcibly replacing fate will only superimpose imprisonment, and Chen Ye's body gradually turns into a paper man.
In the end, the two brothers guarded the ancestral hall side by side. The world only knew that the ancestral hall was miraculous, and no one knew that the two brothers were trapped in the endless three-long night to protect the village. The story uses folk horror as the shell, and the core is a strong sense of brotherhood. The absurd modern details neutralize the depressing atmosphere, and the fateful and unsolvable ending brings a long-lasting aftertaste that is terrifying to contemplate.
Purpose: Using the folk customs of mountain village temples as a carrier, the tragedy of two brothers' two-way sacrifices is used to explore the conflict between obsession and fate; the horror shell is used to interpret the deep brotherhood, telling the story of mortals' deep love that cannot be matched by centuries-old rules, praising silent devotion, and leaving behind the sad reflection of unsolvable fate.