Family Portrait

Lao Li was cleaning out his old family home when he stumbled upon a thick photo album. Inside, he found a black and white family portrait taken forty years ago, capturing the scene of his great-great-grandmother's 100th birthday. She was seated in a grand armchair in the center, with three generations of family members crowded behind her, everyone sporting a strange, stiff smile. Lao Li took out a magnifying glass to examine the photo, trying to identify the elders. After a long look, he suddenly noticed a peculiar detail: though dozens of people in the photo were looking at the camera, the pupils of almost everyone's eyes reflected the light from a window. Only the great-great-grandmother, seated in the middle, had completely black eyes, reflecting no light at all. Feeling a chill crawl up his spine, Lao Li turned the photo over. Written on the back in brushstrokes was the record from that year: 'September, Year of the Gengshen, the old lady's 100th birthday, family commemorative photo.' Below it, a smaller line of text read: 'The old lady passed away in August. The body was not yet buried; she was propped up with a wooden stick behind her back and her eyes were sewn shut for the photo.' Lao Li gasped. Just as he was about to close the album, he noticed that the curve of the great-great-grandmother's lips in the photo seemed to have widened a bit more than before.