Rubbing

The Zhou family's cold laughter rose all around. Zhou Yang pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth, tensed his whole body, forcing himself not to tremble! But his heart and soul shuddered without stopping! In that instant, he almost thought his persona had shattered, that this family had discovered he was different from "them." "A commander must first steady his heart. Even if Mount Tai collapses before him, his countenance does not change; even if a deer stirs to his left, his eye does not blink—only then can he manage advantage and danger, only then can he face the enemy..." Fortunately, at that moment, those few lines of classical Chinese that Zhou Yang often used to suppress his own fear flashed across his mind like a conditioned reflex. Those lines were like a commercial inserted at the most tense moment of a horror film—jarringly out of place, but they eased the viewer's inner fear somewhat and temporarily relaxed the tense atmosphere. Thus Zhou Yang could catch his breath. Using the moment to collect his thoughts, he quickly found a way to respond. Zhou Yang screwed up his courage and glanced sideways at the laughing few. Then he spoke out: "You told me to get up, but didn't I get up? I don't want to eat breakfast today—what's wrong with that? Actually, I don't understand—are we really a family, and are you really my birth mother? If not, why are you so good to White Dog and Black Dog, while with me it's nothing but beating and scolding, cursing me to die? Which mother curses her own child to die every day, to die young?!" Zhou Yang fired these questions back one after another. He had long haunted various forums and tieba communities, sparring year-round with the glib types on a certain Q&A site and the old hands of tieba, building up a wealth of trash-talking experience. Whether a war of words could be won hinged not on reasoning, much less "debating the classics." Rather, it was "don't answer the other person's question"—and, on the basis of not answering, to quickly hurl a string of questions, forcing the other side to answer yours, quickly drawing the opponent into your rhythm. But such counter-questioning shouldn't be random; it still needs substance, striking at the heart of the matter. After living in Guancun for some time, Zhou Yang vaguely sensed that the "people of Guancun" likewise needed to maintain a surface persona; even though they were no longer human, they still had to play the part of humans. Even though the Huang Shaodiao–Zhou Laogou household seemed more cobbled together, in this leaky family, parents, children, and siblings all had to play their assigned roles well. Now Zhou Yang posed this challenge to his mother from the angle of a child disfavored by his parents. Once the words were out, his own heart pounded wildly. He could only feign composure, forcing himself to stare at Huang Shaodiao. On Huang Shaodiao's ghastly pale, slippery face, the lively expression turned wooden in a moment. Not just her—the three Zhou family members all froze into blank faces, eyes staring fixedly at Zhou Yang, but with no spirit in their pitch-black pupils. All around was silence. His words seemed beyond these people's understanding. They stood frozen on the spot, like gui that had lost their souls. "So that's how it is..." After a long while, Huang Shaodiao murmured, looking at Zhou Yang, and suddenly a loving, gentle expression appeared on her face. But that expression made Zhou Yang's heart tremble! —Huang Shaodiao's expression was exceedingly gentle, but drool kept trickling from the corners of her mouth! Ignoring the drool constantly dripping from the corners of her mouth, she smiled and said to Zhou Yang: "You're right, A-Yang; Mother shouldn't have cursed you to die... Which mother doesn't dote on her child? Mother dotes on you, and you know to repay kindness; when you get the chance, be sure to be filial to Mother..." Zhou Yang's hairs stood on end! What did he have to offer these ghosts in filial piety? Nothing more than this living body coveted by ghosts! But he still lowered his head, striving to make his voice sound gentle: "Mother dotes on me; I will be filial to Mother in the future." First get through the present crisis; the future could wait until later. "Good child, good child..." Huang Shaodiao's plump white palm patted Zhou Yang's shoulder, and a greasy, stale smell drifted from the back of her shiny hand. Goosebumps rose on Zhou Yang's arm. He nodded and said, "Then, Mother, Father, I'm going to work." Huang Shaodiao and Zhou Laogou each nodded. "You mean what you say, Third Brother." At that moment, Zhou Yang's second brother in this household, "Zhou Heigou," suddenly spoke, hooking the corners of his mouth, lowering his brows, smiling in a sinister way. Zhou Yang looked at him, said nothing, and left the courtyard with his head down. That sinister gaze kept following Zhou Yang. Only when he turned out of the lane onto the main road did the feeling of a thorn in his back suddenly vanish. Along the main road, courtyard gates of various homes opened one after another. The villagers of Guancun went out to move about. In the roads still filled with mist, figures soon came and went. As if by agreement, as soon as Zhou Yang went out, they followed suit and went out to move about. Some worked, some loitered, some repaired courtyard walls washed down by rain. This scene repeated itself every day when Zhou Yang went to and from work. Each villager was an eye Guancun placed outside; Guancun relied on these eyes to discover "abnormal people" hidden among them. —Compared with a village full of ghosts posing as people, a normal person like Zhou Yang was naturally no longer normal. "Second Grandpa, I'm Zhou Yang, have you eaten?" "Fixing the wall, Uncle Li? It's me, Zhou Yang." "Remember me? I'm Zhou Yang." "..." Zhou Yang smiled and nodded frequently, greeting the villagers he met along the way. He had to give his name first when greeting. Although he saw these people every day, after one night they no longer recognized his face. Only if he volunteered his name could the villagers connect his face with that name; otherwise he might be taken for a "stranger," bringing unimaginable consequences. This was the experience given to him by the death afterimages in Guancun. Finally, Zhou Yang entered a deserted lane. Using this empty lane, he caught his breath briefly, no longer needing to deal with those villagers. "Zhou Heigou seems to bear me ill will." As Zhou Yang's tumultuous thoughts gradually calmed and receded, an exceptionally clear thought suddenly leapt from the bottom of his heart. Recalling his recent contacts with the Zhou family's second brother "Zhou Heigou," he continued to reason: "Be it Huang Shaodiao, Zhou Laogou, or Zhou Baigou, they actually bear me no ill will. Like a hungry tiger wanting meat, their sometimes hostile tendencies toward me merely come from a ghost's natural desire to kill. But Zhou Heigou is different from these ghosts. He always jumps out at critical moments to pick trouble with me. At first, I thought picking trouble was a prominent character trait of this ghost playing at being human, but such a trait absolutely shouldn't be directed at only me. Yet the fact was exactly so. So, he most likely bears me ill will. A ghost bears no ill will toward people—killing you has nothing to do with you. Only between people can there be grudges and entanglements. So, could Zhou Heigou be human? Could Zhou Heigou actually be a living person hiding by my side?!" Zhou Yang himself was startled by the result of his reasoning! He weighed it in his mind, deciding to wait and see, and test Zhou Heigou once he found an opportunity. Setting the Zhou Heigou matter aside for now, Zhou Yang reached behind his waist and drew out the Knife-Credit Ledger. Last night he had also busied himself on the retribution-body side for a night; the Knife-Credit Ledger should show some changes. As Zhou Yang thought— On the first page of the Knife-Credit Ledger, Zhou Yang's Right Thought had not changed. But his Good Deeds were no longer zero, but had become "three." In the upper right of his "Abilities" column, the two characters "rubbing" had also turned vermilion. When Zhou Yang's gaze settled on "rubbing," the two vermilion characters seemed to ignite, burning through the paper to reveal the next page's record of the retribution body Ding Ling's personal history— Retribution body: Ding Ling. Right Thought: 3. Identity: cook and general hand of the Dengtai Liyuan Troupe. Abilities: skilled butcher, good cook, self-taught folk opera performer. ... Compared to Zhou Yang's unchanged Right Thought, Ding Ling's Right Thought had increased by a trace. He and Ding Ling had jointly experienced "combing before the mirror"; facing the ghost in the mirror, Ding Ling's Right Thought grew, while his own remained unchanged. Right Thought comes from one's own mind; at the time he had attached his consciousness to Ding Ling and shared the danger with her, so there was no reason for Ding Ling's Right Thought to grow while his own did not advance an inch. Zhou Yang could only surmise that each time Right Thought rose by a trace, further increase became somewhat harder. For now, his Right Thought showing on the Knife-Credit Ledger hadn't changed, probably because this increase wasn't significant enough to appear on the ledger. Zhou Yang's mind lingered briefly here, then turned to the "rubbing" ability. His gaze fell on Ding Ling's Abilities column—all the abilities Ding Ling possessed became items he could rub. "Spend one Good Deed, rub 'skilled butcher'—rubbing grants one-tenth of the retribution body's ability level. Rub or not? Spend one Good Deed, rub 'good cook'—rubbing grants one-tenth of the retribution body's ability level. Rub or not? ..." Good Deeds were hard-won; Ding Ling's present abilities did not attract Zhou Yang in the slightest. Now understanding the role of Good Deeds, he slipped the book back behind his waist and, stepping through the mud, headed for Afu's courtyard. The various matters he had experienced on the retribution-body side all needed time for him to consider and sort out. However, after Huang Shaodiao forcibly roused him this morning, the various matters of Guancun came thick and fast. Each one required him to exert his full effort and cope with difficulty. Time was what he lacked most now. Only by going to Afu's Blacksmith Shop could he, taking advantage of the breaks between hammering, find a little time to sort out last night's experiences.