Chapter 6

At this hour each day, the summer heat began to fade, and even the wind blowing from the rice fields carried a hint of coolness. Li Zhuiyuan faced the rice paddies, closed his eyes, and took several deep, deliberate breaths. "Little Yuanhou, what's wrong? Does Great-Grandpa smell?" "No, Great-Grandpa. I'm smelling the rice fragrance." "Oh. Did you smell it?" "I couldn't. It's not like what the articles say. They say rice fragrance is wonderful." "Silly child, your timing is wrong. Wait until after fertilizing or spraying pesticide, then smell it. I guarantee, that stench will be powerful!" "Great-Grandpa, you're teasing me." "Hahaha." Li Sanjiang twisted his neck and continued carrying the child along the paddy path. "Right now they don't have much smell, but after harvesting, drying, hulling, steaming rice and making rice cakes, with hot white steam rising, that fragrance—can't you smell it from far away?" "Great-Grandpa, you're right." Li Sanjiang stopped and turned to look at the rice fields too. "Actually, what those articles you read say isn't wrong. For us farming folk, seeing the crops growing well in the fields, grain in the granary and rice in the pot, not worrying about hunger—your heart is at ease. Wherever you stand, close your eyes and take a breath, it's all sweet." "I understand." "No, you don't understand, Little Yuanhou. You've never truly gone hungry, so you can't really understand that feeling. We—being able to eat our fill every meal, that hasn't been for many years. But no matter what, it still can't compare to before the liberation." "Huh?" Li Zhuiyuan asked in surprise. "Before the liberation, did people eat their fill?" "Yeah. Before the liberation, everyone could eat their fill. No one went hungry." "Great-Grandpa, that doesn't sound right." "Because livestock don't count as people." "Huh?" "Little Yuanhou, before the liberation, your Great-Grandpa here also made his way in Shanghai." "Then Great-Grandpa, do you know Xu Wenqiang?" "Who's Xu Wenqiang? Don't know him. Your Great-Grandpa took a boat back then, very convenient. After all, Nantong and Shanghai are just separated by a river." "Back then I thought, great Shanghai, great Shanghai, finding work would surely be easier, and no matter what, it was better than farming for a landlord at home." "I was also lucky. As soon as I arrived, I found work right away." "What work did Great-Grandpa find?" "The corpse-carrying team." "Did Great-Grandpa work at a funeral home?" "Heh, there were funeral homes back then, but ordinary people couldn't go to that kind of place. Carried in feet-first, you'd have to scramble back out feet-first—dying was too expensive." "Your Great-Grandpa joined the corpse-carrying team. Back then the city government allocated some funds and some merchants donated. The work was... every day at dawn, collect corpses, carry those bodies from the streets and alleys on our backs, and send them to nearby funeral chapels for handling." "When times were good, there might be a few donated coffins. But not one coffin per person—many people squeezed together, one coffin stuffed so full." "Your Great-Grandpa still remembers once, many children about your size were collected, and it took a lot of effort to stuff them in." "Sigh, couldn't shake, couldn't shake." "You know what that means?" "Is it that the coffin was too heavy to shake from outside, and packed so tight inside that they couldn't move?" "Exactly. That was when times were good and there was at least a coffin. When times were bad, the bodies were just wrapped in straw mats, and when there was no time to burn or bury, they were dumped in the potter's field outside the city for the wild dogs." "If it was winter, wow, it was truly exhausting." "Early in the morning on the streets, you could see whole families huddled together, frozen stiff." "Little Yuanhou, that was Shanghai, a big city back then, filthy rich. Anyone there, letting anything slip through their fingers, would be enough for a whole ordinary family to chew on." "But your Great-Grandpa here, truly busy from start to end of year, too much work to finish, couldn't finish it at all." "Back then I kept thinking..." "Clearly there were so many foreign cars on the streets, clearly in the ten-mile foreign concession, looking up were dance halls, theaters, tall buildings, people coming and going in Western suits and rich ladies in fine clothes. Yet right in the cracks between walls and in the alleys, every day we could collect people who starved to death." "Thought about it for a long time, your Great-Grandpa finally understood one principle." "All had a pair of eyes, a nose, two legs walking, but only a small handful counted as people. The others... no, those other heads, were nothing but cheap livestock." "Huh, wrong. Livestock are worth something too—when starving they'd still be stuffed with fodder. But they didn't even deserve a coffin board, and if their bodies were collected after death, it was only because the authorities thought it affected the city's appearance." Li Zhuiyuan put his arms around Li Sanjiang's neck a little more tightly and pressed his face against Great-Grandpa's back. "Is that when Great-Grandpa learned his skills?" "Roughly. Back then, carrying corpses all day only earned enough for that day's meal. Now, fishing up one body lets me eat well for a while. Liberation is better, at last people are people, and they're valuable." "My grandfather also said that as a child working as a long-term laborer for a landlord, he was whipped." "Listening to Hanhou fart. He'd barely grown hair when we were liberated here, and those landlords were all... hey, Little Yuanhou, you're not talking about Hanhou, are you?" "It's Grandpa North." "Hahaha, your father's father in Beijing?" "Mm. He said that if he hadn't truly been unable to go on living, he wouldn't have followed the group to make revolution back then." Li Sanjiang suddenly paused, turned his head to look at the child behind him: "What?" "What's wrong?" "Your Grandpa North, did he fight in wars?" "Mm." "Is he still alive?" "Alive." "Did he fight the Japanese first?" "He fought them later." "Tsk, tsk tsk tsk!" "What's wrong, Great-Grandpa?" "Little Yuanhou, are you close with your Grandpa North?" "During holidays, we go back with Mom and Dad to eat." "Usually?" "I don't go." "Ah, you don't visit at all?" "Grandma North and Mom don't get along." Li Sanjiang: "..." "My Uncle Eldest and them live with Grandpa North and Grandma North. Mom, Dad, and I live outside. Mom doesn't allow me to go to Grandpa North's place. Even Dad, when he occasionally comes home, does it secretly, not daring to let Mom know." "What is this Lanhou thinking inside her head?" Li Sanjiang didn't understand. He certainly knew that conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was perfectly normal. But you still have to curry favor with the grandmother! With parents-in-law like these, if you don't flatter and serve them well, what else do you expect? But on second thought, Li Sanjiang suddenly felt this really was something Li Lan would do. In a house full of honest mud dogs, a golden phoenix suddenly appeared. If Li Weihan's ancestral graves weren't near his own, he would really suspect Li Weihan's ancestral graves had caught fire—smoke wouldn't even be enough. That girl, when young, had a sweet mouth and was lovable. When she grew a little older, she could train her four older brothers to fear her. The village's loosest idlers and sharpest-tongued busybodies didn't dare make jokes about her. With one glance, though her face carried a smile, it could make a person's heart shudder. That year she brought her partner home. Hanhou and Guiying were restrained and embarrassed to look at people, but Li Sanjiang was worldly. He stared up and down for a long time, even took the initiative to go chat. Back then he noticed that the man in front of Lanhou was disciplined to the point of only nodding like a chick pecking at rice. Those who didn't know would think that pale-faced man was a poor wife just abducted by human traffickers. Li Sanjiang also knew about Lanhou's divorce. Otherwise Little Yuanhou wouldn't be temporarily left here. Usually, when a couple divorces, people's sympathies go first to the woman. But Lanhou's divorce... Li Sanjiang actually felt some sympathy for the man. He'd endured for over ten years. Not easy. "Little Yuanhou, you changed your surname, right?" "Mm." "Sigh." Li Sanjiang sighed. If you're divorced, you're divorced, but you actually changed the child's surname back. If you hadn't changed the surname, then even divorced, Little Yuanhou would still be counted as that family's child. "Little Yuanhou, listen to Great-Grandpa's advice. After you go back to Beijing, find more chances to get close to your Grandpa North and Grandma North, understand?" "I won't go." "You child, be obedient. Great-Grandpa won't harm you." "I can't go. If I go, Mom won't be happy." "You..." "If Mom isn't happy, she won't want Little Yuan anymore." "Sigh... what you're saying. You're mother and son. Your mom likes you no matter what." "No." Li Zhuiyuan's voice was low but certain. "If I make Mom unhappy, she won't want me. I understand her." Li Sanjiang had to change the topic. "Little Yuanhou, did you bring your homework? Tomorrow have your granny bring your homework and books back." "I didn't bring them back." "Hah, you're a little clever one. You deliberately didn't bring your books so you can play hard in the countryside during summer vacation, right?" "Mm, it's very fun." "Still, you need to study hard. That way you can live better in the future. After these few days, let your sister Yinghou come tutor you. Learn well from her." "Okay." "That's good." The two chatted all the way until they reached a riverside. Farmland bordered the river. Following the small path along the river inward for a stretch, walking and walking, they suddenly came to an open space. Li Sanjiang's compound was several times more spacious than Li Weihan's. Three buildings. The middle one faced south with its back to north, a newly built two-story building. But unlike Cuicui's house with its square, proper architectural style, Li Weihan's new house was very wide, extending from east to west, a long strip. Though it had a second floor, there were only a few separate rooms up there, like a few blocks placed on a big platform. On the left and right sides of the new house were two single-story rooms, facing each other. "Great-Grandpa, your home is so big." "That it is." Li Sanjiang's voice carried pride. Besides retrieving corpses, he also did paper effigy business, which needed a spacious site to store raw materials and finished products. Besides that, he also rented out tables, chairs, and plates. Whenever a family nearby had a wedding or funeral, they had to rent from him. The fees weren't high, but he'd long since recovered his costs. Now this was a steady egg-laying hen. So the first floor of his new house was like a big warehouse, and the second floor only had three rooms, empty as a rooftop. He didn't mind—living alone, it was enough to live in. Li Sanjiang put Li Zhuiyuan down from his back, took his hand, and walked into the middle room. Inside, the space felt even bigger, like a small workshop. The west half had tables and chairs stacked neatly, with big baskets full of various dinner plates, bowls, and dishes. The east half was filled with paper people, paper houses, paper horses... Li Zhuiyuan even saw a paper Santana car. A woman about his mother's age, dressed simply, was coloring. She held a paint palette in her left hand and a brush in her right, her strokes quick and fluent. The woman sensed someone coming, turned to look, sized up Li Zhuiyuan, and asked: "Uncle, who is this child? He's so fair and tender." "Tinghou, let me introduce you. This is my great-grandson, named Li Zhuiyuan. Zhuiyuan, this is your Aunt Tinghou." "Aunt Ting." Li Zhuiyuan felt the generation seemed a bit off, but with people not related by blood, everyone just went by their own reckoning. "Aww, good child." Liu Manting put down her things, came over, bent down, and touched Li Zhuiyuan's face with both hands. "So cute." Li Zhuiyuan stepped back half a step to avoid her, a shy smile on his face. "Uncle, you never brought a child here to play before." "Hah. Before, no child dared come here to play." Li Sanjiang took out a cigarette. "Tinghou, this child will stay here for a while. Help him tidy up a room upstairs. Oh, right, Little Yuanhou, are you afraid to sleep alone in a room?" "I'm not afraid, Great-Grandpa." "Mm, it's fine. Anyway, Great-Grandpa sleeps right next door. Heh heh. Okay, Tinghou, it's up to you. I'm going to use the toilet first." Li Sanjiang lit his cigarette and went out to the toilet. "Come, Little Yuan. Come upstairs with Auntie." The first floor had too much stuff piled up. More than half the stairway entrance was blocked, so someone coming for the first time really couldn't find it easily. Li Zhuiyuan noticed there were steps continuing downward here at the stairway entrance. He asked, "Aunt Ting, is there another floor below?" "Yes. There's a cellar below, about the same size as here." "Are the same things stored there?" "No. They're your Great-Grandpa's things. He couldn't bear to throw them away, so he deliberately dug out a level just to store them." "Oh, I see." "Also, Little Yuan, I'm Liu Manting. Call me Auntie Liu from now on." "Auntie Liu, you're not from around here, are you?" "No. Auntie came from elsewhere. I do odd jobs in paper effigy making for your Great-Grandpa." "Is it just you, Auntie Liu?" "Auntie's husband is here too. He rents and farms your Great-Grandpa's fields, and usually helps out too—making paper effigies, delivering tables and chairs. He should be back from the fields soon. When you meet him, you can call him Uncle Qin." "Also, Auntie's daughter and mother-in-law are here too, in that single-story room on the east side that you saw when you came in. I live on the west side with your uncle." "Our whole family is here, making a living working for your Great-Grandpa." "Before the liberation, we'd all have to call you young master." Perhaps because he'd just heard Li Sanjiang talk about the corpse-carrying team on the way here, Li Zhuiyuan was now uncomfortable with this joke. He shook his head instinctively and said: "That's feudal dross." "Huh?" Liu Manting was stunned. Such words from a child's mouth were indeed surprising. "Auntie Liu, just call me Little Yuan." "Okay, Little Yuan. Your Great-Grandpa mentioned you. You're back from Beijing, right?" "Mm, yes." "Are you used to living here?" "Used to it. This place is good." "Don't you find it dull and boring?" "No. There are lots of fun things here." "That's good. Auntie colors paper figures every day, and my hands go numb from painting." "Auntie, you draw very well. Very professional." "What professional? Auntie was forced into this. I don't know how to draw." But the way you hold the paint palette and brush is exactly like an art academy teacher. "Little Yuan, if you want to draw, you can help Auntie. Coloring isn't actually difficult." "Okay." Since returning to his hometown, this was the first time he'd communicated entirely in Mandarin with someone. No more so much Nantong dialect and so many "Hou" suffixes. Even his school-going siblings only used Mandarin at first to "translate" for him, then turned around and naturally switched back to dialect when talking among themselves. Coming to the second floor, Liu Manting opened a room door. The furnishings were simple: an old-fashioned bed and a wardrobe. Besides that, not even a stool. But the room was clean, probably cleaned often. "Little Yuan, you'll stay here. Your Great-Grandpa is right next door. Wait here a moment, and I'll bring you a washbasin, handkerchief, and spittoon." "Thank you, Auntie Liu." "This child, so polite." Liu Manting went out. Li Zhuiyuan looked around his room and then went out. Really... there wasn't anything to look at. The second floor was just a big terrace. Three rows of clothes poles stood in the center. No balcony or railing around. Walking to the edge, he could see the compound ahead, and in the distance the small river and farmland. Li Zhuiyuan thought a chair could be placed here. Sitting here in a daze would surely be enjoyable. Not far away on the paddy path, a middle-aged man carrying a hoe was walking this way. The man was tall. Where his white undershirt couldn't cover, clear muscles were visible, with a glossy texture in the last light of sunset. He must be Auntie Liu's husband, Uncle Qin. It seemed Uncle Qin hadn't been a farmer before. Farmers generally had great strength, but due to diet and lifestyle habits, few could develop this kind of broad, muscular build. Usually they were lean and wiry. His gaze moved downward, looking to the left. "Hmm?" When he first came in, the firewood stack on the compound had blocked his view, so he hadn't seen the door of the eastern single-story room. Now standing at a height, he saw it. Inside the middle door of the single-story room sat a little girl about his age. She wore a red embroidered top, black pants with white patterns on the bottom, her hair was done in a topknot, and on her feet were light green embroidered shoes. Her outfit was very retro, without a single modern element, but not at all old-fashioned. This wasn't clothes her mother made by tearing a piece of fabric for her daughter at random. The details on her clothes were exquisite, surely costing much labor and care. The overall coordination was harmonious, projecting the dignity of a lady from a respectable family. Most importantly, the girl had fair skin, eyebrows like new moons. Though she had a melon-seed face, she also had just the right amount of baby fat. She was like a finely carved artwork. You couldn't find anything needing even the slightest change. Any extra addition would be a desecration and a sin. Right now, she sat on a bench inside the threshold, her feet placed on the threshold, staring straight ahead. The last defiant glimmer of the setting sun drew a line of light and shadow, lying right across the threshold in front of the house—exactly where she had her feet. Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head. Staring at someone was impolite, although... she really was very pretty. She should be Auntie Liu's daughter, right. When he looked up again, he found she still kept the same posture, staring forward. Logically, standing on the second floor, a big person like him watching her, she should notice at least enough to glance at him. Was she just lost in thought? Li Zhuiyuan raised his hand and waved. He was sure this would get her attention, but... nothing. The girl remained sitting there, feet on the threshold, motionless. She didn't lift her head, didn't turn her head, and didn't even blink. Was she blind? Li Zhuiyuan called out, "Hello." The girl still had no reaction. Was she deaf and mute too? A strong sense of regret rose in Li Zhuiyuan's heart. Children this age had clean, pure hearts. Adult male-female thoughts didn't exist yet. Li Zhuiyuan was the same. He simply felt heartache. If this girl before him had a disability, it would be like a beautiful thing being cruelly sliced with a bloody wound. Anyone, man or woman, would feel deep regret. "Little Yuan." Auntie Liu's voice came from behind. She walked to Li Zhuiyuan's side and smiled. "Little Yuan, she's Auntie's daughter, Qin Liang." Li Zhuiyuan nodded. "Okay, Little Yuan. Go inside first. Auntie will help you arrange your things." Li Zhuiyuan was slightly surprised. Because Auntie Liu had only introduced her daughter's name, with nothing after. Normally, she should ask his age, determine who was older or younger, and add: you can play together in the future. There weren't many things. After arranging them neatly, Auntie Liu clapped her hands and said, "The toilet is at the back of the first floor. At night you can use the spittoon in the room." "Okay, I know, Auntie Liu." "Then Auntie will go cook. I'll call you when it's ready." "Mm." Walking out of the room again and returning to the second-floor terrace, Li Zhuiyuan's gaze unconsciously looked there again. The girl was still in the same posture, still staring forward. She seemed frozen there, never having moved. At this moment, he saw Uncle Qin walk to the threshold, squat before the girl, and speak to her gently. But from beginning to end, the girl remained in that posture. She didn't even spare a bit of peripheral vision for her own father. The feeling was that although she was there, she had no perceptual contact with this world at all. Uncle Qin noticed Li Zhuiyuan. He waved. "Hello, little friend." Li Zhuiyuan responded, "Hello, Uncle." "Little Yuanhou, come down for dinner!" Li Sanjiang's voice came from downstairs. Li Zhuiyuan was a little surprised. Already? Going downstairs, among the gaps between the paper figures on the first floor, two square wooden stools were pushed together as a dining table. On them were placed a plate of braised pork head meat, a plate of braised pig ears, a plate of cold seaweed salad, and a plate of fried peanuts. No wonder it was prepared so quickly. They must all have been bought at the market during the day. "Sit." Li Sanjiang opened the baijiu bottle cap and poured himself a large cup. Li Zhuiyuan sat on a small stool opposite him, looking at the big bowl of rice piled high before him. "Great-Grandpa, I can't eat this much." "Heh, Great-Grandpa certainly knows." Li Sanjiang smiled. "You eat first. What's left is mine." "Oh." Li Zhuiyuan started eating. Li Sanjiang passed the wine cup over. "Little Yuanhou, want a little drink?" Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. "Children can't drink alcohol." "Right, that's right." Li Sanjiang just teased, took the cup back and sipped a big mouthful, then kept pinching several peanuts into his mouth. "At Hanhou's house, there aren't these good dishes, right?" "The pickled vegetables Grandma makes are also delicious." "Heh." Li Sanjiang took a piece of pork and put it into Li Zhuiyuan's bowl. "Your grandparents are silly, spoiling those brats. As your Great-Grandpa says, managing your father's generation for a lifetime is enough. Still having to manage the grandchild generation. This person's half life has been nothing but being a slave to the children. Actually, if your grandfather's family didn't have so many children and so many mouths, they wouldn't need to drink thin gruel. He could have a little drink every night." Li Zhuiyuan ate silently, not responding. "You're different." Li Sanjiang waved his hand. "Your mother gave money. Your uncles are the real white-eyed wolves, a bunch of shameless things." Li Zhuiyuan continued eating. "The soup is here." Auntie Liu brought a sea bowl of loofah egg-flower soup and placed it on the wooden stool. "Eat." Then she left. Li Zhuiyuan only then realized that Auntie Liu's family didn't eat with Great-Grandpa. "Little Yuanhou, there's something Great-Grandpa needs to remind you. After you live here, you can wander anywhere else, but don't go to that east room." "The east room is where that girl sat." "Why?" "Tinghou's daughter is in the east room." Li Sanjiang poked his forehead with the end of his chopsticks. "That little girl has something wrong with her. Don't go near her. If she scratches or bites you, it won't be good." Scratch and bite? Li Zhuiyuan found it hard to imagine that the little girl named Qin Liang would be connected with such behavior. "Don't take it lightly. When her family first moved here the year before last, I gave that girl some candy. Who knew that just as I put the candy in her hand, she threw it away and then rushed at me like a madwoman, scratching and biting. Even a dead-flipper isn't that fierce." "I know, Great-Grandpa." How nice. So she wasn't deaf or blind after all. "Mm, eat. Eat well. Great-Grandpa will sit the rites for you." Li Zhuiyuan finished eating first and put down his chopsticks. Li Sanjiang also stopped drinking accordingly, took the rice bowl, and shoveled rice. The toilet was behind the house. Li Zhuiyuan came out first and walked around the compound. He happened to see the little girl being helped up by an old granny, walking to the inner dining table. She should be Auntie Liu's mother-in-law. On this old granny, Li Zhuiyuan seemed to see the shadow of his own Grandma North. Both had a bearing of dignity and elegance. The little girl sat at the table without picking up her chopsticks. The old granny kept softly urging her beside her. When Li Zhuiyuan came back from the toilet, he saw the little girl start eating. She only ate from her own bowl. The old granny used a small dish to pick food for her. He noticed the old granny's peripheral vision sweep over him, but she didn't greet him. Li Zhuiyuan hesitated and didn't go over to say hello. Back in the room, Li Sanjiang had finished eating, and Auntie Liu was clearing up. "Little Yuan, the bath is in the innermost room upstairs. Auntie has already poured hot water for you. It might be hot, so add some cold water yourself." "Thank you, Auntie." Coming to the second floor, the well-fed Li Sanjiang was already lying on a rattan chair moved from who knows where. Toothpick in his left hand, cigarette in his right, humming a little tune and belching from the drink. Li Zhuiyuan's gaze lingered on the rattan chair. "Hah, tomorrow I'll have Lihou buy you one at the market." Lihou should refer to Uncle Qin. "Okay." Li Zhuiyuan smiled. He indeed wanted one. "The bath is there." Li Sanjiang pointed. "You bathe first, I bathe after." "Got it." The bathroom was narrow. Probably added on later temporarily. It had a rubber hose connected to a water tank. Li Zhuiyuan tested the water temperature. A bit hot, but he didn't need to add cold water. When Li Zhuiyuan finished his quick bath and came out, Li Sanjiang also stood up. "Wait for me in my room." "Okay." By now it was completely dark outside, and the moon hung in the sky. Li Zhuiyuan looked at the east room again. The single-story room's door was closed, and light was on inside. Opening Li Sanjiang's door and walking in, Li Zhuiyuan reached out and found the rope by the wall beside the door, pulling it down. "Click." The light came on. The furnishings in Great-Grandpa's bedroom were practically a copy of his own bedroom: an old bed and a wardrobe. But in the middle area that should have been empty, there was a circle of dense patterns and a row of small candles. Next to them on the floor lay an old book opened flat. Li Zhuiyuan picked up the book and found it wasn't printed but handwritten. The cover read Jinshaluo Wenjing. Opening it, the contents were mostly array pattern diagrams and some annotations. The drawings were messy, the annotations casual. Most importantly, the handwriting was truly ugly. Much worse than Grandpa Xu from the Chinese department in the staff compound, who was good at making Dongpo pork. Soon Li Zhuiyuan found the diagram in the book identical to the one drawn on the floor. It was labeled: Fortune-Transferring Curse-Breaking Array. The effect was to transfer the baleful energy from one person to another. It was also annotated: capable of harming people and disrupting harmony. Li Zhuiyuan looked at the diagram in the book, then at the one Great-Grandpa himself had drawn on the ground. "How does it feel... a few places seem drawn differently?" But the diagram in the book was also hand-drawn, inherently crooked, so it wasn't easy to compare. "It's also possible Great-Grandpa didn't draw it wrong; the diagram in the book is just not standard." Both were freehand artists. Even drawing the same thing, comparing them was truly difficult. At this moment, Li Sanjiang came in after bathing, bare-chested, wearing only a pair of blue boxer shorts. Seeing Li Zhuiyuan holding the book and reading, Li Sanjiang couldn't help but smile. "Hah, can you read it, Little Yuanhou." Li Zhuiyuan nodded. "I can read it." "Good, good, good. You can read it. Our Little Yuanhou is the smartest." Li Sanjiang touched Li Zhuiyuan's head, took the book from his hand, and tossed it aside. The book was all messy brush-written traditional characters, even with connected strokes. Back then, to understand it a bit, he had to go several times to ask the retired old village schoolteacher from next village. That man liked calligraphy. Later, Li Sanjiang stopped going because the last time he went to see him, Li Sanjiang had brought one of his own paper effigies. Given for free, no money taken. The man's children thanked him repeatedly. So how could he believe that this ten-year-old child Li Zhuiyuan could understand these things. "Okay, Little Yuanhou, sit there. Sit there, don't move." Li Zhuiyuan obediently sat at the designated spot. Li Sanjiang bent down and lit all the candles on the ground. Then he took three black ritual ropes, tying them to Li Zhuiyuan's wrists, ankles, and neck. After Li Sanjiang also sat down, the other ends of the three black ropes were tied to his own corresponding positions. The candle flames flickered. Li Sanjiang began muttering incantations. He chanted quickly, in Nantong dialect. Li Zhuiyuan listened carefully but couldn't understand. But he felt the tone was very similar to the little tune Great-Grandpa had hummed earlier while lying on the rattan chair after eating his fill. After chanting for a while, Li Sanjiang finally stopped. He smacked his lips, probably feeling dry mouth. But at this time it wasn't suitable to leave the array to drink water. He could only dry-cough once to clear his throat, then reached behind him, felt around, and when he pulled his hand back, he held a talisman. Li Zhuiyuan was curious. Great-Grandpa wore nothing but a pair of shorts. Where had this talisman been hidden before? After bringing the talisman to the candle to light it, Li Sanjiang began waving the talisman paper. "Hiss!" When it was almost burning his hand, Li Sanjiang slapped the talisman paper between himself and Li Zhuiyuan. "Slap!" In an instant, all the candles went out. The incandescent bulb in the room flickered a few times before returning to normal. Li Zhuiyuan looked left and right, then lowered his head to look at the black ropes tied on him: Was it... over? It seemed like there was no feeling. "Good!" Li Sanjiang stood up, walked to Li Zhuiyuan, lowered his head, and used his teeth and hands to break off the excess parts of the three ropes. But Li Zhuiyuan's neck, wrists, and ankles still had black rope circles left. "Little Yuanhou, don't untie these three rope knots tonight. Sleep like this. Tomorrow when you eat breakfast, I'll cut them off for you." "Okay, Great-Grandpa." "Mm. Go back to sleep." "Good night, Great-Grandpa." "Good night, good night." Li Zhuiyuan stood up. Just as he reached the door, he heard a "thud" behind him. Looking back, he saw Li Sanjiang clutching his foot and sitting on the floor. He had earlier been helping him bite through the rope. Just now, he had probably fallen while trying to bite through the rope on his ankle. Li Sanjiang raised both legs, crossed them, one hand behind his head, and waved the other hand at Li Zhuiyuan: "Why aren't you going to sleep yet." "Oh." Li Zhuiyuan returned to his bedroom and lay on the bed. Earlier he hadn't felt very sleepy, but the moment he touched the bed, drowsiness immediately came over him. He covered his stomach with the thin quilt and fell into a deep sleep. Next door. "It should have worked, right?" Li Sanjiang muttered to himself. "It definitely worked. The light bulb flickered. It couldn't be a circuit contact problem." Then Li Sanjiang glanced at the book thrown on the floor and doubted himself. "Wait. The person who wrote this book probably hadn't seen a light bulb back then, right?" But soon Li Sanjiang found new evidence. "What am I thinking? The candles all went out. That definitely means it worked." After saying this, Li Sanjiang stretched and went to the bed to lie down. "Ouch, today was truly exhausting. Sleep... sleep." He had done too much today, again leading corpses, again retrieving corpses, again drawing array diagrams. He was old and truly couldn't hold out. His head touched the pillow, and he immediately started snoring. But while sleeping, Li Sanjiang turned over, muttered a few sounds in his mouth, and his brow gradually furrowed. He was dreaming. In the dream, he found himself sitting on a white jade stone terrace. Around him were towering palace walls and magnificent halls. In front of him to the right was a gate archway. To the left was a large open area extending all the way to a pool and a dragon bridge. "Damn, is this the Forbidden City?" Li Sanjiang had never been to Beijing, so naturally he'd never been to the Forbidden City. But he had seen it on calendars and outdoor movie screens. Wasn't this where the emperor lived? Hey, he was actually having this dream. Interesting. Li Sanjiang subconsciously wanted to feel for a cigarette in his pocket. He needed one, didn't he? But when he reached down and felt, he grabbed something furry. Looking down, there was an orange cat lying on his leg. The orange cat seemed to have been sleeping, was woken up, and turned over somewhat discontentedly. "Get lost." Li Sanjiang mercilessly pushed the orange cat aside. After landing, the orange cat rolled around once, stood up, and meowed at him discontentedly: "Meow!" Li Sanjiang didn't care. He patted the cat fur remaining on his leg, then took out the cigarette case again, pulled out a cigarette and bit it in his mouth. He took out a match and lit it for himself. Just then, from the front-left came a "creak..." dull scraping sound. Probably the palace gate was being opened. Li Sanjiang took a drag on his cigarette. "I remember hearing that to visit the Forbidden City you have to buy a ticket. Will I be checked for fare evasion and fined?" Then Li Sanjiang slapped the back of his head. "Damn, I'm dreaming. Buy a ticket? What ticket!" He exhaled a smoke ring contentedly. Li Sanjiang smiled smugly: "This is really a bargain. To go to the Forbidden City, people have to take a long-distance train to Beijing and buy a ticket to get in. This time in my dream, it's like a tourism visit." The scraping sound of the palace gate finally stopped. Ahead, inside the three gateways, footsteps came. "Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!" Dull, neat. Li Sanjiang leaned forward slightly, puzzled. To visit the Forbidden City, do you have to line up and march in step? But soon, Li Sanjiang was stunned. Because from inside the three gateways came not tourists, but three rows of people wearing Qing dynasty official uniforms, with hat tops and flower plumes on their heads, their complexions deathly pale. They came hopping out at the same rhythm. "Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!" Li Sanjiang's cigarette in his hand had slipped at some point. Suddenly, they all stopped hopping, falling into stillness and deadly silence. The next moment, They collectively turned to the left in place, facing Li Sanjiang.