Opening the Bowl

Lao Duozi's assessment was likely correct: snuff was the right soil, and opening the bowl this time would almost certainly succeed. Once the bowl was opened, Lao Duozi would make his move on Zhang Laifu. If Zhang couldn't bring him down this time, he would be in grave danger. The thought sent a shiver straight down Zhang Laifu's spine. He was afraid, but he didn't hesitate. He had to take that bowl back. To steal it back, he had to deceive Lao Duozi! Zhang Laifu bought eight liang of Jasmine Dew and another eight liang of Shuanghua Xun. Although these two types were merely eighth- and ninth-grade snuff, the two pouches together still cost him two and a half silver dollars. Could snuff of this grade count as top-tier? Zhang Laifu figured it did. For one thing, Jasmine Dew and Shuanghua Xun were not the worst grades available. The lowest grade was called raw base—unscented tobacco that buyers had to blend with aromatics themselves after taking it home. Jasmine Dew and Shuanghua Xun were at least finished products. Since Lao Duozi could neither see nor smell, he shouldn't be able to tell their quality apart. The only possible consequence was slowing down the speed of opening the bowl. And a slower pace was exactly what Zhang Laifu was hoping for. The longer it took to open the bowl, the more time he would have to dig up the skeletal remains, and the better his odds of winning. While Lao Duozi focused on opening the bowl, Zhang Laifu could act in secret, dissolving Lao Duozi's skeletal remains so the hat and craft essence would be left to him. When that time came, he would have the bowl, he would have the seed, and the craft spirit would soon be his! Just imagining it put a spring in his step. After devouring two steamer baskets of xiaolongbao and half a jin of pig's head meat on Zhuzi Street, Zhang Laifu had the young vendor selling flatbreads recommend a blacksmith shop. This was no ordinary blacksmith shop; craftsmen worked there. Zhang Laifu spent three silver dollars on a high-quality shovel and hurried back to the old residence. The corpses had all been cleared away, leaving not a trace of blood behind. For a moment, Zhang Laifu couldn't recall where Lao Yu had left the Bone-Breaking Curse. Where he collapsed should have been to the right of the well, near the woodshed. By the spot where the talisman had been drawn, there seemed to have been a stalk of weed... what kind of grass was it again... "Laifu, did you buy the snuff?" Lao Duozi suddenly appeared before him. Zhang Laifu handed a pouch of Shuanghua Xun to Lao Duozi. He said nothing, simply watching Lao Duozi's reaction. "Good that you brought it back!" Lao Duozi held the snuff in his hand. He had no perception of size or weight, and right now he had no hearing either. He pulled the alarm clock from his robe and began winding it. "Two o'clock. It must be two o'clock." Two o'clock was very important to him. *Click, click, click, click, click...* Fully wound, the hour and minute hands spun rapidly. Once the second hand and minute hand reached the twelve together, the hour hand halted at two o'clock. Lao Duozi could hear again. Shaking the pouch of snuff in his hand, he smiled at Zhang Laifu. "Good boy. It wasn't in vain that I treated you so well. Once I grow myself a body, the next time I find a good bowl, I'll save it all for you." "Thank you, Senior." He wanted to grow a body. To grow a body, what kind of seed would be suitable? Zhang Laifu had a foreboding feeling that even after the bowl was successfully opened, he would still be of immense value. Lao Duozi carried the snuff back to the ancestral hall. He brought out the fedora, determined the position of the brim by sound, and poured the entire pouch of snuff into the hat. "This isn't top-grade snuff!" Lao Duozi grumbled, displeased. Though he could neither see nor smell, from the sound of the snuff falling into the fedora alone, he could tell the grains weren't fine enough, which proved the snuff hadn't been ground particularly well. "The amount isn't enough, either!" Lao Duozi judged from the sound. "This definitely isn't a full jin. Zhang Laifu, you little rascal, how much of my money did you pocket?" Yet despite his dissatisfaction with Zhang Laifu, the hat reacted—and reacted violently! The brim stretched outward in all directions, and the entire hat kept expanding. Listening to the sounds, Lao Duozi couldn't stop his whole body from trembling. "That's it! That's it! The soil this bowl wants is snuff! This bowl is going to open!" ... That was it! It was this stalk of foxtail! Lao Yu had drawn the talisman right beside this foxtail grass! Zhang Laifu dug into the earth with all his might. The weather had been freezing lately, and the soil was frozen hard. Relying entirely on the fine shovel, Zhang Laifu exerted immense effort until he finally dug out a deep pit. Something hard lay below. Had he already hit the coffin? Zhang Laifu levered hard and dug a stone out of the pit. Useless. Zhang Laifu kept digging down. This time, he hit wood. Wood had to be the coffin! Excited, Zhang Laifu pried the wood up, only to find a palm-sized wooden box filled with silver dollars. This was no use for now! Zhang Laifu set the box aside and kept digging. He unearthed a ceramic jar, fairly large in size. Still useless! Zhang Laifu continued digging. After a moment, he glanced back at the ceramic jar. The jar looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen something like it before. He remembered—he had seen one in a funeral parlor before. This was an ash urn! Zhang Laifu had always been searching for a corpse, never considering that Lao Duozi might not have an intact body at all. This ash urn belonged to Lao Duozi! Could Li Yunsheng's potion destroy ashes? It should! Shovel in hand, Zhang Laifu tried to pry open the ash urn. Well-made though the shovel was, he pried for ages without budging the lid a single millimeter. Try the clay knife Lin Shaocong gave him! Zhang Laifu worked at it with the knife for quite a while, to no avail. In his desperation, he wanted to smash the urn, but if Lao Duozi had already regained his hearing, such a loud noise would surely alert him. "Good! Wonderful!" Lao Duozi's laughter drifted over from the main courtyard. Hearing how delighted he sounded, opening the bowl must have succeeded! If Lao Duozi successfully opened the bowl, Zhang Laifu had very little time left. Zhang Laifu hoisted the urn and slammed it violently against the ground. Alerting him didn't matter anymore; there was no time to care about that. Smash it first, then pour the potion—it all came down to who acted faster. *Bang!* The urn slammed into the stone slabs, but it didn't break. From the main courtyard came Lao Duozi's shout: "Laifu! There's not enough snuff! Do you have any more over there?" Zhang Laifu called back, "Yes! I'll bring it right over!" He raised the urn and slammed it down once more. The urn still hadn't broken—not even a hairline crack. Lao Duozi shouted, "Bring it here, quick!" "Coming right now!" Just as Zhang Laifu lifted the urn again, Lao Duozi suddenly appeared right in front of him. "Laifu, what are you busy with here? You've been digging all this time—what are you digging for?" From the moment Zhang Laifu began digging, Lao Duozi had heard it, crystal clear. Zhang Laifu picked up the wooden box from the ground and handed it to Lao Duozi. Lao Duozi took the box and shook it by his ear. *Clatter! Clatter!* It was full of silver dollars. "Hiding money, are you?" Lao Duozi chuckled. "You sure know how to run a household!" Zhang Laifu gave a dry laugh. "I just wanted to save a little..." Lao Duozi kicked Zhang Laifu down to the ground. "I told you, don't lie to me. Everyone who's lied to me ended up in the Canghan River feeding the fish!" His hearing was back; Zhang Laifu couldn't fool him anymore. What now? Lao Duozi shook the wooden box again. "You saved this? This box is mine, this money is mine, and every damn cent of it was skimmed from me!" Zhang Laifu pursed his lips. Their focus was completely different. Wait! He said the box was his—did that mean he was the one who buried the money? If the money was buried here, right next to the ash urn, and he still couldn't find his own remains? Was this what Li Yunsheng meant when he said Lao Duozi wouldn't know even if it were right in front of his face? Lao Duozi fumed, "A little skimming would be one thing, but you pocketed this much! The bowl is right on the verge of opening, yet you didn't buy enough snuff! Without enough soil, the bowl will be ruined! What are we going to do?" The bowl was on the verge of opening. Zhang Laifu said, "I have more snuff." That was the truth! "Where is it?" Lao Duozi's eyes were bloodshot and veins bulged on his forehead, looking ready to murder Zhang Laifu on the spot. Zhang Laifu did have another pouch of snuff. The real question was whether he could hand it over to Lao Duozi. If he handed it over now and there was enough snuff for the bowl to open successfully, Zhang Laifu would surely lose his life. Yet if he refused to hand it over and opening the bowl failed, Lao Duozi might kill him this very second. After a moment of silence, Zhang Laifu picked up the ash urn and held it out to Lao Duozi. "Senior, there's definitely enough snuff!"