The story of Zhang Cai'e's stove spread like wildfire throughout the village.
The versions varied. Some said Master Chen's grandson was truly skilled, subduing the troublesome Kitchen God with a single spatula; others scoffed, saying Zhang Cai'e, long a widow, was using it as an excuse to seduce a young man; even more outrageous rumors circulated that I stayed at her house until midnight, doing something shameful.
I ignored these gossips. The dozen or so yuan in my pocket gave me my first taste of earning money through "craftsmanship," a meager amount, yet with a strange sense of security. The obscure manuals and formulas left by my grandfather, which used to give me a headache, now made sense when I couldn't sleep at night and would get up to look at them.
Of course, most of the time, I was driven by youthful restlessness. Zhang Cai'e's hesitant gaze that night kept replaying in my mind. I did go "take a look," but I only dared to wander around the outside of the courtyard wall, listening to the television inside, and didn't dare knock. Finally, I sheepishly went home and continued reading my "Dragon, Tiger, and Leopard" (a popular children's book), inwardly cursing myself for being so spineless.
Just as I was pondering whether I should "expand my business" and proactively visit other aunties in the village who might need help, business came knocking on my door.
It wasn't adults who came, but a few snotty-nosed teenagers, led by Tie Dan from the east end of the village.
"Brother Cha Nan! Brother Cha Nan! Help!" Tie Dan ran, his face flushed, panting, followed by three or four equally panicked little kids.
"What's wrong? Whose stove is smoking again?" I deliberately put on a stern face, trying to appear mature.
"No...it's not the stove!" Tie Dan shook his head vigorously, his eyes filled with genuine fear, "It's...it's that old locust tree at the village entrance! There's a ghost! A female ghost!"
The old locust tree? A thought struck me. That was the oldest tree in the village, requiring three or four people to encircle it, said to be over a hundred years old. Its canopy was magnificent, a perfect shade in the summer. Grandpa had mentioned before that the area under that tree was eerily gloomy, and advised against going there, especially at night.
"Tell me slowly, what kind of female ghost?" I gestured for them to come inside and poured them a bowl of water.
The children eagerly shared their stories, their voices clattering together, finally piecing together a rough outline:
These past two afternoons after school, they'd been playing under the locust tree, playing marbles. They kept hearing a woman crying, sobbing and whimpering. At first, they thought it was just a wife who'd been upset, and didn't pay much attention. But yesterday, Tiedan's marble rolled into a collapsed mouse hole under the tree roots. He reached in to retrieve it, but what he touched wasn't a marble, but a cold, slippery, hair-like thing! It even jerked back!
He was terrified. This afternoon, taking advantage of their numbers and curiosity, they went closer to get a better look. Then they saw, from the cracks in the roots of the big tree, the faint shadow of a woman in an old-fashioned red dress occasionally drifting out. The crying became clearer, as if she was still muttering something like "heartless man" and "I've waited so long."
Now who would dare play? The group of boys were terrified and ran straight to me.
"Brother Cha Nan, you could even handle Aunt Cai'e's Kitchen God, this female ghost…you can handle it too, right?" Tie Dan looked at me expectantly, and the other children nodded like chickens pecking at rice.
I felt a little apprehensive. The one by the stove, at least, was a "filthy spirit" attached to the house, with a tangible form. This female ghost under the old tree in the wild sounded like an old "bound spirit" or "vengeful ghost," possibly even more difficult to deal with than the Kitchen God.
But seeing the trusting (or rather, desperate) eyes of the children, I couldn't let my newly established image as "Master Chen" crumble. Besides, Grandpa's notes seemed to mention methods for dealing with these wandering ghosts…
"Alright! Take me to see!" I straightened my not-so-broad chest again, slung Grandpa's canvas bag over my shoulder. This time, besides the usual items, I also made a point of stuffing in Grandpa's old, faded Taoist robe—the one he wore for rituals—to make a good impression!
When we arrived at the old locust tree at the village entrance, the sun was already setting. The orange-red afterglow filtered through the massive canopy, casting dappled shadows on the ground. The old tree stood silently, its bark cracked like an old man's skin, its branches gnarled and twisted, exuding a truly eerie aura in the twilight.
The children, keeping their distance, pointed to the roots: "There! Over there in the crack!"
I moved closer, focusing my attention. A faint, cool aura emanated from the trunk and roots, but it wasn't violent; instead, it had a mournful, lingering quality. The soil beneath the tree was damp, and the collapsed mouse hole, dark and ominous, resembled an eye.
I didn't act immediately. Instead, I walked around the old locust tree, observing it carefully. On the shady side, about a person's height above the ground, there seemed to be some blurry carvings on the bark. I leaned closer to look and could vaguely make out a few characters, mostly obscured by time and the growth of the bark, but I could still make out two names, with a crooked heart shape carved between them.
"Chen...Afu, Zhang...Xiuqin?" I tried to make out the names. Chen Afu sounded familiar; it seemed to be an old bachelor from the village who had died many years ago. Zhang Xiuqin...I had no recollection.
"This tree, did something happen to it before?" I turned to ask Tiedan and the others.
The children shook their heads blankly. An old man herding cattle passing by slowly chimed in, "Xiuqin…sigh, that was before Liberation. She was a maidservant in the Zhang landlord's family in the neighboring village. She fell in love with Chen Afu, a farmhand from our village who worked for them. The landlord, being a snob, insisted on marrying Xiuqin off to an old widower in town as his second wife. On the wedding day, Xiuqin ran to this locust tree, which was still a sapling at the time, and saw Afu, who had secretly come to see her off, for the last time. I heard they hugged and cried for a long time. Later, Xiuqin was still tied up and carried away in a sedan chair. Less than half a year later, news came that Xiuqin couldn't bear it at her husband's house and threw herself into a well. Afu, that boy, became mentally unstable from then on. He would sit under this tree all day long, and later he also died of illness. Poor thing…"
The old man sighed and led his cattle away.
So they were a pair of star-crossed lovers. Was Zhang Xiuqin's vengeful spirit lingering here, waiting for her Afu brother? Or was it resentment towards the injustice of fate? I had a better understanding. These ghosts, those who died for love or with lingering resentment, are fixated on "love" and "unfulfilled wishes." They are often not vengeful spirits, but their resentment is persistent and difficult to dissipate.
It was getting dark. I told the children to go home first and come back tomorrow. Tonight, I had to meet this "Miss Xiuqin."
Night completely fell; the moon hadn't risen yet, only a few scattered stars. The old locust tree looked like a huge ghostly shadow in the darkness. I put on my slightly oversized old Taoist robe, lit a windproof oil lamp and placed it under the tree, then took three incense sticks from my bag, lit them, and placed them at the base of the tree.
"Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, the living and the dead are separated, each has their own path." I mimicked my grandfather's tone, speaking to the locust tree. "Zhang Xiuqin, Chen Afu has long since passed away. Your waiting here is futile. If you have any unfulfilled wishes, perhaps you can speak them to me, and if it is within my power, I may help you find peace."
The night wind rustled through the leaves, making a sound like sobbing.
After waiting a while, there was no response. The incense burned straight upwards.
I scratched my head. It seemed that this flowery approach wouldn't work. After thinking for a moment, I changed my approach. What this Xiuqin girl couldn't let go of most was probably that past love. Should I... simulate it?
This idea was a bit bold, even absurd. But the nature of youth dictates that if you think of something, you should do it.
I cleared my throat, lowered my voice, and in what I thought was a deeply affectionate tone, addressed the crack in the locust tree, stammering, "Xiuqin... Xiuqin... it's me, Afu... I'm back..."
Before I finished speaking, a sudden change occurred!
The incense sticks burst into three bright green sparks! A dark red, blood-like liquid slowly seeped from the soil where the incense sticks were inserted! At the same time, a distinctly chilling aura surged from the crack in the tree roots, and the surrounding temperature plummeted.
My hair stood on end, but I forced myself not to back down.
The shadow at the crack began to twist and writhe, gradually coalescing into the blurry outline of a woman dressed in an old-fashioned red dress. I couldn't see her face, but I could feel a "gaze" falling upon me, filled with inquiry, sorrow, and a hint of... doubt?
"Ah…Brother Fu?" A faint, mournful female voice echoed in my mind, unlike anything I heard. "Is…is it really you? You…why are you so late…I've been waiting…so long…"
The voice was plaintive, heart-wrenching. But at the same time, the chilling aura intensified, as if it were seeping into my very bones.
I forced myself to continue the act: "It's…it's me. Xiuqin, I'm sorry I'm late. Don't wait here anymore, come with me…come with me to where we're supposed to go."
"To where we're supposed to go?" The female ghost's voice suddenly became shrill, filled with resentment. "Where is the place we're supposed to go? The underworld? I won't go! I'll wait for you! You said you'd take me away! You lied to me! You all lied to me!"
As she became more agitated, a chilling wind arose, causing the oil lamp flame to flicker violently, and the dark red "blood" seeped out even faster. The blurry red shadow swelled up, as if about to pounce.
I knew I was in trouble; I'd messed up! This female ghost's obsession runs too deep; it can't be resolved with just a few words. Love, indeed, is the most troublesome thing!
As the red shadow grew clearer, a pale, withered hand with sharp nails seemed about to emerge from the shadows. I frantically rummaged through my bag for my copper coin sword and talisman.
Just then, a thought flashed through my mind! No, I can't force it! Grandpa always said, "The one who tied the knot must untie it." Perhaps, to deal with the demon of obsessive love…
I stopped taking out my ritual implements and instead faced the eerie wind and the red shadow, using every romantic trope I'd ever read in my eighteen years of life (mainly from handwritten copies), shouting in an even more emotional (and nauseating) tone: "Xiuqin! I didn't lie to you! Look! I'm here! I've been working hard down there, saving money, just so I could come and pick you up in style! Look, I even changed into new clothes (tugged at my old Taoist robe)! Come with me, let's go somewhere no one knows us, and start over! I'll farm, you weave, and we'll have a bunch of kids…"
I don't even know what I was rambling on about; I just went for the sweetest, most cheesy stuff, the most "promises" I could muster. Sweet words poured out like they were free.
Strangely enough, after I shouted this rambling nonsense, the surging eerie wind slowly subsided. The seeping "blood" stopped. The oil lamp flame stabilized.
The blurry red figure silently "watched" me, seemingly trying to discern, hesitating.
"You...you're telling the truth?" The female ghost's voice returned to its eerie, mournful tone, but the resentment had lessened, replaced by hesitation and...expectation?
"Absolutely true!" I patted my chest, gesturing wildly, "If there's even a sliver of falsehood, may I be struck by lightning!" At least, it wouldn't be me, Chen Afu, who would be struck.
The red figure slowly drifted closer, its chilling aura almost touching my face. I held my breath, motionless.
"Brother Afu...you...you seem to have changed..." the female ghost's voice was filled with doubt.
"Cough cough," I coughed twice, "The food down there isn't good, the work is tiring, I've lost weight, and...and become more handsome!" I almost bit my tongue.
"Pfft..."
An extremely faint, almost imperceptible chuckle, like a hallucination.
The red figure remained silent for a while longer, then began to slowly fade, becoming transparent. The lingering, chilling, and mournful aura slowly dissipated.
"Brother Afu... I... I think I've really waited for you..." The voice faded into the distance, finally disappearing into the night wind.
The three incense sticks snapped in two. The dark red liquid that seeped out quickly seeped into the soil and vanished. Under the old locust tree, the stillness of the night returned, broken only by the chirping of insects.
My legs went weak, and I plopped down on the ground, my Taoist robe soaked with cold sweat.
This...this is it? With a string of nonsensical sweet talk, I...coaxed away a female ghost who had waited for decades?
I gasped for breath before finally getting up. After gathering my things, I looked back at the old locust tree. The moonlight streamed down, casting dappled shadows, seemingly softening the somber atmosphere and adding a touch of gentleness.
"Xiuqin, may you rest in peace. In your next life, may you be reborn into a better family and find someone who loves you." I murmured to myself, carrying the lantern as I walked back.
On the way, I felt uneasy. A little scared, a little relieved, and a strange, indescribable feeling. That "womanizer" truly lived up to his reputation; he almost got me, this "fake Afu," all entangled.
However, after this experience, I seemed to have a new understanding of what Grandpa had taught me. Dealing with these "things" wasn't all about fighting and killing; sometimes, you also needed to understand "human relationships," and even… you needed to be able to act?
Back home, I was so tired I collapsed into bed and fell asleep immediately. In my dream, that red-eyed woman's mountain appeared again, but this time, there seemed to be the shadow of a locust tree at the foot of the mountain, and under the tree, two blurry figures seemed to be nestled…
The next day, Tiedan and the others ran over, excitedly saying that it wasn't cold under the old locust tree anymore, and there was no more crying. The way they looked at me was like they were looking at a deity.
I waved my hand dismissively, feigning profundity, but inwardly I was calculating whether I should go and finish up the "follow-up service" with Zhang Cai'e. And what about those other aunties in the village, spending their nights alone, perhaps with their own "hidden worries"...? Perhaps I could expand my "business scope" a bit more?
The anxieties and ambitions of youth always come and go quickly. The grief of my grandfather's passing seemed to be somewhat diluted by these bizarre experiences and a certain thought quietly growing within me.
Walking between the living and the dead, perhaps it's not just about exorcising evil spirits, but maybe... a field of peach blossoms? I stroked my chin, looking at my still-handsome face reflected in the water vat, revealing an expression somewhere between a silly grin and a sly smile.