Chapter 14: The Ghostly Substitute

  Man proposes, God disposes; the opportunity came soon enough.

  "Is anyone home? Is Second Brother at home? Open the door!" The voice outside was knocking on the door and shouting, sounding like Big Uncle's voice. Second Aunt quickly ran out to open the door.

  "It's actually big brother, what's up so early?" Second Uncle stretched out a lazy waist.

  Nothing much, a fellow soldier of mine got terminal lung cancer a while back, spent over three months in the hospital and used up all his family's savings, even sold their house to pay for treatment, but didn't make it. He died after being home for just a few days, hung himself. It's not like he's still alive or anything, but his eldest son keeps having dreams about him at night and now he's talking nonsense, shouting "save me" whenever he sees someone. Next to Big Uncle was another person who seemed to be a relative of that family, staring at Second Uncle with a nervous expression.

  "Dad, spare me, I beg of you." The young man who was just standing suddenly knelt down in front of Second Uncle, and Second Uncle quickly pulled him up.

  "Is this kid his son?" Second Uncle carefully looked at that nervous little brat.

  "Yes, he is the son of my fellow comrade. This kid has always been quite filial, but after graduating, he couldn't find a good job and now he's gone crazy. You must help him out because of this matter, his girlfriend even broke up with him." Big Brother looked at Second Uncle with an almost pleading gaze.

  "Hanged to death! How long has he been dead?" Second Uncle got dressed, and Little Sister also found his pouch. Clever Little Sister was already used to it, whenever someone came looking for Second Uncle, she would prepare the things he needed.

  "It was about seven days ago, today is his seventh day, please go and drive out the evil spirits, see if there's anything unclean. I don't want to be affected by bad luck either, but there's no way, we were quite close when we were in the army together, he was always very healthy, how did he just suddenly pass away?" Uncle frowned and shook his head, looking regretful.

  "It's like that, he must be resentful of his death, now in the underworld with no money to spend, blaming his son. Xiao Yu, hurry up and change your clothes, let's go with me." Er Shu said while putting on his clothes and shoes.

  "Ow, my stomach hurts, it's killing me. Second Aunt, do you have any medicine for diarrhea? Why is my stomach hurting so much? Ow, I don't think I can hold on anymore, I need to go to the bathroom, Second Uncle, you go first." After saying that, I covered my stomach and rushed to the toilet, it just so happened that my stomach was really uncomfortable, it didn't seem like I was faking it.

  "Xiao Yu, you little scoundrel, you were fine just now, but now that business has come up, you're acting up again. I told you to stay home and behave yourself these past few days." Second Uncle didn't think much of it, after all, even if I went, I wouldn't be of much help. Second Uncle took the backpack handed to him by Second Aunt and glared at me, preparing to leave.

  "Uncle, when can you come back? The road is so far away!" Little sister said, pulling on uncle's arm.

  "I reckon it'll be late evening before we get back, that family is in Lǐ Zhuāng, about 20 miles of mountain road from here, don't worry, I and your dad will come back together, nothing can happen." As he spoke, Dàbó and èrshū led that nervous-looking person away.

  Watching them walk away, I hurried out of the toilet, the opportunity has finally come, take advantage of it now, and tell Erniang and Xiaomei about the situation of Second Uncle being possessed by a ghost.

  After finishing breakfast, Erniang went to feed the chicken, and Xiaomei was washing clothes. Looking at them, the words that came to my mouth were hard to say out loud, because Uncle being possessed by a ghost is not a small matter, I'm really afraid they can't accept it. But thinking of the appointment with Master Xuanclear, I made up my mind to tell them no matter what.

  "Second daughter, little sister, you two come into the house for a moment, I have something to tell you." I looked around and saw that there was no one outside the gate, so I closed it tightly.

  "Xiao Yu, what's going on that's so mysterious, and why did you even close the big gate?" Erniang felt that I was a bit abnormal today.

  "Second sister, little sister, I've had something on my mind that I wanted to tell you both but was too afraid to say, fearing you wouldn't believe me." My heart is racing with anxiety, why did this hateful evil spirit possess my second uncle's body.

  "Xiao Yu, why are you being so evasive? Erniang is not an outsider, she's the one who took care of you when you were little. Whatever it is, just say it straight out, I'm listening." Erniang looked at me with a puzzled expression, and I took the opportunity to close all the doors and windows, afraid that someone might overhear and spread rumors.

  "Second daughter, the person who came to deliver the chicken yesterday was an imposter. He wasn't a chicken seller at all." Second daughter's eyes widened in surprise.

  "What? Not selling chickens? That person you and your little sister brought back, what is he doing if not selling chickens?" Second Mother doubted whether my words were true or false.

  "Second sister, actually that person's Taoist name is Xuán Qīng, he is a Taoist priest who specializes in driving out ghosts and capturing demons. Yesterday he came to our house just to see if second uncle was possessed by a ghost, if so, he would think of ways to drive the ghost away." Finally finished saying what I wanted to say, feeling much lighter in my heart.

  The two girls looked at me incredulously after hearing what I said. However, neither of them spoke up nor called me out for speaking nonsense.

  "Second sister, do you still remember? Last time I went to drive out the evil spirits with Second Uncle, he was like a different person after we came out of that family's house. Since then, so many things have happened. On the second night after he returned, all the dogs in the village were bitten to death. And yesterday, our chickens at home were drained of blood, but when I asked Second Uncle about it, he said it was a weasel and even licked the blood off the injured chicken with a pleased expression."

  "Brother, I also saw it that night when I was sleeping. In the quilt, I felt someone secretly watching me. When I opened a small gap in the quilt, I actually saw Dad staring at me with a silly smile on his face, and he was right next to my face, which scared me to death. But would Dad be staring at me foolishly if he were possessed by a ghost? I really don't dare believe that Dad is a ghost, if he were, he should have harmed me long ago." The little sister said while hugging Erniang's arm tightly.

  "Xiao Yu, what you said is true. Since your second uncle came back last time, he has indeed changed into a different person. I know all the things you mentioned, and also that night when three students from the city came to play, two of them disappeared leaving only a pile of white bones behind, and only Zhao Yun's soul was left, returning in a daze. Your second uncle was also nowhere to be found at home, and there were animal cries in the courtyard, it really scared me to death. But this can't prove that all these things were done by your second uncle, we didn't see them with our own eyes, unless I see it with my own eyes, I absolutely won't believe he's possessed by a ghost." Erniang said, glancing secretly at the gate, she was really worried that her second brother-in-law would suddenly come back.

  "Mother, I saw it this morning, two more big roosters were bitten to death in the chicken coop, and there's not a drop of blood on the ground. And last night, Father seemed to have gone out for a long time and didn't come back. When he just left the house, I heard what sounded like an animal's mournful cry." Little sister looked at me and Second Mother with terror in her eyes.

  That day at the mourning hall in Lion's Tooth Slope, what did Second Uncle bring back? If he wouldn't eat unless he sucked chicken blood, why didn't he go suck human blood instead? This question led to more of my deep thinking, but no matter what it was, this ghost had to be driven away.

  "Second sister, little sister, you two don't be afraid, I've already made an appointment with Daoist Qing, taking advantage of Second Uncle not being at home, to have him come to our house and perform a ritual, set up a ritual array, and when Second Uncle comes back, drive away the evil spirit on his body. Today is a good opportunity, I'll call Daoist Qing in a moment, second sister, what do you think?"

  "Xiao Yu, driving out the ghost won't harm your Second Uncle, will it? You'd better tell Master Xuanclear about this. If he can't guarantee your Second Uncle's safety, I'd rather not have the ghost exorcised." Erniang's tears welled up in her eyes; if anything happened to Second Uncle, she would become a widow.

  "Don't worry, Second Auntie, I'll go call Daoist Xu Qing right away. He's a professional ghost catcher and will definitely guarantee Second Uncle's safety. He told me so himself." I looked at Second Auntie and Little Sister with determination, and they both nodded in agreement.

  The second daughter-in-law and the younger sister were stunned, they had seen the uncle's abnormal behavior for several days. Moreover, both the second daughter-in-law and the younger sister had been frightened several times, and my previous words further deepened their fear, they must be worried that if the ghost is not driven away, our whole family will be killed by the ghost. The second daughter-in-law and the younger sister were indeed very reluctant to believe that the uncle was a ghost, but the fact was not so.

  "Second sister, I'm going to call Master Xu Qing, you all don't go anywhere, and whatever you do, don't tell anyone else." With that, I quickly ran out.

  After explaining the situation to Master Xu Qing, he arrived in less than an hour. From a distance, I saw that Master Xu was still dressed as a farmer, but this time he wasn't carrying a chicken coop, instead, he was holding a bamboo basket filled with a pile of small chicks.

  "Freshly hatched chicks, one yuan each, do you want to buy a few, sister?" I and Erniang stood at the door waiting for Master Xuanclear. Master Xuanclear picked up the basket and grabbed a chick to show us.

  "What a lovely chick! My family's chickens are all big roosters, just missing a few little chicks. Hurry up and bring them in so we can pick some out." Second Aunt hastily closed the large door. Master Xuanning gave me a knowing glance.

  "Please come in." I led Daozhang into the house and closed the door.

  "Are you really Daozhang Xuqing?" Erniang looked up and down at the Daoist priest, hardly daring to believe her eyes. This was clearly not the old farmer who sold chickens yesterday, how could he possibly look like a Daoist priest?

  "Daozhang, when you exorcise the ghost, please ensure my second uncle's safety. My old man is not a bad person, he's also a Daoist who specializes in exorcising ghosts and capturing demons, just like you. Please, I beg of you!" Erniang's tears welled up in her eyes as she feared something unexpected might happen.

  "Sisters, believe me, I dare to guarantee that as long as you follow my instructions, nothing will go wrong. You two go out first, take advantage of Second Uncle not being at home, and I'll set up the spell array now. Keep an eye on the door, if he comes back early, let me know." Master Xuanqing opened his backpack, which was full of things used to drive away evil spirits. I often went with Second Uncle to drive away evil spirits, so I recognized those things - there were a compass, talismans, red strings, and a large yellow cloth with a huge eight trigrams diagram drawn on it.

  The Daozhang held the compass and turned it around in the house. The pointer happened to be pointing at Ershu's room, spinning even more fiercely.

  "It's right here," said Daozhang as he took out a packet of powder and gently blew it under the compass.

  "This is the place with the heaviest yin energy, and the vengeful spirits that possess people are usually those whose souls cannot rest. That's why they need to find an extremely cold and yin place to manifest." The Taoist priest said as he began to chant a spell, and then picked up a book to flip through it.

  "What else do you need me to do? Just tell me, is there anything I can help with?" I said confidently.

  "Dolls, just do as I say later, by the way, tell me your second uncle's birth eight characters, I'll calculate." I always go out to drive evil with my second uncle, of course his birth eight characters are recited fluently, and told Daozhang.

  "Your Second Uncle was destined to have this calamity, but in misfortune there is fortune, and in fortune there is misfortune. It depends on his fate whether he can resolve it. When your Second Uncle went to that family to exorcise the evil spirit, he must have been replaced by someone else." Xuan Qing Daozhang changed into a yellow Taoist robe, lit three incense sticks and placed them on the table, then began reciting an incantation that I couldn't understand.