Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Path Within the Ancestral Hall

When we sneaked back, it was all hush-hush—don’t ask me why. As Fatty put it, this was “alarming the snake in the grass.” Zhuangyuan Village at night was dead silent. Country places have plenty of dogs, and Fatty had bought a good amount of braised snacks. This guy is full of tricks: whenever a dog appeared, he tossed a piece of meat its way. In no time, nearly every dog in the village was trailing after him.

Outside the ancestral hall, Fatty clung to his paper bag, waving his hand nonstop, grumbling, “Go, go, go, too many of you, not too many either…”

“You’re really arguing with the dogs now? Just give it all to them and be done with it.”

“Easy for you to say. It’s freezing out here—if we don’t have a couple of shots of Chinese gin, we’ll freeze to death. And what’s the point of drinking without some meat? Why don’t you spit out whatever’s in your mouth and feed it to the dogs?”

Char Wenbin gave us one word as our instruction: wait.

Wait for what? For the right time.

Taoists seem especially fond of the hour of the Rat—midnight. Otherwise, why would people who deal with ghosts all year round pick that time? At that hour, only ghosts are still wandering about. Most people couldn’t bear to stay in this spooky place—imagine, just a door away, hundreds of coffins stacked as neatly as shipping containers at a dock. Only the few of us, thick-skinned as ever, could still drink and eat as if nothing were amiss.

Once Fatty had a few drinks, his tongue loosened as usual. He started rambling, “Master Char, if we go in at midnight, won’t we disturb the residents?”

I shoved a chicken leg into his mouth. “If you’d just shut up, nobody would mistake you for a mute. At this hour, the residents are just waking up—no, wait, they’re just climbing out of their coffins!”

Char Wenbin checked his watch and, seeing it was nearly time, said to Fatty and me, “Once we’re inside, only touch what you’re supposed to. All the ancestors of the Zhou family are honored here—even if there’s trouble, it shouldn’t be too bad. But it’s not right to deal with their descendants in front of them. We need to move the body outside. I noticed an abandoned shack near the village entrance during the day, not far from the mine, standing all alone. We’ll take the body there.”

Fatty, as usual, had something to say about that. “Move it? How? That thing smells worse than crap!”

“Carry it out.” The moment those three words left Char Wenbin’s lips, I nearly doubled over with laughter. Needless to say, such a delightful task would fall to Fatty—who else, with his strength?

Fatty wasn’t stupid. Seeing me laugh so hard, he immediately protested, “I’m not carrying it. Every time there’s a dirty job, it falls to me. Not today!”

“Nobody’s asking you to. I’ll do it. Xiao Yi, you handle the light. Stone, you carry the lantern and lead the way. Listen up: once we’re inside, I’ll open two paths—a yin and a yang. If you take the wrong one, you might not make it back.”

Fatty’s eyes darted as he looked at me. “Then I’ll handle the light—let Xiao Yi carry the corpse!”

Just the suggestion gave me cold sweats. If it really came to that, I’d surrender on the spot. Thankfully, Char Wenbin came to my rescue: “He can’t. They’re relatives. There are rules about carrying corpses. Elders can carry juniors to suppress them; juniors can carry elders as an act of filial piety. But peers mustn’t carry each other—if you’re not careful, the spirit might cling to you and never let go. So, it’s either me or you.”

Fatty was speechless for a long while before finally squeezing out, “Then…then you carry it. I’ll find the way.”

“Can you really lead the way?” Char Wenbin countered.

“What’s so hard about that? The little house is at the village entrance, right? Don’t worry, you won’t get lost with me.”

Char Wenbin chuckled. “All right, I’ll carry it. But if you can’t find the way, we’ll switch.”

“Deal!” Fatty thought, How could I possibly get lost? I could find that place with my eyes closed. Anyway, anything’s better than carrying a corpse.

“Let’s go. Once we’re inside, keep quiet. Don’t breathe on the corpse, and don’t touch anything you shouldn’t.” With that, Char Wenbin pushed open the door and stepped in first.

The moment we entered, a chill hit us, carrying a musty smell mixed with the unique, fishy scent of incense and candles. It was nothing like during the day. Inside, Char Wenbin didn’t head straight for Zhou Bocai. Instead, he stopped before the bronze incense burner. Fatty and I stood behind him. Fatty glanced around nervously and whispered, “To be honest, I’ve dug up plenty of graves, but nowhere compares to this place. Even I can smell the presence of ghosts here.”

I replied irritably, “Just say one less word. Nobody will think you’re a mute. We’re not stealing or robbing—nobody will bother us.”

Meanwhile, Char Wenbin had already taken out a handful of incense sticks, lighting them with his fire striker. He handed three each to Fatty and me, then raised his own above his head and intoned, “Ancestors of the Zhou family, I, a descendant of the Char clan, have no relation to you. Today I pass through your hall only because Zhou Bocai, your descendant, has been wronged by evildoers. I come to uncover the truth and clear his name so he may rest in peace. If we disturb your rest, I, Char Wenbin, beg your pardon.”

With that, Char Wenbin bowed in three directions, incense in hand. Fatty and I hurried to imitate him, then stuck the incense into the bronze burner. Char Wenbin gave us a look, and we crept toward Zhou Bocai’s coffin.

It looked much the same as it had during the day. I had a flashlight, the kind with a yellowish hue and a white metal handle—bought on the way here. When Char Wenbin turned the body over, my light happened to fall on Zhou Bocai’s face. The scene was so terrifying my hair probably stood up straighter than if I’d used hair gel. My hand shook, and I dropped the flashlight right into the coffin.

Instantly, everything went dark. Fatty cried out, “Good heavens, don’t scare me like that!”

I quickly grabbed Char Wenbin’s arm, whispering, “Wenbin, are you there?”

“Mm.”

“I’m scared.” My hands were shaking, holding his arm, and my whole body was trembling. “I swear, I saw him grinning at me…”

“Don’t be afraid. I’m here.” That was all he said, then I heard some rustling before he handed me back the flashlight. “Hold it tight and stay close behind me. Stone, it’s your turn to lead the way.”

With the flashlight back in my hand, I felt a little safer. That’s when I noticed Char Wenbin already had the corpse on his back—yet strangely, there was no smell at all.

“All set?” Fatty clearly wanted nothing more than to get out of there and spun around to leave. But after a few steps, he realized we weren’t following and turned back, “What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

Char Wenbin, setting the corpse half-upright on the coffin, said, “You’re going the wrong way.”

“How’s that? Please, Master Char, don’t mess with me. The main door’s right there!” Fatty pointed. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. I aimed my flashlight in the direction he indicated—but there was no door. The door had vanished.

“Ghost wall?” That was the first thing that popped into my head—a term Char Wenbin often used. I’d only ever heard my grandpa mention it before. In this place, at this time, a ghost wall seemed almost expected. If we’d just walked out with the corpse, that would’ve been truly miraculous.

Fatty darted back to us, shivering. “Master Char, what…what’s going on?”

“It’s easy to invite gods in, but hard to send them away. We’re outsiders in the ancestral hall. There’s no way they’d let us walk out so easily. Old Man Zhou was a master. When he built this place, he left some tricks behind. The Eight Trigram Maze of Zhuge Liang—back then, Zhuge could stop an army of a hundred thousand; trapping three of us is nothing. I noticed during the day the arrangement of coffins here is deliberate. East, south, west, and north—four directions, with only the southern door left open. But you didn’t notice there’s another door to the south, now sealed into the wall.

“The saying goes, ‘Split into eight, reunite as one.’ There are six other doors in this hall, all walled up. The one left open is an exit during the day—a life-gate. At night, it becomes a death-gate. And the life-gate only opens on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month. These eight gates are always shifting. On every other day, it’s a one-way gate—you can enter, but you can’t leave. That’s why the Zhou descendants always remember: only on the first and fifteenth can you come here to pay respects. Otherwise, how do you think all these coffins have sat here for a thousand years without losing a single brick or tile?”

Even Fatty was convinced. “So, Master Char, can you show us the way? Can I still lead?”

“You can’t. I said before: these eight gates follow the Eight Trigram Maze and the cycles of the stars and five elements. Only on the first and fifteenth are the main gates open. The rest of the time, you have to calculate your way out.”

“So what now? If it comes to it, I’ll climb the wall!”

“Don’t underestimate this place. There are carvings of heaven, earth, wind, cloud, dragon, tiger, bird, and snake on the roof tiles—eight kinds of formations guard this place. You can try to climb, but I can’t guarantee you’ll make it home tomorrow.”

“What would happen?”

Char Wenbin pointed to the corpse on his back. “Perhaps you’ll end up like him.”

Fatty’s face nearly collapsed, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak. Finally, I said, “Fine. Let the professionals do the professional work. You’re just destined for hard labor. Let’s stick to the original plan: you carry the body, Wenbin leads the way.”

“All right, all right. It doesn’t stink anymore anyway. I’ll carry it. Just burn a pot of mugwort for me when we get back—I need a good soak to ward off bad luck.”

Char Wenbin grinned. “So you know about mugwort?”

Fatty hoisted up the corpse. “Of course. My grandma was practically a living immortal!”

With his hands free, Char Wenbin began placing objects on the ground—eight small stones in all, which he kept rearranging. Sometimes he looked up at the night sky, sometimes down at his compass. The shifting of the stones made my eyes blur, like watching a master gambler shuffling tiles.

After about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Char Wenbin stood up. “All right, follow me!”

Then I noticed his steps were completely different from usual. And right after, I saw something I hadn’t seen since I was a child…

Good night—that’s all for tonight. Two chapters.