#25: Nuo Ritual

That evening, a roaring bonfire was lit on the grassy area east of Dong Family Fortress. It was the night of the Nuo ritual, and to appease Yezhen’s soul and other resentful spirits, Ma Wenshan had moved the group sacrificial dance forward to this night.

The firewood piled beneath the bonfire was a full three zhang (about 10 meters) high, and the flames shot skyward. People wearing masks held bronze bells and danced around the bonfire. The Nuo dance was obscure and unorganized, led by none other than Ma Wenshan.

“Ding-a-ling-a-ling—” The incessant ringing of bronze bells echoed like a demonic tune through Siam Liang City, attracting countless commoners. Every household gathered here, offering sacrifices for the children who had died because of Dong Yezhen.

Di Jiang hid under the covers, but even with the quilt pulled over her head, she couldn’t sleep due to the disturbance of the bells and chants.

“Damn that Ma Wenshan, I’ll go chop him down right now!” Wen Yao’s sound of forcefully slamming the door, accompanied by her grumbling, reached Di Jiang.

Di Jiang simply gave up on sleeping, threw on a robe, and followed Wen Yao out.

Under the moonlight, the chaotic dancing priests were like patients having a seizure. They wore white robes, red wooden clogs, and had about a dozen thumb-sized bronze bells tied to each wrist. Ma Wenshan, leading them, held a golden bell over a foot long, its deep chime drifting far and wide.

They were surrounded by onlookers, with tens of thousands of people kneeling in three layers. Di Jiang and Wen Yao couldn’t push their way through the crowd, so they sat on a tree outside the perimeter, quietly watching the commoners below—they treated Ma Wenshan like a celestial being, worshipping him blindly.

“Boss, how can they be so devout?” Wen Yao asked, puzzled.

“Because they have fear in their hearts that they can’t resolve.”

“So, is Ma Wenshan the antidote then?”

“At least, that’s how they see it.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll show them what real superhuman power looks like!” Wen Yao put her hands on her hips, looking furious.

Di Jiang shook her head and chuckled, “Don’t be in a hurry. Let’s see what he intends to do.”

“Oh.” Wen Yao nodded unhappily.

After the Nuo ritual night, as soon as the crowd dispersed and before dawn, Ma Wenshan departed Dong Family Fortress with forty-nine carts of gold, silver, and valuables, along with Dong Qishan’s seals, jade pendants, and documents. According to Ma Wenshan, these treasures were “lucky money” to be distributed to the poor on the way to Suizhou, to accumulate good fortune for Dong Qishan. The seals were for Dong Qishan to withdraw cash from various city banks; he claimed he would help the common people along the way and clear Dong Qishan’s karmic debts, thereby ensuring the lives of Dong Qishan’s entire family.

Few people knew about this, so there weren’t many farewell-givers. Di Jiang and Wen Yao remained in the tree, observing the entire operation of these individuals. Wen Yao watched the long procession of money carts, feeling indignant. She angrily said, “Boss, you can’t let him just leave like that!”

“Why not?” Di Jiang tilted her head to look at her.

“He’s a swindler!”

“He is a swindler, yes, and it’s his ability to swindle so much money, but...”

“But what?”

Di Jiang smiled gently and said, “But whether he has the good fortune to enjoy it, that remains to be seen.”

Upon hearing this, Wen Yao finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Since you say he won’t live to enjoy it, then I’m relieved.”

Di Jiang’s smile deepened. “You must always believe that good and evil will eventually receive their due. It’s not that there’s no retribution, just that the time hasn’t come yet.”

The next day, as dawn faintly broke, a tragic wail echoed throughout Dong Family Fortress—”Ghost! Help—help—thud!” The wail finally ended with a dull thud, as if something had fallen from a great height and shattered.

The servants were woken by the scream and groggily got up. They searched everywhere but found nothing amiss. When the patrol arrived at the back courtyard, they were utterly astonished by the scene before them—Ma Wenshan’s head, like a watermelon, with blood mixed with brains, stained the Taihu stone peak, dripping down from the summit. He appeared to have fallen from a height and died.

“Daoist Master Ma, didn’t he already leave? How did he die here?” Dong Qishan, who had arrived upon hearing the news, looked terrified. Everyone present, seeing this scene, wore expressions of disbelief.

The Taihu stone peak was already over three zhang (about 10 meters) high. To break a person into pieces, one would have to fall from a cliff. But the summit of the rockery was the highest point within a hundred meters, so how did he fall to his death?

This incident quickly spread throughout Siam Liang City.

Zhong Xu had just woken up when he was invited to perform a ritual and set up an altar to investigate if there were still any unclean spirits in Dong Family Fortress. Zhong Xu did not answer immediately but went to invite Di Jiang for consultation.

Di Jiang did not approach Ma Wenshan’s body. She only took a glance from a distance and said, “Ma Wenshan died from a fall elsewhere and was then moved to the Taihu stone peak.”

“Is that truly so?”

“Yes.” Di Jiang nodded, then heard Wen Yao interject anxiously, “Was he killed by Dong Yezhen?”

Di Jiang shook her head. “The killer is unknown, but Dong Yezhen has the strongest motive.”

Chang Sheng also chimed in, “Besides Dong Yezhen, probably no one else has the ability to move with the wind, nor could anyone push Ma Wenshan from a great height.”

Di Jiang looked at the silent Zhong Xu, comforting him slightly, “Are you blaming yourself for not protecting Ma Wenshan and indulging those evil spirits?”

Zhong Xu shook his head. “I don’t feel regret.”

“Hmm?”

“Ma Wenshan was ill-intentioned and brought this upon himself. Even if Dong Yezhen sought revenge, I don’t find it objectionable. I only regret for Yezhen that if she creates killing karma, it will be detrimental to her next life. If possible, I hope she can resolve things through upright methods.”

“Daoist Master Zhong has changed a lot,” Di Jiang said with a gentle smile.

At this moment, Wen Yao let out a cold snort and said, “What a joke! She’s already turned into a vengeful ghost; how could there be a next life for her!”

“Dong Yezhen is not an evil spirit; she is a human, a living human,” Zhong Xu stated seriously.

“How can a human fly?” Chang Sheng and Wen Yao looked puzzled.

Di Jiang, however, didn’t seem anxious. Instead, she smiled faintly, her lips slightly upturned. “This play is getting more and more exciting. Just report the facts to Master Dong.”

Zhong Xu nodded and immediately reported back to Dong Qishan, stating directly, “There’s no scent of evil spirits here. It’s likely human intentions at play.”

Dong Qishan narrowed his eyes and thought for a long time, his gaze filled with doubt and distrust, but there was no one else to enlighten him. After a long while, he finally waved his hand, signaling Zhong Xu to leave.

________________________________________

The tragic death of Ma Wenshan was quickly covered up by Dong Qishan. That night, he ordered everyone not to mention it again, and at the same time announced to the people within Dong Family Fortress that strange incidents had been happening repeatedly. He declared that Dong Liancheng and Dong Biling were to be married to dispel the ill fortune, and the wedding was set for two days later.

“Dispelling ill fortune?” Wen Yao looked puzzled upon hearing this. “What does ‘dispelling ill fortune’ mean?”

Di Jiang slowly explained, “If a wealthy family experiences a continuous string of unfortunate events, such as a prolonged illness of an elder or repeated deaths, with constant funerals, they will arrange a joyous event to ward off the bad luck.”

“So... Dong Biling is going to marry Dong Liancheng?”

“Yes, they’ll be married in two days.”

“That’s absurd! Why would they do that?”

Di Jiang shrugged, shaking her head noncommittally. “Perhaps Dong Biling’s belly is getting harder to hide. So, they’re using the excuse of ‘dispelling ill fortune’ to hold a joyous event, which also serves to silence public gossip.”

“In my opinion, ‘dispelling ill fortune’ is going to cause a major disaster!” Wen Yao clawed the air, “Think about it, even though Ma Wenshan is dead, Dong Yezhen is still alive! She died so tragically and vowed to make Dong Family Fortress pay a blood debt. It’s clear she holds immense resentment towards the Dong family. I don’t think this wedding will have a good outcome!”

“Then let’s wait and see,” Di Jiang said with a smile, seemingly unconcerned. After saying this, she went to find Zhong Xu to go shopping with her.

This was one of the few times the two spent time alone. Usually, Wen Yao and Chang Sheng would be with them, and most of the time it was those two talking, while Di Jiang and Zhong Xu just listened quietly from the side. Days like this were actually few and far between. However, neither of them felt uncomfortable. It seemed that no matter the situation, they could share a tacit silence or focus on the same thing. They never felt awkward, nor did they force conversation. Comfortable and unawkward silence was the best kind of relationship in the world, and Di Jiang always felt this was her favorite state of life.

Siam Liang City’s port alleys were deep, and the bluestone paths were meticulously paved, so even when it rained and the paths were slippery, walking was not difficult. As they walked, they heard the street vendors discussing the Dong Family Fortress. Dong Qishan hoped to suppress news of Ma Wenshan’s death, but it seemed to have little effect. His death caused a stir throughout the city, and every household was terrified, seemingly afraid that evil spirits would bring misfortune to their own homes.

Di Jiang and Zhong Xu, however, wore calm expressions, forming a stark contrast to the hurried people around them.

They both knew very well that there were no evil spirits here; what was more terrifying than evil spirits was a corrupted human heart.

“Oh! They’re selling ‘hu’ over there!” Di Jiang pointed to a fabric shop on the street, looking at the large character ‘hu’ on the plaque. Excitedly, she said, “‘Hu’ makes extremely beautiful clothes!”

“What is ‘hu’?” Zhong Xu frowned, his eyes showing confusion.

“‘Hu’, you see...” Di Jiang knew that Zhong Xu usually wore simple grey linen clothes and was accustomed to plainness. She was about to take him into the shop to show him when she suddenly caught sight of a girl in white walking around the street corner.

“She’s wearing ‘hu’,” Di Jiang said, pointing with her slender hand at the girl. “‘Hu’ fabric is light, thin, and translucent; it’s a plain-woven silk fabric with a crinkled surface.”

Zhong Xu looked up and saw the girl dressed in a white ‘hu’ silk and gauze shirt, with a purple knotted tassel tied around her waist. The hem of her skirt was wide, flowing gracefully as she walked. With the quiet, gentle appearance of a white lotus, her eyes were ethereal, like a dewdrop poised to fall from a lotus leaf. People bustled around, speaking soft Wu dialect, and the sounds of hawkers were incessant, yet the girl stood out like a crane among chickens, as if she didn’t belong to anything around her. Despite the cold weather, she wore wooden clogs, walking on the bluestone path without a sound.

She didn’t seem to belong to this era at all.

“Such a beautiful girl, I wonder which family’s young lady she is?” Di Jiang stroked her chin, her eyes full of amusement.

Zhong Xu glanced at her and then turned his head, saying blandly, “No matter how beautiful she is, she’s not as beautiful as Doctor Di.”

Upon hearing this, Di Jiang turned back, startled, and eagerly asked, “Is Daoist Master Zhong complimenting me?”

“I am merely stating a fact.” Zhong Xu’s expression was calm, not avoiding her gaze.

Di Jiang stared at his eyes for a moment, then smiled again. “Oh, look at me. I thought you had fallen for someone, but it seems I was overthinking it!”

“...” Upon hearing this, Zhong Xu’s face suddenly flushed. He quickly turned his face away from her and strode forward.

“Daoist Master Zhong, please slow down! Wait for me...”

The two walked one after another, strolling the streets for most of the day before returning home. But later, no matter where they went, they never saw the girl in white again. She was like an immortal banished from the Nine Heavens, a fleeting glimpse, then never to be found again. Just like the elusive Dong Yezhen.