Chapter 15: The Golden Decree of Investiture

The weasel in the flames showed not the slightest sign of pain; on the contrary, it even seemed to be relishing the experience. The fire burned away not only its fur, but also its beastly form. When the flames died down, a middle-aged woman in a dusky yellow robe appeared before me.

She looked at me with timidity, bowed slightly, and said in a soft voice, “Huang Baiyue pays her respects to my benefactor.”

I remembered stories my grandfather once told me: when such creatures gain sentience and seek to become lesser immortals, they require a person of spiritual cultivation to officially bestow a name upon them, thereby allowing them to shed their animal bones and take on human form. Grandfather always said he’d done all sorts of things in his life, except for performing such a ceremony.

Now I’d have a tale to tell him—he’d be beside himself with awe.

Collecting my thoughts, I glanced at Huang Baiyue and nodded slightly. “Tomorrow at this hour, Guyu will come with three kowtows and six bows to bring you home. Once you cross his threshold, you’ll be his household’s guardian spirit. See that you fulfill your duty.”

“I understand,” she replied, pausing before glancing toward the other side of the stone stele. “And my three poor children—what will become of them?”

“There’s no need for you to worry. I’ll see to their proper arrangements.”

With that, I walked over to the stele, lifted it slightly with one hand, and quickly pulled out the corpses of the three young weasels. I removed my coat and carefully wrapped their small bodies, then left the burial hill without a backward glance.

Huang Baiyue did not follow. As I turned away, she knelt on the ground, watching me until my figure vanished from sight.

Back at Grandpa Gu’s house, I found a suitable place for the three young weasels. I took up a hoe and dug a hole inside the chicken coop, burying them together.

Once this was done, I packed up the altar, washed a bowl, then collapsed onto a chair and fell asleep with my head on the table.

When I awoke, daylight was already streaming in, though my sleep had not been restful—my neck ached.

After midday, Grandpa Gu’s family returned. Guyu had regained some strength; though still pale, he could move about freely. Sister-in-law Liu Cui had even bought fresh vegetables from town and immediately started cooking. The aroma wafting from the kitchen was enough to make my mouth water.

“Jiang Huai, is everything settled?” asked Grandpa Gu, his face etched with worry. “Did you have any trouble? Should we consult your grandfather?”

I grinned. “Don’t worry, Grandpa Gu. Not only was the matter resolved, but I’ve also invited a guardian spirit to the family.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

Guyu might not know what a guardian spirit is, but both Grandpa Gu and my own grandfather had traveled far and wide, and had heard of such beings.

“But this is the south,” Grandpa Gu remarked. “Do we even have guardian spirits here?”

I nodded. “I didn’t know before, but from now on, we do.”

Knowing Grandpa Gu’s curiosity, I recounted everything that had happened the previous night over dinner, making sure to explain the karmic ties between Guyu and Huang Baiyue.

When I finished, Grandpa Gu suddenly stood up and rapped Guyu on the head with his chopsticks. “How many times have I told you—drink less! Look at the trouble you’ve caused! If Jiang Huai hadn’t been here, would I have had to burn incense at your grave already?”

Guyu clutched his head, looking thoroughly aggrieved.

I quickly spoke up in his defense. “Grandpa Gu, please, you can’t blame Guyu. Everything happens for a reason—fate had a hand in it.”

Grandpa Gu huffed and sat down. “If it weren’t for Jiang Huai today, I’d have beaten you senseless!”

I laughed, and Liu Cui hurriedly urged us to eat.

Guyu would have done anything to avoid going back up to the white stone stele on the burial hill, but Grandpa Gu waved a stick at him until he agreed.

With everything arranged, I went into town after the meal and bought four spirit tablets from the local funeral shop. I couldn’t help but notice the quality was inferior to what we sold at home, yet the prices were twice as high.

Back at Grandpa Gu’s, I carved Huang Baiyue’s name into one of the tablets, then traced over it with cinnabar. Once the spirit tablet was ready, I took a sheet of yellow paper, wrote the day’s date, and signed Huang Baiyue’s name using my own blood as a substitute. I had Guyu sign his name and birth date as well.

I then burned the yellow paper to ash and smeared the ashes over the spirit tablet.

I reminded Guyu that he must perform three kowtows and six bows without missing a single one. When he reached the white stone stele, he should only return once the paper ash on the spirit tablet had been cleansed away. If the ashes were gone, it meant Huang Baiyue had accepted him, and he could safely hurry back home.

The three of us—Grandpa Gu, Liu Cui, and I—waited until after one in the morning for Guyu to return. Blood was trickling down his forehead from the kowtows, and he looked thoroughly battered, but he held Huang Baiyue’s spirit tablet in his hands, spotless and pristine.

Once the tablet was set in place and incense was burning, the matter was finally settled.

The next day, as I was about to leave, Grandpa Gu and Liu Cui insisted I take two fat geese with me. I didn’t really want them, but I couldn’t refuse, so I set off for home with a goose in each hand.

Before leaving, I slipped an envelope with several thousand yuan into their house, as payment for the geese and to cover their stay at an inn in town.

“Grandpa! I’m back!”

When I reached the shop, the front door was open. I called out twice, but no one answered.

As I stepped inside, I heard a furious clicking of a mouse. What was the old man up to—practicing surgery with a mouse?

“Grandpa? What are you clicking for? I thought you didn't like computers. Don’t wear out my mouse!”

The moment he saw me, Grandpa clicked even faster. When I got closer, the computer screen was blank, but his face was flushed, as if he’d been caught in the act of some mischief.

“Grandpa, I brought back two geese. How do you want to eat them?”

He shot me a glare. “Eat, eat, eat—that’s all you think about. Get ready. Tomorrow morning at four, you’re coming with me to dig up a coffin. Don’t let me down.”