These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over my head.
The porcelain spoon in my hand clattered into the bowl, splashing out hot tofu pudding soup that steamed in the morning mist.
A truism?
Chen Yan, the one at the paper craft shop at the end of the street?
Isn't that me?
I remembered that when Baldy Third Brother was buying offerings at the store, he stared at me for a couple of extra seconds.
Looking back now, I think that look in his eyes probably contained a sinister malice that he had planned long ago.
It turns out that from the first time he walked into the paper offering shop, he wasn't just eyeing Ji Yunfei's ghost baby, but also me, the living person with the weakest yang energy, who always had an old face.
He wanted to drag me, along with the karmic debt of my life, into the grave he had dug, like throwing away a hot potato.
But how did he know my name and my birth date and time?
Was it given to you by Yuan Ying?
impossible!
Many people know my birth date and time.
However, those words felt like a fishbone stuck in my throat.
Seeing my pale face, Aunt Li hurriedly waved her hands, "Oh dear, Xiao Chen, don't panic, maybe it's just a coincidence of names..."
Upon hearing this, the shoe store owner suddenly turned his head to look at me.
After confirming my appearance, they were stunned for a moment, then gave me a smile that looked worse than crying.
Realizing she had misspoke, she stammered, "Well, cough cough, Sister Li, here's the money for the tofu pudding. I'll be going now!"
I tried to call out to him, but he ran away very fast, probably thinking I was going to settle scores with him.
I had only taken two steps when a leaf suddenly fell from the old locust tree next to me with a "whoosh," landing right at my feet.
I glanced at the fallen leaves on the ground and vaguely saw countless tiny yellow talismans emerging between the veins of the leaves.
It seems like my name is written on every yellow talisman.
But upon closer inspection, I realized I was seeing things.
I carried the tofu pudding back home.
As soon as I pushed open the shop door, I saw Yuan Ying refilling incense in front of the shrine.
"Bald Third Brother is dead."
I put the tofu pudding on the table, but my head was still buzzing.
Yuan Ying used a silver needle to light the candle wick, and the flame shot up half an inch with a "whoosh".
"If one dies at the hour of midnight, the karmic debts have been settled, and the King of Hell will send his little devils to collect the debts."
She turned to look at me, her gaze colder than the candlelight: "You think he was holding a baby in his arms? That's a paper effigy of a child boy, with his birth date and time still pasted on his chest. He wanted to take the fetus's soul with him even in death."
"But little did they know that the fetal soul, without the spirit tablet of its birth mother, had long since become a floating soul in the Wild Ghost Beach, only able to haunt him as he descended to the Yellow Springs."
Upon hearing this, the hairs on my body stood on end.
Upon hearing Yuan Ying's words, I knew that she must also know about the seven red vests and the birth date of Bald Lao San when he died.
"Yingniang, then wouldn't my daughter with Bald Laosan be..."
I was interrupted by Yuan Ying before I could finish speaking.
She took a brown paper bag from the shrine and poured out half a handful of paper money stained with dark patterns.
"Tonight, I'll go to the back mountain to burn it for Ji Yunfei. Bald Old Third kept her fetal soul in her memorial tablet. The tablet is broken, and her fetal soul is trapped in the Yin-Yang gap. I need to use this 'Ten Thousand Souls Coin' to guide her on her way."
Yuan Ying ran her fingertips across the paper money, and the dark patterns suddenly emitted a very fine fluorescent light: "This paper money has been buried in the mass grave for three years, absorbing enough of the grievances of a hundred people, and can protect the lonely souls from the hooks of the underworld messengers."
"We'll only know how to fix it after we've burned it all. Otherwise, if something happens to Xiuxiu, you could be next!"
After a pause, Yuan Ying continued, "You might die before Xiuxiu, because... your soul is incomplete. If you hadn't been sleeping here last night..."
At this point, Yuan Ying stopped talking.
But I understood what it meant: because I was sleeping here, I didn't die.
Is it because of the bowl of water by the door?
Is it still that coffin?
The paper money rustled inside the paper bag, like countless tiny voices crying out.
No, it's not just like that, it actually sounds like there's a sound.
I held it to my ear and it sounded like someone was crying, but the sounds were mixed up and there were many people.
Mixed with the sobs of men, women, and children, like countless sounds of someone being choked, seeping out from deep within the paper's texture.
I instinctively brought the paper bag to my ear, and the crying suddenly became clearer.
There were a woman's soft sobs, an old man's dry cough, and a baby's intermittent cries, like a tangled mess of hemp in the paper.
"Yingniang, why are there voices in this paper money?" My hand trembled, and the paper bag almost fell to the ground.
Looking at the flickering candlelight on the shrine, Yuan Ying asked instead of answering, "Have you ever heard of 'debts in the netherworld'?"
I shook my head.
Yuan Ying explained, “The paper money burned in the mortal world is actually a ‘pass’ for the underworld. However, ordinary paper money can only be considered as loose change. This ‘Ten Thousand Souls Money’ is different. Each one is soaked in the blood of a woman who died in childbirth and then buried in an unclaimed grave to be gnawed on by hundreds of ghosts for three years.”
"The ghosts entwined in the paper are the lonely souls who haven't drunk the Meng Po soup and are trapped in the gap between Yin and Yang. They attach themselves to the money, waiting to be reincarnated by the smoke from burning the paper."
I suddenly remembered the baby crying inside the paper money, and my throat tightened: "Is the soul of Ji Yunfei and her child also inside?"
Yuan Ying shook her head: "The fetal soul has not yet taken shape, so it cannot even be considered a ghost; it can only be considered a 'spirit'."
“But when Baldy San used her memorial tablet to nurture the fetus, it was as if he had torn open her three souls and seven spirits. The fetal spirit, with the help of the mother's soul, became a ‘wandering soul’ in the underworld’s register.”
She picked up a piece of paper money and held it up to the candlelight.
Extremely fine human face outlines appeared on the paper.
"Among these cries are many wronged souls, known as the Ten-Life Reincarnation Souls."
"Reincarnation Soul?"
My pupils suddenly contracted.
The Tai Guang Soul governs lifespan, the Shuang Soul governs wisdom, and the You Jing Soul governs desire, yet I have never heard of the concept of "reincarnation."
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