Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Tomb of Hui Wang of Pixian [1]

Translator: Xah

The taxi stopped at an alleyway.

“I can’t pass through, you guys get off here!”

Zhang Qiu followed his dad, he was curious inside. He didn’t ask who they were meeting for this trip. As a result, his dad didn’t say anything and was vexed of being asked, so he just threw a “smelly boy” sentence with a threatening look. This false bravado made him think his dad had done something wrong in front of his mother.

Exactly, who was able make his dad be scared to want to come over?

It was the hottest midday, the sun was at the top of his head and Zhang Qiu was already hungry but he dared not say anything. Since getting on the taxi, the closer it was to the destination, the more ugly and unpleasant his dad’s face had became. He could not describe it; hesitation in the thrill and very complicated.

Zhang Qiu followed behind. The father and son went one by one to the alley.
The alley was very narrow, with green slabstone paving. The sun overhead did not take long to warm Zhang Qiu. There was not a soul in sight. They had walked about 100 meter to the left, and the street widened, like the main street. On one side was a bustling location while the other side was a wooden storied building shops. There were selling all kind things; foods, snacks, clothes and useful items.

Zhang Qiu saw a child was licking a string of caramelized hawthorns and couldn’t help swallowing his saliva. He closely keeping pace with his dad’s step and not glancing sideways. He nearly did something to snatch the child’s food! But the string of that caramelized hawthorns looked delicious, sour and sweet…

After walking all the way, his dad suddenly stopped and stood in front of the only establishment at the end of the street.

Zhang Qiu took a look from behind his dad; it was a shop specialist in selling yellow paper, joss sticks and candles. There was a young man in the shop who was dozing off. His dad was standing in the entrance like a wood pile and appeared not to be able to talk. Zhang Qiu pressed near his dad and in a low voice called out: “Dad.”

Father Zhang came back to his senses, he stopped and paused but still took a step forward.

“Is Zhang Sanlian not in?”

The tone was similar to finding fault with someone; fiendish. Zhang Qiu was honestly bewildered by his dad’s somewhat strange behavior today. The young man who was dozing off suddenly frightened and shook, abruptly awaken. He raised his head to look up and came over.

The other person was dressed in plain colored Chinese button jacket with unlined garment, really overstated. Under his foot were a pair of black layered stitched cloth shoes. The style was outdated but on this person’s body, it seemed completely out of this world.

The young man’s skin was fair and clear, the appearance looked very gentle and soft, and all over his body exuded the temperament of ‘be pure of heart and have few desires’.
“What matter do you guys have with him?” The voice was cold but not vexingly annoyed.

Father Zhang looked at the outstanding Xiaobei[1], his mouth opened but not a sound came out. Finally he said uncomfortably: “My name is Zhang LiuDuan[2].”

The young man originally went blank, after pondering, surprisingly asked: “Little Uncle?”

Zhang Qiu’s mouth dropped to his chin, shocked! Since childhood he didn’t know he had a big uncle or that his dad had a big brother! However looking at his dad awkwardness, it seemed that there was a brotherly resentment between them. Foolishly imagined it for some while, Zhang Qiu was knuckled on the head by his dad and sobered up.

Father Zhang looked displeased at his own dazed son and turned to his nephew to introduce: “Your younger brother [cousin], Zhang Qiu.”

“Zhang YuShui.” Zhang YuShui smiled. “My dad is at home. Let me close the shop and go back home together.”

After closing the shop, the three people went back along the road. Zhang YuShui was not a person of many words and Father Zhang today was acting weird. Zhang Qiu wanted to chat, he was very curious toward his ‘never before met’ big uncle. However, considering the close-mouthed atmosphere, he kept silent.

On the way, they reached a fork road and Father Zhang seemed to be in familiar road and familiar door[3]. Zhang Qiu thought, why dif his dad not just go directly to the house, but instead making a detour in a roundabout way to the shop?

In the distant, a noise of quarrel and scolding was heard.

“… Don’t be fool enough to reject a face-saving offer. Naming yourself San Ye[4], truly regarded yourself as a Ye.”

“Lao San, restraint yourself a little more!”

“Big brother, you see what bridge he seize, this time —”

“Shut up!”

The voice had just broke and Zhang Qiu heard it was kind of familiar. When they got closer to look, sure enough they were the few people they met at the train station. The person that shouting curses was the Lao San who had wanted to strike at him. The person who berated was the leader. Zhang Qiu’s eyes swept involuntarily passing over at the back. The man with long hair was not here, and unexpectedly his heart felt faintly gritty with regret. He had not even expressed any thanks and inquired about the two characters of the other’s name.

The middle-aged man who was standing at the entrance looked very impatient, but upon seeing the three of them, the expression became a lot gentler, “Why did little brother coming back so early today?” When seeing the next person, the middle-aged man opened his mouth and surprisingly said: “Little uncle!”

Zhang Qiu was already dumbfounded.

The middle-aged man also called his dad ‘little uncle’, so how much older was his big uncle?!
“Little uncle and younger brother came to visit so I closed the shop early.” Zhang YuShui explained and looked at the five people standing in the doorway. With a flat tone said: “I see on you five people’s glabella[4] emitted a sinister aura. In three days time, there is a looming threat of fatal disaster.”

“You fucking looking for a beating!” Lao San flared up.

The leader who had berated, looked around until the eyes were in front of Zhang Qiu’s pair of father and son, the eyes were rather venomous and he said: “Go!” without raising a hand to strike, immediately left.

Father Zhang didn’t particularly remembered Zhang YuShui, but he still had and impressive memory concerning to big brother’s eldest son. He sighed with a bit of emotion and patted the middle-aged man’s shoulder. “Maoge[6], in a wink had already grown so big.”

Zhang Qiu looked at his dad’s seriously calling for the man’s nickname who was not much smaller than him. The man who was called Maoge was rather happy and did not feel embarrassed.

Into the yard, Zhang Qiu felt the uneasiness of his father. In the living room of the old residence, Zhang Yushui poured tea. Zhang Qiu sat in a chair for less than a minute, Maoge and his legendary big uncle came out.

A “crash” sounded, at the side his dad stood up immediately, standing up liked a schoolboy who was asked to recite the lesson; no words came out.

Zhang Qiu also followed up and very carefully looked at the legendary big uncle. He was thin and less than 1.7 meter tall. He was dressed in unlined buttoned Chinese jacket. He looked about sixty to seventy years old, and his eyes were very sharp, keeping a straight face very seriously.

No one in the living room spoke and breathing could be heard. Zhang Qiu was scared and thought that his dad would not have any hatred with big uncle. If he had to move his hands, he would stop his dad first and would not hurt big uncle.

Father Zhang moved his mouth, but he did not make a sound.

His big uncle, Zhang Sanlian spoke first. “Still know how to come back!” Feeling that his tone was not pleasant, his eyes softened a bit. But this was how his temper was for so many years and the words he spoke were like taunts: “Who said he would not step foot into the house in the past?”

“Big brother.” Father Zhang heard his big brother chide-like words, and all of a sudden his eye rims became red, and those years of arrogance seemed to become naive.

Zhang SanLian heard this and his face’s countenance changed a bit. This was the only younger brother he had in the world. He was nearly twenty years younger than him. He was the younger brother who grew up as a son.

With a ‘big brother’ exclamation, the many years of separation were cleared up, the two brothers sat together and began to chat about each other conditions over the years.

Zhang Qiu, who was completely treated with cold shoulder, sat with cold reception. His stomach emitted a ‘gugu’ noises, he had not eaten up until now!

When Zhang Yushui heard it, he simply fetched cold vegetables dressed in sauce and noodles. When the dish came up, Father Zhang, who was having a good time chatting with his big brother, began to distract. When Zhang SanLian saw this, he could not help laughing. “How old is it, just like before. Doing things in a careless way. Have a meal first.”

Zhang Qiu watched as his dad was taught like a child, even half of his temperament drowned. Towards this Big Uncle of his, there was admiration.

After dinner, Father Zhang remembered why he was looking for big brother this time, he was somewhat embarrassed, and Zhang Sanlian could see through it with a glance. “You have a surly temper like an ox. If this is not something that you cannot solve, you will not come here. What is it?”

“Smelly boy, come over and let your big uncle take a look at you.”

Zhang Qiu quickly went to his big uncle. After Zhang SanLian came out, his attention was directed at his younger brother. He did not pay much attention to his nephew. Now, after a closer look, he knew that the problem was serious.

Father Zhang supplemented next to him. “When I picked him back on that day, I noticed that the yang on him was too weak, and that a group of yin shrouded his stomach.” Once again he told about the things of Gu Mu Country at the Qinling Mountain.

At the side, Maoge’s and Zhang Yushui’s eyes were wide opened, they had seen the evil spirit’s will was not small, but this peculiar was the first time they saw it.

Unexpectedly, it was a jiangshi.

“The 3,000 years old jiangshi, if Xiaoqiu is a girl, I’m afraid that he will die soon.” Zhang SanLian wrinkled his eyebrows. “As the demon fetus grows up everyday, without removing it, Xiaoqiu’s life will be in danger.”

Father Zhang was also very sad, he murmured: “Maybe I messed up too much by tomb raiding of that year, or else it will not be blame on Xiaoqiu.” He was then only in middle age, in normal time he could not look at the cold shoulder son. For this reason, he washed his hand in a gold basin[7], and thoroughly quit the Triads.

Zhang Qiu: Suddenly it seems that something incredible has been discovered.

“Now it is not the time to talk about the past, saving Xiaoqiu is more important. It was only that the demon fetus had been stabilized and that it was a millennium jiangshi. If we act recklessly, I’m afraid it will harm the life of Xiaoqiu.” Zhang Sanlian was muttering and suddenly asked his eldest son, “The visitors who asked for a request just now mentioned the tomb in Pixian County[8].”

That five men who had rained curses at the entrance, Zhang SanLian had not at all not heard it. Although Maoge didn’t like the five men, when he heard his father mentioned them, naturally he guessed that it was related to little cousin’s removal the demon fetus. Immediately he nodded and supplemented: “The leader among them had said such, nine out of ten, it was the tomb of Hui Wang in Pixian. They wanted to request a few of your Tao talisman and asked little brother to help determine the position.”

Zhang Sanlian looked at his little brother next to him and sighed in his heart, setting up his mind.

“You go to them and say I agree to cooperate.”

“Big Brother!” At the side, Father Zhang was shocked at first; those years was simply because he did not learned from good examples, following a group of robbers to raid tombs to show off his power and prestige. His big brother could not tolerate and lectured him. At the end, he said in a fury that he was wronged and acted impetuously, saying that he wanted to leave home and wanted to work to let his big brother see ‘a large-denomination banknote’. Since then, he felt ashamed to come back. This time he never would have thought that Big Brother actually would break the principle for Xiaoqiu.

Zhang Sanlian interrupted his little brother’s words. “The human lives are important. There is an instrument[9] that is said to be in the tomb of Hui Wang in Pixian. Whether you believe it or not, you must try it first.”

Zhang Qiu stood in the spot with a groan in his heart. Seeing his dad’s expression and the fact that the big brother (cousin) had just sent the group of robbers out of the door. He knew that big uncle was a decent person, but he did not expect it was because he…

Zhang Sanlian glanced at Zhang Qiu, his eyes softened. “You child don’t have to worry. We are all family members. I am old and have come to accept many unpleasant facts, and some principles are depending on who to yield.”

Father Zhang’s eyes were red, and the 50-year-old man cried out. When Zhang SanLian saw, he smiled. “You are really the same as before. Quickly stop it. Don’t let the Xiaobei make jokes out of you.” 

At night, Zhang Qiu and his dad stayed in his dad’s former room. His dad looked at the scene in the room and exclaimed, “There is no change in the room, from when I left.”

His dad was stimulating a lot today. He couldn’t stop his dad, he kept story-telling him. Zhang Qiu knew that his dad had run away from home 30 years ago because of a tomb robbery. Mechanisms, poison gas, zongzi…

Zhang Qiu slowly slept in this buzz, before falling asleep, he remembered the string of caramelized hawthorns.

Well, he must buy a string for a taste tomorrow.

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Footnote:

[1] Xiaobei = younger generation/junior member in a family

[2] T/N: Zhang San(3)Lian & Zhang Liu(6)Duan [Get it?]

[3] (idiom) things that one knows well

[4] Ye = a respectful form of addressing an elderly man/uncle/master/sir/lord

[5] glabella is the space between the eyebrows

[6] Mao = little/small/young |Ge = elder brother/brother

[7] (idiom) abandon the life of an outlaw

[8] Pixian County in Jiangsu Province

[9] 法器 fâqì = [RELIGION] ritual implement (including musical instruments used in a Buddhist or Taoist mass)

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