Li Zhuiyuan blinked. Then, as if suddenly remembering something from his dream, he twisted his head toward the back door and pointed with urgency. “Little Oriole, Little Oriole, she came into the house!”
“You poor boy, you just had a nightmare. It’s alright now—your grandma already drove her off. She won’t dare come back for my child,” Cui Guiying said soothingly.
Li Zhuiyuan looked at her with some doubt. “Really, Grandma?”
Li Weihan let out a sigh of relief. “Looks like the boy really just got scared by a dream, hehe.”
Everything seemed to be unfolding exactly the way Li Sanjiang had hoped, and both Li Weihan and Cui Guiying finally felt at ease.
Only Li Sanjiang followed the boy’s pointing finger and looked toward the back door, his face slowly growing solemn.
“Hanhou, hand me the flashlight.”
Li Weihan didn’t hand it over. Instead, he said, “Uncle, I told you I’ll walk you home.”
“Give it to me.”
Li Sanjiang snatched the flashlight from him.“Uncle, let me take you back. You’ve been drinking, and it’s dangerous to walk at night—”
“Out of the way!”
Li Sanjiang shoved him aside and walked straight toward the back door.
“Uncle?” Li Weihan glanced at his grandson, then quickly followed.
Li Sanjiang stepped over the threshold and came to the riverbank directly behind the house, shining the flashlight across the surface of the water.
“Uncle, is something wrong?”
Spitting onto the ground, Li Sanjiang lowered his voice. “It’s nothing if the boy dreams about anything else. But dreaming of a Dead Sinker coming into the house—that’s frightening.”
“What? You mean she actually came to the house?”
Li Sanjiang raised a hand, signaling for silence, then resumed sweeping the flashlight across the little boat and the water nearby. He checked again and again but found nothing.
“There’s nothing there,” Li Weihan whispered.
“Shh, Hanhou. Do you hear anything?”
Li Weihan listened carefully, then shook his head. “Uncle, what sound? I don’t hear anything.”
“Heh.” Li Sanjiang rubbed his nose. “In the height of summer, by the river—how can it be this quiet?”
In an instant, Li Weihan understood. Their side of the river was eerily silent. Usually, the cicadas and frogs croaked like they were holding a conference. But tonight—nothing. A silence as still as death.
He looked again at the calm lake surface and the drifting reeds. A chill crept into his heart. That Dead Sinker might be lurking right there.
Li Sanjiang returned inside. “Guiying, bring me a bowl of yellow wine.”
“Oh, shall I fry up some peanuts and eggs too, Uncle?”
“Just get the wine. Stop talking so much!” Li Weihan urged. He knew perfectly well Sanjiang wasn’t asking for a drink.
Cui Guiying fetched a bowl of yellow wine. Li Sanjiang took it and squatted in front of Li Zhuiyuan with a smile. “Little Yuanhou, this might sting a bit—don’t cry out, alright? Be brave, understand?”
Li Zhuiyuan looked at his grandparents, then nodded at Li Sanjiang.
“Good boy.”
Li Sanjiang poured the wine over the boy’s neck. Li Zhuiyuan’s body instinctively recoiled at the sting, but Sanjiang grabbed his arm with one hand and scrubbed vigorously at his neck and shoulders with the other.
His calloused hands were rough as sandpaper. The boy winced in pain but bit his lip and stayed quiet.
When the skin turned bright red, Sanjiang leaned in close and took a deep sniff.
After inhaling, his eyes widened. He gently pushed the boy aside and sat down hard on the floor.
“Uncle? Uncle?” Li Weihan rushed to support him.
Cui Guiying went to check the boy’s neck. Her heart ached for him, but sensing something had changed, she said nothing. She just gently patted his head.
“Cigarette, Hanhou. Get me a smoke.”
“Right away.”
Li Weihan lit a cigarette and passed it over.
Sanjiang took a deep drag, exhaling through his nose.
Weihan noticed his uncle’s hand was trembling.
“Guiying, take the boy inside,” Sanjiang instructed. “Shut the door.”
“What’s going on?” Cui Guiying couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Do what Uncle says,” Li Weihan urged her.
Taking a deep breath, Cui Guiying picked up Li Zhuiyuan and carried him to the inner room, closing the door behind her.
Only the two men remained in the kitchen.
“Uncle?”
“Hanhou, this is bad.”
“Earlier today, Blind Liu definitely cleared the spirit clinging to Little Yuanhou. He wouldn’t have done a half-assed job.
“But just now, my nose caught the scent of corpse again on the boy’s neck. I’ve pulled bodies out of water my whole life—I’m telling you, the stench of a waterlogged corpse is different from that of any other dead body. My nose doesn’t lie.”
He looked at Li Weihan, his expression deadly serious. “That Dead Sinker really followed us home.”
Li Weihan stood up abruptly and retrieved the firewood axe from the top of the cupboard, kept out of reach of the kids.
“That bastard—I’ll fight it myself!”
Li Sanjiang narrowed his eyes and took another long drag. “And what if she doesn’t come out?”
“What?” Li Weihan didn’t follow. “If she doesn’t show, isn’t that better?”
“She stays nearby, but out of reach. Watching your home. One day, two days, three days… First she gets Little Yuanhou, then Little Panhou, Little Lei’er, Little Huzi… then Guiying, then you.
“Other families offer incense to gods and Buddha. You’ve ended up with a shrine to something foul.
“It won’t take long. People’ll fall sick, have bad luck… and your whole family will be ruined.”
Li Weihan murmured in disbelief, “Then what do we do? I… I’ll move in with my son?”
“She followed you once. Why wouldn’t she do it again?”
“Uncle, is there any way?”
“There is.” The tip of his cigarette flared, then dimmed.
“Uncle, you’ve got to help me.” Weihan crouched beside him. If anyone else had said these things, he’d think they were trying to scare him. But not Sanjiang. Never Sanjiang.
“These Dead Sinkers, soaked in resentment, are trouble enough. But one that follows you home? I’ve never seen it in my life. That’s pure evil.”
“But Uncle, the dead should haunt those who wronged them. What does this have to do with my Little Yuanhou?”
“Heh.” Sanjiang gave a cold laugh and stubbed out his cigarette. “I figure she wanted revenge, but couldn’t find the right target—so she’s latched onto the first person she saw.”
Weihan’s eyes flickered with hesitation, deep in thought.
Sanjiang continued, “That Dead Sinker—wasn’t she the woman dancing and singing at Bearded Guy’s funeral yesterday? You mentioned it when picking me up. Called Little Oriole, right?”
“Lei’er said he saw her. I wasn’t at Bearded Guy’s place myself, so I can’t be sure.”
“It was Little Oriole. Lei’er might be wrong, but Little Yuanhou wouldn’t be. He called her name right after waking.”
“Right. That’s true.”
“You also said the villagers saw her sneak off into the woods with Bearded Guy’s youngest son, right? Then today, the funeral troupe made a fuss at his house, and Bearded Guy paid them off.
“That kind of hush money…”
The word “ghost” stuck in Sanjiang’s throat. Not something to mention at a time like this.
“…that kind of payout means he’s guilty. He’s scared. Heh, that family—if they weren’t hiding something filthy, would they give in so easy?
“Bearded Guy, Bearded Guy—he’s no different from the bandits in Northeast China before Liberation. The man’s a damn thug. Who knows what sins he’s racked up.”
He paused, grabbed a cookie from the tin, and took a bite. “These biscuits are rich in milk flavor—must’ve cost a pretty penny. Your little girl sent them, didn’t she?”
Weihan lit another cigarette for himself, took several hard drags, and wiped sweat and tears from his face. When he looked at Sanjiang again, his eyes were bloodshot.
“Uncle, don’t you trust my character?”
Sanjiang picked up another cookie and kept chewing, saying nothing.
Weihan went on.
“Uncle, in the early days, it was hell getting my four sons married.
“You let me farm your fields, paid me a cut every time I helped you out. Even when Guiying came to fold paper for you—her work was so clumsy it embarrassed me—but you still paid her.
“When the hard times passed, I stopped farming your land. I knew you’d earn more grain renting it out. I wouldn’t let Guiying help anymore either—she looked like she was back in the old brigade earning work points.
“I really couldn’t keep taking advantage of you. But your kindness—I never forgot it.
“I always said, when the day comes that you can’t get around anymore, I’ll be the one to care for you. I’ll bury you myself.
“Uncle, you have to believe in me.”
Sanjiang nodded.
“Hehe.” Weihan chuckled dryly, reaching for a cookie. He hadn’t eaten since the afternoon, and he was starving.
“Smack!”
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