Encountering a Demon

Because the fog was so thick, they could see only three or four zhang ahead, so the donkey cart moved very slowly.

They dawdled along for more than ten li, yet the fog did not lift, and they could not even tell how much time had passed.

"Fellow villager, fellow villager, give me a ride!" As they traveled, a crisp, lively girl's voice suddenly sounded from behind them. She sounded like a child of ten or so.

"Whoa!" Zhao Datou was an honest man. He immediately stopped the donkey cart and smiled back. "Why is a little girl like you out in such heavy fog?"

Meng Yuan and Tie Niu, seated on the flatbed, looked back and saw a brownish-yellow shadow dart out of the fog and leap swiftly onto the cart.

What little girl? It was plainly a weasel!

The weasel had a long, slender body, short limbs, lively eyes, brownish-yellow fur on its back, and pale white fur on its belly.

A tiny bundle was even tied around its neck, as though it were setting off on a long journey.

The moment it climbed aboard, it stood upright on its hind legs and shook the cold dew from its fur with all its might, spraying Meng Yuan's face.

Meng Yuan did not dare make a sound. Zhao Datou and Tie Niu stood frozen, while the donkey's hind legs trembled.

They had long known that demons and monsters existed in this world, but that had only ever been hearsay. This time, they had seen one with their own eyes.

"It snowed two days ago, and today this demon fog rose! Clearly, when a nation has a muddle-headed ruler, monsters are bound to be born!" The weasel's voice was crisp as it spouted nonsense with great conviction. Looking sharp and capable, it loosened its bundle while urging excitedly, "Go on, go on! Old Donkey, giddyup—hyah!"

The weasel called out the commands for driving a donkey with practiced ease. It clearly knew its trade.

Sure enough, the donkey really started forward.

"Where are you all headed?" Only after usurping the master's role did the weasel remember to ask the cart's owners.

"Great Immortal, we're going to Songhe Prefecture City." Seeing that the weasel was neither seeking an investiture nor showing any intent to harm them, Meng Yuan answered.

"Then we're headed the same way!" The weasel's voice was as crisp as a young girl's, but its tone was old and worldly. "Don't call me Great Immortal. Just call me Grandmother! I've eaten more chickens than the three of you have eaten salt!"

The weasel spoke in a disorderly fashion, yet it truly seemed to be merely hitching a ride. Meng Yuan and Zhao Datou exchanged a glance and decided to keep traveling while watching what happened.

The weasel ignored the three of them after that. It looked around, then removed its little bundle on its own. Without opening it, it simply reached a paw inside and fished out an egg.

It was probably some kind of wild pheasant egg.

The weasel cracked the shell and carefully peeled it away with its paws. The egg was actually hard-boiled. Then it began eating in small bites. When it reached the yolk, it even hummed twice in great satisfaction.

Clearly, this weasel had never eaten anything particularly good.

"It's not that Grandmother won't share with you. Is there much of it? There is not." Seeing Meng Yuan and Tie Niu staring wide-eyed, the weasel turned away so they could not watch, still muttering things nobody understood.

Soon, the weasel finished the egg. It then pulled a miniature Bronze Mirror and a wooden comb from its bundle, grooming its fur in the mirror. It was truly vain.

Meng Yuan remained on guard throughout, thinking that this weasel really had a lot of tricks up its sleeve.

Before long, the weasel finished tidying itself up, plopped down, and asked as casually as if chatting about household matters, "Are you two married?"

Tie Niu shook his head blankly, and Meng Yuan shook his as well.

"Settle down early. Don't just drift through your days!" the weasel said in an old-fashioned tone.

Meng Yuan and Tie Niu truly did not know what to say.

"The smell of cow dung on you actually smells pretty nice." The weasel offered this praise, then tilted its head at Meng Yuan. "Why do you have the smell of blood on you too?"

"I'm a gelding hand," Meng Yuan said.

"A gelding hand?" The little weasel first cocked its head and thought for a moment, then said happily, "You cut eggs off, right? Hehe, what haven't I seen!"

It planted its front paws on its hips, looking immensely proud.

Seeing its obvious desire for praise, Meng Yuan casually complimented it. "Grandmother understands worldly affairs, possesses vast knowledge, and is wise and mighty."

"Little Gelder, you sure do know how to make things sound nice!" The weasel was clearly incapable of resisting flattery. It bounced happily and said, "Say it a few more times. I haven't memorized it yet."

With no other choice, Meng Yuan repeated it three more times.

The weasel murmured the words to itself several times. From the look of it, it seemed to be planning to use them to flatter someone else.

Once it had memorized them, it swayed its head in delight and said, "Little Gelder, hold out your hand."

Was this going to be payment? Or a fee for his writing?

Meng Yuan took a deep breath. Keeping his right hand guarded behind his back, he extended his left hand and laid it on the cart bed.

The weasel leaned close, then turned around, raised its tail, stuck out its rump, and rubbed itself against the web between Meng Yuan's thumb and forefinger.

It was slightly warm, and there was no musky stench. But Meng Yuan knew that the weasel was leaving a mark.

"Grandmother knows people everywhere. If anyone needs a gelding hand in the future, I'll send them to you. You'd better give me a discount!" the weasel said very seriously.

Never in his life had Meng Yuan imagined that a weasel would one day bring him business. And judging by this, he had become part of this weasel's "connections" too.

"Of course," Meng Yuan could only agree. Seeing that the weasel seemed a little slow-witted, he probed, "How many connections does Grandmother have?"

"Well, hehe, lots and lots! What are you going to the city for?"

The weasel gave a vague laugh and changed the subject. Its cultivation was clearly too shallow; the moment it lied, its guilt showed.

"Visiting relatives." Meng Yuan felt somewhat less afraid and tossed out a lie before asking back, "What is Grandmother going for?"

"I'm going to celebrate my godmother's birthday!" The weasel was delighted and said proudly, "Godmother said she'll introduce me to an excellent match. My future husband's family will have chickens I can't finish eating and eggs I can't finish eating!"

No wonder it had brought both a mirror and a comb, and told me to marry early. So it was going to meet a match!

At that, the weasel asked curiously, "What hairstyles are fashionable in the city these days?"

Even if you learned them, you couldn't wear them! Meng Yuan looked at the weasel's tiny head and honestly replied, "I really don't know."

"Hick!" the weasel snapped.

After another seven or eight li, the weasel called for the cart to stop. It climbed onto the donkey's back, stood upright with its legs braced, surveyed the surroundings, and sniffed about as though identifying the direction.

"We're no longer going the same way." The weasel sighed and looked at the three men. It rubbed its front paws together, then reached into its bundle and fumbled around for a long while. Looking utterly unwilling, it finally pulled out a tiny bit of broken silver. "Grandmother doesn't ride your cart for nothing! This is my private savings!"

It tossed the silver to Zhao Datou with great reluctance, looking miserly. Then it looked at Meng Yuan. "Little Gelder, once Grandmother brings you some work, you'd better give me a share of the money!"

How much could a gelding hand even earn? And you wanted a share? Yet Meng Yuan kept a perfectly serious face and said, "That is the rule of the trade. Since Grandmother is the introducer, Grandmother naturally gets a share."

Only then was the weasel satisfied. It jumped off the cart, carried its little bundle on its back, and vanished into the fog in one rush.

"Hyah!" Once the demon had been sent away, the donkey bolted forward without even needing Zhao Datou to whip it.

The three men did not dare discuss anything. They merely drove onward. In their panic, they took another wrong turn. Only after noon, when the fog finally dispersed, did they arrive at the gates of Songhe Prefecture City.

People came and went beneath the city gates, and the three of them finally let out a breath of relief.

Zhao Datou seized Meng Yuan's and Tie Niu's hands and warned them carefully, "Don't tell anyone about what happened today. Yellow fur hold grudges the most. If we ruin its business, don't expect to live peacefully ever again."

As he spoke, he grabbed a handful of donkey droppings from the ground and rubbed them hard over the web between Meng Yuan's thumb and forefinger. Then he grabbed wet soil and scrubbed again, terrified that the weasel's smell might remain.

After finishing all that, Zhao Datou took out the fare the weasel had paid, about one qian of silver. He spent all of it at a stall outside the city, buying flatbread and fatty meat. The three of them enjoyed a fine meal.

"We were lucky today. We met an honest one—it even paid for the ride." Still shaken, Zhao Datou earnestly warned them, "But don't think demons are good just because of that. Yellow fur live close to people, so they understand a little human sentiment. Some demons eat people, and they're vicious as hell! Others specialize in seducing men, so you two must be careful!"

He pointed at the web between Meng Yuan's thumb and forefinger and said sternly, "Little Meng, if you wake up in the middle of the night and find an extra person in your bed, clinging to you and demanding to sleep with you, that means a Great Immortal has come to drain your vital yang. You must hold fast!"

Meng Yuan pressed a hand to his forehead, thinking, If that day really came, how could I possibly hold fast?