He Family

"Anything... are you sure?"

"Sure." Feng Yushu rested both hands against her chest. Beneath her snow-white collarbones, her breasts were full, and her fair, delicate skin was even more beautiful than the white jade pendant hanging against her chest. "As long as I can leave here, I'll do anything you want."

"Fine, then pay up," Ning Zhe said at once. "What valuables do you have on you? Cash, jewelry, anything's fine. But let me make this clear first: I don't want jade pendants, pearls, Bodhi Seeds, or anything else that's hard to turn into cash. I only accept cash and precious metals like gold and silver."

Feng Yushu opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out. "All right..."

She reached up and removed the gold-inlaid jade Wutong wood hairpin from the back of her head. Her long, black hair fell free, cascading down like an ink-black waterfall. Then she took all the cash from her small purse, removed the Rose-Carved Diamond-Studded Gold Ring from the ring finger of her left hand, and handed everything to Ning Zhe.

Feng Yushu didn't resent Ning Zhe for extorting her. On the contrary, she was a little pleased, because money and other worldly possessions were only useful in the real world, where social order still prevailed. Ning Zhe had asked her for gold and silver jewelry and cash, which meant he was confident and certain that they could escape He Family Village and return to the real world.

What were a few pieces of jewelry and some money, if they could leave this place?

But Feng Yushu, who thought she'd seen through the situation, didn't realize that Ning Zhe was thinking several steps ahead of her.

This woman's surprisingly clever. But after I asked her for these valuables, she should be starting to trust me subconsciously.

Ning Zhe calmly tucked Feng Yushu's hairpin and ring, along with the cash, into his inner jacket pocket.

"Tell me, Ning Zhe. What should we do next?" Feng Yushu asked as she used the Bodhi Seed bracelet she'd been wearing on her right hand to tie up her loose hair again.

Ning Zhe held Feng Yushu's hairpin in one hand, studying the golden carving of a "Phoenix Perching on a Wutong Tree" at its tip. He said,

"He Family Village has two rules."

"The first is the Snake God. The Snake God uses the Almanac to tell us whether each day is auspicious or inauspicious."

"The second is the strange phenomenon. A ghost can take someone else's place by some method."

"He Family Village has two mysteries."

"The first is the Snake God. We know the Snake God suffers from a madness that flares up regularly each month. I've already seen the symptoms, but I don't know the cause."

[Mystery 1: Why does the Snake God go mad?]

"The second is the ghost. We know the ghost can't kill anyone itself, but it can impersonate others and make them violate the Death Taboo, using the Snake God to do the killing."

[Mystery 2: How does the ghost impersonate someone else?]

"That ghost wandering around He Family Village can't just take anyone's place whenever it wants. Otherwise, we'd all be dead by now."

"Just as the Snake God needs you to break a taboo to bring you bad luck, and needs you to violate the Death Taboo to kill you outright, the ghost also needs to meet certain conditions before it can impersonate someone. That person must break some special 'rule' before the ghost can use its ability."

Ning Zhe held the Phoenix Perch Wutong Hairpin between his fingers and turned it gently. Then he said, "I have two paths ahead of me: find out what causes the Snake God's madness, or figure out what triggers the ghost's ability to replace someone. Or we could solve both. That might reveal the truth about He Family Village and help us find a way out."

"That sounds dangerous." Feng Yushu had tied her thick, smooth hair into a bun that wouldn't get in the way. "Which one do you plan to investigate first?"

The Snake God or the ghost?

"Neither." Ning Zhe shook his head. "I'm tired. I need to rest first. We'll see about everything else at daybreak."

"Huh?" Feng Yushu was dumbfounded.

Ning Zhe smiled at her. "Thinking takes a lot out of you, so, Auntie, keep watch for me."

"Oh..."

Completely bewildered, Feng Yushu followed Ning Zhe out of the Ancestral Hall. They climbed onto the roof through a narrow alley beside it, where firewood and tables and chairs had been piled up. The roof tiles were damp and slick with cold. He simply flopped down on the roof of the Ancestral Hall, pulled a handkerchief from her small purse, draped it over his face to block the moonlight, and closed his eyes, going straight to sleep.

When in trouble, sleep it off.

"What kind of person is he?" Looking at Ning Zhe, who'd covered his face with a handkerchief and fallen asleep, Feng Yushu felt uneasy and couldn't help laughing in disbelief.

She turned to look at the alley they'd climbed up through. The narrow passage was piled with firewood and a disassembled old-fashioned round folding table. Against the outer wall of the Ancestral Hall, the old wood had sprouted patches of mold in the damp air.

"Why are there so many tables and chairs next to the Ancestral Hall?" Feng Yushu wondered. She wanted to ask Ning Zhe, but realized he really had fallen asleep.

Young people had it so easy. They fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow... Unlike her, she needed sleeping pills just to get a good night's rest.

I wonder how Zhang Yangxu and Ye Miaozhu are doing. Have they found the "door" out?

I wonder how Azhi is doing. Has she noticed that her mother is missing? Is she worried?

And... and...

Perhaps she'd suffered so many shocks, and her emotions had been swinging so wildly in such a short time, that her constantly taut nerves finally began to relax along with her exhausted mind. The crisp night breeze swept through the streets and alleys. She pulled her clothes tight around herself and soon drifted into a drowsy sleep.

The chubby white moon, like a silkworm pup, wriggled and squirmed as it slowly crawled across the night sky. Time passed, and morning came. A blazing sun rose over the hills to the east of the basin.

Feng Yushu vaguely opened her eyes, still groggy from her long sleep, and instinctively tried to move her limbs. They felt stiff, as if something were holding her down. A deep fear jolted her fully awake. She sat up and saw that someone had draped a large piece of bright red cloth over her like a blanket. It looked strangely familiar.

"Recognize it? This cloth was covering Lin Zhiyuan." Ning Zhe sat nearby, speaking casually. "I asked you to keep watch, and you slept even more soundly than I did. You were a restless sleeper, too, squirming against me for warmth... so I found you a blanket."

"Don't bother thanking me. Just follow my instructions later."

"...Sorry, wh-what instructions?" Feng Yushu rubbed the sleep from her eyes and hurriedly asked.

Ning Zhe pointed down below. "There. Take a look."

Feng Yushu followed his finger across the street to a small shop whose doors and windows had been shut tight. At some point, its door had opened. A woman's head slowly emerged from within. Her hair was tied up with a Cloud Hairpin, and a square sheet of yellow paper was stuck to her face. She seemed to be the shopkeeper.

Even from across the street, Ning Zhe's eyesight was good enough to make out the writing on the yellow paper stuck to the Shopkeeper's face. It clearly read:

[He Huifen]

After stepping outside, the woman with the name written on her face headed straight for the Ancestral Hall. Her tiny feet pattered against the ground as she hurried along.

She wasn't the only person heading for the Ancestral Hall, and the little shop across the street wasn't the only place whose doors had opened.

The altar tablecloth covered Feng Yushu's legs. She stared in shock as the moon set and the sun rose, and the silent street—and indeed, all of He Family Village—"woke up."

The doors of houses, pharmacies, teahouses, and other buildings opened one after another. People with yellow paper stuck to their faces all headed for the Ancestral Hall.

They walked in silence, converging into a massive stream of people.

Each person had a different name written on the paper covering their face: He Runsheng, He Quanyu, He Rongqiu... Every name began with "He." The He Family members moved stiffly, their limbs awkward, their steps stumbling like puppets on strings.

"The people of He Family Village aren't normal. They seem more like byproducts of some kind of rule. If I can help it, I'd rather not get too close to these things."

Ning Zhe shook his head and pulled Feng Yushu down beside him, lying back to avoid being spotted by the few villagers who were bored enough to look up at the sky.