I Had to Take It Back

With the medicine in hand, Li Yunsheng helped drive the sinister energy from Zhang Laifu's body.

Once it had cleared, Zhang Laifu felt much better, though his legs were still weak.

"Brother Yunsheng, could you give me another one of those Talisman Papers that made me run so fast yesterday?"

"I have more, but you can't use one again. Another run might break your legs."

In the end, Li Yunsheng's Talisman Paper drew on Zhang Laifu's own physical strength.

Zhang Laifu could live with that. What he needed now was Talisman Paper that would help him fight.

"Do you have any others? Something to make me stronger, improve my aim—anything."

Li Yunsheng was troubled.

There were plenty of Talisman Papers that could improve combat ability, but most had to be used with an incantation, and Li Yunsheng had to recite it himself.

"Brother Laifu, let me go to the Old House with you." He rose unsteadily to his feet, still struggling to stand.

Zhang Laifu shook his head. "You'd better not."

Li Yunsheng knew he was in poor shape. "Don't worry. I have ways to deal with him. I won't be a burden."

"In your condition, how would you fight the drum-stretcher? He's extremely wary of strangers. He'd kill you the moment you stepped inside."

After careful thought, Li Yunsheng took a short yellow jacket from a cupboard. It was covered in Talisman Papers.

"Put this on. In a pinch, it can stop blades and bullets. It should be able to withstand one blow from the drum-stretcher, too."

Zhang Laifu took the jacket. A breeze stirred, and the Talisman Papers rustled and fluttered.

"This thing's pretty conspicuous. Does it really work?"

Li Yunsheng looked Zhang Laifu firmly in the eye. "If you believe it works, it will! My master once made ten jackets like this and gave them to ten people. Three survived, and they all said it worked!"

"That's all I needed to hear!" Zhang Laifu put the jacket away.

Li Yunsheng still felt uneasy. "Brother Laifu, you aren't a Craftsman. If even a Celestial Master couldn't subdue him, I can't imagine what chance you'd have."

Zhang Laifu was confident. "He's wary of everyone else, but he hasn't been wary of me. I think I can get my things back."

"As long as the green hills remain, there'll be firewood to burn. Why tangle with this evil ghost?"

"I'm not trying to tangle with him. He took my green hill. I have to get it back."

Li Yunsheng could tell that the evil ghost had taken something terribly important from Zhang Laifu.

"We have plenty of time ahead of us. Even if we've lost a whole green hill, we can earn another."

"We can earn a hundred more someday. First, I'm taking back this one."

Li Yunsheng sighed. "Brother Laifu, think it over carefully."

"I have. I have to take it back."

Zhang Laifu's eyes stared straight ahead. They seemed vacant, but Li Yunsheng could sense the chill within them.

"Brother Laifu, I know you might be feeling a little..."

"You don't know." Zhang Laifu shook his head. "People have pushed me around. Far too much!

"I came out to find work and got abducted. I took a job watching a house and got cheated!

"Then some old ghost came along and stole something precious from me. I risked my life to get it, and I have to take it back!"

Unable to dissuade him, Li Yunsheng asked, "What else can I do to help?"

"Where can I buy snuff?"

Zhang Laifu didn't believe snuff could open the Bowl. He had never seen snuff, but tobacco leaves hadn't worked, so snuff probably wouldn't either.

Still, he had to buy some. Otherwise, he couldn't fool Old Helmsman.

Li Yunsheng gave him directions, and Zhang Laifu went to Huangxiang Street.

Huangxiang Street specialized in tobacco. At its entrance stood a large shop with a dark-blue enamel signboard. Five gold-painted characters spelled out "Delong Foreign Cigarette Shop" in a neat row, with several small cigarette logos painted beneath them: Old Car, Virginia, Cloud Dragon, Peacock... Zhang Laifu didn't recognize them all, but he had heard they were major brands from Wansheng Province.

He pushed the door open. Glass display counters filled the shop, with cigarettes in metal tins on the left and cardboard packs on the right. Prices were neatly marked beneath each pack.

The clerk wore a white shirt and red vest, and his hair was slicked until it shone. He spoke with a touch of a foreign accent. "Come in, sir. We sell only genuine name brands. If you find a fake, we'll pay you ten times its price."

Zhang Laifu asked, "Which one is snuff?"

The clerk lowered his head and fell silent for a moment. "You've come to the wrong place. Try across the street."

Across the street was a big place. Where was he supposed to look?

Zhang Laifu asked again, but the clerk put on airs and said nothing more.

After crossing the road, Zhang Laifu walked along the street for a while until he spotted a shop that looked as if it might sell snuff.

It was nothing like the foreign cigarette shop. Its storefront was plain, with an old wooden sign that read "Yicheng." So much paint had peeled away that the characters were blurry.

A long bench stood against the wall by the entrance. An old man sat on it smoking a pipe, and the air smelled of scorched tobacco.

Inside, the light was dim and yellow. Wooden boxes, cloth bundles, and bamboo tubes lined a long wooden counter. A clerk in a button-front jacket came over and opened the boxes one by one, revealing tobacco leaves from different places.

"Sir, we have Dongsheng, Yuesheng, Dachang, Kuitai, Golden Orchid, and Green Strip. Which would you like? We'll cut and blend it for you!"

This clerk was much friendlier. When Zhang Laifu said nothing, he opened several metal tins. "We've got foreign tobacco too. Inglis Extra Futu, number-one American tins. Try a bowlful."

Zhang Laifu pressed his lips together. He didn't want to show his ignorance, but he genuinely had no idea. "Uh... which one is snuff?"

The clerk's enthusiasm faded. He closed all the tins and pointed outside. "Try the alley."

This shop sold pipe tobacco. Like food shops, tobacco shops apparently didn't branch out into other lines.

Zhang Laifu left Yicheng and turned left into the alley. After walking for quite some time, he finally found the right place.

It was a small building of blue-gray brick. Above the door hung a carved wooden plaque bearing three characters: "Fragrance-Gathering Studio." They were written in careful, proper regular script.

A couplet flanked the doorway: "Fragrance enters the nose and clears the lungs; smoke passes the fingertips and reaches the soul."

Zhang Laifu had asked around in the alley. This was where they sold snuff.

He pushed open the door. Soft light filled the shop, and the counter was covered with snuff bottles made of agate, colored glass, ivory, and purple clay. Their caps were inlaid with jade or silver, and they came in all shapes.

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man in a long gown, with slicked-back hair and a handlebar mustache.

As soon as Zhang Laifu entered, the shopkeeper greeted him. "Sir, I don't recognize you. Is this your first visit?"

Zhang Laifu clasped his hands behind his back and pretended to know his way around. After surveying the shop, he nodded. "It is my first time in this shop."

The shopkeeper smiled. "Then you've come to the right place. We've just stocked Twin Blossom Incense and Jasmine Dew. Would you like to try them?"

The names alone left Zhang Laifu bewildered.

What were Twin Blossom Incense and Jasmine Dew? Was he buying tobacco or perfume?

Zhang Laifu gave a little cough. "I want good tobacco!"

The shopkeeper promptly apologized. "I've been remiss, sir. One moment. I have Wangao Fragrant Dew from Tianhui Studio."

With that, he opened a small wooden box. Inside was a yellow powder.

Was that tobacco?

The shopkeeper was generous enough. "Go ahead and try it."

How?

Zhang Laifu had never seen snuff before.

Tobacco, borneol, poria, and various fragrances were ground into a fine powder to make snuff.

Snuff was normally kept in a snuff bottle. To use it, one pinched out a little with one's fingers and inhaled it through the nostrils.

Zhang Laifu knew none of that. He didn't want to try it anymore; he would just buy it.

"How much is this Wangao-something Dew?"

"Two Silver Dollars and five coppers," the shopkeeper said.

"Two what?" Zhang Laifu froze. "Two Silver Dollars?"

Another customer said, "Of course he means Silver Dollars. What did you think—two coppers?"

Zhang Laifu stared. "Two Silver Dollars for a catty?"

The shopkeeper was speechless for a long moment. The other customer laughed. "Are you pulling our legs? You think you're buying Chinese cabbage, asking for a catty? Two Silver Dollars gets you one tael, and you still owe five coppers."

"Who's pulling anyone's leg? Is this powdered gold?" Zhang Laifu did the math. Old Helmsman had given him ten Silver Dollars, plus another two yesterday. Twelve in all would barely buy six taels.

Would six taels be enough to open the Bowl?

While Zhang Laifu calculated, the other customer offered some advice. "The shopkeeper gave you the going rate. I'm guessing you don't know much about snuff.

"If it's a gift for a high official or noble, Wangao Fragrant Dew is just right. If it's for a relative, Twin Blossom Incense or Jasmine Dew will do."

Zhang Laifu was still uncertain. "Are those two very different from Wangao Fragrant Dew?"

"Worlds apart," the customer said. "Snuff comes in ten grades. Wangao Fragrant Dew is first-grade, Jasmine Dew is eighth-grade, and Twin Blossom Incense is ninth-grade. They're nowhere close."

Could he fool Old Helmsman with such cheap snuff?

If Old Helmsman failed to open the Bowl, would he take it out on Zhang Laifu?

Truth be told, Zhang Laifu didn't even know whether snuff would work.

Opening the Bowl with snuff sounded absurd to him. Old Helmsman had probably gotten it wrong again.

That might be for the best. If opening the Bowl failed, Old Helmsman would still need Zhang Laifu to fetch soil for him, giving Zhang Laifu another chance to maneuver.

But if the Bowl opened, Zhang Laifu would no longer be useful. Then he and Old Helmsman would have to fight to the death today.

Seeing Zhang Laifu hesitate, the shopkeeper opened the jars and showed him the color and texture of Jasmine Dew and Twin Blossom Incense. "Those are the grades, but you can trust the goods in our shop. Jasmine Dew and Twin Blossom Incense are reputable brands too, and they're clean."

The customer joked, "Clean? No incense ash mixed in?"

The shopkeeper waved a hand. "You're joking. We rely on repeat customers. When have we ever done such a thing?"

"Incense ash?" Zhang Laifu was startled.

The customer hastened to explain. "I was joking with the shopkeeper. Incense ash looks a lot like snuff, so some unscrupulous sellers mix it in. Fragrance-Gathering Studio is an old, established shop. They wouldn't do that."

Zhang Laifu looked down at the Jasmine Dew and Twin Blossom Incense. Both were yellow tinged with white, not as pure in color as Wangao Fragrant Dew. They really did resemble a certain kind of dust.

What kind of dust?

There was dust on the offering table in the Ancestral Hall. That very fine dust must have been incense ash!

The hat had reacted to incense ash back then. It must have liked it. But why hadn't Old Helmsman simply asked me to bring some back?

There must be plenty of incense ash in the Ancestral Hall. Old Helmsman had so much experience—could he really have never tried it?

He must have tried, but it probably hadn't worked.

It wasn't incense ash the top hat liked.

It must have been snuff. It had reacted to incense ash because ash looked so much like snuff, and some snuff was even mixed with it.

Old Helmsman had probably guessed right this time!

Once I brought the snuff back, the Bowl would open!

P.S. Once the Bowl opened, he would have no choice but to fight!

Dear readers, we'll open the Bowl tomorrow morning.