The Bowl Opens

Old Helmsman was probably right: snuff was the right soil, and the Bowl would probably open this time.

Once it did, Old Helmsman would turn on Zhang Laifu. If Zhang Laifu failed to bring him down now, he would be in danger himself.

The thought sent a shiver through Zhang Laifu.

He was afraid, but he did not hesitate. He had to take back the Bowl.

To do that, he had to fool Old Helmsman!

Zhang Laifu bought eight liang of Jasmine Dew and eight liang of Twin Blossom Incense. Though they were only eighth- and ninth-grade snuff, the two bags still cost him two and a half Silver Dollars.

Could snuff of that grade count as top quality?

Zhang Laifu thought it could.

For one thing, Jasmine Dew and Twin Blossom Incense were not the lowest-grade snuff. That was called Base Blend. It contained no fragrance and had to be mixed at home.

Jasmine Dew and Twin Blossom Incense were at least finished products. Old Helmsman could neither see nor smell them, so he probably could not tell their grade. At worst, they would slow the Bowl's opening.

Zhang Laifu wanted it to go slowly. The longer the Bowl took to open, the more time he would have to dig up the Skeleton, and the better his chances.

While Old Helmsman focused on opening the Bowl, Zhang Laifu would act in secret. He would dissolve Old Helmsman's Skeleton and keep both the hat and the Craft Essence for himself.

Then he would have the Bowl and the seed, and soon he would have a Craft Spirit. The thought put a spring in Zhang Laifu's step!

On Pearl Street, he ate two baskets of soup dumplings and half a jin of pork head. Then he asked the young man selling griddle cakes to recommend a blacksmith.

This was no ordinary smithy. It had a Craftsman. Zhang Laifu paid three Silver Dollars for a fine shovel and hurried back to the Old House.

The bodies had all been cleared away, without so much as a bloodstain left behind. For a moment, Zhang Laifu could not remember where Old Yu had left the Bone-Breaking Curse.

Old Yu had fallen to the right of the well, near the woodshed. There seemed to have been a plant where he had drawn the talisman. What kind of plant was it...

"Laifu, did you get the snuff?" Old Helmsman suddenly appeared before Zhang Laifu.

Zhang Laifu handed him a bag of Twin Blossom Incense.

He said nothing, merely watched Old Helmsman's reaction.

"Good, you got it!" Old Helmsman held the snuff in his hand. He had no sense of its size or weight, and for now, he could not even hear.

He took the Alarm Clock from inside his coat and began winding it.

"Two o'clock. It has to be two o'clock."

Two o'clock mattered greatly to him.

Click-click-click-click-click...

The spring was fully wound. The hour and minute hands spun rapidly. When the second and minute hands both reached twelve, the hour hand stopped at two.

Old Helmsman could hear again. He shook the bag of snuff and smiled at Zhang Laifu. "Good boy. All the kindness I've shown you wasn't wasted. Once I've grown myself a body, the next good Bowl I come across will be yours to use."

"Thank you, senior."

He intended to grow himself a body.

And what would make a suitable seed for that?

Zhang Laifu had a feeling that even after the Bowl opened, he would still be of great value.

Old Helmsman took the snuff back to the Ancestral Hall and brought out the top hat. He located its brim by sound, then poured the entire bag into it.

"This isn't top-quality snuff!" Old Helmsman sounded displeased. Though he could neither see nor smell, he could tell from the sound of the snuff falling into the hat that its grains were not fine enough. It had not been ground very well.

"And there isn't enough!" Old Helmsman judged the amount by sound. "This can't be a full jin. Zhang Laifu, how much of my money did you pocket?"

Despite all his complaints about Zhang Laifu, the hat reacted—and violently!

Its brim spread in every direction, and the whole hat kept growing.

Old Helmsman listened, trembling all over.

"That's it! This is it! Snuff is the soil this Bowl needs! It's about to open!"

That's it! That's the Foxtail Grass! Old Yu drew the talisman beside it!

Zhang Laifu dug with all his might. The cold had frozen the ground hard, and only the quality of his shovel saved him. After enormous effort, he finally dug a deep pit.

Something hard lay below. Had he reached the coffin?

Zhang Laifu pried with all his strength and dug a stone out of the pit.

That was no use.

He kept digging. This time, he struck wood.

Wood had to mean the coffin!

Excited, Zhang Laifu pried it out, only to find a wooden box the size of his palm, with quite a few Silver Dollars inside.

That was no use for now!

Zhang Laifu set the box aside and kept digging. He unearthed a fairly large porcelain jar.

That was no use either!

Zhang Laifu kept digging for a while, then looked back at the jar.

It seemed familiar. He had seen one somewhere before.

He remembered: at a funeral home. It was an Ash Urn!

Zhang Laifu had been searching for a corpse, but it had never occurred to him that Old Helmsman might not have an intact one.

This Ash Urn belonged to Old Helmsman!

Could Li Yunsheng's medicine destroy the ashes inside?

It should!

Zhang Laifu tried to pry open the Ash Urn with his shovel. Fine as the shovel was, the lid did not budge.

Try the Clay Knife Lin Shaocong gave me!

He pried at it with the knife for a long time, but that did no good either.

In desperation, he wanted to smash the urn. But if Old Helmsman had regained his hearing, a noise that loud would alert him.

"Good! Good!" Old Helmsman's laughter came from the main courtyard. He sounded so pleased that the Bowl must have opened!

With Old Helmsman successful, Zhang Laifu had little time left.

He raised the urn and slammed it hard against the ground.

If it alerted him, so be it. Zhang Laifu could not worry about that now. Smash the urn, pour in the medicine—what mattered was who moved faster.

Bang!

The urn struck the stone paving but did not break.

Old Helmsman called from the main courtyard, "Laifu! There isn't enough snuff. Do you have any more?"

"Yes! I'll bring it right over!" Zhang Laifu shouted.

He raised the urn and slammed it down again.

It still did not break. It did not even crack.

"Hurry up and bring it!" Old Helmsman shouted.

"Coming!"

Just as Zhang Laifu raised the urn again, Old Helmsman appeared before him.

"Laifu, what are you doing here? You've been digging all this time. What are you after?"

Old Helmsman had heard Zhang Laifu from the moment he started digging. He had heard every sound clearly.

Zhang Laifu picked up the wooden box and handed it to him.

Old Helmsman held the box beside his ear and shook it.

Clatter! Clatter!

It was full of Silver Dollars.

"Hiding money, are you?" Old Helmsman laughed. "You certainly know how to save!"

Zhang Laifu gave a strained laugh. "I just wanted to put a little money aside..."

Old Helmsman kicked Zhang Laifu to the ground. "I told you not to lie to me. Everyone who lied to me got thrown into the Vast Han River to feed the fish!"

Now that he could hear again, Zhang Laifu could not fool him.

What do I do?

Old Helmsman shook the wooden box again. "You saved this? This box is mine. This money is mine. You stole every damned coin from me!"

Zhang Laifu pressed his lips together. The two of them were focused on different things.

Wait!

He said the box was his. Did he bury this money?

The money was buried right here, so close to the Ash Urn. How could he not find his own remains?

Was this what Li Yunsheng meant when he said Old Helmsman wouldn't know even if they were right in front of him?

Old Helmsman raged, "Pocketing a little would be one thing, but you took this much! The Bowl is almost open, and you didn't buy enough snuff. Without enough soil, the Bowl will be ruined! What are you going to do?"

The Bowl was almost open.

"I have more snuff," Zhang Laifu said.

That was the truth!

"Where?" Old Helmsman's eyes were bloodshot, the veins bulging in his face. He looked ready to kill Zhang Laifu at any moment.

Zhang Laifu had another bag of snuff. The question was whether he could hand it over.

If he gave it to Old Helmsman now, there would be enough snuff. The Bowl would open, and Zhang Laifu would likely die.

But if he held it back, the Bowl would fail to open, and Old Helmsman might kill him right now.

After a moment's silence, Zhang Laifu picked up the Ash Urn and held it out to Old Helmsman.

"Senior, there's definitely enough snuff!"