Uncle Wen really was dependable!
Lu Sui took the little peachwood axe and examined it closely.
Its surface had a fine grain, felt like flesh, and fit comfortably in his palm.
Dou Xiaowen tucked his tobacco pipe into his waistband, closed the large wooden chest, and said to Lu Sui:
"Your Lu Family has a natural affinity for wood. Using this peachwood axe as a suppressing object is just right."
Lu Sui asked:
"What does our surname being Lu have to do with an affinity for wood?"
Dou Xiaowen said cheerfully:
"I'll explain later, Eldest Young Master. That goes all the way back to your ancestors' generation."
He rolled up his sleeves and added:
"Wait a moment, Eldest Young Master. I'll have Heiwa find a chicken to slaughter, snip off its comb, and collect a bowl of blood. That way, nothing can go wrong."
Lu Sui nodded. About half a quarter of an hour later, Dou Xiaowen returned carrying a coarse porcelain bowl filled with still-steaming chicken blood.
"A rooster heralds the dawn, its crow breaking the long night. It can overcome yin evils. We'll first use it to break the straw doll's evil nature, then suppress and kill through cursecraft."
Dou Xiaowen called Lu Sui into the courtyard and had Heiwa tie the straw doll to the old pagoda tree.
"Eldest Young Master, let me explain beforehand. Once the rooster-comb blood wipes away the birth characters on the straw doll, chop it three times with the peachwood axe. That will sever the connection between you and the doll."
Dou Xiaowen's expression was solemn as he cautioned:
"Eldest Young Master, you've cultivated your Qi until it's two fingers thick. Three full-strength chops should be no problem.
"But after your axe falls, you may hear or see unclean things. Whatever you do, don't get distracted or let go of the peachwood axe, or you could easily lose your soul."
That strand of Qi three inches below my navel is actually three fingers thick already...
Lu Sui committed every word to memory, gripped the peachwood axe, and waited for Uncle Wen's command.
Dou Xiaowen wasted no time. He dipped three fingers into the bowl, coating them in rooster-comb blood, then flicked them three times at the yellow ritual paper on the straw doll's chest.
Hiss!
The droplets splashed onto it, sizzling like boiling oil splashed with water, and wisps of bluish-black smoke rose.
Lu Sui looked closely. The ink of the birth characters on the yellow ritual paper twisted as though scorched by fire, becoming illegible.
"Eldest Young Master, chop."
Dou Xiaowen stepped aside:
"Without the birth characters to anchor it, this straw doll can no longer harm anyone.
"Now it's your turn to make the other party suffer!"
Lu Sui walked beneath the old pagoda tree, raised the little peachwood axe, and chopped without hesitation!
Thunk!
The axe struck the straw doll, severing most of the hemp twine binding it. The fine needle pinned over its heart sprang outward.
"Granny Ma... is that her voice?"
A shrill scream rang in Lu Sui's ears, as though someone were clutching their chest and howling in pain.
Granny Ma's face surfaced in his mind.
Then the bluish-black smoke shifted, becoming a little girl with tangled hair and a filthy face.
"Dad! Mom! Don't sell me..."
The little girl had been put in a basket suspended from a carrying pole. Her hands flailed, tears and snot smearing together.
"Off we go!"
The human trafficker called out and strode forward. The little girl's parents never looked back, clutching three bags of rice and muttering, "We can finally cook a pot of rice."
Lu Sui could not tell illusion from reality. It all seemed to happen before his very eyes.
The peachwood axe clenched in his five fingers suddenly seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.
"Ah."
Dou Xiaowen took a puff from his pipe:
"Breaking the evil Qi is easy, but this straw doll has tasted blood. It holds Baleful Intent inside and can easily bewitch the mind. Seeing through a barrier of the heart is much harder..."
Heiwa stared wide-eyed at Lu Sui, who had stopped moving after a single chop.
"What do we do, Master Dou?"
Xiaotang's face was also full of worry, afraid something would happen to the Eldest Young Master.
Dou Xiaowen's face darkened. He was about to tell Heiwa to bring over the bowl of rooster-comb blood.
Thunk!
The second blow struck the straw doll heavily!
Dou Xiaowen froze briefly and looked at Lu Sui holding the axe.
"Eldest Young Master, you actually weren't bewitched?!"
[Seeing you struck by Sha Qi, "Turtle-Snake Stance" glared and roared!] [Hah! What little ghost dares harm my master!] [Turtle and snake entwine, suppressing body and mind!]
"That was close. I almost couldn't bring myself to strike."
As Lu Sui's second blow fell, the fine needle pinned in the straw doll's throat flew free.
The bluish-black smoke hissed shrilly and roamed about.
Like a whirlpool, it tugged at the mind, making it impossible to look away.
"It's all your fault, you jinx! You made me lose money!"
A burly cook swung his hand:
"Ever since I married you, I haven't won back a single coin!"
In the blink of an eye, the filthy, disheveled little girl became a gaunt woman with hollow cheeks, enduring the beating with numb eyes.
Thunk!
Expressionless, Lu Sui guided his Qi and raised the little axe high.
The straw doll split at the waist. All the remaining needles sprang free, and the bluish-black smoke pouring out of it churned back and forth like a great vat of ink.
The scenes reflected within it grew ever more lifelike.
"Are those dog eyes of yours blind?!"
The gaunt woman became Granny Ma again. She seized a little maid and twisted her flesh, all but digging her nails into it.
"When I was your age, my masters scolded me plenty! Beating and cursing you is how I teach you!"
"You little hussy, taking advantage of your master's generosity to break the rules! How can that be allowed!"
Was this what it meant that pitiful people had their hateful sides?
Lu Sui sighed inwardly.
After three chops from the peachwood axe, the straw doll was ruined. It would never harm anyone again.
He was just about to stop when the nearly dispersed bluish-black smoke stirred once more.
He saw Granny Ma facing a sewing basket, muttering:
"That useless Second Concubine. Her belly hasn't stirred in years, so she can't become the principal wife! If she became the first madam, we could straighten our backs too!"
"That sickly Eldest Young Master would topple in a breeze. The Lu Family has had only one male heir for two generations. Sooner or later, its line will end!"
"And the master, too. Such a vast estate, yet he doesn't know to take a few more concubines..."
The scene changed. Gleaming silver hairpins and gold earrings dropped into Granny Ma's pocket.
"Madam, that little hussy has always had sticky fingers!"
"I saw her sneaking around. She must have stolen your hairpins and earrings!"
Lu Sui watched as the little girl her parents had sold for three bags of rice became the spiteful, sharp-tongued Granny Ma of today.
Before the wisps of smoke dispersed, new voices emerged.
"Mother, my own dear mother! If I don't repay that gambling debt, Brother Hu will chop off both my hands!"
"Just help me this once. I swear, after this, I'll never gamble again!"
"Is that Lu fellow's life worth more than your own son's?!"
Lu Sui heard every word clearly.
The next instant, the smoke shifted. Granny Ma walked through the inner residence, holding the straw doll.
"Eldest Young Master, blame your frail fate for being unable to enjoy the Lu Family's blessings!"
"Your death will be good for everyone! Second Concubine can rightfully become the first madam!"
"Once I get the money, my son can repay his debts, then buy a girl to carry on the family line..."
Lu Sui panted. Those three chops had consumed most of his Qi.
But his gaze turned cold. His loosened fingers tightened again, the fine grain of the peachwood handle pressed firmly against his palm.
The little girl sold by her parents for three bags of rice was pitiful;
the young wife beaten by her gambling husband was pitiful too.
But was the falsely accused maid not pitiful?
Was the young master cursed to death before reaching eighteen not pitiful?
"My life is a life too..."
A fire seemed to burn in Lu Sui's chest. As his Qi surged, it was like oil feeding the flames.
A measure of malice mingled with that fiery nature and rushed straight to the crown of his head.
The peachwood axe rose high once more and hacked viciously at the straw doll split in two!
Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!
He delivered five chops in a single breath, hacking the straw doll into tattered pieces!
In the servants' quarters of the inner residence, Granny Ma sat cross-legged on the kang, palms pressed together.
Over and over, she murmured:
"Bodhisattva, protect me! Bodhisattva, protect me..."
"Please don't let the Eldest Young Master come back to life again..."
Once news of his death came from the Eldest Young Master's courtyard, she would slip into his room amid the confusion, retrieve the straw doll, and stuff it into the stove to burn to ash.
Neither gods nor ghosts would know!
"Once I get the money, I'll pay off Liangzi's debts."
Granny Ma counted on her fingers:
"With the rest, I'll buy him a wife who can bear a few sturdy, chubby boys. Then all my years of hardship will finally... ow!"
At that point in her muttering, Granny Ma suddenly clutched her chest.
It felt as though a needle had stabbed deep inside, hurting so badly she cried out!
"Ow, ow! I can't bear it..."
"Auntie Ma, what's wrong?"
Old Woman Zhao had just come in after emptying the chamber pot when she saw Granny Ma rolling in agony on the kang.
"I... hhh..."
Granny Ma could not make a sound, as though a needle had pierced her throat and blocked the passage of her breath.
"Someone come! Auntie Ma... she's not going to make it!"
Panicking, Old Woman Zhao raised her voice and shouted outside.
"Was... forced... I was wrong! I know I was wrong!"
Granny Ma's vision doubled, and the world spun.
She felt as though her waist had been chopped through, excruciating pain sweeping through her entire body.
She tumbled off the kang and rolled across the floor, howling and crying in pain.
The commotion drew all the nearby serving women and maids.
"Quick, pinch the groove above her lip!"
"Is this serious?"
"Report to Madam! Get a physician!"
"What guilty deed did Auntie Ma do to suffer such terrible retribution..."
Some bustled about, some watched the spectacle, and some made snide remarks.
Before long, an elderly serving woman helped the concubine through the doorway.
Granny Ma's mouth and eyes were already crooked, drool running freely. She clearly would not survive.
"I'm afraid Granny Ma has provoked something unclean. You mustn't touch her."
The elderly serving woman beside Second Concubine had seen much of the world:
"Have someone carry her out through the back gate at once and tell her family to take her home."
Second Concubine shook her head:
"She has served in this courtyard for years, after all. Let her stay in the room overnight.
"When day breaks, have the accounts office release some silver and arrange a proper burial and funeral."
The elderly serving woman praised her:
"You have a kind heart, Madam."
The next day, in full daylight.
The elderly serving woman bowed as she reported:
"Madam, Granny Ma's son drowned in a ditch yesterday. That left her butcher husband, but this morning he fell onto his chopping block and cut his head off."