Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 17: The Eastern Shrine

The temple fair was brightly lit and filled with ghosts.

The group, tied with pieces of corpses, moved like celebrities under constant scrutiny, with dozens of eyes glued to them. Fourth Master remained unfazed, unhooking a copper gourd engraved with a Bagua symbol from his waist and placing it steadily in his palm.

“Luck! Luck! Luck!” he shouted.

The copper gourd spun on its own in his hand, its mouth pointing in a certain direction. Fourth Master nodded in satisfaction. “As expected, it’s to the east.”

Blondie perked up again. “Bro, what does this mean?”

“The sun rises in the east, so the yang energy is strongest there. It’s easier to deal with evil spirits,” Fourth Master, in a rare good mood, explained briefly.

Blondie exclaimed, “You’re amazing, Bro!”

His tone made it sound like Fourth Master was his actual sibling.

No one mocked Blondie at this point. Compared to Old Man Fu, who was handing out pieces of corpses as gifts, Fourth Master seemed almost human. At least his actions were understandable.

Jia Xu was singled out by Fourth Master and pushed to the front to lead the way. The others huddled behind Fourth Master like chicks, with Fang Xiu and Bai Shuangying as usual at the rear of the group.

Fang Xiu clutched Bai Shuangying’s sleeve, his eyes darting between the stalls.

Amidst the noisy music, the evil spirits seriously danced with lions that had no pupils, some even tossing their own heads like embroidered balls. White paper money replaced red confetti, paper flowers pretended to be fresh flowers, and the stalls were piled high with mud-made food, paper goods of all kinds displayed in abundance.

As long as one didn’t look too closely, the scene was quite lively.

Fang Xiu: “This is a lot like the temple fairs back in my hometown. Have you ever been to one?”

Bai Shuangying shook his head.

Fang Xiu picked up a small handful of paper money from the ground and asked the paper flower vendor, “Is this enough to buy one?”

He pointed to the reddest flower in the basket.

The stall owner, a wandering soul, was caught off guard by the question. It absentmindedly handed over the flower, almost forgetting to collect the paper money.

Fang Xiu took the flower, bent the stem slightly, and pinned it to the front of Bai Shuangying’s white robe.

“It suits you.” Fang Xiu smiled. “Now, you can say you’ve been to a temple fair.”

Bai Shuangying looked down. The vibrant red paper flower, dampened by the rain, looked no different from a real one under the lantern light. It wasn’t bad. He couldn’t resist flicking it with his fingertips and allowed it to remain on him.

…Sure enough, this human is quite interesting, he thought.

After the flower incident, Fang Xiu grabbed Bai Shuangying and hurried to catch up with the group. Fang Xiu was slightly out of breath from the rush. Once he caught his breath, he started mumbling again.

“Wearing a paper flower like this might be bad luck, but you’re already a spirit, so it’s probably fine,” he said. “Uh, you shouldn’t be cursed by a paper flower, right?”

…This human would be even more interesting if he didn’t talk so much, Bai Shuangying thought again.

In the end, he sighed, moved his sleeve, and pulled Fang Xiu closer to him.

He soon noticed Fang Xiu’s relaxed smile, though his body was tense, as if ready to pounce at any moment. The gashes on Fang Xiu’s back had reopened, with fresh blood seeping out slowly, but the stench from the severed head on Fang Xiu’s back overpowered the smell of his own blood.

This human wasn’t oblivious to danger; he just didn’t like showing it.

Bai Shuangying recognized this behavior. Solitary beasts were also used to hiding their pain and scent… but humans were supposed to be social animals, right?

“Stay close to me,” Bai Shuangying couldn’t help but say. “These spirits can’t hurt you.”

“Mm, mm, mm, thank you,” Fang Xiu replied, but his eyes remained vigilant, scanning their surroundings.

Bai Shuangying was speechless. He had more questions recently than in the past thousand years. He was a proper evil spirit, yet Fang Xiu was almost forcing humanity out of him.

“Since you don’t trust me at all, why did you offer your living soul to me?” he asked.

Fang Xiu chuckled. “Oh, that? It’s not like it’s the final payment of a contract. As the saying goes, ‘Don’t let good stuff go to outsiders’… Just think of it as me treating you. I’d rather be eaten by you than by some weird thing.”

“Even if I know I’m going to die, I should at least have the right to choose how I die, right?” he said with his usual cheeky smile.

Fang Xiu didn’t deny the “no trust at all” part, and Bai Shuangying didn’t want to talk to him anymore. Unfortunately, once the chatterbox opened, it couldn’t be stopped.

Fang Xiu: “By the way, what does a living soul taste like? Does it vary by person, and how’s the texture?”

Bai Shuangying pretended not to hear.

Fang Xiu gave him a sad look. “I’m yours in life and your meal in death…”

“Soft, moist, slightly warm. The more tangled their fate, the richer the taste,” Bai Shuangying replied in a flat tone. “Living souls must be eaten fresh. If the three souls leave the body for too long, they either turn into ghosts or disperse into yin energy, which isn’t… isn’t…”

“Isn’t as nutritious,” Fang Xiu helpfully added.

“Mm.”

“Then Fourth Master must be really delicious. I’ll make sure to keep an eye on him for you,” Fang Xiu said enthusiastically.

Amid the commotion, the two walked side by side, chatting away as if they were genuinely enjoying the temple fair.

A little ahead, the others didn’t dare even glance at the stalls, staring only at their feet. But the evil spirits didn’t let them off so easily.

“Child, child.”

A skeleton with a hairpin stuck in its eye sockets grabbed Mei Lan, shoving a yellow mud-made pastry into her hands.

“Don’t be afraid. Have a snack.” The skeleton’s teeth clacked together, its voice muffled. “Have a snack.”

Mei Lan was startled. Before she could react, her arms were filled with a large bundle of mud pastries. Realizing the weight in her arms, she froze.

…Another load she couldn’t throw away. Disposing of it would surely break a taboo.

Seeing Mei Lan accept the offering, countless spirits turned toward her. They grabbed mud and dirt, rushing toward her.

“Child, child.”

“Don’t be afraid. Have a snack. Have a snack.”

They all repeated the same words, like they shared the same tongue.

The weight of the rubbish they handed her quickly became more than a normal person could bear. The spirits twisted their faces into eerie smiles, as if they intended to bury Mei Lan alive under a pile of offerings.

Sensing danger, Cheng Songyun gritted her teeth and stepped in front of Mei Lan. “She can’t carry any more. If she takes any more, she won’t be able to walk!”

Hearing her scolding, the spirits stopped, sizing up Cheng Songyun. After a moment, they surprisingly didn’t force any more offerings on her.

Cheng Songyun sighed in relief and turned to Mei Lan. “Let me carry some for you.”

Mei Lan: “Thank you, thank you, but it’s taboo…”

“We’ve accepted the gifts, and we’re not throwing them away. Does it matter who carries them?” Cheng Songyun adjusted her short hair. “Come on, I’ll take half.”

Mei Lan bit her lip but eventually shook her head.

Cheng Songyun didn’t push further. She handed Mei Lan a bottle of drink. “Fine. You’re using up a lot of energy, so drink this if you get thirsty.”

“I could carry them? I think I can manage.” The gloomy boy hesitated, slowing his steps.

Mei Lan slowed down too, smiling a bit awkwardly. “It’s not about whether you can carry them…”

Sensing that their pace was faltering, Fang Xiu took two steps forward and patted the boy on the shoulder. “If something happens to Cheng Jie or you and the offerings are lost, Mei Lan would probably still be the one to break the taboo, because she didn’t ‘take care’ of the gifts properly.”

He guessed that Mei Lan felt it was too unlucky to say this out loud.

As expected, Mei Lan softly acknowledged, lowering her head.

The gloomy boy froze while Cheng Songyun could only smile bitterly.

“We all understand,” she said.

With the issue resolved, the group trudged on in silence.

Yet the spirits holding mud and rocks didn’t disperse. They followed closely behind Mei Lan, mimicking her steps, sticking to her like shadows.

“We all understand,” they kept repeating, shaking the mud in their hands. “We all understand. We all understand.”

Mei Lan’s face turned even paler than before. She shrank closer to Cheng Songyun, clutching the mud pastries in her arms, her eyes fixed on her own shoes.

With Mei Lan as a warning, the rest of the group became even more cautious. They huddled tightly together, ignoring everything the spirits said.

The wet, muddy road seemed endless. Fang Xiu felt like they had been walking for half a lifetime when Fourth Master finally started to slow down.

“My feet must be blistered,” Fang Xiu grimaced. He could feel blisters forming under his feet, and his heels were in agony.

Bai Shuangying gave him a sideways glance. “Is this how you used to go to temple fairs?”

“It’s different. The last time I went, I was still a kid. When I got tired, my dad would let me ride on his shoulders,” Fang Xiu said.

Bai Shuangying frowned. “I’m not letting you ride.”

Fang Xiu: “……”

Fang Xiu: “…I’m not that desperate, my friend.”

Bai Shuangying looked at Fang Xiu in surprise, as if he wanted to say something but held back. He touched the paper flower on his chest, his tone softening slightly. “Your father treated you well.”

Fang Xiu tapped the tip of his shoe. “Yeah, I miss him a lot.”

Bai Shuangying: “You’ll see him again if you survive this.”

“But I still won’t see him,” Fang Xiu added, “My dad passed away almost twenty years ago.”

“Did your father also… Were you spared in the nine familial exterminations?” Bai Shuangying asked hesitantly.

Fang Xiu laughed. “No, no, I’ve just had a streak of bad luck.”

“And by the way, I’m an only child. My dad, mom, grandparents, all gone. Just so you won’t have any misunderstanding again.”

Bai Shuangying: “Got it.”

Up ahead, Fourth Master came to a halt and cursed loudly. Fang Xiu immediately perked up, craning his neck to see.

In front of them was another ancestral shrine.

It was identical to the one at Weishan, with the same plaque. However, this shrine’s doors were wide open, and there was no deity statue inside. There was only a rosewood armchair.

Aside from that, the room contained nothing but brightly burning red candles, with no sign of evil spirits.

The couplets on the walls had also changed…

[Upholding virtue and punishing evil with clear judgment.]

[And henceforth, justice is seen in the hearts of men.]

Fang Xiu frowned slightly. These lines weren’t very antithetical. Rather than a couplet, they sounded more like poetry.

Looking further east, there was nothing but pure darkness behind the shrine, as if they had reached the edge of a ghostly maze. Nearby, there were still temple fair stalls, but they kept their distance from the shrine.

That strange, empty shrine stood brightly lit, its door wide open.

Fourth Master didn’t enter immediately. Instead, he took out the copper gourd again, shouted “Luck, luck, luck,” three times, and the gourd pointed unwaveringly at the shrine.

“You.” 

Fourth Master kicked Jia Xu in the back. “Go in and take a look.”

“Wait a moment.” In a rare moment, Fang Xiu interrupted Fourth Master.

“Before Jia Xu tries, can I say something? …I’ve made a new discovery about this temple fair.”

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The author has something to say:

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone! (*/ω＼*)

The two guests visit the temple fair, give flowers, and talk about family… How is this not a date? (。

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The clues Fang Xiu has noticed are already in the text~I wonder if anyone’s picked up on them yet! ☆

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