Rise of Qinglian Chapter 4
Confirming the Real Culprit
Li Er Mazi was forty-three years old and the second oldest of his family. Because his face was full of pockmarks, others nicknamed him as Li Er Mazi and it stayed until even his real name was forgotten. With such a grotesque appearance, compounded by his penchant for lazing around without doing work, even though his family had sent out proposal after proposal for marriage talks, not one household was willing to wed their daughters to Li Er Mazi.
After Li Er Mazi’s parents passed away, no one bothered to keep him in check, and so he became even more unscrupulous.
As long as he alone had a full stomach and his family was not starving, then he had no qualms in what he did otherwise. He was famous within Wangjia Town as a knavish ruffian.
As more than ninety percent of the Wangjia Town population had the surname Wang, Li Er Mazi dared not provoke the womenfolk of the Wang clan, so he extended his claws instead, into the orphaned and widowed with other surnames. And the young and beautiful Xiaofeng suffered much harassment from Li Er Mazi
Though Li Er Mazi might have a wicked heart, he had not the wicked courage and with the constraints the Wang clansmen upheld, even he didn’t dare go too far.
After Xiaofeng went missing, the constables already brought Li Er Mazi in for questioning several times, so when the first questions Wang Changsheng ended up asking were about Xiaofeng, it caused Li Er Mazi to become uncomfortable.
“When was the last time you saw Xiaofeng? Has there been any strange occurrences in your household recently? Aside from spying on Xiaofeng bathing, have you done any other appalling things to Xiaofeng?”
Wang Changsheng threw three questions at Li Er Mazi in a single breath as he pinned the man down with his gaze.
All humans have three immortal souls and seven mortal forms*. Under normal circumstances, when a person dies, those souls and forms will slowly dissipate. Xiaofeng’s mother died of starvation and her body was cremated so the likelihood of her turning into a ghost was low. In comparison, the chances of the missing Xiaofeng becoming one was much higher.
[TL/N: 三魂七魄 represents as stated in the story the three immortal [aspects] of the soul(三魂), and the seven mortal [aspects] of the human form in Taoism. This is to contrast the spiritual and carnal side of mankind. The former encompasses all that is of the spirit and intellect while the latter represents the baser instincts and desires.]
If a person holds onto grievances and resentment before death and the corpse is left abandoned in a place filled with yin energy, then that person has a high chance of becoming a ghost.
Xiaofeng was young and beautiful. If she died from mistreatment from a man, then she would surely be filled with resentment and thus the chances of turning were great.
If Wang Changsheng’s speculations were correct, then Xiaofeng must have already met her end. That would be the reason why she did not return home to prepare food for her mother, who consequently starved to death.
“It was over a month ago perhaps! I passed by her tofu stand sometime at noon to buy tofu pudding to eat. As for my household, nothing strange occurred. Truly, I have only stolen a peak at her bathing and have done nothing else. Her disappearance has nothing to do with me.”
“Was it you who killed Xiaofeng? Where have you hidden her body?” Wang Changsheng asked thunderously, his countenance now frigid.
When he heard this, Li Er Mazi became as irritable as an ant on a hot cauldron surface and heatedly defended himself, “My conscience upon the heavens and earth! I, Li Er Mazi, dare not even kill chickens let alone a person. You mustn’t throw such a dirty accusation on me.”
“Hmph, you still dare tell a lie. Last time, you ran to Xiaofeng’s house and trespassed in the middle of the night. If Xiaofeng hadn’t screamed, you would have surely violated her. You must have killed Xiaofeng. Speak quickly, lest you suffer from lashings.” threatened Wang Tianhu.
Li Er Mazi became ashen-faced at those words and retorted, “Dark fatty, you mustn’t blame me foolishly. I, Li Er Mazi, have not the courage to even kill a chicken, much less a person. I had been drunk that time and that Xiaofeng wench spurned me. It’s not impossible that she may have run away with that handsome young fellow. On what basis is this bucket of sh*t being dumped on my head?”
[TL/N: 小白脸- ‘Small white face’ is a Chinese term for a pretty-faced male scholar who never held a sword, thus, the pale skin. It can be derogatory depending on context, that they’re weak and unmanly because they can’t fight.]
Scoundrels like Li Er Mazi, who bullied the weak yet trembled at the strong, feared government officials the most.
If he were to be dragged away into prison, he would surely be beaten until he confessed.
“Handsome young fellow? Who is this person? Explain clearly.”
Li Er Mazi curled his lips and said, “A month ago, a young lord surnamed Zhao passed through this town. He was cleanly dressed and had a fine complexion not much different from a woman. Not sure what kind of sweet-talk that bastard gave to Xiaofeng, but she met him in the middle of the night to engage in lovers’ talk only to be discovered by me. Hmph, that shameless woman, pretending to be high-minded in front of this old man. She had only known him for a few days and she was already embracing him in an alleyway; isn’t she merely spurning me for being poor?”
“Do any of you know of this Young Lord Zhao’s origins? Or have perhaps seen this person?” Wang Changsheng looked towards Wang Qingyun and asked in a solemn voice.
Wang Tianhu thought for a moment before speaking up in a somewhat uncertain tone, “Young Lord Zhao? Did he bring along a servant boy*?”
[TL/N: 书童 basically a young child servant to a scholar or his children (aka a boy attendant), they’re thus called because they’re usually the book bearers while their master(s) attend school.]
“I am not sure of the name, but that handsome young man did have a servant boy. He seemed to be a wealthy youth as he had a personal servant waiting on him; it’s no wonder that girl Xiaofeng would take a fancy for him.”
“There have been several scholars who have passed through our Wangjia Town in their haste to take the exams. Among them was one surnamed Zhao- he left a deep impression on me because of his ostentatious spending. But I remember that they did not bring any womanfolk with them when they left!” Wang Tianhu was puzzled.
“You’re certain they didn’t leave with a woman alongside them? Was there an error in the headcount?”
Wang Tianhu thought for a moment, then nodded, “I’m certain. The inn they stayed in is one my family owns. Besides Young Lord Zhao who brought a servant boy, all the other scholars were on their own, so a total of six people. They stayed there for a total of three days and left in the early morning; this grandson happened to see them. There were no more, no less than six people then. As to whether they took along Xiaofeng on their way out, this grandson is unsure.”
“They’re heading to the capital to take the exams so why stay in town for three days?” Wang Changsheng raised the question he had in his heart.
“It seems that Young Lord Zhao was occasionally affected by the wind and chill; I even had to help hire a physician for him. That Young Lord Zhao had a sickly constitution so his hands were too weak to even tie up a chicken. He’s unlikely to be the culprit for he has no motive to commit the crime.” Wang Tianhu offered his analysis politely.
“By the way, I remember an incident. My family’s Wang Cai* was stoned to death by someone. He was really damn unlucky”, Li Er Mazi added.
[TL/N: 旺财- The first character sounds like the Wang like the Wang clan lol, but has an added ‘sun’ radical. The name means wealth and prosperity. Too bad the poor dog died that way…]
“Is your family’s Wang Cai a black dog? Was there anything strange in the past few days?” Wang Changsheng pressed with a question, his eyes lighting up.
“How did you know that Wang Cai was a black dog?” Li Er Mazi was a little baffled, then paused in thought, and said, “Wang Cai was raised by my father for over ten years until even most of his teeth had fallen off. He couldn’t even bite people so I never did chain him. I don’t know what happened recently but one night, he wouldn’t stop barking. I was angered and so had him chained to the woodshed. When I found him this morning, he had been stoned to death. I don’t know which wicked bastard came over in the middle of the night and killed Wang Cai.”
Upon hearing this Wang Changsheng was able to confirm that Xiaofeng had indeed died and became a ghost entity that was harming people.
Dogs contain the most yang energy out of all animals and their corresponding twelve earthly branches and five elements is the Xutu*, which belongs under the yang element. Ghost entities belong under the yin element and so dogs will naturally restrain such entities; Taoists often use blood from black dogs to cast out demons and evil spirits. Xiaofeng became a ghost entity and sought out Li Er Mazi for vengeance but as soon as she approached Li Er Mazi’s house, she was discovered by the black dog and so the dog wouldn’t stop barking.
[TL/N: See footnote.]
If Wang Changsheng’s conclusion wasn’t wrong, then Xiaofeng would surely come to harm Li Er Mazi tonight.
Li Er Mazi was no idiot. Seeing so many Wang clan elders gather together like this and in thinking about the recent string of murders, he asked nervously, “It can’t be that the devilish murderer is the one who killed Wang Cai, right? Has he set his eyes on me?”
Wang Changsheng shook his head and replied, “No. The county’s Yamen discovered a female corpse and it was initially suspected to be Xiaofeng. Requesting you to come here was to confirm whether or not you were the killer. But now that everything has been cleared, Young Lord Zhao has a great motive for committing the crime. You may return, and also, do not make public of this matter.”
Li Er Mazi still felt that something was amiss but couldn’t find any flaws in Wang Changsheng’s words so he didn’t think too much of it and turned around to leave.
It was unimaginable, even if Li Er Mazi was beaten to death, that the monstrous killer wasn’t a human but a ghost entity.
“Qiuxian, go outside and stand guard. Do not let any idle or other various people near this ancestral hall, for I have some directives to leave with everyone”, instructed Wang Changsheng.
“Understood, Ninth Grand Uncle.” Wang Qiuxian acknowledged this and left along with Li Er Mazi.
“Then is the female ghost really Xiaofeng, Ninth Uncle?” Wang Qingyun asked quietly, his eyes filled with worry.
Wang Changsheng nodded his head, “Mm, if I’m not wrong, she will surely come out tonight to harm someone. Pass this on to the others: upon nightfall, all townspeople are not to step foot outside their door alone; for households without a strong and young member, have them stay a night at one who does have strong youths in numbers; each household must have a minimum of eight people and whether it be communing or relieving themselves, all must be done together. In addition, think of a way to make this Li Er Mazi obediently sleep at home tonight- if he can sleep like the dead, the better.”
“This grandson can make sure Li Er Mazi sleeps like the dead, to the point where he’ll find it hard to wake when the sun rises tomorrow”, reassured Wang Tianhu as he thumped his chest with full confidence.
“Has everyone heard Ninth Uncle’s words? Then return and notify all town’s people and strictly follow Ninth Uncle’s instructions. Make known publicly that this is the work of a monstrous killer, but what Ninth Uncle had spoken just now must not be leaked into the public. If anyone leaks this and Ninth Uncle is hindered in catching this ghost, there will be severe punishments waiting.” Wang Qingyun held each of the other Wang clan elder’s gazes as he said this solemnly.
“Understood, Third Uncle.” After the other Wang clan elders verbally agreed, they all left one after the other.
~~ * ~~
TL/N:
十二地支五行-
- 十二地支: the ‘twelve earthly branches’ were originally used as a means to record time during ancient times, and are divided between the yin branch(Chou, Mao, Si, Wei, You, Hai) and the yang branch(Zi, Yin, Chen, Wu, Shen, Xu)
- 五行: describes the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, earth. Each of the above branches correspond to the five elements and thus work with or oppose each other.
戍土是阳土-
- 戍土: based on the above division, Xutu corresponds to the yang branch of the earth element and, according to my research (please correct me if I’m wrong!), has the most strength during the eleventh of the twelve ‘periods’ of time(Chinese time(時辰) is divided into two hour pairs), which is in the evening or twilight. So Wang Changsheng is saying that dogs are sensitive to the yin energy of ghosts and was able to ward off the ghost because of this strength.
Alright, thanks for putting up with my long explanation~! See you all next time!!
