Corpse Retriever

Li Sanjiang untied the bell’s cord and walked to Li Zhuiyuan, “Come, Xiao Yuanhou, lift your right hand.”

Li Zhuiyuan obeyed, watching as Li Sanjiang tied the bell to his wrist.

Then, Li Sanjiang picked up the incense burner from the table, thought for a moment, snapped off most of the three incense sticks, leaving just stubs, and stuck them back in.

“Xiao Yuanhou, hold this.”

Li Zhuiyuan stood, taking the burner.

Cui Guiying finally realized something, instinctively stepping forward, but Li Weihan grabbed her wrist, yanking her back.

“How can you let Xiao Yuanhou…”

Li Weihan glared hard at his wife.

Li Sanjiang covered Li Zhuiyuan’s ears, looked up at the couple, and asked casually, “Last time I’ll ask, do it or not?”

“Do it!” Li Weihan answered at once.

“If something happens to Xiao Yuanhou…” Cui Guiying shook her arm, trying to break free from her husband.

Li Weihan said firmly, “If there’s no such thing, nothing happens, but if there is, and we don’t act, Xiao Yuanhou’s still in trouble, that thing’s got its sights on our Xiao Yuanhou!”

Hearing this, Cui Guiying stopped struggling, her arm dropping.

Li Sanjiang smiled, “Hanhou, you sure about this? If word gets out, it won’t be easy living in this village.”

Even if there’s no dead thing, and it’s all just a ridiculous mix-up, making this kind of fuss at home and performing that ritual against someone, if they find out, you’ve made a serious enemy!

“Hmph,” Li Weihan snorted, “Uncle, I’m not scared of Big Beard’s family, I’ve got four sons.”

In the countryside, the more grown sons a family had, the stronger their standing.

Sure, Li Weihan’s four sons weren’t model filial types, and there was friction among the daughters-in-law, but if the Li family faced an outside threat, those four would stand united.

“Alright, let’s do it!” Li Sanjiang let go of Li Zhuiyuan’s ears, squatted by the kid, and said, “Xiao Yuanhou, Great-Uncle will walk ahead, you follow behind, walk slow, don’t spill the burner, got it?”

“Got it.”

“Good boy.”

Li Sanjiang led Li Zhuiyuan out the back door, turned, and said to Li Weihan and Cui Guiying, who’d followed, “Stay home, don’t come, too many people might be seen, and we don’t want to spook her.”

“Alright, Uncle, we’re counting on you.”

“Lock the house up.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

Li Weihan pulled his wife back inside, shutting all the doors and windows.

Outside, by the river under the night sky, only Li Sanjiang and Li Zhuiyuan remained.

“Wait a sec, Xiao Yuanhou.”

Li Sanjiang called out, then walked alone down the stone steps to the riverbank, squatting and splashing the water with his hand while muttering softly.

From a distance, his voice deliberately low, Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t make out the words.

As he spoke, Li Sanjiang leaned back, several times poised to bolt, as if something underwater might lunge at him any moment.

Finally, he finished, hurrying back up, still panting.

“Alright, Xiao Yuanhou, I’ll walk ahead, you follow close, remember, no matter what happens next, no matter what you hear, hold that burner tight and don’t look back, understand?”

“Understood.”

“Good boy.”

Li Sanjiang moved ahead, pulling about twenty meters away, turned, and waved to Li Zhuiyuan, signaling the kid to follow.

But Li Zhuiyuan stood still, unmoving.

“Come on, walk with me, Xiao Yuanhou.”

“But…” Li Zhuiyuan started to turn his head, then remembered Li Sanjiang’s warning, holding the extinguished incense burner in one hand and pointing to the river with the other, “Aren’t we waiting for her?”

“Waiting for who?”

“Her, Little Yellow Oriole.”

“Little Yellow Oriole, what about her?”

“She’s not following.”

Li Sanjiang froze, walked back, and studied Li Zhuiyuan closely, asking, “Xiao Yuanhou, do you know what we’re doing?”

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head, then nodded.

Li Sanjiang looked at him, surprised, muttering, “This kid, takes after his mom, sharp.”

Then, as if struck by a thought, he stared into Li Zhuiyuan’s eyes, “Can you… feel her?”

“Yeah.”

“Where… is she now?”

Li Zhuiyuan opened his mouth but didn’t speak, like he was thinking or waiting, then he said, “She’s here.”

“Where?” Li Sanjiang jolted, startled.

“Just now, in the water…”

“Phew…” Li Sanjiang exhaled.

“Now behind me.”

Li Sanjiang: “…”

He instinctively wanted to glance past Li Zhuiyuan’s head to look behind, but he fought the urge.

Even without looking, his nose caught a thick stench of corpse, a smell he knew all too well.

She was really here.

Li Sanjiang swallowed hard, tempted to stop, but thinking of the consequences… damn it, why should Hanhou’s family bear someone else’s sins!

“Xiao Yuanhou, remember what your Great-Uncle told you.”

“Yeah.”

Li Sanjiang closed his eyes, raised both hands, and stood slowly, the corpse stench growing stronger.

He turned, opened his eyes, and walked forward a stretch, the distance he’d keep when facing dead things from a boat.

Taking a deep breath, he looked back with open eyes.

Li Zhuiyuan stood there holding the burner, behind him, a darkness the moonlight couldn’t pierce.

“Xiao Yuanhou, follow close.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Li Sanjiang started walking, the “ding ding ding” of the bell trailing behind.

He avoided the village path, sticking to the riverbank or cutting through small groves, even late at night with no one around, he had to be cautious, couldn’t let anyone know.

Halfway along, he stopped, and the bell fell silent.

Turning, Li Zhuiyuan stood twenty meters off, and behind the kid, Li Sanjiang faintly saw a figure, very close.

“Xiao Yuanhou, keep up, we’re almost there.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Li Sanjiang pressed on, stopping and starting, the bell ringing and pausing in turn.

Finally, past one more fishpond, they’d reach Big Beard’s doorstep, the pond belonged to his family.

This time, Li Sanjiang didn’t pause, moving along the pond’s edge, but as he went, he glanced back slowly.

Under dim moonlight, Li Zhuiyuan clutched the burner, sometimes looking ahead at his great-uncle, sometimes down at the path.

The path was rough, easy for a kid to slip and fall, so he walked carefully, seriously, though his body still swayed.

Behind him followed a woman in a qipao, her long hair dripping wet.

She moved like a blind person, unable to see the way.

And when blind folks have a guide, they often hold on, so her hands gripped the boy’s shoulders, her steps uneven, swaying with his, one foot deep, one shallow.

Li Sanjiang swallowed, walking backward he missed a step, nearly fell, but after wobbling, he steadied himself.

Li Zhuiyuan started to stop.

Li Sanjiang called out anxiously, “Xiao Yuanhou, don’t stop, keep going, stay steady, we’re almost there.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Finally, rounding the pond, Li Sanjiang reached the embankment before Big Beard’s house.

It was deep into the night, not just Big Beard’s place but all nearby homes were dark, no lights, no signs of anyone.

Li Sanjiang turned sideways, squatted, left hand open toward Big Beard’s house, right toward Li Zhuiyuan’s spot, and spoke, “Today we offer you tribute, next year we’ll send you rites, we’ve done our part, are you satisfied? 

Be it yin or yang, there’s got to be a reason!

Seek your vengeance where it’s owed, settle your grudges with the guilty, life’s bitter for all, don’t drag the innocent down.”

Li Sanjiang finished, sneaking a glance at Li Zhuiyuan, seeing two figures, one big, one small, standing front and back, eerily still.

“Xiao Yuanhou, kneel.”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t kneel, still standing, clutching the burner.

“Xiao Yuanhou?” Li Sanjiang urged softly.

“Great-Uncle… I can’t kneel.”

Li Zhuiyuan tried to kneel, but a force on his shoulders held him up, keeping him from going down.

Li Sanjiang took a deep breath and immediately chanted, “The kid’s still young, the kid’s innocent, the kid owes you nothing, we’ve led you here, shown you the way, are you really going to ignore all reason?”

When he finished, there were still just two figures, one big, one small.

Anger flared in Li Sanjiang’s eyes, he pulled back his outstretched “bridging” hands, digging his fingers into the dirt, black mud caking under his nails.

“You walk below the water, I drift above it, I gave you respect and you refused, I offered reason and you ignored it, fine then, you’re forcing me to flip the table and we’ll all go ask the Dragon King who’s right!”

Li Sanjiang’s whole demeanor turned solemn, he’d never wanted or dared to face her head-on, but things had reached this point, no choice left, he couldn’t lead this dead thing out and then bring it back home.

But just then, with a “creak,” Big Beard’s iron gate swung open.

Li Sanjiang’s gaze snapped over, spotting two figures behind the door, Big Beard and his youngest son, both in just shorts, bare-chested and barefoot.

For a moment, Li Sanjiang’s heart sank, this was meant to be secret, if they were caught now, it’d be hard to smooth over later.

But soon, he sensed something off.

Big Beard and his son didn’t even glance at him standing outside, instead trudging blankly toward the fishpond.

As they passed, Li Sanjiang noticed both walking on their toes, heels off the ground.

The father and son moved side by side, swaying but never falling, reaching the pond’s edge without stopping, continuing downward.

Into the water, still walking, it rose past their knees, their waists, their shoulders, and finally… over their heads.

“Splash!”

Li Zhuiyuan felt a weight lift, collapsing to the ground, Li Sanjiang rushed over, shielding the child.

“Kid, you alright?”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t answer, just raised a hand, pointing ahead, dazed.

Ahead was Little Yellow Oriole’s figure, arms outstretched, hands groping like she was feeling her way, moving slowly but reaching the pond’s edge, then stepping into the water.

As if sensing the water beneath, she lowered her arms, her steps growing steadier.

She began to sway her hips, like she was dancing again, the same dance she’d performed yesterday on this embankment facing the pond.

Her moves were still unpolished, now stiff with rigid joints, even less precise, but she danced with focus.

Her form flickered in the night, now sinking, now jutting out, appearing and vanishing.

Each time she reappeared, the water claimed more of her.

Gradually, her legs under the qipao’s slit vanished, her swaying hips disappeared, her chest, not prominent but cinched tight by her clothes, was gone.

The water reached her neck, spreading her hair out, she raised her hands, facing the night sky, still performing.

Soon, her head sank beneath, leaving only her arms above the surface, then just her wrists, then her hands…

Until her hands too slipped under, leaving only a mass of black water weeds.

At last, with one final ripple,

Everything,

Was gone.

Li Sanjiang hoisted Li Zhuiyuan onto his back, hurrying off in a hunched jog, only setting the boy down after a good distance, pulling out his cigarette pack while pounding his aching lower back.

Seeing the kid standing there, dazed, he soothed, “Listen to Great-Uncle, treat it like a dream, wake up tomorrow, and forget it all.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded obediently, but he felt that scene might stay etched in his memory forever.

Flicking ash from his cigarette, seeing the kid still down, Li Sanjiang teased, “Xiao Yuanhou, why not think of something that makes you happy?

“Something happy?”

Li Sanjiang pointed toward Big Beard’s house with his cigarette-holding hand, grinning, “A feast!”

(End of Chapter)