Chapter 3

After that, Hu Guohua joined the army and was highly valued, but in that era, the world was in great turmoil, warlords fought each other, and a force of a hundred or so could carve out a domain; today you destroy me, tomorrow he eliminates you—few powers could endure long. The warlord faction Hu Guohua followed was never large, and within a year it was shattered in territorial battles by another warlord faction, its troops dead or fled, and the warlord chief who had promoted Hu Guohua died from a stray bullet in the melee.

After the defeat, Hu Guohua fled back to his hometown, only to find his family's dilapidated house already collapsed, and in his hasty escape he had no money, had not eaten for two consecutive days, his opium addiction flared up, with no other recourse he sold his pistol to bandits for some opium and food to relieve his urgent need.

He thought, this cannot go on; this bit of food and opium will last at most three or five days—what then when it's gone? At that moment he recalled the words of the ghost attached to the white-paper woman: when destitute to the point of no return, go to the wild graveyard at Shisanlipu and find an unmarked grave, for she said her burial jewelry lay there.

By then Hu Guohua had served as a soldier and fought in battles, his courage greater than before; in the army he had once heard an old veteran speak much of grave-robbing, known among civilians as "overturning the coffin," which could bring great wealth but if caught meant losing one's head, so he dared not act in daylight; steeling himself, on a night of a hazy moon he lit a wind lamp, shouldered an iron shovel, and went to the graveyard at Shisanlipu.

(That observer asked, what is a hazy moon? It is when the sky has no clouds but the moonlight is not bright, very dim and hazy. Of course modern people know this is a meteorological phenomenon, officially called a lunar halo, indicating changing weather and strong winds, but who in the countryside of that era understood these scientific explanations? Some rural folk called such a moon the "long-haired moon," and others said that on such dark nights, lonely spirits and ghosts love to wander about.)

Upon arrival, he first drank half a jin of baijiu from his flask to steel his courage. That night the moon was cold, the stars scarce, and a gloomy wind wailed; phosphorescent fires drifted among the graves, from time to time came the strange cries of odd birds, and the wind lamp in his hand flickered, seeming ready to go out at any moment.

Though Hu Guohua had just drunk alcohol, he was still frightened into a cold sweat by this ghastly place—this time the half jin of baijiu was wasted, pouring straight out through his pores.

Fortunately this was a wild graveyard, no one knew its age, nearby there was no human habitation, shouting aloud would not be heard, so Hu Guohua sang a few folk songs to bolster his courage, but he knew few tunes, ran out of lyrics after a few lines, so he simply sang the two songs he knew best: "The Fifth Watch Longing Melody" and "Eighteen Touches."

Hu Guohua steeled himself and nervously made his way to the center of the vast graveyard, where indeed there lay an unmarked lone grave; amidst this wild grateland, this grave stood out distinctly.

Besides lacking a tombstone, the coffin was even more strangely placed—not buried beneath the mound but standing upright, inserted into the hillock with more than half exposed. The coffin was quite new, its lacquer gleaming bright, coated with eighteen layers of vermilion lacquer; under the waning moon's glow it emitted an eerie light.

Hu Guohua muttered to himself, why is the coffin arranged like this? Damn strange, there must be some trick. But having come this far, not opening it would be a wasted trip—no money for food and starving to death is one death, no money for opium and dying from withdrawal is another; better to be strangled by a ghost and be done with it—I've suffered enough indignity in this life, damn it, today I throw caution to the wind, I'll go all the way to the bitter end.

Having resolved, he swung the iron shovel to dig away the earth sealing the lower half of the coffin, revealing the whole coffin before his eyes. Hu Guohua was an opium addict, his strength poor; after digging a little he was already panting exhausted. He did not rush to open the coffin, sat on the ground, took out the opium paste he carried, and snorted a bit.

The opium stimulated his brain, his nerves grew excited; he gritted his teeth, stood up, used the iron shovel to pry open the coffin lid—inside lay a beautiful corpse, features lifelike, only her face powdered thickly, with two large patches of rouge on her cheeks, set against the white powder making them look like plasters; she wore a phoenix crown and rosy robes, a great red silk auspicious gown—truly the attire of a bride.

This female corpse was absolutely not the big-faced woman he had seen two years prior, and that paper effigy had been made two years ago to lure him here to dig a grave; after so long, even if that corpse had just been interred, it should have rotted by now—could she have become a zombie?

But by then Hu Guohua could no longer think of such things; his eyes held only the jewelry on the corpse in the coffin—these gold, silver, and gemstones sparkled enticingly in the wind lamp's light, and beside her lay sycee silver wrapped in red paper tubes, plus many gold ingots, too numerous to count.

Now he'd struck it rich, Hu Guohua reached for the emerald ring on the corpse's finger; as he extended his hand, the corpse's arm suddenly flipped, seized his wrist with incredible force—long, steel-hook fingernails sank over an inch into his flesh, and he could not break free. Hu Guohua felt pain pierce his heart, both agony and fear, momentarily not knowing what to do.

The corpse opened her eyes, from her pupils shot two beams of sinister cold light; Hu Guohua felt her gaze, his whole body shivered as if plunged into an ice cave, even his breath came out in white vapor.

The corpse gave a cold laugh and said: "You little brat, truly a money-muddled wretch—someone like you, low-born, will do anything for money? I see your heart and liver are useless; I'll first take them from you."

When Hu Guohua heard she wanted his heart, he protested: "No… no…" The corpse would not let him speak further, tore off his clothes, used her long nails to slash his chest, and a beating human heart leapt from his chest; she seized it, swallowed the bloody organ whole without chewing, and gulped it down.

Hu Guohua gasped in shock, looked down, saw a scar on his chest, felt no pain, only his consciousness growing hazy, his mind empty, unable to recall what had just happened; he fell to the ground and kept kowtowing before the corpse.

The corpse sat atop the upright coffin lid, coldly told Hu Guohua: "You are now my puppet; I will not mistreat you, I will surely give you wealth and honor—you must lure eighty-eight sixty-four women to this graveyard for me to eat their hearts and livers; if you err in the slightest, I will first take your dog's life."

At this moment Hu Guohua dared not disobey; the narration in the book explained: originally that corpse was a century-old corpse demon, she had herself been avoiding calamity, temporarily unable to leave this hiding graveyard, so she devised a trick to lure money-eyed Hu Guohua here to dig a grave, then coerce and entice him to abduct innocent women for her to devour their hearts alive; once she had eaten sixty-four women's hearts and livers, even a deity descending could not withstand her.

Hu Guohua fled the Shisanlipu graveyard in utter disarray, having just been terrified into losing bowel and bladder control; returning home he first stole a neighbor's drying trousers to wear. He thought: this is troublesome—I have no wife myself, where am I to find women for this demon? And he felt something important had been taken from him by that monster, though he could not recall what, only that it was vitally important; if he failed to bring women for her to eat, his life would be forfeit—what was he to do?

His mind wandered in anxiety, then his fingers touched the two large gold ingots in the pocket of the trousers he had just taken off—exactly the reward the corpse's master had given him. Hu Guohua frowned, hit upon a nasty idea: alas, to save my life I must betray my conscience; thinking of "conscience" felt strange, but now he could not dwell on it—better to live disgracefully than die honorably, so let depravity be depravity.

Early next morning he first went to the county seat to exchange the gold ingots for silver dollars, found a den and smoked opium to his heart's content, then spent ten silver dollars to buy a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl in a poor mountain village; in the early Republic, though human trafficking was officially banned, the populace was so impoverished they could not survive, selling sons and daughters was common, and the government could not enforce the ban—this law was a dead letter.

Having bought the girl, on the road Hu Guohua told her he was taking her home as his wife, so she need not worry, they would return and live well, he would let her eat well, dress finely, wear gold and silver. The girl's name was Xiaocui; rural girls have thin skins, she blushed but dared not lift her head to look at him, silent and obedient as he led her along. Hu Guohua led a small donkey, carried Xiaocui, and that night, under dark windy skies, hurried straight to the wild graveyard at Shisanlipu.

The mountain road was rugged and hard to travel; Hu Guohua feared missing the deadline, pressed on, and en route met a Mr. Sun surnamed, a famed geomancer of the province, born with yin-yang eyes, who could not only read fengshui and tell fortunes but also master the esoteric arts of dodging and the Five Phases.

Upon seeing Hu Guohua, Mr. Sun detected a faint black aura veiling his face, calculated with his fingers, and was greatly startled. He hurriedly blocked his path and asked: "Sir, why this haste—where are you rushing off to?"

Hu Guohua impatiently said he had urgent business, not to block the way. Mr. Sun suddenly shouted sternly: "I only ask you, walking corpse, one thing—where is your heart and liver?"

At these words Hu Guohua felt as if struck on the head, hastily dropped to his knees, kowtowed and begged Mr. Sun to save his life.

Mr. Sun helped him up: "Though your virtue is corrupt, you have committed no great crime; you must know that turning back is the shore, and I can save you easily—but you must first take me as master and quit your opium addiction."

Hu Guohua heard he must quit opium and thought it would be better to take his own life; yet after careful consideration, he decided life outweighed opium—"when the green hills remain, there's no fear of lacking firewood"—first I beg him to save me from the corpse's entanglement, then later, when he's off guard, I'll resume smoking my opium paste—would he even notice? Having decided thus, on the mountain road he kowtowed eight times to Mr. Sun, performed the apprentice ceremony.

Thereafter Mr. Sun arranged all matters, instructed Hu Guohua to follow the plan, while he himself followed at a distance to protect.

At midnight, Hu Guohua brought Xiaocui to the Shisanlipu wild graveyard; the corpse had long awaited, cursed Hu Guohua a few words, impatiently seized Xiaocui, extended her claws to tear out her heart and liver, swallowed them—then the corpse suddenly shrieked, grabbed Xiaocui's corpse and tore it to pieces; at this moment Xiaocui revealed her true form: Mr. Sun had used the enemy's own method against them, this fake Xiaocui was also a paper effigy, the real Xiaocui having been left elsewhere by Mr. Sun.

The heart the corpse ate was a black donkey's hoof hidden inside the paper effigy—this item is most perverse, especially effective against corpse-transforming zombies (grave-robbers split into schools; in Jiangnan, tomb thieves carry two black donkey hooves in their bosoms, a method from Mao Shan secret arts, the reason to be explained later). After eating the black donkey hoof, the demon knew she had been countered by the Dao, flew into a rage and also wanted to tear Hu Guohua to pieces, but Hu Guohua had already fled far away; the corpse wailed to heaven, her garments turned to ash one by one, her flesh became bloody water, and soon only a pure white skeleton remained collapsed on the ground.

Mr. Sun watched clearly from afar, hurried over, found in the skeleton a chicken-egg-sized crimson elixir pill, ordered Hu Guohua to swallow it—Hu Guohua's heart and liver were finally restored to their proper place.

The two joined forces to load the white bones on the ground into the great red coffin, just as they were about to close the lid, the skull suddenly leapt up, opened its jaws, and spat a black mist at Mr. Sun; Mr. Sun was somewhat careless, this blow caught him unprepared, he felt a surge of corpse chill choke his chest, making his qi and blood churn. But he was seasoned in peril, at this moment he showed no panic, shoved hard to close the coffin lid, drove in long nails to seal it tight, then used a marking line to snap crisscrossing ink lines on the coffin, forming a black net like a go board, sealing the coffin securely.

Mr. Sun had been struck by the corpse's yin qi, injured seriously; after this labor he sat on the ground unable to move, so he ordered Hu Guohua to gather dry firewood and burn the great red lacquer coffin. Hu Guohua obeyed, lit a fire, the coffin was consumed in roaring flames, black smoke poured forth, stinking horribly, finally reduced to a heap of ashes.

Only then did Hu Guohua recall that the coffin still held much gold, silver, and jewels; he stamped his foot in regret, too late, and could only support Mr. Sun, take Xiaocui, and go together to Mr. Sun's home to reside.

The Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Fengshui Secret Art

Thereafter Mr. Sun cured Hu Guohua's opium addiction with a secret formula, taught him some fengshui and character-reading skills; Hu Guohua set up a stall in the county seat to read characters and tell fortunes for people, earned some small change, married Xiaocui as his wife, he felt grateful for Mr. Sun's life-saving grace, from then on lived an honest life, and his days improved day by day.

However, after Mr. Sun was sprayed with corpse qi, the corpse poison and cold penetrated his bones, and he never fully recovered; a few years later he died.

On his deathbed, Mr. Sun summoned Hu Guohua to his side and said: "You and I have been master and disciple, but as master I have not yet had the chance to transmit any true ability to you; I have here an ancient book, 'The Ten.' Having said that, he could not catch his breath and thus departed from this world.

Hu Guohua buried his master, and in his leisure studied the remnant book Mr. Sun left him; day by day he gained some insight, in the county he began helping the wealthy select auspicious burial plots, gradually gained some reputation, and his household wealth slowly increased.

Xiaocui bore Hu Guohua a son, named Hu Yunxuan; at seventeen Hu Yunxuan went to the provincial capital's British church school to study; youthful, energetic, unrestrained, he also encountered revolutionary currents, his blood boiled, every night he dreamed of joining revolutionary uprisings, so he left home and went to the revolutionary holy land of Yan'an.

Thereafter Hu Yunxuan joined the army, and by the time of the nation's founding, during the Huai River Campaign he had already become a regiment commander of the Sixth Column of the Third Field Army; after the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign he followed his troops southward and settled his family in the south.

Later came me—I was born at a fortunate time, just coinciding with Army Day on August First, so my father named me Hu Junjun; but when I entered kindergarten I saw seven or eight others in my class also named Junjun—too many duplicates—so I was given a new name, "Hu Bayi."

My grandfather Hu Guohua said: "This name change is good—single and (Hu) eight ten-thousands one tube."

When I was eighteen, our household suffered a blow: first the heads of the Third Field Army's rear command fell, then they were gradually implicated, and furthermore my parents' background was not good, so both my mother and father were isolated and investigated; my grandfather was also dragged out to be denounced as an ox-demon snake-spirit, paraded through the streets; he was old, his arms and legs weak, could not endure the struggle, after two struggles he passed away. He had spent a lifetime reading fengshui for others, selecting burial sites, and even at his death he was still given a cremation—worldly affairs are indeed thus unpredictable.

Our household was ransacked three times in total, all valuables taken away; my grandfather loved collecting antiques in his lifetime, these antiquities were either smashed or confiscated, not a single piece preserved. Finally the only thing left was the remnant book my grandfather left me; he told me to wrap the book in oilcloth and hide it on the roof of the public toilet, whereby it escaped.

After graduating in the Cultural Revolution, youths had three choices: one, join the army—this is the best path, to train people, and later be assigned work upon conversion; two, remain in the city as a worker—not bad, one can earn wages; three, the most unfortunate: those with no connections, no backing, or whose families suffered impact—these youths could only go to the countryside to join the labor teams.

If you say I chose a fourth path—going nowhere, just staying at home—would that be acceptable? No, at the time there was no such thing as "idle persons"; everyone was a screw in the socialist machine, all had uses. If you stay at home, the neighborhood committee, school, and youth office will constantly send people to mobilize you like a revolving lantern; however, some people persisted to the end and thus did not go to the countryside—what could you do to them? In the end such people also remained in the city and were still assigned work. Chinese affairs are thus: inexplicable, the longer one lives the more muddled, one never knows what the rules are, while the unspoken rules are not understood by everyone.

At that time I was too young, also did not know what going to the countryside entailed; anyway, given my family background, wanting to join the army was certainly hopeless, staying in the city no one would arrange work for me, not joining the labor teams left nowhere else to go, so I thought: I'll just join the teams—I'll consider it as forging a red heart in the vast world; anyway, leaving home, if I join, I'll go as far as possible.

Most people here chose to go to Yunnan and Xinjiang for the teams; I chose to go to Inner Mongolia, together with my buddy Wang Kaiheng, he is fairer and plumper than average, so his nickname is Pangzi; the place we went to for the teams is Ganggang Yingzi, a name I had never heard before until they told me we were going to that Ganggang Yingzi—only then did I realize there really exists such a place in the world.

When we left home by train, no one came to see us off, unlike the enthusiastic send-offs for those joining the army; our departure as educated youths was somewhat bleak and solemn. I carried only that book hidden on the roof of the public toilet, the "Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Fengshui Secret Art"; I did not know what kind of book this was, only that it was the sole item preserved in my household; I wanted to keep it on my person, so that when I missed home I could take it out and have a look.