Chapter 51: The Elders

Lin Wanmo took out a small silver box, its shape oddly resembling a miniature spirit shrine.

Uncle Shen handed his tobacco pipe to Uncle Mao Si.

Uncle Mao Si reluctantly took it.

Uncle Shen, ashamed and angry: "What, you're disgusted by me?"

Uncle Mao Si said: "Who dares to despise you? I don't smoke—your tobacco stings and reeks when it hits my mouth…"

Uncle Mao Si wiped the mouthpiece of the pipe several times with his sleeve.

Lin Wanmo opened the box; inside were dozens of shadow puppets, male and female.

Uncle Mao Si lit the pipe, drew a deep breath, and exhaled straight toward the puppets.

A gray-white smoke enveloped all the puppets; after a moment, they suddenly came alive.

"Cough, cough, cough—this weather grows colder every year…"

"Why did you call us back again?"

"Doggie, did you miss your father?"

"Girl, how did you end up like this? Oh my, you're coming to join me soon."

The small room erupted into chaos, dozens of voices speaking at once, each calling out to their own descendants.

One puppet, hands behind its back, stepped up to Uncle Shen and reached out to pat his head: "Doggie."

Uncle Shen had to bow his head down for him.

"Father."

It was his father, Shen Yongji.

The shadow puppets in the silver box were the ancestors of Riverwork Alley, those who had died there since the first generation.

But those like Xu Yuan's second uncle, who never inherited the alley's legacy and left early, had no right to enter the silver box after death.

This object was Riverwork Alley's "Ancestral Shrine."

Uncle Mao Si's mother kept saying you've grown thin—you must not be eating properly, you can't just scrape by alone.

You don't even mend your torn clothes; if you wear them two more days, your butt will show.

Bring me needle and thread—I'll sew them for you…

She was about to cry: My child left alone in the alley to suffer!

Aunt Wang was also being hugged and coaxed by a pair of elderly puppet ancestors.

Her father kept muttering he'd never arranged a marriage for his daughter in life, turning her into a true "old maid."

Aunt Wang's eyes were about to overflow; Lin Wanmo softly coughed: "Grandparents, your time here is limited—let's get to the matter at hand."

The three of Uncle Shen's party let out a collective sigh of relief.

The elders all agreed: "Mo girl speaks rightly." Then they sat down according to seniority—another round of polite refusals, another full pipe of smoke passed.

Lin Wanmo stole a glance at the Ancestral Shrine; inside lay one tiny shadow puppet still.

Square face, thick eyebrows, Bai Laoyan's beard was streaked gray and short, three deep forehead wrinkles clearly visible.

Lin Wanmo sighed inwardly.

The only puppet in the Ancestral Shrine that had not yet come alive was Xu Yuan's father.

The residents of Riverwork Alley were called "Criminals"—this was no mere social stigma from the mortal world.

For instance, she couldn't sell artisan-crafted items to outsiders at fair prices; those from the alley who acted outside it inevitably suffered "Criminal Punishment"; and worse… after death, their souls crossed the Yellow Springs but had no place to return!

Uncle Shen had already told the elders everything about Xu Yuan's situation and revealed the current four-way split.

The dozens of elders began to debate.

But unlike Uncle Shen's four, they had no manners; soon the discussion turned to shouting—when the elders lost an argument, they slapped the younger ones' heads, bellowing to crush them with seniority.

The juniors, too afraid to fight back, sprawled out at their elders' feet: "Hit me! Kill me! I'm already dead—why are you still hitting me?"

In an instant, chaos erupted.

Uncle Shen's four were long accustomed—every time they summoned the elders, it was always like this.

Once the "tobacco strength" faded and their time ran out, they'd return to the box and swiftly reach a conclusion.

Usually, it was Xu Yuan's grandfather who spoke first.

But today, for some reason, Xu Yuan's grandfather remained silent, only asking once at the start about Lin Wanmo's condition.

After about fifteen minutes, the once-loud, rowdy puppets suddenly grew weary.

"Time's almost up."

"Old Xu, say something."

Xu Yuan's grandfather rolled a pair of walnuts in his hands, grunted, but didn't speak yet.

Everyone assumed he was making his final decision—when suddenly, another shadow puppet rose slowly from the silver box, its voice low yet steady:

"This is Ah Yuan's 'fate'—he must choose it himself."

Lin Wanmo exclaimed in delight: "Master, you've returned…"

Xu HuanYang turned to look at his disciple… and his second wife; he seemed about to say something, then his body went limp, floating back into the silver box.

Xu Yuan's grandfather coughed and said: "HuanYang is nearly back. This matter is grave—he came briefly to voice his opinion."

With Xu HuanYang speaking, the other puppets all voiced their support.

Gradually, the tobacco strength faded completely; the puppets on the table yawned one by one and floated back into the silver box.

After the last one returned, Lin Wanmo closed the Ancestral Shrine and respectfully put it away.

Uncle Shen snatched his tobacco pipe back from Uncle Mao Si: "Enough. Go back to your places. Do as Xu Yuan's father said."

Outside Uncle Shen's room, Lin Wanmo still kept her small face stiff: "Uncle Mao Si, there's one more thing I need to tell you…"

…

In the county yamen's rear courtyard, Song Lu held a box of young ladies' face powder, busily covering the red swelling around Fu Jingyu's eyes.

Fu Jingyu's whole body went stiff; he was very unaccustomed to it.

"Perhaps it's not necessary..."

Song Lu glared reproachfully: "Sit still! Don't fidget."

After quite a while, Song Lu smoothed the powder evenly, then took a mercury glass mirror from a red-haired foreigner: "Look, can you tell it's there now?"

Fu Jingyu's whole body relaxed; it was finally over.

The Fu and Song families were old friends; he and Song Lu had studied together since childhood under Master Ma Tianshou.

His junior sister was two years younger than him; since the age of five, she had loved to act spoiled and insisted on "putting makeup" on him.

But after turning twelve, this childish game of make-believe was something his junior sister felt too embarrassed to play anymore.

Today felt like recovering the joy of childhood.

Yet Fu Jingyu felt something was strange...

"Let's go quickly; there's a mission today."

The two each took their sidearm blades, hung them at their waists, and went out the door.

Today, prohibited: funerals, approaching the river, and sharing a bedchamber.

Fu Jingyu and Song Lu arrived at River Works Alley and entered from the west entrance.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Fu Jingyu felt that the old woman at that basket-shop was looking at him with an expression that was decidedly not "kindly."

Aunt Wang did not think the Pollution-Dispelling Bureau was a good place to go—except for River Works Alley, which they protected, no other place in this world was safe.

The two young Captains of the Pollution-Dispelling Bureau arrived once more at the deep end of the alley, before the Xu family's door; this time Song Lu stepped forward to knock, and the one who opened the door was a beautiful woman.

She stood more than half a head taller than Song Lu, with a slender and graceful figure.

Song Lu had to tilt her small face upward slightly to ask the other: "Where is Xu Yuan?"

"Heaven only knows!" The stepmother's mood today was not particularly bright; the child had grown up and had one's own idea. Even his own mother couldn't control him, let alone her, his stepmother.

Xu Yuan had run out early this morning without eating breakfast.

He hadn't said where he was going; when Lin Wanmo heard the noise and chased out, the boy had already slapped a paper talisman onto each of his two legs, shot over the courtyard wall with a whoosh, and vanished without a trace.

Begging for monthly tickets!

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(End of this chapter)