Zhao Laohei put away his peach wood sword, picking up the dripping yellow paper amulet painfully. Looking beyond annoyed, he said to Granny Hong Rong, "And what is your reason?" He said angrily.

​

“I almost had it! My first encounter with ghosts and I almost had it!” Zhao Laohei spat at them. “If you and the fool had not interrupted, this boy would be free!” He said angrily.

​

Granny Hong Rong didn't pay him any attention. She turned to the Village Head and asked politely in her grave voice, “Will you look after Xiao Chun?” The Village head hesitated, looking to Zhao Laohei.

​

“Isn’t the ghost his mother?” The Village Head asked slowly. “And Xiao Chun saved her… the ghost might be with him. Who would dare to go after Xiao Chun?”

​

Granny Hong Rong looked at him dubiously. "If you are scared, take some ashes from the hearth or take Zhao Laohei with you. He even knows about Taoism, that should help." Her tone lilted mockingly, but her voice was firm.

​

Just like that, she took over the room. She was an elder after all and used to getting her way. The Village Head nodded and looked at Zhao Laohei. Zhao Laohei sighed heavily and muttered, "Let it go, I am not useful. It was only the paper amulet keeping the ghosts at bay. It is a good thing my master left it to me.”

​

He started to turn away, but stopped and faced the old woman again. “You will tell me, Granny. After this is all over, why you brought Xiao Chun here.”  

​

Finally, Zhao Laohei left , walking with his head down, the peach wood sword swinging angrily at his hip. The Village Head followed after him.

​

Granny Hong Rong walked to me after Zhao Laohei left. She felt my breath and turned to my parents, "Don't worry. Xiao Yong is safe. The ghosts have moved.”

​

She swayed her hands over me once more and continued speaking, “His Yang air has been lost. The ghost held him for quite some time. You,” She pointed to my mother, “Make a ginger concoction for him and cover him with a quilt."

​

Mom followed her orders without question.

​

As my mother left to prepare the tea, my dad asked the elder woman, "Granny Hong Rong, are you more capable than Zhao Laohei?"

​

She looked at him with a stunned look and said, "No, we are equal to each other. We are all common people that know a bit about Taoism or the craft. I cannot catch a ghost like Zhao Laohei, because I do not have fu sheng. However, I know why Xiao Chun's mom became a ghost. So I have at least one advantage." She smiled at him, but there was no joy in it.

​

“I don’t understand,” He told her, but she overrode him.

​

"Whoever started the trouble should end it. Unfortunately, I am that person. I am part of why Xiao Chun’s poor old mother became a ghost."

​

My dad crossed the room to stand between Granny Hong Rong and I, as if she were going to hurt me.

The old woman smiled at this and stepped back. "Don't worry.” She croaked. “I will not harm people in my village. I helped Xiao Chun's mother because we were of age. She was so pitiable, and had no husband to take care of. She dealt with many hardships in her life and I favored her." Her dark old eyes wandered to the window as she went on.

​

"Almost two months ago, Xiao Chun’s mother made her son carry her to me. She knew she was dying, you see. It comes to us all. She told me she had always dreamed that Xiao Chun’s father would come to take her away."

​

" Xiao Chun’s father?" My dad spouted incredulously, “He’s been dead since I was a child!”

​

She simply nodded and went on. "When people are dying, they will see that which is invisible to common people, such as the ghosts. The increasing Yin air in their bodies pulls them closer to the spirits.

​

Granny seemed to straighten when she spoke of the ghosts. She stopped deliberately, and then continued describing the dying woman’s visit, "Xiao Chun carried his mother on his back all the way to my home. I was certain that she would die and I wanted to comfort her, but Xiao Chun's mother pointed at her son. “Not for me,” she told me and pointed to the boy. She knew what the villagers thought of Xiao Chun and how they treated him. “Because she was poor!” Granny Hong Rong’s voice rose and she spat the words at my father. “Poor, and because her son was simple! Condemned to be ridiculed because he was poor, simple, and had no living father!"

​

She wiped a fat angry tear from her eye. “I know how your villagers speak of people. I know how they speak of me as well. Us old gals have to stick together…so I helped her.”

​

"Granny Hong Rong, you mean that Xiao Chun’s mother became a ghost to get revenge?" My father asked.

​

Granny shook her head sadly, "No, please listen to me."

​

She wiped her tears again. "Xiao Chun’s mother told me that she worried for her son after she was gone. She asked me whether I could help her take care of Xiao Chun afterwards. I mentioned, casually, that she could remain, only as a ghost."

​

"Do you really have methods of creating ghosts?" He gaped at her.

​

"Anyone who knows about Taoism and the craft can halt a dead man's soul, oblige him to stay. The method is difficult, and if there is no master present it can be very dangerous, nay impossible. Otherwise, there would be many spirits in our world."

​

"I told her of what I could do. I told her to shelter her home from the light. That she should give up meat, ginger and pepper that belong to Hang. And I told her to accumulate her stubborn feelings for her son. Ghosts remain because of stubborn beliefs. Do all of this, I said, otherwise, her soul would disappear after death."

​

"I did not want to tell you these things. In fact, I guessed that Xiao Chun’s mother had frightened Xiao Yong when he was in the hospital, but I wasn’t certain! I was relieved when I heard the boy was safe, but today he met trouble again, so here I am."

​

My father stared at her in angry silence. "Did you bring Xiao Chun to free his mother’s spirit? Do you want her to hurt my son?"

​

Granny Hong Rong shook her head profusely before he’d finished speaking, saying "I do not hurt people. I brought Xiao Chun here to expel the stubborn tie of his mother’s feelings in order for her to leave peacefully. I didn't know that Zhao Laohei would be performing religious rites and anger the fool. So here we are.”

​

"According to Xiao Chun’s reaction, I don’t think that he knows his mother is dead. After she became a ghost, she let him see her. When we entered just now, she probably called out for help and he obeyed as a good son is want to do."

​

She looked sadly out the door. “I suspect that he doesn't even know about life and death."

​

"Do you have any means of sending her away?” My father cut in. “There is a ghost in our village because of you. What should we do?"

​

Granny Hong Rong shook her head, "I have no idea. I have access to the craft, but no ability to resolve this. My ancestors have passed down everything I know. I haven’t practiced, or devoted my life to this art. Many things have been forgotten.”

​

A bleak silence stood between them.

​

“You brought her here. You created a ghost, Granny Hong Rong. Several people have been hurt or stricken ill. This is your responsibility and your mistake.” My father’s words cut through the silence with the ferocity of a disciplinarian. “Help us.”

​

And then the village knew. There was a ghost running rampant in our community. News of Xiao Chun’s mother spread, but tongues never spoke of the second ghost or the third. Only my eyes would have been able to see…

​

Xiao Chun’s mother, Uncle Sun, and...