Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Weasel Spirit

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Chen Qingshan had truly drunk quite a lot. Normally, he and I would drink together often. Don’t be fooled by how sturdy he looks—his limit is about four hundred grams; anything more than five hundred, and he’d be lost. Tonight, he’d had at least seven hundred, maybe even more. That’s why, when he started crying, it was so relentless and without reason, as if I were comforting a wronged young bride, handing him tissues one after another. I didn’t say a word, because to me, if Chen Shitou’s tears could help him release the pressure he’d been under lately, that could only be a good thing.

He wept for half an hour before he finally quieted down. Afterward, as if his tears had flushed the alcohol from his system, he said to me, “Yezi, that night I followed Chen Shitou and Chen Dakui up the back hill. They wandered around the forest for a long time. I wanted to figure out what the two of them were up to. In the end, I saw them go into a cave. It was late, and I thought, with just those two, they’re no match for me, so I followed. The cave went deep, growing wider as it went, and strangely, the deeper we went, the brighter it got—there was light inside.

“As I walked further, I suddenly heard voices. And it wasn’t Chen Shitou or Chen Dakui talking. So I hid and quietly peeked in. Yezi, what I saw—damn it! Chen Shitou was talking to a weasel! And not just any weasel—a massive one, taller than a man when it stood up, dressed like a person, speaking human words, wearing human clothes. I heard them talking about the full moon, and something about the Gate of Ghosts opening once every sixty years, but I couldn’t make out the rest. When I saw those weasels, dressed and talking like humans, standing upright and walking around, I was terrified. I wanted to leave, but my legs gave out. Yet I was so damned curious, I just had to keep watching!”

At this point, Chen Qingshan was on the verge of tears again. I was riveted and quickly said, “Village Chief, don’t cry yet! Hold on! Finish your story first!”

He managed not to cry, instead pouring himself another drink. I hurried to stop him, afraid that another glass would knock him out cold. But he pushed my hand away, saying, “I’m not drunk! If you don’t let me drink, I’ll lose it!”

“All right, have your drink,” I relented. Normally, Chen Qingshan wasn’t a heavy drinker. Tonight, he needed the alcohol to numb himself.

“If I’d left right then, nothing would have happened. But because I stuck around, things went wrong. While they were talking, suddenly, an old weasel showed up. But it was no ordinary weasel—all its fur was white. The moment I saw it, I felt like I was looking at an old woman, despite it being a weasel. She wore a mink coat, her exposed fur all grey and white. This old she-weasel needed two others to support her as she walked. When she sat in the middle chair, all the other weasels dropped to their knees, calling her Grandmother Weasel or something. Even Chen Shitou and Chen Dakui knelt. I was still wondering who this old she-weasel was, when she suddenly spoke to Chen Shitou: ‘You brought a stranger with you, didn’t you? I can smell a living human. He’s been hiding behind that rock, watching for a while now.’

At this point, not only did Chen Qingshan’s face turn pale, but even I was on edge, listening intently.

“I knew I’d been exposed. I wanted to run, but on two legs, how could I outrun those demon weasels? They pinned me down at once. And just like in those old legends, they tied me up! Even forced me to kneel before that old demon weasel! I panicked and looked to Chen Shitou for help. Despite all his schemes, had I ever mistreated him? When his three kids started school, wasn’t it me who covered their fees from the village funds? Every time relief grain came in, didn’t I make sure his family got some? And you know what he did? He told the weasels to kill me on the spot! Damn him! Is that something a man should say?”

As he spoke, Chen Qingshan cursed bitterly, his hatred for Chen Shitou palpable. Knowing his temper, if Chen Shitou stood before him now, Chen Qingshan would probably pummel him to death.

“Enough. You were following him—if he dared kill even his third uncle, why wouldn’t he kill you to keep you quiet? So, how did you get out?” I asked, curious.

“The old she-weasel asked where I was from. I said I was from Fudigou, down the mountain. She said she had an agreement with Chen Tianfang not to harm the Chen family, but since I’d trespassed into her den uninvited, she wouldn’t kill me, but I couldn’t escape unpunished. So she had one of the weasels bite me. Said I’d have to help Chen Shitou, or she’d take my life!” As he spoke, Chen Qingshan rolled up his sleeve and said, “Yezi, look at this bite. Did I lie? Look!”

I looked at his arm and saw a row of teeth marks, purple and blue around the wound, the flesh nearly rotten.

“That vicious?” I exclaimed.

“Weasel teeth are venomous!” Chen Qingshan replied angrily, then continued, “Did you see your aunt? A woman, for heaven’s sake! I nearly lost my life, and she keeps saying the bite’s from some little vixen. I told her the truth—it was a demon that bit me. She doesn’t believe it, insists it was a fox spirit, and when I say it wasn’t, she accuses me of being with another woman. Who would bite down this hard?”

Despite my nerves, I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Looking at the wound, it really did resemble a woman’s bite mark. I said, “Well, I believe you, but who else would? If your aunt is jealous, it’s because she cares. Don’t argue with her over this.”

“I don’t want to argue, but I’m worried sick already, and she won’t let it go. Can you blame me for being annoyed? Yezi, I didn’t want to say any of this to anyone. If the weasels find out, they’ll kill my whole family. But after seeing what that fat man did last night, I have to speak out. We have to destroy those weasels—they’re in league with Chen Shitou.”

“Should I bring the fat man here now?” I asked.

“No, just tell him and have him pretend he found out himself. If he can’t wipe out the weasels, I don’t want to be implicated. It’s not that I’m scared, but I have your aunt and our daughter to think of,” Chen Qingshan said.

I nodded. “That’s what I was thinking too. Just stay out of this now.”

At that, Chen Qingshan poured another drink, looked at me, and said, “Yezi, I know you only recently learned about the village’s troubles, but honestly, I’ve known for a long time. I never understood how deep Third Uncle was hiding, but I always knew Chen Zhuzi was special. Do you know how much I regret not becoming a Taoist apprentice instead of learning martial arts? Maybe then none of this would have happened.”

“How did you know about Uncle Zhuzi’s abilities so long ago?” I asked, thinking he was just rambling from the drink.

But he replied, “Five years ago, I worked construction in the city with Chen Zhuzi. Back then, he was just a foreman because the contractor was his distant nephew. One day, the workers dug up a coffin on the site. Inside was a woman’s corpse, covered in gold and silver, with a lot of burial goods. Chen Zhuzi’s nephew immediately gave the workers a half-day off, treated them to a feast that night, and handed out a hundred yuan to each—everyone knew what that meant: hush money.

Everything in the coffin was taken by Zhuzi’s nephew.”

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