Genre: Mystery, Fantasy, Chinese Strange Stories
Characters: Yantuo (ML, a rich young master), Nie Jiuluo (FL, last generation of the Dao* family)
*Sword
Synopsis:
Over two thousand years ago on a deep night, Xu Fu* set sail to the eastern seas in a treasure ship to search for immortality, but few people knew that at the same time, a group of black-turban soldiers secretly entered the vast and dense Nanbao forest…
A millennium later, the dark legend continues to slowly grow in the shadows.
Xú Fú 徐福: Qin dynasty court necromancer and was tasked by Qin Shi Huang to the look for the elixir of life between 219 BC and 210 BC. He never returned after departing on his second mission in 210 BC.
—
Chapter 1: The Bait
In the year 1992, there was an old ox-head hill in southern Shaanxi province near Tang County.
Early in the morning, Yan Huanshan left home and rode his bicycle through half the county. He presented gifts to seven or eight “relevant” family units. He managed a small coal mine in the western region. Yet, due to inadequate qualifications, incomplete procedures, and serious violations, it was on the verge of closure unless he privately pays.
However, in these times of economic revival, regulations lag behind the rapid progress and often success was relied on personal connections and relationships.
Each morning, Yan Huanshan spent two to three thousand, but he didn’t mind at all. The relationships were now established, making the coal mine’s affairs more manageable. Additionally, his wife, Lin Xirou, was pregnant. A friend had checked with ultrasound, and confirmed it was a boy.
A boy, a son to continue the lineage of the Yan family!
With the success in both career and family, Yan Huanshan was very satisfied. On his way back to the mining site, he pedaled the bicycle recklessly. He swayed and hummed to Teresa Teng’s “Sweet Honey.”
—
Still a long way off, Yan Huanshan spotted Lin Xirou standing at the entrance of the mine with her belly slightly protruding.
This wasn’t good; how could a pregnant woman be wobbly walking around like this? Yan Huanshan, in a bit of a panic, didn’t even bother stabilizing the bike. He casually toss it on the ground and hurriedly approached, “Why are you here?”
Lin Xirou, at the age of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, lived up to her name with a pleasant appearance and a gentle demeanor. She held up a thermal lunch box, “The communal meals at the mine aren’t good, so I packed some pork dumplings for you.”
Only then did Yan Huanshan realize it was nearly mealtime. Simultaneously, he felt a surge of pride with his wife by his side. Those single miners underground, or those with wives far away, couldn’t enjoy these hot “lovingly” prepared meals.
Carefully supporting Lin Xirou, Yan Huanshan walked towards the mining office, “Come, be careful, take it slow.”
Lin Xirou chuckled, “I’m not that far along yet; why are you so nervous?”
—
The office was a bit messy and was adorned with various awards like “Top Ten” and “Advanced” certificates on the walls. All were obtained through Yan Huanshan’s activities over the past two years.
Lin Xirou glanced at them briefly, and then looked away. She wasn’t fond of these deceptive things, but her girlfriends have praised that men who engaged in such activities were considered clever, astute, and adaptable.
Opening the lunchbox revealed a mix of chives and meat flavors. It was accompanied by the sour smell of aged vinegar. Yan Huanshan sniffed with great satisfaction and began to eat. Lin Xirou sat down across the table and fished out a needle and wool ball from her bag to knit a sweater. At the same time, she was looking for something to talk about, “You haven’t found Li Ergou* yet?”
*gǒu 狗: dog; This person’s name can be translated as Second Dog Li
Yan Huanshan was eating heartily and mumbled, “This rascal.. stole money from the mine and disappeared far away. Where can I find him?”
Li Ergou’s case was the only unpleasant thing Yan Heshan had encountered recently.
However, he took it lightly. Every mine or factory had such scoundrels. Li Ergou was lazy and would arrived late while leaving early. He spread rumors that there was a ghost in the mine and seriously affected the workers’ morale. After being scolded by Yan Huanshan for spreading rumors, he harbored resentment. One night, he broke into the finance office and stole around a thousand yuan.
A thousand yuan. Just thinking about it made him feel distressed.
Lin Xirou asked, “Why not report it to the police? Let this scoundrel pay for his actions.”
Yan Huanshan’s response was even more unclear, “Report what? One less thing is better than one more thing.”
After all, he had too many unclear and unclean matters in the mine. He didn’t want to invite the police into his home.
Lin Xirou fell silent and did not any anymore. She lowered her head to knit a few rows, and occasionally glanced up. She noticed that Yan Huanshan had stopped wolfing down his food. He bit the chopsticks and gazed out of the window.
Following his gaze, she saw a group of workers not far away gathered at the mine entrance. Their faces were filled with excitement. Lin Xirou checked the wall clock. It was already half past twelve, and the workers coming up from the mine should be heading to the cafeteria.
She realized it was nearly lunchtime and initiated a new topic, “What’s the main dish at the mine today? Pork?”
Yan Huanshan mumbled between bites, “Something’s not right, did something happened?”
Lin Xirou paused and looked outside again. This time, she noticed something unusual: usually during lunch breaks, the miners would rush towards the canteen like hungry wolves. However, at this moment, they were grouped near the mine entrance. They excitedly shouted something. If one paid attention, one could see the saliva spits shone by the sunlight.
Could something really be wrong?
Managers of coal mines are most afraid of something happening underground. If something happened underground, it will definitely not be as simple as a scratch. Yan Huanshan was so flustered that he put down his utensils and bowl. He rushed out of the door. When he was several meters away, he bellowed, “What’s wrong? What’s happening?”
This was his accumulated experience over the years: no matter what happened, even if someone died, one should not show fear or panic. You had to be stern and commanding to control the situation.
This shout indeed had an immediate effect; the clamor lessened. Liu Sanchi, the group leader, has a deathly pale face despite the soot from the coal. He spoke up, “Boss, that Li Ergou wasn’t lying. There’s something down there in the entrance, the mine’s entrance really has a ghost.”
No one had died; a huge burden lifted from Yan Huanshan’s heart. He shouted with even more power, “Fuck!”
—
Lin Xirou came over just in time to hear Yan Huanshan give an atheistic lecture to a group of workers.
“The books clearly say there’s no such thing as ghosts in this world. Li Ergou is illiterate, don’t you guys know how to read? Where are the ghosts? Call it out, and let me see!”
A young worker Chang Xi who had just joined the mine for a couple of days cautiously explained, “You can’t call it out in broad daylight. I heard that ghosts exposed to sunlight turn into water.”
Oh, now being considerate of the ghosts too?
Yan Huanshan was frustrated yet cannot do anything, “All of you are good at blabbering. Did you really see it? Quite fascinating, what does the ghost look like?”
Surprisingly, there were people who responded.
Mao Wang: “It looked white as snow. I didn’t get a clear look, but it disappeared in a flash.”
Sun Gui: “It makes sounds; I heard murmurs.”
Han Defu: “I brought two cantaloupes down, and both of them disappeared!”
Yan Huanshan sarcastically remarked, “Even after becoming ghosts, they’re still thinking about eating melons?”
Lin Xirou had a thought and gently tugged at Yan Huanshan’s sleeve. Shecpulled him aside, “Could it be Li Ergou?”
Born in the 1960s, she, like Yan Huanshan, received a solid Marxist education and always scoffed at the ideas of ghosts and spirits. When she heard about an anomaly in the mine, her first thought was about a person.
—Li Ergou left in the middle of the night without taking any clothes. Reportedly, he was wearing only a white sweatshirt and black shorts. Perhaps the ”looked white” part could be the white sweatshirt? In the dark mine tunnel, a white shirt would indeed stand out.
—Nowhere to be found, could Li Ergou have hidden in the mine? “Both cantaloupes disappeared” — there was nothing to eat in the mine, so he might have resorted to stealing.
Yan Huanshan immediately understood and slapped his thigh, “It’s him, no doubt!”
There was a result. He was confident, turned around, and spoke firmly, “Alright, I’ll go down and check this ghost with you.”
Most of the miners were illiterate and rough. This made it challenging to explain materialism to them. The most effective way was to show them the truth in front of everyone and break this “ghost” appearance.
Unfortunately, no one was willing to go down, even for a reward of twenty yuan.
Not going down was fine. Yan Huanshan had second thoughts. He felt that going down alone to drag Li Ergou out would be more imposing. It would show these miners that being a mine owner was not just for show—establishing authority would make it easier to give orders in the future.
He tauntingly peered once at them and said, “Nobody dares, huh? Just wait, wait for Yan Ge to bring it out to bask in the sun.”
When there is a comparison, one will see the differences. When compared to the fearful workers, Yan Huanshan who was already tall and robust, appeared even more imposing. Lin Xirou felt delighted. She was thinking that her man was really someone to be proud of. It wasn’t until Yan Huanshan’s figure was about to disappear into the mine tunnel that she remembered to remind him, “Don’t be too rough with your hands!”
Yan Huanshan had a past of street brawls with a tough and fierce demeanor. Beating up two or three strong men was no problem for him. Lin Xirou was afraid that in his anger, he might not be able to control himself and end up seriously hurting Li Ergou.
—
In large and well-equipped coal mines, there are elevators for moving up and down, and mine cars for transportation in and out of tunnels. Yan Huanshan’s mine was smaller in scale. At the entrance of the pit, several sets of simple pulleys were set up, and everyone used a monkey bag attached to the pulley to move up and down.
The so-called “monkey bag” is a hemp bag with two holes cut at the bottom. When a person sits in it, the person’s legs hang out through the holes. They are then lowered to the bottom of the pit via the pulley. Due to the low safety factor, one has to crouch and try not to move during the whole process. This makes one looked like a foolish monkey. Even though the bag is meant for carrying people, it is ironically called a “monkey bag.”
Yan Huanshan greeted the duty officer at the pit entrance and descended into the pit by sitting in the monkey bag.
He purchased the mine from the previous owner, and everything remained as it was when he took over. If there was anything special, it was the depth of the mine. It was very deep.
Due to its depth, this mine had more mysterious stories circulating than other mines. For example, Li Ergou spread rumors that this mine was the entrance to the eighteenth level of hell and claimed to have seen a ghost with a green face and sharp teeth. Such ghost stories were nonsense. If it were really an entrance to hell, why would Yan Huanshan bother mining ah? He could sell tourist attraction tickets and 1.3 billion Chinese people would come and watch the excitement.
After reaching the bottom of the pit, there were equipment piles nearby. Yan Huanshan picked up a pickaxe, grabbed a mining lamp, and entered the labyrinthine network of tunnels.
He was not very familiar with the tunnel routes below. This was inevitable because small coal mines were not particular about drawing tunnel maps, and the randomness of manual mining was too great. Sometimes, if the miners felt that something was wrong or the tunnel might collapse, they would casually prop it up with a wooden stick, change direction, and continue digging. Over time, the tunnels became a chaotic maze with no clear path or memorable features.
Yan Huanshan shouted, “Ergou, come out on your own and I will be lenient in fighting ah!”
The tunnel was particularly dark, and the light from the mining lamp flickered left right. Each time, it could only illuminate a small area that is the size of a small table. However, Yan Huanshan was not afraid at all. Firstly, he was bold since young, and secondly, what was there to fear for humans? As for ghosts, where in the world did they come from anyways?
After about fifteen minutes of walking, Yan Huanshan’s throat was hoarse from shouting, and there was still no sign of Li Ergou. He felt annoyed and was about to go to another tunnel when he unexpectedly stepped on something.
This thing was slippery and made it impossible to steady his footing. Unprepared, Yan Huanshan exclaimed, and stepped on that slippery thing. He slid several steps before falling backward, and hit the ground hard. This fall made his vision go black, and the glass cover of the mining lamp cracked in multiple places.
It took Yan Huanshan five full seconds to recover. Holding the mining lamp, he looked around and quickly identified the culprit: it was a slippery piece of melon, and caused him to fall.
Damn, who threw this!
Yan Huanshan cursed inwardly and was about to get up when he suddenly froze.
Not far away, at the dim and blurry end of the light, there were a pair of feet—slender and fair. You could tell they belonged to a woman.
How could it be, could there be a woman underground?
Yan Huanshan instinctively raised the mining lamp.
He saw a dark figure, a real woman, that is naked and curled up in the corner. Her hair was thick and dense that covered her face and most of her body. The eyes hidden under the messy hair were staring at him without blinking.
It’s strange to say that apart from being brighter, more beautiful, and deeper than the average person’s eyes, there was nothing particularly special about them. However, an adjective popped into Yan Huan Mountain’s mind. It was unrelated to brightness, beauty, or depth. It was the word “new.”
The new eyes were similar to unused eyes like those of a newborn just brought into existence.
Yan Huanshan stared at these eyes.
He realized that he couldn’t move.
The woman crawled over.
—
September 16, 1992 / Wednesday / Clear sky turned cloudy with heavy rain
It’s half past ten, and Da Shan hasn’t come back yet. It’s raining heavily outside, and I’m alone at home. I am feeling a bit scared.
At noon, I brought dumplings to Da Shan, and something funny happened: the workers were making a fuss, saying there were ghosts in the mine.
Where did the ghosts come from? I guess it’s probably Li Ergou.
Da Shan went down alone to “catch the ghost,” and I was quite looking forward to it. But on second thought, he might not be caught: if Li Ergou did something wrong, he wouldn’t dare let Da Shan find out. Once he heard any noise, he would have hide away.
Sure enough, my guess was right. Da Shan came back empty-handed, saying there was nothing down there.
It’s 10:45.
Things at the mine are really busy, and Da Shan is working so hard. I hope our son will be born soon, grow up quickly, so that Da Shan can have a capable helper.
I’ve been thinking about names for our son recently. I always like to look up words in the dictionary, and I’ve taken a liking to a word – “开拓” (kāituò), which means “to open up” or “to explore.”
“Kai Tuo, Kai Tuo,” sounds really nice. Opening up new territories, expanding new roads, daring to call the sun and moon (new day), replacing the heavens and earth.*
Yan Kai, Yan Tuo, both sound good. I really like both, and can’t decide.
Forget it, let Da Shan choose.
There’s a noise outside; Da Shan must be back. I’ll stop writing here.
— [Excerpt from Lin Xirou’s Diary] 【Volume One】
*A reference to a poem in 1959 by Mao Zedong “Reascending Shao Mountains”
“Like a dim dream recalled, I curse the long-fled past —
My native soil two and thirty years gone by.
The red flag rouse the serf, halberd in hand,
While the despot’s black talons held his whip aloft.
Bitter sacrifice strengthens bold resolve
Which dares to make sun and moon shine in new skies.
Happy, I see wave upon wave of paddy and beans,
And all around heroes home-bound in the evening mist.”
- Translation credit: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/poems/poems26.htm
Happy New Year everyone! 🙂
– Chocolate Cosmos
Banana Chocolate Cosmos ✿ 