Chapter 42: The Loess Clay Idol Molds Itself; Incense and Offerings Keep Its Soul Alive
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As the sun sank in the west, night descended over the land. Stars glimmered across the sky, and pure moonlight bathed the earth.
The three-section courtyard lay quiet.
Li Siyu wiped the sweat from her forehead and stepped out of the kitchen, craning her neck toward the gate.
Little Bai was lying on the ground with its head pointed in the same direction, sniffing constantly.
When no one appeared, disappointment crept across Li Siyu’s face.
She had not seen Zhang Hao when she returned home at noon.
And after coming back that evening, she still had not seen him.
According to Auntie Duan, Zhang Hao had gone into the mountains.
But it was already night. She had finished preparing dinner, yet Zhang Hao still had not returned.
She walked over to Little Bai, gently lifted it into her arms, and continued gazing toward the courtyard gate.
Little Bai opened its mouth, revealing tiny milk teeth, while its soft pink paws waved helplessly in the air. It looked entirely lacking in menace and instead seemed incredibly adorable.
“Why hasn’t he come back yet? Little Bai hasn’t even had dinner…” Li Siyu muttered.
“Yip, yip~”
Little Bai barked twice at precisely the right moment.
Li Siyu burst into laughter, two deep dimples appearing as her brows and eyes curved into crescents.
“You little thing…”
The words had barely left her mouth when—
Bang.
Creak.
“I’m back.”
Along with footsteps and the sound of the door opening came Zhang Hao’s voice.
Li Siyu looked up.
He was carrying a spirit-securing basket and wearing straw sandals. His clothes were spattered with mud, and there were even traces of dirt on his face.
“Dinner’s ready. Go wash up and come eat,” Li Siyu said softly.
The smile vanished from her face.
Then she placed Little Bai in the courtyard and continued, “It has eaten all the Japanese teasel root. This time, when you went into the mountains…”
Zhang Hao hurriedly cut in, “I went into the mountains this time specifically to find food for Little Bai.”
Li Siyu nodded.
“Good.”
She turned and went back into the kitchen to arrange the dishes, while Zhang Hao set down the spirit-securing basket for the moment and went to wash up.
Afterward, he took out the day’s harvest from the basket.
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One-year-old ordinary Japanese teasel root, half-year-old earthworm pinellia, angelica root, wooden tub… and so on.
All these medicinal herbs were still young. For Little Bai, they were just right as food and would not be overly nourishing.
The herbs he had gathered that afternoon alone would be enough to feed the little fellow for a week.
He chopped the medicinal herbs into pieces, mixed them together, scooped some into a bowl, and placed it in front of Little Bai.
Without paying it any further attention, Zhang Hao immediately entered the main room and sat down at the dining table.
“Eat quickly. The food’s gone cold,” Li Siyu said.
Zhang Hao had already picked up his bowl.
“I’m actually rather hungry.”
The two said no more. Each took up their chopsticks—one eating slowly and carefully, the other devouring his meal with gusto.
After they finished eating, Zhang Hao once again cleaned up while Li Siyu rested in the main room and edited some videos.
When Zhang Hao came out of the kitchen, he glanced at the starry sky, then lowered his head to look at Little Bai, which had returned to its cage. He could not tell whether it was asleep or merely pretending to be.
He shook his head with a laugh.
That little fellow really had the better life. It ate its fill, slept all day, basked in the sun after waking, and then went right back to eating.
He picked up the cage and took the dog back to the side room.
After placing the cage in a relatively warm spot, Zhang Hao began rummaging through the spirit-securing basket.
Before long, a small clay figurine of peculiar shape appeared in his hand. Vines were wound around its surface.
The figurine’s features were indistinct, though they appeared reasonably well formed. On closer inspection, one could see that it bore a faint resemblance to Zhang Hao himself.
Clearly, he had molded it in his own likeness.
This little clay figure was something he had made that day from the yellow earth of the mountains—a temporary object, so to speak.
Though it was small, it contained many particularities: knowledge passed down through generations of mountain guides, as well as methods for preserving one’s life.
Naturally, it also carried certain folk customs and traditions.
After hesitating for a moment, he stepped out of the side room and crossed the few paces to the main room.
He raised his hand and gently knocked on the door.
“What is it?” Li Siyu asked.
She turned from the computer, where she had been editing a video, and looked at him in confusion.
Holding the cylindrical object in his hand, Zhang Hao stepped over the threshold and smiled.
“I came to tell you something.”
“Hmm.”
Li Siyu paused, then stood up.
“Go ahead.”
“Starting tomorrow, I’ll be going up into the mountains to help out. I won’t come back until that family has finished their wedding, so you need to be careful while you’re home alone these next few days. I’ve prepared Little Bai’s food for it. Just give it enough for each meal; there’s enough to last a whole week.”
Li Siyu froze, a flicker of doubt passing through her eyes.
She had always been suspicious of Zhang Hao’s claim that he was going into the mountains to help someone—or rather, she did not entirely believe it.
The mountains… how could there be a family living up there?
And why would anyone choose to get married at night?
Still, she did not want to interfere too much in Zhang Hao’s affairs, so she simply nodded.
“Don’t worry. Little Bai will be with me. Nothing will happen.”
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Zhang Hao nodded. Then he extended his hand and offered her the clay figurine.
“This is called a Spirit-Guarding Clay Figure. It looks like me. After I leave tomorrow, place it on the altar in the southwestern corner of the southernmost room and make offerings to it.”
Li Siyu accepted the figurine with a strange expression, but before she could ask anything, Zhang Hao continued.
“You need to pay respects to this Spirit-Guarding Clay Figure every morning at six, at noon, and again at ten at night.”
“Most importantly, five days from now, during the Hour of the Rooster—that is, the time we got from the fortune-teller—you must come to the altar at six in the evening and burn a stick of incense. I’ve prepared the incense; it’s right there. Before the incense burns out, you absolutely must not leave. If it breaks midway or goes out…”
“Then you must take the Spirit-Guarding Clay Figure outside to the foot of the mountain, perform the ritual again, and burn incense. This time, burn three sticks. You still must not leave, and you must keep calling my name.”
The Spirit-Guarding Clay Figure was an object that mountain guides of earlier generations would sometimes leave at home before setting out in search of mountain treasures.
It was molded from mountain soil, mixed with spring water, century-old roots, and the juices of certain medicinal herbs. Vines were then wound around its surface.
When mountain guides went to attend a fox wedding, they could easily have their souls bewitched and carried away by the foxes. Burning incense at the appointed time of the fox wedding was meant to keep the mountain guide’s soul from being lured away.
If the incense suddenly broke or went out for no apparent reason, it meant that something had happened to the mountain guide’s soul.
At that point, one had to return to the foot of the mountain, light incense again, and forcibly call the soul back.
This was the experience accumulated by countless mountain guides throughout the ages, intended to keep those attending fox weddings from meeting with disaster.
Li Siyu looked somewhat bewildered, her expression complicated, but she nodded.
“All right. I’ll remember.”
This must be yet another matter of obscure custom and ritual.
When it came to such knowledge, she had always known far less than Zhang Hao, so she might as well simply do as he instructed.
Yet she was still curious. Why, if Zhang Hao was merely going into the mountains to help someone with a wedding, did he need to set up such an object at home—and make certain that its incense never went out?
Was Zhang Hao really going to help an ordinary family?
And what about all his strange behavior lately…?
She was still lost in thought when Zhang Hao reminded her, “I’ll be leaving very early tomorrow morning, so there’s no need to prepare breakfast for me. Before I go out, just light the Spirit-Guarding Pillar.”
Li Siyu nodded.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep watch over it for you.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you. All right, I’m going back to sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow to head into the mountains.”
Zhang Hao yawned, looking somewhat weary as he turned and left the main room.
Just as he stepped over the threshold—
“Be careful up there…”
“Don’t worry. I will.”
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