My Taoist Career Chapter 2

As for

Widow Zhou, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, she was a well-known

personage in our village, since she could communicate with the dead. According

to the old villagers, what she said during her conjuring proved true.”

The conjurer

practices their craft by entering the netherworld to find the dead kin of the

consigner and letting the ghost of the dead one possess her or him. The dead

one would then communicate with the live ones through the conjurer’s

mouth.

Widow Zhou

was once an ordinary woman, but since her husband’s death, she got the

conjuring skills. As for how she got these skills, she never talked about it. Instead,

there were some rumors spreading across the village.

The rumor originated

with the second daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, as well as Widow Zhou’s

daughter. At the First Seventh night after Widow Zhou’s husband died, Widow

Zhou returned to the west wing room, where she lived.

The Zhou

family, including 7 family members, lived together. According to custom, at the

First Seventh night, the family members should stay away from their house,

where the ghost would return. As they had nowhere to go, they had to only

vacate the west wing room, where Widow The older Zhou and her husband once

lived.

Widow Zhou secretly

returned to the room at midnight, which wasn’t detected by the others, who were

sleeping, until her husband’s sister got up to go to the latrine.

Her husband’s

sister thought that maybe she also went to the latrine. However, as she walked

out of the room, she suddenly heard a burst of laughter.

On such a

day, the laughter sounded extremely creepy. Her husband’s sister, no more than 14

years old, screamed and ran to the room where they slept.

Thus the

whole family all woke up and ran to the courtyard. But the laughter stopped,

and they heard sounds which resembled some woman mumbling to herself.

The older

Zhou had died, so the younger Zhou became the backbone of the whole family. It

is the man who is braver in danger. The younger Zhou picked up a wooden stick

and said: “The voice is coming from the west wing room; I am going to check

what’s happening, and who is there pretending to be the ghost to frighten

others.”

The younger

Zhou’s wife asked him not to go there, for fear that on the First Seventh night

he would run into some evil things.

Meanwhile,

another burst of laughter reached their ears. The delighted and uncanny

laughter made everyone shudder.

“This is

the First Seventh night after my son’s death, how come a woman’s ghost haunts

our courtyard?” sighed their father, grieving due to his son’s death. He felt

rather distressed that a woman’s ghost, rather than his son’s, had appeared in

their courtyard.

“But her

voice sounds like my eldest daughter-in-law’s,” their mother said with

uncertainty. When the woman muttered with a peculiar accent, they couldn’t

confirm, but when she laughed, their mother found the voice pretty familiar.

The others also

listened carefully; it was no one other than Widow Zhou.

“Whatever, I

have to enter the room to check, in case our sister-in-law is so sorrowful as to

have become mentally ill,” losing the husband during the middle age was truly painful

for the woman. It wasn’t impossible for Widow Zhou to have actually entered a

state of psychosis.

In

addition, at that time, people’s kinship was closer, so he wouldn’t just stand

by.

Tightly holding

the wooden stick, the younger Zhou crept to the west wing room, step by step.

However familiar

the west wing room was to the younger Zhou before, the tightly shut west wing

room now seemed creepy, as if he would face hell after opening the door.

Standing in

front of the door, the younger Zhou took a deep breath. To encourage himself,

he suddenly let out a roar and kicked the door fiercely.

As a robust

country man who engaged in physical labor all year round, he had a powerful

kick. Unexpectedly, the door was not bolted shut, but simply closed. The

younger Zhou just heavily fell on the ground inside the room.

“What

happened, the younger Zhou?” their father asked anxiously, for fear of losing

another son.

“I am ok,

just fell down” The younger Zhou answered with a dull voice. He was probably aching

due to his fall but he gave a quick answer in case his family worried about

him.

Their

father breathed a sigh of relief while, in the room, the younger Zhou looked

up, and felt his heart was in his mouth.

It was a

small room for sleeping. Anyone entering had a full view of the whole interior.

The younger Zhou tried to stand up.

At that

moment, he clearly saw the whole room. A single, dim oil light was placed on

the only table. His sister-in-law was sitting with her back to him, while her

shoulders were shaking with happy laughter.

The younger

Zhou actually wouldn’t be intimidated by that. But her weird posture, like her

tilted head and slightly-inclined back, as if she was sitting against

something, seemed terribly terrifying. Moreover, there were two oblong stools

placed before the table, one of which she sat on. Usually, people sit in the

middle of the stool for balance. To his surprise, she just sat still at one end

of the stool with perfect balance.

The younger

Zhou forgot to stand up. He kept kneeling there, resisting the impulse to rush

out, but he had to stay there for the sake of the safety of his brother’s wife.

He

attempted to raise his voice and shouted: “My sister-in-law.”

His voice

quivered with nervousness.

Gradually,

Widow Zhou turned back with a smile. In the dim light, her smile, with the corners

of the mouth curved up and her cheeks stiff, just looked scary.

It looked

like a clay statue.

“Look, the

younger Zhou is here.” Gazing at The younger Zhou, said Widow Zhou. Her eyes

reminded him of a cat’s gazing eyes at midnight.

The younger

Zhou’s tears welled up instantly. Not being a fool, he unambiguously heard his

sister-in-law asking someone to look, as if there was another person in the

room.

And the

younger Zhou found her voice was beyond any words. Generally, a person’s tone

of voice indicated emotion, but he couldn’t feel any emotion in her words. If

there had been a computer in that era, it could only depict it with an electronic

synthesizing sound.

The younger

Zhou dared not stand up, though he didn’t want to keep kneeling, nor did he

dare to move forward or backward, feeling a chill in his back.

Suddenly,

Widow Zhou ceased laughing, and her face looked dreadfully pale. She ordered,

with fierce eyes, “Get out, leave us, you cannot enter this room.”

The younger

Zhou, thought he should give an answer, but he was so overwhelmed by fear that

he was unable to utter a word. In extreme fear, if they weren’t yelling

hysterically, people would usually remain silent and try to hide themselves.

The younger

Zhou, facing his sister-in-law, couldn’t turn furious, remaining silent.

Standing up

and turning around, the younger Zhou paced out of the room with forced calmness.

Feeling like he was being observed by someone, he dared not turn back. As soon

as he stepped out of the door, the door closed by itself.

“Mom,” The

younger Zhou cried out, with tears rolling down his cheeks. Immediately, he

tried to run, but fell down on the ground due to his trembling feet. He finally

managed to stumble toward his family, who were not far from him.

Their

mother, with her bound feet, hastened her pace to go to hold her son up, asking

him with concern: “What happened? My son.”

“Mom, I

think my brother is back.” The younger Zhou cried since only this could explain

what just happened.

“My older

Zhou”, their father cried out, slapping his thigh. He probably became even more

grief-stricken upon hearing that his son was back.

The whole

family was not peaceful on the First Seventh night. Since Widow the younger

Zhou banned anyone from entering the west wing room, no one dared to go against

her in that atmosphere.

This was

the story spread by her family. Oddly, almost every village had some spooky tales

in the vast Chinese land. Moreover, many events could not be explained. But

after some discussion, people wouldn’t take them seriously.

It happened

not long before people began to spread the news that Widow Zhou could conjure. Some

people skeptically went to ask her to do this for their family and finally

believed her. Two years later, Widow Zhou of Xiaowan Village became renowned in

the nearby villages. Moreover, many people were coming from the town specially to

ask for her help.

There were

three points that should be mentioned:

First,

Widow Zhou regained her senses after the First Seventh night. It was said that

after she stepped out of the west wing room on that day, she even prepared

breakfast for the whole family. The only lasting difference was the burp. She could

burp many times in one minute, and the strange sound would scare everyone who

listened for the first time.

Second,

Widow Zhou strongly requested to seal the windows of the west wing room, which

was facing the courtyard with good daylight. Every normal person would deride

her request. But after that night, the other family members, harboring

inexplicable awe for her, just did it promptly as she requested. Finally, not

only the windows were sealed, but the door was also covered with thick black

curtains.

Third, 5 months

after of the death of the older Zhou, Widow Zhou gave birth to a son, about whom

the villager didn’t gossip since he was apparently the older Zhou’s posthumous

child. Some old people thought that was the reason for what happened on the

First Seventh night; the older Zhou couldn’t bear to leave his wife and son

lonely in the world. In any case, Widow the older Zhou and her son lived a good

life in the village after this; the whole family benefited.

If it hadn’t

been for the political campaign, Widow Zhou would have paid for her child to go

to school and marry a daughter-in-law with the sufficient income due to her

supernatural ability. However, personal desires cannot decide history. Her

whole family, especially Widow Zhou who was under surveillance by several civil

servants, dared not involve themselves in any more conjuring.

Putting aside

how the Zhou family lived; our family lived a miserable life because of me.

My health

didn’t turn better. On the third day after my birth, my father wrapped me up,

borrowed a donkey cart and brought me to the township clinic, but the doctor

there didn’t know what illness I had.

Finally,

the doctor just told my father: “Maybe he is malnourished. He will get better

after you give him some nutritional supplements.” without giving a

prescription.

On the way

back, with a gloomy mood, my father thought that it was impossible for his baby

to be malnourished, as the baby’s mother had been provided with almost the best

diet in the whole village. How can he be suffering from malnutrition? But he

just looked even weaker than the weakest baby in the village.

My father

could not figure it out, but he still believed the doctor. After all, asking

Widow Zhou for help would be the worst plan, which perhaps would do harm to the

Zhou family, besides his own family.

After my

father returned home, he kept thinking of how to supplement my nutrition. My

mother didn’t have breast milk, so he went to swap some milk from one family,

who raised cows in a neighboring village, for our crops. In addition, he went

to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative in the town to buy some supplements for

me. In a word, he spared no effort for the nutritional supplements.

The living

conditions at that time could not compare to nowadays’. No other babies’

treatment was like mine. Apart from nutrition supplements, the milk was a wild

wish for many kids. The kids who weren’t breast-fed were mostly brought up by

rice paste.

Because of

my supplements, our family’s income was burdened, but my parents, and particularly

my sisters, never complained, which was so touching.

My eldest

sister even said to my father: “dad, let my brother take more milk, he is so

tiny he doesn’t even have the strength to cry.”

Didn’t the two

daughters wish to taste the tempting milk? Everyone could tell that from their

faces. But they didn’t cry or demand it, which moved my father.

By the way,

my parents didn’t value the son any more than the daughters. Except for my

infancy, I was given the same as my sisters. But in the countryside at that

time, families without a son were distressed. Because sons represented labor, and

how can a rural household be supported without labor?

My father

gave me supplements for one month. On the last day, when I was one month old,

according to the custom, when I was weighed to check how much I put on, my

father’s firm belief finally collapsed.

Hopeful, my

father weighed me, but the reality just left him frustrated. When I was one

month old, I had only put on 2 Taels which equaled to 100g.

All along,

my father was struggling to provide me with the best nutrition, hoping that I

could get better. But the result fairly disappointed him.

After a

long time pondering, he said to my mother: “Xiu Yun, I think we must ask for

Widow Zhou’s help.” He had no other choice left.

My mother

also became more anxious. Even at that time, a baby of 3 Jin was rare. Based on

so many nutrition supplements and such delicate care, the baby must have some

other problem.

But the

doctor said there was no problem with my health, so what problem was it,

indeed? It could only be due to the evil things.

“Chen, let’s

try for another week. It is said that some babies don’t grow much in the first

month after birth, instead, they grows better later. Besides, besides…” my

mother hesitated.

“Besides

what?” my father asked with raised eyebrows.

“Besides,

Widow Zhou is only able to conjure. Can she tell Yin and Yang? I think her

skills have nothing to do with our baby’s issue.” My mother hesitated, for fear

of dashing his sole hope.

“I know she

is the best in the neighborhood. Besides, Midwife Liu also suggested that we turn

to her.” My father answered with a dull tone. After one moment’s silence, he turned

around with a hopeful and relieved tone: “do you remember the son of Puppy Wang,

who was of one of my pals in my childhood? His son, Wang Zhu, was stricken with

the evil thing when he was 2 years old. His son, drooling like a fool, became

cold all over before he was cured by Widow Zhou. “

“So you go

to fetch Widow Zhou. But you must be careful. If you are caught by those

people, we will have problems.” My mother heaved a sigh hopelessly. Finally, my

parents decided to take the risk.