Chapter Fifteen: Never Kneel

The footsteps were light, accompanied by a gentle chime. The sound was neither hurried nor slow, each note clear as the song of heaven itself, soothing the agitation that had just taken hold of my heart.

The one who entered was a Taoist nun, dressed in azure robes and holding a horsetail whisk. She appeared to be of similar age to Granny Wang. The chiming I’d heard came from a pair of jade pendants at her waist.

The green jade was naturally flawless, formed by nature’s own hand. The chimes were as pearls falling on a jade plate, melodious and unending.

I found myself momentarily dazed; I had never seen someone with such presence, pure as a lotus rising from the river, untouched by the dust of the world.

Granny Wang introduced her as the Abbess of White Clarity Temple, the Mistress in Blue. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I felt she and Granny Wang bore some resemblance.

Of course, I knew Granny Wang was closely connected with White Clarity Temple. But now, with my grandfather’s life at stake and Granny Wang having invited the Mistress in Blue, it seemed to hint that she might be able to save him.

I was unfamiliar with the customs of the Daoist order, so when I saw the Mistress in Blue, I could only bow with clasped hands—the way my grandfather had taught me when entering a temple. She smiled as she approached, and before I could speak, she asked, “Are you interested in these jade pendants?”

Indeed, when she appeared, those pendants had drawn my eyes. Strangely, I felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity toward them.

So I didn’t deny it and nodded.

“These pendants were left to me by my master. You must have met him before.” As she spoke, her expression shifted subtly, as if she were lost in memory for a moment.

I wondered how I could have met her master. It seemed impossible.

But Granny Wang explained, “Child, when you were very young, you fell gravely ill and nearly died. It was the Mistress’s master who saved you.”

At her words, I suddenly remembered. I had faced many misfortunes in childhood, but the most vivid was when I was eight.

A traveling peddler had come to our house to beg for water, and after drinking, left behind a note. The next day, I fell terribly ill, hovering between life and death. My grandfather later told me that if he hadn’t fetched a Daoist priest to prepare a bowl of talisman water for me, I would not have survived.

As a child, I had been fascinated by this legendary Daoist, believing him a celestial being. But as I grew older and learned more, my grandfather’s tales seemed increasingly fantastical, and I dismissed the story as his invention. Never did I expect to meet that Daoist’s disciple today—the very one who had saved my life truly existed.

In my mind, Daoists were like immortals. Now, with the disciple herself—the Mistress of White Clarity Temple—standing before me, surely she possessed the power to save my grandfather.

Hope flared once more within me.

I knew this was why Granny Wang had invited her; she too wanted to save my grandfather.

Without hesitation, I prepared to kneel before the Mistress in Blue and beg her to save him. Whatever the price, I was willing to pay it if only my grandfather could live.

But before my knees could touch the floor, Granny Wang rushed over in alarm and pulled me up, exclaiming, “Child, you mustn’t kneel!”

The Mistress in Blue seemed startled too, her expression tense for a moment, then she gave a half-joking smile and said, “Lin Yi, you must not kneel even to your ancestors, yet now you would kneel to me? You would bring calamity on a humble priest like me.”

At her words, I was at a loss, anxiety written on my face. It was true—my grandfather had never allowed me to bow at ancestors’ graves or kneel before the ancestral tablets, and I had always wondered why. Now, as I tried to kneel to the Mistress in Blue and was stopped at once, what secret was hidden here?

“I heard you crossed the boundary of the living and the dead just now, and met the peddler?” the Mistress in Blue suddenly asked, catching me off guard.

I nodded, unsure of her intent.

“Was his shoulder pole very heavy? Did he tell you that after today’s business, he would not come to your house for water?” she continued.

These details I hadn’t yet shared—not even Granny Wang knew. How did the Mistress in Blue know? I was even more astonished and asked, “How did you know?”

“That’s not important. What matters is that tonight, the peddler will not come to claim a life at your house. Without his tally, your grandfather’s twenty-ninth cycle can be informally extended. Only when the peddler reappears to seek a life at your house will your grandfather truly reach his final hour.”

She paused, glanced at Granny Wang, and added, “But in my estimation, the peddler will not return for at least ten days or half a month. For now, you may rest easy.”

“So in these ten days or so, we still have time to find a way to save my grandfather?” I asked. Though the Mistress in Blue could not cure him outright, she had won him precious time.

Still, I wondered why the peddler would wait another ten days or so before returning.

But as I was about to ask, the Mistress in Blue said this matter pertained to the secrets of White Clarity Temple and, as outsiders, neither Granny Wang nor I could be told for now.

I could guess it had something to do with the mysterious, weighty load on the peddler’s pole.

What exactly did he carry that left a pool of foul blood on the ground whenever he set it down? The mystery only deepened.

After seeing the Mistress in Blue off, I hurried home, anxious about my grandfather. I wanted Granny Wang to come with me and check on him, but before I could finish asking, she shooed me away.

“I’ve told you before, Lin Tianjian’s life or death has nothing to do with me! Your Old Boundary Ridge village never let me in, and I won’t set foot there now!” The gentle, elegant Granny Wang, still in her blue cheongsam, had suddenly turned stern.

Still, despite her words, she had helped me.

With no other choice, I went home alone.

When I arrived, Old Yellow Cow was squatting outside my door in the dead of night, puffing on his pipe. Seeing me, he hurried over to ask how things had gone and if Granny Wang had helped. I’d been frightened before by the “Old Yellow Cow” who’d locked me in the yard, and instinctively stepped back. But then I remembered—that had happened while I was crossing the spirit boundary; it wasn’t real, just one of Old Cripple Ma’s tricks. The fear faded.

I briefly explained the situation to Old Yellow Cow, then went inside to check on my grandfather. He said my grandfather’s condition hadn’t changed, so the Mistress in Blue’s words seemed true—the peddler really hadn’t come to claim a life.

After a restless half night, dawn came and I couldn’t stay at home. I headed back to East Hollow Village.

Though the Mistress in Blue had bought my grandfather some time, he still hadn’t awakened. We still needed a way to save him.

Granny Wang told me there was no other way.

If I wanted to save my grandfather, there was only one path left.

She meant Ye Weiyang. But I’d failed to deliver the betrothal gift last time and likely offended her. The pair of vermilion hairpins Granny Wang had given me was lost; I no longer had anything to offer her.

But Granny Wang said the betrothal gift was just a formality. If my feelings were true, Ye Weiyang wouldn’t care about such things. The Ye family had no lack of gifts.

Still, I thought, how could she possibly accept a poor, insignificant fellow like me based on a single brief meeting?

Granny Wang paused, then asked whether Ye Weiyang had left without looking back or had glanced back as she departed.

I told her the latter. At this, Granny Wang’s face lit up and she said, “There’s hope!”

As we were discussing this, someone suddenly called out from outside. I recognized Er Pang’s voice, shouting, “Boss, are you here? Something big’s happened in the village!”

I opened the door and let him in. He was out of breath. “It’s bad, Boss! A bunch of Taoist priests have come to our village. They’re loaded with gold and want to buy our old ancestral cemetery.”

“What? They want to buy the cemetery with gold? What for?” I asked, amazed.

“I don’t know! Everyone’s gathered at the village hall. Ma Weiguo—damn that guy—is getting along great with the priests. He’s not even a Lin clansman and has no ancestors buried on the mountain, so it looks like he’s really going to sell the cemetery!”

Most people in Old Boundary Ridge Village were part of the Lin family; there was an unwritten rule that only Lin clansmen could be buried in the old cemetery. But there was too much division now, as shown by the recent family disputes. When the priests offered enough gold, many agreed to move their ancestors’ graves.

The priests also promised to conduct free rituals for the ancestors during the relocation, to appease their spirits.

When Er Pang finished, Granny Wang frowned deeply, then said, “If the cemetery is really sold to those priests, not a single soul from Old Boundary Ridge Village will survive!”

I knew she wasn’t joking. Her calling made her serious by nature. There must be a reason for her words. I remembered her saying ages ago that the cemetery hid a great secret. No doubt, the priests had come for that secret.

“Oh right, Boss—those priests came to our village with Ma Er’s grandson as their guide!” Er Pang added suddenly.

Ma Er was Old Cripple Ma’s grandson.

Could it be that the arrival of these priests was part of Old Cripple Ma’s scheme?

I set off for the village with Er Pang. As we reached the entrance, we ran into my eldest uncle.