Chapter 1 All Members Are Villains

The boy's eight and nine years old is an age even dogs find annoying. Chen Shi was already eleven, past the age of being bothersome, yet he was still mischievous and had become a tyrant in Huangpo Village. Wherever he went, there was chaos, and even the ducks passing by would lay eggs in fear. He was truly disliked by both people and dogs. One morning, after finishing breakfast, Chen Shi excitedly ran outside, shouting, "Grandpa, I'm going out to play!" Grandpa, tall and wearing a black robe embroidered with large peony flowers, stood in front of the offering table in the main room, his head bowed as he replied in a deep voice, "Don't run too far, don't go to the river, come back early for lunch..." "Got it!" Chen Shi didn’t wait for Grandpa to finish his sentence and dashed away like a gust of wind. In front of the offering table, Grandpa remained facing it, chewing slowly, and after a while, he struggled to swallow the food down. Then, he shoved a candle into his mouth, biting down and chewing leisurely. On the table were two candlesticks, an incense burner, and the candle on one candlestick had been eaten down to the base. The incense burner was emitting curling smoke and was about to burn out. Grandpa set down the half-eaten candle, took out several incense sticks, lit them, and inserted them into the incense burner, inhaling deeply and revealing a look of ecstasy. Behind the incense burner lay a black spirit tablet. The name inscribed on the spirit tablet was Grandpa’s own. The tablet read: "The Spirit Tablet of the Chen Clan, Chen Yin Du of Liu Fang Ancestors' Virtue." "If you're full, you won't eat people." Chen Shi had beaten the dog from Grandma Yu's house until it howled, subduing the large black dog, and had led three or four village dogs into battle against the dogs from the neighboring village. After returning victorious, he climbed a tree to get a bird's nest, only to be pecked on the head by the mother bird, almost falling from the tree. Moments later, the boy was dragging a dead snake, scaring Er Ni at the east side of the village into crying for her parents. Soon after, he sneaked into Old Lady Wuzhu's melon field to steal melons, only to be chased three miles by the furious Old Lady Wuzhu before barely escaping. This was Chen Shi's ordinary morning. By midday, Chen Shi arrived at the Yudai River outside the village. Although he was sweating profusely, he resisted the urge to jump into the water. The sounds of laughter echoed from the river as three boys about his age splashed water joyfully in the middle of the river. They were three water ghosts who had drowned two years ago, so Chen Shi dared not join them. The last time he jumped into the river to play, these three had dragged him to the deep water, one holding his feet, another hugging his waist, and one choking his neck, almost drowning him. Grandpa had to jump into the river and beat the three water ghosts to rescue him. "Chen Shi, come play with us!" one boy waved at him. The other two boys wore innocent smiles and also waved, "Come play! It’s more fun with four people!" The slightly older boy laughed, "Don’t be scared, it’s not deep at all, it’s just up to our waists!" "Come down! It’s boring to play alone!" ... Chen Shi ignored them and turned to sit under an old willow tree on Huanggang Slope. The three boys remained in the middle of the river, but the laughter had died down, and their smiles faded as they slowly sank beneath the water. "You bad seed of the Old Chen family, you’ll drown one day and become a substitute ghost!" one boy cursed angrily. The river water gradually washed over their lips, noses, eyes, and heads, until the three boys vanished without a trace. A pair of feet slowly hung down from the willow tree, swaying in front of Chen Shi. A scholar was hanging from the willow tree, and when he saw Chen Shi looking up, he stuck out his long, crimson tongue. Chen Shi paid no mind; the scholar had been hanging there for a long time, his body had already decayed, leaving only his soul still lingering here. He went behind the willow tree and placed a piece of watermelon at the base of the stone tablet, bowing his head to it, "Godmother, I’ve come to see you again. I brought you a piece of watermelon, it’s so sweet!" The stone tablet was his godmother. When Chen Shi was very young, grandpa said that the boy was good in every way but lacked a hard life, so he needed to take a hard godmother to help him survive. Thus, he brought him to the crooked-necked willow tree and had him worship this stone tablet as his godmother. During festivals, Chen Shi had to come to pay respects to his godmother, offering sacrifices and incense. Such is the custom in the countryside. In the rural areas, people worship godmothers, some being ancient trees, some unknown stones, some temple doors from the mountains, and some broken statues on hills, all praying for peace and protection from evil. Grandpa once said that this stone tablet had an ancient origin and was surely spiritual enough to protect Chen Shi, so he allowed Chen Shi to worship it as his godmother. However, in the past two years, Chen Shi had not felt any spiritual presence while worshiping his godmother. The stone tablet was old, with faintly visible characters, vaguely resembling "Lao" and "Qi" among others. There were other characters buried in the ground, and the tablet was entwined with the roots of the old tree, making it impossible to dig out. After paying respects to his godmother, Chen Shi mumbled, "Godmother, Grandpa has been acting stranger and stranger, always turning his back to me. I haven’t seen his face in days. He’s still eating in front of me, but I don’t know what he’s eating... Yesterday morning, several of our chickens died, and it wasn’t the weasel that got to them; the weasel doesn’t dare steal chickens from our house..." The stone tablet did not respond to him. But perhaps it was his eyes playing tricks, Chen Shi seemed to see a faint glow swirling around the characters on the stone tablet, but it quickly vanished. The boy paid little mind, taking out several incense sticks, lighting them, and inserting them into the soil in front of the tablet. The scholar hanging from the tree saw this and kicked his legs in a panic. "You should have a share too." Chen Shi took out an incense stick, lit it, and placed it at the foot of the scholar hanging from the tree. The scholar, sensing the fragrant smoke, showed a look of ecstasy. Chen Shi stretched lazily, lying under the tree, resting his hands behind his head, unafraid of the scholar hanging from the tree or the water ghosts in the river. He had been able to see these "people" that others couldn’t for quite some time now, and had long since gotten used to it. "Grandpa should be finishing lunch soon, but recently, the meals he cooks have been getting worse and worse. The chicken he made yesterday was still raw, served up dripping with blood. Godmother, I can’t shake the feeling that Grandpa has been acting a bit off lately, as if he wants to eat me." Chen Shi had a blade of grass in his mouth, staring blankly with a maturity beyond his years, he whispered, "Last night, Grandpa made me medicine again and had me soak in the medicine vat, but the fire was too strong, and the water boiled. I think he wants to cook me..." After a moment, the scholar hanging from the tree finished his incense stick, stretched lazily, and said, "I’m done. Xiao Shi, you can ask now." --- Xiao Shi was Chen Shi's nickname, and he was often called Little Honest by the villagers, although it was often meant as a joke. Chen Shi put aside his worries, took out a scroll of ancient texts, reading while asking, "I still don’t quite understand this passage, the Master said: The one who first makes the clay figurine, should he have no descendants? What does this mean?" Huangpo Village was remote, lacking private schools, and the Chen family was too poor for Chen Shi to study anywhere, but fortunately, the scholar hanging from the tree was a scholar. Thus, Chen Shi would find some ancient texts from home and come to the willow tree to consult the scholar whenever he had questions. The scholar, having absorbed the incense smoke, would answer his questions readily, so even though Chen Shi was only about ten years old, he was already well-read. "What this means is, the Master says, the first person who offends me has already been beaten to the point of having no descendants left." The scholar explained, "The Master is telling us that when we do things, we must remove the roots of the problem, especially when it comes to those who offend us." Chen Shi nodded, somewhat confused, reading word for word, and then asked, "Then what does this mean: Since they came, let them be at peace?" "Since the enemy has come, then let them stay and be buried here." "What about this sentence: On the riverbank, it says: The deceased flows like this, not stopping day or night. What does this mean?" "The Master stood by the riverbank and said: A truly powerful person should stand by the riverbank like me, watching the enemies' corpses drift down the river, night and day. The Master is too powerful, killing the enemies so their bodies fill the river. We scholars must learn a lot from the Master." ... After Chen Shi had asked all his questions, the scholar answered fluently, leaving the boy in awe as he looked up and said, "When I grow up, I also want to be like the Master and win people over with virtue! By the way, Scholar Zhu, you are so talented, why did you end up hanging here?" The scholar sighed deeply, choking back tears, "These days, treachery reigns in the court, petty people control the civil affairs. I have vast knowledge, yet I failed my exams ten times, bringing shame to the teachings of the sages, and feeling too ashamed to face my family, so I hanged myself here, to end it all." Just as he was saying this, the sound of rumbling wheels approached. Chen Shi closed his book, stood up, and looked over, seeing several majestic horses surrounding a finely crafted and luxurious carriage coming this way. A strong man in red flying fish robes sat atop the carriage, looking very capable, his gaze sharp as he scanned over. "Sir, there's a child!" one of the men on horseback bowed towards the carriage. "A child? Good, good!" A woman's voice came from the carriage, laughing, "The child is innocent and has no schemes, easy to handle, won't cause trouble. Fang He, go ask that child." "Yes!" A man in flying fish robes leaped off his horse and quickly approached Chen Shi, taking out a piece of silver the size of a finger, wearing a friendly smile, and gently said, "Little boy, this silver is for you to buy candy. Brother wants to ask you something, have you seen any small children while playing in this village? Those children who look very strange, not like living children. They are like... like a group of porcelain dolls!" The scholar hanging from the tree became alert, "Xiao Shi, don’t respond to him! This person is from the city’s Jinyiwei, a henchman of the powerful, with ill intentions. The money from Jinyiwei is called a buy-your-life price; taking his money, be careful not to lose your life!" Although it was still the Ming Dynasty, the imperial power was weak, and local tyrants were rising. Jinyiwei had long ceased to be the royal guards and had become the retainers of the powerful families, often working for them. Chen Shi stared at the piece of silver in the man’s hand, wanting it very much, but shook his head and said, "My grandpa said I can’t take things from strangers." The man in flying fish robes grew increasingly friendly, laughing, "My name is Fang He. We didn’t know each other before, we were strangers, but now you know my name, so we aren’t strangers anymore, right? This is my payment to you, it doesn’t count as a stranger's thing, does it?" Chen Shi nodded happily and took the piece of silver. Fang He smiled, "Since we are friends now, can you tell me if you have seen those porcelain doll-like children?" Chen Shi nodded, "The children you speak of, are they less than a foot tall and appear in groups?" Fang He showed joy and hurriedly nodded, turning around, his voice trembling a bit, "Sir, those things are really here..." Before he finished, a figure suddenly flashed past in the carriage, and Chen Shi felt a fragrance wafting towards him, as a beautiful woman in purple appeared under the tree. The other men in flying fish robes quickly dismounted and rushed to the tree, surrounding Chen Shi and the purple-clad woman. The purple-clad woman was beautiful, with snow-white skin, wearing a flying fish robe on top and a purple skirt on the bottom, with a somewhat excited expression, though she tried to appear calm, smiling gently, "Little brother, have you seen those porcelain dolls? Where are they?" Chen Shi did not respond, looking at the woman’s shoulder with a strange expression. The purple-clad woman was slightly taken aback, glancing at her shoulder but seeing nothing wrong. "Little brother, the sir is asking you a question!" one man in flying fish robes stepped forward, commanding with authority. Chen Shi withdrew his gaze; the reason he was looking at the woman’s shoulder was that the scholar’s feet were currently resting on her shoulders. The position where that woman stood was exactly where the scholar was hanging. The purple-clad woman shot a glance at the man who spoke, her expression darkening: "You’re being disrespectful!" The man in flying fish robes hurriedly stepped back. The purple-clad woman spoke kindly, "Little brother, we came from Xinxing, we are not bad people..." Chen Shi looked up, meeting the woman’s gaze, and sweetly smiled, "Big sister, you’re really beautiful, even prettier than Zhu Youcai!" Upon hearing this, the purple-clad woman was very pleased: "This child knows how to speak; perhaps we can leave him with a whole corpse later. But Zhu Youcai doesn’t sound much like a woman’s name; it probably belongs to a beautiful woman, but it’s a pity a country bumpkin gave such a crude name." ———— I failed in stock trading and came back to write a book!