Chapter 50: Those who love are mocked by those who do not (XI)

After another tea’s time, they arrived at the military gentleman’s residence.

The military gentleman’s surname was Lu; people called him Master Lu, though it wasn’t known, in the end, which group he was from; it was said that a commanding officer surnamed Sun was at the head. He was a mid-level official, and didn’t much dare to engage in tyrannical abuse; taking people to go disrupt a public venue, in the end, was merely out of desire to seem impressive in tabloid newspapers, and not because he cared that much about Yunyun.

The residence bordered the French Concession, and it had been gifted on newly arriving to Shanghai by the Green Gang,^[1] an exceedingly old party, which, in the dead of night, caused people terror; the military gentleman ordered for all the lamps to be lit, and invited Li Shiyi in; after imbibing half a pot of tea, he once more led her on a tour of the courtyard.

Li Shiyi made up wild nonsense full of fengshui jargon, neither her face reddening nor her heart jumping. The astrological birth numbers were laid out clearly and logically, and while they praised his fate, they also carried some honest flaws; Master Lu, hearing it, was quite satisfied, and asked about avoiding fatal danger, committing each to memory; initially, he had wanted to put her up as a guest, but Li Shiyi was determined to take leave, and Master Lu didn’t dare to pressure a madam-xiansheng, fearing that it was bad conduct and morals, and ordered his servants to bring a box of silver-valued banknotes.

If it wasn’t taken, it would cause him to suspect evil intentions; if it was all taken, then it would cause her to lose her outstanding, ethereal aura; Li Shiyi pushed the box aside with a smile, taking out a couple from the top, and in a flash, tore them up and put them in her pocket; then, after pondering a moment, said, “That Eighth Concubine, how will Master Lu deal with her?”

Master Lu replied, “For now, confined to the firewood room; I don’t know how best to expel it; burn it? Would that be efficacious?”

Li Shiyi shook her head. “A ghost this fierce cannot be simply dealt with; if Master Lu is willing, hand her over to me to take away, and I’ll lead her to a cemetery to create a cenotaph, and then send her off with an incantation for rebirth, to allow her to reincarnate.”

That was exactly what Master Lu had been looking for. “That’s really quite good.” He paused, then waved away his servants, only the aide-de-camp alone remaining; then he covered up half his face to say quietly, “I still have another matter. That Eighth Concubine and I…” He shook away the gooseflesh of recollection, waggling his brows to give a well-known expression, coughed, and continued, “These past few days, I’ve been quite a bit dizzy; I don’t know if that’s the reason.”

Li Shiyi raised her brows, understanding tacitly; her gaze passed over his faintly swollen eyes, and she said, “Cease sexual intercourse for three months, and take shredded ginseng root cultivated for a hundred days.”

Master Lu shifted his heels, and agreed. “Ah.”

Li Shiyi nodded, and, along with the servants, went to the firewood room. Master Lu tilted his head upwards, following her with his gaze, his double chin pressing against his neck, still stroking his leather belt as was his habit; he said to his aide-de-camp, “There was something this venerable one didn’t dare to ask.”

The aide-de-camp hurried forward to ask. Master Lu’s mouth twisted and he furrowed his brows. “This madam-xiansheng, what is she doing dragging along a female ghost?” How it frightened this venerable one…“We didn’t even finish eating,” he cursed, turning his head and firming his stomach, and ordered the aide-de-camp to prepare another spread.

“Li Shiyi.” Only the sound of the leading servant’s scattered footsteps ahead; Song Shijiu tugged at Li Shiyi’s arm, blinking her eyes and calling out for the person by her side. Even the surname with the name. Li Shiyi lowered her head to look at her. Song Shijiu furrowed her brows, her expression puzzled and solemn. “Just now, you said—sexual intercourse.” She wasn’t very happy that Li Shiyi had said these two words to someone else, yet also felt that when Li Shiyi spoke them, there was a subtle sense of a releasing of a taboo on desire, and it caused her thoughts to become complicated; for a while, she couldn’t put on an appropriate expression.

Li Shiyi cast a look at her, her expression tranquil.

Once they retrieved Yunyun, they bid farewell to the Lu residence; Li Shiyi pressed a talisman to Yunyun’s shoulder, and tied Yunyun up once more with the red string, one end connected to her wrist, one end wrapped around her pinky finger three times, reciting an incantation as she led her along out.

So there was this sort of method of dealing with ghosts—yet last time Tu Laoyao had been called to carry it for the journey; Song Shijiu had some suspicions, and gazed at Li Shiyi’s thin lips, parting and closing in chant, and, with a clear conscience, came to a realisation—if Li Shiyi had to expend energy to chant incantations, naturally it was better to let Tu Laoyao tire himself out. She clung to Li Shiyi’s sleeve, cheerfully walking back with her.

Li Shiyi had never, in fact, meant to return to the residence; rather, she took Yunyun to a noodle shop between two roads; the owner of the noodle shop wore a guapi hat, and was just on the verge of dozing off, hands on a white towel; seeing the arrivals, who weren’t the usual night watchmen, he hurriedly straightened and came to himself, welcoming the three women in.

The tallest of the women had a cold face, yet her attitude was very courteous; she was looking for the most hidden, dark corner, and wanted a bowl of tripe noodles, and also a pot of heated Shaoxing yellow wine, and handed over the money without saying anything else. The shop proprietor was very good at understanding signals, and with a brief greeting, served tea and left the room to the customers, covering up a yawn and going to cook the noodles.

Li Shiyi led Yunyun to sit, and glanced at her; then she tore the talisman on her back off, and the face which had gone a withered grey like a dead tree regained some liveliness, and with a fluid glance, the captivating charm of before returned; Yunyun turned her rigid neck left and right, eyes faintly narrowed, like a white snake that had woken up from its hibernation. She was still in that pale, moonlight qipao from the first meeting, the openwork lace showing a snow-white texture, and, under the light of the oil lamps, her features were even clearer than on the dance floor; her lips were slightly full, and her eyes were placed slightly wide, her eyes slender with a trace of coquettishness. “Li-xiaojie has this sort of ability.” She turned her hand over to touch her shoulder, which still had the remnants of a painful heat; her tone was drawling, the pleasant sound of a locally born and raised Wu dialect, and the rebuke made one unable to grow angry.

A pot of Shaoxing yellow wine was placed on the table; Li Shiyi raised her hand to stop the owner from turning over the cups and filling them with wine, and after politely and tactfully declining, picked up the pot herself, and filled a cup for Yunyun. “You know that I was a ghost from the start?” Yunyun gazed at her hand, offering wine, and didn’t take it, only inclining her body to the side.

“Yesterday, when bidding goodbye, I introduced my good friends,” Li Shiyi said. “The woman in the cheongsam whom you shook hands with is skilled at deducing bones.”

“Ah?” Song Shijiu drew her gaze away from the fragrance of the wine, and she stared at Li Shiyi with wide eyes. Li Shiyi didn’t look at her, and placed the other filled cup before her.

Cheat. Song Shijiu was indignant.

Li Shiyi’s eyes held back an indistinct smiling expression; Yunyun was a bit entranced, her head supported by her luminous wrist, she gazed at Li Shiyi, and said, “Then, Li-xiaojie sought me out intentionally.”

Li Shiyi nodded, index finger crooking on the table; accompanied with her cordial expression, it was like a wordless, motionless apology; she got right to the point, and clarified her purpose in coming. “Please, be at ease; I really don’t capture ghosts; the difference between people and ghosts doesn’t have any relevance to me; it’s only that there’s a matter I want to ask about; initially, I had wanted to dance for a few days, then speak carefully, but unexpectedly, today there was an incident—just now…that was merely a plan to escape.”

Unexpectedly, Yunyun wasn’t very angry, as if not taking much offence to Li Shiyi confining her for a few shichen; her expression was light and wild, and she didn’t continue from Li Shiyi’s words, only asking her with a smile, “Let’s set to day’s debt to the side; with Li-xiaojie’s seduction from before, what can be said?”

Li Shiyi was at a loss for words. Song Shijiu’s cheeks bulged as she took joy in calamity and delight in disaster.

Although Li Shiyi had clearly stated there was no malicious intent, Yunyun had absolutely experienced her skills; gentle methods and force at once, which couldn’t be firmly rejected; dancing women adapted most quickly to the circumstances, and with a sentence, returned the topic once more, the svelte elegance following off the stage; she raised the wine and took a sip, and asked her, “What were you seeking me for?”

Li Shiyi held the wine cup in her hand, indifferently smoothing her expression. “I have an important matter—I desire to find the place where the Teng serpent is hiding; before, I found out that the Teng serpent had appeared at Xianyuesi, and I know that your body has the traces of a spiritual beast on it; so, I wanted to ask whether or not you know of the Teng serpent’s whereabouts.” She kept half the words hidden and unsaid; the Teng serpent had appeared at Xianyuesi a month before, and Yunyun was the dancer of this place, and her temperament was light and wild; perhaps the same as A Yin, she’d received the Teng serpent’s spirit, and that was why she’d fallen into prostitution; if it was so, inquiring whether Yunyun had had had any accidents these past few days, perhaps the place where the Teng serpent was currently staying could be found. Previously, she’d comprehended A Yin’s state too late, and the Teng serpent had left long before; now, it was right under her nose, and she was a bit tense, unconsciously pressing her lips together.

Yunyun furrowed her brows as she listened to her speak, her eyes bewildered as if by fog, and she thought it over a good, long while. Li Shiyi didn’t press her, only silently taking another couple sips of wine. After only a short while, Yunyun’s brows loosened, the warm wine entering her lungs, signs of intoxication sighing from her throat; she held the mouth of her cup in her hand, turning it, and only after a while said, “If it’s like this, then it truly is a misunderstanding. My body does have the traces of a spiritual beast, but not the Teng serpent.” She set the wine down, a complicated smile held within as she gazed at Li Shiyi.

Li Shiyi raised her gaze to look at her, the space between her brows a towering gorge. This was the first time that Song Shijiu had felt her sense of frustration; even though it was only an extremely small flash, it had appeared on Li Shiyi’s calm and composed form, and it was even more conspicuous than the furrow between her brows. “Not the Teng serpent?” Song Shijiu asked in Li Shiyi’s place. “Then what is it?”

Yunyun’s lips pulled into a smile, a breathtaking period of misery and oppression resulting in quiet desolation; it was always easy to incite peoples’ desires to say everything; she brushed her loose hair back, and said, “If a reason has to be said, then it would actually be a matter from a couple hundred years ago.” In the midst of the speech, the shopkeeper brought steaming hot tripe noodles, the muscle stewed in soy sauce and spices, the spicy meat and the meandering beige, thin noodles’ unique fragrance sweeping over everyone, and accompanied by a mouthful of pickles, it was the most filling meal in the night. Li Shiyi returned from her daze, though she still didn’t speak a word; taking the chopsticks, she mixed the noodles in the steaming broth, and placed it before the greedily gazing Song Shijiu.

Yunyun watched her movements as if she had some thoughts, and from the stockings beneath her qipao, came out with a carton of cigarettes, plucking one out and holding it between her fingers, and asked the proprietor for a light; then she narrowed her eyes, sighing deeply. “Originally, I wasn’t called Yunyun. I was called Yun Niang.”

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Translator's notes:

[1]: A prominent Chinese secret society and criminal organisation, active in Shanghai in the first half of the 20th century.