Extra 3: Diting

The day that A Jiu entered the Taishan Prefecture, Empress Dowager Longyu's imperial edict of abdication had just appeared in the newspapers.

The first time she fought with Ling Heng, she heard say that Yuan Xiangcheng^[1] had died. But after, she hadn't seen the bustle and raucousness of the restoration of the plaited Qing, nor did she hear the cries of May Fourth. Only the dream which Yushiqie sent bumped slightly against the extreme boredom of the Taishan Prefecture.

It was reasonable to say that, if a day were passed in boredom, A Jiu would look for somewhere else, but she suspected the Taishan Prefecture had a secret, other function, which could tug at one's heart, like floating duckweed, down, and place it beneath the ground.

Lianyu was eighteen levels; one was the rustling wind by one's ear, one the scattered, fragmented rain by one's pillow, causing one's senses to dull, settling their seven emotional states, wearing down ninety years' will to fight, and incorporating it into the muddle-headed little ghosts beneath Ling Heng. Of course, A Jiu wasn't a petty ghost, and she wandered about in the Life and Death division.

Besides the seventy-five yin divisions' heads occasionally coming to report for duty, usually, the Life and Death division didn't have any ghosts coming and going; to use the vulgar language A Jiu had once seen, they were was "days passed such that the flavour of birds could be tasted".^[2] Today, she'd seen Meng A-Jiang washing her tail, and had followed after the rapid, fine steed of Head of Reports, Yue Fei's, fine steed, and had, as usual, gone to sit under the old elm outside Ling Heng's manor.

The small green snake, who had almost had a layer of skin stripped off by the waters of the Yellow Springs, climbed up the tree trunk, panting and gasping, and came to coil in her palm, resting its spirit for a bit, and then twined between the spaces between her fingers, and only then asked, its voice rasping, "Yu-daren sent me to ask, is there any news today?"

A Jiu shook her head. "There isn't."

The little green snake nodded; in accordance with Yushiqie's instructions, it said slowly, "The scholar trees outside of daren's cave mouth have blossomed, dense and sweet in fragrance; the winter plum wine buried last year is also good to drink."

A Jiu made a sound of surprise, and seeing it was delaying without speaking, followed up. "And then?"

The little green snake pondered for a while, and only then replied, "Yu-daren never said 'and then'."

"I understand." A Jiu stroked its head, and set it down.

Having spoken with the little green snake, A Jiu swayed her legs, which had been set on the tree, and in the shadows of the rustling fall of leaves, a thin, petit girl was visible.

The girl's height wasn't tall, looking to be twelve or thirteen, her hair quite beautiful, as made of glossy, even inked lines. She wore hemp cloth attire, like a youth, an absent-mindedly fastened belt, her pants cut off slightly, showing her pale, glossy ankles, her cloth shoes treading the ground, and she leaned over, crouching, and picked up a branch, writing on the ground.

A Jiu swayed her crossed knees once more. The girl's ears, hearing the sound, perked, and half her profile became visible. A Jiu stuck out her head to look at her; she had a faintly tapered, short, round face, her nose small and sticking up at the end, and her eyes were like black grapes, round and gleaming. She was a beast, and once A Jiu saw the three faint protrusions from the bottom three knobs of her back, she knew. A Jiu was just puzzling over why she'd appeared before Ling Heng's manor all alone, when, from behind her, she heard a faint voice. "It's Diting."

A Jiu turned her head; the Henggongyu, its bare body hidden from view in the slightly lower level of foliage. Despite having cultivated a few hundred years, it still wasn't fond of wearing clothes; others said dragons and snakes were promiscuous, but seeing this fish, A Jiu really felt it was indecent.

"Diting?" A Jiu raised a brow.

The Taishan Prefecture, besides the Fujun Ling Heng, had another enlightened deity, known as the Bodhisattva Dizang, who had disciplined greed, anger, and obsession, and educated malicious ghosts and terrible spirits, obtaining a clean root, and enter paradise. Dizang had a little beloved, known as Diting, its true body like a dog's, having remarkable hearing abilities, able to distinguish between the genuine and false in the world, the same as Yushiqie's nose. It was said that, from youth, Diting had followed after Dizang, acting as his attendant, judging the truth and recognising the lies.

A Jiu cast another glance at Diting, who was turning a deaf ear, and moved closer towards the Henggongyu, saying quietly, "Didn't Dizang ask to reincarnate? What's Diting doing in front of Ling Heng's manor? Without a duty, drifting aimlessly?"

Looking at these ragged, battered clothes, she looked quite destitute.

Before long, the door was opened a crack, and the ghostly messenger by Yama's side, Wu Qian, emerged, casting a light glance at A Jiu in the tree, and then politely nodded towards Diting, saying, "Come in."

Diting tossed the branch aside, and stood up, cloth shoes smudging out the words she'd written, and followed after Wu Qian inside.

"If daren's interested, A Yu here has an anecdote," The Henggongyu said, chuckling.

A Jiu drew her gaze back from the firmly-closed doorstep, shifting to fall onto A Yu's face. "Get dressed first, and then tell me."

A Yu, readily accepting her order, draped her fish's skin over her shoulders to act as a gown, twisting her hips carefreely; the old tree, struggling to bear it, let out a sound, and only on sitting down, stroking the elm's knots, did she explain the story systemically and in detail. "According to the words of the Guhuoniao above the Yellow Springs, Dizang Wang and Diting came and went together, sharing a bed and eating together; after a long time, the little beloved became selfish, the selfishness causing qi to swell, and learning of romance in the way of mortals."

Tone rising and falling, it was like wine in a jar, the fragrance of passion still halfway hidden. A Jiu furrowed her brows. "Is this true?"

"More true than the Henggongyu fearing black plum water," A Yu couldn't help but vow.

A Jiu thought a moment, and then shook her head. "I've met Dizang once before; he's incredibly stubborn, and narrowly dragged me by my braids to be a nun."

It was said that Dizang was originally a girl, and had cultivated a male form after entering the Taishan Prefecture, and was androgynous. That time A Jiu had met him, it was by the Avici Hell; he'd been wearing white attire, woven of clouds and light, and stood in the world without justice, cuffs filled with the most unimaginable breeze in the lowest level of the Taishan Prefecture. Dizang Wang had a hooked nose and long, narrow eyes, the corners of his eyes and his mouth stretched in a downward arc, a monk's shunning of the world and mercy drawn in a freedom from vulgarity that was scrupulously depicted in his shaved skull, smooth and round and without the slightest bit of impropriety.

He'd only looked indifferently at A Jiu, yet A Jiu seemed to have heard a lengthy Buddhist recitation, accompanied by the drone of a bell, striking loudly between her brows. At the time, behind his wide robes and great sleeves, a frail, solitary figure had been hidden; come to think of it, it had to be Diting.

A Jiu emerged from her daze, and heard A Yu add, "That's right; come to think of it, that's the reason; in order to resist amorous passion, Dizang Wang requested to reincarnate. A human experiences countless hardships, and understanding karma, can cross from the mundane world."

"So that's what it is?" A Jiu asked, listening attentively.

A Yu nodded. "Ah, about a couple hundred years ago; I don't know what she's gone crazy for; she disturbed the hall where Dizang Wang set up an altar to recite scripture, and in front of a group of ghosts and gods, asked Dizang-daren whether he had her in his heart."

A Jiu drew in a chilly breath. "This big a matter, how come I didn't know about it?"

A Yu thought carefully. "At the time, it seems like daren was drinking wine with Yu-daren, and was drunk for a few dozen years."

"Then, what did Dizang say?"

"Of course he said—you aren't." A Yu sighed, and continued, "Actually, the Taishan Prefecture didn't have any regulations about passion, but Diting had made an advance that wasn't reciprocated; what that Dizang Wang's temper is, who in the heavens or beneath the earth doesn't know?"

A Jiu nodded, remembering the scene of Dizang's kasaya robe fluttering then, sitting amidst three thousand malicious spirits, forming seals with his hands, eyes lowered as he recited, "as long as there remain those in the underworld, I swear to not become a Buddha". Afterwards, in the mortal realm, she'd met a young hero, who also carried a similar, courageous spirit, who had said, "as long as the Xiongnu are undefeated, why form a family?".

There were many people like this in hte world, and, compared to the the sweet sentiments in tender feelings, they were more willing to live to their own values. A Jiu thought, it was probably called an idea.

While they had been speaking, the vermilion door opened wide, and Wu Qian brought Diting out; in Diting's embrace was a book, a purplish red, and, head bowed, she left hurriedly. A Jiu turned over, leaping down, and fell before Wu Qian, who hadn't had the time to close the door; Wu Qian, accustomed to it, calmly allowed her to follow after, and she headed directly into Ling Heng's private quarters.

A subtle fragrance floated in Ling Heng's private quarters; outside the window, jade butterflies and plum petals emerged, fluttering inwards in groups, making the Fujun-daren within the hall, flipping through books, appear even more lonesome.

Ling Heng, hearing the sound of A Jiu entering, only faintly turned her head halfway, the shadows of the flowers falling onto the red birthmark on her neck, as if spreading a layer of thin silk. "I'm busy today, I won't fight," Ling Heng said, picking her book back up.

A Jiu's gaze wound around her neck, and, with the ease of a charioteer on a familiar road, sat on the scroll-end chair, her index finger supporting her temple, sliding slightly upwards, stopping for a moment, still determined to get to open the door and see the mountain and get right to the point. "Just now, Diting seeking you out, what was it for?"

She rarely chatted with Ling Heng, and her tone was quite awkward, but she'd thought it through; if what Ling Heng had found for Diting was a mission against herself, then she absolutely had to question it to clarity.

Ling Heng swept an indifferent gaze over her, seeming to be slightly surprised at her tranquility and even-temperedness, yet she hurriedly withdrew the expression, and replied. "Looking for a birthday notice."

"A birthday notice, what's that?" A Jiu furrowed her brows.

Ling Heng opened the fine xuan paper, using a paperweight to hold down one corner, and only after unhurriedly finishing that did she say, "Dizang reincarnated; each time he enters the wheel of reincarnation, there will be a birthday notice, written onto the Book of Fate. I gave the notice to Diting, so she can know when Dizang will be born."

A Jiu shrugged, curiosity fully hooked. "Knowing this, what's that for?" She'd never before spoken this much with Ling Heng, but now, listening to it, she unexpectedly wanted to talk some more.

Yet Ling Heng stopped, raising her head to gaze at her, and then lowered her head once more, only saying after a while, "Three months."

"What about three months?"

"If I tell you," Ling Heng said, raising her brush and dipping it into the ink, "you can't cause trouble for three months."

A Jiu bit her lip, almost wanting to strike again. The greedy insects in her heart were all lending a hand to strike against a snare drum, and it caused her haughtiness to be extinguished cun by cun; she nodded, and raised a brow. "Alright."

Ling Heng seemed to have smiled, but it was so quick that A Jiu suspected it was a figment of her imagination. She heard her hold back her sleeve to write, at the same time saying, "When Dizang is reincarnated as a mortal, Diting can take the form of a little dog, and act as his attendant."

"Why a small dog? Isn't being a human fine?" A Jiu folded her arms on the desk, sticking out her body to ask her.

"If she were to take the form of a human, there might be an entanglement of friendship, which would disturb the Book of Fate."

A Jiu nodded, letting out a sound of understanding, but another doubt arose. "This birthday notice, if you've given it, you've given it, but it makes this Taishan Prefecture of yours seem a bit negligent."

She concealed some disdainful ridicule, but whether it was that Ling Heng hadn't heard it, or was disinclined to argue, she only attentively lowered her gaze, which shifted slowly along with the roving of her wrist. "Dizang entrusted the task before reincarnating."

This was quite strange; A Jiu didn't understand. "Entrusted you to give Diting the birthday notice? What did he entrust this to you for?"

"Probably," Ling Heng drew the final right-falling stroke, and set the brush down, pondering for a while, and only then continued, "he couldn't bear parting."

"Couldn't bear parting…" A Jiu muttered, somewhat dazed. Yet Ling Heng didn't speak further, the sealed line of her lips seeming like the four characters of "that's all I'll say".

A Jiu wasn't willing to discuss what was dull, and she rose, about to leave, when she heard Ling Heng call out to her. She raised her head, and saw that Ling Heng was holding out the paper she'd just finished writing. "The promise of just now, sign it."

Emerging from Ling Heng's quarters, only half a shichen had passed; the crows had filled the old elm's branches, and they cried out in croaking, hoarse voices. A Jiu took a look at the muddle-headed crows, and the strokes which had been crushed by Diting's footsteps, and the three characters of "couldn't bear parting" that Ling Heng had just said still in her mind.

As she and the crows looked at each other, not knowing what to do, she increasingly felt that the days in the Taishan Prefecture were absurdly boring; but why, having already lived more than a decade, did she want to leave less and less? Here didn't have Mount Zhongshan, throughout which rare treasures and strange plants couls be found, didn't have the chirping and buzzing of little beasts, didn't have the many drinking party friends; even the crows called out perfunctorily, the same as Ling Heng's intermittent speech. Zhu Yan, who had become a pig, had probably long since been reincarnated, and the reasons she relied on for not leaving were already insufficient; even today's visiting on Ling Heng to strike up a fight had some overcautious and indecisive lack of confidence.

She wiped away the cinnabar she'd carelessly gotten between her fingers when signing her name just then; Ling Heng had just said three months' time, and it was like a justification of a residence permit, causing her to once more faintly grow cheerful.

She'd just fallen into deep thought, and carelessly approached the Path of Reincarnation; the heavens, murky and dark, dangled down, and a group of roaming ghosts wandering about the yellow sands. This group was uneven in height, their forms each different from the other, and their faces were as fierce as a murderous dictator's, as well as the strut of a haughty pheasant. A Jiu raised her head, looking at the three characters of "domestic animal's path" atop the stele, and, amidst the unhurried sound of the motion of footsteps, saw a familiar-looking figure.

The thin, petite Diting held that birthday notice, cradling it tightly to her chest, tugging at her clothes to neaten them, about to head towards the tail of the group on the domestic animal's path. She was unlike the human animals, who had a lifeless look to their eyes; her gaze had the hope of a young mistress, fine beads of sweat seeping from the tip of her nose, a degree of anxiety seeping from her for no reason.

A Jiu inexplicably called out to her. Diting turned her head, blinking a couple times, and then greeted her with a faint smile. "Jiu-daren."

A Jiu's eyes widened. "You recognise me?"

Diting kept smiling. "Of the rumours outside the Fujun's hall, I've heard every one." As she spoke, her right ear twitched, the dog's form appearing completely.

Having been caught in gossip, A Jiu was quite embarrassed, and she pressed her lips together, only then asking her, "You truly want to reincarnate on this domestic animal's path?" If you won't be a spiritual beast, then be a wild dog.

Diting still clutched the birthday notice, smilingly scrunching up her nose. "Yes."

"Why?" A Jiu, confused, seemed to be asking about reincarnation, and about something else.

Diting didn't reply, only lightly following behind the procession. A Jiu stood by the stele, gazing after her slim figure; the massive black holes before her were the typical reincarnation paths, like great, evil-fanged maws, ravenously swallowing her small, slight body.

Only after a long while did A Jiu see the protrusions on Diting's spine shift; she lowered her jaw, and with a liquid gaze, grasped the birthday notice against her chest. She said, "Because I heard it."

"What?" A Jiu bit her lip.

Diting was still smiling faintly, remembering the moment, all those years ago, when she'd rushed into the great hall; he'd still mercifully and compassionately stood amongst the ghosts, as if a lotus, standing tall, which had fallen into the silt. He'd gazed at her, neither alarmed nor helpless, not even a furrow to his brow. But, in front of the group of gods and ghosts, into Diting's right ear, most capable in the world of differentiating truth from falsehood, he had given the first lie he'd told in his life.

"I heard that, when he said I wasn't in his heart, it was a lie."

The yellow sands, as far as the eye could see, swallowed the young woman's figure in one go, as if two talented craftsman's hands had pulled out her mouth and nose, picked up her ears, and kneaded her frame into a ball, drawing out a hairy tail from the tip of her tailbone, and finally pressed her upright figure down, leaning over the ground, becoming a four-pawed little dog.

The newborn little dog's fur was covered in amniotic fluid, wrinkled and folded, eyes unable to open, four limbs powerless and paralysed, as if experiencing a calamity. At that moment, it slept deeply in a pair of slender, fair hands; the wrists raised gently, and a woman wearing a black cheongsam passed it to the servant by the side, saying softly, "The fourth one."

The woman washed her hands off in a copper basin, and gazed at the bright, beautiful, radiating sun, yet she drew the screen window closed, and sat before the desk, and began to write a letter.

"1924, Winter; today is clear, and Baiyu birthed four pups; one male, three female, all spirited and adorable." She stilled the brush, and considered carefully over and over, and only then added a phrase: "If you'd like, come and take a look."

The tip of the brush hung in the air, trembling lightly, a drop of ink falling, as if marking a full stop. The black-clad woman set the brush down, and, sealing up the letter, opened the drawer, taking a glance at the pile of unsent letters within, and placed the newest envelope at the very top. She idolently rose, and opened the fragrant, full jar of wine, pouring out a cup for herself, and then sat on the desk, her head leaning against the window frame, waiting, bored stiff, for the sun to set.

A hoarse, raspy voice rose from the ground, a small green snake raising its head, cleverly suggesting, "If daren wants to send a letter, I can go to the Taishan Prefecture once more."

Yushiqie sipped a mouthful of wine, and smiled. "Ah, nevermind."

The little green snake travelled land and water, and only with great effort climbed up to her side, in the end, asking the doubts it had had for so long. "Daren keeps writing letter after letter, yet never sends one; what's the reason?"

Yushiqie sniffed the wine, and tilted her head. "Because, I can smell it."

"What?" The little green snake tilted its head as well.

Yushiqie let her fingers fall, placing them on the last letter that A Jiu had sent the day before, the two characters of "Ling Heng" faintly emerging through the back of the paper; it was the third time they had appeared in A Jiu's letters.

Her fingers tapped; Yushiqie didn't reply. Only after a long while did she say quietly, "She'll understand."

A beast who had never become civilised ought to need a long, long time in order to understand the matter known as love. And, she would need even more time in order to understand that love and love weren't identical.

Some love was as high as the mountains and as broad as the seas; some love was separated by the mountains and seas. Some love was the great rivers and vast lakes of the jianghu, and other love was bidding farewell to the jianghu.

-

< LAST | HOME | NEXT >

 

-

Translator's notes:

[1]: Also known as Yuan Shikai, an important Qing general who brokered the abdication of the Puyi Emperor, and later became the first official president of the Republic of China.

[2]: Cribbed from a line in the Water Margin about how, having not eaten meat for a long period, one craves the taste.