chapter 4

Spring frogs and autumn cicadas, cold comes and heat goes. One day, Momo went to the main hall, but never returned.

A headless corpse was carried out of the hall. It was said that Emperor Yan had grown tired of the brains of young girls, so he tried the taste of an old woman instead.

Momo’s personal eunuch, Eunuch Su, sorted through her belongings and found a letter she had written.

I couldn’t read, so I handed it to Eunuch Su to read aloud. Eunuch Su read: “After my death, all my money shall go to Su Jinbao.”

Eunuch Su took all of Momo’s bags of Gold Beans, leaving behind only one thing: the axe.

I swung that iron axe, running around the kitchen, chopping pigs and then going before the Buddha to repent, silently chanting Amitabha in my heart.

After chanting for a long time, I began to miss Momo. When people die, they all have a gravestone; I wanted to make one for her too.

I took down a wooden board used to patch the kitchen window, buried it in the dense forest of Yan Palace, and treated it as Momo’s gravestone.

When no one was watching, I would decorate a food box with swill and place it in the broken bowl before Momo’s grave.

The swill was stolen, and the kitchen staff found it very strange. What kind of thief would be so undiscriminating, not even sparing swill?

I also found it very strange. Why would the swill I used for offerings disappear without a trace the next day?