Chapter 118
Chapter 118
From the early to the middle Qing dynasty, population migrations continued across China for more than a century.
The most famous was the imperial resettlement campaign known as “Huguang Fills Sichuan and Chongqing.”
An endless stream of migrants was conscripted from the Huguang region and sent by the imperial court to settle in Sichuan and Chongqing.
In those days, entire extended families usually packed up their households and moved to some mountain region together.
As a result, many of the villages now within Lianghe Town had been founded by people who migrated from elsewhere more than two hundred years ago.
Many residents of the town itself, on the other hand, were native to the area.
Wujia Village, along with dozens of villages large and small in the surrounding mountains, had been founded by families who migrated from the Huguang region around two centuries earlier.
According to local stories, the ancestors of Xia Family Hamlet were a family named Xia who came from Guangdong during that same era.
The Xia family possessed modest wealth and built a large compound in the mountain hollow.
Only six or seven members of the family arrived at first, accompanied by seven or eight servants. Over time, their descendants grew into a small village of thirty or forty households.
Their growth was actually fairly slow.
Wujia Village, after all, had more than a hundred households. Our ancestors had migrated here from the Dongting Lake region during roughly the same period, yet our village was now much larger than Xia Family Hamlet.
But back to the matter at hand.
After crossing four peaks, I finally reached Xia Family Hamlet.
When I had visited as a child, I had been too young to understand anything. I still couldn’t claim to be an expert in feng shui now, but I had at least read *The Classic of Dwellings* and *The Book of Burial* several times each.
Ordinary feng shui arrangements weren’t beyond me anymore.
Standing on the ridge and looking down, I saw peaks surrounding a stretch of flat ground on every side. Xia Family Hamlet stood at the center of that plain.
At the base of the mountains, a river encircled the flat ground in an almost perfect circle, enclosing the entire village within a ring of water.
The sight immediately made everything clear.
“No wonder Xia Family Hamlet has produced wealthy and influential people from time to time over the past two centuries, while the clan itself has never grown very large. I’ve found the reason.”
The land occupied by Xia Family Hamlet formed a Circular Yin Wealth-Gathering Formation, also known as a Circular Kun Wealth-Gathering Formation.
As the saying went, high ground was mountain, while low ground was water.
Mountain represented yang, and water represented yin.
Mountains governed descendants, while water governed wealth.
In other words, a family that wanted many descendants needed a great mountain at its back.
A family that wanted wealth and status needed to be near water without standing directly beside it.
That was why the common auspicious formation known as Jade Belt Encircling the Waist was so highly regarded. It was an excellent feng shui arrangement that balanced mountain and water.
Of course, even if the feng shui of a home could bring certain benefits, future generations still had to work hard themselves.
Living on auspicious land or burying one’s ancestors in a favorable place didn’t guarantee wealth and success.
Feng shui was best understood as a catalyst.
It was like fuel that could make a fire burn hotter–but first, you had to light the fire.
Different fuels merely allowed that fire to reach different intensities.
The Xia family had clearly consulted someone when choosing this place to settle.
I had no idea how a newly arrived family with no local connections had found an expert. Then again, perhaps one of the Xia ancestors two centuries ago had understood feng shui.
In any case, the arrangement they had chosen was…well, I couldn’t call it bad, exactly. It was simply rather strange.
A Circular Yin Wealth-Gathering Formation sacrificed the yang energy of the mountains to nourish the yin energy of the water.
Put simply, it traded descendants for greater wealth and status.
It wasn’t an especially sinister feng shui arrangement. It only redirected part of the family’s fortune in descendants toward wealth; it wasn’t designed to wipe out their bloodline.
If one insisted on classifying it, it could still barely be considered a respectable formation.
Very few people chose to use one, though.
Especially in ancient times, having many descendants was far more important than possessing great wealth.
Who in their right mind would trade descendants for money?
I could only conclude that the Xia ancestors who had migrated here must have loved wealth a little too much.
Of course, none of that had anything to do with me.
They had obviously chosen this arrangement willingly. What could I possibly say about it?
Besides, modern society differed from ancient times.
Strictly speaking, any successful members of the Xia family who left this mountain hollow to make their way in a large city would escape the influence of the Circular Yin Wealth-Gathering Formation.
Perhaps they went on to have many children and helped the Xia family flourish elsewhere.
Xia Family Hamlet was a yang dwelling, after all. The feng shui arrangement here affected only those who continued living on the land.
Once a branch of the family moved away, its effects vanished.
Only a yin dwelling–a grave–could exert a constant, unseen influence on the fortunes of future generations.
Even if someone traveled to the ends of the earth or moved abroad, the fortune created by the yin dwelling where their ancestors were buried would continue to influence them.
Why did Chinese people place so much faith in feng shui and attach such importance to the graves of their elders and ancestors?
Because those things continued affecting future generations.
As I pondered the feng shui of Xia Family Hamlet, I followed the mountain path down toward the valley floor.
My main reason for coming was to deal with the haunting.
The village’s larger feng shui arrangement wasn’t part of my job. I was merely thinking it over as a way to review what I had learned and sharpen my professional skills.
To be honest, the path down the mountain was awful.
It was extremely narrow and steep, with thorny weeds on both sides that could easily leave small cuts all over a person’s body.
If I hadn’t spent my childhood running wild through the mountains and along riverbanks, I would have struggled too. A city dweller who came to a place like this would probably tumble all the way down.
At last, I reached the valley floor and the entrance to Xia Family Hamlet.
There, the two sides of the ring-shaped river merged back into a single stream and flowed away.
Crystal-clear water burbled past with a crisp, pleasant sound.
An arched stone bridge spanned the river, connecting the village to the outside world.
It was the only land route in or out of the entire village.
If the bridge ever collapsed, Xia Family Hamlet would be completely cut off by land.
Of course, anyone who could swim or row a boat could still get out.
I crossed the stone bridge and entered the village.
Several children were laughing and playing near the entrance.
One child, whose family seemed better off than the others, was even holding Ultraman and Transformers toys.
I had to admit, the sight felt out of place.
Such modern, Western-style toys made a strange contrast with an ancient village deep in the mountains.
Then again, they were also clear proof that society was developing.
That was a good thing.
“Young man, you don’t seem to be from our village. What brings you here? Are you looking for someone?”
A kindly voice came from beside me.
I turned and saw an old man sitting beneath a large tree at the village entrance, smiling at me.
I smiled back.
“Hello, sir. I’m from Wujia Village. Could you tell me where Xia Dong lives?”
Xia Dong’s home!
The old man’s entire body jerked when he heard that. The smile vanished from his face, and fear flashed through his eyes.
He probably remembered that it was still broad daylight and quickly recovered, though doubt and concern lingered in his voice.
“Are you the ritual master Sanwa invited from Wujia Village? Wasn’t it supposed to be…an Immortal Lady? Why’d they send a young fellow like you?”
His words told me that nearly everyone in Xia Family Hamlet must know about the haunting at Xia Dong’s home.
That was convenient. I wouldn’t have to ask around.
I nodded. “The Immortal Lady you’re talking about is my Master. Something came up today, so she couldn’t make it and sent her disciple instead. But don’t worry. I’m not bad myself. I can handle ordinary evil things with ease. Asking Master to come personally would be a waste of her talents.”
The old man gave a wry smile and looked me up and down several times. He clearly didn’t believe a ritual master as young as me could be particularly capable.
His doubts didn’t offend me.
If I were old and encountered something terrifying, only to seek help and have some youngster show up, I would have doubts too.
Still smiling, I said, “If you aren’t busy, sir, would you mind taking me to Xia Dong’s home? You can tell me what exactly has been happening there along the way.”
“Ah, all right. I’ll take you over and get Sanwa to come with us. Young man, I’m telling you, that evil thing has been causing one hell of a disturbance…”
The old man led me deeper into the village while I studied my surroundings.
Xia Family Hamlet might have been smaller and less populous than Wujia Village, but its houses looked much nicer.
In the late 1990s, most rural villages in Sichuan and Chongqing still consisted mainly of houses made from mud and timber, commonly called earthen houses.
My family lived in one.
They were built primarily from rammed yellow earth, reinforced with wood and strips of bamboo. They were cheap and quick to construct.
Only several years later, in the early 2000s, did large numbers of concrete houses and three-story homes begin appearing in the countryside.
In 1999, Wujia Village didn’t have a single concrete house.
Yet as I walked through Xia Family Hamlet and looked around, I spotted at least five or six three-story concrete homes.
The Circular Yin Wealth-Gathering Formation was clearly working.
The clan had traded a lack of descendants for prosperity as a whole.
The old man and I hadn’t gone far or exchanged more than a few words–I had only just learned that his name was Xia Jianguo–when a well-dressed middle-aged man emerged from a nearby three-story house.
Xia Jianguo immediately called out to him.
“Sanwa! Good timing. The ritual master you invited from Wujia Village is here. Let’s go to Xia Dong’s house together.”
So the man Xia Jianguo called “Sanwa” was the local Party secretary, Xia Sanjin. His father was the village chief.
Having the village chief and Party secretary come from the same family was probably a little improper.
But this was deep in the mountains. Outsiders were reluctant to work here, and the township couldn’t appoint anyone else as Party secretary.
Wujia Village was in much the same situation.
Xia Sanjin froze when he saw me, his face full of doubt.
I had no choice but to explain everything again.
Whether or not they trusted me, they at least remained polite on the surface.
“Young Mr. Wu, let’s get going. Xia Dong lives at the far end of the village.”
“All right, Uncle Xia. Could you tell me what happened on the way?”
Xia Sanjin wasn’t much younger than my father. Xia Jianguo could call him Sanwa, but I had enough manners to address him as Uncle Xia.
And so Xia Sanjin began telling me about the haunting in Xia Family Hamlet.
The story began not long ago…