chapter 2
The evil ghost Xie Jiangshi tried to seize control of my body.
When I woke that morning, the world spun around me. My limbs no longer seemed to belong to me, and every step felt as though I were walking on clouds.
Then I heard my own voice, bright with excitement and sly delight.
It was Xie Jiangshi!
I tried to tell Father that an evil spirit had possessed me, but when my mouth opened, the words that came out were, “Father, I’m going to the capital!”
“What would you go to the capital for?”
Xie Jiangshi did not answer. He snatched up a bundle and hurried onto a donkey cart bound for town.
He knew Father’s legs were bad and that there was no chance Father could catch him.
All I could hear was Father’s voice drifting farther and farther behind us.
“Where are you going? Will you be back for supper?”
I feared I would never be back at all.
Tears spilled down my cheeks.
Xie Jiangshi lifted my hand and scrubbed them away.
“What are you crying for? This lord is taking you to enjoy the good life!”
The capital was five hundred li away, and Xie Jiangshi spent money as if it grew on trees.
He paid a full three taels to hire a carriage, then complained that the driver was too slow.
Seeing how easy he was to fleece, the driver stopped urging the horse altogether and let it amble along.
When Xie Jiangshi pressed him, the man held up three fingers.
“At this pace, the fare is what you paid. If you want to go faster, another three taels.”
Xie Jiangshi paid without hesitation.
Back inside the carriage, he tore a leg off the roast chicken he had bought in town.
“Then hurry. No matter what, I must reach the capital tomorrow.”
I denounced his extravagance, but the roast chicken smelled so good that my mouth watered.
We could afford half a chicken only at New Year, yet Xie Jiangshi meant to eat an entire one by himself.
Perhaps he was a starving ghost after all.
He was in excellent spirits. “Sui Zhu, one day I’ll treat you to Eight-Treasure Duck, Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish, and Stuffed Four Delicacies. Every one of them tastes better than roast chicken.”
Bah. Only another ghost would believe a ghost’s promises.
I wanted control of my body back as soon as possible. Being able to see everything but do nothing was unbearable.
Xie Jiangshi knocked on the gates of the Prince of Qin’s residence and, just as expected, was thrown straight back out.
He landed hard on his backside.
We both grimaced in pain.
“I’ll kill them for this!”
That made me giggle. Even the gatekeepers at a prince’s residence knew martial arts. The strength I had built over years in the fields could not match the power in their two arms, yet Xie Jiangshi was threatening their lives.
Clearly he had not been beaten enough.
Still, I had to stop him. If it had been his own body getting battered, I would not have cared.
“Forget it. A wise person knows when to retreat.”
My attempt to soothe him only made his eyes burn redder.
“Those two wretched slaves don’t even recognize their own master!”
Xie Jiangshi had brought twenty taels in all. Seven were gone by the time we reached the capital, leaving thirteen.
I begged him to spend carefully.
He agreed—and immediately booked the finest room in the inn.
An upper room at Tianfu Inn cost four taels a day, meals not included.
Xie Jiangshi still found fault with it.
“The furnishings are miserly. This place cannot compare with Mingyue House.”
My vision went black. Every piece of porcelain and every incense burner in the room was finer than anything I had ever seen.
Even the washbasin was copper, glimmering like gold beneath the rippling water.
It was wealth beyond imagining.
Xie Jiangshi stayed for three days.
During those three days, he ordered the inn’s specialties and used only its finest provisions.
On the fourth day, the waiter opened the ledger. We owed thirty-six taels.
Only then did I learn that the four taels covered the room alone.
Everything used inside it cost extra.
Even one dish of that little sandalwood incense cost a tael.
Xie Jiangshi waved the matter away. “Put it on the Prince of Qin’s account.”
The waiter’s mouth twisted. He snapped the ledger shut.
“The Prince of Qin’s account? Why don’t I put it on His Majesty’s account while I’m at it?”
Xie Jiangshi tried to argue, but two burly men seized him and hurled him out of Tianfu Inn.
The waiter brought over an IOU clearly stating the amount Xie Jiangshi owed.
It also demanded four percent interest for the first month. If the debt remained unpaid, the rate doubled to eight percent the next.
Xie Jiangshi stared at it in disbelief. So did I.
“That’s against the law!”
The waiter planted his hands on his hips and shouted, “I am the law here! A stinking beggar dares come to Tianfu Inn and swindle food and lodging? If you can’t pay, we’ll sell you to a brothel!”
Xie Jiangshi paced frantically. “I’ll report you to the authorities!”
The waiter looked even more pleased. “Go on, then. Debts must be repaid—that’s the natural order of things. I’d like to see which official takes your side.”
Xie Jiangshi wilted like an eggplant after frost.
“I remember the owner of Tianfu Inn being a good man. He used to help refugees. How could he—how could he be running a usury racket now?”
In a few days, Xie Jiangshi had spent more than I had in eighteen years.
Thirty-six taels. More than half the money I had earned from seven years in the fields, gone in three days.
I burst into tears and cursed through my own mouth. “Xie Jiangshi, you bastard! Damn eight generations of your ancestors!”
Only then did I notice every passerby turning to stare.
I looked down at my hands.
I had control of my body again.