Chapter 1

Shunwa, the boy I had grown up with, drowned in the reservoir stream behind our village.

It was the height of summer. Shunwa and I had agreed to go to the reservoir stream behind the village to catch fish and tadpoles.

But that day, my parents suddenly decided to take me into the township to visit relatives. At the thought of getting my mother to buy me an ice pop and some juice, I stood Shunwa up without a second thought.

We could always pick another day when I got back, I told myself. He broke his word all the time anyway.

No one expected Shunwa, who had always been a strong swimmer, to get his foot tangled in a fishing net sunk beneath the water and drown in the reservoir stream behind the village.

By the time my parents returned after hearing the news, Shunwa’s mother had already cried herself unconscious. Even in her sleep she kept sobbing, while my mother sat beside her wiping away tears.

Fighting down his grief, Shunwa’s father gathered everyone to discuss how they should handle the funeral.

The villagers sat in silence for a long time, unable to decide. Our village had always held that a child who died before his parents could not be given a funeral—unless the child had died in an unclean place.

“The boy died on tainted ground. That’s ill luck no matter how you look at it. The funeral must be a grand one, to drive away the misfortune.”

The speaker was a highly respected elder whom everyone called Uncle Five. Someone of my generation had to address him as Fifth Great-Uncle.

Fifth Great-Uncle was around seventy. He had seen a great deal in his life and had studied feng shui in his younger years.

Almost every wedding and funeral in the village had to pass through his hands before anything could be settled, so the villagers held him in great esteem.

“That reservoir stream looks pretty clear to me. How can it count as an unclean place?” a middle-aged man muttered.

After all, the funeral would require elders to kowtow before a junior and mourn him publicly. Word of it would cost them face.

Fifth Great-Uncle exhaled a mouthful of pipe smoke. “Shunwa was a Fire Ox born during the Hour of the Snake. Water was already his opposing element. Water is yin and fire is yang, and he drowned at noon. Water and fire cannot coexist; yin and yang are out of balance. It is an omen of terrible misfortune.”

The villagers panicked at once and began clamoring for a solution.

“As I said, the funeral must not only be held, but held on a grand scale. For the next seven days, this house must never be left empty. Find several children close to Shunwa’s age to keep vigil. Change the incense and burn spirit money every two hours.”

Everyone listened closely to Fifth Great-Uncle’s instructions. In the end, the vigil was assigned to me and five other children from the village who were around Shunwa’s age. We would work in pairs, each pair taking an eight-hour shift.

“Remember: there must never be fewer than two people in the mourning hall. Even if you need the toilet, you may leave only after finding someone to take your place. Do you understand?”

“As for the pallbearers and the coffin attendant, I will calculate the proper choices when I return home and let you know.”

With matters settled, I did not go home. I moved into Shunwa’s house and began keeping vigil that very night.

My partner was Deng Gong. Shunwa, Deng Gong, and I had always been an inseparable trio.

Now that Shunwa was gone, Deng Gong and I were both devastated. We sobbed and sniveled as we burned spirit money for him.

“Shunwa actually asked me to go fishing with him at the reservoir today,” Deng Gong said, wiping his tears. “But I had to look after Grandma, so I didn’t go.”

His voice was thick with guilt.

“If I’d gone with him, maybe I could’ve pulled him free. Then he wouldn’t have…”

Deng Gong and I poured our hearts out. Crying, I admitted that I too had broken my promise to Shunwa. We hoped he would not blame us, and that in our next lives, the three of us could still be brothers.

Night had fallen completely outside. Faintly, a few cats yowled in the distance.

After putting up the awning, the adults began playing mahjong, drinking, and shouting over finger-guessing games. Every so often, laughter drifted in.

Weeping, Shunwa’s mother sewed a quilt for him and murmured over and over,

“Once my boy has his quilt, he won’t be cold… He won’t be cold…”

…

Fifth Great-Uncle arrived at first light the next morning. I could not explain it, but he seemed older than he had the day before. Nothing about him had visibly changed, and yet there was something I could not put into words.

“I made my calculations last night. Shunwa was born in the Year of the Ox. The Ox clashes with the Goat and is harmed by the Dog. On the seventh day, no one born under either sign may enter this house or go near the grave. Shunwa drowned with deep resentment in his heart, so a guide must walk ahead of the coffin attendant.”

Fifth Great-Uncle puffed on his pipe. His face was grief-stricken, but there was something else in it too, something I could not understand.

“The coffin attendant and the guide should be people Shunwa knew, preferably his own age. They must call out for him to come home all along the way. Only then can he be laid to rest.”

The moment he finished, Shunwa’s mother pulled Deng Gong and me before the villagers.

“Yongshou and Deng Gong were Shunwa’s closest friends, and both were born in the Year of the Ox. No one could be more suitable to serve as his coffin attendant and guide.”

Deng Gong’s parents were migrant workers away from home, and the only person there was his elderly, sickly grandmother. He agreed on the spot.

My parents hesitated at first, but Shunwa’s parents wept so bitterly that their hearts softened. They agreed to let me serve as the coffin attendant.

That night, Deng Gong and I began our vigil at ten and were to remain until six the next morning.

For the first half of the night, we managed to stay awake by chatting.

But sometime after midnight, Deng Gong was suddenly doubled over with stomach cramps. Shouting that he needed the latrine, he snatched a few sheets of spirit money and hurried away.

I looked up. It was already three, time to make another offering.

I quickly lit the spirit money and tossed it into the brazier. After placing fresh incense, I bowed three times and recited what Fifth Great-Uncle had taught me:

“Good Shunwa, take this wealth and eat your fill.

“Bold Shunwa, let no one in the underworld bar your way.

“Sweet Shunwa, may you be born into riches in your next life.”

As the final word left my lips, a gust swept past the mourning hall and extinguished one of the candles.

I thought nothing of it. I lit a new candle and finished burning the remaining spirit money.

For some reason, although it was summer, the air always turned cold after midnight.

Deng Gong had not returned from the toilet. I was alone in the mourning hall, and the place was unnerving.

Scenes from horror movies began playing through my mind all on their own.

The more I imagined, the more frightened I became. I could not shout in the middle of the night, and cold sweat broke out all over me.

Then, at the worst possible moment, I remembered Fifth Great-Uncle’s warning that the mourning hall must never be left with only one person inside.

Honestly, Fifth Great-Uncle was to blame. He had only said it must never happen, without telling us what the consequences would be. Who would take such a casual warning seriously?

I swallowed. Surely I couldn’t be that unlucky…

All I could do was pray silently for Deng Gong to hurry back. Hurry back.

Then I seemed to hear someone calling my name.

“Yongshou… Yongshou…”

I thought it was Deng Gong and looked into the courtyard, but no one was there.