We arrived at the threshing ground with doubts in our heads. Lin Sanshui had spent a lot of money to come today, and the price even attracted the villagers to the point of breaking their heads to join. After a rigorous selection, 99 people were left. When we arrived, we found Uncle Er, Fatty, and Lin Sanshui standing together, looking puzzled.
Fatty looked at me and Nine-Two, saying, "Your father didn't come?" I nodded. Fatty's expression instantly became strange, as he had entrusted me not to let my father come, but my father really did not come. He seemed incredibly incredulous and asked, "How did you manage to stop him from coming?" "My mother dragged him and didn't let him come," I truthfully replied.
Fatty made a sound of acknowledgment and gave me a strange look before continuing to discuss with Uncle Er. From their conversation, I learned about their plans for today.
When the Daoists come to mind, the first thing associated with Daoism is not the Daoist priests in Dao robes but the mysterious Bagua diagram, which is now famous worldwide. The yin-yang fish pattern, representing the concept of yin and yang, runs through the entire Daoist doctrine.
The cultivation methods left by the Daoists are still visible in traditional Chinese medicine, which can be summed up in one sentence: "Harmonizing yin and yang."
All of this explains the importance of yin and yang in Daoism. Today, Fatty was going to set up a yin-yang formation. When summoning Lin ErDan's spirit, he had utilized yang, borrowing the yin and yang forces of the human body. It was a small yang circle, and its function was to "confine," as every Daoist magic formation has its purpose. At that time, the main purpose was to prevent the nightwalking ghosts summoned by Fatty from escaping, so they arranged a small yang circle formation using the villagers' bodies.
But today, Fatty, in his words, was only doing this because Lin BaQian was present, otherwise, he wouldn't dare to play with fire like this. This was almost playing with his life.
Life is yang, death is yin. Heaven is yang, earth is yin. All of this is yin and yang. Ignoring the greatest yin-yang force of the human body, in relation to death, life is the greatest yang force. Today, Fatty was setting up a life-death formation with 99 living people and 99 clay figures.
I had guessed before, but now I was almost certain of what Fatty's cinnabar and yellow talismans were meant for. Previously, when the villagers were jokingly making clay sculptures, Fatty had told Lin Sanshui, "It's no big deal, they won't be able to cry later." Now, it turned out that at that time, the villagers had made the clay sculptures as a joke, almost like an exhibition, and now, Fatty and I were placing yellow talismans with written names on the foreheads of these sculptures, dividing them into men and women.
The expressions of the villagers had truly become unpredictable; it was exactly what Fatty had said—now they couldn't even cry! Because the clay sculptures they had made as a joke had now all turned into their ancestors!
"F***, Lin Sanshui, what are you doing? If you wanted to do this, why didn't you say so earlier?" The villagers couldn't take it anymore. They all turned their anger towards Lin Sanshui. This was truly a slap in the face; how could they face their ancestors in the future after this?
"What's the use of crying? Do you guys not realize they are not ashamed of their own shortcomings?" Lin Sanshui, seeing the situation, was also at a loss, and could only joke with the villagers.
After chatting for a bit, the villagers didn't fuss about it. Each person received a hundred yuan that night, and Lin Sanshui had now become their big shot and couldn't afford to offend anyone. Most importantly, in this era, these things weren't seen as so significant. Besides, despite their crudeness, the clay sculptures were made by themselves. When Lin Sanshui had asked them to make it better, did they listen?
You reap what you sow, that's all I can say.
After attaching the cinnabar talismans, a few of us busied ourselves, once again arranging the clay sculptures into a circle. The iconic pattern of Yin and Yang is circular, and Fatty hadn't made any significant changes, still arranging them in the pattern of a yin-yang fish, as usual.
Three incense sticks were placed in front of each clay sculpture. Fatty held an incense burner and flicked his fingers, sprinkling water on the foreheads of the clay sculptures.
Ninety-nine clay sculptures, ninety-nine living people. Nine is the ultimate number. They formed a large yin-yang.
Even if I didn't understand, I felt that the formation Fatty had set up was indeed remarkable.
I looked at Uncle Er because of a sixth sense I had. Perhaps Fatty's actions were similar to the spiritual formation that Xu Lin had set up back then, and were attributed to Uncle Er. Otherwise, Fatty hadn't done much before, but now, he thought of a way after discussing with Uncle Er.
While Fatty was doing all of this, Uncle Er's expression was calm, but when Fatty finished sprinkling water, I believed everything was ready and only waiting for the wind, Uncle Er's expression became serious, leaving my heart hanging in suspense.
Was the main event only beginning now?
Fatty was very busy at the moment, and I couldn't ask what was coming next. It was better not to ask Uncle Er; standing next to the policewoman, we watched his actions. The policewoman's uniform was still in Lin Sanshui's home, and she was now wearing a tight-fitting white camisole, which was catching the attention of the men who were still waiting to finish their work and get paid.
If the village girls were still up for some teasing, who wouldn't know that the policewoman from the city was a cold, elegant lady? At the time of the spirit-summoning, she had belittled the divine figure in the eyes of the villagers, so who dared to provoke her?
The scorching summer days were coming to an end, and the night in the mountain village was filled with endless cicada chirping, though it had brought a slight chill in the air. I saw that the policewoman was indeed feeling cold, and couldn't the villagers assume that she had come between Lin Xiaoyao and me? Given that, in their view, the policewoman had already become my woman, wouldn't it make me seem bad if they saw her like that?
So, I took off my shirt and gently placed it on her shoulders.
If this were on TV, the female lead would certainly lean quietly on the male lead's shoulders, or in Korean dramas, there might be a passionate kiss, or in Japanese adult films, there might even be a live performance. Anyway, for me, it was all good.
However, the policewoman grabbed the shirt and sniffed it under her nose, saying disdainfully, "Lin Xiaofan, how many days has it been since you bathed? And with your bony frame, you still have the nerve to show it off?"
I was instantly at a loss for words. On TV, this definitely didn't happen. I tried to take the shirt back, thinking I didn't want to be insidious like her. Did she know that I was already half-naked with just a short-sleeved shirt on?
But she held onto the shirt, laughing and teasing, "Why are you so stingy? You're giving me a shirt, but still want it back?"
Seeing her smiling face, I couldn't help but feel stunned. Instead of lowering her face and blushing, she kicked me and scolded, "Take another look, and I'll gouge your eyes out."
I suddenly understood; it wasn't that they were lying on TV, it was just that this woman couldn't be measured by common sense.
At this point, Fatty had already begun a new action.
二叔's face was already tense.
"Don't mess around, Fatty is here for real," I said to the policewoman.