Chapter 25:
Tormented by an Evil Spirit (Conclusion):
Youfu, Youfu, You’re Home…
Youfu, Youfu, are you still there?
Whenever the man couldn’t see him, he would call out, his voice raspy. Youfu would always respond with a bark, running to his side.
If there was no response, he would call again, and Youfu would always hear, rewarded by the man’s laughter.
But now…
Youfu couldn’t smell his family. This place was cold and unfamiliar. His senses were dulled. He stood in a strange place, looking up at the distant sky, seeing nothing.
Did a dog’s world have a moon? Youfu’s world had only the moon.
Youfu, Youfu, do you miss home?
Yes, because even dogs felt longing, felt pain.
A dog was just an animal, but it could cry, tears of sadness welling in its eyes.
Youfu wanted to go home, but the fence trapped him. He was anxious, distressed.
He heard the man’s voice.
Are you here to take me home?
My puppy is inside!
Yes, he was.
He wanted to run to the man, barking, jumping onto the roof. He found him.
The man was outside the gate.
He barked, but the man couldn’t hear.
He threw himself against the fence, but it wouldn’t budge. He watched helplessly as his family, his friend, was being hurt.
Why hurt him, and then hurt his family?
He didn’t understand.
He wanted to protect them. He growled, his mournful howls echoing through the night, his whimpers filled with grief and helplessness. A single tear erased his past.
The black dog could no longer remember who he was, where he was. He saw Chen Henian, a human that smelled delicious. He snarled, his fangs bared, his form larger than a human’s, his eyes filled with rage.
He would devour him!
Beneath his feet was a giant mirror, reflecting his true form, one side filled with rage, the other lost and heartbroken. Just an ordinary, pitiful black dog.
“I know your grievance,” Chen Henian said calmly. “Li Xiaoqiang killed you. He’s the one you should seek revenge on. I have his soul.” He turned to the mirror ghost. “You have that boy’s soul, don’t you? Don’t try to fool me. You tricked him into making a wish when you scared him.”
The mirror ghost chuckled, not denying it. “What do you want to do?”
“An eye for an eye, a grievance for a grievance,” Chen Henian smiled. “The rest is none of my business.”
…
Li Xiaoqiang found himself in the storage shed, confused and terrified.
“Mother! Father!”
“Where are you?!”
He stood up, clinging to the wall, the darkness closing in around him.
He heard a bark, and he scrambled back, covering his head, his heart pounding, wanting to run towards the door, towards the light, to find someone, but the door slammed shut before he could reach it, almost catching his foot.
He pounded on the door frantically. “Let me out! Open the door! Open the door—!”
“I can’t open it either,” Chen Henian’s lazy voice drifted in from outside. “Why don’t you ask it nicely? You said you didn’t harm it, right?”
“No! I don’t want to!” Li Xiaoqiang pressed against the door, hearing the dog’s panting. The black dog emerged from the darkness, its form towering over him. He was terrified it would bite his head off.
“Please! Let me out! I’m sorry, I’m truly sorry!” He continued to pound on the door, his legs giving way, falling to his knees, begging.
Chen Henian leaned against the locked door, a faint smile on his lips.
He was still smiling! Li Xiaoqiang thought angrily. He was about to die, but Chen Henian’s laughter only grew softer, the dog’s growls louder.
The dog was upon him!
Li Xiaoqiang screamed as the dog’s teeth sank into his leg, its powerful jaws crushing bone.
The pain was excruciating! He begged for mercy, but the dog dragged him further into the shed.
He was dragged to the back, a trail of blood marking his path. He was helpless, his screams echoing through the shed. “Mother! The dog is eating me! It’s eating me! Mother! Help me!”
The sounds of his clothes tearing, his screams of agony, the dog’s teeth ripping through his flesh, his desperate attempts to crawl away, the dog dragging him back into the darkness, the sounds of his struggle, his screams fading into sobs.
Thirteen blows with a stick, thirteen gaping wounds on his body.
He was dying, the pain unbearable, his whimpers fading, his face covered in blood and tears.
It was time.
Chen Henian exhaled, turning towards the door, closing his eyes, his fingers moving in a series of hand gestures.
The shed door opened. He didn’t look at Li Xiaoqiang’s mangled body, the floor covered in blood. The black dog, before delivering the final blow, looked up.
“Little dog, little dog, do you know peace and happiness?”
Chen Henian’s calm voice caught its attention.
The mirror ghost watched his lips moving, chanting something.
Chen Henian lowered his head, his finger pointing at his forehead, his voice soft and soothing, like a Buddhist sutra, a bright light emanating from his fingertips, his hair like ink against his shoulders, his features serene, like a deity in a painting.
He flicked his wrist, and the red string shot out.
The string wrapped around the black dog, suppressing its resentment, its struggles futile, its growls fading into whimpers.
Chen Henian stopped chanting.
He looked up, smiling faintly. “Youfu, it’s time to go home.”
The black dog, its vengeance sated, its rage subsided, its monstrous form disappearing, its head lowered, its reflection in the mirror returning to its original form.
Youfu whimpered softly, letting Chen Henian lead him out of the shed, out of the mirror’s illusion.
A strong wind blew across the grass.
Chen Henian’s eyes snapped open, and he sat up abruptly.
“You’re finally awake!” Li Xiaoxiao rushed over, her voice anxious. “What happened to you?” She saw that everyone was unconscious.
Chen Henian’s soul had entered the mirror with the black dog. Now, he had returned.
The others lay scattered on the floor. “No one’s dead. It’s over.” He opened his hand, and a black dog jumped down, the red string still attached, Youfu standing in the sunlight.
“Where’s the man?” Chen Henian didn’t see the homeless man.
“He took Youfu home,” Xiaoxiao replied.
“I see,” Chen Henian said. “Then I’m leaving too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your brother’s soul is shattered. I don’t want your parents blaming me.” He looked at her. “You’re young, and this encounter has opened your yin-yang eyes slightly. If you’re ever troubled by evil spirits again, bring money and come to Hongshan Road, number 44, the funeral home.”
He placed the 15,000 yuan in the mirror.
Youfu nuzzled Xiaoxiao’s hand, and she burst into tears. “Youfu, Youfu, is that you?”
Youfu barked happily.
“Thank goodness,” she laughed through her tears. “Youfu, you can finally go home.”
“Youfu, I’ll never meet another dog like you.” She said goodbye. “Youfu, Youfu, will you visit me in my dreams?”
Youfu barked again, a promise, and Xiaoxiao was comforted.
Chen Henian led the dog away, towards the alley, following his memory. “I’ll let you see him one last time, then I’ll guide you to the underworld. Whether you wait for him or reincarnate is your choice.”
But Youfu suddenly stopped.
Chen Henian tugged on the string, but he couldn’t move him.
“What? You don’t want to?” he asked. “You can’t stay with the living.”
Youfu didn’t struggle, just wagged his tail excitedly.
A figure appeared, running towards them.
“That’s my dog! That’s my dog!”
The homeless man rushed forward, grabbing the string from Chen Henian’s hand.
The red string was gone.
“Youfu, bark,” the man said.
The dog barked instantly.
The man smiled triumphantly. “See? This is my dog! I raised him!”
Chen Henian paused. “Then take him with you. Don’t lose him again.”
“Of course not.” The man laughed, petting Youfu’s head. “Where did you run off to? I couldn’t find you. Not anymore, Youfu, let’s go home.”
Youfu barked happily, jumping around his feet. They walked away, man and dog reunited.
Chen Henian watched them leave, then said, “Call the crematorium.”
“Me? Make the call?” The mirror ghost was incredulous.
“I don’t have a phone. Borrow one from the neighbors.”
The mirror ghost grumbled. “Me again? Do you know how much yin energy that consumes?”
“I’ll compensate you later,” Chen Henian said. “Go.”
The ghost vanished, seeing his calm, impassive face. Chen Henian walked into the quiet alley, quickly finding what he was looking for.
Youfu’s home, a plastic sheet against a wall, a pile of cardboard boxes, dirty and smelly, but enough for a man and his dog to find happiness. A dog’s needs were simple.
Two bodies lay there now.
The man, his arms around his dog, lay on the ground, his body cold.
He had been on the verge of death, his soul clinging to the world, unwilling to leave.
No wonder his soul flame had been so faint. Chen Henian understood. He stood by the bodies, closing his eyes, sighing softly.
Youfu, Youfu, you’re finally home.
…
“Why are you so kind, spending money on a funeral for a dead man?” The mirror ghost couldn’t understand Chen Henian. He seemed so poor, yet he had paid for the cremation, the urn, and a burial plot on the mountain.
“A chance for merit shouldn’t be missed. This is for myself,” Chen Henian placed a stick of incense on the grave.
The mirror ghost chuckled. “I knew you weren’t that kind.”
“But why did you write a dog’s name on the tombstone? Be careful, its ghost might linger and haunt you.”
The tombstone read: Youfu’s Family.
The man was dead. Chen Henian didn’t know his name. Perhaps he never had one, no family, just a wandering soul, his death as insignificant as dust, his body food for stray animals.
After offering incense, Chen Henian couldn’t help but ask the mirror ghost, “What’s your name?”
“Me?” The ghost hesitated, its usual boisterous energy subdued. “Two hundred years have passed. I’ve forgotten my name.”
Chen Henian chuckled. “Then I’ll give you one.”
“You’ll give me a name?” The ghost was surprised.
“Yes.”
“I’ve already thought of one.”
“Da Huang,” Chen Henian said.
“Hah!” The ghost’s pale face flushed. “You’re naming me after a dog?”
“You’re not as obedient as a dog.”
“…”
Chen Henian said, “I chose that name because I like the color.”
He looked up at the sky, his fingers framing the setting sun, its golden light filling his eyes.
Fortune and misfortune, intertwined, gains and losses.
Chen Henian left, but the Li family was in chaos.
Li Gang sat outside the ICU, his face etched with grief. Li Xiaoqiang wouldn’t recover. The doctors said he would remain in a vegetative state, unable to move or wake up.
His years of effort had been wasted. His wife, Chen Shu, had gone insane, unable to even recognize her own children.
He only had his daughter left. He couldn’t lose her too.
He pushed Chen Shu away, but she crawled back, grabbing Li Xiaoxiao, her voice frantic. “You can’t be like that useless thing in there! You have to be alright! My son, you can’t leave me!”
“Promise me!” Her eyes were wide with madness. “Son, listen to your mother!”
“I won’t be like him,” Xiaoxiao replied calmly. “I’ll grow up, tall and strong, and I’ll go far away.”
“Good, good.” Chen Shu hugged her tightly, a smile spreading across her face. “My good son, you’ve finally grown up.”
