As for Widow Zhou, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, she was a well-known personage in our village, since she could communicate with the dead. According to the old villagers, what she said during her conjuring proved true.”
The conjurer practices their craft by entering the netherworld to find the dead kin of the consigner and letting the ghost of the dead one possess her or him. The dead one would then communicate with the live ones through the conjurer’s mouth.
Widow Zhou was once an ordinary woman, but since her husband’s death, she got the conjuring skills. As for how she got these skills, she never talked about it. Instead, there were some rumors spreading across the village.
The rumor originated with the second daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, as well as Widow Zhou’s daughter. At the First Seventh night after Widow Zhou’s husband died, Widow Zhou returned to the west wing room, where she lived.
The Zhou family, including 7 family members, lived together. According to custom, at the First Seventh night, the family members should stay away from their house, where the ghost would return. As they had nowhere to go, they had to only vacate the west wing room, where Widow The older Zhou and her husband once lived.
Widow Zhou secretly returned to the room at midnight, which wasn’t detected by the others, who were sleeping, until her husband’s sister got up to go to the latrine.
Her husband’s sister thought that maybe she also went to the latrine. However, as she walked out of the room, she suddenly heard a burst of laughter.
On such a day, the laughter sounded extremely creepy. Her husband’s sister, no more than 14 years old, screamed and ran to the room where they slept.
Thus the whole family all woke up and ran to the courtyard. But the laughter stopped, and they heard sounds which resembled some woman mumbling to herself.
The older Zhou had died, so the younger Zhou became the backbone of the whole family. It is the man who is braver in danger. The younger Zhou picked up a wooden stick and said: “The voice is coming from the west wing room; I am going to check what’s happening, and who is there pretending to be the ghost to frighten others.”
The younger Zhou’s wife asked him not to go there, for fear that on the First Seventh night he would run into some evil things.
Meanwhile, another burst of laughter reached their ears. The delighted and uncanny laughter made everyone shudder.
“This is the First Seventh night after my son’s death, how come a woman’s ghost haunts our courtyard?” sighed their father, grieving due to his son’s death. He felt rather distressed that a woman’s ghost, rather than his son’s, had appeared in their courtyard.
“But her voice sounds like my eldest daughter-in-law’s,” their mother said with uncertainty. When the woman muttered with a peculiar accent, they couldn’t confirm, but when she laughed, their mother found the voice pretty familiar.
The others also listened carefully; it was no one other than Widow Zhou.
“Whatever, I have to enter the room to check, in case our sister-in-law is so sorrowful as to have become mentally ill,” losing the husband during the middle age was truly painful for the woman. It wasn’t impossible for Widow Zhou to have actually entered a state of psychosis.
In addition, at that time, people’s kinship was closer, so he wouldn’t just stand by.
Tightly holding the wooden stick, the younger Zhou crept to the west wing room, step by step.
However familiar the west wing room was to the younger Zhou before, the tightly shut west wing room now seemed creepy, as if he would face hell after opening the door.
Standing in front of the door, the younger Zhou took a deep breath. To encourage himself, he suddenly let out a roar and kicked the door fiercely.
As a robust country man who engaged in physical labor all year round, he had a powerful kick. Unexpectedly, the door was not bolted shut, but simply closed. The younger Zhou just heavily fell on the ground inside the room.
“What happened, the younger Zhou?” their father asked anxiously, for fear of losing another son.
“I am ok, just fell down” The younger Zhou answered with a dull voice. He was probably aching due to his fall but he gave a quick answer in case his family worried about him.
Their father breathed a sigh of relief while, in the room, the younger Zhou looked up, and felt his heart was in his mouth.
It was a small room for sleeping. Anyone entering had a full view of the whole interior. The younger Zhou tried to stand up.
At that moment, he clearly saw the whole room. A single, dim oil light was placed on the only table. His sister-in-law was sitting with her back to him, while her shoulders were shaking with happy laughter.
The younger Zhou actually wouldn’t be intimidated by that. But her weird posture, like her tilted head and slightly-inclined back, as if she was sitting against something, seemed terribly terrifying. Moreover, there were two oblong stools placed before the table, one of which she sat on. Usually, people sit in the middle of the stool for balance. To his surprise, she just sat still at one end of the stool with perfect balance.
The younger Zhou forgot to stand up. He kept kneeling there, resisting the impulse to rush out, but he had to stay there for the sake of the safety of his brother’s wife.
He attempted to raise his voice and shouted: “My sister-in-law.”
His voice quivered with nervousness.
Gradually, Widow Zhou turned back with a smile. In the dim light, her smile, with the corners of the mouth curved up and her cheeks stiff, just looked scary.
It looked like a clay statue.
“Look, the younger Zhou is here.” Gazing at The younger Zhou, said Widow Zhou. Her eyes reminded him of a cat’s gazing eyes at midnight.
The younger Zhou’s tears welled up instantly. Not being a fool, he unambiguously heard his sister-in-law asking someone to look, as if there was another person in the room.
And the younger Zhou found her voice was beyond any words. Generally, a person’s tone of voice indicated emotion, but he couldn’t feel any emotion in her words. If there had been a computer in that era, it could only depict it with an electronic synthesizing sound.
The younger Zhou dared not stand up, though he didn’t want to keep kneeling, nor did he dare to move forward or backward, feeling a chill in his back.
Suddenly, Widow Zhou ceased laughing, and her face looked dreadfully pale. She ordered, with fierce eyes, “Get out, leave us, you cannot enter this room.”
The younger Zhou, thought he should give an answer, but he was so overwhelmed by fear that he was unable to utter a word. In extreme fear, if they weren’t yelling hysterically, people would usually remain silent and try to hide themselves.
The younger Zhou, facing his sister-in-law, couldn’t turn furious, remaining silent.
Standing up and turning around, the younger Zhou paced out of the room with forced calmness. Feeling like he was being observed by someone, he dared not turn back. As soon as he stepped out of the door, the door closed by itself.
“Mom,” The younger Zhou cried out, with tears rolling down his cheeks. Immediately, he tried to run, but fell down on the ground due to his trembling feet. He finally managed to stumble toward his family, who were not far from him.
Their mother, with her bound feet, hastened her pace to go to hold her son up, asking him with concern: “What happened? My son.”
“Mom, I think my brother is back.” The younger Zhou cried since only this could explain what just happened.
“My older Zhou”, their father cried out, slapping his thigh. He probably became even more grief-stricken upon hearing that his son was back.
The whole family was not peaceful on the First Seventh night. Since Widow the younger Zhou banned anyone from entering the west wing room, no one dared to go against her in that atmosphere.
This was the story spread by her family. Oddly, almost every village had some spooky tales in the vast Chinese land. Moreover, many events could not be explained. But after some discussion, people wouldn’t take them seriously.
It happened not long before people began to spread the news that Widow Zhou could conjure. Some people skeptically went to ask her to do this for their family and finally believed her. Two years later, Widow Zhou of Xiaowan Village became renowned in the nearby villages. Moreover, many people were coming from the town specially to ask for her help.
There were three points that should be mentioned:
First, Widow Zhou regained her senses after the First Seventh night. It was said that after she stepped out of the west wing room on that day, she even prepared breakfast for the whole family. The only lasting difference was the burp. She could burp many times in one minute, and the strange sound would scare everyone who listened for the first time.
Second, Widow Zhou strongly requested to seal the windows of the west wing room, which was facing the courtyard with good daylight. Every normal person would deride her request. But after that night, the other family members, harboring inexplicable awe for her, just did it promptly as she requested. Finally, not only the windows were sealed, but the door was also covered with thick black curtains.
Third, 5 months after of the death of the older Zhou, Widow Zhou gave birth to a son, about whom the villager didn’t gossip since he was apparently the older Zhou’s posthumous child. Some old people thought that was the reason for what happened on the First Seventh night; the older Zhou couldn’t bear to leave his wife and son lonely in the world. In any case, Widow the older Zhou and her son lived a good life in the village after this; the whole family benefited.
If it hadn’t been for the political campaign, Widow Zhou would have paid for her child to go to school and marry a daughter-in-law with the sufficient income due to her supernatural ability. However, personal desires cannot decide history. Her whole family, especially Widow Zhou who was under surveillance by several civil servants, dared not involve themselves in any more conjuring.
Putting aside how the Zhou family lived; our family lived a miserable life because of me.
My health didn’t turn better. On the third day after my birth, my father wrapped me up, borrowed a donkey cart and brought me to the township clinic, but the doctor there didn’t know what illness I had.
Finally, the doctor just told my father: “Maybe he is malnourished. He will get better after you give him some nutritional supplements.” without giving a prescription.
On the way back, with a gloomy mood, my father thought that it was impossible for his baby to be malnourished, as the baby’s mother had been provided with almost the best diet in the whole village. How can he be suffering from malnutrition? But he just looked even weaker than the weakest baby in the village.
My father could not figure it out, but he still believed the doctor. After all, asking Widow Zhou for help would be the worst plan, which perhaps would do harm to the Zhou family, besides his own family.
After my father returned home, he kept thinking of how to supplement my nutrition. My mother didn’t have breast milk, so he went to swap some milk from one family, who raised cows in a neighboring village, for our crops. In addition, he went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative in the town to buy some supplements for me. In a word, he spared no effort for the nutritional supplements.
The living conditions at that time could not compare to nowadays’. No other babies’ treatment was like mine. Apart from nutrition supplements, the milk was a wild wish for many kids. The kids who weren’t breast-fed were mostly brought up by rice paste.
Because of my supplements, our family’s income was burdened, but my parents, and particularly my sisters, never complained, which was so touching.
My eldest sister even said to my father: “dad, let my brother take more milk, he is so tiny he doesn’t even have the strength to cry.”
Didn’t the two daughters wish to taste the tempting milk? Everyone could tell that from their faces. But they didn’t cry or demand it, which moved my father.
By the way, my parents didn’t value the son any more than the daughters. Except for my infancy, I was given the same as my sisters. But in the countryside at that time, families without a son were distressed. Because sons represented labor, and how can a rural household be supported without labor?
My father gave me supplements for one month. On the last day, when I was one month old, according to the custom, when I was weighed to check how much I put on, my father’s firm belief finally collapsed.
Hopeful, my father weighed me, but the reality just left him frustrated. When I was one month old, I had only put on 2 Taels which equaled to 100g.
All along, my father was struggling to provide me with the best nutrition, hoping that I could get better. But the result fairly disappointed him.
After a long time pondering, he said to my mother: “Xiu Yun, I think we must ask for Widow Zhou’s help.” He had no other choice left.
My mother also became more anxious. Even at that time, a baby of 3 Jin was rare. Based on so many nutrition supplements and such delicate care, the baby must have some other problem.
But the doctor said there was no problem with my health, so what problem was it, indeed? It could only be due to the evil things.
“Chen, let’s try for another week. It is said that some babies don’t grow much in the first month after birth, instead, they grows better later. Besides, besides…” my mother hesitated.
“Besides what?” my father asked with raised eyebrows.
“Besides, Widow Zhou is only able to conjure. Can she tell Yin and Yang? I think her skills have nothing to do with our baby’s issue.” My mother hesitated, for fear of dashing his sole hope.
“I know she is the best in the neighborhood. Besides, Midwife Liu also suggested that we turn to her.” My father answered with a dull tone. After one moment’s silence, he turned around with a hopeful and relieved tone: “do you remember the son of Puppy Wang, who was of one of my pals in my childhood? His son, Wang Zhu, was stricken with the evil thing when he was 2 years old. His son, drooling like a fool, became cold all over before he was cured by Widow Zhou. “
“So you go to fetch Widow Zhou. But you must be careful. If you are caught by those people, we will have problems.” My mother heaved a sigh hopelessly. Finally, my parents decided to take the risk.