Chapter 3: Pouring the Talisman Water

Chapter 3: Pouring the Talisman Water

Tang Yuan patted her head. "Grandma, hurry up and chase after Grandpa with the red veil. Don’t let that old woman seduce him away!"

The old woman's blood pressure skyrocketed, and she turned to find a broom.

But then she saw Tang Yuan, seemingly transformed, dancing on the bed, waving a red undergarment, and singing shrilly, "In the first month comes the New Year, the first day of the lunar year, no matter man or woman, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, old woman, your house is unclean!"

The old woman held the broom, wanting to hit her, but was frightened by her granddaughter’s unfamiliar and eerie expression and stepped back.

Tang Yuan mimicked the image of a shaman from TV dramas, rolling her eyes and flailing her limbs, muttering, "Your grandson is a substitute for a water ghost. Within a year, there will be bloodshed, and your family will be destroyed!"

As she said "destroyed," she glared fiercely at the old woman, not looking like a young girl at all.

The old woman initially thought her granddaughter was just throwing a tantrum, but now she felt a chill and her limbs went weak.

This damn girl must have been possessed!

Just as she was pondering this, Tang Yuan jumped again, adopting a righteous expression. "I am the general before the Jade Emperor..."

Her gaze shifted, and she bent down to grab a coarse porcelain bowl from the bed, extending her slender fingers to point at the old woman and scold her in a high-pitched voice, "I am the General with the Bowl. You blind old witch, how dare you betroth me to a lame... water ghost? Watch me capture all of you and throw you into the river to feed the turtles!"

She raised the bowl with her left hand and shouted at the old woman, "Capture!"

A loud crack of thunder exploded overhead.

A gust of wind blew through the windows and door, making the old woman shiver.

She turned and rushed out, muttering, "Unbelievable, she’s gone mad, gone mad."

Oh my goodness.

Last year, a boy drowned in the southern river. His mother said he kept appearing in her dreams, saying it was lonely and asking her to find him a wife. She tried to arrange a ghost marriage, but none of the candidates were suitable.

It was rumored that the boy had his eye on someone specific and was waiting.

Thinking about this, the old woman shivered again.

That damned water ghost, could it be targeting her granddaughter?

Though she was domineering and hot-tempered, she was superstitious and afraid of ghosts. Suspecting that Tang Yuan was possessed, she dared not touch her, fearing it might transfer to her.

She vaguely remembered an old story that newly possessed people still recognized their parents, whose yang energy could suppress the possession.

She ran north to find Tang Yuan’s parents.

Afraid of being ridiculed, she did not tell anyone, only saying there was something urgent and calling Dad Tang and Mother Tang back from the fields.

The couple didn’t know what was happening, but they were filial and always listened to the old lady.

Taking leave would cost them one or two work points, so if it wasn’t a big deal, the old lady wouldn’t call them. Therefore, they quickly asked the team leader for leave and returned home.

Grandma Tang led them back home hastily, frightening Dad Tang and Mother Tang, who couldn’t imagine what had happened.

But when they entered the house, they were shocked!

Tang Yuan took advantage of the empty house to dress up.

Feeling cold, she wanted to wear all the clothes the original owner had, but apart from the wet cotton jacket and pants, she only had the patched single-layer clothes she was wearing!

Damn it!

She put on Tang Xiang’s new clothes for the New Year.

In those days, each person received only one set of clothing coupons per year, but buying cloth required money, so Grandma Tang wouldn’t make new clothes every year. Instead, she saved the extra coupons to contribute to dowries or sell for cash.

The original owner had always worn hand-me-downs from her two elder sisters.

This year, they promised to make her new clothes since she was of age to meet potential suitors.

But when Tang Xiang saw this, she also wanted new clothes, so Grandma Tang said the sisters could share.

After the clothes were made, Tang Yuan wore them for only ten minutes, while Tang Xiang wore them to visit relatives at her maternal grandmother’s, aunt’s, and sister’s homes. Tang Yuan had no relatives to visit, so she never got to wear them.

When Tang Xiang finished visiting, she put them back in the cabinet, saying they shouldn’t be worn during work to avoid damage, saving them for festivals.

Still cold!

She also put on Grandma Tang’s traditional jacket.

Looking in the cracked mirror, she felt she wasn’t crazy enough, so she messed up her hair into a nest, spat on the "Good Fortune" sticker on the wall, rubbed it, and smeared her cheeks and forehead bright red.

Bright red.

The once pretty young girl now looked sinister.

Mother Tang, seeing this, felt her heart wrench and jumped onto the bed without taking off her straw shoes. "Daughter, what happened? Mother is here, don’t be afraid."

Grandma Tang shouted, "Stay away from her; don’t let her harm you." She then instructed Dad Tang, "Quickly get some rope and tie her up!"

In nearby villages, dealing with mad people usually involved tying them up first.

And this girl was possessed, wasn’t she?

Dad Tang, who usually obeyed his mother in everything, never listened when it came to disciplining his daughter.

How could he bear to tie up his own daughter?

He neither believed that his daughter was possessed nor that she had gone mad.

Mother Tang said that when their daughter called out to Grandpa, he strongly suspected that it was the old man's spirit frightening her.

He asked Mother Tang to coax their daughter over so he could carry her to the east wing of their house.

Tang Yuan chuckled inwardly; she hadn't misjudged her parents.

It was precisely because she knew they cared for their daughter that she felt safe to act crazy.

In those days, every village had one or two lunatics who couldn't be cured and didn't have the money to be sent to psychiatric hospitals in big cities; they all stayed at home.

If someone went mad severely, they would be locked up; otherwise, they were left to roam freely.

As long as one's own parents weren't heartless, outsiders wouldn't meddle in other people's affairs, nor could they.

Even if Grandma Tang favored boys over girls, she wouldn't casually kill her granddaughter.

Once Tang Yuan acted mad, she gained control.

She could "go mad" because she had no burdens.

She was a time traveler and wasn't close to these people, so she didn't fear their gossip or worry about ruining her reputation and not being able to marry.

Without any weaknesses, evil spirits couldn't harm her!

Tang Yuan, held by Dad Tang, still managed to infuriate Grandma Tang.

Waving a large, rough ceramic bowl, she shrieked, "I am the general holding this bowl, reporting good deeds to heaven and ensuring safety on earth. Your house is unclean! The old man came to say that a grandson was chosen by a water ghost as a substitute, and must be beaten to drive the ghost away!"

Grandma Tang trembled with fear and quickly brought out the incense burner used during the New Year, lit incense, and prayed to her deceased in-laws and the old man, then took yellow paper money and slapped it repeatedly.

She invoked all the deities, guardian spirits, the Kitchen God, the Wealth Deity, the Hearth Goddess, and the Door Gods, "Please protect my granddaughter and drive that thing away from her. If she gets better, I'll offer you a square of meat, and when she marries, I'll offer a pig's head."

In the east wing, after shouting herself hoarse, Tang Yuan rested in her mother's arms.

She had a fever.

When Grandma Tang saw her granddaughter quiet down, she thought the prayers worked and continued praying several more times.

Dad Tang clasped his hands and prayed in all directions, muttering, "Father, please show mercy and don't scare Yuan Yuan; she's your granddaughter too."

He also asked Mother Tang to call back her daughter's soul.

Seeing her daughter's disheveled, wet hair and flushed face, wearing only a single layer of clothing without any cotton clothes, Mother Tang couldn't help but tear up, tightly hugging her daughter and wrapping her in a quilt.

Dad Tang gently stroked his daughter's head with his rough, dirt-covered hand, calling her soul softly.

Tang Yuan, lying on her mother's chest, felt her father's rough, soil-stained hand on her head, enveloped by the smells of sweat, dirt, and farm manure, suddenly feeling like she was back in her grandmother's arms.

Since she could remember, her mother had been gone, raised by her grandparents.

They were her grandparents, but she considered them her parents.

They were genuine farmers, always working in the fields, carrying the scents of sweat, dirt, plants, and livestock manure.

That smell accompanied her growth, so she never disliked it; instead, she missed it when she couldn't smell it.

Especially after her grandparents passed away eight years ago, she hadn't smelled it since.

Though she worked in rural poverty alleviation, surrounded by the scents of earth and labor, those scents lacked the love and longing unique to her.

Now, smelling this familiar scent again, she couldn't help but shed tears.

She even felt that she was the original person, and the original person was her.

These were her parents.

Her family!

Mother Tang asked her husband to dampen a towel with water to wipe their daughter's face and hair.

Seeing Tang Yuan crying, she couldn't help but cry harder, hugging her daughter, "Yuan Yuan, tell Mama what happened?"

Tang Yuan wasn't afraid to tell her mother she was pretending to be mad, but she couldn't let her father know.

Her father was honest and simple; if he knew she was faking madness, he wouldn't cooperate.

She needed him, Grandma, and her aunt-in-law to believe she was mad so they would agree to separate households smoothly.

She leaned into Mother Tang's embrace, feigning sobs, mumbling, "Beat the limping ghost, beat the water ghost."

Seeing her daughter's fear, Mother Tang asked her husband to inquire from Grandma Tang.

Grandma Tang told Dad Tang about the incident where the two granddaughters fell into the river due to an argument.

She didn't mention that Tang Xiang had kicked her; instead, she said Tang Yuan had fallen while trying to hit someone.

"Second son, you need to manage her properly; she can't keep acting like this."

To Dad Tang, his daughter was perfect, despite his complaints about Grandma's favoritism. She was diligent and filial, always offering to wash clothes for her parents and keeping a bowl of water ready for them.

Everyone cherishes their own daughter.

Seeing her like this, his heart ached fiercely, as if being fried in oil.

The old lady was still scolding her, which made her feel even worse.

Grandma Tang emphasized the matter of being possessed and told him to watch over Tang Yuan, saying she would burn a bowl of talisman water for her to drink.

Rural old ladies each had their own secret skills; some could call souls, some could massage tendons, and some could drive away evil spirits.

As for whether they worked?

Well, anyway, they themselves believed they were effective. If it didn't work, it just meant it hadn't been done enough times.

While they were busy, Aunt Zhang Lianhua hurried back from outside.

She peeked into the east room, which was dark inside, and asked in a whisper, "Yuan'er's mother, what happened?"

Before Mother Tang could speak, Tang Yuan immediately bared her teeth at her. "To fight off the chonggui—"

Auntie was so scared that she ran to the main hall where the old lady was burning the talisman water, "Mother, what's going on?"

The old lady glared at her, "Why did you come back? You're wasting your work points."

Auntie whispered, "Your father found an excuse for me to come back and check."

Uncle Tang was the team leader of the production brigade.

The old lady huffed, "You need to talk to Xiang'er properly. She can't be so reckless. Kicking her into the river on such a cold day, how could she not catch a fever? When her body's yang energy weakens, those dirty things will take hold."

Although Tang Xiang said Tang Yuan fell into the river by herself, and Grandma Tang also told Tang Yuan not to blame her sister, the old lady wasn't truly senile. She knew everyone's character well.

Tang Yuan was a troublemaker who always talked back but never lied.

She didn't need to lie because she acted on impulse.

Auntie's face changed, "Really?"

The old lady pointed to the bowl of black talisman water, "There."

Auntie became nervous, "Mother, can this cure her? What if..."

Wouldn't that delay her marriage prospects?

She had already chosen someone for her, and they were supposed to meet in a couple of days, finalize the engagement, and exchange brides after the wheat harvest.

If Tang Yuan was possessed, what if the other family rejected her?

They had to keep it a secret, no one must know.

She cautiously looked towards the east and the back window, especially wary of the nosy old man next door.

She picked up the bowl of talisman water and said to the old lady, "Mother, you've worked hard all day. Rest here, I'll go."

The old lady nodded, sat down, and rubbed her legs, exhausted.

Auntie entered the east room with the bowl of talisman water, speaking gently, "Yuan'er, I brought you some sugar water. Drink it, and you'll sweat it out."

She looked at Tang Yuan with concern, holding the edge of the bed and offering the large bowl.

Then...

She was pinned down on the bed by the frenzied Tang Yuan, with a large bowl of ash water held to her mouth.

"Gulp, gulp."

...