Mayi Physiognomy

Hearing Wang Junhui's question, Zhao Kuan looked at us with surprise. "You guys aren't here looking for that thing, are you?"

What thing? I was also confused and turned to look at Wang Junhui.

Wang Junhui chuckled. "Brother Zhao, what we're looking for, you don't need to ask in detail. Just tell us everything you know. As for the money, you won't be shortchanged."

Zhao Kuan froze for a moment. "So you really are here looking for that thing." After saying this, he fell silent, deep in thought.

Wang Junhui wasn't in a hurry to press him.

Li Yajing, beside him, poured some water from her bottle into the cap and handed it to Zhao Kuan. He took the cap and drank it all in one go before handing it back.

Watching Wang Junhui and Li Yajing remain so calm and composed made me a bit anxious. I almost wanted to step in and urge Zhao Kuan to speak faster.

After a moment, Zhao Kuan finally spoke: "Actually, when Old Lin (Lin Sen) first approached me to be your guide, he mentioned you studied the Dao. Even back then, I felt the group coming here wasn't just here to see the Bottomless Cave in our mountains. It couldn't be that simple."

Zhao Kuan paused, then continued: "Honestly, if you'd asked anyone else in town to guide you to Little Western Heaven, they definitely wouldn't have gone. Because over there, it's not just wild boars, wolves, and snakes... there are also living dead. Living dead that crawl out of the Bottomless Cave."

Living dead!? That meant living corpses – in other words, zombies!

Zombies in these deep mountains? I looked at Wang Junhui and Li Yajing with shock and disbelief. But the two of them looked completely calm, not surprised at all, as if they had known about this all along.

Suddenly, I remembered Li Yajing asking me earlier if I could read the faces of corpses. So, they had already known some of the secrets of these mountains.

And Wang Junhui had probably brought me along precisely so that if we found this so-called "living dead," I could glean something from its appearance.

As I was thinking this, Zhao Kuan continued: "Actually, the legend of the living dead has been around here forever. No one knows how many generations it's been passed down. But very few people have actually seen it with their own eyes."

Since Zhao Kuan said "very few," that implied some people had seen it. I couldn't help but ask: "Did the people who saw it say what the living dead looks like?"

Zhao Kuan thought for a moment. "All dried up and withered, covered in black hair. Long fingernails and teeth. No eyeballs. Kind of like the zombies on TV. But it doesn't hop; it runs. Runs really fast, darting through the woods, more agile than a monkey. Anyone it sets its sights on... none of them ever made it out of that forest alive."

Curious, I asked Zhao Kuan why, if there was such a terrifying thing and others refused to take us, he was willing.

Zhao Kuan gave a bitter smile. "It's all because Old Lin offered such a high price. I have a son in university. Ever since we stopped contracting the forest land, trying to support his studies has stretched our family finances thin. We can barely make ends meet. After he graduates, we still need to save for his wedding! Just thinking about it worries me sick!"

It was true; parents nowadays have it tough. Especially those with sons. Whether in the city or countryside, after putting a child through university, parents often have to spend half their life savings, or even their entire life savings, to get their son married.

Thinking about this brought a sudden wave of sadness to my heart. My own parents had passed early, and my grandfather had run off with most of my wife-fund... I was...

No one noticed my mood shift. Zhao Kuan continued: "Besides, the reason I dared to lead you into the forest is also because I know a safe path. I've been down that path to the Bottomless Cave at Little Western Heaven three times before. I even brought back a lump of wood once. Later, someone said it was medicinal herbs and bought it off me for a hundred yuan a jin."

Li Yajing asked what shape that lump of wood was and if it was heavy.

Zhao Kuan thought for a moment. "Not heavy at all. Very light. Just like a pile of rotten wood, or like a bunch of tree ears [a type of edible fungus] clumped together. Weird shape. I just picked it up. That time I made less than two hundred yuan. Later, hoping to find more of that stuff to make some money, I went back. But I never found any again."

He paused here, then went on: "The third time... that was also the last time I went to Little Western Heaven before now. I kept feeling like something was following me. I didn't make it all the way; I turned back halfway. After I got back, I came down with a high fever. It was my wife who went to the temple to burn incense and pray to the Buddha for me that I got better. After that, I never went back to Little Western Heaven."

Just then, I heard Li Yajing whisper a couple of sentences to Wang Junhui. After she finished, expressions of regret appeared on both their faces. I knew they were lamenting that lump of wood Zhao Kuan had sold for two hundred yuan.

In other words, that lump of wood was likely something extremely valuable, a priceless treasure.

They didn't say it outright, probably to spare Zhao Kuan the heartache.

Zhao Kuan continued: "Before me, a few old-timers around here also knew that path and had been to Little Western Heaven. One of them actually encountered the 'living dead.' That old man practiced Hung Fist. He could casually lift millstones weighing two or three hundred jin. Relying on the weapon he carried, he managed to hold off that living dead for a while. He escaped down the mountain, but lost an arm in the process. Sadly, he passed away a few years ago. He's the only person I know of around here who actually saw the living dead."

Zhao Kuan stopped talking then. I figured he didn't know what else to say.

Wang Junhui made an "Oh" sound and asked: "In recent years, besides you, has anyone else been to Little Western Heaven?"

Zhao Kuan shook his head. "People in town are doing better now. Who would go to that dangerous place for no reason? Even I haven't dared go back after those three times."

Hearing Zhao Kuan recount these events, we had rested enough and started moving again. We still had several more days of walking ahead.

As we walked, I asked Zhao Kuan: "Around here, digging for medicinal herbs near the town to sell, how much can you make in a day?"

Zhao Kuan replied: "With good luck, a hundred yuan or so a day isn't a problem."

I made an "Hmm" sound and continued: "A trip to Little Western Heaven takes half a month there and back. Even if you could find that lump of wood to sell, it wouldn't earn you more than a day trip digging for herbs near town. So why did you take the risk to go to Little Western Heaven?"

Since childhood, learning divination and fortune interpretation from my grandfather, I've always valued clear logic. So whenever there's even a slight logical inconsistency, it bothers me. I have to ask and get it clear, otherwise it'll nag at me all day.

It's a kind of compulsion, I guess.

Hearing my question, Zhao Kuan hesitated: "Well, that..."

Clearly, there was more to the story he hadn't told. Instantly, I felt Zhao Kuan wasn't just joining us in the mountains for the guide money. He probably had his own agenda, perhaps looking for something specific too – possibly the very thing Wang Junhui was after.

Just as I was thinking this, Wang Junhui said to me: "Chu Yi, no need to guess. He's going into the mountains seeking wealth. I'm not. What he's looking for and what I'm looking for are different."

Then Li Yajing also said to Zhao Kuan: "Brother Zhao, actually, we've heard the legend about your place too. We're not here because of that legend. You can rest assured. Since Chu Yi wants to know now, you might as well tell him."

Wang Junhui and Li Yajing were speaking more and more mysteriously. Even Lin Sen, who hadn't spoken much, seemed to know the purpose of their trip.

Furthermore, Zhao Kuan, as the guide, seemed to have another purpose for coming into these woods. I was the only one seemingly without a clear goal.

Hearing Li Yajing's words, Zhao Kuan said: "Alright, I suppose. The story about my place, even the kids know it. Since you want to hear it, I'll tell you."

Since Zhao Kuan was going to tell me the local tale, I quickly walked up to walk beside him at the front so I could hear more clearly.

About the Bottomless Cave at Little Western Heaven, there's another legend here in Baiyu.

That Bottomless Cave is the home of the living dead. The living dead keeps many golden toads inside the cave. These toads crawl out of the cave every day. When they crawl out of the entrance, the golden toads turn into solid gold nuggets. Anyone who could find one of those nuggets and exchange it for money would probably never have to worry about money again for the rest of their life.

The legend sounded rather absurd. After Zhao Kuan finished, I couldn't help but laugh: "People actually believe a legend like that?"

Zhao Kuan also laughed. "Other families might not believe this legend, but our Zhao family does. Because the first person to find that golden toad was one of our Zhao ancestors. It was during the late Qing Dynasty. That golden toad was bought for a huge sum by a local county magistrate, who presented it to Empress Dowager Cixi. Empress Dowager Cixi even promoted him and granted him a noble rank for it. The magistrate was overjoyed. When he returned, he gave our ancestor a large sum of money, making our family the wealthy landowners of this area. After Liberation, when the whole country was denouncing landlords and the wealthy, our family's fortune was completely divided up and confiscated."

Hearing this, I curiously asked Zhao Kuan: "Is that path also passed down from your ancestors?"

Zhao Kuan nodded. "Yes. But over the generations, many from our family have gone into the mountains searching. Plenty have died in there too. But no matter who went, no one ever found another golden toad. So even though this legend is very famous around here, almost no one believes it anymore."

Indeed, the credibility of this story was low. How could a living thing turn into a dead lump of gold?

Even though Zhao Kuan told me it was something his ancestor personally experienced, I still couldn't believe it. Such a thing seemed impossible to me. Either there was a problem with the Zhao family ancestral lore, or their ancestors had been misleading their descendants all along.

Thinking this, I couldn't help but chuckle. Other ancestors bless their descendants; how come this Old Zhao ancestor ended up "misleading" them instead?

Zhao Kuan asked me what I was laughing about. Naturally, I couldn't voice what I was thinking. I just said: "I still find it a bit hard to believe."

Zhao Kuan also smiled wryly. "If my family wasn't so poor, if I wasn't in poor health and couldn't do heavy labor anymore... I probably wouldn't believe this story either. Right now, this is my only hope. I hope to find the 'golden toad,' let my son finish university, and marry a good wife. Even if it costs me my life in this deep forest, I'd die content."

This must be what they call "the universal sentiment of parental devotion"!