The Tale Never Ends

I woke up at daybreak the following morning to Sister’s incessant shaking of my shoulders. Rubbing my eyes, I slowly clambered up from my bed and put on the old 90’s fur-trimmed trench coat that Sister made herself.

It was already nine in the morning, or so I gathered from the Sun perching cheerily up above. There was hardly any more reason for us to dawdle here, so I hurried Qin Le to get a move on. “Wait,” Sister’s voice came suddenly. I turned to see Sister, standing sheepishly behind me. She looked too embarrassed to speak, but I knew why. She must have been too lonely here and she must really want to come with me to see Father and Mother.

“Do you like to come home with me, Sister?” I invited with a grin. But Big Sister seemed awfully apprehensive despite her earnest wish to say yes. But it was only understandable; Father and Mother had only met Big Sister once and it has been so long. She was worried if Father and Mother might not recognize her.

Then again, our parents were nowhere near dimwitted or stupid; they would never forget her. I went to Sister and took her hand. “All right. No sulking! Let’s go home!”

When I took Sister’s hand, I could feel a slight intransigent resistance from her. But all defiance crumbled to nothing as soon as I finished saying “Let’s go home.”

We walked out of the cave entrance to find the mouth of the cave being flanked by a legion of foxes all standing in ranks and files like a sending-off. I waved to them as we walked and Qin Le scampered around, touching and stroking every one which she found adorable or cute, although the foxes did their best to remain indifferent. I chuckled and dragged Qin Le along as we made our way out of the woods. “This geeky girl is definitely a forgiving one! Has she forgotten how Big Sister had given her a kick last night!?”

With Big Sister in the lead, we tore straight through the woods until we finally caught our first glimpse of human activity somewhere around two in the afternoon. Seeing the silhouettes of people moving in the distance, Qin Le began barking with excitement, “Hey! Hey!”

I quickly gave Sister a tug on her sleeves. “It’s best you turn back to a fox for now, Sister. It won’t do us any good to have you popping up on the evening news with your peculiar looks.” She did not understand anything about “evening news”, but she nodded and did as suggested. With a swivel, she morphed back to her fox creature form. At least she would not look too conspicuous, unlike her half-human, half-fox appearance.

As I crouched to carry Big Sister in my arms, Qin Le seemed to have managed to get capture the attention of the people ahead. She was screaming at the top of her voice, “Here I am! Hey!” They heard her and raced towards us, gradually slowing down when they finally drew near. It was either my strange outfit or these people were genuinely relieved to find Qin Le that they slowed to a brisk canter when they came nearer. Anyway, the entire group arrived before us in no time.

The leader of the search group, another girl, squeaked loudly, “Where have you been, Qin Le! We were so worried!” She darted to Qin Le and I tore myself away from the buzzing girl-talk between them both, heading towards the rest of the search group for the first thing I had been missing since I was lost—a cigarette. “A smoke please, anyone?” I asked immediately.

But my question was met only with queer and unfriendly stares as the people shifted uneasily, some sharing dark looks.

Just then, from the midst of the crowd, a young man with a scarlet-red baseball cap scrambled to me. He looked at me with an incredibly unbelieving look and stammered, “Master Shiyan?! Is that you?!” I was dumbstruck by the sudden call of my name and even Big Sister who was curled up in my arms looked up at me strangely.

The gaunt, pale man resembled only the likeness of a man high on drugs, although he looked oddly familiar. Still, I failed to make out who he was, responding only with the merest nod as I could manage. “It is,” I uttered. “Oh, God in Heaven!” The young man remarked, thick with accent attributed to Northern natives, “It really is you, Shiyan! Why have you come to these parts? Oh, Heavens, it’s been almost two years and I almost can’t recognize you!”

“Two years?!” I almost said aloud. “Who the hell is this man?!” Qin Le came to us now with her friend and they asked the young man, “Wait a minute. You know this man, Mr. Guide?” The ashen young man in his red cap, who was clearly the tour guide of this troupe of travelers, nodded. He shook my hand warmly and said to Qin Le, “I do! In fact, it was Master Shiyan who had once saved me and my wife’s life! Heaven forfend I would never be here now if he failed to save me then!” “Well, you’re just being too kind. I’m sure it’s just a simple matter,” I remarked humbly. But even now, I still could not recognize him.

“All right now, we’ve found them! Let’s head back!” The tour guide turned to the crowd of people and shouted to them. With Qin Le found safe and sound, the group of tourists began heading back, buzzing with hushed whispers among themselves.

It was already in the evening when we finally made it out of the woods. There was this bus waiting just by the skirts of the forest, the kind normally used to ferry travelers. The tour guide invited me to join them and I shared a seat with Qin Le. As soon as the bus began moving, Qin Le began peppering the tour guide with questions, “Come on, Mr. Guide. Tell us how you met Shiyan?”

The tour guide twisted the cap of his flask and took a long swig of tea and began to speak with steam puffing from his mouth like a dragon, “Did I not tell you what I was before I became a tour guide?” He looked at me and looked diffident suddenly. “Before this, I used to be a medium myself. Quite a good one, I might add! Now don’t give me that doubtful stare! I knew it!”

It was for the first time, I began to realize who he was! I might have had a great many peculiar experiences in the course of the past two years, but I had only encountered a fellow medium once! The tour guide had only needed to reveal that he was formerly a medium and I instantly remembered how we met! He was the one who almost lost his life over a 1.2 million yuan errand!

With a beaming grin, I added, “He used to be a good medium indeed; one who could subdue malignant spirits and ghosts with ease.” I chuckled myself and the tour guide scratched his head, abashed. “Come on, Master Shiyan! You jest! It was my own mistake that I ultimately decided on a change of careers.” “And you are certain you have not dabbled in anything you shouldn’t, I hope?” “Of course! I’m more than happy about my current livelihood now and that is all that matters. My wife still owes you her thanks for your help last time! What an awful business she’d got herself in then and it’s all thanks to you she’s OK. Anyway, she’s now helping out with this business of mine. So we’re doing fine, I’d say.”

“And I hope this venture of yours is something honest. Surely there’s nothing as pernicious as scams or rip-offs?” I teased. “No no no! Of course not! Come on, Master Shiyan! Woe would betide me if anyone were to take you seriously!” He hushed hastily.

The banter continued merrily for us, although it must have been boring for Big Sister who could only pretend as a dumb little beast on my lap.

According to the tour guide, the tour was supposed to have ended yesterday for the group. But they stayed on for another day because of Qin Le and they came back for her. The bus arrived at Baishan City at nightfall and we adjourned to a reserved hotel.

I would have gotten myself a room, but the tour guide offered to pay for mine at his own expense. It was an offer I welcomed readily, for there was hardly any need for any scruples in enjoying the hospitality of a person with questionable ethics.

I went out on a quick purchasing run for some fresh cigarettes and a new phone charger before I returned to my room. Just as soon as the door clicked shut, Big Sister turned into her human form. “What’s the deal with that little red-capped boy? He seems particularly apprehensive and anxious in front of you.” I was sending a Wechat text to Edelweiss, hoping that it would help calm her down after my unannounced absence for the past few days, when I replied without so much as a look, “He?” I let loose a heavy sigh before I went on, “The greedy fool nearly lost his own life when he was tinkering with magic beyond his understanding. Fortunately for him, I was there to save his hide…” I told Big Sister the whole story and there she was at the end of my tale, gawking with her mouth wide open. Just then, as if Fate could have not been more demented and crueler, a loud rapping came from the door and the tour guide’s voice came from the other side, “Are you still up, Master Shiyan?”

Without any shred of hesitation, Sister trotted to the door and yanked it open by the handle. The fool’s imagination must have been spinning wildly when he first saw her and he trembled before a sly grin appeared on his face! The bloody fool must be thinking that I was engaging myself with a call-girl! “Oh, my! I see you’re busy, Master Shiyan! I thought you might want a drink. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.” Before he could run off, I raced to him and yanked him back by the scruff of his neck, dragging him into the room and slamming the door shut behind him. “You’re mistaken,” I pointed out, “This is my…” Before I could finish, Sister impatiently spun on her heels and turned back into a fox before reassuming her human form, muttering flatly, “I am Shiyan’s sister.”