Tianjin, starting with unorthodox methods to achieve immortality

Linhe County, East Street.

When Chen Dachuan got up in the morning, he didn't hear any sound from Yuanyuan, so he assumed that she had run out to play with those stray cats and dogs again.

The child was kind-hearted; she would take home stray cats with limp legs and sparrows with broken wings from the alleyway.

Aunt Liu, who was cooking porridge in the kitchen, said without looking up, "Yuanyuan ran out again?"

"Okay," Chen Dachuan responded, stirring the porridge in the pot with a spoon. "He should be back soon."

When the sun was high in the sky, there was still more than half a pot of porridge left, and Yuanyuan had not returned.

Aunt Liu stood at the door for a while, glancing at both ends of the alley. "I'll go ask the Zhang family. Yuanyuan usually likes to play with the Zhang family's girl."

She was gone for half an hour, and when she came back, she didn't look well. "The Zhang family said that Yuanyuan didn't go there this morning."

"I'll go ask Aunt Li again."

Aunt Li's daughter is the same age as Yuanyuan, and the two often jump rope together.

They left quickly and came back even faster. Aunt Li said that Yuanyuan hadn't come to play at home for five or six days.

Aunt Liu stood at the door, clutching the hem of her apron.

"Da Chuan," she called out, her voice a little strained, "think again, where else can Yuan Yuan go?"

Chen Dachuan stubbed out his cigarette and took a walk around the yard. The round room was neat and tidy, the quilt was folded, and her cloth tiger was placed next to the pillow.

He then left the funeral street and asked around along the way.

A perfectly healthy person walked out of this street, and not a single person saw them.

As the sun began to set, Chen Dachuan returned home.

Aunt Liu sat on the doorstep, her eyes red, looking like she had been crying.

"No?" she asked.

Chen Dachuan shook his head, went into the room, and pulled out a cloth bag from the bottom of the cabinet.

Inside was a stack of yellow paper, a pair of scissors, a small bottle of cinnabar, and several finely shaved bamboo skewers.

He cut the yellow paper into the shape of a little person, used cinnabar to dot two eyes on the front, and wrote the birth date and time in a round shape on the back.

Then, pierce the paper figure's chest with a bamboo skewer and place it upright on the table.

"Three souls return to their places, seven spirits guide the way. Paper figures and paper horses, heed my command! Search for the person a thousand miles away, go swiftly and return swiftly! So be it!"

After reciting the words, he pinched his middle finger with his fingernail, squeezed out a drop of blood, and placed it on the top of the paper figure's head.

The paper figure trembled slightly on the table, but stopped after spinning half a circle.

Chen Dachuan frowned, cut out another paper figure, and redid the blood on it.

This time, the paper figure didn't even move.

"That's strange."

He pushed open the door. Aunt Liu was still sitting on the threshold. She turned around when she heard the noise, and her lips trembled when she saw his face.

"Okawa?"

"Go find someone." Chen Dachuan's voice was calm. "You go report to the authorities, and I'll go to Jinshi to find Chen Mo and see if he can do anything."

"Yuanyuan, she..."

"Stop asking," Chen Dachuan interrupted her, his voice suddenly hoarse. "Go find someone."

Aunt Liu wiped away her tears and stumbled out the door.

Chen Dachuan stood in the courtyard and looked up at the sky.

The last vestiges of red on the horizon are fading; darkness is imminent.

He took a deep breath, rewrapped the cloth bag, put it in his pocket, and strode towards the dock.

……

North of the city, a dilapidated earth god temple.

The temple had long since ceased its incense offerings, half of the roof had collapsed, and the clay statue of the Earth God sat crookedly on the offering table.

The paint on his face had mostly worn off, revealing cracks in the clay, but the corners of his mouth were still upturned, as if he were smiling.

Several tattered quilts were stuffed under the offering table, a pile of rotten vegetable leaves and broken bones was piled in the corner, and straw was spread on the ground.

There were five or six children in the temple, the oldest looking about fifteen or sixteen, and the youngest only a little over ten.

His clothes were tattered, his face was so dirty that his original features were unrecognizable, and his hair was tangled in clumps.

A tall, thin boy squatted on the doorstep, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, and glanced outside. "Hey, look, isn't that Yuanyuan's dad?"

Several heads peered through the crack in the door.

On the street, Chen Dachuan was coming out of the alley, his steps quick and hurried, almost running towards the dock.

"That's him." A round-faced boy pulled his head back and scoffed. "We've been looking for him all day and still haven't found him."

"What are you looking for? You can't find it."

The girl squatting at the very back spoke up.

She looked about fourteen or fifteen years old, thin with prominent cheekbones. She was clutching a dry steamed bun in her hand, breaking it into small pieces and stuffing them into her mouth, her cheeks bulging as she chewed.

"Are you sure no one saw it?" the tall, thin man asked her.

"Sure."

The girl swallowed her steamed bun, licked her lips, and said, "I only walked through alleys; there wasn't a soul on that street. I told her I was looking for a stray cat's den, and she followed me."

"She's so naive. She believed everything I said after just a few days of hanging out with her."

She said this in a very calm tone, and the corners of her mouth even curled up slightly, as if she were smiling.

"How many did you sell?" the round-faced boy asked.

"Two silver dollars."

The girl took out two silver coins from her pocket, weighed them in her hand, and they made a crisp "clink" sound. "The shepherd said that this kind of stuff isn't worth much, he'll give me two coins at most."

"Next time this happens," the girl mumbled, stuffing a steamed bun into her mouth, "I'll negotiate the price myself, without going through the middleman. The middleman takes too much; he takes 20% of every dollar."

"There will be a next time?" The youngest boy huddled under the covers, his voice timid.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" The girl glanced at him. "There are plenty of silly girls in this city. Every one you fool is one less you can take away. Don't you want to eat?"

The little boy stopped talking, buried his face in the blanket, leaving only his eyes showing.

There was fear and unease in his eyes, but even more so, there was submission.

He has learned not to ask.

"All of our fellow villagers have gone back."

The round-faced boy leaned against the wall, hands behind his head, legs crossed. "We're the only few left. Do you think we count as people from Linhe County now?"

"That's bullshit."

The tall, thin man spat, "We're not from anywhere. We can't go back to our hometown, and this place doesn't recognize us."

He tucked the silver dollar into his pocket and patted it. "I have to support myself. Relying on anyone else is not as good as relying on this."

The group's gazes followed the two silver coins for a moment before returning to the girl.

"You've got some nerve," the tall, thin man said, looking at the girl. "What if someone finds out?"

"So what if we found out?"

The girl swallowed the last bite of steamed bun, patted the crumbs off her hands, and stood up.

"At worst, we can run to Jinshi."

After she finished speaking, she kicked a broken bowl on the ground.

The bowl overturned, and several copper coins rolled out, swirling around on the stone slab a few times before stopping with a clattering sound.

"I'm going to the south of the city tomorrow. I heard there are a few girls there who aren't strictly controlled, so it'll be easy to make a move."

She bent down and picked up the coins one by one, putting them into her pocket. "You guys, don't just sit there. Those who need to scout the location, do your scouting; those who need to keep watch, do your scouting."

"Let's get a few more votes and find a better place to stay. This dilapidated temple leaks terribly when it rains."

The round-faced boy clicked his tongue. "You're really ruthless."

The girl ignored him, walked to the altar, pulled out a tattered blanket from underneath, wrapped it around herself, and sat down against the wall.

"Go to sleep early," she said, closing her eyes. "You have things to do tomorrow."

The temple fell silent.

The twilight outside had completely fallen, and a sliver of moonlight shone through the crack in the door, illuminating the face of the clay statue of the Earth God.

The peeling paint on his face looked particularly eerie in the moonlight. His lips were upturned, but his eyes were slanted, looking at the children huddled against the wall in the temple, as if he were looking at something interesting.

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