I reiterate: the 'I' in the text is not my true self. The Three Shocks of Shanxi (Part One) I have a friend, male, about 35 years old. I went to his home once seven years ago. His mother is a shaman, and a very powerful one at that. It was only after that incident that I realized that a shaman is not the same as a person who just performs rituals. Without further ado, let me explain in detail. This event took place somewhere in Shanxi; I won't specify the exact location. One June morning, having nothing to do, I pestered my friend to take me out. My friend said that people would come to his home at noon, so it wasn't very convenient, and thus I had to help buy things to prepare. To summarize briefly, by noon, people had arrived at my friend's home. The dining table was full of various dishes, and naturally there was alcohol. I have a bit of a bad habit: my alcohol tolerance is low, but whenever I see alcohol, I want to drink, and once I start, I drink a lot… After three rounds of drinks and all sorts of flavors of food passed, when everyone had drunk and eaten enough, naturally we started chatting, and this is when my terrifying experience began. One elder said to my friend: ‘Do you know why no one has lived in the courtyard to the west of your house for so many years? Because that house is not clean!' As soon as I heard this, the alcohol in me seemed to drop by half. Before my friend could answer, I asked: ‘Sir, what's wrong with that courtyard? Not clean? No wonder I felt uneasy all over when I looked at it. Can you tell me more? I'm young and inexperienced, and I'm afraid I might offend some kind of deity and bring trouble to myself!' Unexpectedly, just as I spoke, my friend's mother came back from the kitchen and overheard me. She said, ‘Kids shouldn't ask random questions. He's drunk, don't listen to his nonsense. And you' (speaking to the elder) ‘don't say such things in front of a child. There is nothing unclean in this world!' (At this point, I still didn't know that that lady was a shaman.) So we had to drop the matter, tidied up the dishes, and prepared for a midday rest. But in my heart, it felt like there was a knot I couldn't untie, and I wanted to find a time to ask that elder what exactly had happened. Everyone knows it was summer at the time, and after drinking, I lay down on the bed and unconsciously dozed off… It seemed that not long after, I suddenly heard the faint sound of a girl crying outside. My alcohol buzz hadn't fully passed, and the sound wasn't very loud, so I just ignored it, turning over to continue sleeping.After a few minutes, the crying outside gradually grew louder, mixed with the sounds of adults arguing. I was woken up by the noise and couldn't help but curse, who is this? Calling spirits in broad daylight? I woke my friend up, planning to go with him to see what was happening. Outside the yard, it happened to be at the entrance of the abandoned yard I had mentioned before. A large group of people were tugging at a man who was crying and shouting loudly. Since I don't really understand the local dialect, I wasn't sure what they were arguing about. But I saw that they all seemed anxious, looking into the yard. My intuition told me that something had happened inside, and coupled with the elder earlier that day speaking about the yard so mysteriously, curiosity drove me to move closer to see what was happening. As I approached the crowd, looking inside, I saw the vast yard overgrown with weeds, seemingly abandoned for a long time, with the gate gone. On closer inspection, I saw a little girl circling around at the same spot, looking very anxious. I also noticed something odd: whenever the girl turned to face us, she seemed not to see us at all, her eyes just sweeping past. This made me feel that there truly were some unknown things in this yard. While I was lost in thought, a few sharp-eyed people in the crowd spotted my friend, ran over to him, and chattered rapidly. My friend, without saying a word, pulled me and ran. I was puzzled because I didn't understand what they were saying, and my friend seemed very anxious. I realized something serious had happened, so I obediently followed him back to his house. He made a call, seemingly to an aunt. After hanging up, he told me that the little girl was trapped in the yard and that his mother needed to come and help. I was still curious, how could she handle something that a whole group couldn't? It was then that I learned that the 'aunt' was a shaman, and there were five shamans in nearby areas, with his mother being the most powerful one. When the aunt arrived at the site, about 3 to 4 minutes after we had called, she began communicating with those people, and soon after, the other four shamans also arrived.I saw them bring a bundle of ropes, with a red ribbon tied at every one-foot interval along the ropes. I didn't know what they were for. Then the aunt picked up one end of the rope and muttered to herself as she walked into the courtyard. One of the remaining four people picked up the other end of the rope, and the other three were also chanting with serious expressions (at that time, that's what I thought). Watching the aunt slowly walk inside, it seemed quite simple as she brought the little girl out and handed her to the man outside the courtyard who was crying and making a scene. Then she said something to him, turned around, and left with the other four spirit women, and everyone gradually left. I was utterly perplexed. When I got home, I asked my friend what had just happened, and my friend said they didn't know either, and it was better not to ask about it. How could I accept that? So I nagged and insisted that my friend take me to find the elder from that afternoon. Unable to resist, my friend finally took me there.
When we met the elder, we told him about the afternoon's events in detail and also tried to subtly ask about the history of this courtyard. The elder sighed and said, 'Alas, all this is retribution...'
It turned out that several decades ago, this courtyard was home to an old man, a couple, and a girl—four people in total. The house originally belonged to a yin dwelling, which particularly attracted dirty spirits. A forebear of this family had accidentally saved a cat, and after the cat achieved enlightenment, it used its power to protect the descendants of this family to repay the favor. Later, the family even set up a tablet for the Cat King, and their life was relatively peaceful.
However, one day the couple had an argument and accidentally knocked over the Cat King's tablet. Overnight, all four family members died. Later, people said they saw a huge, colorful spider about the size of a pot lid on the wall of the house, as if painted there like an oil painting, or as if a real spider had been embedded into the wall. In any case, it looked extremely scary. Presumably because the tablet had been knocked over, the Cat King, in anger, left, and then the spider spirit moved in and killed the family.After this incident, no one lived in the yard anymore, and it gradually fell into disrepair. Later on, at night, no one dared to pass by this gate, preferring to take a longer route rather than go through it. After hearing the story, I realized three things: 1. It turns out that the shaman woman could do more than just perform exorcisms; 2. It turns out that stories of animals cultivating into spirits really exist in this world; 3. When I previously studied ghost stories, I thought I had heard and seen many, but I was wrong. China really is a land full of hidden talents! Do not salute recklessly.
Zhang Hua, Li Jun, and Lin Biao were childhood friends, growing up together, going to school together, and getting into trouble together. As adults, they also loafed around together, doing petty thefts and shady stuff, eventually becoming local bullies. One night, the three went drinking together. At the table, they competed in bravery; if you didn't admit defeat, I wouldn't either. So they decided to spend a night in the cemetery to see who was braver. Once decided, they set off, crossing from the outer ring road of Tianjin to a place called Hanliushu. There were many plots of land contracted to individuals for planting trees or building greenhouses for vegetables. Although nowadays most people's ashes are kept in crematoriums after death, some families still buried their ancestors' ashes on their own land. There was one such plot in Hanliushu (I've been there a few times before, which I will mention in later chapters). You could see dozens of graves of various sizes, and many neglected ones washed away by rainmaking them barely visible. Altogether, there were probably more than a hundred, forming a small cemetery.
The three agreed to go there to compete in bravery, and set off immediately. From the outer ring road, it took about an hour to reach the cemetery. Since they had been drinking, they walked more slowly. As they walked, they saw a person ahead, standing straight, wearing a black suit and white gloves. Accustomed to being domineering, the three teased him, saying, 'Hey, big brother, standing guard so late? Really dedicated, huh!' After saying this, Zhang Hua imitated the black-clad figure, standing straight and saluting in a not very standard military manner. The other two followed suit, each giving a salute. Then, without waiting for the black-clad person's reaction, they strode toward the cemetery.After walking for a short while, the black-clothed figure appeared again ahead, identical to the previous one—same clothes, same gloves, same stance. Zhang Hua and Li Jun, usually carefree, never thought about why such a strange person would appear in the middle of the night. Lin Biao was different; he had always been more cautious than the other two. He felt something was off, so he paid extra attention, and sure enough, not far ahead, a black-clothed figure appeared again. Lin Biao felt like backing out and said to the two, 'Hey, I drank a bit too much today, my stomach isn't feeling well. Let's head back first, we can compete another day.' After saying this, he turned to go back. Zhang Hua and Li Jun were immediately against it. 'Weren't you always unwilling to admit defeat? Why are you scared now? Next time we go out, don't say you know us—you can't lose face like this!' Lin Biao flew into a rage at these words. Normally the three weren't afraid of anything, but if today's incident got around, how could they still hold sway locally? The alcohol surged to his head, and without thinking, he strode after the two, heading towards the graveyard.
So they walked while saluting all the way, and soon reached their destination. Among the three, Zhang Hua had drunk the most; he randomly leaned on a tomb and said, 'I'm not going back tonight. Let's see who among us is the bravest.' Within three minutes, he began snoring. Li Jun, not to be outdone, found a tomb opposite Zhang Hua and prepared to sleep. By this time, Lin Biao had mostly sobered up and began to regret it, but it was too late—he didn't dare go back alone. (To be continued)