—Mercy! You still don’t get it! Last time he just said you “weren’t clean,” and you saw the kind of storm that brought down! Kingfish figured you’d probably gotten into some trouble with the law and sent up here for punishment. You know how fearful Kingfish is about ghosts and powers—you can imagine the scene when Kambugger told him about that bale-crossed stuff! This is real trouble!
The seriousness of the situation began to dawn on Lu Beiping. He thanked his lucky stars that he’d had the tact not to tell Jade about Han’s blouse.
—And today . . . Jade laid a hand on her chest, steadying herself. Stump went up the mountain and . . . You need to come up. You . . . you need to come up with me this evening, Jade stammered.
—Why this evening? Lu Beiping asked suspiciously.
—Four Eyes! Jade exclaimed, her voice sounding hollow and choked: How can you not understand?
Lu Beiping stared at her quizzically, with no notion of the terrifying revelation that was soon to follow.
—Four Eyes, I . . . Jade began, blinking back tears. She buried her face in her hands, then said: For almost three months now, I’ve been . . .
Understanding struck Lu Beiping like a lightning bolt. He took a step back from her, gazing at the slight swell of her belly, then grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her.
—Jade, what? Tell me!
—Last . . . when I was pretending like I was sick, I knew already. But I didn’t want to tell you . . . She gave a teary snort of laughter: I told you I was going to bear you a pup, didn’t I? I told you . . .
—No! Lu Beiping cried, cutting her off; then he turned and began pacing furiously around the room like a donkey that had just thrown off the reins.
Jade stopped crying, collected herself, and gazed coldly at Lu Beiping’s antic silhouette.
—Always the same, she muttered to herself. And I’m the one that has to bear the kid.
Then she rushed over to Lu Beiping and threw her arms around him, whimpering:
—Four Eyes, you’ve got to come up with me tonight. Kingfisher, he, he . . . he wants to kill our child!
Jade laid her head on his shoulder and began to bawl.
Lu Beiping shook free of her, then stalked over and slumped down on the bed. Gazing up into the darkness above the rafters, he burst out:
—Goddam, motherfucking, son of a—!
Time was a net closing slowly around him, cold, mindless, unstoppable.
Smudge and Autumn met them at the top of the creek.
—Don’t go in the cabin, Autumn said quietly, his face a mask of melancholy. Come with me.
It was dark now. A bright crescent moon illuminated an eerily familiar scene: The crude trestle table sat in the yard beneath the lychee tree, just like on the night of the cockfight, and the combined brood of chicks pecked feed beneath the table alongside the hen and the two roosters, who were minding their own business, having coexisted harmoniously for some time. But the mood was not at all like the other night. The whole family sat around the table sipping gruel in silence. Stump and Kingfisher, who had finished their shares of the big bowl of vegetable porridge that Jade prepared before going down to find Lu Beiping, gestured with their chopsticks at an empty log, inviting Lu Beiping to sit. Autumn and Smudge returned to their places and their unfinished suppers, which they slurped without looking up. Jade strode over to the cabin, returned with a kerosene lantern, and said with forced cheer, as if this were any other night:
—Four Eyes, care for a bowl of porridge?
—Have some food first, Kingfisher mumbled.
Jade hung the lantern from a branch. The wooden frame nailed to the base of the tree threw a long, angular, black shadow, like the shadow of a gallows, heightening the sense that they had all gathered to witness the passing of some kind of judgment. Lu Beiping, who hadn’t eaten yet, felt suddenly ravenous, and without thinking twice he drank down his bowl of porridge, finishing it in a few gulps.
Smudge began to fill him another bowl, but Kingfisher stopped him short with a stern gaze.
Stump and Autumn lit their pipes from the lantern’s flame and sat back down, gurgling smoke.
Now that he had a little food in his stomach, Lu Beiping felt like he ought to say something, not just sit here like an animal waiting to be slaughtered. Armed with a better knowledge of Kingfisher’s temperament, he said calmly:
—Kingfisher, I heard there’s something you wanted to talk to me about. Tell me what’s on your mind.
Kingfisher closed his eyes, his face stiff, as if suppressing some powerful feeling welling up inside him. Then he opened them and said in a soft voice:
—Stump, bring over that barrel. Show Four Eyes what’s inside.
Stump picked up a slack-hooped wooden barrel that sat at the foot of the tree and carried it over to the table, muttering:
—Look in, Four Eyes.
In the moonlight, the mouth of the barrel yawned like a cave. Perplexed and beginning to grow anxious, Lu Beiping peeked in, straining to see whatever this terrible thing was that they wanted to show him.
Then Kingfisher stalked over and kicked the barrel on its side, causing the thing it held to spill out in several pieces on the ground. At first Lu Beiping couldn’t tell what it was; then he stepped back in shock, goose pimples rising all over his skin. It was a snake—no, it wasn’t a snake; it was a huge, sagging, greyish-black snakeskin, the great tube of it bundled and kinked, bigger around than the barrel itself.
The kids started to wail.
—Stump’s been crossed, Jade broke in from one side. He saw her two days in a row, up in the high valley. This is what real trouble looks like, Four Eyes. There’s evil brewing around here—
—You need to shut your mouth and let other folks do the talking for once! Kingfisher barked, cutting her off. A whole lot you know about the difference between good and evil!
Then he addressed Lu Beiping, punctuating the air with his water pipe:
—Stump ran afoul of the spirits. Thank the powers she’s moved on, or else . . .
—I didn’t see her, just heard her, Stump burbled quietly. Whole mountain quaked up a mighty thunder, and I got so cold I certained I was feverish. Gave me a real fright. Then just this morn I saw that thing hanging all over the trees and the ground. Soon as I saw it, I got down and prayed . . .
Coiled on the ground, the massive, scaly skin glimmered faintly in the moonlight.
—It’s not just Stump who’s been crossed, all of us’ve been crossed! Kingfisher burst out, whirling around to face Lu Beiping: In the old days they said, when the holy leocore appears, bounty’ll shower upon the year . . . but when we first showed up on Mudkettle Mountain, folks told us never, never to rile the Snakeweird, said if she ever showed herself, ruin would rain down on man and beast! When Smudge’s pa went into the high valley on Midsummer, he saw her skin and didn’t pray, and the next day a falling tree crushed the life out of him. Horn shouldered the ruin on all of our parts. Horn, he . . .
Kingfisher clasped his hands automatically, turned and bowed three times toward the dark valley, then whipped around again and said:
—Four Eyes, tonight, I want you to stand up! Stand up and face the spirits! Stand up and face Horn!
Lu Beiping glanced at Jade, then, obediently, stood up.
—Good, said Kingfisher gruffly. I like that you’re the honest kind who’ll answer for what he’s done. Stump, ready?
Stump sprang up and before Lu Beiping could react, the big man had grabbed both of his arms, yanked them behind his back, twisted them, hooked one arm around his neck and wrenched his head down.
—Wha . . . what are you doing? Lu Beiping gasped, struggling with all his might. But he couldn’t move; his hands, arms, neck, and head were all clamped in a steel vise.
It was pointless to resist the mighty bronze golem that was Stump. What shock
ed Lu Beiping most of all, though, was that nobody seemed surprised or panicked by these developments. Even Jade, Autumn, and Smudge gazed on solemn and expressionless, as if all this had been arranged in advance.
Kingfisher strode over to Lu Beiping, clasped his hands together respectfully, and said with a forbidding frown:
—Four Eyes, we’re putting you to some trouble because you did the same to us. Tonight I need to ask you to endure a little pain of the flesh. First Stump’ll tie you to the tree, then I want to make a couple things clear to you.
—You . . . Lu Beiping threw an imploring glance at Jade. Kingfisher leveled his gaze on her, and she hung her head. Unable to resist, Lu Beiping let Stump steer him limply toward the tree, where Stump bound his hands behind his back to the wooden frame. Fighting down the terror that was welling up inside him, he stood motionless and waited to hear what Kingfisher had to say.
The tabletop gleamed ghastly white in the moonlight, like a polished cleaver. The moon-dappled shadows cast by the lychee tree seemed to darken, enfolding both him and Kingfisher. Kingfisher gazed at him in silence, then nodded.
—You’re a good man, Four Eyes, you’ve got some grit after all.
Then abruptly his voice leapt the octave:
—But I was right the first time, wanting to drive you out of here! Witchy stuff’s been going on right and left since you first set foot on this mountain. If Kambugger hadn’t told us the whole story this morning, I fear you’d’ve dragged the whole lot of us to an early death! Peh!—Kingfisher spat over his shoulder, remembering his own taboo, then rubbed his lips—Four Eyes, why’d you try to hoodwink us? Tell me! Why?
Lu Beiping chewed on his lower lip. He knew there was nothing he could say.
—Stinky feet—hmph! That’s a pretty story! Said you got sent up here on account of your stinky feet . . . Then Kingfisher, realizing that this unlofty topic had spoiled the gravity of his speech, threw a quick, barbed glance over at Jade and barked: Don’t you dare laugh!
Jade lowered her head, her lips twisted into a smile. Lu Beiping, though, couldn’t restrain himself, and let slip a snicker.
—Why, I’ll—!
Now Kingfisher was thoroughly incensed. Cursing, he leaned down and whisked out from underneath the table a crude bullwhip braided from flattened lengths of shad cane, which he’d fashioned just that afternoon. With an earsplitting crack he brought it down on the tabletop, causing the two toddlers to erupt in wails of terror. Then, heedless of the scene he’d just caused, he advanced on Lu Beiping, shaking the whip.
—You laugh, Four Eyes? You won’t have an ounce of laughter left in you by the end of tonight! Now it makes sense, all that shadowy business. That boy running up here burning spirit money, that burnt up wooden grave marker, it was all on account of you. A ghost husband, tricking your way into our family—you have any idea how much poison air you’ve brought in amongst us? You could’ve been the bane of us all, driven us and everything our brother built down into the dark place!
Kingfisher heaved a sigh, then went on:
—Us driftfolk, our lives are cheap, we can’t afford to rile powers of any sort. We ran away from our homes and families because we fear the government, and you come up here with a doler magistrate sniffing your heels. A foreman’s kin! And ghost kin, at that! Hah!—Kingfisher chuckled grimly—We’re haunt-fearing folk, and here you are, wedded to shadow, with a real demon hounding your steps. Mercy, now the bad vapor’s so thick here that the gods themselves are stirring and taking notice! That means light and shadow are tipping out of balance, and just one end can come of that—bloody ruin!
The wind had picked up. Moonlight flickered ambiguously on the slopes above them, like the faint shadows of remorse that were now passing over Kingfisher’s face. Softening his tone, he went on:
—Tonight, Four Eyes, we need you to shed a little blood. Only blood can push back the dark now. This is for your good too. Once your blood’s been seen, you’ll be free of the bale that’s clung to you. Blood’s the only thing that’ll wash the sin off you now. So, I beg you, friend . . . forgive this indignity.
Lu Beiping stared at the silver band of Kingfisher’s whip coiled in the moonlight. There was no begging for mercy. He’d muddled his way into this den of outlaws, and now he must be judged according to their own peculiar logic. He closed his eyes and waited for the whip to fall, anticipating the thorny bite of splintered bamboo.
—Kingfisher! Jade cried, standing up abruptly. Autumn grabbed her and pulled her back down. Then Kingfisher exchanged a glance with Stump, and the big man, chuckling, bounded over and seized Jade as well.
—Pardon, sis, Stump said as he pinioned her limbs.
—Holy hell, Stump! What are you trying to do?
Jade kicked and cursed, but she too was helpless against Stump’s steel-caliper biceps. As she wriggled futilely, Stump bound her hands behind her back and tied her to the other end of the woodcutting frame.
—Pa! Smudge cried. He stood frozen to the spot, hugging the two sobbing toddlers in his arms, eyes locked on Kingfisher’s crimson, sweat-streaked face, afraid to make even the slightest move. Flexing the whip, Kingfisher walked over to Jade, who was still cursing up a storm, and bowing to her with his hands clasped in front of him, he slipped into the dramatic cadences of a Cantonese singshow player:
—I beg your forgiveness, my lady! Tonight I’ve got to spill a drop of your blood too. You knew Four Eyes’s story . . . yet you pledged to make good with him . . . and brought him in amongst us! His poison has seeped into your bones too. You’ve got to give up some of your blood as well, to save us all from ruin—
—You shit-eating pig, Kingfisher! Jade wailed, struggling against her bonds. I’ve known all along the kind of foul juices you and Stump’ve got sloshing in your bellies!
—Kingfisher, Lu Beiping cut in from the other side of the wooden frame, Just whip me, okay? I’m the one responsible for all this bale and poison. Shouldn’t my blood be enough?
—Fine!
Before the sentence was out of Lu Beiping’s mouth the whip came arcing out—crack!—and a bright red welt shot across Lu Beiping’s upper arm and chest, blood beading at the places where the thorns had caught. The kids started to scream. Kingfisher roared:
—Quiet! Tonight I’ve got to be the ugly one!
Crack!
—And don’t any of you dare stop me!
Crack!
At first Lu Beiping gritted his teeth, trying his best to bear the pain. Then, when at last it exceeded his endurance, he gave a long moan, and suddenly began cursing at the top of his lungs in Mandarin:
—Fuck you, Kingfisher! Fuck both of you! You filthy, fucking vagrants! Miserable illiterate redneck trash! Fuck you all to hell!
Crack!
—You and Stump are just paying me back because you’re jealous! This isn’t about the spirits, this is about you!
—That’s right, curse me, boy, curse me! Of course I’m paying you back!—as his rage got the better of him, Kingfisher began lashing Lu Beiping double-time, passing the whip back and forth from hand to hand—Listen to him, Stump! Cussing us out in high speech like a damn northerner! Come on, your turn!
Stump took the whip and without a word started raining a storm of lashes down on Lu Beiping’s neck and shoulders.
It was now all too clear that these two brutish men had seized this moment to unleash upon the pale city boy three months’ worth of pent-up anger, which even their sparring match on the night of the cockfight hadn’t fully vented—and to reclaim their fiery village pride in a blood-spattered frenzy. In every lash, Lu Beiping felt the hard bones of their resentment. He swore and sobbed till his throat grew hoarse, and before long his voice couldn’t be heard over the crack of the whip.
Jade, however, was wailing ever more stridently:
—Shame on you! Conniving to beat up an innocent student! Be
at me, Kingfisher, beat me to death! You want to beat somebody, beat me!
Red-eyed with fury, Kingfisher grabbed the whip from Stump and wheeled around to face her.
—Alright, here goes, you filthy whore!
Crack!
—You dare call me a whore! Jade shrieked, her hair streaming as she struggled, kicking over the table and spattering Kingfisher with a spray of porridge from cascading bowls. Kingfisher stood frozen for a moment, caught off guard, and Jade, pressing the offensive, spat on him and yelled: I knew you were a pair of black-hearted bastards! You were just looking for an excuse to murder my child! You . . .
But now there was no stopping Kingfisher. Her rebuke had only inflamed his lust for vengeance, and he continued lashing her with mounting viciousness.
Crack!
—Damn right! I’m going to snuff out that shadowborn whelp growing in your belly!
Crack!
—Keep you from squeezing out another devil spawn like Smudge, to drag us all to hell!
Panting raggedly, Kingfisher held the whip aloft, about to lay a vindictive stroke directly across the bulge of Jade’s abdomen. But Autumn, who’d been standing off to one side sheltering the children, rushed over with one hand outstretched and blocked the whip as it fell. The thorny rope landed squarely on Autumn’s shoulder, but he managed to grab its end and then, gripping it, gave Kingfisher a shove that sent him tottering backward and left Autumn holding the whip.
—Enough, Kingfisher! Enough!
—What? Autumn? Kingfisher stammered, aghast. You dare get in my way!
—Kingfisher, Autumn said slowly, brandishing the weapon: Listen to me. All these years I’ve believed you with your talk of light and darkness. You said loving and bearing life is wholesome, full of light, said only killing and harming living beings was evil. I believe all that. Tonight it’s clear you and Stump set a trap to kill Jade’s babe—tell me, is that good, or ill? Boon, or bale?
Kingfisher stood frozen, the power of speech stolen from him. Autumn waved the whip in the air and said to both Stump and Kingfisher:
—So. Have I got my point across, or do I need to spill some of your blood too?
The Invisible Valley Page 30