The Tale of the Ghost Eyes Chapter 120 The Red Hair Elastic (4)

I went to the library to find You Xiaoqing. She was studying alone at a large round table. I approached, but was silenced when she raised a single finger in the 'wait' gesture. I tapped my foot impatiently for a moment.

"If you're busy studying I can go alone. It's no big deal." I told her.

"No, no. I'm ready." She said, still looking at her books. I smiled, biting back any unnecessary remark that may find its way to my tongue.

I placed a hand inside my coat pocket, feeling the Peach Blossom Mirror and giving it a reassuring pat. She closed her books, put them in her bag and looked at me with a brilliant smile. "Ready?"

I nodded and led the way outside. "Okay!" I clapped my hands and rubbed them together against the autumn chill that'd appeared over the weekend. "We need yellow paper, cinnabar, and red ink."

"Let's go then." She said, pulling her coat tight against her as well. We moved in stride towards the school gate that lead into town.

Many of the streets in Longan Town were lined with western medicine shops. I was confident we'd only find cinnabar at a traditional Chinese store, and so we asked around. A kindly white haired grandmother pointed us down a series of streets that were decorated with buildings from the Qing Dynasty. It was beautiful. You Xiaoqing and I strolled down the brick roads side by side. After a few minutes she reached out and took my hand. It was like my body was making enough heat to warm the continent.

She gave me a smile that said she knew what I was thinking, squeezed my hand, and then released it. My head spun for minutes. After a few blocks we found a traditional Chinese store. The wooden plank above the entrance read, "Longan Town Clinic" in very old lettering. I pushed open the door and took a deep breath of the heavy medicinal smell inside. You Xiaoqing walked in ahead of me.

An old man sitting behind a glass counter smiled at us over spectacles as thick as loaf of bread. He watched us pick out the yellow papers common for crafting and cleared his throat loudly after we began perusing the medicine.

"Are you looking for medicine, or treatment?" He asked in a voice that sounded older than god.

"Medicine, sir." I said, bowing slightly to him.

He motioned me closer and looked me up and down. "Where are you uncomfortable? Is it the stomach? That's going around this time of year."

"Oh no, not that kind of medicine!" I told him, feeling my face blush as You Xiaoqing released a giggle behind me. "I need to buy some cinnabar, sir."

He glanced down at the paper in my hand and his bushy caterpillar eyebrows came together. He stood up shakily, bracing himself on the glass counter between us. "What do you want with cinnabar?" He asked.

I racked my brain for an answer that didn't highlight me as a Taoist, or a lunatic, but he took the chance away from me. "Which master do you work for? Who's making amulet around these parts?" His wrinkly face folded in a knowing smile.

He raised a finger and waggled it at me. He and his hand shook like a leaf despite how warm it was in the shop. "I've lived in Longan Town my whole life lad, I know all of the masters here. Not one of them uses cinnabar any more. They've all switched to red ink. Has something happened in town again?" He squinted at me in concern.

I looked around to be sure the store was empty, "Again?" I asked.

He smiled even wider, revealing very well kept teeth for his age. "My name is Cui Lainong. My family has owned this medical shop for three generations." He waved three outstretched fingers at me.

"You said 'again'." I told him, "Did something happen in town?"

"What is your name lad?" His smile was gone now.

"Sorry sir!" You Xiaoqing cut in, stepping close and standing beside me. I felt my face flush as her hand interlaced itself into mine. "My name is You Xiaoqing and this is Shi Yong. We attend the Longan Senior High School in town!"

Cui Lainong's forehead wrinkled again. "Students eh? What do students need with cinnabar? Who're you making amulets for?"

"Shi Yong sir, he can make amulets." You Xiaoqing went on. She gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. "He was the first apprentice of a very powerful master when we were kids. He's fought many and captured a lot of spirits."

My head swam in the pleasure of being praised by the beautiful girl next to me, but my mind reeled with worry. I wasn't supposed to tell others! She was giving us away!

The old man glared at us. "I may be old, but I am no fool."

You Xiaoqing opened her mouth to explain, but I cut in, "You don't have to believe us. We were told not to say why we're buying this, or whom it's for." I bowed my head apologetically. "Can you please tell us what happened in Longan before?"

Cui Lainong glared for a moment longer before his wrinkled cheeks relaxed into a smile. "Your masters are always so mysterious these days!" He loosed a series of coughing laughs until his eyes watered. "If you truly are students and you really don't know, then it should be up to your master to tell you…"

My heart dropped. We were never going to figure this mess out.

"But…" He continued, "I suppose you should know. It is your school after all."

"Was it the eighty flower room?" I asked, "We know all about the old lady selling hairbands…"

"That's part of it…" Cui Lainong said with a smile. "There's always more if you're interested in listening for a spell."

"We are!" You Xiaoqing and I said as one.

"Then pull up a stool. This is a doozy." He said. We quickly seated ourselves. I felt my heart skip a beat as You Xiaoqing pulled her hand out of mine.

"Your school was a small building that sat behind the village hospital once upon a time. One of the dormitories used to be part of the hospital in fact, although I don't remember which one." I nodded enthusiastically.

"After a particularly hard year, several dozens of people died there from an illness that even my family couldn't combat. It took my aunt and uncle." He read my mind and continued, "Oh this must've happened in the mid seventies. Anyway, the city grew and both the school and hospital needed more space, so the medical folk founded a spot on the eastern border for a new hospital and the school expanded where it was. The lady you mentioned," He peered over his impossibly thick glasses at us, "Was stricken with the same sickness that killed all those people. Her grandkids used to visit her every day…" His forehead crinkled again. "Are you sure you kids want to hear this?" He asked.

"We have to, sir." I urged him.

"Well, one of her daughter-in-laws was visiting one day with the grandkids, when the two got into a tizzy of sorts. It seems the lass didn't want to take care of her husband's sick mother any more and some words were traded. I suppose some things were thrown as well…" He paused for a moment before leaning closer and lowering his voice, "It was a much smaller town back then, people had a way of talking too quiet and knowing too much if you know what I'm gettin' at." He leaned back and continued, "Anyway, the lass took her kids out of the hospital, vowing that she'd never be back and went home. When word reached her husband that she was being 'less than respectful' to his mother…well…he…"

"Hurt her?" You Xiaoqing asked.

He looked at her quietly for a moment before nodding his head lightly, "It was a tragedy is what it was. An absolute tragedy."

Chapter end