The Tale of the Ghost Eyes Chapter 91 The Dark Daytime (3)

"That's fine." She said, pursing her lips. "When did you arrive? You should have told us ahead of time so we could prepare." Her eyes rest on the old man hobbling beside us.

"And who's this?"

Master Liu gestured to Sima Jie and said, "This is the Senior Fellow Apprentice of my circle. You can call him Master Sima."

Mom nodded her head respectfully to the two of them and invited them in. She led the men to the kitchen table and promptly set out tea and lemon biscuits for each of them. Sima Jie waved his hand as if to deny the niceties, but my mother only made a 'humph' sound and continued to set things out. Master Liu, accustomed to my mother's kindness, only smiled and nodded.

Master Liu turned to me, "Is your father working today?"

"Yes he is," My mother answered for me. "One of the other teachers was stricken ill so Xiao Yong's father has volunteered to help out. He's been working very late these past few weeks. I can call him home if you'd like to speak with him." She offered.

"No, no, that won't be necessary." Master Liu shook his head.

My mom chatted with Master Liu about my progress over the past two years. She was surprised to learn that I'd been summoning a spirit into myself to make the amulets and darted a very uncomfortable look at me when Master Liu commended me on it. She asked about the amulets around the house and nodded politely when Master Liu delved into their detailed nature.

After a bit, Master Liu stood and beckoned us into the spare room. My mother watched us go with a distant look.

Master Liu instructed me to bring out my collection of paper amulets. I went into my room and did so, grasping as many as possible in my arms and hauling them in.

Master Liu smiled at the pile of amulets in my arms. Sima Jie, however gave a gasp of surprise. His toothless mouth snapped up and down wordlessly before curving into a smile. "Well done, lad." He said, "You've made quite a lot, haven't you?"

Master Liu dipped his hand into the pile after I set it down and withdrew three amulets. "These are the finest of the yellow bunch." He spoke, "But you should still work hard to try to make a blue one."

I smiled at the praise, feeling a warm happiness spread through me.

"Let me see the jade necklace I left you." Master Liu instructed. I pulled it from my shirt. "Hmm…" He peered down at it for a moment and stroked his chin. "Huh…you haven't broken yet? You haven't even gone bad." He spoke more to the gem than me. "I'll resupply your Yang air when the rainbows make their appearance." I watched him stroke the stone in wonder.

"Gone bad?" I thought in confusion. "Is he talking about me?"

"What do you mean Master Liu?" I asked.

Master Liu's eyes sparkled as he whispered, "If you lose too much Yang air, you get hurt. Didn't you know that?"

"No!" I said back, suddenly frightened. "What do I do if that happens?"

His smile returned. "Don't worry. If you dip too low I'll be here to resupply you. You will be fine as long as I am here."

The next few days passed as if Master Liu hadn/t ever left. He and Master Sima ate breakfast with my parents and then we'd go visit Zuo Qingmu. He was staying in a small shack near the granary and had begun raising bees. I was fascinated with the honeycombs as he pulled them out to relocate the hive.

"Is it scary?" I asked Zuo Qingmu.

"Not at all. It's just an empty granary and waiting for rainbows!" He told me. I looked at him in confusion, our wavelengths clicked together at the same time and he cried out. "Oh! Yes! The bees are terrifying! I keep waiting to be stung!" He smiled behind the net mask.

After visiting Zuo Qingmu, we would scour the village for any sign of the frozen ghost. The head teacher had made arrangements for several ponds to be built behind the school. They were dug and filled very quickly. We'd stop by the pond site and arranged stones for a few hours each day.

This continued for almost two months. Each day we'd visit, search, and arrange the stones. Each day we'd search for the ghost and wait for the rainbows. Each day I'd hope and dare anything to happen.

Final exams ended and the rest of the kids embraced summer holiday with the usual excitement. Shang Haoming and his dad went on a trip to visit family in another village. I got to see him on his way out, but all he did was complain about having to help with the summer wheat harvest.

Zhao Jie and I spent our days pestering Master Liu and Sima Jie. Zhao Yuan, was too busy to hang out with us because of her fancy schmancy senior high school, her holiday was shorter than ours anyway.

I was staring out the window and watching the rain when I asked Master Liu, "Do you think the rainbows will come today?"

"This rain is too light." He said without looking up from the book he was reading. "I don't think today is the day."

"How long will it be?"

"Maybe months." He said sourly.

"What about the ghost?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"You already know the answer, Xiao Yong. We've called it and it didn't answer. It may have left." He said.

The rain kept on for three days and then the sun retook its place. The sky cleared and the days warmed.

We began to spend our days helping with the village's wheat harvest. I worked in the field next to Master Liu. Master Sima came with us, but he usually didn't do too much or stay in the sun for more than a few minutes at a time.

The harvest was done in about two days. We hauled, packed, and moved the wheat to the granary and prepared it for the thresher. There were only two available so the villagers took turns separating and threshing the wheat. It took most of the day.

Standing amidst the straw and wheat in the fading sunlight I saw something dart behind a pile of straw, something dark.

My skin rippled in gooseflesh that seemed to ring alarm bells to Master Liu. He shot me a look from across the way and hissed, "What is it?" I raised a hand and pointed at the pile where the darkness still quivered.

My mom and dad stopped sweeping up the straw when I pointed. "What do you see?" Master Liu whispered.

"A shadow went into that pile." I said, not daring to take my eyes off of it.

Master Liu peered in the direction and said in a low voice, "It may be a black shadow ghost, do you think it's the frozen spirit?"

I shook my head. "I don't know…"

Sima Jie reached down and took out a handful of straws. Moving his fingers with impossible speed he formed the stands into a tiny wheat figurine.

"Whoa!" I said, watching his hands weave like it was nothing. "Can you teach me that?"

"After we're safe." He said simply.

When the figurine was completed, he moved his hands in a tactic that I recognized and murmured an incantation under his breath. He raised the wheat figure in his hand and cocked the opposite index finger, making an O-shape. With a quick flex, he flicked the wheat figure's head. It immediately burst with a bright yellow light.

"What is he doing?" I whispered to Master Liu out of the corner of my mouth.

"He's inviting a spirit into the wheat person. Kind of like what we did with the paper man." He looked at me as if I'd forgotten. "It'll turn the wheat figure into golden soldier, not a very strong one mind you, but something capable enough to deal with a ghost."

Sima Jie nodded absent mindedly and spoke, "Yes, yes, that's right. This one will stand guard here and warn me if any spirits invade."

"Can I learn to do that?" I asked Master Liu.

Sima Jie answered instead, "Only Taoist Masters can manage this feat. If you study hard, I may be able to teach each of you in the future."

I looked at Master Liu and he nodded back in agreement.

We finished threshing the wheat and loaded into the tractor to head home. Settling by Master Sima, I asked, "Did you sense anything from the wheat man?"

Master Sima gave me a disparaging look and huffed breath through his nose. "He really does ask a lot of questions, doesn't he?" He asked Master Liu.

I snapped my mouth shut and scowled at the wrinkly old man. "Fine." I thought, keeping quiet.

Nothing disturbed our granary that night, not ours anyway. At midnight something stepped lithely onto the rural granary center, leaving footprints in the wheat dust as it walked silently towards the center.

Chapter end