Chapter 6 The Debt of Passion

What my father said sent everyone into surprise and bewilderment, including me. But Mr. Lee was first to break the silence, asking hesitantly, "But Brother Hai? Did I just hear you say 'one-night-stand'? Can one-nighters be owed?" "Of course," said my father, nodding matter-of-factly. He turned to the female ghost and said, "Let me elaborate on your past since you refuse to accept...

"You were a servant girl of a wealthy and prosperous household. One day, the young lady and the madam of the family you served wanted to go to a temple outside the city to offer some prayers and offerings. You helped the young lady with her dressing and make up before the madam took her daughter out, leaving you at home. But when you were clearing up the young lady's dressing table, a golden hairpin caught your sight. You put on the pin and admired your looks with a mirror. But you should know that everything has its owner in this world, so you should not covet what is not yours! It was not written in your destiny and fortune that you could wear the jewelry, yet you put it on. Hence, something would happen. The litter that the madam of the household rode on had just passed by Dongfu when she suddenly remembered that there was something she should have returned to someone in Dongfu. Hence, she despatched an older maid who returned to the residence of the household, ordering that you return the item in her stead. Due to the need for haste, you neglected to remove the hairpin before you went on your way.

"On your way back from Dongfu, you met your lover, Tian Liu, who then took you aside for a tryst before he quietly took the golden hairpin you were still wearing. He wanted it for a token of engagement, although he wanted only to tell you sometime later about it, not knowing that it was, in fact, an item that you took without your young lady's permission. One day, Tian Liu had a bad luck in a gambling house and lost all his money, but he was desperate to win it back, so he took the pin as chips. Unluckily, he lost it in a gambling game to Liu San. Like Tian Liu, Liu San was also a small-time local crook, who had long taken a liking to you. He had always been jealous of your relationship and intimacy with Tian Liu. Overjoyed with his win over Tian Liu, he was walking on the streets when he met you. You were walking on the streets, looking like you had lost something, so he asked you what you were looking for. You told him about the loss of the hairpin. Seeing his chance to make a move on you, Liu San showed you the hairpin and demanded that you accompany him to bed in return for the golden hairpin. With no other choice, you agreed to his demand, thinking of sorting this matter out later. Still, little did you two expect, that turned out to be the last time you met until you'd meet again after your deaths, for you then followed the young lady to Jiangnan following her marriage. "On your way back from Dongfu, you met your lover, Tian Liu, who then took you aside for a tryst before he quietly took the golden hairpin you were still wearing. He wanted it for a token of engagement, although he wanted only to tell you sometime later about it, not knowing that it was, in fact, an item that you took without your young lady's permission. One day, Tian Liu had a bad luck in a gambling house and lost all his money, but he was desperate to win it back, so he took the pin as chips. Unluckily, he lost it in a gambling game to Liu San. Like Tian Liu, Liu San was also a small-time local crook, who had long taken a liking to you. He had always been jealous of your relationship and intimacy with Tian Liu. Overjoyed with his win over Tian Liu, he was walking on the streets when he met you. You were walking on the streets, looking like you had lost something, so he asked you what you were looking for. You told him about the loss of the hairpin. Seeing his chance to make a move on you, Liu San showed you the hairpin and demanded that you accompany him to bed in return for the golden hairpin. With no other choice, you agreed to his demand, thinking of sorting this matter out later. Still, little did you two expect, that turned out to be the last time you met until you'd meet again after your deaths, for you then followed the young lady to Jiangnan following her marriage.

"Following your deaths, Liu San became a guard of the Underworld after some time while you were then reborn into a rich household. According to legend, the dead have to pass over the Naihe Bridge (literally the Bridge of Helplessness). At the head of this bridge is a stone marker, named the Sansheng Stone (literally the Stone of Three Incarnations) which displays the destiny and karma of one's three incarnations. Then again, before reborning, everyone has to first drink the Mengpo Soup (literally the Soup made by Mengpo) which erases everyone's memory. Reborning into a rich family, this time, you were blessed with a life of abundance and luxury. Yet alas, you fell in love with a man of modest beginnings. Naturally, your family objected to the relationship and out of your sorrowful misery, you drowned yourself and became what you are today."

My father then turned to us and revealed, "It is imperative that we understand that those who died by drowning are stripped of their chance to reborn again. To regain the chance for rebirth, one would have to look for a pawn who would shoulder the forfeiture in their stead. But there are hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of ghosts of people who had drowned around the world. The chance for rebirth would never come easily. For instance, there are even ghosts who have been waiting for 20 years here at the Huan Xiang River and still, they have yet to glimpse the glimmer of hope for rebirth. There's a spirit of a boy who had perished in the great flood of the River in the seventies one century ago still waiting there! Out of the wandering spirits and ghosts in this vicinity of Tangshan, there were seven female ghosts who were known as the Seven Sisters of Tangshan. This female ghost is the youngest of them. With her friendship with the six other ghosts, she was able to seek out the Hell Guard Liu San with the help of the older Sisters who had been roaming the lands for centuries. With his familiarity with the local Deity of the Land who was his relative when they were still alive and his acquaintance with this female ghost, he enticed her by promising her another chance for rebirth with the same request. Due to her insistence to leave the afterlife as soon as possible, she relented once more. Liu San then procured a chance for you, through thievery and trickery. But never did he know that the afterlife is different from the realm of the living. His corruption came to light, so the chance for rebirth was lost. The laws and order of Nature do not suffer deceit and deception and work even in the most wondrous and unexpected of ways. Hence, the promise of a woman's love for one night was finally fulfilled, but she hasn't been reborn! This is called karma!"

My father then turned to the female ghost again, saying, "Your present predicament stems from the improprieties and the indecencies of your former life. Your relationship with Tian Liu allowed him the opportunity to steal the golden hairpin and your dishonesty of thieving the hairpin itself did not escape the notice of Heaven. Can you easily complain of unfairness and injustice?"

Hearing this, the female ghost Xiao Qi (literally Little Seven) descended and knelt before my father, smiling bitterly as she muttered, "So this is the tale of my past. It appears that I am the most foolish ghost here in this river." My father roared with laughter and said to her, "No, you are not, fortunately. There are others who are more foolish than you." Knowing my father, I understood that he was consoling the poor ghost Xiao Qi. He was prone to showing kindness to people (or ghosts) who were sad or dejected. My father grinned as he continued saying, "There was an ancient ghost, also a ghost of a drowned person, who was the most foolish of them all at the Huan Xiang River more than a century ago. There were terrible floods every year then at the Huan Xiang River that the main bridge of the town of Yahongqiao (the name of a place; literally the Bridge of Abundant Birds) would be flushed away by the strong current every time. Every year the town would have to rebuild the bridge. But without the bridge ready, some people began offering services of ferrying people across the river. Business began to boom for them. Then one day, a merchant took a ride on one of these ferries and accidentally dropped the counterweight of his weighing scale into the water. But strangely, the counterweight floated on the surface of the water instead of sinking. Some onlookers witnessed this and the merchant then yelled, 'Ah! My counterweight has fallen into the river. I'll get it when I reach the opposite bank!' Oddly enough, the counterweight began to float to the side of the opposite bank. But when he reached the opposite edge of the river, the merchant barked at the floating counterweight, "Fool! I'm not falling for such a lame trick to ensnare me!" He had just finished, and the counterweight sank with a loud "Plop!" into the water." My father laughed loudly at his tale and said to Xiao Qi, "Look how stupid this ghost is? Can counterweights float on water?" And he continued laughing away as everyone, including Xiao Qi herself, too erupted into guffaws of their own.

When the mirthfulness subsided, Fearless Hao spoke timidly to the female ghost Xiao Qi, "Well, sister. I did not try to thwart you on purpose. But that was my relative. I could not just sit back and watch... But now that your plans for rebirth have failed on my account, please let me know if there's anything I can do for you. I am truly sorry for your plight. Just tell me your requests. With the master here as well, I can arrange for some funeral rites for the exoneration of your soul if you like. I'll handle the bill. If you need money for the Underworld, I can burn you some offerings." Being the generous person he is, Mr. Lee quipped, patting his chest, "Since the matter involves me too, I'll handle the bill, brother! Surely I cannot let you bear the burden yourself!" Mr. Lee gave a knowing glance at my father and said, "How much money you'll need, Brother Hai. Just give the word." My father giggled in returned and replied, "No no no. There will be no need for any money. This is a favor I promised Fearless Hao." Mr. Lee grinned as he turned to Fearless Hao, "Still, you are truly fearless indeed! I would have long wetted my pants if I had gone through the same encounter that you had! Were you born with such courage? Surely your parents did not give you the name 'Fearless'?"

Fearless Hao scratched his head, seeming embarrassed as he replied, "No, of course my parents did not give me the name. My true name is Hao Junsheng. It was my colleagues who had given me the name 'Fearless' a few years ago. During that time, we were commissioned to build a factory. We had just finished with setting up the compound of the factory and was constructing the structure of the building then. Our supervisor then came to check on our progress, and I went to him to request for our payment which was delayed for several months. He said to me, 'The payment has yet to be released by the top brass. But you're asking me for money before the eyes of so many colleagues, and it would be bad if I just refuse you outright. All right then, let's have some fun.' He took up an electricity meter box and asked one of the electricians to install the box on the wall before he locked the money inside and removed its key, saying, 'I will hand you the key when we've finished work tonight. The money will be yours if you dare to come to collect it at night. But if you are afraid of coming here at night, I will take back the money tomorrow.' The walls of the factory were still not completed then, and we could see the gravestones clustered around the vicinity outside the compound of the factory. But to drain water out of the construction site, the workers had dug a hole under the walls of the compound and had a metal grill installed. The rainwater from the compound flows through this drain that led into the graveyard. This caused a hole to appear at one of the graves just beside the channel. At that time, the gates of the factory were blocked by heaps of building materials. If someone wanted to enter the factory, he had to pass by the grave hole. Hence I came that night, passing by the hole when I heard a voice coming from the hole in the grave, calling to me, 'Hao Junsheng, come into the hole!' I heard the sound and knew immediately that it was the hollow voice that came from a pipe. Knowing that my colleagues were playing a prank on me, I realized that they had led a pipe into the hole through the drain and were trying to frighten me behind the wall. Hence, I answered, 'You come up!' My colleagues then bellowed, 'No, you come down!' and I shouted back, 'You come up!' Then my colleagues shouted, 'Come on down, and I'll come up!' Feeling hilarious, I retorted, 'You come on up, and I'll come down!' Finally, my colleagues came out and we all burst into laughter. Since then, they have given me the name 'Fearless Hao'."

Just then, the sound of a pair of high-heeled shoes clip-clopping loudly came from outside the door, and Aunt Fen stormed in crying with frustration, "I daresay that it's time we call this a night! I'm almost asleep waiting for you all!" Just then, the female ghost Xiao Qi, who was still on the floor, had her head turned at a horrifying 180-degree and looked at Aunt Fen. Surprised with shock, she gasped, "Big Sister!?"