[Blurb]
The old hag ran out of money, so she used the excuse that the sect's teachings forbade us from leaving unless the land was in chaos. As it happened, the land was in chaos, so she kicked me and my senior brother out of the mountain gate.
My senior brother was dumb as a rock. He firmly believed the old hag was a hidden master, that the illusion tricks we'd learned weren't cheap parlor tricks, and that we were destined to catch ghosts, vanquish demons, and save the nation.
I felt pretty guilty, worried people would see through our scam. But later I found that Buddhist sages and holy monks were swindlers, while upright gentlemen were frauds and impostors. Among the hundreds of schools, my senior brother and I didn't stand out at all.
A high official hired us to catch a ghost, but the prince himself was a lecherous old ghost, with a courtyard full of wives and concubines.
I had an erotic dream for no apparent reason, about the daughter of a high official I'd met only once. The next day, my senior brother was sneaking around washing his underwear, too. Later, I heard that everyone who came to catch ghosts had all sorts of erotic dreams.
But it wasn't fair: I was the only one who stopped having them.
My dreams began to crumble and change, turning into something bizarre and surreal.
I dreamed that the underworld had no six paths of rebirth, the netherworld had no city god, the divine had no compassion, and all things were mere straw dogs.
I saw that there was no Meng Po on the road to the Yellow Springs. I also found myself lying in the waters beneath the Bridge of Helplessness, while a woman wept uncontrollably at my grave.
She murmured, "In this life, I wronged you. If in the next life you are born a man, I will marry you as your wife. We'll have children and grow old together in harmony."
I spat at her.
When I opened my eyes again, the prince's beautiful concubine was sitting in my lap. When she saw me looking at her, the ghost's icy fingers touched my face. Just as the hair all over my body stood on end, she kissed the vermilion mark between my brows.
"I'm not the man you're looking for. I'm a woman." I was afraid to die, but my mouth didn't know when to quit.
"I know." She bit my lip in anger, yet tears suddenly fell from her eyes. "I hate you so much..."
I thought she probably didn't really hate me.
Theme: Life may not seem to mean much, but you still have to do something with it
