There Is Light at the Bottom of the River

By the Yin and Yang River, Xu Qing's job is not to exorcise ghosts. Every evening he hung the lamp on the old ferry pile, waiting for the unfinished business at the bottom of the river to surface - a pair of hands still knitting sweaters, a whetstone that had been sharpened for a lifetime. He does not collect the soul, but only puts a bowl of water. After finishing the drink, the lights came on. But his own lamp, in the deepest part of the river bottom, was always extinguished.