A Prophet - Chapter 1 (Part 6)
Chapter 6 - Playing at Ghosts and Gods with the Zhafei Technique
In my memory, the most miraculous Zhafei setup occurred in the second year after I entered the trade, when the Second Regional Boss executed a setup for a wealthy tycoon in accordance with Grandfather's arrangements.
In the thirty-eighth year of the Republic, on the eve of liberation, trouble struck the household of Fourth Master Zhang in the neighboring town.
Fourth Master Zhang's son had fallen victim to lovesickness, refusing to eat or drink until his entire body was reduced to skin and bones. Fourth Master Zhang was a descendant of the Manchu Banner people; after the Xinhai Revolution, his influence gradually waned, but a lean camel is still bigger than a horse, and he remained a piece of fat meat ripe for the plucking.
The origin of the matter was thus: Fourth Master Zhang's son had gone to South Willow Lane to patronize prostitutes, where he happened to encounter a girl named Chuntao and fell genuinely in love. That hussy was brimming with allure, ruthlessly swindling this foolish roe deer several times before vanishing entirely. As a result, Young Master Zhang yearned for her day and night, refusing to eat or drink. Before many days had passed, his eyes were sunken, leaving behind nothing but a frame of bones.
Grandfather seized the opportunity to dispatch an informant to tell Fourth Master Zhang that this was actually a vixen possessing his body; by performing a ritual to exorcise the demon, the lovesickness would naturally be cured.
Fourth Master Zhang did not believe it at first. Yet after a few days, while strolling in his courtyard after a meal, he suddenly saw a dark shadow dart past before him. Before he could react to what was happening, another dark shadow darted past his eyes. The two shadows, one right after the other, climbed straight onto the wall and ran toward the back courtyard along the top of the wall, rustling the weeds on the wall into a rustling chatter. By then, Fourth Master Zhang saw clearly that they were mountain foxes. Over the following several days running, Fourth Master Zhang and his family members saw mountain foxes haunting the courtyard every single night. His heart grew increasingly jittery, and with the informant egging him on further, he finally sought help from Grandfather. Thus, Grandfather arranged for the Second Regional Boss to perform a Daoist ritual.
That ritual was conducted on a grand scale, featuring a massive incense altar where more than a dozen Abao disguised as Daoist priests chanted incantations while pacing back and forth. The Second Regional Boss had white cloth wrapped around his head and wielded a peachwood sword, gesturing wildly in the air. At the midnight hour of the zi period, paper currency fluttered across the sky amidst swirling smoke. The Second Regional Boss acted like a madman, circling round and round the courtyard while his treasured sword hacked horizontally and vertically. Suddenly, blood began to well up from his forehead; crimson fresh blood stained the white cloth wrapped around his head and dripped down the bridge of his nose. Everyone present was terrified out of their wits.
After the Second Regional Boss concluded the ritual, he appeared thoroughly exhausted. Fourth Master Zhang asked in terror, "Master, why are you bleeding?"
The Second Regional Boss said, "This fox was far too ferocious. Just now when I was battling it, it leapt onto the top of my head and bit me. It is settled now; I have already killed it. You should search for its physical body."
Everyone searched the courtyard for a long time without finding anything. The Second Regional Boss said, "No rush, it cannot have run far." Afterward, everyone dispersed and returned to their quarters.
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, a miserable scream rang out from Young Master Zhang's room. Fourth Master Zhang and his family rushed over in a panic, only to find a bloody, lifeless fox lying right inside Young Master Zhang's bedding. Fourth Master Zhang asked what was going on, and Young Master Zhang stammered, "When I got up in the morning to relieve myself, I felt something in the bedding, and when I lifted it to look—"
Fourth Master Zhang pondered for a moment, nodded, and smiled knowingly. That Young Master Zhang also sobered up considerably from the fright, felt a sensation of hunger, and began eating food. A few days later, his complexion returned to a rosy glow, and he regained his health.
Later on, Fourth Master Zhang specially prepared several dozen square silver ingots along with several bolts of top-grade silk to express his gratitude to Grandfather and the Second Regional Boss, saying, "The masters truly possess profound Daoist arts, delivering the common people from suffering."
In truth, this entire affair was a scam from beginning to end. When Fourth Master Zhang initially refused to believe it, Grandfather had instructed the Second Regional Boss to send men to capture a few mountain foxes in the back mountains, dropping one into Fourth Master Zhang's open drainage ditch every few days. Once the target was completely convinced of the existence of a "vixen," he dispatched the Second Regional Boss to the scene to perform the ritual. The blood on his forehead was actually dog blood, and the cloth wrapped around his head was multi-layered, sewn in the middle with thick blood-bladders. These blood-bladders were made by slaughtering a pig, extracting the pig's urinary bladder (bladder) to air-dry it, then dividing it into several segments, filling them with dog blood, tying them securely with fine thread, and finally sewing these blood-bladders into the interlayer of the white cloth. When the Second Regional Boss performed the ritual, he wrapped the white cloth around his head, and taking advantage of a moment when nobody was paying attention, he struck his own forehead fiercely, bursting the blood-bladders so the blood would flow out. Amidst the chaos, while everyone was caught unawares, a previously arranged little foot sneaked into Young Master Zhang's room, blew some soul-subduing powder, and stuffed the killed fox into his bedding.
This technique is known in the underworld as "Zhafei," which is precisely playing at ghosts and gods.
Grandfather frequently said: Any target can be subjected to Zhafei. A gentleman respects ghosts and gods while keeping them at a distance, whereas a petty person fears ghosts and gods and thus summons them. If they are not harboring fear, they are making requests; the Abao exploit this to fleece them, acting in accordance with the mandate of heaven.
This means that any true gentleman, having a clear conscience and an open, untroubled mind, does not fear ghosts and gods. Those who fear ghosts or pray to them either have a guilty conscience or have requests to make of ghosts and gods, allowing the Abao to seize the opportunity to fleece them. The methods of Zhafei are manifold: drawing ghosts with cinnabar, immortals entrusting offerings, and so forth—all of which fundamentally rely on props to achieve their effect.
The Avatamsaka Sutra states: "All the wicked karma created by me of old, from beginningless greed, anger, and ignorance." The weaknesses of human nature are greed, anger, and ignorance. Observed closely, almost all disasters and calamities originate from these three weaknesses.
Greed is covetousness. Greed for wealth, greed for lust, greed for fame, greed for status—driven mad in the pursuit of greed, there is nothing people will not dare to do.
Anger refers to wrath and fury. Once the precept of anger is violated, blazing fury consumes one's mind, making self-control utterly impossible. Among those death-row inmates who committed murder out of momentary anger, not a single one failed to feel regret.
Ignorance is infatuation. People who sink into the net of romance are like those given a soul-subduing potion, drifting and disconsolate, their entire beings hollowed out by emotion. In the end, some pine away into melancholy and death, while others turn love into hatred, either murdering the object of their affection or dying together in a double suicide.
Once a person exposes these three weaknesses, the Abao are provided with an opportunity to strike.