Chapter 54 Night at the Brick Factory

The woman never intended to entertain the priest, wishing only to send him off as soon as possible. But the Taoist priest showed him a wooden chest. "I have kept in this chest a talisman that I have enchanted and sealed. You will only have to pray to it day and night, and the cloud of woe circling your house can easily be dispersed!" The Taoist priest explained. "How much for this wooden chest?" "Three hundred thousand yuan!" The woman bowed to the priest and said, "I am but a poor widow with two more mouths to feed. We do not have much money left!" "How much would you be willing to spare for this means of salvation then, ma'am?" "Well, I had given you 1,000 yuan earlier. I can spare another 2,000 yuan for the chest and your troubles; it'll be 3,000 yuan altogether, if that's fine with you, Master Priest." The Taoist priest pondered quietly for a few seconds. "Very well then," he said, "So be it, 3,000 yuan. Consider this a show of my benevolence!" With an additional 3,000 yuan in his pockets, he handed the chest to the woman and took his leave. The woman, hardly taking the encounter serious, left the box and its contents yet unknown in the second floor of an annex building at the back of her residence which was used as a storehouse and had forgotten about it. Flash forward to the present time: it was summer and the heat of the weather had compelled both daughters of the woman—the older sister already in university while her younger sister was now in high school—to move outdoors to study. They laid a table in the garden compound and pored over their homework amid the refreshing breath of the gentle breeze. In a moment of respite, the younger sister raised her head from her book and noticed a little boy on the second floor of the annex building. Shocked and surprised, she shook her sister, urging her to look. Her sister turned, but saw nothing. The sisters began bickering about the younger daughter's baffling glimpse of the mysterious boy at the upper floor of the storehouse and the commotion they made caused their mother to come out. After another recount of what she saw, their mother said to her, "It must have been an illusion. You have been studying too hard!" She plopped to a chair and accompanied her daughters. Moments passed and the younger daughter stole another look up at the annex building. There he was, the mysterious boy! Her hand shot upward, attracting the attention of her mother and sister. This time, all three of them saw with their own eyes the figure of a little boy upstairs of the annex building. With the blink of an eye in the next instant, he disappeared instantly! No one lived in that building; it was merely a storage unit and no one would go there. Feeling strange, the woman went to the building and searched for signs of any intruders and found nothing but dust and soot. There was hardly any signs of entry.