Chapter 4: The Inspector's Courtesy

By midmorning the whole ferry had gathered on the dock to watch the Bureau of Hallowed Places be polite.

Inspector Shao stood on an upturned crate, because he understood about being seen.

Behind him, a dozen white-and-gold priests in matching robes held nets of yellow paper and said nothing.

"People of Qinghuai Ferry," said Shao. "I know what this place has lost."

His voice was soft and carried well.

"A hundred and thirty-one years ago, the Red Moon took three hundred of your ancestors in a single night."

"The Bureau has kept his name in the registry ever since. We have never forgotten you."

Auntie Xu, at the front of the crowd, folded her arms.

"You forgot us four times this month," she said.

"And I am here to make it right."

He turned, with the same warm smile, to Pingan.

Pingan was sitting on a bollard with a bowl of congee and no idea how to look intimidating.

"Priest Gu is a gifted young man. I have read the reports."

"He has kept a calamity-class ghost quiet for four years without a license, a team or a sect."

"That's very kind," said Pingan.

"I would like to give him one."

He held out a scroll tied with gold cord.

"A Bureau license, a post at the Eastern Registry, and three hundred taels of silver for the gourd."

"The Ferry Ghost will be cleansed by the proper rites, and the village will be safe. All Priest Gu has to do is hand it over."

The dock went very quiet.

Three hundred taels was more silver than most people on the river would see in their lives.

Pingan looked at the scroll.

Then he looked at the gourd at his belt, which was sitting very still.

"What are the proper rites?" he asked.

"The ghost is bound in the Registry Pagoda and burned out over forty-nine days."

"Burned out."

"It is a gentle process."

"My master said no to you," said Pingan.

"Your master was a sentimental man."

"He was. So am I. No."

A murmur ran through the crowd.

Shao's smile did not move, but a muscle ticked under his beard.

He stepped down from the crate and came close enough to clap a friendly hand on Pingan's shoulder.

"A pity," he said, quietly.

"Three nights, Priest Gu. Then I begin an official cleansing of this ferry, gourd and all."

"I will burn whatever stands in the way."

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