The Priest Kept a Ghost in His Gourd and Let Him Out Every Night novel · Chapter 19 of 24
Chapter 19: Shao Falls
"Priest Gu," Shao called down, cheerfully. "The gourd."
His voice carried over the landing and the flooded dock and the silent crowd.
"If you bring it up here, I will let the people of this village go home and forget this morning."
"You already let them out," Pingan said.
"Did I? How careless of the shed."
Laughter, thin and nervous, from the Bureau priests.
None of the villagers laughed.
Zhuoran stepped out onto the flooded boards.
He was grey with cold and his hair was plastered to his neck, but he walked as straight as he had on the first night.
"I'm what you want," he said. "Come down and take me."
"I want what is in your gourd, my dear fellow. Ghosts are cheap. Everyone has one."
"Then what is the gourd to you?"
"The one thing that holds a calamity without breaking," said Shao, almost tenderly. "Do you know what a sealed weapon like that is worth?"
"I can guess."
"I rather doubt it."
He raised the jade seal.
It was a fat white thing the size of a man's fist, carved with a coiled dragon, and it began to glow.
The light on the water turned white-gold.
"Kneel," said Shao. "I'll make this quick."
"No," said Pingan.
"Priest, you are in the way."
"I know."
Zhuoran did not kneel.
He lowered his chin, and took one step forward.
A small figure ran out of the crowd.
It was the child with the rice bowl.
Her mother grabbed for her and missed.
She stopped on the dock between the two men, looking up at the glowing seal, and she held up her tiny empty hands.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of The Priest Kept a Ghost in His Gourd and Let Him Out Every Night are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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