Lighting Incense

Clashes and armed feuds between rural villages have persisted practically without interruption from the pre-Qin period all the way into the twenty-first century. The further back in time one looks, the higher the frequency and the greater the intensity. If we were to categorize conflicts involving a few dozen people as wars, much like the practice on the islands to the east, then warfare has been happening here almost every single moment.

Contests over water sources, arable land, mountain territories, or even a romance between two young people, and a chicken wandering into the wrong place—any of these could spark a bloody conflict between two villages or two clans.

Take today, for instance. Several hundreds of people from these townships gathered and came to Xia Lin, claiming that their ancestral hall could not get incense to light, and therefore they intended to dismantle Xia Lin’s wharf. Is this reasonable? Of course, it is completely unreasonable.

Talk of geomancy and feng shui is, to put it bluntly, just sour grapes. The people of the original Xinping Township used to be worse off than them, but now that Xinping had suddenly struck it rich, they felt deeply resentful. As the New Year arrived, those neighboring townships probably gathered to worship their ancestors because they shared the same lineage. During their chats, Xinping Township came up, and upon hearing that this formerly most impoverished of brothers had now risen to great wealth and prosperity, learning of a brother's fortune proved far more painful to them than being murdered. Thus, bitterness and resentment accumulated within their hearts. Yet, how could they possibly understand anything about a market economy? Coincidentally, the incense in their ancestral hall and temples refused to burn.

At that time, they put their heads together and pondered: why did the incense light last year, but fail this year? The problem certainly could not lie with them. Since the fault was not their own, they simply had to find a scapegoat. Sitting together in discussion, they concluded: no wonder Xinping Township made a fortune this year; it turns out they diverted the geomantic fortune of the downstream waters away to benefit themselves! How could this be tolerated? Let us go settle accounts with them!

Yes, go settle accounts with them!

Thus, this crowd marched from afternoon until evening, brandishing torches and demanding an explanation. Along the way, they even debated just how Xinping had tampered with the feng shui. Someone in their ranks who claimed to be knowledgeable declared with absolute certainty that it must be that wharf which had displeased the River God!

Very well, since the wharf had displeased the River God, dismantling Xinping Township's wharf would set things right.

Consequently, this mob marched over in a menacing manner, fully intent on tearing down the wharf. Yet upon arrival, they were met with over a thousand robust young men standing there, each gripping weapons with ferocious expressions. Looking back at their own ranks, what did they see? Either fourteen- or fifteen-year-old half-grown boys, or painfully skinny, sallow weaklings, alongside a bunch of weathered old men in their forties and fifties.

The balance of combat power was utterly mismatched...

"You... what do you want? I want to see your village head! I demand an explanation from him!"

The leader from Leping Township pointed at Xia Lin and said, "You brat, keep out of this."

"I am the village head, dammit." Xia Lin crossed his legs, tilting his head as he said, "Take whatever you have up with me. Damn it, during the New Year, I happen to have a belly full of pent-up fire. Out with it, are we negotiating or are we fighting? I am ready for either."

He hadn't spent this long lingering in the rural districts for nothing; he knew there was an unwritten rule here: fights would certainly break out, but only on the condition of relative equality in strength. With five hundred facing over a thousand, pitting the old, weak, sick, and disabled against prime-bodied youth meant a fight simply could not happen. In the era of cold weapons, success depended entirely on robust physiques. The young men of Xinping Township were built like oxen; no sane person would dare confront them.

"We... we just came for an explanation. It is the New Year, so fighting is inappropriate. Your wharf has disrupted the downstream feng shui, sucking away all our wealth. How are we going to resolve this!"

Upon hearing this, the people from the surrounding townships chimed in one after another, and for a moment the scene descended into chaos.

"What are you brawling about!" Xia Lin pointed his hooked iron pry bar at the loudest one in the crowd and shouted, "Go on, let me hear you shout again."

That fellow had been utterly arrogant just a moment ago, but upon being singled out directly, he was instantly overcome with the sensation of, "Big Brother, just call me 'Kitty'."

"Who told you that my wharf disrupted your feng shui?" Xia Lin fished some melon seeds out of his pocket and began cracking them. "Step forward and let me have a look at you."

Amidst the crisp sound of his seed-cracking, the scene fell deathly silent. Eventually, the leader spoke up again, "The ancestral hall told us. We couldn't get the incense to light, so doesn't that mean you blocked the feng shui and angered the ancestors?"

"Very well," Xia Lin spat on the ground. "I am a scholar. Ah, I always value harmony for wealth and virtue to win people over."

The moment he spoke of winning people over with virtue, the strapping young men behind him stabbed their tools down into the earth in unison. When over a thousand people perform the same action simultaneously, the momentum is truly formidable, causing even the ground to tremble—quite an impressive spectacle.

"You claim your ancestors told you this, so go invite your ancestors over and I will personally offer them incense and ask them myself. We are all civilized people, after all. If your ancestors truly feel this wharf is in the way, I will relocate it immediately. But if they don't... hehe, then don't blame me for dismantling your ancestral hall."

*Clang, clang!* Two more strikes of tools hitting the ground, sounding just like battle drums—truly stirring.

By this time, the Leping Township elder leading the group had completely lost his bravado. Rational people naturally feel fear, and seeing over a thousand hefty young men standing there was enough to make anyone break out in a cold sweat. Realizing this, he proved to be a clever man who knew how to yield gracefully. As soon as Xia Lin finished speaking, he immediately mustered his courage and said, "Since you don't believe us, come with us to the ancestral hall and you will see for yourself."

"Fine, let's go!" Xia Lin spat onto the ground again. "Today, I'll reason with you lot! Lead the way."

The villagers who had originally come looking for trouble now walked crestfallen at the head of the procession, followed by the dusty, weary throng of young laborers. Anyone who knew the truth understood it was a dispute between two villages; anyone who didn't might have thought these were volunteer local braves setting out to fight Japanese pirates in Zhoushan.

In the dead of night, they arrived at the clan ancestral hall. Xia Lin yawned and pointed directly at the building, demanding, "What is the procedure? How is it supposed to be done? Run through it once."

With no other choice, the elder began the sacrificial rites from the beginning—burning paper offerings, carrying up a pig's head, and setting off firecrackers, abruptly waking up everyone in the vicinity who had already fallen asleep. Spectators quickly gathered in large numbers, and the moment had arrived to light the incense.

"Wait!" Xia Lin raised a hand. "I'll do it."

He stepped forward, accepted the incense sticks from the elder's hands, bowed three times toward the ancestral hall, and then said in a clear, resonant voice: "You are all elders, and as elders, you ought to have some sense. Whether your own township fails to get rich because of my wharf or not, you know the truth in your hearts. So I will ask you this once: do you insist on stirring up trouble over this? If you do, then make the incense burn three times without producing smoke. If you don't, then you know what you should do, right? It's the New Year, and it's better to avoid unnecessary trouble. With all your children and grandchildren filling your homes, I'm sure you don't want them joining you in the netherworld prematurely."

Look at that! Just look at those words! Was there even a half-syllable of that which sounded like it came from the mouth of a scholar? Even the leaders of rogues and ruffians in the city could never utter such phrasing.

Yet they were full of fury, dared not utter a word of dissent. Everyone knew how many bodyguards this man had brought along, after all.

Next, Xia Lin took a torch and presented the incense. The first attempt saw the incense sticks turn black without catching fire at all. Xia Lin sneered coldly, raised his eyes to glare at the ancestral hall before him, and then proceeded to the second attempt.

At that moment, the most nervous people were not the folk from Xinping Township, but rather the very residents of Leping Township. They were genuinely worried that if it failed three times, these barbarians might actually tear down their ancestral hall.

If it truly came to that, should they fight or not? If they fought, they certainly couldn't win—even if the entire township charged together, it would be a stretch. If they didn't fight... after letting their ancestral hall be dismantled without fighting back, how could they ever face their ancestors?

"I have already warned you." Xia Lin wrinkled his nose, then produced three more sticks of incense. "If you truly possess such divine power, build up some virtue down here for your descendants instead of making trouble for them up here."

The second round of incense failed to ignite as well. Xia Lin let out a cold laugh, tossed the incense to the ground, and pulled out three fresh sticks. "Fine! You refuse to show me respect, is that it? Since you refuse to give me face, I won't bother maintaining yours either."

Hearing this made the surrounding villagers' hearts flutter with dread. Judging by this posture, a vicious brawl today was inevitable. They tightened their grips on their weapons, but when they looked toward the opposing side again, their calves felt weak and their hearts pounded anxiously.

"This last time, I won't waste words. Disrespecting me means disrespecting Xinping Township, and disrespecting Xinping Township means disrespecting my brothers. These brothers of mine are all young and hot-headed, so if anyone gets offended later on, please bear with it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the warriors of Xinping Township took a synchronized step forward. Though untrained, cutting off someone's livelihood was akin to murdering their parents; at this moment, their shared enmity and resolve were as unyielding as stone.

Xia Lin wasted no more breath, stepping forward to hold the final three sticks of incense to the flame. This time, the incense caught fire, and the wispy, curling smoke that arose allowed everyone from Leping Township present to heave a massive sigh of relief.

Plugging the incense into the burner, Xia Lin turned around to look at the thousand-plus people standing outside the ancestral hall. "A fortune-teller once said that a general's success is built upon ten thousand bleaching bones, but I disagree. I believe success lies in human effort; whether one is poor or noble is for oneself to decide. If you want to get rich, I can lead you to wealth. If you prefer to muddle along with your ancestors' old ways, I have no objections. As for the path Leping Township will take, you can choose it yourselves. If you are willing to listen to me, send someone in charge of your township to see me after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. If you are unwilling... well, your ancestors have already said everything is fine, surely you don't still have issues, do you?"