Chapter Five: The Innocence of the Enchantress and Xu Wenshan's Scheming Heart

When Xu Wenshan returned to his room, he saw a female demon lying on his bed.

Just as the Taoist had foretold, she had come. Xu Wenshan touched the pouch at his waist, reminding himself that everything was ready and that he must remain calm.

With one hand, Xu Wenshan grasped a corner of the quilt and tried to lift it, but the person beneath held it fast. The quilt did not move.

A muffled voice came from under the covers, “Why haven’t you put out the light?”

Xu Wenshan’s heart skipped—this woman was even more cautious than he’d imagined. Despite telling himself again and again to stay calm, he had still forgotten to extinguish the candle.

Pale-faced, he replied, “I forgot.” He turned his head and blew out the candle.

After putting out the light, Xu Wenshan returned to the bedside and once again seized the quilt’s corner, but still, it would not budge.

The woman asked, “Husband, you haven’t taken off your clothes yet.”

Xu Wenshan felt uneasy. If he undressed, he would have nowhere to hide the pouch at his waist. Bracing himself, he said, “I want to see you first.”

The woman beneath the quilt said coyly, “Didn’t you see enough yesterday?”

Xu Wenshan managed a bitter smile—he couldn’t remember having seen anything at all.

Yet if he didn’t undress, he would surely arouse suspicion, so he unfastened his belt, forgetting the pouch attached to it. With a dull thud, the pouch fell to the ground.

“What’s that?” the woman on the bed asked.

Xu Wenshan broke out in a cold sweat and replied dryly, “It’s wine.”

“Wine? Why do you bring wine into the room, husband?”

Thankfully, Xu Wenshan’s mind worked quickly. “I love to drink, but my father forbids it, so I have to sneak it into my room.”

The woman under the quilt giggled. “So my husband is a drunkard.”

She sat up, kneeling on the bed, her whole body exposed, tilting her head as she looked at Xu Wenshan. “Am I beautiful?”

Xu Wenshan gazed at her body, swallowed hard, and managed to say, “You are beautiful.”

His voice was hoarse, dry, and hollow—not his own.

Xu Wenshan’s mind was in turmoil—who could think of admiring a woman’s body at such a moment? Though he looked her over, no lascivious thoughts arose in his heart. All he could think was not to meet her gaze, how to crush the pouch later, how to smear the talisman water, and how to subdue her in a single move. He calculated every detail meticulously, clenching his fists tightly beneath the covers, but still did not dare to act.

He feared that if she sensed his intent, she would turn on him and kill him instantly.

He did not want to die.

So he had to wait for the perfect moment.

The woman laughed, oblivious to the fact that Xu Wenshan’s mind was filled only with schemes against her. She twisted her body, her wide eyes fixed on him. “Just how beautiful am I?”

“Very beautiful,” Xu Wenshan said perfunctorily.

She smiled radiantly. “No one has ever called me beautiful before. I want you to say it again—what exactly is beautiful about me?”

Though these words sounded as innocent as a child’s, to Xu Wenshan, they were laced with danger. He thought desperately that if he failed to please her, she might devour him on the spot.

He said, “Your body is flawless, like white jade... your arms are as fair and tender as lotus roots...”

After a pause, he added, “Your face is as bright as the full moon, your eyes...”

At this, Xu Wenshan suddenly remembered the Taoist’s warning not to look into her eyes, and stopped.

The woman asked, “What about my eyes?”

Xu Wenshan changed the subject. “Let’s sleep.”

The woman murmured assent, gently wrapping herself around him, her body soft and yielding. She whispered, “Husband, take off your clothes.”

Now, as he observed her face and form, Xu Wenshan noticed something strange. This woman was entirely unlike any he had seen in the village. Her skin was delicate, her features gentle and lovely—a far cry from the dark, clumsy, dull-witted village women. She had an ethereal quality. Even Miss Li from the scholar’s family, though educated, could not compare to this woman’s bearing.

Miss Li’s elegance held a touch of rebellion, but this temple maiden seemed to possess a trace of sanctity.

Xu Wenshan recalled the Taoist’s words: the temple maiden was originally a clay idol worshipped in the shrine, modeled after the image of a deity, hence her sacred aura. Without the Taoist’s warning, Xu Wenshan might never have suspected her to be a demon.

In this gentle, alluring room lurked deadly peril. Cold sweat streamed down his back. With the pouch no longer in his grasp, what had seemed a simple task of sealing the demon now appeared half-lost already.

“What is your name?” Xu Wenshan tried to break the tension.

The woman answered enthusiastically, “I do not know my own name, but people call me Lu Ze.”

Xu Wenshan’s heart skipped—Lu Ze? Was that not the name of the place north of Deer-Crane Ravine?

To the north of Deer-Crane Ravine lay Lu Ze, to the south, Crane Hill—the ravine’s name derived from these landmarks. The Taoist had said this demon was called the temple maiden, a spirit born from a clay idol in a wild shrine. It seemed this Lu Ze woman must be from the local earth temple of Lu Ze.

Xu Wenshan continued to draw her in. “Then I shall call you Lu Ze.”

Lu Ze nodded repeatedly. “No one has ever asked my name before!”

Xu Wenshan had already formed a plan. “Let’s take off our clothes.”

He slowly undressed, deliberately letting his clothes slip to the floor.

She spread her arms, ready to welcome him, but he said suddenly, “Wait, my clothes have fallen. Let me pick them up so they don’t get dirty.”

The woman mumbled, “Pick them up tomorrow.”

Xu Wenshan shook his head. “I’m afraid they’ll get dirty.”

He bent to pick up his clothes, seizing the pouch at the same time. After hanging his clothes on the rack, he kept the pouch concealed in his hand.

When he turned, Xu Wenshan swiftly smeared the water from the pouch onto his fingers. The woman grew suspicious. “What’s that smell?”

“Nothing,” Xu Wenshan soothed, already spreading the water evenly on his fingertips. Turning back, he pressed his fingers to her temples and several points on her head, just as the Taoist had instructed.

The woman let out a sharp cry and collapsed rigidly onto the bed. Xu Wenshan’s nerves were taut, fearing she would resist. He felt the flesh beneath his fingers harden, her body stiffening until at last, she lay motionless.

Seeing she did not move, Xu Wenshan leaped from the bed, grabbed his clothes, and shouted, “Come in!”

At once, the Taoist, Xu Changshui, his mother, and several aunts rushed into the room. They had clearly been waiting just outside.

The Taoist entered, relit the candle, and examined the thing on the bed. The woman who moments before had been so lovely was now nothing but a clay idol.

Waving his hands, the Taoist affixed several talismans to the idol’s body, then breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s fine now.”

The others all exhaled, their faces relaxing, but Xu Wenshan felt a strange heaviness in his heart. To him, although Lu Ze was a demon, she was an innocent little spirit infatuated with him. Though he felt no affection for her, guilt welled up within him for having deceived her.

Xu Wenshan gazed at the clay idol, and by the flickering candlelight, he could clearly see two streams of tears trickling from its eyes.