With a smile across my face, I explained, “It’s normal that you do not understand, Mr. Liu. There are people who think that we of this trade command immense power and authority over foul beings and evil spirits. But there is a reason why this agency is named ‘De Chang’ (Virtuous and Prosperity). It’s a reminder that we have to be accountable for everything we do. I can expel the female spirit from Mr. Yang’s body, but the female spirit has an intense grudge even after her death. Setting her loose here might endanger the lives of other innocents around here. Moreover, to completely restrain her or eliminate her contradicts our principles to exact justice, not to take lives indiscriminately. There must be a reason to which the female ghost had chosen to remain so long at the farm. It’s only right that we send her back there and find out the truth behind everything so that we could fully resolve the whole matter!” Mr. Liu flashed a thumb and exclaimed. “Well said! Very well then! Let us go now!” Yuan Chongxi and I followed Mr. Liu’s car in our own automobile, leaving Lin Feng to man the center for today.

We first headed to the village where we first sought out a councilman of the village who led us to the farm. The farm sat on a piece of dry land in the middle of a wide, but shallow marsh. I surveyed the surroundings and asked the councilman, “Why are there no plants like kenaf or broom-corn around here? I thought these plants are common in marshes and wetlands.” The councilman replied, “This marsh is known to us locals as the Catfish Marsh. The water rises most of the time here, especially in the summer. Most of the time, the banks are submerged in water. Moreover there are more lands here than people to work them. With plenty of fertile lands elsewhere around the village, no one will want this place for planting or farming!” But the name struck a spark of memory in me. “Wait a minute. You said the place is called Catfish Marsh?” I asked before slipping another question, “Was this place once used to temporarily keep coffins?” The councilman was astonished! “How do you know this!” He cried. In the vicinity of Wu Zhong County, there are many lowlands which were submerged especially during the rainy seasons. The grounds of the graveyards around Wu Zhong would be flooded that it was impossible to dig and bury the dead. But in the summer, where the weather was hot and humid, the people would erect wooden scaffolds in the marsh and place the coffins over the water while they waited until the grounds become dry. But the bodies in the coffins would begin to rot and the fetid stench of the decomposing flesh would spread; the body fluids of the dead including blood and fat would begin dripping out of the coffins and into the marsh, thus becoming nourishment for the catfishes!

Mr. Liu got down his car and said to me, “Shiyan my boy! Let’s first settle the matter of the ghost! Just tell me how much money you need and I’ll make sure you get it! It will not matter whether my nephew intends to continue operating his farm here. What matters is the villagers that live around here! Lives are at stake! We cannot allow such a malevolent entity to roam unrestrained around here wildly!” I waved a hand in a soothing gesture, hoping to calm him down. “We’ll first expel the spirit from Mr. Yang’s body before we see what happens next when I go inside!” The councilman was immediately aghast with fear when he heard me saying that I would go in. But I paid no heed to his nervous look, merely extracting some talismans and joss papers and lighted them. I recited some incantations, and Mr. Yang’s body shot upright suddenly before white foams began to form in his mouth and he collapsed. I checked his pulse again and found that his heartbeat rate had returned to normal. The ghost had exited his body! I turned to Mr. Liu’s assistant, saying, “Take him to the car for a rest!” while I spoke to the village councilman, “Well, Councilman. You’ve heard what Mr. Liu said! He will not demand back the deposit that Mr. Yang had paid you even if Mr. Yang refuses to operate his farm here. You can speak freely now!” The councilman trembled uncomfortably, his face winding up with irritated apprehension. At last, he began telling the true story of what happened here.

So the story went, the pig farm was once handled by a bachelor here. The local production brigade would only assign another helper to the farm only during farrowing seasons of gestating female pigs; hence the farm was quiet most of the time, with only the bachelor to see to everything here all by himself. Moreover, the morbid desolation of the swamplands around the farm, with its proximity to the graveyards, made it a place that most would keep away. But after some time, people began to notice the presence of a demented woman prowling around the wetlands. Everyone was certain that she was insane, for none had failed to note the woman’s peculiar quirk of singing to herself, crazed and dreamy-eyed, whenever they saw her. Yet no one knew what was she singing about. Every time she sauntered about, she would keep to the side of the path, chewing on cottonwood roots as she would make her way to the farm. What was her business with the bachelor at the farm; that would best be left unexplained. Until the late seventies, the Communist government reformed the collective farming method by allocating strips of farmlands to farmers. There were vast tracts of land around the village, but not all of them were fertile and rich enough to yield bountiful crops. The councilman’s’ family, a house of seven, was allotted more than tens of acres of land which many farm people would come every day, wrangling against each other to fight for rights to work the lands! No one had ever seen the bachelor; still, no one remembered him! The memory of the pig farm slowly drifted out of sight and minds of the villagers until one day, an old farmer who was measuring the land felt thirsty when he was nearby. Seeing the farm was nearby, he went to the farm, hoping to look for some water to drink. But when he came out, he began walking coquettishly like a woman and was singing with a female voice. As he walked, everyone who witnessed his behavior could hardly forget what he was doing: he was plucking and chewing cottonwood roots as he walked. Everyone was terrified by what they saw. Some of the townsfolk called for the help of a barefoot doctor, who diagnosed the old man’s condition as dementia. With no one to take care of the old man, especially with the negligence of his children who took no heed to her father’s condition, the old man began wandering about aimlessly and mindlessly until his sad and tragic death when his body was found in a drain. From then onwards, no one dared to come close to the pig farm and the place was marked as an ill-omen place! But one day, there came a man from the city who wanted to lease the place and rebuild the farm. The village council assembled and discussed, deciding in conclusion that since Yang Xiaoshan was a person of the city, he would most likely be troubled by the operation of his new venture rather than worry about ghosts and spirits. Little did they know that even he was hardly spared…

Cutting off the councilman scornfully with a flourish of my hand, I said, “All right. I understand now. Wait for me here. I’ll go in and have a look.” The councilman was terrified and moved forward to try to stop me, only to be held back instead by Mr. Liu who placed his hand on his shoulder. “Relax! Do you not know who he is? He is the son of the famous Murong Hai who runs his own paranormal investigative firm. He is not fearful of the dead; only they fear him!”

I went in the farm for a look and came out moments later, brushing off the seeds of beggar-ticks that had so generously clung on my pants. I said to the councilman, “It is bad in there. Call the police.” Everyone was flabbergasted before words and I said, lighting a cigarette wedged between my teeth, before anyone could utter any objections, “There’s are remains of three dead people in there. No, four actually. One of them was a pregnant woman whose unborn baby had died with her. They have died for quite some time that only their bones are left!”

The councilman retrieved his phone from his pocket, his hands still trembling as he reported the case to the police. Quickly, I whispered to Mr. Liu, “Mr. Yang should be all right by now. It’s better if you leave with him now and let me handle the police. There are some preparations I should first make before they arrive lest they themselves would be possessed by the spirit of the mad woman too!”

Mr. Liu took my hand and shook it, saying, “Understood. Thank you so much for your help today! Let’s meet up for drinks some day, my treat!” “Very well!” I agreed. I saw him off and he left, waving to me through his window.

I returned to the councilman and instructed him to call for somebody to help prepare a table, a pot of water, and a tea set.

The councilman went off hastily and returned not more than 20 minutes later with another man who came with an auto rickshaw that carried all the items I needed. We laid the table and set the pots and cups. I made some tea with some of Father’s specially-prepared tea leaves and waited for the police to arrive. Another 20 minutes passed, and we hear the sirens blaring from afar. I hissed some instructions to the councilman, cautioning him that each of the policemen must first drink the tea I prepared before entering the haunted farm. Not long later, some policemen arrived at the scene. The leader of the group spoke to the councilman to find out about the situation before the police officers entered the farm. But they had barely made an ingress when a policewoman turned and walked outwards. Her colleague barked at her. “Hey! Where are you going!” But she ignored his calls and swayed her body as she walked, singing lightly to herself. Realizing that she had gone mad, the colleague immediately held her down only to hear her yelling. “I’ll not go back!” The policeman shouted for the rest of the group and they had to all help to restrain her. Even before the investigations had begun, the police were already thrown into disarray. With great effort, they pulled her towards a shaded area, but the woman reached for a cottonwood plant and began biting on its bark, her face wearing a rabid and wild expression!

I went forward to ask the village councilman, who was still there witnessing the entire fracas if he had instructed the police officers to drink the tea before entering the farm. The man replied that he did, but he did not observe if every one of them had indeed taken the drink. Realizing my presence, the leader of the troop asked me, “Who are you?” Fearful that the policeman’s tone might offend me, the councilman tugged and pulled the police superintendent aside and spoke harshly to him while the police officer’s eyes slowly grew wider and wider. Moments later, they returned and the lead police officer asked, “Where are you from?” “The De Chang Center for Paranormal Studies!” I replied, with a whiff of pride in my voice. The policeman glanced back at his possessed colleague and said, “I’m sure you know that we policeman cannot be seen to take in all these without suffering scrutiny and disciplinary actions. Is there any way you can cure my colleague without the use of joss sticks or talismans; some ways that seem more ‘normal’?” “This is precisely the reason why I first prepared the tea for you all, but this colleague of yours had ignored the warnings I had instructed the councilman to convey to you. Nevermind, instruct your men to have care with what they speak. This is a haunted place. I’ll use some acupuncture techniques to restore her to normal.” The superintendent nodded readily. I went over and retrieved my needles and had the policewoman’s colleagues lifted her hand. I pierced the needle and growled. “You will do well to behave yourself unless you wish to suffer my wrath!” The policewoman thrashed wildly for a brief moment and crumbled with white foams dribbling down her chin.

The rest of the policemen carried the incapacitated policewomen to their patrol car before going back into the farm with me. I led them to the remains of the three dead persons where we found two knives, in addition to the bones that had laid there. The knives, one sharp and the other a cleaver, were badly rusted. For years the remains and the bones had been waiting until they once again see the light of day. As the police officers began their work of taking notes and pictures, I slipped a word to the superintendent-in-charge, saying, “Well, I guess my work here is done, and the councilman had told you everything you need to know. I’ll be at the De Chang Center for Paranormal Studies if you need me!” With that, I began walking away. After barely two steps, I turned my neck back to look at him and said, “Remember to have your men eat some fruits or honey otherwise you all might suffer from constipation!” I promptly walked away to my car and drove off, without so much as a look back again.

When the car roared to life, Yuan Chongxi roused from his sleep, yawning drowsily. “Where are we?” The good-for-nothing had been sleeping all the while in the car! Even before we reached the farm earlier with Mr. Liu, I had noticed him slowly falling into sleep. Yet he had managed to sleep through the entire ruckus earlier!

We went back to the Center and was about to relay the story to Lin Feng when my phone rang. It was Mr. Liu. “Are you still at the farm, Shiyan my boy?” Mr. Liu’s voice came from the earpiece. “Nope. I have handed everything to the police. I’m now back at the Center,” I replied. “Very good! My nephew is up now. He wants to call you all out for a drink! Are you all up for it?” Somehow Yuan Chongxi managed to hear every word and immediately quipped. “Of course! Where do we meet!” What sharp hearing, I scowled. I was the one on the phone, yet it was he who had overheard the entire conversation and was the first to answer! “Wait for us at the Center. We’re coming to you!” Mr. Liu said before ending the call.