That night, we had dinner at a lakeside restaurant. Mr. Liu treated us to a meal of barbeque fish, followed by a trip to the karaoke. With Lin Feng’s little disciple’s class rescheduled to the evening, we had fun until about four or five when Mr. Liu invited us to a game of mahjong, which we declined. It was already a little more than five when we got back to the center. But there was another visitor that night whose arrival we hardly expect: it was the superintendent that I encountered that morning at the haunted farm. Only this time, he came in civilian clothing.

I ushered him in and made him tea. As I slipped him a cigarette, he asked if we could meet up for coffee that night. The man was here for help, but he could not dare openly ask. “You can speak freely here. Everyone here is family, including…” I said, gesturing to both Lin Feng and Yuan Chongxi, “My friends here. We’re like brothers. Rest assured that what you say today will not be repeated elsewhere!” He nipped at his cigarette between his lips and breathed hard before saying finally, “I’ll admit to you, this is the first case that I’m leading since graduating from the academy. You could imagine the brimming confidence of a fresh graduate, waiting to take on the world. So I was this morning when I received the assignment to investigate this case. Like a new fledgling eager to spread his wings, hopeful that this case would spark a successful career until the unsightly fracas happened this morning. That policewoman did not drink tea and she was not aware of the reason the tea was prepared beforehand. She was actually the forensic doctor assigned to the case. What happened this morning not only frightened our entire team, the doctor was so terribly terrified that I fear she might want a change of career! Later in the afternoon, another forensic doctor was dispatched to the scene but from his findings, I’m certain that there’s nothing more than what we gleaned from the scene. The remains are close to forty years old! We have no clue as to where the murderer is now! At this rate, this case will remain unsolved, perhaps even forever. But this is my first case, and I wish to see it to closure. From the way you cured the female forensic doctor this morning, I was guessing if you might have a way to solve the case. But I cannot enlist your help as a police officer. You can imagine the scrutiny and repercussions that would follow if word of this gets out! But can you help me, with ways that seem more conventional or discreet? Maybe some methods to extract more clues? I’m willing to pay. The man who had commissioned you for your services, I’m willing to pay the same amount as long as you can help me.”

I offered him another cigarette, realizing his cigarette had been reduced to its butt. “To be truthful,” I said to him, “I am similar to you, a proprietor of my own agency fresh out of graduation. I understand how you feel. But I cannot promise you if the perpetrator can be caught. For all we know, the murderer might already be dead, considering the years that had elapsed. Then again, it will only be a piece of cake for us to find out the truth behind the mystery of the haunted farm, but there is but a little snag. Our methods might vary, for we, unlike you police officers, do not require proof. Without proof, you could do nothing even if you are aware of the truth. But we can communicate with the dead and find out the truth and solve the matter. To us mediums, evidence is only useful in a courtroom, in a debate between lawyers!”

I grounded out the stub of my cigarette in an ashtray, taking a beat of breath before I continued, “As to the matter of discretion about our aid, that would not be a problem! I can try communicating with the three ghosts of the deceased to find out the truth. For now, I am sure that at least one of them is still around—the female spirit. However, there’s another catch: she was insane before her death. Communicating with her spirit might not yield any usable results. But my father can communicate to entities across the Three Realms of Existence. Even if our endeavor turns out fruitless, he can easily speak to the Deity of the Land to find out everything.”

As I spoke, his eyes grew wider and wider that I could have almost sworn they matched the sizes of the saucers on the table. “I had never once believed in the supernatural,” he confessed, “Until now… What you just said… seems so surreal to me… But what if…” I lifted my hand to stop him, indicating that I understood his reservations: he was at a dead-end; hence his visit here today in desperate hopes of ways to close his case. But he was still afraid if we might be charlatans. His reputation and career as a police officer would come tumbling down and shatter beyond redemption if news of a police superintendent was cheated by crooks. The shame that would accompany his failure would bore greater weight than the loss of money to him! “Have no fear,” I said to him, “I will not request for payment from you. You will just have to tell everyone else that I am one of the investors of the farm. I’ll go to the farm tomorrow to see what I can do. We’ll meet there tomorrow. Have you secured the site?” “Yes, the site is intact,” said the police officer. “Very well then. We’ll meet at the farm at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. But keep your men from entering the farm before I arrive.” I instructed. He agreed and left carefully, fearful that his trip here was being seen.

The following morning, Lin Feng drove me and Yuan Chongxi to the infernal farmhouse. When we reached, I called for the superintendent for a quiet talk with me in the car. Once inside, I handed to him a strip of cloth. “This strip of fabric was soaked with chicken blood. Coil it around your finger. Tell anyone who would ask that you had accidentally injured your finger this morning. I’ll not let you have any more of that tea today. The method only works once. Overconsumption of that tea is harmful to you!” He tied the cloth around his finger, while I briefed Lin Feng and Yuan Chongxi, bidding them both to wait for me in the car, in case things turn ugly. Then I got down the car with the police officer and we entered the farmhouse.

The weed-infested swine ranch was full of beggar-ticks which seeds are notorious for having hook-shaped appendages that made them easy to be caught on clothes and pants. This was precisely the reason I had not asked Lin Feng and Yuan Chongxi to come in: to relieve them of the ire of having to pick and brush off these pesky barbs. When we reached the spot where the remains once were, I retrieved my Spirit Gourd and unstoppered it while muttering some incantations. Four dark strands of energies were drawn into the gourd, and I let out a loud gasp. “Ah?” Hearing my cry, the superintendent rushed to my side, thinking if I was in trouble. He checked on me. “Are you all right?” “Good news!” I exclaimed. “Apparently all four of the spirits are still present and I have kept them all in my gourd. So, it appears this matter cannot be solved here. Do you want to come back to my center with me to see how things work out, or will you be waiting for my call?” He beamed cheerfully at the prospects of witnessing a rare spectacle and cried. “I’ll go back with you right away!” Somehow this matter had piqued his interest to see how we work.

Hence he went with me to the car and we returned to the center; along the way we said nothing. Back at the center, when everything was ready, I released the four spirits from my gourd. The spirit of the woman appeared, with a baby ghost lulling in her arms, as the mother alone stood, looking dazed and confused. Two male spirits were kneeling beside her. They might have sensed that the person who had drawn them into the gourd commanded certain power over them; hence their obedient demeanor. I spoke to them, finding out about what had happened; in the end, I merely said, “Very well! Where should you go then? How about to the Underworld and prepare for reborning?” But I did not wait for them to answer; I yelped swiftly to Yuan Chongxi and Lin Feng. “See them off! I’ll talk to the police officer about what I know!” With a quick “OK”, Yuan Chongxi produced an instrument—the Heraldic Banner of Souls—and guide them outwards, chanting rather merrily as he strode. “All right everyone, this way, please! Follow me! Come on, keep up!”

I made some tea for the police officer who had been witnessing everything and began speaking to him. “It appears I have neglected to ask your name, Officer?” I asked him. “Zheng Shuang’s the name!” he said at once, springing to his feet and shook my hands. “My name is Murong Shiyan, or just Shiyan for short! The ‘Yan’ character which is made up of two ‘Fire’ characters (Chinese logogram characters)!”

We descended back into our seats, facing each other, as I began relating to him about the story that the ghosts confessed to me…

The caretaker of the farm was a man called Wang Zuoshan. Late in the seventies, from somewhere unknown came a deranged woman one day to the farm. But she was not fully insane. Somehow she became attached with this Wang Zuoshan. The man would prepare food for her whenever she came visiting. As their affection increases, so did her visits that gradually grew frequent. Both of them began living together after some time. The woman would wander around in the day and return to the farm in the night where she would have dinner with Wang Zuoshan and spend their nights together. One day, she grew pregnant with child.

But they did not expect the woman’s man to come finding. The man’s name was Ding Zhenlin. He was also a bachelor, a foreman at a workshop more than seven miles away. The woman was a vendor selling plastic decorative flowers; plastic flowers which were used for decoration and ornamentation of fish tanks or dioramas. The woman had come to the workshop one day during her peddling runs through the countryside. Without any hotels in the town at that time, she sought for temporary lodgings at the workshop for a night or two. But without any spare rooms at the workshop, Ding Zhenlin invited the woman, who was unwary of his insidious intents, to his home. That night, she was raped by Ding Zhenlin and had gone mad because of the ordeal.

After going insane, the woman began roaming around until she reached the farm and met Wang Zuoshan who grew attached to her. Ding Zhenlin began hunting around for her, only to find her here at the farm. To make things worse, he was infuriated when he saw that the woman was with child. In a fit of fury, he drew a knife and stabbed her. Wang Zuoshan tried to protect her, but he too was also wounded by the frenzied Ding Zhenlin. Clutching his wound, Wang Zuoshan staggered backward where his hands, by the stroke of luck, chanced upon the hilt of a cleaver. With his teeth gritted, he slashed furiously at Ding Zhenlin on his neck. Intoxicated by adrenaline, blood, viscera, and enraged howls amidst their blurry visions, they had lost an accurate recollection of what happened later, although they two collapsed to their deaths in the end; and there their souls had remained for decades. None of them had left because the woman had stayed on. Her mental disorder was not the sole aspect of her soul that had remained even after her death. Her maternal instincts too. Not willing to leave her baby, her soul had lingered to this day. The village where Ding Zhenlin had come from was called Ding Gaopu (literally, the Ding Elevated Delta). A simple check into the genealogy of the residents of the village would easily affirm the truth, I told Zheng Shuang. The conclusion of the case would be up to his discretion, I said to Zheng Shuang. But I would be interested to know how would the ending pan out, I did not forget to say. The four souls were on their way to the Underworld, but there they would remain for some time until their time for reborning beckons, and that would not come until their remains were properly interred. I would need to meet with the village council and speak to them about this matter with Zheng Shuang present. He might have to help bear the charges though, I mused. Although I might chip in some contribution with the items needed for offerings and sacrifice.

Zheng Shuang slowly got up, the look of an unconvinced face hung over him. Stammering falteringly, he said, “Everything seems so freakish!” But he recollected his composure and exclaimed. “Very well. I will go to Ding Gaopu and investigate if there’s such a person called Ding Zhenlin!”

It took but only a few days when Zheng Shuang appeared once more at our Center. This time, he said nothing, flashing only a thumb proudly that fully conveyed his utmost admiration! I then placed a called and requested for Mr. Liu and Yang Xiaoshan to join me in meeting the village council to discuss the conclusion of the matter. In the end, it was Mr. Liu who generously footed the bill for the charges to have all three of the remains interred at the nearby public graveyard, bringing the entire tragedy to a satisfactory closure. After that incident, Zheng Shuang came to us again for a few times for our help with some of his cases and we became fast friends. One day, a Taoist priest came to the Center. It was the first time a man of the cloth had visited our center; and it was his fateful arrival that day which had, for the first time, gave us the first taste of defeat!