Only after recognizing them both, I realized that there another two persons with them. The two strangers greeted me and I too waved back politely. I invited the guests indoors and made them tea when Lin Feng came back with a sweat-soaked towel over his neck; he must have been out exercising. Seeing that there were already guests present, Lin Feng came over and introduced himself. As the four guests were getting themselves comfortable in their seats, Lin Feng and I shared a quick look: Fate must have been smiling upon us! We had clients despite being freshly opened for the first day of business, we thought in unison!
I turned towards the two strangers that the couple had led to us, a man and a woman who were watching me expectantly. "So, they are..." I asked curiously, gesturing to them. Brother Plasticbag (as he would henceforth be known as, for his past exploits with a plastic bag he had mistaken as a wraith) then explained, "They are our neighbors who live near my place. They too have encountered something strange. I had initially brought them to the Institute to look for the Head Person, but he refused to intervene, despite my many pleadings. At last, I met an old man at the Institute who pointed us here, saying that the son of the Head Person is operating his own establishment; hence here we are. The old man only said that his name starts with 'Lin'. He thinks you'd know who he is." I see, I thought. So they were asked to come here by Uncle Quan. I asked the man and woman, "So how can I help you? Pray to relate to me your grievances." The man explained, "This is my wife, and we live together somewhere in the middle of the hills. But to be frank, Young Master, it was not we who had encountered something strange, it's my mother!" I nodded and asked, "Oh? What is it that your mother had seen?" The man suddenly turned sour, hesitantly he said, "She was frightened by something!" I began to feel a frown forming on my brows. Something that was able to frighten the living daylights out of a person, I wondered. This might turn out to be a messy business after all. I returned my attention to the man who was continuing, "I did not believe what she said at first. But my wife cautioned me that something about the matter seemed evil and foul, pestering me to seek help..."
Feeling my last ounce of patience drying up, I remarked, "You may speak freely here. There is nothing to be afraid. What is it that your mother had encountered?" The man nodded fearfully, and said only two syllables, "Jiangshi (Chinese zombie or Chinese vampire)!" The word sent a jolt of shock through me as Lin Feng shot me a quick look. I could hardly believe that such a word would be uttered here as the man's voice repeating the word echoed again in my mind for good measure. Even though I knew that Jiangshis did exist, I had never had the opportunity of laying eyes upon one. Despite their known existence in the Realm of the Living, Jiangshis were hardly as cryptic and mystical as Hong Kong dramas had always portrayed them to be. It was hardly easy for a corpse could be reanimated as a Jiangshi; most notably the tricky conditions including varying parameters in the rules for raising older and newer cadavers from the dead. I asked the man again, "Can you elaborate on the situation and the present condition of your mother?" He nodded and answered, "My wife and I live in the hills but my mother live just downhill, being very close to where we live. I am also a worker at the shoe factory. In her free time, my wife would go to my mother's to visit her and send her some stuff. One night, my wife was going to the bathroom when coincidentally, she happened to peer downhill and was shocked. Standing outside the gate of the compound of my mother's cottage was the white-clad figure of a Jiangshi. The long, unkempt hair of the Jiangshi fluttered gently in the cold night breeze, just like what we have seen in the movies! It was hopping, trying to enter the compound of my mother's home but thankfully, the fences were keeping it away! My wife thought she must have been seeing things. She rubbed her eyes and looked closely, but there it was, still bouncing up and down! My wife, panicking, scampered back into the house! She saw that I was sleeping soundly; hence she did not awake me. It only until morning when she told me everything but I thought she was hallucinating. Still, I went downhill to see my mother. I went through her gate and into the compound and found that her door was locked from inside. I yelled for her, again and again, but there was no response. So I went to the back and leaped inside, only to find my mother fainted by the door. I checked for her breath and found that she was merely unconscious and carried her to her bed. I opened the front door to let my wife in and we massaged the old lady until she finally awakens. At the first instance of rising up, her finger stabbed frantically towards the door and she began screaming hysterically, telling me that there was a ghost! That night, I moved down to stay with her. Suddenly in the middle the of the night, she began crying wildly, howling that there was indeed a ghost! I ran out the door, my hand gripping tightly on the handle of an axe. But there was nothing! Only then I realized that my mother had gone insane!"
I felt a sudden weight sank within me. Based on what you just said, your mother was just insane, mate, I thought to myself. Surely we do not have to take the word of a senile old woman for it. I even remembered that there used to be a deranged man who loved to proclaim himself the President of the United States! Unable to suppress my frown no longer, the man seemed to notice my expression as he asked, "Err... Young Master... What do you think of this matter..." Still, his expression convinced me that something was amiss. But it took me quite some time until I realized something: my father had adamantly refused to take up his request to look into the matter. This might not even be a paranormal case after all! The matter would hardly trouble my father, given his powers, if it was indeed a problem of supernatural origin. So his reaction to the case would only indicate otherwise. My mind began spinning as I looked for answers. What could be the reason behind my father's firm refusal to help?
Still, my thoughts hit nothing but a hopeless dead end. I set aside the hunch of divining the purpose of my father and walked upstairs to rouse the still-sleeping Yuan Chongxi. He was, after all, our in-house seer. His languid eyes opened and stared at me as his mind struggled to register what he was looking at before he could finally manage a drowsy croak, "What's this? What time is it! It's still early!" I patted his shoulder again and said, "Come on, get up. We have a job and we need your help." Hearing this somehow filled him with energy as he rose and asked, "What's wrong?" I began telling of the story of our new case. At the end of my tale, Yuan Chongxi, now almost awake, rubbed his chin, his fingertips brushing the stubbles of hair on his jaw and said, "But you'd hardly need me to find out the truth. You could have just asked any ghosts wandering in the vicinity, no?" Why did I not thought of this, I asked myself. Yuan Chongxi was right and this way would have been easier and more efficient. I walked down the stairs with Yuan Chongxi behind me. He went to the windows, drew the curtains and adjusted the door blinds, keeping the insides of the center dark. Puzzled by our actions, Brother Plasticbag began asking about what was happening. I giggled and replied, "Without sufficient information about our friend's mother, it is time for us to seek out a snitch."
All four of the guests were confused and baffled by my answer but I ignored the perplexed looks on their faces and set a table at the center of the sitting space of the center. We laid some fruits and offerings on the table and lighted a pair of candles and some joss sticks. When the preparations of the make-shift altar were complete, I stood before the table and recited some incantations. Despite the enclosed space, a strange and eerie breeze began blowing around us and the flames of the candles began flickering menacingly, casting sinister-looking shadows that danced on the walls around us. Lin Feng was looking at me, his face illuminated by the candlelight showing his anxiousness and excitement. I stared, expressionless, at the quivering fire at the tip of the candles, hearing a soft "puff". The fire on one of the candles froze suddenly and turned ghastly green. There was something among us, I knew, and I cleared my throat and called, "Are you there?" A bodiless voice, old and hoarse, responded crudely, "I am." My heart did a backflip, knowing that my summons had succeeded and I asked, "I need some information. News about the Yellow Soil Ridge." The ghost did not respond, indicating its tacit assent. I began nodding as I asked again, "There is a word that an old lady was badly frightened by something at the southern face of the Yellow Soil Ridge. The old lady had said something about Jiangshis. What know you of this news?"
There was an uneasy silence before the voice spoke again, "I know nothing of this. The southern face of the Yellow Soil Ridge is a place of immense Yang energies. We of the dead do not suffer such intense abundance of Yang energy; hence we have always kept away from there. I know nothing of that area." I suddenly recalled one of the golden rules of our trade, where Yang energies were always likely to accumulate at the southern part of mountainous regions and the shadows and foul beings would never dare venture such areas! I nodded thoughtfully and said to the spirit, "Understood. Thank you for your troubles. I'll burn you some offerings and joss papers. Please accept them." The spirit uttered a word of thanks and the green fire trembled before it returned to normal. Realizing that the process had ended, everyone began murmuring, asking me what happened. The method I used earlier was to communicate with a spirit which was not physically with us, more like placing a call to a spirit who was at the proximity of Yellow Soil Ridge. Hence no one but I could hear the voice of the ghost who had spoken to me for I was the one maintaining the connection. I tossed some joss papers into a small fire and replied, "It's also a dead end. My father did mention before. The southern face of Yellow Soil Ridge is a place with an extreme abundance of Yang energies. No foul beings or spirits would dare go near that area." I looked again at the frightened old woman's son and said, "You're sure that your mother had actually seen a Jiangshi?" The man's head nodded at first but shook fearfully a while later. He was hardly sure himself.
My head turned to look at Yuan Chongxi. He jumped, as if recovering from his customary stupor, and asked, "I need the approximate time of the incident, the birthdates and time of birth of your mother. Let's ask the Fates."
With his rituals ended, I was sure that Yuan Chongxi had finally found out the truth of the entire episode. He shuffled uneasily to me and whispered into my ears, telling me everything. I was shocked beyond words. Aghast with astonishment, I pressed, "You're certain of this? There can be no mistakes!" Yuan Chongxi nodded, his face entirely solemn and serious, a complete contrast from his usually dull look, as he confirmed, "Yes. You can be sure of this. There might be menial deviations in some small details. But you can rest assured that most of it are true. But it is hardly something we can easily explain to our guests... I say we plea incompetence and have them send away!" Only now, I fully realized the reason my father had rejected them!
The man and Brother Plasticbag, from our expressions, had surmised that we already had our answers. He was extremely happy, consoled by the confidence that we had found the answer to the mystery and asked, "How was it, Young Master?" I grimaced and shook my head, saying heavily, "This, I'm afraid, is hardly a matter of spirits or ghosts. In fact, the cause of your problem was precisely the reason my father had rebuffed you and we should not have dipped our fingers into this affair. This should be a responsibility of mental health institutions. Everything will be for naught, even if you insist on us helping you. Moreover, there are certain details which you might find revolting!"