Gu Song called early the next morning, asking when I would be arriving at his house.
It was only a little past eight in the morning. He was being far too anxious.
When I came out of my room, I found Xu Qiuyan's door open. I poked my head in and saw that she was not in her room, and her bed had been made neatly. Where had she run off to so early in the morning?
Just as I was wondering about it, the door opened and she came back carrying soy milk and fried dough sticks.
"I bought breakfast for you. Hurry up and wash up before you eat." She set the breakfast on the table, then sat on the sofa and turned on the television.
"You got up really early."
She turned to glance at me. "I go for a run every day."
Only then did I notice that she was wearing a tracksuit, with beads of sweat still in her hair.
I said, "We're going to Gu Song's house later."
She gave an "Oh," but kept her eyes on the television. I had actually meant to remind her that she ought to take a shower first.
Seeing no reaction from her, I went to wash up first and then started eating breakfast.
While I was eating, she went into the bathroom and shut the door. I heard the sound of running water.
Before long, she came out, drying her hair as she walked.
I said nothing and simply focused on my breakfast.
She returned to her room and changed into a pink short-sleeved T-shirt, light-colored jeans, and high-heeled sandals. Her hair had been blow-dried and casually tied into a ponytail. She looked just like one of the female students at our school.
"Xiaobai, did you dream last night?"
I had just finished eating and was clearing the table. At her question, I shook my head. I really had not dreamed last night. I had slept straight through until dawn. Strange enough, I had not dreamed at all these past two days.
"I had a dream," she said.
Dreaming might have been an ordinary occurrence for most people, but it was different for us. Especially for her, dreams and reality were often impossible to distinguish.
"What did you dream about?" I asked.
She pursed her lips. "I dreamed about you."
I was startled. She had dreamed about me? I hurriedly asked what I had been doing in the dream.
After thinking for a moment, she said, "You were trapped in a pitch-black room where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. I could feel the fear in your heart. I tried desperately to see where it was, but no matter how hard I tried, it was useless." As she spoke, worry appeared on her face.
I knew she was worried about me. I smiled faintly and gently patted her shoulder. "Don't think about it. It was only a dream, wasn't it? Come on, we still need to go to Gu Song's house. His place is pretty far away, so we need you as our driver."
"You're not going back to school?" she asked.
I said I would not be going to school for the time being. Xie Yi had already informed the school anyway.
"You finally came." Gu Song seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw us. He did not look well, his face pale as though he were anemic.
It seemed he had not slept well last night. Or perhaps he had not rested properly these past few days. Still, his face had not been this pale yesterday.
"Did something happen again?" I asked him.
He invited us inside.
The house was a mess. Homes without a mistress were mostly like this.
I glanced around his home. The decor was quite upscale, but books were piled everywhere. It seemed both he and his wife had loved books.
"I saw her last night," Gu Song said in a strange tone, his gaze darting around as he spoke.
Xu Qiuyan asked curiously, "Who did you see? Don't tell me it was your wife?"
I had already told her everything about Gu Song, so that was why she asked.
Gu Song nodded. He said he had truly seen his wife.
But his wife was already dead. There was only one possibility if he had seen her: he had seen a ghost.
"Did she say anything to you?" Xu Qiuyan asked again.
I looked at Gu Song. He did not seem to be pretending. Could he really have seen a ghost?
"She said she was murdered. She wanted me to catch the person who killed her and avenge her." Gu Song's voice choked up as he spoke. "Xiaobai, she died horribly. Truly horribly!"
He had told me that his wife had been killed by a car. Half her head had been sheared off at an angle.
I nodded. "Did she tell you who the murderer was?"
Gu Song shook his head. "I asked who wanted to kill her, but she didn't say anything else. Then she disappeared in the blink of an eye."
I frowned. I was beginning to suspect that Gu Song might have mental problems. In any case, he did not look normal.
Just then, a voice sounded beside my ear. "Ask him whether his wife said anything else."
It was Duan Hongbin. That guy had appeared again. It seemed he was very interested in Gu Song's situation too.
After hearing my question, Gu Song thought seriously for a moment. "Right, she mentioned someone's name: Zhuanghe, the Captain I told you about."
Their last trip to Lop Nur had been last year.
"What exactly did she say?" If Gu Song had truly seen her, she could not have mentioned Zhuanghe for no reason. When I heard Gu Song talk about that Captain yesterday, I had also felt that something was off, though I could not say what it was.
"She only said one sentence: go find Zhuanghe."
Go find Zhuanghe? What did that mean?
"Where is this Zhuanghe now?" Xu Qiuyan asked.
"He's from the northeast and lives in Liaoyang. I've never been there. I only have his phone number," Gu Song said.
Xu Qiuyan said, "Did he know about your wife's death?"
"No, I didn't tell them. After all, they were only travel buddies. We used to travel together once or twice a year, but we didn't have much contact otherwise."
I looked toward Duan Hongbin. At some point, he had sat down beside Gu Song and was scrutinizing him with a strange gaze.
Xu Qiuyan leaned closer and whispered in my ear, "Did he discover something?"
I shook my head.
She smiled and said mysteriously, "My friend came too."
Instinctively, I looked around, but I saw no one.
"Strange!" Duan Hongbin was speaking to me.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Such heavy yin energy." His gaze abruptly turned toward Xu Qiuyan's side, and he frowned.
When he looked over, I saw it too. A woman was sitting right beside Xu Qiuyan.
She appeared to be two or three years older than us, with an added air of mature charm.
She was very beautiful, dressed in a white gauze dress with a distinctly vintage style.
Almond-shaped eyes and delicate brows—she had the look of a classic Eastern beauty.
But she was very cold and aloof, as though she did not regard anyone present as worthy of her attention.
Xu Qiuyan looked at me then and gave me an apologetic smile, as though apologizing for the woman's rudeness.
I suddenly became curious. What kind of person was this woman?
The temperature in the room seemed to have dropped considerably. Even I felt a little cold.
"A Soul Body. She's actually a Soul Body." Duan Hongbin looked somewhat surprised.
"What does that mean?"
"A ghost." Duan Hongbin's tone was calm, as though he were talking about something utterly ordinary.
Xu Qiuyan said, "Gu Song's wife's death is most likely connected to that Zhuanghe. It seems we need to go meet him."
Go to the northeast? But we did not even know where he was.
She seemed to have guessed what I was thinking. "We may not be able to find him, but someone can. Aren't Xie Yi and the others quite capable?"
Her words woke me up. She was right. Xie Yi had said that Bureau Five, Section Nine was a special department with considerable influence. Investigating one person should have been easy for them.
Duan Hongbin suddenly spoke. "Go take a look at their bedroom."
I nodded, then said to Gu Song, "Mr. Gu, may I look around?"
Gu Song said, "Please, help yourself."
I stood up and looked through the kitchen and bathroom first, then the guest room, before finally entering the bedroom he had shared with his wife.
The bedroom was very dark, with the curtains drawn.
Xu Qiuyan followed behind me. "Why don't you open the curtains?"
Gu Song's expression changed slightly before he said, "I can't sleep with light."
Xu Qiuyan said nothing. She stepped forward and prepared to pull open the curtains.
Gu Song cried out, "Don't! Please don't!"
Xu Qiuyan stopped and turned to look at him, suspicion in her eyes.
The woman said blandly, "There's a little ghost hidden in this room. Once those curtains are opened, his soul will scatter."
I hurriedly said, "Qiu Yan, forget it."
Duan Hongbin walked to the head of the bed and pointed at a small clay jar on the dressing table nearby. "That little ghost is hiding in there."
"Mr. Gu, what exactly is going on? Does your wife's death have anything to do with this little ghost?"
As Xu Qiuyan questioned him, I looked toward her friend, the cold and aloof woman.
Duan Hongbin had said that woman was a ghost. It was only natural that she could discover this secret.
But I was somewhat worried. Would having a female ghost following Xu Qiuyan affect her in any way?
Before you continue