Yin Ghost Jade

In ancient times, Duke Di set up a mock Underworld to solve an adultery case, and Bao Longtu impersonated King Yama to scare the real culprit into confessing.

However, both of these could at best be considered methods of deception, not genuine ways to consult the Underworld and identify the true killer.

Xu Qing did not possess such abilities to question the Underworld, but he could use the Duren Sutra to review the memories of the deceased, returning to the scene of the crime to watch a playback of the Yamen Runner's death.

The Yamen Runner before him, whose cause of death was unknown, was named Wei Fang. His family had been in the Yamen Runner profession since his grandfather's time, and by his generation, it could be considered a family tradition passed down in an orderly fashion.

With this connection, Wei Fang naturally knew everything about the Government Office. He had a general idea of what money he could skim and what money he couldn't.

For example, regarding the corpses in the Government Office, for any unclaimed bodies for which no family came to claim them, he would find two acquaintances to collude with and sell them to the corpse collectors of the Yinmen trade. As for what the other party did with the corpses, he would never inquire.

As long as there was money, even if the other party used the corpse as filling for steamed buns, it had nothing to do with him.

One day, Wei Fang obtained a good assignment through the brokerage of Fourth Master Li – to deliver a corpse to a newly opened Corpse Driver's Shop on Jingxia Street.

The young proprietor of that funeral shop was a remarkable person. Not only was he generous, but he also abided by the rules. Since having this channel, Wei Fang no longer sold corpses to anyone else.

On this day, Wei Fang, leading two Fast Squad Yamen Runners, had just finished delivering the corpse and was about to return to the Government Office when he heard someone exclaim not far away. It turned out that a gambler, who had been staying at an inn opposite the gambling house the night before, had inexplicably died in his room early in the morning.

Wei Fang had just sold a corpse and had nothing else to do, so he led his two companions to the scene of the crime.

The deceased had no obvious external injuries, only his eyes wide open and his mouth agape, as if he had seen something terrifying in life, causing him to die of fright on the spot.

Wei Fang paid no attention to the cause of death, but instead, his eyes immediately fell upon the Pixiu Jade Pendant clutched in the deceased's hand.

"Heh! This jade pendant is nice, it looks valuable."

Upon further inquiry, he learned that the deceased was a gambler with no relatives, the kind of person who wouldn't even be buried when he died.

Wei Fang's heart grew even happier. This was truly heaven sending him money to spend. Not only was the jade pendant valuable, but the corpse was also valuable!

So, he immediately dispersed the onlookers and then instructed one of his fellow Yamen Runners to go to the Government Office to relay the message, asking the Clerk in Charge and the coroner to come and examine the scene. He then instructed another companion to guard the inn's passageway, preventing outsiders from getting close.

He, on the other hand, closed the room door, pocketed the jade pendant that the gambler had been tightly holding, and then pretended to be uninvolved, carrying on as usual.

Originally, this matter would have been nothing. There were never a shortage of Yamen Runners with sticky fingers in the Government Office, and no one had ever seen anyone punished for taking something from a dead person.

But today's matter was different from the usual.

That evening, as soon as Wei Fang returned home, he impatiently took out the Pixiu Jade Pendant and brought it close to the lamp to admire it.

The jade pendant shimmered with radiance, and the carved Pixiu beast seemed to have come alive, leaping and dancing in the lamplight.

Wei Fang became more and more engrossed as he looked, and only when he felt drowsy and tired did he place the jade pendant against his chest and lie down to sleep.

Seeing this, Xu Qing initially thought the Duren Sutra would skip this useless scene. However, in the middle of the night, the sleeping Wei Fang suddenly got out of bed, went outside, and squatted in the courtyard, chuckling foolishly.

"Heh heh, my count is higher than yours, I won, all this silver is mine!"

"Another round? Sure, but let's bet bigger this time, ten taels of silver."

"Your luck is bad, fifty taels this round."

"One hundred taels."

In the middle of the night, Wei Fang, wearing only a thin shirt in the cold, squatted in the courtyard, shaking his empty hands as if holding a dice cup for shaking and counting points, chuckling foolishly to himself.

When the bet reached five thousand taels, a new voice suddenly sounded in Wei Fang's ear.

"You have such good luck. Why don't we bet even bigger? If you win, I'll give you all the silver I have. If you lose, you'll give me your life."

Wei Fang chuckled foolishly and replied, "Alright, but if you lose, you can't go back on your word."

As the saying goes, nine out of ten gambles involve deceit; not gambling is winning.

Wei Fang gambled alone in the courtyard until the latter half of the night, his body already chilled to the bone by the cold wind, yet he was unaware.

Until a burst of laughter suddenly sounded in his ear—

"Hee hee, you lost, your life is mine now!"

Wei Fang only snapped back to reality upon hearing this laughter, but by then, half his body was already frozen. Not only could he not stand up due to numbness in his limbs, but the last breath he held onto was only because he had been constantly wanting to win.

Now that he heard the gamble was over, that breath could no longer be sustained. He simply leaned back, and all sound ceased.

In the final moments, Xu Qing vaguely saw, in the last frame, a ghostly shadow emerge from the Pixiu Jade Pendant and swallow the last breath that Wei Fang had exhaled!

And that ghostly shadow was none other than the victim whose jade pendant Wei Fang had stolen during the day!

Afterward, Xu Qing briefly glanced at the rewards from the Duren Sutra: a minor skill called Tracking Down Criminals, and a bottle of Tracking Powder, which, when sprinkled on a target, allowed one to know their whereabouts through special methods.

He silently put away the rewards and then refocused his gaze on the corpse before him.

At this moment, the Pixiu Jade Pendant was not on Wei Fang's person.

Reviewing the case files for the autopsy, there was also no information recorded regarding the Pixiu Jade Pendant.

Xu Qing thought of a possibility: that this jade pendant had been picked up by another "lucky person" who was greedy for a bargain.

This person could be the first one to discover Wei Fang's body, or it could be a clerk who examined the scene!

Xu Qing turned his head to look at his senior brother, Wang Lingyuan, who was engrossed in reading a book not far away, lost in thought.

He couldn't possibly be the one who took that cursed jade pendant, could he?

"Senior brother, when you examined this corpse, did you see any items on him?"

Xu Qing disliked guessing and decided to ask directly.

Wang Lingyuan put down his book upon hearing this and said, "All items belonging to the deceased are stored in the evidence room according to custom. However, the case file also contains detailed records, so you can examine those yourself."

Hearing this, Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief. Judging by his senior brother's reaction, it didn't seem like he had pocketed the evidence.

Putting down the case file, he then moved to another corpse.

This corpse belonged to the original owner of the Pixiu Jade Pendant that the yamen runner Wei Fang had stolen.

"Gambler, gambling addict, what's the connection between the two?"

Xu Qing was like a viewer engrossed in a drama, his mind brimming with anticipation for what would happen next.

He lifted the shroud, and the first thing he saw was the gambler Zhang Dazui Ba's terrified face, his eyes wide open.

Xu Qing recited scriptures in a low voice, placing one hand over the gambler's stiff face. Fragments of forgotten memories, like a shadow play, flickered to life on the screen once more.

There wasn't much to see in the gambler's life. He had lost his family fortune in the first half of his life, sold his children, and completely squandered his reputation and wealth.

Having lost his dignity, and being subjected to constant public scorn, he found it unbearable. So, he sold his wife to a broker and, taking his silver notes, headed south to Linhe.

There was a fortune teller by the Shuimen Bridge in Linhe. The gambler thought, "I always lose at gambling, it must not be the casino's fault, it's just my bad luck."

"In that case, I'll have my fortune told first. If the reading is accurate, I'll naturally win at gambling and make money."

If the reading was inaccurate, he would flip the table and cause a scene, forcing the fortune teller to compensate him.

Thinking this, the gambler couldn't help but clap his hands together, thinking, "I'm such a clever fellow, my plan is perfect!"

When he arrived at Shuimen Bridge, the fortune teller took one look at his face and sighed with a shake of his head.

The gambler thought, "What kind of act are you putting on?"

The fortune teller opened his mouth and said, "I know what you want to ask. If you want to win money, I can give you a tip."

"Tell me, what is it?"

The gambler's interest was piqued. He thought to himself, "This fortune teller is quite capable, to be able to see through my intentions at a glance."

"This is truly a master I've encountered, I must ask him for guidance."

The fortune teller grinned and said, "Go to Cuiyun Tower. There's an old pimp there. He has a spirit that can grant people their heart's desires. Buy it from him, and you're guaranteed to win big!"