Guo Yujie and Liu Miao

"What do you mean, 'play'?" I had a bad feeling.

The Skinny Man sounded dejected and helpless. "That Zheng Xiaorui died seven years ago."

"Ah..." I made a meaningless sound, suddenly remembering what the Boss had said about Zheng Xiaorui.

Seven years ago—that meant 2015. The girl had only lived one more year... Was it because of that "serious illness" that her health had been so badly damaged, and she hadn't recovered?

"She died of an illness. Multiple organ failure, her immune system collapsed, something like that... They couldn't even figure out what caused it." The Skinny Man suddenly lowered his voice. "Do you think a ghost killed her?"

"No. Greenleaf took care of her case. It's just... she was badly frightened, and maybe that's why she didn't make it." I hesitated, not mentioning the Boss's remarks. Deep down, I still doubted that supernatural stuff. Or maybe it was because, subconsciously, I felt that talking about it could have a bad influence.

"I see. Anyway, she's dead. Her parents had never heard of Greenleaf Paranormal Agency. When I mentioned it, they wanted to find someone to hold accountable..." The Skinny Man complained. "And we're the ones trying to find that agency!"

"She went with a classmate back then. Her name was Duan Shishi. They were classmates in high school, and she was the one who found Greenleaf. Why don't you try looking for Duan Shishi?" I offered him a lead.

The Skinny Man perked up. "Great! Sigh, I'll have to bother Xiao Gu again."

Xiao Gu was a police officer at the local station. Their system was networked, so we always asked him to help us find people. Lately, we'd kept making him look for dead people, and our work still wasn't going anywhere. I did feel a little bad about it.

The Skinny Man and I exchanged a few more words before hanging up. I walked back to the sofa and saw Uncle Wang staring fixedly at me.

"Sorry, Uncle Wang. Something came up at work, so I was on the phone a bit longer than I meant to. Where were we?" I gave him an apologetic smile.

Director Mao answered, "We were talking about what to do after the demolition. The construction crew will keep an eye out for Auntie Wang in case she comes back. Xiao Gu even promised she'd come by regularly to check on Uncle Wang. Uncle Wang, the people from the demolition office are genuinely trying to help you. Please meet them halfway. It's better when everyone helps each other, don't you think?"

Uncle Wang was still staring at me. Then, rather abruptly, he asked, "You just mentioned Greenleaf. Do you mean the Greenleaf Paranormal Agency in Building Six?"

The three of us were taken aback.

I nodded. "Yes, that Greenleaf. Do you know the agency, Uncle Wang? Do you know anyone there?"

Uncle Wang patted his thigh and sighed softly. "I do. I couldn't find my wife, so I'd wanted to ask them to look for her. Those young people were very capable. There wasn't anything they couldn't find. But... by then, they'd already closed up shop."

Guo Yujie and I exchanged a glance.

"Could you tell us their names? And were they the owners of those four apartments on the sixth floor of Building Six?"

"Do you know where they are now?"

Guo Yujie and I asked eagerly.

Uncle Wang nodded, then shook his head. "I know their boss was called Ye Qing, and another young man was Liu Miao. I don't know the others. They weren't the owners of those apartments. The owners were former employees of our old factory. I can't remember who they were, but they had nothing to do with those young people. Still, they entrusted the apartments to Ye Qing. As for where they are now..." Uncle Wang paused, then shook his head again. "I don't know. Their work took them out of town sometimes, even overseas. They'd disappear for a while now and then. And their line of work was a bit... unsettling. People in the neighborhood didn't really want to deal with them."

Uncle Wang sighed deeply. "If they were still around, maybe I could get my wife back."

Guo Yujie looked disappointed.

But I heard something else in Uncle Wang's sigh. I looked at him. His cloudy eyes seemed to glisten with tears. A thought suddenly came to me: perhaps Uncle Wang knew his wife had little chance of coming home. Maybe he wasn't even sure she was still alive. Perhaps he was only waiting for her spirit to return, waiting for her to visit him in a dream and say goodbye. The police couldn't find her. Maybe only people like Greenleaf could—but they were all gone.

For some reason, the agency surfaced in my mind, sitting in the darkness.

The office was still there on the sixth floor of Building Six. Was it waiting for its owner's spirit to come home, too?

I shuddered.

"Ye Qing and Liu Miao—is that how you write their names?" Guo Yujie was checking the details with Uncle Wang.

Uncle Wang looked at the names. "Yes. One is 'Greenleaf' backward, and the other is the 'Miao' made of three 'water' characters."

"Did the owner transfer the apartments to them?"

"I don't know."

"Thank you. We'll keep following up on your case, too. We'll do everything we can to find Auntie Wang!" Guo Yujie looked Uncle Wang in the eye, earnest and sincere. "But those are two separate matters. The demolition will benefit the entire neighborhood. And in your situation, simply waiting isn't enough. If Auntie Wang came home and saw you like this, she'd surely blame you, wouldn't she?"

Uncle Wang smiled.

I tugged at Guo Yujie, suggesting that was enough for today.

Director Mao asked after Uncle Wang's well-being again, then left with us.

After we walked out of the building, Director Mao said to Guo Yujie, "Xiao Gu, Uncle Wang is incredibly stubborn. I'll give you his daughter's number. Talk to her. I'm sure she'd be glad if someone could help him come around." She hesitated, then said, "Hey, if you can think of a way, could you get a psychologist to talk to him? Someone who won't reveal who they are—maybe pretend to be from the demolition office."

I asked curiously, "Was that his daughter's idea?"

"Yes. Two years ago, she wanted to take him to see a psychologist. You should've seen Uncle Wang then. He went about his daily routine as usual, then came home every night and waited for Auntie Wang to return and cook for him. If his daughter hadn't come, I was afraid he would've starved to death at home. Eventually, his daughter broke down and begged him, and he finally admitted that Auntie Wang was missing. But he kept saying she'd come back. Of course his daughter was worried. She consulted a doctor, who said they'd need to assess Uncle Wang in detail. But he refused. He even said Xiao Wang wanted to find someone to hypnotize him and make him forget Auntie Wang... They fought over it for quite a while. Xiao Wang was clever, though. She sent her son in, and had him cling to Uncle Wang's leg and cry. That was the only way Uncle Wang agreed to look after his grandson during the winter and summer holidays every year. If he'd stayed cooped up in that house the whole time, who knows what kind of trouble he might've gotten into." Director Mao sounded sympathetic.

She hadn't told us any of this before. Hearing it now, Guo Yujie's heart softened all over again.

"I'll see what I can do."

We said goodbye to Director Mao and returned to the office.

On the way, I told Guo Yujie that Uncle Wang might have already accepted the truth but just couldn't bring himself to admit it, so he was deceiving himself. If we really found his wife—or her body—the shock might be too much for him, whether it brought joy or grief.

"Then what should we do?" Guo Yujie asked, troubled.

"Don't dwell on it. We don't even know if we can find anything." I called the Skinny Man and told him the good news.