A windfall

"No, we didn't keep in touch much back then. It was more than half a year after he got rich that he contacted me again. You must have done your research, it was right around then that his mother passed away."

"Yes."

"His wife's condition had stabilized by then, and he was relieved, but then his elderly mother suddenly passed. He lamented to me about the impermanence of life. Later, I heard his business grew larger and larger, but rumors started circulating. His relatives and friends passed away one after another, and some people suspected he was up to something."

"Up to something?"

"Like performing rituals, Feng Shui, that sort of thing. The rumors were absurd, saying he'd set up a Feng Shui formation in his factory, that anyone who entered would have their fate sealed, and then every so often, someone would die, turn into a ghost, and be absorbed into the formation to bring him wealth. Just a bunch of nonsense."

"Did these rumors have a source?"

"A source?"

"Like an enemy, a business competitor deliberately spreading them to hurt him, or perhaps someone genuinely saw unusual Feng Shui arrangements in his factory?"

"How could that be? People were just guessing back then. Such rumors were just talk, nobody believed them."

"The rumors spread, but nobody believed them?"

"We were in the reform and opening-up period, and 'Smash the Four Olds' had been over for a long time. Who would believe such things anymore?"

"But the successive deaths of Mr. Lin's relatives and friends are facts. Weren't people scared? Did no employees resign from his factory? And did none of his friends or family distance themselves from him because of it?"

"That... no. Back then, nobody did that."

"Mr. Sun, didn't you find this situation strange?"

"I... I didn't really think so... I didn't overthink it, but... ah, now that you mention it... those rumors did have a source. Back then, when Lin Yifan opened his factory, two people from our research institute were recruited to work there. There was a young man, a Xiao Wu, named Wu Ze, who was the first to speak of such things."

"Wu Ze? What kind of person was he?"

"A very motivated young man. He got into university from a rural area, and after graduating, he was assigned to our institute. After working for a year or two, he went to Lin Yifan's factory. He was very diligent in his work; no one expected him to say such things. I heard the rumor from him. He had found a new job and was leaving Minqing City. He came to the institute to say goodbye before he left."

"Were there similar rumors at Mr. Lin's factory, and did he start them?"

"I heard later that was the case. Some people called him disloyal, but Lin Yifan didn't care and even defended him. In any case, nobody believed the rumor."

"So, when you initially called Mr. Lin pitiful, you were referring to his wife's illness and his forced entry into business?"

"Yes. His wife died in '99, and his son had died before that. I attended the funeral. He was like a zombie, completely out of it. The factory was doing very well before his death, but I could see he wasn't right; his heart wasn't in the factory. He mentioned to me that he wanted to close the factory and return to the research institute, but the factory kept growing, and he had more and more people working under him. He couldn't just close it down, and finding a suitable buyer wasn't quick. From what he told me, he started dealing with this matter in 2000, and he couldn't shake off this burden until his suicide. That factory became his burden back then."

"I see."

"Meaning, he had no interest in managing it, yet the factory continued to progress?"

"Mmm. If you ask me, once a factory reaches that scale, it doesn't really matter if the boss is truly involved or not. Didn't ancient emperors sometimes not attend court, yet the realm remained peaceful?"

"What you say makes sense. Do you happen to have Wu Ze's contact information?"

"No. He didn't go into detail about his new unit."

"Alright, thank you for your time today."

"You're welcome."

July 4, 2010. Contacted Wu Ze. Audio file 06620100704.wav.

"You want to ask about Factory Director Lin?"

"Yes. According to our inquiries, you noticed something was amiss with Mr. Lin's condition at the time, or perhaps with the factory he established?"

"You... you want to ask about that?"

"Yes, we are from Strange Tales and Oddities magazine, and we're very interested in such supernatural events."

"Oh... Strange Tales and Oddities... this matter can indeed be considered a supernatural event, as you put it."

"Could you elaborate?"

"For your magazine, have you ever met anyone with yin-yang eyes?"

"You have yin-yang eyes?"

"I can see those things. But that was when I was a child. My hometown is in the countryside, next to a large mountain. I saw spirits and ghosts in the mountains. Heh heh, you might think I'm bragging, but I've truly seen such things, not just a trick of the eye, but genuinely seen them."

"That's quite remarkable. Did you retain this ability as you grew older?"

"No. It disappeared around middle school. The last time I saw something was in my final year of primary school. I was playing on the mountain with village children, and in the mountain graveyard, I saw a ghost. It was a village elder who had just been buried."

"You don't seem afraid of such things?"

"They don't harm me, so why should I be afraid? The ghosts in our village mountains were villagers in life, and the villagers offered sacrifices to the mountain spirits and monsters. They didn't harm us villagers."

"Then, what about Mr. Lin's factory?"

"...That's why I was scared then. Sigh... So many people around Factory Director Lin died back then, with constant funerals, but those people didn't seem to notice anything. They didn't even say things like 'Someone else died again.' It was as if... as if only I realized that many people had already died, and more were dying. I was truly scared, so I found a new job and left Minqing City."

"Did Mr. Lin notice?"

"He did. When he attended funerals, he wasn't sad, but numb, and worried. Also, after I mentioned my observations to someone, Factory Director Lin came to see me. He didn't warn me not to speak carelessly; he just asked me if I had also noticed the constant deaths around him."

"So, only you and Mr. Lin felt the abnormality?"

"Yes, only we felt it. When I resigned, Factory Director Lin even smiled. He... I think he hoped everyone around him would leave."

"You only observed this phenomenon of death, did you not notice anything else strange? And how did the rumor about the Feng Shui formation originate?"

"That wasn't me. I just felt the frequency of these deaths was... abnormal. The Feng Shui formation rumor might have been... spread by Factory Director Lin himself."

"He wants to drive everyone out of the factory?"

"That's what I think."

"Can't he just shut down the factory directly?"

"The factory expanded too quickly. It's not just the people inside, but many suppliers and distributors also depend on the factory for their livelihood. If he were to shut it down all at once, many people would be left with nothing. To put it bluntly, they might die even faster, the impact would be too great."

"Did you hear any news of Mr. Lin's death later on?"

"I saw it in the papers. It was quite laughable. After he died, everyone realized that all his friends and relatives were already gone. It was as if they were blinded, no one noticed anything wrong before that."