Summoning a spirit

"I don't get it."

"Which ghost is trying to hurt us?"

Meng Yifan was still worried about our lives. He didn't care about the other unanswered questions.

But I knew that unless we cleared those up, our lives probably wouldn't be safe either.

"We weren't the ones who killed Li Xiumei. In a way, it was only because we found her body that her remains finally came to light."

Meng Yifan frowned. "We practically did her a favor, so why would she hurt us? And we didn't kill that girl either. She should be taking revenge on whoever killed her. We didn't do anything, yet we're the ones suffering."

Seventh Master Zhao smiled, as though he was used to this sort of thing. "If ghosts listened to reason, they wouldn't hurt people. Besides, Li Xiumei had no humanity when she was alive. You expect her to have any after she died?"

"Ordinary ghosts generally don't hurt people. The ones that do are Vengeful Ghosts, and Vengeful Ghosts only know one thing: killing."

I asked Seventh Master Zhao, "Whichever of these two ghosts it is, if she wants us dead, why didn't she kill us right from the start? Do you think she might want us to do something for her?"

Seventh Master Zhao nodded. "It's possible. This photograph and the high heels in your trunk might be clues the ghost left you. But we don't know which ghost left them."

"A ghost wouldn't give you these things for no reason. Presumably, she wants something from you."

"And ghosts usually convey their intentions by entering people's dreams."

The case of a ghost appearing in someone's dreams that Brother Liu had told us about over dinner last night had been solved that way.

Meng Yifan said irritably, "Some way to ask for help-tormenting us half to death and coming to scare us every night. That could kill us!"

I said nothing, but fear suddenly welled up inside me.

If, as Seventh Master Zhao said, ghosts conveyed their intentions through dreams, didn't that mean Li Xiumei had been trying to tell me something through the dream I'd had at the bathhouse last night...

If that was the case, why had my dad been the one walling up the body in that dream?

Could my dad really have killed Li Xiumei...

But my dad and Li Xiumei had barely had anything to do with each other. Why would he kill her?

To take possession of that apartment?

If he'd wanted the apartment, Li Xiumei might have been dead, but Lü Zhengxian wasn't. Wouldn't trying to take the apartment from Lü Zhengxian have been asking to get hacked to pieces?

Besides, my dad didn't even have the nerve to kill a chicken. I really couldn't believe he'd dare kill a person.

"Now you understand why I said this would be difficult."

Seventh Master Zhao looked at us gravely. "First, these are two Vengeful Ghosts. Second, there are all sorts of grudges involved, as well as a case in which an entire family was murdered. It's complicated and very hard to untangle."

"And now that these ghosts have latched onto you, they won't let you go easily. Unless you work out the truth behind all this, you won't stand a chance. If you do, there might be a slim hope of survival."

Meng Yifan and I looked at each other.

If it could be figured out, wouldn't the police have solved it already? We could just ask Brother Liu.

But even the police might not be able to untangle the rights and wrongs of it all.

And my dad was involved too. What was I supposed to do if we investigated everything and really did discover that he'd done something...

"Seventh Master, please tell us what we should do."

Meng Yifan's face was pale. "As long as there's a chance of surviving, we're willing to try."

Seventh Master Zhao fell silent in thought. Only after a long while did he say, "Summon her spirit. Bring Li Xiumei's ghost here directly and ask her what she wants."

At Seventh Master Zhao's words, we both froze, our scalps prickling.

Wasn't that asking us to face our fear head-on?

Neither of us would have backed down from facing even the most vicious criminal.

But facing a ghost? I was afraid I'd wet myself...

"Neither of these spirits has killed you outright, but they keep tormenting you. They must be desperate by now. Perhaps they've already given you plenty of hints, but you haven't understood what they mean."

Seventh Master Zhao looked at us. "There's no other way now. Only by asking the ghost herself can we get to the bottom of everything."

I looked at Meng Yifan, asking what he thought.

We might have been buddies, but at work, he was still my boss. Most of the time, I followed his lead.

But when it came to things like this, Meng Yifan had been utterly helpless all along. "Don't look at me. I'll follow your lead..."

I thought it over, then decided to take the plunge.

For something like this, we could only listen to an expert. Whatever he told us to do, we'd do it. All that mattered was staying alive.

"Seventh Master, will you be coming with us...?" I asked.

Seventh Master Zhao nodded. "Summoning a spirit isn't something you can do just like that. If it goes wrong, there could be trouble, so I'll go with you and help guide you through it."

We were truly grateful.

Meng Yifan knew how to handle people and quickly said, "Sorry for the trouble of bringing you out of retirement, Seventh Master. We don't have much to offer in return, and promising to be your servants for life would just be empty talk. But we wouldn't dream of shortchanging you on your fee."

To our surprise, the Seventh Master said he wouldn't take our money.

Now this is a true expert! I thought.

But just because he wouldn't take it didn't mean we could actually pay him nothing.

"Seventh Master, how could we possibly do that?"

"Do you know under what circumstances people in our line of work usually volunteer to waive their fee?"

Seventh Master Zhao gave us a meaningful look.

But how were we supposed to know? We shook our heads.

"Perhaps it's better that you don't."

Seventh Master Zhao smiled faintly. "Let's discuss payment once this is settled. I, Zhao Laoqi, am not someone with an empty reputation, nor do I covet such things. You two seem sincere enough. Consider this a chance to forge a good connection."

We left Seventh Master Zhao's home.

Meng Yifan and I felt somewhat less anxious.

After all, we had an expert guiding us, and a police officer had recommended him. That gave us at least some comfort.

But another problem lay ahead of us.

The Seventh Master had said that spirit summoning was also called "fuji" in ancient times. It was a form of divination that invited a deity to possess someone. A person had to serve as the "spirit medium"-in other words, the deity would possess that person, who was then known as the medium.

As the practice evolved, fuji was also used to summon spirits, allowing the living to communicate with ghosts.

In modern terms, it was spirit summoning.

But whether summoning a spirit or inviting a deity to possess someone, a Spirit Medium was necessary.

Since the ghost we wanted to summon was female, we needed to find a woman to serve as the Spirit Medium.

Otherwise, the summoning would be unlikely to succeed.

The question now was, where were we supposed to find this woman?

Never mind whether she believed in ghosts and spirits-even if she did, who would let a ghost possess her?