Professional spirit medium

A spirit medium was an indispensable part of summoning a soul.

So we had to find a woman to help us.

"Boss Meng, why don't we just ask your wife?"

I looked at Meng Yifan. I wasn't joking.

For something like this, we could only turn to someone we trusted.

Meng Yifan's girlfriend was named Tao Xiaoyu. They weren't married yet, but they had been living together for over a year.

She was pretty and fashionable. A single handbag cost ten or twenty thousand yuan, and a dress cost several thousand. Of course, Meng Yifan had bought all those things for her.

Although I didn't think Tao Xiaoyu was likely to help us, I really couldn't think of anyone else.

"Come on. You know what she's like."

Meng Yifan looked miserable. "She won't even wash a few clothes for me. You think she'd come do something like this?"

I was speechless. "What a wife you've picked. Find someone else while you still can."

Meng Yifan said, "How about trying Fang Man?"

The moment I heard that name, my face flushed.

Fang Man also worked at our shop. She had just graduated from college, and... she was my girlfriend. Strictly speaking, it wasn't official yet, because we were still in that flirty, undefined stage.

It was a little embarrassing to admit, but I was already twenty-six and had never been in a relationship.

My grandfather wouldn't let me date. He said I was fated to bring death to my wife, and that I should just make do on my own for the rest of my life rather than ruin someone else's.

But I was a normal, hot-blooded man. I could listen to my elders about anything else, but how could I listen to them about this?

If I couldn't date, I might as well become a monk.

"Fang Man went back to her hometown. You know that."

"Her grandmother passed away, so she went back for the funeral. She won't be back for another couple of days."

The Seventh Master had said the sooner, the better. Ideally, we should go to the scene tonight and summon Li Xiumei's ghost.

Now we were stuck. Without someone to act as the spirit medium, we couldn't properly summon her soul.

For something like this, even money wouldn't necessarily persuade anyone to help.

Meng Yifan and I spent the whole afternoon trying to think of someone, and it was almost dark.

With no other choice, I called the Seventh Master and explained the situation. Meng Yifan and I wanted to see whether he could find someone to act as the spirit medium. We could give that person a generous cash payment.

Over the phone, the Seventh Master fell silent for a few seconds, then said, "I can find you a professional spirit medium, but they charge a lot. After all, being possessed by a ghost damages their yang energy. They'll charge you at least ten thousand yuan. Can you accept that?"

I said yes. Of course that was no problem.

These days, ten thousand yuan was a perfectly reasonable price to hire someone for a job.

I immediately transferred ten thousand yuan to the Seventh Master and arranged to meet him at the entrance to the residential complex at the midnight hour.

At around ten thirty that night.

Meng Yifan and I were already waiting at the entrance to the complex.

Meng Yifan was usually cheerful and easygoing, a very optimistic person, but I hadn't seen him smile once over the past few days.

"That man Hu has already filed a lawsuit. The court called me today." Meng Yifan squatted by the roadside, smoking, his expression utterly dejected.

He knew someone at the court. That person had told him today that Mr. Hu had already sued our shop, though the court hadn't formally accepted the case yet.

The contact had asked Meng Yifan whether he wanted mediation. If so, we could pay some compensation and settle it. After all, regardless of whether we won or lost, a lawsuit would certainly hurt the shop's reputation.

Our competitors would catch wind of it and kick us while we were down.

Of course Meng Yifan wanted mediation, but Mr. Hu kept demanding two hundred thousand yuan in compensation and wouldn't accept a single yuan less.

So in the end, the lawsuit was bound to go ahead.

Once it did, business would plummet, and one of our shops would surely have to close.

"It'll be all right. Don't be so pessimistic." I patted Meng Yifan on the shoulder, trying to comfort him.

If things really got difficult, I would sell my car. Whatever happened, we had to keep the shop afloat.

Meng Yifan was so young. Building up the business hadn't been easy for him.

A little while passed.

It was already ten fifty.

A car stopped in front of us. I immediately recognized it as the Seventh Master's.

There was a young woman in the passenger seat. She looked only about twenty, with delicate features, but her face was terribly pale. She had the same fragile air as Lin Daiyu.

I didn't know what the Seventh Master said to her in the car. Once he finished, he got out first, while she stayed inside.

The two of us quickly stood up to greet him.

"I've brought someone for you. Her name is Xiao Qing. She's a professional spirit medium."

"Xiao Qing?"

Meng Yifan sounded curious. "What's her real name, then? So we know what to call her."

The Seventh Master's face was serious. "That's exactly what I need to warn you about tonight. Once we enter the apartment where it happened, you mustn't use the spirit medium's real name, or the ghost will set its sights on her. Just call her Xiao Qing."

"The same goes for me. You mustn't use my name, either. You can't call me Seventh Master, Old Zhao, Old Seven, or anything along those lines."

I was astonished. I hadn't imagined there were so many rules and precautions in this line of work.

I asked, "Then what should we call you?"

The Seventh Master thought for a moment and said, "Just call me Yanzu."

I fought back a laugh.

He even managed to make Meng Yifan smile.

"Seventh Master, what's Master Xiao Qing doing in the car?" Meng Yifan asked curiously.

The Seventh Master said, "She's getting ready. I've already negotiated the price for you, too. She's charging you her minimum rate, ten thousand yuan. For the rich people who usually hire her, her fee starts at fifty thousand. Sometimes it's much more."

I asked the Seventh Master, "People can actually make a profession out of inviting ghosts to possess them? Didn't you say possession badly damages your yang energy?"

The Seventh Master nodded. "You've never had any dealings with this circle, so of course you don't understand. But wherever people have a need, a profession can grow out of it."

"Possession certainly does great harm to your yang energy, but this young woman already has a hard fate. Her features mark her for a short life. She's ill year-round and is destined not to live past thirty. But she's married, with two children to raise, so her only choice is to work as a professional spirit medium and earn some money, so her children won't have to suffer after she dies."

Meng Yifan and I felt saddened and distressed by what we heard.

Xiao Qing looked younger than either of us. Someone so young, yet she wouldn't live past thirty...

I had just thought she looked a little like Lin Daiyu. Then it struck me that Lin Daiyu herself had died young.

She was truly pitiful.

After discussing it, Meng Yifan and I decided to give Xiao Qing another five thousand yuan.

After all, she was earning this money at the cost of her own life.

Before long, Xiao Qing got out of the car. Up close, her bearing really was like Lin Daiyu's.

Meng Yifan quickly scanned her payment code and transferred fifteen thousand yuan to her.

When she saw that we had given her an extra five thousand, she froze for a moment, then said gratefully, "Thank you both."

Meng Yifan and I quickly returned her thanks. "We're the ones who should be thanking you. Thank you for your help tonight, Master Xiao Qing."

She said nothing more. Suddenly, she took two jade plaques out of her shoulder bag and handed them to us. "These are my personal gifts to you both. You'd better wear them, or I'm afraid you won't survive tonight..."