After setting the Five Emperors Coins to counter the Sickle Sha and placing the fish tank in the center of the room, I finally felt that the feng shui was properly arranged.
With the feng shui setup done, Zhang Shiyu and I sat on the mud bed to rest. Now, all we had to do was wait for the vengeful spirits to come knocking on my door. I wasn't worried about her—if she didn't provoke the spirits, they would simply ignore her. But I was concerned about how many spirits were actually here. If there were too many, it might be difficult to handle.
"Da Bao, what have you been doing all day?" Zhang Shiyu asked, curious.
"Arranging the feng shui," I replied, looking at her with some concern. "You've been out here for two days now. You don't want to miss your flight, do you?"
She shot me a glare. "I'm fine, no need for you to worry."
After spending so much time together, the thought of her leaving made my heart heavy. For a moment, we both fell into a brief silence, the atmosphere feeling a little awkward. I decided to close my eyes and pretend to sleep, waiting for the spirits to come to me.
We sat like that until the middle of the night. Just as I was beginning to drift off, I suddenly heard a faint crying sound. It was a little girl, crying sorrowfully. The soft sobs seemed to come from the corner of the room.
"There... there's a ghost," Zhang Shiyu's voice trembled.
Although she was usually unfazed by ghosts, she was still a woman, and I could tell she was frightened. I comforted her, reassuring her that everything would be fine. I gathered my focus, and instead of lighting a candle, I used my spiritual vision to peer into the corner.
There, crouching and wiping her tears, was a little girl around six or seven years old. She was cute, with arched eyebrows and big eyes, wearing two small braids.
When it came to dealing with spirits, I didn't hold back. I spoke in a firm voice, "Why are you crying?"
When a person is afraid, their yang energy weakens. The old Taoist priest had used this trick before to frighten his students into weakening their yang energy. So no matter who I was facing, whether big or small spirits, I couldn't let any fear show.
Zhang Shiyu gently tugged at my sleeve, her hand ice-cold. Without thinking, I grabbed her hand and reassured her not to worry. Her trembling hand seemed to calm down a little. When I looked back at the little girl in the corner, she seemed startled and showed an expression of great fear. Then, in a gust of wind, she vanished.
Seeing the spirit disappear, I relaxed and told Zhang Shiyu not to worry. In the silent, dark room, with only the two of us, a man and a woman alone, it was easy to let one's thoughts wander. I realized that holding her hand might not be appropriate, so I considered letting go. But before I could, she grabbed my hand again, and I felt a warmth spread through me.
"Da Bao, that crying voice… was it the couple's child? How pitiful," she said.
I was about to reply that over time, ghosts like that weren't so cute anymore, especially considering that the little girl had only just passed away. But just then, a figure appeared before us—a woman dressed in white. This ghost looked very much like the beautiful specters described in Pu Songling's stories. She wore a white cloth dress and loose pants, typical of the pre-liberation period. She was holding the little girl's hand, clearly there to back her up.
As I was observing the woman, she seemed to become angry. Her eyes widened as she floated toward me, raising her hand as if to scold me. I immediately stood up, pushed Zhang Shiyu aside, and stomped my foot in a powerful stance. With a finger pointed in a commanding gesture, I used my spiritual energy to push her back.
The woman quickly dodged, pulling the little girl to the side. Her gaze toward me seemed complicated. I lowered my voice, asking, "Why are you harming people here? Speak quickly, or I'll make you vanish into nothing!"
The woman didn't respond immediately. After about half a minute, she turned around and said, "Young Taoist, this is not a place where you can just set up some feng shui and solve everything. Leave quickly, or you may lose your life." With that, she took the little girl and disappeared.
I stood there, still dumbfounded. Had I not broken the curse of this place? Was something still wrong?
Just as I was pondering this, I heard a noise coming from outside the door. It sounded like something—or someone—had entered the yard. My heart skipped a beat. I signaled for Zhang Shiyu to be quiet and prepared to go outside to handle the situation. But before I could, the door suddenly creaked open on its own. A beam of flashlight light blinded me, and I squinted, trying to see.
Then a familiar voice came from outside. "Little brat, you really don't want my help, huh?"
"Master?" I exclaimed in surprise.