Bloodstained Clothes for Ghost Festival

Chapter 3

Although my dad came to pick me up at the entrance of our complex, he still got soaked in the rain. I started running a fever that night, feeling exhausted and dizzy, but I just couldn't fall asleep. The rain pounded against the window, and it felt like I was back in last year. After tossing and turning until midnight, once they were all asleep, I secretly got up and went online. On a whim, I typed in Bian Zhiguo's name and found over four hundred messages. That's right! It was him. He's now a senior researcher at a research institute in a neighboring city, and his academic achievements make him an authority in his field.

However, there is only his email address and mailing address online, and no other contact information. I thought about writing an email, but I felt it would be presumptuous, so it would be better to come in person.

The next day, I still felt dizzy and weak, but I forced myself to stay awake and told my parents I was going to a neighboring city to cover a news story. They tried to stop me for a while, but seeing my determination, they prepared some medicine and food, and saw me off with many words of advice. I then called my workplace and asked for two days of sick leave.

I stumbled to the station to catch a bus to the neighboring city. There were very few people, and I took up three seats by myself. I took a nap, and when I woke up it was already one o'clock in the afternoon. I felt much better.

Upon arriving at the research institute, Director Wang, who was in charge of receiving us, said that he had taken students to an internship at a factory in Wuhan and wouldn't be back for another two weeks. I was disappointed but also unwilling to give up, so I asked, "I'm a relative from his hometown, and I have something very important to discuss with him. Do you have his home phone number? I can talk to his wife if I want!"

Director Wang looked at me strangely: "Don't you know? Lao Bian has always been single and has never married."

I was stunned for a moment, and Uncle Chen's guess was indeed correct.

Seeing that I didn't speak, Director Wang seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, I'll give you a phone number. You can look for Tian Juan!"

I asked, "Who is Tian Juan?"

Director Wang smiled mysteriously and said, "Well, it's hard to explain in a short time. Let me make a phone call for you first. You can contact her yourselves; you can't go wrong with her."

After finishing the call, Director Wang said, "Wait at the door, she'll come to pick you up soon!"

Judging from Director Wang's ambiguous smile, I assumed Tian Juan was a middle-aged woman, but she turned out to be a very lively and pretty young girl. She shook my hand warmly as soon as we met and asked affectionately, "Are you related to my Uncle Bian? I've never heard him mention you before?"

I said, "Let's find somewhere to talk, it's not convenient here!"

She readily agreed, "Okay, let's go to my house. My mom's off today!"

Along the way, we chatted happily about topics that girls are interested in, and by the time we arrived at her home, we were already best friends who could talk about anything. From our conversation, I learned that it was just her and her mother at home, and I cleverly changed the subject when we talked about her father.

When I met Tian Juan, I knew her mother must be a beauty, and indeed she was. She was in her forties, with a pretty face, dressed elegantly, and her demeanor reminded me of the poem, "A person with a wealth of knowledge naturally exudes elegance."

After we sat down, they all looked at me with puzzlement.

I composed myself and said, "First, please allow me to ask, are you related to Mr. Bian? I have something very important to say about him, and if you're not very close to him, you might think I'm talking nonsense."

Tian Juan's mother blushed instantly. Seeing my serious expression, Tian Juan also became serious: "Uncle Bian is practically my godfather. We're as close as family, so you can rest assured!"

I said, "Have you heard that Mr. Bian has a younger sister?"

Tian Juan said, "Yes, I heard he died of illness twenty years ago. Uncle Bian is always very sad after returning from sweeping his grave every Qingming Festival."

I asked, "Are his parents still alive?"

Ms. Tian said, "Both of the elderly people passed away more than ten years ago, and the death of his sister was a huge blow to them!"

I sighed and said, "It seems you're not entirely clear on the situation. His sister was actually murdered!"

The two men's eyes widened immediately: "Murder?! What happened? Has the killer been found?"

I briefly recounted the events, avoiding any graphic descriptions of the bloodshed, but I could see the fear in their eyes. After listening, Mother Tian suddenly ran into the room and burst into tears.

I was a little flustered and asked, "Do you believe what I'm saying?"

Tian Juan clearly couldn't accept this conclusion and remained silent, stunned.

Mother Tian wiped away her tears and sobbed, "Girl, I believe you! Thank you for helping me solve a mystery that has lasted for so many years."

Now I was puzzled, and cautiously asked, "What mystery?"

Tian's mother sighed and sat there in a daze for a while. Tian Juan quickly changed her cup of hot water and gently patted her back.

After a while, she said softly, "Sigh, you've almost overturned my scientific beliefs of all these years. Lao Bian and I were classmates in college. He's an outstanding guy, very humorous, and excellent in every way. Many people pursued me back then, but I ultimately chose him. We confirmed our relationship in our third year, and after graduation, we were assigned to this place together. Everyone thought we were a match made in heaven, and we even planned to get married and had already chosen names for our children."

At this point, her face flushed slightly. She took a sip of water and continued, "But that autumn, after he went back to handle his sister's funeral, he brought his parents over. During that time, he was very thin, as if he was suffering greatly from something."

I had a premonition that something was going to happen because he was no longer as close to me as before, and we had nothing to say to each other. He said a few things to me that I had thought were inexplicable for many years, but today it seems that he was testing my attitude towards marriage, life, and children. My behavior must have made him very uneasy, because he loves me too much and is too afraid that I will be hurt and unable to bear the possible blows in the future.

Finally, one day he broke up with me. When I was young, I was proud and arrogant, and I thought he must have changed his mind. I refused to lower myself and beg him to change his mind. Just then, Tian Juan's grandfather asked someone to arrange a marriage for his son. I found her father handsome, charming, and well-off, so we married soon after. Later, I learned he was a good-for-nothing playboy. A few years into the marriage, when Juan was still a child, the father and son embezzled a sum of public funds and fled abroad…

Tian Juan chimed in, "Mom, stop talking about him! Why bring him up again? It makes me angry just thinking about him! He's living a good life abroad and has completely forgotten about us!"

Mother Tian sighed and said, "This was the worst mistake I ever made in my life. My happiness is ruined! Why was I so stupid and impulsive back then? Why didn't I understand why? Lao Bian, you're so foolish. If you had let me know all this, we would have faced it together!"

Tian Juan said, "When I was little, I asked Uncle Bian to be my dad, but he always refused. He wouldn't even let me call him godfather! Over the years, I've always blamed him for being heartless and cold-hearted."

The mother and daughter sighed deeply as they recalled the misunderstandings and grievances they had suffered over the years. I felt how utterly powerless humans are in the face of fate!

After calming down, Tian Juan asked, "If there really is such a thing as cause and effect, and all kinds of retribution for good and evil, then why is it that misfortune still won't let go of a good person like Uncle Bian, who has made so many contributions and sacrifices?"

I said, "That's exactly why I came here to see Mr. Bian. A friend and I, who are also concerned about this matter, have inadvertently discovered a pattern, or rather, a secret!"

"What secret?" The two men looked at me nervously.

I said, "Based on the information we have so far, four generations of Mr. Bian's family have fallen victim to this tragedy. Each murder occurred on Ghost Festival, each time it rained, and the interval between each murder was twenty-one years! This year's Ghost Festival tragedy could very well repeat itself!"

The two of them looked at the light rain outside the window at the same time, and both of them shivered.

Mother Tian said in despair, "Oh God! There are only seven days left! What should we do?"

I said, "I can't be sure if my speculation is correct. Even if it is true, it doesn't necessarily mean there's no way to eliminate it. I don't know if Mr. Bian knows that it's a ghost taking revenge?"

Tian Juan said, "He probably doesn't know! I remember once I bought him a Buddha statue as a talisman, and he joked that I was a little superstitious. Is there any way to get rid of this? Tell me quickly!"

I told them about Jiang Ping, the extraordinary person that the college student had mentioned.

They initially breathed a sigh of relief, then became tense again: "Have you contacted them? Can this be resolved?"

I sent Jiang Ping a text message telling him my whereabouts. He quickly told me to call him.

People marked with death

The call went through.

Jiang Ping sounded quite excited: "That old man must have such abilities. He said he had encountered similar things before."

I got excited too: "That's great! Did he agree to help?"

He said proudly, "Don't be in such a hurry, listen to me. After I went back, I bought some things to visit him. He's a real old man; he could tell right away that I had something to do and refused to accept them. I said, 'You saved my life when I was a child, so it's not enough for me to show my respect to you and chat with you.' He had nothing to say after that. We used to chat a lot, and he knows I want to write a book on this topic, so he's happy to talk about some things that happened to me in the past."

Then I chatted with him casually, gradually shifting the topic to ghostly revenge, deliberately saying it was pure nonsense.

I said, "You're really cunning! I was afraid you'd be rejected as soon as you opened your mouth, but what happened?"

He continued, "When I saw him pause for a moment, I knew I had a chance, so I subtly provoked him. Sure enough, he couldn't hold back and told me about something he had experienced."

He said that more than ten years ago, two young men from a neighboring city returned from working away from home. They had probably made a lot of money, built houses, and spent their days eating and drinking extravagantly, showing off everywhere. Not long after they returned, they both fell ill with high fevers and delirious speech. They spent a lot of money on medical treatment, using up all their earnings, and even sold the houses they had just built and lived in for only a few days.

Later, unable to afford hospitalization, one person died, and the other's relative somehow found him. They drove over to invite him to see a doctor. From afar, he sensed an eerie aura and saw that the man was emaciated, on the verge of death, with a blue aura surrounding his head.

The old man asked him if he had gone anywhere at night or encountered anything strange, and the man said no.

The old man stayed at that house that day.

Around midnight, the old man felt a chill. Looking through the window, he saw a female ghost about a foot tall, dressed in ancient clothing, with a deathly pale face and a fierce expression, leaning over the man's face and sucking his breath!

He quickly ordered someone to kill a rooster and scatter its blood inside the house. Only then did the female ghost glare at him fiercely before leaving.

Then he asked the man if he had done anything wrong. At first, the man wouldn't answer, and he angrily tried to leave. The man sent everyone else away before stammeringly telling him that he and another man had robbed a Qing Dynasty tomb in another province. Inside was a woman's tomb; the body wasn't completely decomposed yet. They emptied the burial goods, leaving the body inside the tomb passage. Later, they sold the items to an antique dealer and returned with the money. Soon after, he fell ill.

After hearing this, the old man came out and told his family not to continue treatment, to give him some good food, and to prepare for his funeral. He went home the next day.

Fortunately, with Tian's mother and Tian Juan there to bolster my courage, I wasn't so scared: "Why is he puzzled?"

Jiang Ping said, "Yes, I asked him the same question. He said that the ghost was a vengeful spirit who had suffered resentment in its previous life and had never been able to resolve it or be released from its suffering. Coincidentally, these two grave robbers destroyed the tomb, so the resentment was vented on those two people. The reason he couldn't understand it was because that person's vital energy was almost gone and couldn't be saved. Moreover, resolving the resentment would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause."

The female ghost also gave him a warning: that night, when he was smoking, he saw the cigarette butt glow but wouldn't burn; after smoking for a long time, the cigarette was still whole. He then realized that his magic power couldn't subdue the female ghost!

I asked, "Did you ask him how to resolve this?"

He said, "I asked him, but he didn't say anything. I was about to tell him about the blood-stained clothes case when he sent me away. I guess he has some special abilities; he knew I wanted to ask him for help, so he refused before I could even speak. I suspect he must have a way to resolve this, but you'd better come in person!"

After hanging up the phone, I briefly explained the situation. They still looked worried when they heard that the old man had sent Jiang Ping away.

I suddenly remembered something: "Oh, by the way, does Mr. Bian have any nephews or nieces?"

Tian Juan said, "I have a nephew who's still a graduate student! What's wrong?"

I said, "Let's talk about it when we meet Mr. Bian. I'm glad you believed what I said and never treated me like a liar."

I am a journalist who overheard the unfortunate story of Mr. Bian's family and felt great sympathy for his plight. Later, I accidentally discovered the secret of ghostly revenge, and then I met Jiang Ping, who knew extraordinary people.

I believe there truly is fate at play, and that a force of justice is guiding us, who were originally complete strangers, to stop this tragedy from continuing. So don't worry, Mr. Bian is a lucky man, he will be alright.

The problem now is how to convince Mr. Bian of all this and get him to come with us to find that extraordinary person. When I came here, I was worried that you scientific researchers would think my conclusions were nonsense. Therefore, I need your help to persuade Mr. Bian.”

Ms. Tian said with emotion, "Thank you so much, young lady! We could tell you were a kind person the moment we saw you!"

We discussed it for a while and decided not to call Mr. Bian, because it would be difficult to explain, so we went to see him directly.

The three of us bought tickets for the 11 PM train to Wuhan that night. We were taking a through train, and as we waited on the platform, we chatted as the train slowly pulled into the station. Suddenly, I felt a wave of dizziness, as if someone had pushed me from behind, and I felt like a log falling towards the tracks. Luckily, Tian Juan was standing next to me and grabbed me, asking with concern, "Sister, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

As soon as she pulled me, I snapped out of it and quickly said, "It's nothing, it's nothing! I was just a little dizzy, probably because my cold hasn't fully healed yet. Let's get in the car!"

They quickly helped me into the car.

Luckily, we managed to get seats after standing for a while, though we were separated. Sitting in the inner seat, I felt a lingering fear as I recalled what had just happened. It was very late, the lights were dim, and most people were asleep.

It was pitch black outside, and the train pierced the darkness like a sharp arrow.

I lay on the table, but I couldn't fall asleep; I was always in a daze.

In the middle of the night, all that could be heard was the rhythmic sound of train wheels hitting the rail joints.

I don't know why, but my hand got tired from pressing down. I looked up, still sleepy, and glanced out the window, wondering where I was. A few lights flashed by occasionally outside; it was still early. Just as I was about to shift my position, I suddenly saw a man's face reflected in the windowpane. He looked to be in his fifties, wearing a turban with feathers on it; his face was thin, with a goatee, and his triangular eyes stared at me menacingly, like nails, his teeth clenched and black...

I turned around and saw a woman in her thirties sleeping soundly beside me. I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window again; all I could see in the glass was my own reflection: a pair of terrified eyes!

Even though your head is as hard as if it were filled with vinegar and lead, sleep is like inspiration or a cunning fox; if you don't seize the opportunity when it's closest, you can forget about finding its trace again anytime soon.

As the fear slowly dissipated with the cold sweat covering my body, I gradually calmed down. From being caught in the rain yesterday to the brief moment of unconsciousness before boarding the train today, everything had gone wrong. I was certain that what I had just seen was not a dream; I could even clearly see the knife mark from the person's neck to the corner of their mouth!

Connecting the three events, I came to the conclusion that this was definitely not a coincidence. The image I saw in the glass just now was very likely the ghost of the Hmong man who was murdered 84 years ago, and he was warning me not to meddle!

Thinking this, my chest felt like it had been struck hard, pounding in my chest. Never before had I come so close to death, face to face. A flurry of thoughts raced through my mind like fleeting phantoms. For a moment, I almost wavered. In this whole affair, I was a complete outsider, a utterly irrelevant spectator. Should I still be so eager to get involved? My life had only just begun...

But I quickly reaffirmed my decision. I chose to become a policeman, even though I didn't succeed and later became a journalist, because I've always had a strong sense of justice and a compassionate heart. My way of thinking is different from others. In college, when I saw a rich and powerful handsome guy beating someone up to win the heart of his crush, my classmates all cheered and exclaimed how cool he was. But I felt incredibly disgusted and repulsed because I often wondered, if I were the one being beaten, how would I feel?

After starting work, my colleagues were reluctant to cover news stories that could easily "get them into trouble," but I always volunteered to do it. For those vulnerable groups who have been harmed, we journalists may be their last, and only, source of support.

I don't crave words of gratitude or admiring glances from others, nor am I a particularly noble person. I'm simply an ordinary person with a conscience seeking inner peace. I wholeheartedly agree with someone's summary: Westerners value "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," while Chinese people uphold "do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you." I think that's absolutely right.

Since fate has chosen me to know everything, it's hoping I can end this tragedy. Why should I run away? I'm already a part of it!

I checked my watch; it was already past three. The Tian mother and daughter were nestled together, fast asleep. I then noticed that Tian's mother's temples were streaked with gray, and her forehead was covered in wrinkles. Time is truly a cruel sculptor.

When Tian Juan is awake, she's talkative and lively, even a bit noisy. But in her dreams, she's completely like a child afraid of the dark, clinging to her mother. These are two women who have already endured too much suffering, and their fates are now inextricably linked to a murder that occurred more than eighty years ago, a murder that seemed completely unrelated to them.

Fate is sometimes like a farce designed by a clumsy director, but if it is destined to be a tragedy from the very beginning, it makes people feel so sad and helpless.