The fault of yin and yang

Chapter 14

"Tick-tock," is the clock hanging on the wall in the coffee shop, pointing to three o'clock.

"Miss, coffee," the waiter brought my coffee.

When the Earth element is in the Shen hour (3-5 PM), Yin people enter, and Yin and Yang are the main elements in the debate about the Five Tigers.

“Mr. Zhao, since this is a matter of life and death, why don’t you just say it directly?” Actually, “Plum Blossom Divination” is really simple and practical. Ever since the incident with my uncle Benqing, I have studied it very hard again, and now I can say that I know “Plum Blossom Divination” by heart.

"Miss Zuo, how did you know?" Henri was quite surprised by my words, staring at me with wide blue eyes.

"Of course I have my own way, otherwise you wouldn't have come to me," I said vaguely with a smile.

“Well, Ms. Zuo, you’re so capable, then I’ll be frank,” Henri said after taking a big gulp of water. “I’m an artist, I have my own gallery, you know, it’s very difficult, so I… well, the person who donated to me was a woman, a wealthy woman.” He paused, and seeing that I didn’t object, gave me a grateful look before continuing, “She died the day before yesterday. She had no children and no husband. I owned ten percent of her assets. The house I live in, the car I drive, and many other things were all bought for me by her.” Seeing that I looked up at him, his tone became somewhat urgent. “Everyone thinks her death is related to me. The police have contacted me many times, but I haven’t.” At this point, he took a big gulp of water from his glass, finishing it before looking up and continuing, “I really haven’t.” He was very agitated, tapping his hand on the table to emphasize his stance.

"You should go to the police and explain things," he said. I was puzzled. What did this have to do with me? I couldn't bring the dead back to life. Perhaps he wanted me to summon her spirit and find out how the woman, now a ghost, died? That was the only thing I could think of.

“I already said that, and they can’t find any evidence to prove my guilt,” Henri said, reaching out to the waiter. “Give me another glass of ice water.”

"Isn't everything alright now?" Since everything is fine and there's no need to summon his spirit, what exactly does he want from me?

“The problem is, she really died very strangely,” he paused as the waiter came to bring water.

“She doesn’t have heart disease, so how could she suddenly have heart failure? Besides, the other shareholders in her company are suspicious of me, so they refuse to give me the shares I’m entitled to. At the same time, these rumors have made my gallery business very bad…” His voice grew softer and softer, as if he was embarrassed about these reasons.

“This is her photo and her birth date and time. Maybe you can…” Before he could finish, I interrupted him, because the woman in the photo was the same rich woman I met at Qiu Danping’s door and who later made the news!

"Anything else?" I asked, staring at him. Henri lowered his head and didn't say anything, which made me a little angry.

"Mr. Zhao, firstly, you're the one who contacted me. If you didn't trust me, why did you come to me? I'm not some tabloid reporter; I'm not interested in gossip about the deceased female tycoon, especially not a woman who built her fortune on 'five ghosts transporting wealth.' Secondly, if you don't tell the truth, I can't help you. So, goodbye!"

Seeing that I was about to leave with my bag, Henri said somewhat anxiously, "No, no, Miss Zuo, please forgive me, I, I just don't know how to say it..." The man's anxious appearance was quite handsome, with his slightly furrowed brows and clear blue eyes, looking helpless. Even a man would probably be moved by him.

"Who did she contact before she died?" I asked directly, and his troubled expression was truly heartbreaking.

“I don’t know if you know her, but her name is Qiu Danping. She’s a very famous person here,” Henri said, taking a roll of paper out of his pouch. “I got this from her room.”

This is a roll of paper about half a meter long. It is not a design drawing, but a talisman, a "spirit-controlling spell". It seems that this is a spell given by Qiu Danping to this female tycoon, so that she can use it when needed.

"Is this the only one?" I asked as I rolled up the incantation.

“I used to have several more, but I burned them every now and then, so now I only have this one,” Henri replied.

"Put it back where it was, and then move out for a while," I said, handing the roll of paper back to Henri.

"Besides, I'm afraid I can't take this business," I said, not wanting to offend a highly skilled person like Qiu Danping whose background I didn't know.

“Why?” Henri thought for a moment and then said, “Money is not the issue.” His eyebrows furrowed again.

“No, it’s not about the money. It’s that I know the person you’re talking about, and I just don’t want to offend her,” I said, taking a sip of my coffee.

"Then, what should I do?" These words from this mixed-race man truly surprised me, but I didn't find them repulsive. Looking at his thin limbs, slender fingers, and his sorrowful face, anyone who saw him, regardless of gender, would feel heartache. He really was a man who evoked pity!

"Miss Zuo, two hundred thousand, please help me." His earnestness was already enough to tempt anyone, and the price made it even more tempting.

“I will only help you find out how she died; I will not concern myself with anything else,” I said, standing up.

“Okay,” Henri replied after thinking for a moment.

As I was walking out, a question suddenly occurred to me, so I turned back and asked him, "Henri, do you love her?"

"What is love..." Henri's answer is a question.

(V) Spirit Control Chapter Six: Qiu Danping

Back home, I thought about it for a long time, and suddenly it dawned on me that Henri's answer might actually be the right one. I sent Henri's story to Wang Zi and Lü Hantian, eager to know their thoughts. I waited in front of the computer for half an hour without a reply. I'm past the age of being clingy, so I didn't think much of it. A few years ago, I think I would have sent the email over and over again until I received a response. Suddenly, I envied my younger self…

"Are you crazy!" My aunt was shocked when she heard that the business I had taken on was related to Qiu Danping.

"Calm down, calm down," I tried to pull my aunt, who had jumped up, back onto the sofa.

“You don’t even know how to talk to other people…” I’ve heard my aunt’s loud voice since I was a child. From being afraid to feeling helpless now, I can only interrupt her loudly.

"Ah—!" My shrill scream worked; my aunt stopped yelling. If you want a woman who's screaming to quiet down, you have to scream even louder than her; if you want a woman who's crying to stop, you have to cry even harder than her. This rule, applicable to both men and women, is something I've figured out after twenty-seven years of trial and error.

"They gave me 200,000 yuan just to find out the cause of death. I don't care about anything else, and I won't provoke Qiu Danping. Do you understand?" I tried to be brief and quick so that my aunt wouldn't be caught off guard and I wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise.

"Hmm—!" Auntie crossed her arms in front of her chest and hummed.

"Hey beautiful, don't do this. I'm not doing anything immoral, beautiful—" I said coquettishly, tugging at my aunt's clothes and shaking her.

"Okay, okay, let go, let go, you've torn my clothes," the aunt surrendered. Women generally see women five years or younger than themselves as children from a different social class.

"However, you must be careful with this Qiu Danping," Auntie said with a sigh.

"Auntie, how much do you know about this Qiu Danping?" I asked.

“I heard she came here more than ten years ago. When I first moved here, I heard she was quite famous. Although I’ve retired from the business, I still followed the custom and paid her a visit.” Auntie was interrupted by Xu Zilu, who had just returned from school.

"I'm thirsty—", Zilu shouted as soon as he entered the door, wanting a drink of water.

"Why did you come back instead of studying at school?" his aunt asked as she poured him water.

"I was just missing you two beauties," Zilu said, squinting his eyes.

"You little brat, you think you're so good with words?" I smacked Zilu on the head.

"Go, go, go to your room to study," Auntie pushed Zilu back to his room.

"Why are you rushing me? What are you plotting?" Xu Zilu asked with a cunning expression.

"Young Master Zilu, stop fooling around, I have important business to attend to," I said, trying to be as serious as possible.

Xu Zilu was taken aback by my serious expression and went into the room with his bag. Although he had known since childhood that his aunt was in this line of work, he had never been involved in the specifics, so he still had the same attitude towards these things as most people.

After sending Zilu away, I let my aunt continue the story.

"When I first went there, I was thinking of calling to make an appointment, but after asking around, I found out that she didn't even have a phone, and her home didn't even have a single piece of modern electronic communication equipment..." My aunt paused here, glanced at me, and asked, "Hearing this, does anything come to mind?"

"A true master, adhering perfectly to ancient methods," I blurted out. Ancient esoteric arts were far more effective than modern ones, and many spells have been lost, largely due to interference from communication facilities, modern buildings, and underground cables.

"Yes, that's what I thought at the time too. But as soon as I got there, I felt something was off. However, she was very hospitable, and I was almost worshipping her at the time, so I didn't think much of it. But on the way back, I felt something was wrong. She had cast a 'curse' on me..." Hearing this, I was startled.

"Tracking Gu? Is it the kind of Gu technique that uses fragrance?" I couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. Although this kind of Gu technique is not difficult to use, it is a bit too much to use it on someone you have just met.

“Yes, you know, my nose is always very sensitive, and I never use perfume. If it were an ordinary person, even you, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Fortunately, the Gu poison stopped working when I entered the city. At the time, I didn’t understand why she did that, but since I had already retired from the martial arts world, I didn’t care so much about such things. I didn’t contact her again until I heard that she had captured the ‘Mount Buzhou Spirit’ and went to her place a second time.” Aunt finished speaking in one breath.

"What did she say when you went to borrow the 'Mount Buzhou Spirit'?" I couldn't help but wonder how someone like her could be willing to lend us such a rare mountain spirit.

"She didn't want to lend it to you at first, but after hearing that you weren't from this city, she readily agreed," Auntie said, peeling an apple as she spoke.

"This city?" I couldn't help but wonder what this had to do with whether I was from this city or not.

"Hmm, she's always particularly sensitive to her peers. If I hadn't already retired from the business, I doubt she would have lent me the apple," my aunt said, handing me the apple.

"Didn't you say last time that she had stayed on the China-Myanmar border?" I suddenly remembered this.

"Yes, she said her husband was Burmese. He died eight or nine years after she married him, and since she had no children, she came back," her aunt said, nodding.

"How did her husband die?" I pressed.

"How could I know? I'm not familiar with her. If you really want to take this business, it's best to avoid direct contact with Qiu Danping," Auntie said with some concern.

"Sis, is your phone ringtone the theme song from an Apple ad?" Xu Zilu had somehow gotten into my room.

"Hmm," I replied absentmindedly, then casually asked, "How did you know?"

"It's making a sound," Xu Zilu said, peeking his head out from the crack in the door with an innocent look on his face.

"You little brat, why didn't you say so earlier?" I jumped up from the sofa and ran back to my room, giving Zilu a hard pinch as I walked past him.

It was Henri on the phone; he said he found something else in the study. I've decided to go check on it tomorrow.

"You have a new message..." or "You have a new message, please check your inbox."

It was Wang Zi and Lü Hantian; their emails arrived at the same time. Looking at the two emails, I suddenly didn't know which one to click on first.

I thought about both of their answers for a long time...

The prince said, "Henri must have loved that woman. A woman cannot survive without love, and a man's love cannot be faked. If he didn't love her, they wouldn't have lived together for so long. Living together for so long, even without love, there must have been affection..." Can "love" and "affection" be separated?

Lu Hantian said, "I don't know if he loves that old woman, but I know I would never be like him..." What does that mean?

Both of them told me to take care of myself at the end, but neither of them asked when I was going back...

(V) Spirit Control Chapter Seven: Kun Kan

I drove my aunt's Odyssey to the address Henri gave me. It was a villa, built in the Spanish style, nestled against the mountains and facing the sea—truly a wonderful place.

Henri opened the door himself; perhaps he dismissed all the servants after the rich woman died.

"Miss Zuo, you're right on time, please come in," Henri said, wearing bright red shorts and an oversized white T-shirt. Bathed in the three o'clock afternoon sun, he appeared even thinner.

Without further formalities, Henri led them upstairs to the study. On the wall hung an oil painting, a portrait of the lady of the house, presumably painted by Henri.

“This is what I found yesterday,” Henri said, turning the painting to reveal a safe.

“I can’t open it, but I think you should be able to understand it,” Henri said helplessly, pointing to the safe. His furrowed brows were particularly endearing.

No wonder Henri couldn't open this safe. It looked like a solid block of metal. There was no keypad or fingerprint recognition; it was just a flat metal surface. The only eye-catching feature was the ring of symbols around the edge of the safe.

"I never expected your family would have such unearthed artifacts," I said with a smile and a shake of my head.

"Huh?" Henri didn't understand, looking as adorable as a boy who had been woken up from sleeping in class.

"This thing... um... how do I explain it to you?" I was really scratching my head about how to explain these things to a mixed-race person.

Henri didn't speak, but just stared at me with his clear blue eyes, patiently waiting for my explanation.

"This thing is called a 'Kun Kan,' which is specifically used to worship spirits or ghosts. In ancient times, it was a small box woven from a kind of wormwood and then sealed with talismans; by the Republican era..."

At this point, Henri rubbed his hair and asked, "The Republican era?"

"It was, it was eighty or ninety years ago," I can't exactly start my story from the creation myth of China.

"I'm sorry, I don't know much about Chinese history, but I've heard Pingru mention those little devils you just talked about," Henri said with an embarrassed smile, gently brushing her hair aside with her slender fingers.

I nodded and continued, "During the Republican era, due to the war in Central China, the method of raising ghost children in 'Kun Kan' (a type of shrine) became very popular, almost to the point of being rampant. However, due to improper methods, many people lost their lives as a result, and this practice gradually disappeared. It was around that time that people changed these shrines to iron ones."

"You mean there's a ghost in here?" Henri asked quietly, a little scared.

“No, this thing in your house is a little different from the ‘Kun Kan’ I was talking about,” I said, patting his shoulder. “It’s something that’s been integrated with black magic and other supernatural arts. It’s no longer as simple as the original ‘Kun Kan.’ There might be anything inside, or there might be nothing. We’ll only know once we open it.” After saying that, I turned to look out the window and asked, “Should we open it?”

Henri didn't answer, she just sat in the swivel chair and kept spinning around and around.

“Opening it might reveal the cause of her death. Of course, there's also the possibility of being harmed, but I'll try my best to avoid that. However, I can't guarantee it will be 100% safe,” I said, pulling down the blinds. The sunlight outside was a bit too bright.

For a long time, I remained silent, still peering outside through the gaps in the blinds, listening to the sound of Henri's swivel chair turning round and round...

“Open it,” Henri said, stopping his swivel chair and looking at the “shrine.” After a while, he turned to me and murmured, “Whether I love her or not, at least she loves me.”