The second book in the Oolong Wizard series, titled The Normal Mind

Chapter 24

Pearl held up an old-fashioned copper compass, saying she bought it for fifty coins from a master at a street stall one day; it could detect the force field and direction of the dead. She also collected several magical artifacts, including the Bagua mirror that had been on the table of Xiao Baogui, the head of the Xiao family in Yong'an Town. Ironically, in her backpack, there was also a string of prayer beads and a cross—when Pearl took out the wooden cross, I noticed A Yin take several steps back in panic, his face turned as far back as possible, pale as snow, which reminded me of something and made me feel intensely uneasy.

After Ah Ying calmed down a bit, she started complaining that I had kept the truth about me being a great wizard from her. "Cousin, you were just like a god!" At the same time, she admired and depended on me more than ever before, clinging to me and refusing to let go, even when I told her to take Xiao Ling and Zhu'er home first.

“Yes, your cousin has reached the level of a half-immortal. He will be a great figure who can turn the tide in the future.” Ah Yin looked at me thoughtfully.

At that moment, we saw the spirits of the mother and child suddenly turn a corner and walk into a house.

We stopped running in surprise and slowly walked towards the vengeful spirit, who had also stopped.

She was holding a ghost baby and stood in front of a tofu stall. The shop owner, who was about sixty years old, was still preparing and was caught off guard by such a terrifying customer. After all, everyone is afraid of things from another world, even though he himself would go in sooner or later.

"Why are you so late today, Xiaolan?" To her surprise, a smile appeared on his chubby face as she naturally inquired about his well-being.

“That shop owner must be nearsighted,” Pearl said confidently. “If I told him that his customer was a female ghost, I bet he’d be scared out of his wits.”

The female ghost simply nodded politely and gently took out a banknote.

The shopkeeper asked, "The usual, a big bowl of rice porridge, right?"

The shop owner put down his work and focused on serving the rice porridge to the female vengeful spirit. Then he said, "Take care, thank you for coming!" and watched her leave.

I was also surprised and worried that the tofu vendor might be harassed by spirits, so I rashly asked him, "Uncle, can I see the money that lady just gave you?"

The old man looked at us suspiciously for a moment, then scrutinized me carefully. After confirming that I wasn't a bad person, he smiled easily and asked, "What's wrong? Is she bothering you?"

"No, not really. You know, just now..." Zhu'er was about to say that his guest was a vengeful spirit when he waved his hand and said, "I know, she's a female ghost. What she gave me just now was joss paper!"

As he spoke, he opened his hand holding the paper money, which had indeed turned into a piece of ghost money.

Xiaoling was very surprised and said, "You still accepted it knowing that? Aren't you afraid of losing money?"

"Oh dear, ghosts raising children, huh? I survived the three years of natural disasters and the ten years of the Cultural Revolution. So many people died back then. What kind of scenes haven't I seen? What kind of ghosts and monsters haven't I seen?"

I was stunned. He knew the other person was a female ghost, yet he was not afraid at all, and he even brought her baby food every day. I felt nothing but admiration and emotion for this old man, and my eyes welled up with tears. Then I glanced at Ah Yin, hoping that he could be like the old man and have more understanding and care for both people and ghosts.

"Young man, are you a wizard?"

"I'm not a professional, it's just a hobby, purely a hobby," I mumbled.

"You should be lenient when you can. She was just taking care of her mother and had no ill intentions. Just let her go."

"Yes. I know that. I came here to help them, to help the mother and child pass on to the afterlife. Do you know anything about its identity in its previous life?"

The old vendor nodded happily.

It turns out that the female ghost was named Xiaolan. She was a simple and honest girl who grew up in the South District. Her family saved every penny to support her to study at a teachers' college. She lived up to her expectations and graduated with excellent grades. She returned to her hometown to teach at a primary school in the South Gate.

However, shortly after starting her job, her father was killed in a car accident, and the driver fled the scene and has yet to be caught. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer, and to save her only remaining family member, Xiaolan began to take on a large amount of debt. At this time, a junior high school boy who had a crush on her reappeared and pursued her using various means. His father was now a nouveau riche and helped her pay off all her debts.

Soon after, Xiaolan's mother recovered from her illness, but she developed Alzheimer's disease. She no longer recognized anyone and was unable to take care of herself, requiring Xiaolan to feed and bathe her every day.

To repay the nouveau riche son, she gave herself to him on a stormy night, later becoming pregnant with his child and asking to marry him. But the man flatly refused. It turned out he had long since lost interest in love, believing money was everything, treating women as playthings, and pursuing Xiaolan was merely fulfilling unfulfilled desires from his youth. Now he was tired of her and had no desire to maintain the relationship, let alone marry her.

---janeadam

Reply [46]: Later, she learned that he had affairs with many hairdressers and hotel hostesses. His true nature was just a scumbag who played around with women everywhere. Asking him to take responsibility was nothing short of wishful thinking. In despair, she suddenly went into labor at home one morning in excruciating pain. As a result, she had a difficult delivery, and both she and her child were released. After her death, she continued to take care of her mother, who was suffering from dementia, every day.

Hearing this made me feel incredibly sad. This is why Xiaoyi often becomes extremely violent at night, causing trouble at her ex-boyfriend's house, filled with endless hatred. In reality, she just wants to vent and doesn't intend to harm anyone. When she comes back, she thinks of the lovely and pitiful child and is filled with endless love.

"How's that modern-day Chen Shimei doing now? Why doesn't Xiaolan just go find him?" Lin Caixia asked, feeling the same way.

"That kid got his just desserts. Once, he actually tried to seduce a gangster boss's woman, and ended up being hacked to death in a sewer. He was only discovered after he started to rot."

Then, following the old man's directions, we arrived at the home of the vengeful spirit Xiaolan.

It was carrying the ghost baby on its back, feeding the shaky, incoherent old woman soy milk spoonful by spoonful. Seeing us enter, it showed no surprise, but instead, filled with sorrow, put its finger to its lips and shushed us.

Pearl's tears streamed down her face. I walked quietly towards Xiaolan, then closed my eyes, took her hand, and transferred my spiritual energy to her, passing it through her mother's body to the ghost baby. This is because the ghost baby will not accept any spiritual energy from anyone except its mother.

The ghost infant's spiritual energy was incredibly powerful and chaotic, with thousands of energies swirling and colliding, as if trying to shatter its fragile soul that could barely maintain its small form. Fortunately, I had experience helping Xiaoqingzi and knew the principle of using qi as a vessel and guiding the energy accordingly.

It took me a full quarter of an hour to finally gather the thousands of streams of spiritual energy within its body and send them into the spiritual gateway of the infant's brain.

Unexpectedly, the ghost infant's power turned against me, sending its spiritual energy rushing towards me to invade my nerves. If it succeeded, I might be completely destroyed and become a vegetable.

Caught off guard, I was momentarily dizzy from the powerful surge of psychic energy. Fortunately, Ah Yin, who was standing beside me, pressed her hand against my back and channeled another kind of cold and mysterious energy through my meridians to block the necromantic energy.

"No!" the female ghost Xiaolan cried out anxiously.

The ghost baby opened its dark eyes and looked at Xiaolan with a puzzled expression.

"Child, this uncle is helping us!"

They communicated through thought for a very long time.

Suddenly, a crystal tear rolled down Xiaolan's eye. When the tear fell on the ghost baby, the ghost baby's whole body exploded like a flashbang, making the room as bright as day.

Later I learned that the tears of ghosts possess a life-giving power called love and rebirth.

Then, in a way that only I could clearly see, it transformed into a golden light, rose up from Xiaolan's arms, passed through the roof, and flew into the sky.

I quickly began chanting scriptures, and a protective spirit arose all over my body, enveloping the female ghost Xiaolan.

During the ritual, I had a heart-to-heart talk with her.

Finally, we reached a consensus: its mother would be handed over to the Civil Affairs Bureau and cared for by a nursing home. After thinking for a long time, it took one last, sorrowful look at its mother, and then, following the ghost infant, it swiftly headed towards the North Star to be reincarnated.

That evening, Ah Yin left in a hurry, saying he was going to visit his relatives. Actually, he was afraid that I would discover his identity and doubt his abilities. In fact, those who know me know that I am not that curious, much less gossipy.