Otherworldly Merchant

After listening to Li Mingming, I broke out in a cold sweat.

It almost felt as if he was telling me a ghost story, but I knew that it was all real.

The old, white-bearded man was the main culprit.

“Li Mingming, do you have any old items, I mean a very old one, in your house?” I asked.

I suspected that the old, white-bearded man was the ‘spirit’ of an otherworldly item in his house.

Li Mingming thought then answered, “Uhm, I have a lot of antiques. Most of them are my father’s stuff and my mother’s dowry. I have a dressing table, a pear wood closet, an old radio, and so on.”

“Is there anything older than one hundred years?” I asked.

Li Mingming shook his head and said, “No.”

Then it was really strange. I contemplated and thought that there was only one possibility. Li Mingming’s house had an otherworldly item but he didn’t know about it.

Feeling helpless, I could only say, “It’s late now. How about staying in my shop tonight? Tomorrow, we will go to your house to check things out.”

Li Mingming nodded. “No problem. Anyway, I don’t dare to go home alone.”

After discussing things, Li Mazi bid me farewell.

”Where are you going?” I asked.

Li Mazi sighed and said, “I’ve rented a piece of land near Chu Chu’s grave to grow some honey peaches. She liked honey peaches the most.”

It seemed Li Mazi still couldn’t get over Chu Chu.

After a month, his affection for Chu Chu didn’t weaken. Instead, it got even stronger.

I was afraid that he would stay like this for the rest of his life.

I looked at him with worry. However, he smiled and comforted me, as though he knew what I was thinking. “Don’t worry, I understand. Chu Chu wouldn’t want me to waste the latter half of my life on a deceased person, either.”

I felt more relieved after hearing that. I talked to him for a while before bidding him farewell. I told him that after we were done with this case, I would pay a visit to Chu Chu’s grave.

Li Mazi nodded then left.

Since I was free now, I poured Li Mingming a cup of water and asked him for more details.

Li Mingming was a member of the ‘Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau’ in Beijing’s Dongcheng district. He was married and had kids. However, after the paranormal events started, he had sent his wife and kids to his wife’s parents. He didn’t want them to stay.

While we were talking, Yin Xinyue came to see me. These days, she was really busy with her company and wished she had a few clones to do everything she wanted. Since today was the weekend, she had a little time to relax.

I didn’t expect Li Mingming to recognize her.

“Are you the star Yin Xinyue, the one who appears on TV?” he asked.

Yin Xinyue smiled and said embarrassedly, “No, I just happen to look like her.”

Li Mingming was a little sad. “Oh, that’s too bad. My wife and children are Yin Xinyue’s fans. They'd really like to have her autograph.”

I could tell that he really cared about his wife and children. A man who cherished his wife and children had to be filial.

I took Yin Xinyue out for dinner. “Li Mingming, do you want anything for dinner?”

He shook his head, “It’s okay. I don’t dare to go out. Since my Yang energy is low, my luck is also bad. If I’m on the road, I would likely encounter an incident, like a car crash.”

I forced a smile and left with Yin Xinyue.

We went to a Japanese restaurant and had salmon. Yin Xinyue had a sad expression. I knew she was still thinking about Chu Chu’s death.

I didn’t know how to cheer her up. She had been with Chu Chu a lot recently, and they had built a strong bond. She liked Chu Chu because she was sincere and pure, which was really rare in a person.

However, after seeing Li Mazi being so depressed and hanging around Chu Chu’s grave for days, she felt even more heartache.

I sighed. This girl is very compassionate, and she really cares about other people.

Yin Xinyue’s eyes suddenly brightened. “Should I introduce Li Mazi to a girl? Perhaps we can pull him out of this slump that way!”

I thought carefully about this and considered it as a good solution. However, we couldn’t tell him that we wanted to get him a girl. We had to make him gradually accept her first.

Yin Xinyue smiled and said, “Leave everything to me! My university major is screenwriting, after all.”

After chatting, we returned to my shop.

Li Mingming had ordered food for two people from a nearby restaurant. I half-joked, “You sure can eat. You have a big appetite.”

Li Mingming placed down his chopsticks. “No, one portion is for me and the other one is for your grandfather.”

I was stunned. “My grandfather died seven or eight years ago. What are you talking about?”

When Li Mingming heard that, he almost dropped his rice box. He said to me cautiously, “Brother, don’t scare me. When I was taking a shower, a grandpa knocked on the bathroom door.”

I immediately became anxious. “I don’t even have staff in my antique shop. I’m the only one working here. How could you see an old man?”

But then, I thought, could it be that my grandpa’s ghost paid me a visit?

I rummaged through my house then showed Li Mingming a picture of my grandfather. He took a look at it and shook his head. “No, that’s not him.”

I exhaled in relief and sat down. “What’s happening here? Tell me the details, please.”

Li Mingming said, “While I was taking a shower, I heard someone knock on the bathroom door. I opened it a little and saw an old, bony man standing at the door. He was rubbing his beard. He told me not to waste too much water. I thought he was your grandfather so I nodded to show him that I understood.”

“It seems ghosts have been pestering you for real. They even followed you to my antique shop.” I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry.

“No, that’s impossible,” said Li Mingming. He was really anxious and scared. “Don’t scare me. That old man was a real human. He had a gentle voice and walked like a normal person…”

“You are really stubborn,” I said then walked to the storage room to pick up a plastic bag of lime. I sprinkled the lime powder in front of the bathroom door.

Shortly after, several footprints appeared on it. The footprints reached the door then disappeared. It seemed that the person had vanished into thin air.

After seeing the scene, Li Mingming was terrified. He couldn’t even eat. He looked at me in fright. “Whom have I provoked? Why is a group of old men pestering me? Brother, you must save me!”

“Don’t worry.” Although I said that, I wasn’t so sure how to deal with the situation.

Now, I was afraid of the white-bearded man the most. If the grave master said the truth and that old man almost crushed his soul with a book, this sort of ghost would be at a Ghost King’s level.

I couldn’t subdue him with force. I had to use another method.

Yet, the white-bearded man seemed to have made up his mind on killing Li Mingming. Could I talk him out of it?

Since the white-bearded man had warned the grave master, I was afraid he would come and warn me tonight as I was also involved in Li Mingming’s case. Thus, I decided not to sleep. I didn’t want him to sneak in while I wasn’t alert.

Tomorrow, we would go to Li Mingming’s house and see what otherworldly item was wreaking havoc. Then, I would deal with that item directly.

I brought out all the items that could expel evil spirits in my shop, including the Sirius Whip, the Yin and Yang Umbrella, and the Universe Compass. I even burned three joss sticks to Guan Yu. Then, I stayed in the living room with Li Mingming and watched TV.

After watching TV for a while, I suddenly smelled something strange. It seemed someone was smoking.

I sniffed and was certain about it. However, I scanned the room and saw nothing strange.

Li Mingming also smelled the smoke. He sniffed and pointed at my bedroom.

“Eh?” I frowned and looked at the direction of my bedroom.

Sure enough, there were some wisps of blue smoke. The smoke got out of the slit between the door and the wall. However, since my antique shop was large, the blue smoke dispersed after it got out of the bedroom.

Some ghost is smoking in my bedroom! 

 I stood up and walked toward my bedroom...