Chapter 18

“That is quite baffling.” Yu Zezhi was unnervingly calm; the earlier fatigue in her eyes had vanished completely. “We must be even more careful then.”

Wu Yinyu put down her smoking pipe, unable to discern what Yu Zezhi was planning. She said slowly, “That thing appears and disappears unpredictably. Who knows what grudge the person behind it holds against the Five Gates? The urgent matter is to find a way to capture that driver.”

“I was just thinking the same,” Yu Zezhi said. “But how did you figure out it has a grudge against all five gates?”

Wu Yinyu spoke half-evidently, “To be honest, the first time I saw this thing was beside Wu Wanying. It must have been brought back from Elder Lu’s place, just before Lu Yiqi and Feng Qingshuang’s incident.”

She swayed the tassel of her smoking pipe. “Unfortunately, that thing vanished in an instant.”

Yu Zezhi was unusually focused, her expression distant and indifferent.

Wu Yinyu felt a prickle on the back of her neck under that gaze. Narrowing her eyes, she asked, “Does Boss Yu not believe me?”

“How could I not?” Yu Zezhi asked. “And after that? Did you see it anywhere else?”

Wu Yinyu glanced toward the shadows out of the corner of her eye. “It followed Wu Wanying to the Wu residence. Seems to be hiding somewhere. I’ve seen it in the shrine hall, and also in the mirror in my bathroom.”

“Can’t you catch it?” Yu Zezhi lowered her eyes, looking indifferent and detached, as if not particularly concerned.

“Of course not.” Wu Yinyu clicked her tongue. “If I could catch it, would I need to trouble Boss Yu?”

Come to think of it, this matter was truly bizarre. This thing had devoured Lu Yiqi and Feng Qingshuang. It lurked in the Wu residence for a long time, yet hadn’t caused any real harm to her or Wu Wanying. Who knew what it was waiting for?

“Then I must trouble Miss Wu to show me around,” Yu Zezhi stood up. The yellow paper puppet that had followed them was stuck to her shoe heel, its thin head bobbing drowsily.

After a whole night of commotion, even the dog was exhausted beyond measure.

Wu Yinyu joked, “If you don’t send it back soon, it might really get angry.”

Yu Zezhi simply picked up the paper effigy, drew out the dog’s soul, and sent it back to the Yu Residence in one breath.

Without its soul and no longer controlled, the paper effigy naturally collapsed limply onto the floor.

Having sent the soul back, Yu Zezhi rummaged in her bag, took out a lighter, and burned the remaining paper puppet.

Wu Yinyu raised an eyebrow slightly. In all these years, the Wu family had never kept anything besides people. Let alone cats or dogs, they hadn’t even kept fish.

As the Head of the Five Gates, the Wu family had to visit the underworld almost daily. When they returned home, they would inevitably bring back some Yin and evil energies, which would affect any living creatures in the house, so they simply gave up on keeping pets.

“What’s that dog’s name? Should we take it out for a walk someday?” Wu Yinyu stood up holding her pipe, stepping down the not-so-sturdy attic stairs.

“Mengmeng,” Yu Zezhi said.

Wu Yinyu repeated, “Mengmeng? Like cute?”

“As in lemon. It was found under a lemon tree. Suhan liked it very much, so it stayed,” Yu Zezhi answered dispassionately. [T/N: Mengmeng sounds like the ‘meng’ in Ningmeng, the Chinese word for lemon.]

Wu Yinyu let out an “Oh.” After descending the stairs, she looked toward the end of the corridor. Seeing the doormat outside Wu Wanying’s room was clean, her heart relaxed slightly.

She first took Yu Zezhi into her room. The bathroom was spotless, only the recently changed qipao lay crumpled in the laundry basket. Where was any black shadow?

“Want to check other places in the room? Feel free to look in the wardrobe or under the bed,” Wu Yinyu crossed her arms and leaned lazily against the wall.

Yu Zezhi only took a cursory glance, seeing nothing suspicious. “No need. Let’s go see the shrine hall.”

Leaving the room and turning left led straight to the shrine hall. The hall was a low structure with black tiles and white walls, creating a stark contrast with the detached villa next to it. There was a strange sense of dissonance, as if two different times and spaces had been carelessly stitched together.

Wu Yinyu pushed open the door and walked to the Spirit Table. She drew three incense sticks from the box, lit them using the candle flame, turned around, and handed them to Yu Zezhi.

Yu Zezhi entered without immediately scanning her surroundings. She properly received the incense, bowed three times, and then inserted them into the burner.

The moment she inserted the incense, her hand paused.

Wu Yinyu knew the other woman must have sensed something. She reached into the burner to dab a bit of ash, rubbed her fingertips together, and asked, “Boss Yu smells it too?”

“When did this start?” Yu Zezhi also dabbed some incense ash, lifting her hand to her nose to smell.

The incense ash in the burner stank foully; it had clearly been secretly consumed by Ghostly Evil.

Wu Yinyu rubbed her fingertip clean and narrowed her eyes. “Just these past two days. I discovered it accidentally when offering incense.”

“Not before?” Yu Zezhi brushed the ash off her hand.

Wu Yinyu shook her head. “Wu Wanying lacks some natural talent; he’s not good at these things. For the past month, he’s been personally managing the spirit hall. I only found the oddity after I took over.”

Yu Zezhi’s eyes darkened slightly. “This is different from that Ink Fragrance. This was left by Ghostly Evil.”

“Of course, I know that. But, Boss Yu, are you trying to say the Wu residence is quite lively?” It wasn’t impossible, but Wu Yinyu made a bitter joke, trying to find humor in misery.

Yu Zezhi gave a cold, thin smile and only then began to look around.

The shrine hall contained nothing but the Spirit Table, with several pillars standing apart.

On the beam above, the narrow ventilation opening was blocked by iron bars, already rusted, showing their age.

Yu Zezhi looked steadily at Wu Yinyu and asked with hidden meaning, “When I came in, I heard Boss Wu mention the photos. I wonder if the ghost stealing the incense offerings could be related to the woman in the photos who never showed her face.”

Wu Yinyu felt inexplicably as if the other woman was probing her.

She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. “Not likely. After twenty-three years, she should have left long ago. Besides, I’ve never sensed anything strange in the incense burner before this.”

“That is true.” Yu Zezhi’s lips curled slightly; her posture seemed quite relaxed.

Wu Yinyu looked up, searching for a while, and finally spotted the half-hidden section of hemp rope on the beam. Pointing, she said, “The hemp rope I mentioned to Wu Wanying, it’s right there.”

Yu Zezhi followed her pointed direction and naturally saw the gray-black rope.

She placed her hand on a wooden pillar in the room, gazing up silently. When she looked away, her gaze seemed strangely lingering.

Wu Yinyu watched Yu Zezhi’s back and inexplicably felt that Yu Zezhi was quite familiar with this place, as if she had been the one who placed that hemp rope there.

An ordinary person visiting for the first time would inevitably feel uncomfortable, yet Yu Zezhi remained so composed and natural. Wu Yinyu didn’t know if it was simply her nature.

Wu Yinyu explained, “I first noticed something off about the incense ash in the burner. Then I saw ink stains on the pillar. Following the pillar upwards, I saw that section of hemp rope on the beam. That’s why I asked Wu Wanying.”

Yu Zezhi turned toward her, an eyebrow slightly raised, as if asking, And then?

Wu Yinyu chuckled and said meaningfully, “As you can see, my brother took a trip to Jadeite Garden. But he asked nothing, instead bringing back a stack of nonsensical photos.”

The photos were indeed taken in the shrine hall; the narrow vent and several wooden pillars hadn’t changed. However, the iron bed from the photos was nowhere to be found.

Wu Yinyu looked at the spot where the iron bed should have been. That area was now empty, the floor spotless. Gazing at that spot, she said, “Could those photos have been taken after the woman hanged herself? That’s why her image couldn’t be captured in the picture?”

“No.” Yu Zezhi’s denial came too quickly, so quickly it seemed she knew something about the events of that year.

Wu Yinyu looked at Yu Zezhi. This person was around her own age. How could Yu Zezhi know things she herself didn’t?

She couldn’t help but smile, her voice light and airy as she spoke, “Hearing you say that, someone who doesn’t know better would think you’re twenty years older than me.”

Yu Zezhi reasoned logically, “Judging from the photos, this was a living space before being converted into a shrine hall. A newly dead ghost wouldn’t require moving the ancestors here to suppress it. Perhaps she was already not human when she first arrived at the Wu house.”

Wu Yinyu couldn’t refute that. Her thoughts drifted, and she complimented absently, “Boss Yu is clever.”

Yu Zezhi added, “But if the hemp rope was left by that woman, could the Ink Qi have tracked its way here because of this rope?”

“Not necessarily.” Wu Yinyu didn’t quite agree. “It could just be a coincidence that they ended up in the same place.”

Yu Zezhi walked over to the pillar, scraping her thumb against the pillar’s paint a few times. Unfortunately, the ink marks had long since vanished; she scraped nothing off.

She gave a faint smile and said calmly, “Take it down and have a look. Perhaps then the truth will be revealed.”