Chapter 9

This back-and-forth was so topsy-turvy it hardly resembled a price negotiation; it felt more like skirmishing.

Yu Zezhi took a sip of tea and actually said, “Yes. Since I intend to do you this favor, whatever you offer, I’ll take.”

“Really?” Wu Yinyu responded as if hearing a joke, not taking it seriously.

“Really,” Yu Zezhi said. She extended a single finger, pushing back the smoking pipe resting on the table before her, and stood up. “I have something urgent. Take the red jade for now.”

Wu Yinyu tilted her head up to look at her, biting the mouthpiece. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll take the goods and vanish far away?”

“You are from the Wu family,” Yu Zezhi said.

Wu Yinyu laughed, her shoulders trembling. In a soft, delicate voice, she said, “Everyone knows that within the Five Gates, I, Wu Yinyu, am the least trustworthy. And you still dare to trust me?”

“I dare. But it seems this meal will have to wait until next time,” Yu Zezhi turned away and added, “I will send you my account details later. If you wish to meet the previous owner, I can arrange an introduction. But she doesn’t know much either, and I’m afraid she won’t be able to answer much.”

To an outside observer, people of the Five Gates all had this slightly archaic way of speaking. Yet it wasn’t a forced affectation. Perhaps from frequently walking as impermanence envoys, they couldn’t help but pick up some of the mannerisms of the entities down below.

Yet with Yu Zezhi, it was even more pronounced. Her speech simply didn’t resemble a modern person’s at all. And on her, there was no dissonance whatsoever, as if this was precisely how she should be.

“Alright, no matter. Take care, Boss Yu.” As Wu Yinyu watched that silhouette disappear behind the screen, she suddenly felt the box of tobacco in her hand had become bland and flavorless. Even her heartbeat seemed to slow considerably.

After Yu Zezhi left, Shengxian Treasure Shop served the dishes pre-ordered earlier. Fortunately, the portions weren’t large. Wu Yinyu tasted a bit of everything and ate until she was half-full.

It was intended to be a shared meal, but in the end, she was the only one who ate. Yu Zezhi had left so quickly, almost as if she’d come solely to deliver the jade. Once it was done, there was no further reason for her to stay.

When paying the bill, Wu Yinyu learned that Yu Zezhi had already settled it in advance. So now, it was like she’d gotten a free meal and a free piece of jade.

Thus, upon receiving the account number, she immediately had someone transfer the amount equivalent to the auction price to Yu Zezhi, just to ease her mind.

Since the jade pieces were identical, a price too high or too low would be inappropriate. Paying the same price was the most proper approach.

Wu Yinyu called her driver back. In the car, she once again examined the two pieces of jade in her hands. They were clearly red like blazing fire, yet they inexplicably froze her palms, draining them of warmth. This could not be ordinary jade material.

The more she looked, the more she felt these two jade pendants were extraordinary. If she took them for appraisal, they’d certainly be confiscated. She couldn’t allow that.

Back at the Wu residence, Wu Yinyu ran straight into Wu Wanying as soon as she entered.

Wu Wanying was just about to go out. Seeing her, his footsteps paused. “Just getting back from Elder Lu’s place?”

“No.” Wu Yinyu raised her hand, the USB flash drive pinched between two fingers. “I left quite early. I got a copy of the surveillance footage.”

“How did the discussion go?” Wu Wanying asked.

Wu Yinyu walked upstairs, leaning on the banister. She looked down and said, “There will be results. But I think you should avoid contact with Elder Lu for the next few days.”

“Elder Lu himself hasn’t noticed anything. You’re probably being overly suspicious,” Wu Wanying said.

Wu Yinyu folded her arms, speaking dismissively, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Expression unchanged, Wu Wanying walked out the door. Compared to her younger sister, notorious for her playgirl reputation, she clearly trusted Elder Lu more.

Once upstairs, Wu Yinyu ensconced herself in the dark, windowless attic and repeatedly reviewed the several segments of surveillance footage.

The Five Gates had different specialties. The Lu and Liu families, for instance, excelled in ancient methods of exorcism, identifying ghosts by qi. They used brute-force methods, employing items like peach wood swords and willow branches to force ghosts into submission.

The Feng family possessed the hereditary Yin-Yang Eye, which perceived form, not qi. They often suppressed ghosts with talismans. The Yu family controlled puppets. As for the Wu family, they possessed the power of Retrocognition, able to revisit events of bygone days.

In truth, Wu Yinyu could do it all. But she had never breathed a word of this to anyone. Precisely because of this, she often suspected she wasn’t truly a child of the Wu family.

In the video, Lu Yiqi hadn’t strictly followed the instructions she’d given. Not only had he failed to place the copper coins step-by-step, he’d even gotten into a car.

There was no sound in the footage, so she couldn’t tell if Lu Yiqi and Feng Qingshuang had called and responded to each other. But even if they hadn’t, the punishment shouldn’t have been disappearing from existence. Failing the ritual was the worst that should have happened.

Wu Yinyu dragged the progress bar, repeatedly watching that yin energy as it consumed Lu Yiqi and Feng Qingshuang completely. She also consulted books but still reached no conclusion.

Ink fragrance. That single detail was enough to overturn all hypotheses.

Where in the world was there a sinister, evil energy that carried its own ink fragrance?

Just as Wu Yinyu was about to watch it again, she received a call from Yu Zezhi.

The person on the other end said, “You sent too much money. How am I supposed to do you a favor like this?”

Still staring intently at the projection screen, Wu Yinyu answered absently, “Just take it. I treat both jade pieces equally. If the price paid wasn’t equal, it would seem like I didn’t value it enough.”

“How could that be? In my eyes, the price of a favor is quite high,” Yu Zezhi said.

“You seek your favor, I pay my price. We each handle our own side of things,” Wu Yinyu let out a low chuckle.

“Is Miss Wu busy?” Yu Zezhi realized the person on the other end sounded a bit distracted.

“Have you heard about the disappearance of Lu Yiqi and Feng Qingshuang?” Wu Yinyu pressed the pause button. With a slight hint of apology, she said, “You seem to have just returned to Wise City and aren’t yet too familiar with the Five Gates. Maybe you don’t know those two.”

“I do know them,” Yu Zezhi said flatly. “Since I returned to inherit the Yu family, of course I had to investigate everything thoroughly.”

“Boss Yu is so capable,” Wu Yinyu offered faint, insincere praise.

“You flatter me,” Yu Zezhi remained modest. “I’ve heard a bit about this matter. I wonder if there’s any way I can help.”

At their first meeting, Wu Yinyu had seen at a glance that this person wasn’t some warm-hearted busybody. Yet this person seemed determined to do her a favor. She couldn’t help but be suspicious.

Since Yu Zezhi wanted to sell her a favor, and Wu Yinyu suspected ulterior motives, she simply decided to step into the trap. “Actually, there is something Boss Yu could help with.”

“Just tell me,” Yu Zezhi said.

Wu Yinyu turned and pulled open a drawer, taking out a heavy brocade pouch filled with Five Emperor Coins coated in chicken blood. “Tonight, I’ll have to trouble Boss Yu to accompany me to the City First Hospital.”

“Doing what?” Yu Zezhi asked.

“Soul Summoning.” Wu Yinyu then found a rust-speckled weighing beam. “Will you be afraid?”

By now, Lu Dongqing was probably trying to find a way to summon back Lu Sansheng’s soul. But she had a strange premonition that Lu Sansheng’s soul wouldn’t be coming back.

“Afraid?” Yu Zezhi said, very calmly, “If I were afraid, I wouldn’t have returned to Wise City.”

“Then shouldn’t I thank Boss Yu in advance for this enormous help?” Wu Yinyu inspected the weighing beam. After thinking it over, she opened a wooden drawer and took out a palm-sized glass jar. Unscrewing the lid, she dipped a forefinger inside. The bright red chicken blood seeped into her nail bed.

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Then I’ll see you tonight, Boss Yu.” Wu Yinyu drew a few strokes on the scale pan with her hand. She turned, took out some yellow paper, folded two gold ingot-shaped spirit money pieces, and placed them onto the scale pan.

Before leaving the house that night, Wu Yinyu made another trip to the shrine hall. She wiped down the ancestral tablets for the past generations.

The fruit offered on the incense table was fresh, but the incense candles were about to burn down to their ends again. The burner was piled high with ash. Catching a sudden whiff of something, Wu Yinyu reached into the incense burner and grabbed a fistful. She lowered her head and sniffed her palm.

A rotten, putrid smell.

The past generations of the Wu family had been sent off long ago. She had personally escorted Wu Qiyu to the Two-World Sea. A weighty man in life, after death, he weighed less than incense ash.

However, even though that man had crossed the Two-World Sea, he had never solved the mystery of her origins for her.

These past few years, although incense was still offered at the Wu family shrine hall, no souls had actually returned to receive it. Because the incense wasn’t consumed, the remaining ash was clean, without the slightest unusual odor. But if a ghostly evil had fed on it, the ash would be tainted with other scents.