I didn't quite understand Big Tooth's meaning and asked her, "Clearly Cheng Yan's body is possessed by the spirit of the fox fairy, why would there be no Yin spirit?"
"Little Li, no matter what kind of fox fairy spirit you are, the point is there's no Yin spirit inside her body. If her body had even a slightly fierce Yin spirit, my rice ghosts couldn't have entered her body. So, you're just here to entertain me," Big Tooth said indignantly.
Oh!
Although the rice ghosts were also fierce spirits, they were just bullies; they could handle small things, but couldn't deal with anything significant. They were actually very afraid of fierce ghosts.
If Cheng Yan's body really had a strong Yin spirit, would the rice ghosts dare to enter her body?
Upon careful consideration, I understood. I guessed that the Yin spirit inside Cheng Yan's body and the fox fairy were one entity. The fox fairy was suppressed, and thus the Yin spirit was also suppressed. In this case, as long as I could unravel the mystery of the fox fairy's death, the fox fairy Xiao Cui would completely take away the Yin spirit from Cheng Yan's body.
"Great!" I patted Big Tooth's shoulder and said with relief, "Big Tooth, you've saved me a lot of money. I was worried about the fee for the Yin spirit. Now, I don't have to worry anymore."
"You mean you didn't know that the Yin spirit was gone from her body?" Big Tooth looked up, half skeptical.
I nodded and said, "Of course I didn't know, otherwise why would I have come all the way to Harbin to find you, Big Tooth?"
Big Tooth looked at me and slapped his thigh, "Why am I so stupid? If I had known you didn't know about this, I wouldn't have subtly guided you to perform a shamanistic ritual and charged you seventy thousand for it! Oh, I am so stupid, becoming more foolish as I age."
Haha!
We were all amused by Big Tooth's expressions.
At this moment, Big Tooth had miscalculated, and it was my turn to gain the upper hand.
In fact, I had another matter to ask Big Tooth for help with, which was regarding the unjust death of the old lady near Cheng Yan's house.
Last time, the ghost of the unjustly deceased old lady possessed Huang Xin and had a brief encounter with me. This was fate, and when fate calls, we must help, as it is our responsibility as those who deal with the supernatural.
I cleared my throat and said, "Big Tooth, are you short of money lately?"
Big Tooth hadn't fully recovered from his frustration and impatiently replied, "Yes."
"Alright! If you're short of money, I have a job to introduce to you," I started to talk in a patronizing tone.
As soon as Big Tooth heard that there was work, he immediately came over and said, "Hey, brother, you're like my own brother. Tell me the job quickly."
I cleared my throat and said, "It doesn't matter what the job is. It's a small matter for you, and it's my personal expense. You know that I'm not well off. The price is twenty thousand. Do you accept?"
"Little Li, it's hard to do underground business lately. The police are keeping a close eye on things. I only go to Panjiayuan once a month to help with a small task—just replacing a few tokens. I'm barely making ends meet. If you can increase the payment a bit, it would be better, right?" Big Tooth worried I wouldn't believe him and even took an oath: "If what I said was a lie, you can just cut me with a knife."
I wasn't about to fall for his tricks. Without saying another word, I got up and went to the coat rack, pretending to leave.
"Eh, Li, don't go. Let's talk about it." Big Tooth quickly grabbed me.
I turned around and said, "We've had a long-standing relationship for many years. I'm paying out of my own pocket to hire you for this job, and yet you're trying to swindle me? Are you still a human?"
Seeing that I was firm in my stance, Big Tooth immediately backed down. He raised his hand and said, "Fine, this is your job, Little Li, so I won't bargain. It's twenty thousand."
I smiled and stared at Big Tooth until he felt uneasy, asking what was wrong.
I said, "Why are you still standing there? Go pack your bags and come with me to Guangzhou."
...
With Big Tooth in tow, the five of us bought sleeper tickets back to Guangzhou and slept on the train. The next day, around noon, the train arrived at the station.
The five of us arrived at the entrance of Huang Xin and Cheng Yan's residential area.
Huang Xin spoke in a clear voice to me, "Li Ge, thank you for helping Cheng Yan this time. Give me your account number, and I'll transfer the money to you."
Oh, she's trying to break ties with me!
Is this a joke? I've been dragged into a huge mess because of you, and now you want to kick me out?
I said in a low voice to Huang Xin and Cheng Yan: Maybe Zhu Long didn't tell you, but I'll tell you. The fox spirit inside Cheng Yan's body, never really left. It was just temporarily suppressed. If we want to completely make the fox spirit leave, I have to investigate the cause of the fox spirit's death and give her a proper 'farewell'.
"Is that so?" Huang Xin looked at me suspiciously.
I asked: Do you believe me?
Luckily, Huang Xin answered decisively: I believe.
"Good, Cheng Yan, if you want to stay alive, you have to help me investigate the cause of the fox spirit's death these days. We can start by investigating the fox coffin the director made you lie in," I said to Cheng Yan.
Cheng Yan nodded and said it's not a problem.
Seeing that they agreed, I pushed Zhu Ying towards them and said: Right, Zhu Ying, you stay there for now. My place is messy and not suitable for a woman to stay in.
Zhu Ying is a very kind woman, and more importantly, Cheng Yan and Huang Xin have a good relationship with her. Although Zhu Ying doesn't speak much, it's clear that the two women don't dislike her.
Another point is, when Zhu Ying is around, we all feel safe, and the two women have no reason to object.
But the result is--Huang Xin is not happy.
She shook her head and said she couldn't let Zhu Ying stay.
Zhu Ying looked very downcast. The pain of rejection is something everyone has experienced, it's really painful.
I couldn't stand it and asked: Why not? Don't you have a three-bedroom apartment? There's a room available.
"It's a three-bedroom, but what about the rent?"
"I'll pay the rent, deduct it from my salary!" I was feeling frustrated and said.
As soon as I said that, Huang Xin immediately pulled Zhu Ying over and affectionately said: Zhu sister, you are really good. You acted all injured just now and made Brother Li want to pay. I don't care about the money, I just like to see Brother Li's deflated appearance, hehe!
Suddenly, Zhu Ying, Huang Xin, and Cheng Yan headed into the residential area, chatting and laughing.
My head was buzzing. After all, I was fooled by these three women. They had planned to live together from the start. Was Zhu Ying pretending to look pitiful just a part of these three women's plan to trick me out of some money?
Oh, Zhu Ying, oh Zhu Ying, you've only been out of the mountains for a few days, how did you learn to plot and scheme so quickly? You were such a pure girl, how did you turn bad so quickly?
I was so angry I could pound my chest and stamp my feet.
After calming down, I took Da Jinya out for a drink. I hadn't seen the guy for so long, of course we had to have a good time drinking.
At the dinner table, Da Jinya said to me: You're silly, letting Zhu Ying live with them? It's better to live with you. She's so pretty, young men should know how to seize the opportunity.
I smirked at Da Jinya: But if Zhu Ying lives with Cheng Yan and Huang Xin, then I have the opportunity to pursue three people, don't I? Old Jin, you need to learn how to be strategic.
Da Jinya gave me a thumbs up: Little Li, impressive!
After we finished drinking, Da Jinya wanted to go back to rest, but I told him to wait and went to investigate the case of the wrongful death of the old lady.
I took him to the security room of Huang Xin's residential complex and knocked on the door.
"What's up?" It was noon, and the security guard was taking a nap.
I said I had something to discuss with him and asked him to open the door first.
The security guard opened the door, and both Da Jinya and I went inside the security room.
I smiled and introduced to the security guard, saying that we were selling water heaters and asked if he could provide us with the contact information of the residents in the complex.
Without a second thought, the security guard waved his hand and said it was absolutely impossible because no one here buys our water heaters.
I smiled and took out two hundred yuan from my pocket and stuffed it into the security guard's pocket.
The security guard understood and took out a file and put it on the table. He repeatedly said that the contact information of the residents in the complex was confidential and couldn't be casually revealed, but he was honest and agreed to keep it private, then went out to buy a pack of cigarettes.
Heh heh! This security guard was on point.
Once he left, I opened the file. Inside were the contact details of the residents. Following the household number of the old lady from last time, I found out that the homeowner was named Ma Guohua.
"Ma Guohua, phone number 137xxxx5455." I noted down the phone number and left with Da Jinya.
At this point, I only knew the homeowner was Ma Guohua, which wasn't enough, so I sent this number to a friend who knew computer technology, asking him to help me find out the specific members and contact details of the Ma Guohua family.
After settling these matters, I went home with Da Jinya to rest.
Honestly, if I had another chance, I wouldn't have brought Da Jinya home. This guy, as soon as he entered the door, got drunk, collapsed on the sofa and started snoring loudly, keeping me awake in the bedroom all afternoon.
In the evening, my friend sent the specific information of the Ma Guohua family to my phone.
I looked at the file:
Ma Dingxiang, the deceased old lady, timid in personality, extremely fond of dogs, lived with her second son, Ma Guohua, who works as a journalist and frequently travels for news programs. He's married and has a son.
Hey, I really have to admire my friend's skills. In just an afternoon, he managed to investigate the entire family's information for me.
I decided to start with Ma Minghui.
After all, Ma Dingxiang lived with her second son, Ma Guohua. So, I suspected that Ma Dingxiang's wrongful death was closely related to Ma Guohua. This book will be updated frequently.
The old lady was wronged to death, it's impossible for the eldest son, Ma Minghui, to be completely unaware.
Right! Let's start with Ma Minghui.
I took out my phone and called Ma Minghui: Hello!
"Who is this?" Ma Minghui, who was in the steel business, spoke in a calm and polite manner.
"I am Li Shanshui, a professional 'yin' person, I want to talk to you about your mother's wrongful death," I said straightforwardly.
Click!
I spent a lot of effort introducing myself, but the other person hung up the phone directly.