Ma Minghui asked me what "evil spirits leaving the body" meant.
I explained to him that people have three souls and six spirits in total.
The three souls consist of the yang soul, yin soul, and the spirit that leaves the body.
The yang soul refers to our vitality, and without it, a person will die. As time passes, a person's vitality weakens and eventually vanishes, which is the cause of death.
The yin soul and the spirit leaving the body are usually linked together, also known as the ghost.
The yin soul is a person's pure soul, sincere, kind, and non-aggressive, representing a person's good intentions.
The spirit leaving the body is a person's ugly soul, fierce, cruel, and highly aggressive, representing a person's evil thoughts.
Normally, good and evil thoughts coexist peacefully in people, but after becoming a ghost, the 'Yin' soul and the detached soul mutually constrains each other.
But once a person's grudge becomes too deep, the balance of the constraint between the 'Yin' soul and the detached soul is lost, and the detached soul will separate from the 'Yin' soul and act alone.
I suspect that Ma Minghui's mother, Madam Ma, was truly wronged in her death, so her detached soul left first, followed by her 'Yin' soul.
What I saw at the time was Madam Ma's 'Yin' soul. If I had seen Madam Ma's detached soul, it would have been a disaster. I might have had to "explain" myself at Huang Xin's house that night.
The concept of the 'Yin' soul and the detached soul left Ma Minghui a bit confused and she didn't quite understand what I was talking about.
Dajinya concisely summarized: "The kind old lady ghost that Uncle Xiao Li saw that night is your mother. That is your mother's good intentions. And the one disturbing your family every day is also your mother. That is your mother's evil thoughts, understand?"
"I understand, I understand." Cold sweat started to appear on Ma Minghui's face, the thought of one's own family being troubled by their own ghost is mentally exhausting.
He asked what we should do now.
I suggested going to the scene to see what the situation was like at Ma Guohua's house.
Ma Minghui quickly agreed to go early the next day.
I said, "Why wait until the morning? Newly-born ghosts don't come out during the day. Let's go now."
Ma Minghui nodded repeatedly and drove us to Huang Xin's residential area.
When we arrived at Ma Guohua's house, Ma Minghui reached out to ring the doorbell, while his younger brother opened the door for us at the entrance of the building.
I stopped Ma Minghui, saying we were there to survey the scene, not to visit his younger brother's house. We should hide in a corner to quietly observe who was knocking on their door in the middle of the night, and it's best not to let Ma Guohua know about this matter for now.
Ma Minghui said that without his brother opening the door, they couldn't enter the building at all.
"Let's wait. We'll enter when another resident opens the door," I suggested.
Ma Minghui agreed repeatedly.
After a while, another resident opened the door, and the three of us entered. We took the elevator to Ma Guohua's floor.
After getting off the elevator, I led Ma Minghui and Dajinya to crouch inside the security gate opposite the elevator.
Inside the security gate was a staircase. We went up a bit and could just see a gap about the width of a palm on the outside of the security door. If someone was causing trouble, we would naturally be able to see from this angle, and if an evil spirit came to claim lives, we would also be able to hear the knocking on the door.
"What now, master?" Ma Minghui asked.
"What else can we do? Wait," I replied to Ma Minghui.
The three of us sat on the stairs, watching the outside. We were almost turning into sculptures, but unfortunately, we still didn't see the person or ghost we were hoping for.
At half past two in the middle of the night, Ma Minghui said he was really tired and, incidentally, asked why we didn't tire out even after squatting all night, and that we seemed more spirited as the night went on.
I watched attentively outside, without saying a word. Dajinya spoke up, saying that he has worked day and night without sleeping, and that's how he got through it.
Then, Dajinya worried that Ma Minghui was getting bored and handed him a business card, saying he was an expert in antiques in Panjiayuan market. Coincidentally, Ma Minghui had a hobby of collecting ancient coins, and they started chatting.
The two of them chatted and laughed, and before long, they even exchanged business cards, leaving me speechless. Even squatting in the stairwell, they still managed to make a good friend. It was really something.
Time continued to pass, and soon it was four o'clock in the night.
In theory, from four o'clock to five o'clock in the early morning, it is the weakest time for the sun's energy, and it's when ghosts are most active. Shouldn't the detached soul of the old lady have arrived by now?
Sure enough, she arrived.
Around quarter past four, I saw a blue shadow pass by the door.
It was the old lady carrying a puppy and pushing a baby carriage, wearing a sea blue shroud. Apart from pushing the baby carriage, this old lady was exactly the same as the Madam Ma I saw at Huang Xin's house.
"It's the detached soul, she's here," I non-verbally signaled Ma Minghui and Dajinya not to speak.
Dajinya came up to me and asked quietly, "Uncle Xiao Li, are you sure you're not mistaken? This detached soul is also a ghost, how come you can see her?"
I said I have recently gained the ability to see ghosts and communicate with "the other side".
After gaining this ability, I am in a spiritual state for a week, but the effect is poor. I can't communicate with ghosts or hear their voices, I can only see their images.
"Oh, no wonder. Should we go out or not?" Dajinya pulled out a small drum.
This drum is called the "Luo Shi Drum" and is a shamanistic device. Beating this drum continuously can drive away the 'Yin' spirits, and if the "Yin" technique is profound enough, it can even hurt the ghost.
I asked Dajinya not to be hasty. The old lady had suffered enough from being wronged in her death, and we shouldn't harm her.
Once the 'Yin' soul and the detached soul lose a soul, they will forever be lost souls and wandering spirits in the wild, never to be reincarnated or accepted by the ghosts. Unless absolutely necessary, I couldn't destroy the old lady's detached soul.
"So should we stay inside?"
"Yes, let's listen and observe, and I will think about who caused the old lady's wrongful death, we need to find out who's responsible!" I secretly told Dajinya.
Dajinya did not object and said he would follow my lead.
The three of us continued to squat at the stairwell, and the knocking on the door outside was getting louder.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
We all outside felt our hearts pounding, and the people inside were even more so, needless to say.
The knocking continued for more than ten minutes.
When the knocking finally stopped, I held my breath, and let Da Jinya and Ma Minghui pretend to smoke, acting as if they hadn't seen anything. I also lit a cigarette, lowered my head, and stole a glance from the corner of my eye outside the safety door.
Not a minute passed before an old lady in mourning clothes pushed a baby carriage through the safety door.
There was a baby in the carriage, or so I thought at first. But upon closer inspection, I realized it was a dog, a black one, with its head bowed. Looking at its head, it seemed like a purebred labrador, with two large floppy ears.
The old lady glanced at me as she pushed the dog through the safety door; from her eyes emanated bitterness and malice.
I continued to pretend not to notice. After the old lady had walked away for four or five minutes, I extinguished my cigarette butt and asked Da Jinya and Ma Minghui to accompany me to Maguohua's door.
Da Jinya asked me if I had really seen the old lady's spirit, to which I firmly replied: "It must have been the spirit of the old lady."
At the same time, I asked Ma Minghui, "Ma, your mother really likes dogs, right?"
"Yes!"
"Is the dog your mother raised a purebred labrador?" I asked Ma Minghui again.
Ma Minghui, excited, took hold of my hand and exclaimed uncontrollably: "Master, how did you know all of this? My mother did indeed raise a labrador. The dog lived for thirteen years, but it was suddenly stolen two months ago. My mother was heartbroken for a long time."
"Ah," I nodded, saying that makes sense. I just saw your mother's spirit, pushing a baby carriage containing the dog.
Upon hearing this, Ma Minghui immediately kowtowed in the direction of the elevator, saying, "Mom, our son really means well for you. We have no deep hatred between us, Mom, you can rest assured."
I sneered, saying, "No deep hatred? Would your mother seek revenge on Maguohua's family?"
"Huh?" Ma Minghui looked up at me innocently.
I pointed to the large gate of Ma Guohua's home and said, "You had a Taoist priest put a 'ghost-blocking charm' on this gate, and your mother’s spirit has to expend some Yin energy every day to smash this charm. If she were not seeking revenge, would she do that?"
"My mother is hitting the door just to smash that charm?" Ma Minghui was incredulous.
I said, "You can take a closer look at the charm paper, and you’ll definitely see several cracks on its surface."
Upon hearing this, Ma Minghui immediately used his phone's flashlight to carefully examine the charm. There was a cold sweat on his forehead as he, Da Jinya, and I all clearly saw three or four fine cracks on the charm, which were not easy to notice without careful examination.
"Master, what will happen if my mother smashes this charm?" Ma Minghui asked me anxiously.
I said two things will happen. First, your mother has the most Yin energy on the seventh day since her passing, so she will have the ability to break the charm and then take the lives of Maguohua's family. Secondly, breaking the charm will consume a lot of Yin energy. After breaking it and taking lives, her spirit will naturally fade away, and she will not be able to reincarnate and will forever be doomed to be a lonely wandering spirit.
Ma Minghui took a deep breath, not wanting either of these things to happen.
He immediately knelt in front of me, grasped my hand, and said that he would be grateful for the rest of his life if I could help his family through this calamity. As for the payment, it could be doubled.
The original remuneration was 50,000, so doubling it meant 100,000.
Da Jinya’s grandson was immediately delighted and hastily pulled Ma Minghui up, saying that we are here to avert this disaster, and warning Ma Minghui not to forget about the reward.
Ma Minghui wasn't short of money, and he repeatedly assured us that the reward would definitely be more, not less.
I patted Ma Minghui on the shoulder and told him to go back and rest for the night, and I would investigate further tomorrow morning to find out the reason for his mother's unjust death, after all, the one who rings the bell should do the service to untie it!
“Master, please come tomorrow,” Ma Minghui was not just all talk. He took out his wallet and pulled out all the money inside, stuffing it into my arms as a token of goodwill.
I coughed and pushed back the money, saying sternly, "I act purely out of reputation; what do you take us for, just throwing money around?"
After refusing Ma Minghui's money, I left with Da Jinya.
On the way, Da Jinya asked me how I intended to handle the "unjust death of the old lady" incident.
At this point, you must be wondering why an Yin person like Da Jinya needs to ask me for advice on handling Yin-related matters.
I'll explain here that this is one of our other "essential qualities"!