"T-that... That cart is moving on its own!?" Mr. Lee gasped with astonishment, staring wide-eyed at my father, who smiled in turned at him and said:
"Don't be anxious. Continue."
Everyone was curious now, standing around Mr. Lee to have a look at the video footage. In the video, Fearless Hao was just passing by Mr. Lee's car with his electric scooter when a concrete cart sprang to life and began darting and banging around senselessly like bumper cars before it returned to its original position.
Everyone, Mr. Lee included, was gaping with shock, their eyes as large as the saucers on the table.
Mr. Lee stared disbelievingly at my father who then said, "I believe now the truth is clear, Lee. This object knocked your car."
Mr. Lee nodded willingly and was quiet for moments before he confessed, "In truth, the parts where my car was knocked were stained with cement and concrete. At the time, I myself was sure this could never be the work of an electric scooter.
“But I could not say anything when the security footage of the event showed only Fearless Hao passing through; that’s why I could only look to him to pursue my questions. Who would have thought that it was this cart that was the cause of the entire debacle?"
My father laughed and then said, "So I trust everything is clear now? Fearless Hao had nothing to do with this incident, and the blame should have never been on him."
Mr. Lee giggled and nodded before saying, "To be honest, I had never once thought of blaming Fearless Hao for the incident, in fact, I had never wanted him to pay for the damage, even if he did indeed knock my car."
Fearless Hao jumped in his seat, stunned with silence as his eyes began to turn red.
"It might have been due to the effects of the alcohol he had had earlier," I thought.
Mr. Lee then continued, "I was quite angry at first. But after my chauffeur had gone through the footage, he found out that Fearless Hao is a construction worker."
He now turned to Fearless Hao and said, "Look , I never wanted you to foot the bill for me. Relax, brother. I know that the repairs would cost me more than hundreds of thousands. The amount may be trivial to me, but not to you.. I would never do this to you?"
Both their eyes were red and teary.
"Drinking did indeed make these two men fast friends," I thought.
My father had worked his magic once again. He was looking at them both with a smile.
Mr. Lee and Fearless Hao continued talking for some time until Mr. Lee turned to my father with another question, "But there is still one other thing that I do not understand, Brother Hai. How it is possible that the concrete cart was moving on its own? What was happening?"
Beside him, Fearless Hao could only exhale heavily while my father, with his perpetual smile, answered, "Fearless Hao did not hit your car. In fact, the incident was hardly caused by a human."
Mr. Lee yelled, "What!?"
My father pressed on, "It was a ghost. Its purpose was to lay the blame on Fearless Hao."
Mr. Lee stared strangely at Fearless Hao, who was sighing heavily while nodding his head.
Just then, before my father could go on further, a voice, filled with anger and spite, boomed over the air, "Insolent fools!"
The voice had come from nowhere. A sudden rush of sensation filled our minds when the voice thundered throughout the hall. At first, I did not know how to put words to the feeling that suddenly assailed us. But my father told me much later that it was the ghost's "vengeful rage" resonating with us.
The sudden deafening voice came so unexpectedly that Mr. Lee and his wife, who was very young, were so badly startled that the lady began to scream with fear before collapsing to the ground.
Mr. Lee's face was also flush with fear. Fearless Hao was looking around the ceiling angrily, expecting to find something materializing out of thin air. Then I saw my father, whose kind smile had vanished, replaced with a sinister sneer so cold that everything around him seemed to freeze.
He produced the wine flask that he always had with him and opened it. There was a rush of winds lashing about as a strong suction began threatening to tug and draw everything into the flask. I heard a distinct and unmistakable fizzing sound and my father resealed his flask.
Everyone's eyes were on my father now, hoping for an explanation of the nightmare. But I had seen everything with my Spirit Sight earlier. I saw that a strand of black smoke was drawn into the flask the moment it was opened. My father shook the flask beside his ears as if listening to its contents gurgling and nodded with satisfaction.
He then said to Mr. Lee and Fearless Hao, getting ready to rise from his seat, "All is well, my friends. The ghost is subdued. Please carry on. I'll take my leave now."
Hearing this, Mr. Lee immediately held my father's arm and said, "No no no... Y-you... Y-you're now going back to deal with the ghost, brother?"
My father nodded in return and Mr. Lee, gleefully like an inquisitive child, said, "Heh heh heh, Brother Hai, for years I've lived and never have I laid eyes on anything so bizarre and weird like this. Come, show us more of your powers to conquer ghosts and demons!"
My father giggled and stared at Mr. Lee, saying, "This is the first time I'd heard that anyone is interested in observing how we work. You should take a leaf out of Fearless Hao's book and call yourself Fearless Lee."
This made everyone laughed. "Very well, since you'd asked," said my father, "I'll settle this matter here and now."
He then looked at me and instructed, "Make a call to Aunt Fen, Shiyan. Ask her to deliver a box of tea leaves that I've kept in the drawer in my office."
Replying with a simple "yes", I took out my phone and looked at the time. "It is eight in the evening, and Aunt Fen should still be at the Institute," I thought. I then made the call and relayed my father's instructions to Aunt Fen, giving her our present location and she agreed.
Putting down my phone, I gave a tacit nod to my father who returned a knowing nod to me before saying to the others, "All right. Let's wait then. We'll begin when the tea leaves are here."
It took only ten minutes for Aunt Fen to arrive at Mr. Lee's residence. She came up and handed to my father the tea leaves who said to her, "Please wait for us in the car. We'll just need a moment to finish up some things."
With a curt nod, she retreated downstairs. My father handed the box of tea leaves to Mrs. Lee, "Please, Mrs. Lee, we'll need three cups of tea."
Mrs. Lee nodded as she received the box and went off.
Puzzled, Mr. Lee asked, "Errr... Brother Hai, should it not be five cups of tea?"
My father laughed and replied, "No. The three cups of tea are for you both and Fearless Hao." Still feeling confused, it was apparent that Mr. Lee still had questions that he dared not ask.
Moments later, Mrs. Lee returned with some tea. The three of them took a sip as Mr. Lee peered strangely into the cup he had just tasted.
Noticing this, my father said to him, still grinning, "It is not easy dealing with ghosts since we humans and they have differing properties. The Yin energies exuded by ghosts might be too overwhelming by some humans. The tea is to help strengthen the Yang energy of humans."
Mr. Lee responded finally with an understanding "oh" and my father continued, "But you three will need to have more fruits in the next few days. Some honey will also help lest you suffer from constipation..."
Mr. and Mrs. Lee and Fearless Hao took a few more gulps of tea until my father gave them an approving nod. He took out the wine flask again and opened it. A black thread of smoke swirled out of the bottle and up into the air, hanging over our heads.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee were frightened with fear and I immediately held up a hand to signal to them that everything was under control. A voice came from the black fumes whirling about as the female ghost spoke bitterly, "If only you had not stuck your head into this..."
But my father smiled, cutting her off, "Haven't you heard? Even without my intervention, Mr. Lee never had the notion of asking Fearless Hao for payment for the damage."
But the female ghost retorted insolently, "Be that as it may, I will not rest until I have my revenge! I will return once more or twice, or even thrice! His meddling has hindered my rebirth! I want revenge! I want him to die!"
Sighing glumly, my father rebutted, "Are you this naive?"
My father's unexpected reply amazed the female ghost. He then continued, "You cannot defeat him even when he's a human. What happens if you were to cause his death? He would return as a vengeful spirit, and things would be all the worse for you. This is the first time I meet someone who's so eager to invite trouble upon oneself."
Lost for words, the female ghost could not respond
My father continued, "All lives and deaths are determined by destiny and karma. Hence the common saying that ‘no plans work without the grace of Heaven’. Let's take you, for example; you were destined to fail for your method of trying to gain rebirth is not right.
“Even with or without Fearless Hao's tampering into your designs, the laws of Heavens dictate that one way or another, your plans will fail! This is called Justice of Heaven. The premonitions of the Underworld are never wrong!"
The female ghost seemed less bitter and spiteful now, even though she was still seething with doubt and anger, as her hollow voice came, "I know of you. Your name is known across all planes of the afterlife. Even before this incident, you had been one of the persons I admired. I have been hoping to meet you and have my day!
“To think that you turned out to be an adversary! Your powers maybe beyond my abilities to challenge; still, I do not accept it! Justice of Heaven, you say? I had to sacrifice my chastity to the Hell Guard, Liu San, in exchange for this opportunity for rebirth. Now I failed. Does this mean that Liu San has cheated me? Is this the so-called Justice of Heaven?"
Instead, my father laughed and replied sharply, "Of course! Since you owed him a one-night-stand!"
What my father said sent everyone into surprise and bewilderment, including me. But Mr. Lee was first to break the silence, asking hesitantly, "But Brother Hai? Did I just hear you say 'one-night-stand'? Can one-nighters be owed?" "Of course," said my father, nodding matter-of-factly. He turned to the female ghost and said, "Let me elaborate on your past since you refuse to accept... "You were a servant girl of a wealthy and prosperous household. One day, the young lady and the madam of the family you served wanted to go to a temple outside the city to offer some prayers and offerings. You helped the young lady with her dressing and make up before the madam took her daughter out, leaving you at home. But when you were clearing up the young lady's dressing table, a golden hairpin caught your sight. You put on the pin and admired your looks with a mirror. But you should know that everything has its owner in this world, so you should not covet what
Aunt Fen and the female ghost Xiao Qi hugged each other suddenly and collapsed into tears together, right before all of us. Mr. Lee, who felt deeply moved, asked hesitantly, "This woman is..." My father sighed and answered, "Ah... She's the wife of Zhang Baoguo." Stunned by the revelation, Mr. Lee stammered, "Z-zhang... Z-zhang Baoguo? The Zhang Baoguo of the prominent business group, Zhang Group?" My father nodded. Mr. Lee was instantly petrified, staring at his wife before he turned to stare at Aunt Fen who was still on the ground, hugging Xiao Qi as they wept. He murmured, "But I remember Zhang Baoguo is already more than fifty, even older than me. I had long known that Zhang Baoguo had taken a young lady as his wife, but I did not expect his wife to be this young..." As he spoke, he was still eyeing Aunt Fen so intently that his wife elbowed him, displeased and jealous as if meaning to say, "Are you envious of others having a wife so
"The old man paused and stopped for a moment before he went on with his tale, 'Despite feeling astonished, I paid little care to it. I'm an old man. I might have been seeing things or hallucinating. After completing my purchases, I saw my wife leaving the house, her eyes straight ahead as if in a trance as she continued walking, ignoring me even though I asked her where was she going. But she just kept on walking and walking. I tried calling her, but she continued ignoring me, so I rushed forth and pulled her back. Strangely, she seemed to have more strength that she usually had, sending me into a tumbling fall with just a swing of her arm. Therefore I could only follow behind to see what's happening. " 'We continued walking until she stopped and began stretching her arms and grotesquely flailing her legs that I felt so horrified. Not knowing what to do, I called my son with my phone, and it did not take long for my son and his wife to come. My daughter-in-law is us
"Tears began flowing down the face of the old man. "He filled my cup again with tea and said to me, 'I know this might put you in a difficult position, Master. I am but a coal miner who does not know how to speak well. But the die has been cast. Please help us to make amends with Cousin Fen so that she would be tormented no more and she can be rebirthed again. Tell us what to do! Offerings, sacrifices, or prayer rituals; we'll do anything. Even if my wife has to depend on the Taoist's talisman for the rest of her life, or, maybe you can shave off a few years of my life! Please, Master! I'll even kneel to you!' The old couple fell to their knees and began to bow to me. I quickly pulled them up and said to them, 'Well well well. I'm not the one who's being tormented now. Moreover, I have promised you earlier; I'll refund you your payment if I'm unable to help you!' "This, at least, calmed down the old couple. Then I thought of a possible solution, and I as
The date was 28 July 1976 when the Great Tangshan quake took place. Everyone in Tangshan knew that the magnitude of the earthquake was undoubtedly higher than 8, even though the reported strength of the earthquake that had laid waste to the entire city of Tangshan was a mere 7.8. In mere days, the once-booming metropolis, now turned into a tract of ruins and rubble, had its inhabitants fleeing frantically to open areas for their safety. Like a stone in the middle of a flowing river, was a small vehicle, standing in the midst of the thronging evacuees rushing to leave the ground zero of the earthquake. It was an NJ130 truck, usually used by local dwellers for the transport of foodstuff, retrofitted with tall railings on the bed on its rear. Parked just at the side of the rubbles, some of the impatient and anxious inhabitants of the city leaped onto the truck bed and jumped over the top of the truck's cab. Some even squeezed through the sides in their haste to run away. Suddenl
I placed down my chopsticks and gazed at Mr. Zhang before I turned to the rest of the table and said, "And so we entered Mr. Zhang's office. My father took a seat and said, 'When you once found Nie Xiaojun his first work at the carriage station, there was something that you did not know, Zhang! Did you know that he had a colleague who also had a bumpy life?' " 'Oh? There's such a lad?' Mr. Zhang asked Nie Xiaojun pointedly. Nie Xiaojun nodded and replied, 'Yeah. A lost boy; about six to seven years old. He's the Yang Xiaoshan we know today!' "My father added sharply, 'And what a terrible life he's had! He lost his father to a sudden sickness when he was barely two. His mother tried to take care of him, but widows were dreadfully stigmatized and ostracized in those days. She then remarried to a Ma Lao'Er (literally the second son of Ma), a son of the Ma Family Ranch. This Ma Lao'Er was a tolerable person but his brother Ma Xiazi (literally Blind Ma) ill-t
Mr. Zhang broke into a fit of laughter as my father paused. Speaking to everyone at the table, he said, "I thought that since he had gone through so much trouble to help me, I should return the favor as well. But I did not know that instead of asking me for help, Brother Hai had visited me to offer me help! He asked me then, 'There were three of you when you swore an oath to be brothers and sisters. What happened to your youngest...'" Mr. Zhang interrupted himself by taking a sip of wine from his cup before he carried on, "I grew unhappy at the mention of my young sworn sister by Brother Hai and I grumbled, 'Alas... You do not know... I'd not complain that she was callous, but how could she have gone missing all of a sudden? I'd never believed for once that life in the city could be better. When we swore to be siblings, we had vowed to die together despite not sharing common birthdays. But she had never once come back! How could she! Look at Xiaojun! He had ref
My father was still speaking when Mr. Zhang, growing agitated, quipped suddenly, "All of you could not have possibly known how distressed I was when he brought up about the time of my fall! I was drunk when I fell off the building. But the fear had remained until today! This time when I stood on the second floor, my knees also softened like jelly and threatened to buckle! Brother Hai gave me a Taoist robe. He said that it would protect me from any harm if and when I had any contact with Fen's soul. But I had cared not for this; I was worried and perturbed! I promptly asked Brother Hai again, 'Do I need to tie something to myself? A safety harness or a rope maybe?' Instead, Brother Hai just smiled, 'No matter. I'm here with you. You will not be in danger even if you're standing at the top of a 20-storey building!' His carefree demeanor when he uttered the words spoke much of his confidence as if it was merely a walk in the park, yet I could not help feeling anxious!"