Chapter 5: Li Shenpo

  My mother stood up abruptly, huffing and puffing, saying: "You won't go? I will!" After finishing speaking, she walked towards the door. My father grabbed her hand and said that Li Shenniang had a strange habit - whoever wanted to see her had to go to her place in person, she wouldn't condescend to come to the patient's home. My mother glanced at me and said: "Then we'll take Xiaodao there."

  My father came to the bedside and asked if I could get out of bed, I barely sat up from the bed and said yes. My father called my mother to fetch a basin of hot water for me to wash my face. After washing my face, I changed into another set of clothes, feeling much better, but with a heavy head and light feet, it was very difficult to walk, and under the support of my parents, I finally got on the motorcycle.

  Mother also had to follow, father asked her to stay at home and said that there might be guests coming. Mother asked father what kind of guest, but father replied ambiguously, saying it was possible they would come, or maybe not, so he asked mother to stay at home and wait, if they really came then call him.

  On the road, I thought of Wu Lele and asked my father if she had woken up. My father said she was already awake. Thinking back to what happened between us that night, it felt like a dream.

  After arriving at Lichun, my father stopped the motorcycle in front of a house. It was one of those traditional quadrangle courtyards left over from the old wealthy families of the past. The house had long since lost its former splendor, with many wooden walls having turned black and covered in the marks of time, but the ground was swept very clean.

  My father and I had just gotten off the motorcycle, when a girl walked out of a house from the east. My father asked her, "Ling'er, where's your mother?" The girl replied, "My mother isn't seeing guests today."

  "Hasn't the guest arrived? Is she deliberately avoiding me?" The father said to the girl, "Go and ask your mother if she's ill. The doctor has come to see her."

  "My mother is not ill," the girl said: "She's in good health, you can go back."

  That girl was about eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a light white shirt, with short hair and an oval face. Her figure was elegant, fair and dignified. Compared to Wu Lele, she seemed to have something more - spirit? At that time, I really thought so.

  Her expression looked a bit melancholy and seemed unhappy.

  I was captivated by her at first sight, hoping she would take a closer look at me, but she just glanced at me and then shifted her gaze away, which made me feel very disappointed.

  Her name is Zhong Ling'er, and she is Li Shenpo's only daughter.

  Nowadays children call their mothers "mom", so why does she call her "niang"? It's strange.

  Father raised his voice and said: "Girl, go tell your mother that Dr. Yang wants to ask her some questions."

  Zhong Ling'er looked at us again, and I quickly met her gaze, hoping to catch her eye, but she just glanced at me and turned back into the house, as if not wanting to look at me anymore. Father grunted, also very unhappy with Zhong Ling'er's sluggishness.

  After a while, Zhong Ling'er came out and called us in.

  I followed Father into the main room and saw a woman sitting in front of a tea table, wearing a black silk dress and a pair of old-fashioned glasses.

  She glanced at my father and me, but didn't get up to greet us. Instead, she asked in a low, husky voice what we had come for. Her tone was unpleasant to hear, and by comparison, Zhong Ling'er's voice sounded much sweeter. Yet her face was covered with wrinkles, giving off an air of having weathered many storms. I couldn't help but wonder how such an ugly woman could have given birth to such a beautiful girl. She seemed to see right through me as she gave me a piercing glance, which startled me greatly.

  Is she the legendary Li Shenpo? I'm a bit skeptical, in my heart, Shenpo should at least have an ethereal and elegant demeanor, but this Li Shenpo is just like a ordinary rural woman.

  Later, I mentioned this to my father. He said that the things the shaman does usually involve communicating with ghosts and spirits, and even require possession by them, which is very physically taxing, so they age quickly and their bodies are also worse than those of ordinary people.

  My father sat down in front of the fortune teller with a big smile, and I looked around, trying to find Zhong Ling'er, but after searching for half a day, I didn't see her shadow. My father called me to sit down, but I didn't hear him. Li Shenniang looked at me and asked: "Whose child is this? Why are you sneaking around?"

  I just came back to myself and felt very embarrassed, how could this fortune teller speak like that? Her tongue is really poisonous.

  His father was also unhappy, pouring himself a cup of tea and saying with great displeasure: "This is my child, usually very clever and lively, but now he has become like this, all thanks to you."

  "Oh?" Li Shenpo looked at me again and said something that shocked me: "He's not even my child, what makes you say he was born with my blessing?"

  It was then that I realized my father and this Li Shennu were extremely familiar with each other, and from their conversation, it could be seen that they were not ordinary acquaintances.

  My father told me about my marriage to Wu Lele and asked Li Shenpo, what exactly is going on with Wu Lele, why did she wake up after our marriage, but I fell ill instead, and very seriously at that. Li Shenpo said that Wu Lele wanted to get married because in her past life, she had a marital predestined relationship with me that was not fulfilled, and the obsession from the past life was very strong, so this led to her being trapped by the past life in this life.

  What a ridiculous thing, I listened to it with great skepticism, but my father believed it and asked Li Godmother why I fell ill. Li Godmother called me over, I hesitated, my father gave me a look to go over, so I walked in front of her, she squinted at me with a pair of eyes, then told me to squat down and open my eyelids for observation, after that, she said to my father "As a doctor, can't you see it yourself?" My father shook his head, Li Godmother sneered: "Then being a doctor is useless."

  I felt extremely annoyed and blurted out to Li Shenpo, "My dad is an ordinary doctor who treats people's illnesses, not ghosts' illnesses. I must have bumped into a ghost when I was marrying Wu Lele in spirit that night, so my dad couldn't see it."

  Li Shenpo sneered and asked, looking at me: "Giving people treatment?" After finishing, she looked at my father again. My father waved his hand to her and said: "Don't play this trick, just say what's going on with my son."

  "That's for him to ask himself." Li Shenpo said calmly: "Ask him what happened that night?"

  I was startled, had Li Shennu found out about what happened between me and Wu Lele that night?

  My father looked at me with his eyes and asked, "That night... I think you and Wu Lele... did it? How can this be said? I hesitantly replied, "That night... nothing happened, I fell asleep in the coffin, and then I didn't know anything else."

  Li the fortune teller sneered again and said that my illness was nothing serious, and I would be fine after a few days of rest. My father seemed to believe her words, furrowed his brow and said: "There is one thing I don't understand, since Wu Lele hasn't died yet, why did you arrange a ghost marriage?" Li the fortune teller glared at my father and said: "Who says she's not dead? She's already dead."

  "What?" How could she be dead? Didn't Old Man Wu say that Wu Lele wasn't dead? I exchanged a glance with my father, who asked sternly: "Are you certain she's dead?" Li Shenniang retorted: "As a doctor, don't you know whether someone is alive or dead?" My father's face turned extremely awkward, and after a moment of thought, he raised his voice to say to me: "Xiao Dao, you're the same age as Ling'er, go find her and see if you two get along."

  My heart suddenly skipped a beat, could it be that Father has also noticed my love at first sight for Zhong Ling'er? What's strange is that Li Shenpo didn't object to my father's words, she just sat there expressionless and drank tea. I had actually been wanting to go find Zhong Ling'er for a long time, so I took the opportunity to slip out.

  I reached the outer hall, but I felt uneasy again. My father's true intention was not to ask me to find Zhong Ling'er, he might be trying to get rid of me. Did he want to have a private conversation with Li Shenpo? Moreover, I also urgently wanted to know whether Wu Lele was alive or dead, why didn't my father finish telling me about this before getting rid of me?

  I stood outside the door and listened carefully, hearing my father say: "It seems that this matter is indeed strange. I clearly found that Wu Lele was breathing." Li Shenpo hummed softly and didn't respond, probably not bothering to answer. As a spirit medium, if she said someone was dead, then they were definitely dead.

  I also heard my father say: "Old Song may come these few days." Li Godmother asked: "What is he coming for?" My father said: "Probably because of that thing ten years ago."

  Ten years ago? They knew each other ten years ago? What exactly happened between them back then? And who is that Old Song again?

  Suddenly, a footstep sound came from behind me. I turned my head and almost jumped out of my skin. Zhong Ling'er was standing two meters away from me, staring at me without moving.