Guai Dao Hu Zong Ren

  Teacher Ma and Director Wang looked puzzled, possibly because they didn't know why Hu Zongren suddenly asked this question so abruptly. But after thinking for a moment, they both said in unison: Yes, more than one.

  Earlier, Director Wang mentioned when introducing himself in his office that although he had been working at the school for many years, his seniority was not as old as Teacher Ma's. He didn't say why he became the Dean of Studies either. However, looking at it now, if both teachers said they had experienced such an event, then it would be closer to Hu Zongren and my guess.

  Teacher Ma said that in the 1990s, specifically which year he couldn't recall, a student was involved in a car accident while going home for the weekend. The student's family members were driving to pick him up when they flipped over and everyone died. The school even held a memorial service on campus for that classmate. However, the one who died was a male classmate.

  Hu Zongren shook his head, saying it definitely wasn't this incident.

  Teacher Ma continued to recall that there was another time in 2000 when an out-of-town female student went outside the school after class, possibly to eat, and was run over by a large truck backing up on the slope next to the main gate of our school. At that time, the school also held a special meeting for all teachers and students during class hours to discuss student safety during extracurricular activities, and invited many teachers and classmates from schools in our district to attend.

  I remember this incident because that year I was in Yunnan, and my mom called me to tell me that a female student near my school had been run over by a large truck. She told me to be careful when going out and not to cross the road recklessly. Since my mom specifically warned me about it, it means that at the time, many people in the Wulitun area must have known about this incident.

  At this point, Teacher Ma and Director Wang seemed to have thought of something, especially Teacher Ma, who looked at me and Hu Zongren with a terrified expression, wanting to speak but hesitating. Hu Zongren said to Director Wang, "Director, let's go back to school now. You check the school's historical archives, make some phone calls to ask people who knew about this matter back then, find out the girl's name, her student ID photo, and birth information, etc. We'll take care of this matter tonight when we get back." Director Wang asked, "It's not difficult to investigate, but how do you plan to handle it?"

  Hu Zongren said, I want to have a dialogue with her.

  We continued to chat with Mr. Ma for a while and found that since his memory was interrupted, he couldn't provide us with any valuable information. However, what he said earlier about being conscious for a few seconds after fainting is still unknown to us. So we bid farewell to Mr. Ma, asking him to rest well at home. Hu Zongren also gave him his phone number and told him that the school would be spotless by tonight, asking him not to disappoint the school leaders' kindness and not to worry anymore.

  Because of the sincerity, Teacher Ma also believed us. So we followed Director Wang and drove back to school. At that time, it was already almost 11 pm, and the school's curfew had long passed. The two small security guards at the school gate were huddled together, giggling and laughing, probably telling some dirty jokes. Director Wang took us back to his office first, and all the way, he kept making phone calls to ask about what happened in the past. He even temporarily and strongly pulled out the staff member who was in charge of student records from their dormitory and brought them back to the office to find the files.

  Director Wang told us that the students' academic records and personal files are temporarily kept in the school for safekeeping and recording when they enroll, and after graduation, they will be transferred to a new school or unit, or some students take them away themselves and keep them elsewhere. So what the school can find here is just some basic information from when that deceased female student first enrolled, such as her registration photo, ID information, etc. The school's file management is different from the police station's, and it won't be cancelled due to the student's death. In this regard, I still think it's very humane.

  After going back and forth for more than half an hour, the teacher in charge of the documents found that enrollment document with great displeasure, then took it to the office and handed it over to Director Wang. Director Wang said, "You don't have anything to do with this, go back and rest." The teacher left unhappily, she probably didn't know that the file she had just held in her hand might be the key to solving the school's haunting incident this time.

  Hu Zongren opened the file bag, took out a few forms inside, and then we looked at them together. The girl had a very nice name, surname Qin, based on respect for the deceased, I won't mention her name, so I'll just call her Qin classmate. She was a very delicate little girl, from Chongqing Yunyang County, enrolled in 1999, born in 1982. Hu Zongren nudged me with his elbow and said to me, "Do you think the female ghost that Teacher Ma mentioned is this student?" I said it must be her, look at the photo, there's a mole on her right cheek.

  My habit is like this, when you're certain about something, as long as you find a little bit of evidence to support it, then that thing is basically settled for me. Because we can't be like many police officers who crack cases by grasping sufficient evidence, we can only investigate one part and infer another part, otherwise, after all, life and death are different, and even if there's a way to communicate between the two realms, it would still be a big loss for any master of a faction. Since we're doing things for money, sometimes we can't do everything perfectly. Fortunately, I've been quite lucky, and over the years, I haven't handled many wrongful cases, and even if I did, that's just my fault, consider it a sin.

  Hu Zongren nodded, picked up the pen and paper, and wrote down some key information he needed. Then he looked at the time, it was almost midnight, at this point in time, we had also done things to invite ghosts before, I don't know if it's related to being in the midst of it, originally two good young people, but somehow we've become numb to this kind of terrifying feeling. I'm not saying that we're brave and not afraid, but in the same environment, he and I are definitely the two who are less likely to be scared.

  After walking to the classroom, I asked Director Wang, are you going to follow us in and observe the whole process, or just wait for us outside? Director Wang hastily waved his hand and said, I'll just stand outside, I don't dare to go see those things. I said, aren't you afraid that we two will pretend to be ghosts and mess around inside for a while before coming out to tell you it's done? Director Wang smiled and said, little brother, what are you talking about? In the past half day, I've really seen enough, you two are capable people, I completely trust you. I didn't pay attention to him anymore, so I nodded and followed Hu Zongren into the classroom together.

  Earlier, the knot I tied at the entrance of the storage room was still there, and the soil on the ground had not been blown away or disturbed in any way. This means that the ghost trapped inside is either too weak to struggle, or it has given up resisting and is waiting for us to take it away.

  I must admit that I believe more in the second case.

  Hu Zongren followed the Yao Mountain sect's method of summoning spirits, first arranging talismans, paper money, and a bell on the ground from left to right. He then placed the bagua bag in front of these three items. Next, he recited an entire set of incantations for summoning souls, replacing the name and birthdate with those of Qin classmate. I stood behind Hu Zongren, holding the compass, so that I could detect if there was any sudden intense activity from the spirit, in which case I would have to remind him that the ghost's emotions were extremely unstable and should not be forced.

  Lucky guess, Qin didn't show any signs of resistance to the summoning. She was very cooperative, as if she had been wanting to leave for a long time. So I nodded to Hu Zongren that he could ask whatever he wanted, but considering the ghost had existed for so many years, it's best not to ask too deep questions. Through questioning, we found out that the way this girl died and the approximate time were actually consistent with the news from before, but the reason she left school and went outside was not because of what the school said at the time, going out to buy things during class break. It was because Qin had cheated on the exam, got caught by the teacher, had her test paper confiscated, and was kicked out of the examination room. She was very flustered at the time, but didn't know what to do, and while wandering aimlessly outside school, she encountered an accident.

  There are two reasons why Qin classmate has not been able to leave for so many years. First, her original way of death was a wrongful death, which is difficult to leave without any attachment unless someone guides her. Second, she still had something left in the school. I asked Hu Zongren what thing she had left in the school and if it could still be found now? Hu Zongren asked Qin classmate my question and got the answer that it was her admission ticket.

  I was puzzled at the time, I couldn't understand what was so special about this broken card. Later, from Hu Zongren, I learned that there was a reason for it. The photo on Qin's admission ticket was the last one she took before her death. Since her home was far away, it was unrealistic to send the body back to her hometown for funeral arrangements at that time. So when setting up the mourning hall, they removed the photo from the admission ticket and enlarged it as a memorial portrait, while giving the original photo to Qin's parents, but leaving the admission ticket in school.

  I thought I was doomed, this teaching building was rebuilt after Qin's death, according to Hu Zongren's account, the original site of this building, the location of Benjian classroom, should be where Qin was caught cheating and kicked out in his early years. This can explain why she always appears at a fixed position, and the storage room is relatively humid and dark, while the classrooms are full of young students with plenty of energy, so it only left her a small space to exist. But you want me to find a small admission ticket in this vast new building, which is almost impossible.

  Hu Zongren apparently also realized this problem, so he told Qin classmate that it was impossible to find back her previous admission ticket, but a solution could be found, which was to use the photo on her enrollment materials to make a new admission ticket for her. After some communication, although this is not a perfect ending, Qin classmate finally agreed, because she always felt that her death had a great connection with the exam, so she reappeared in Ma teacher's examination room, even if she was not Ma teacher's student at that time. Being caught cheating is also a very embarrassing and unpleasant thing, she died with such emotions, saying it's hard to let go, which makes sense.

  Then Hu Zongren asked me to go and tell Director Wang about the situation, and prepare as soon as possible. I took the photo and went outside the door to tell Director Wang what had happened, then the two of us rushed back to Director Wang's office, searching online for some exam admission ticket templates from that era, printing them out, sticking on the photos, and hastily sending them over to Hu Zongren.

  When everything was ready, Hu Zongren made sure that Qin had no other obsessions besides this one. Then he started the summoning ritual. As a final step, he burned all the talismans on the ground and everything related to Qin in our hands, including the fake admission certificate. Hu Zongren collected all the ashes into his own bag of eight trigrams and said to me, "This Qin student still needs to be taken back for further observation." After all, he had been dead for so long, and the admission certificate was only temporarily prepared, not perfect. I nodded in agreement, thinking that this was his business and he should decide for himself.

  Then the two of us called Director Wang into the classroom and repeatedly assured him that the classroom was already clean, because Qin's soul was still in Hu Zongren's bag at the time. Director Wang was still very straightforward and gave Hu Zongren the full amount of commission. After receiving the money, Hu Zongren also apologized to Director Wang, saying that he had been a bit reckless at first and hoped that Director Wang would not take it to heart. In fact, we often say this kind of thing to many clients, after all, this ghost business is just a one-time deal, no one expects to cooperate again in the future, so when parting ways, leave a good impression on each other, and feel more comfortable in our hearts.

  In the taxi that Hu Zongren took me home in, both of us were exhausted. I was just about to send a message to Cai Jie saying I would be home soon when I suddenly received a message from an unfamiliar number.

  The number is a long number similar to group messaging software, and the content of the message is a sentence that looks like a poem:

  "Not I, Xuan Yuan's person, clearly in the red dust. Holding the yin-yang symbol, straddling the gate of life and death."

  My phone number is used for both personal and work purposes, so I inevitably receive some strange messages, such as loan offers, invoice notifications, and even someone impersonating my family member asking me to transfer money to a bank account. But this kind of flowery text message is the first time I've ever received. So I handed my phone over to Hu Zongren, just about to tease him about his poor understanding of written language. However, after he saw the message, his face suddenly turned very ugly.

  I was shocked and asked him what happened. He didn't answer, but instead used brute force to break my phone in half and then threw it out the window.

  I was in agony, my mouth wide open. This phone is the first smartphone of my life! And it's a Nokia! You crazy guy, how could you break it with your bare hands? Don't you know that Nokia can crack walnuts? Don't you know that Mr. Li's phone has many exciting videos downloaded?! Before I could even let out a sad cry, Hu Zongren suddenly said to me with a bitter smile:

  "Brother, we've drawn attention again."