Chapter 61
Chapter 61
Officer Li’s words left me completely stunned.
“The bodies of all three people who hanged themselves from that huangjue fig… disappeared?”
That was far too strange.
Something was wrong. There had to be something wrong with that tree.
But what exactly was the problem?
No matter how one thought about it, there seemed to be no answer.
Gathering my courage, I asked directly, “Officer Li, I suspect all these strange incidents are connected to the old huangjue fig. Could the police ask the town government to cut it down?”
“Well…”
Officer Li smiled ruefully. “Don’t even think about it. That would definitely be impossible. With no official justification, why would the town undertake something so troublesome? It would require a large amount of public funding and damage the environment as well.”
At the end, he added, “To be honest, Old Huang wasn’t particularly willing to tell you about the missing bodies. Personally, I thought it would do no harm. You carried the cobbler’s son up the mountain and buried him, and you were also the first people to discover the cook and the saleswoman.”
His words made it clear that Officer Huang probably held slightly higher rank and did not trust people like us.
He did not believe in mystical arts at all and was a staunch skeptic of the supernatural.
After thanking Officer Li, Old Cao asked whether we could inspect the morgue.
The officer looked troubled. In the end, however, he gritted his teeth and nodded.
“All right. Master Cao, I’ll write you a note. Take it to the town hospital and find young Liu from Administration, who’s on duty tonight. Explain the situation, and he’ll take you to the morgue.”
“Many thanks!”
Old Cao solemnly cupped his hands to Officer Li, who hurriedly waved and told him there was no need to be so formal.
I understood Old Cao’s feelings.
In that era, it was genuinely rare for a police officer to place so much trust in people like us.
I happened to have paper and a pen in my schoolbag, so I quickly took them out and handed them to Officer Li.
He did not refuse. He immediately wrote a note by hand and gave it to Old Cao.
Then he warned us, “Old Huang is probably still questioning people, so don’t go over just yet. Wait a while. If you run into him, he’ll certainly lecture me. I’m not afraid of him. I just find it troublesome and don’t want to hear him nag.”
He chuckled.
“Yes, yes, we understand. Don’t worry, Officer Li.”
Old Cao accepted the note, escorted him to the door, and watched him hurry away.
Whew!
Yuan Fei released a helpless breath and smiled bitterly.
“I really don’t like dealing too much with the police. I never imagined my luck could be this terrible. I finally had a few idle days and stopped by to see you two and ask about that strange tricolored flower. Now I’ve dragged myself into another affair.”
He was right.
Originally, this matter had absolutely nothing to do with him.
A folk Taoist master earned his living through his craft. Someone paid him, and he averted disaster for that person. It was a fair exchange that created no karmic debt.
But now he had learned about the Golden-Thread Netherbloom from us, and we were friends. If we tried to deal with the matter, he could hardly refuse to accompany us.
Old Cao deliberately teased him.
“If you don’t want to go, Mr. Yuan, you can rest here in the coffin shop. This job doesn’t pay anyway. At most, we each received one yuan for carrying the cobbler’s son.”
Yuan Fei rolled his eyes.
“Master Cao! You know I’m not that kind of person, yet you still make sarcastic remarks. Let’s go and examine the hospital. Fortunately, I never leave behind the tools of my trade. I carry them whenever I go out.”
I reminded Uncle Yuan not to hurry. Officer Li had just asked us to wait a while before going.
Yuan Fei muttered under his breath. We were doing a good deed and helping the police, yet somehow we had to creep around like thieves.
…
After resting a little longer, we prepared to leave for the town hospital.
I asked Old Cao, “Should we notify Big Bull and the others?”
He waved a hand. “No need. Two bodies disappeared, and we’re only going to inspect the scene. If every little matter requires so many people to act together, it will become terribly troublesome.”
That made sense.
We could not be so cautious that we summoned everyone for every task.
That would be far too cowardly and inconvenient.
Besides, Old Cao and Yuan Fei were both renowned experts across the nearby towns, perhaps even the entire county.
With the two of them working together and me, a novice who had at least crossed the threshold of the esoteric arts, our group was already quite formidable.
We left the coffin shop and walked south toward the town hospital.
About twenty minutes later, its entrance appeared in the distance.
Against the surrounding darkness, a streetlamp above the entrance cast dim yellow light.
The light looked hazy and strangely eerie, leaving me uneasy.
Hospitals were very special places, heavy with both yin and yang.
Why?
Because most people were born in hospitals, and many died in them.
They were places of life and death, where yin and yang converged.
That was precisely why hospitals so often became the setting for supernatural stories.
On the way to school each day, Wang Dachun sometimes told frightening ghost stories that circulated widely around Lianghe Town.
He narrated them with vivid detail, as though he had witnessed everything himself.
The stories often frightened all the girls sitting near us.
Yao Nan was especially affected.
The girl was quite strong and had no fear of the school’s bullies. When Wang Dachun tried to pick on me at the beginning of the term, she had intervened several times.
But when it came to ghosts and supernatural events, she was as timid as a mouse.
Whenever Wang Dachun told one of the town’s frightening legends, she covered her ears and glared furiously at him.
I knew Wang Dachun had once been interested in Yao Nan, so I privately told him that this was no way to court a girl.
I did not know how to court one either, but as his boss, naturally I had to act as though I knew everything in front of my follower.
To my surprise, my words made his face turn pale. He shook his head desperately.
“Brother Wu, don’t frighten me. Everyone in class knows there’s something going on between you and Yao Nan. I would never have thoughts about my boss’s woman! Our parents know each other and get along well, that’s all. I only used to think she was pretty. I won’t dare anymore.”
His answer completely baffled me.
Sometimes Yao Nan and I skipped the cafeteria at dinner, ate a little bread or a few snacks, and used every spare moment to discuss schoolwork in the classroom.
How had that turned into such a rumor?
People’s gossip truly was frightening.
Still, I did not care. Nor did I have any such feelings.
For one thing, I had no energy for young romance. I had to rank first in my year while also studying the esoteric arts.
For another, everyone called Yao Nan the prettiest girl in our class or even our grade, but compared with Master, she was a firefly beside the bright moon.
How could I be interested in such a little girl?
Naturally, I could not be bothered to explain any of this to Wang Dachun.
Returning to the present, Old Cao, Yuan Fei, and I reached the town hospital and slowly walked inside.
In those days, the entrances of small-town hospitals remained open. There were no security guards or gatekeepers.
A night-duty room with its light on stood to one side of the entrance.
From a distance, I saw an old man watching television. As long as visitors entered normally and made no great commotion, he would not notice them.
Yuan Fei was not from Lianghe Town, and I had arrived only three weeks earlier. Naturally, neither of us knew the hospital.
Old Cao, however, moved with practiced familiarity. He must have visited many times.
He led us through turn after turn in the silent, dim hospital. After walking for quite a while, we stopped before a room with a sign reading ADMINISTRATION.
“I’ll knock.”
I stepped forward and rapped on the door: one light knock, followed by two heavier ones.
China was a land of ceremony, and many actions had proper etiquette.
When knocking on a door, for example, one should knock lightly once, firmly twice, pause, and then repeat.
One should never pound wildly from the start. That would be terribly rude.
After I repeated the pattern three times, a wary voice came from behind the door.
“Who is it at this hour?”
I found his caution amusing.
On second thought, anyone working in a hospital had probably heard its strange and frightening legends. Such a person knew inexplicable, sinister things might happen here at night.
Naturally, he would not open the door carelessly.
Wang Dachun had said that several older relatives of his worked in the large hospital at the county seat.
Sometimes, late at night, they heard mysterious knocks. When they opened the door, the corridor outside stood completely empty.
Only a chilling yin wind swept past.
If that wind touched someone who opened the door carelessly, he might become ill the following day, catching a cold and fever. He would grow weak and remain bedridden for several days before recovering.
According to the stories, ghosts roaming the hospital at night caused such things.
They might not intend deliberate harm. Even a prank or a chance encounter could affect the living and weaken the body.
Hospital doors in those days were not reinforced security doors and had no peepholes.
They were ordinary wooden doors, so one could not see who had knocked.
For that reason, hospital workers in those years were exceptionally alert and cautious when opening doors at night.
If the person outside gave an abnormal response, they certainly would not open it.
Old Cao called, “Dr. Liu? I’m Old Cao, the coffin bearer from the shop at the eastern end of town. Officer Li sent us.”
About three seconds passed.
The door creaked open.
A thin young man wearing glasses appeared. When he saw the three of us, he seemed to relax and smiled.
“Oh, Master Cao! We’ve met before. What brings you here so late? Please, come inside.”
He warmly invited us to sit in the office.
Before coming, we had learned that his name was Liu Xiaofeng and that he was twenty-two or twenty-three.
He had studied at a medical college in the city and had only recently been assigned to Lianghe Town Hospital after graduation.
Old Cao waved a hand and politely declined his hospitality.
He handed over Officer Li’s note and said, “Dr. Liu, Officer Li told us that two bodies disappeared from the morgue today. We’d like to examine it. If it’s convenient, please take us there now.”
“What?”
Liu Xiaofeng’s expression immediately turned miserable.
He examined the note. It was indeed written by Officer Li from the town police station and asked him to cooperate with us.
Liu Xiaofeng also knew that the police were investigating the missing bodies. The officer had taken the trouble to write a courteous request, so naturally, he had to show due respect.
Even so, he looked close to tears.
“Master Cao, and you two gentlemen… It’s not that I’m unwilling. But going to the morgue this late at night is rather… rather frightening.”
He made no attempt to hide his cowardice and honestly admitted his fear.
I laughed beside him. “Brother Liu, I’m only a middle-school student and even I’m not afraid. What frightens you?”
Yuan Fei smiled as well. “Exactly. Dr. Liu, you’re young and your features are firm. Your bazi isn’t light either. Unclean things generally won’t trouble you. Don’t be afraid.”
“Well…”
Liu Xiaofeng still hesitated.
At last, he gritted his teeth.
“How about this? I’ll lead you to the morgue area and give you the key. Can you go inside by yourselves?”
He probably felt that Old Cao was a respected local figure whom he already knew.
After all, every family experienced birth, aging, illness, and death. When someone died, they had to find people to carry the coffin.
In those days, unlike the present, there were few vehicles and many traditional rules. Coffin bearing remained a respected profession.
So Liu Xiaofeng did not worry that giving us the key would create any real danger.
Nevertheless, lending a hospital key to outsiders violated regulations.
He repeatedly warned Old Cao not to tell anyone. Otherwise, hospital leaders would certainly criticize him, and the incident might harm future professional evaluations.
Naturally, we all promised to keep the matter secret.
Liu Xiaofeng led us through one corridor after another toward the deepest, most remote part of the hospital.
Morgues were generally placed in the most isolated location possible.
Everyone feared them.
Honestly, I could not tell whether it was imagination or reality.
The farther we walked toward the morgue, the darker our surroundings seemed.
Even beneath the lamps, my vision appeared more blurred than it had outside.
A thin veil of mist seemed to cover my eyes, making everything indistinct.
The temperature dropped as well.
September had not even ended, yet the air felt cold. Now and then, a chill draft swept past and raised goose bumps across my skin.
Liu Xiaofeng wore a miserable expression throughout the journey, as though someone owed him a thousand yuan.
Soon we reached the entrance to the morgue corridor.
Originally, a row of single-story rooms had stood here. Later, the interior walls were knocked down, joining them into one large, warehouse-like building that became the hospital morgue.
It served not only Lianghe Town itself. Unclaimed bodies and those awaiting relatives from villages within dozens of li and two or three smaller nearby towns were also stored here.
In 1999, the concept of an architectural designer barely existed in a small town. No one considered humane or practical design.
As a result, the morgue entrance had actually been placed at the far end of the corridor.