Chapter 72
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Chapter 72 Master Huang is a Liar
At Master Huang’s declaration, Wang Chunmei collapsed in a heap between her aunt and uncle. The uncle, who had been holding the ropes tightly to keep her from squirming, yanked on the rope and lifted her left hand like a puppeteer. The arm raised limply, the skin under the rope making a rough rasping sound against it. Everyone continued to look stupidly at her for a moment. All at once her aunt was crying.
“Thank you master! You’ve saved her!” They moved to unravel their unconscious niece. Zhao Laohei lent a hand and soon she was free of the restraints. With Zhao Laohei’s help, the two men picked up the unconscious girl and moved her inside the house. They deposited her onto the bed she’d once been tied to. Her uncle dropped her feet unceremoniously onto the mattress, which gave an enthusiastic twang of springs. Zhao Laohei, holding the girls head, lowered her much more gently. He placed her head on the pillow and swept the ropes of dirty hair away from her face. She looked almost peaceful.
“What’s wrong?” The uncle asked, “Why doesn’t she move?"
Master Huang hefted the box containing the egg and said, "I have removed the spirit, but the body is weak. She’ll have to rest for some time, you understand. Here,” He rummaged in a pocket of his frock and withdrew a set of pills that looked like beetles. “Give her two of these every six hours for three days. Only then will she recover.”
Wang Chunmei’s aunt took the pills and showered the man with thanks.
“Now about payment.” Master Huang said, bending down and placing the box into a suitcase that must’ve been his. “I have other cases to deal with and really must be going. That will be two hundred yuan from you,” He gestured to Wang Chunmei’s aunt. “And three hundred from your families.” He turned to Zhao Laohei.
Wang Chunmei’s uncle happily retrieved his wallet from the other room and came back with the money in his hand. He passed it to Master Huang with another shower of thanks. Master Huang turned to Zhao Lahoei, “And you?” He said, “I’ve taken care of the pest. It won’t bother the children any longer. I believe we agreed on three hundred yuan.”
Zhaoe Laohei put a hand on Zhao Jie’s shoulder, and then mine. “We’ve got your money, but not here. Would you mind accompanying us back to my house or Xiao Yong’s?”
A look passed between the two men. The uncomfortable silence that followed it made me want to scream. Finally, Master Huang smiled his Chiclet smile and said, “Of course. Lead the way.”
“Great!” Zhao Laohei said in a voice that didn’t mean it. He nudged his son and Zhao Jie began walking towards the door. I looked from one man to another and again had the urge to scream. What was so wrong here? We’d almost reached the front door when a low laugh came from the other room. We turned around as one, like a force had pivoted everyone’s necks towards the bedroom door.
The laugh came again, rolling from the open door like a thing of power. Master Huang managed a small, “What?” before a voice followed the laughter.
“You’re so noisy!” Giggled a sexless voice, both deep and falsetto at the same time. “How will my baby ever fall asleep?” It asked. Another low series of laughter followed. “Do you want me to die?” The last came as a whisper, but we all heard it clearly.
Wang Chunmei’s aunt took a step back away from the door, bumping her foot into Master Huang’s suitcase. She gave a small chirp of fright that seemed to open the floodgates. The voice mimicked her squeak, repeating it over and over again until it became a steady roar of screaming.
Master Huang managed another, “What?” before Wang Chunmei came through the doorway. No one had bothered to tie the girl down now that she was cured. She moved with impossible momentum that nothing could have gathered in the few steps between the bed and doorway. With incredible speed she barreled through her uncle, sending him reeling backwards. He flew like the ragdoll in her hand and hit the wall across the room hard enough to send cracks spider webbing from the impact.
Wang Chunmei’s mouth was open in an impossible grin that looked to reach her ears. She clutched the doll in her hand and held it like one would hold a knife. Its cloth arms and legs swung wildly as she dashed past Master Huang cackling. She flew to the door and disappeared into the yard.
Wang Chunmei’s aunt was on Master Huang in seconds. She clawed at his frock and pleaded into his face. I watched her spit flitter onto his face as she screamed. “What’s happening? What’s is it?”
Across the room, her husband began to stir.
Master Huang only stood stunned, apparently oblivious to the woman screaming into his face. Zhao Laohei stepped in to comfort the woman right as Master Huang flung her off. She managed to keep her feet. "Impossible!” Master Huang said, “It’s just impossible! Is there another ghost? Impossible!"
While muttering his disbelief, Master Huang was taking calculated steps towards the front door. At first he seemed to be shuffling in confusion, but as he edged closer he looked ready to bolt. Zhao Jie noticed this at the same time I did. We moved to stand between the so-called master and his exit.
Wang Chunmei's uncle had regained himself by this point. He joined Zhao Jie and I in stopping the Master. “What happened?” He demanded, face purple above his disheveled mustache. “You said you fixed it! Why is she still acting…acting…insane?” He jabbed a meaty finger at the master. “Answer me!”
Master Huang's face paled. All eyes were on him, save for the girl who was now screaming into the sky outside the house. “There must be some mistake,” He said, his small voice shrinking further. “There must be another ghost!” He held his hands palm outwards, then clapped them and raised a finger towards the ceiling. “Aha! No matter, we’ll simply repeat the ritual! Would you tie the girl up please?” He said to the fuming man standing by Zhao Jie and I.
Zhao Laohei knelt down to the bag. “Wait.” He said simply, halting everyone in the room. "Master Huang, I’d like it if you dropped this charade before anyone gets injured.” He reached inside the case, rummaged for a moment, and then withdrew the jeweled egg. “I thought your ritual felt a bit strange. No supernatural air, no conjuration footwork, tell me, how did you capture anything without completing the procedure?”
“Give that back!” Master Huang snapped, clawing at the egg with one hand. Zhao Laohei pulled it out of his reach easily. “If you destroy that, you’ll release the spirit on us all. Our deaths will be on your hands!” He was shouting now, his small voice squeaking in protest.
Zhao Laohei forced a smile and then held the egg up in both hands. Waving like a cheerleader, he shook the egg with all of his might. It rattled.
The rolling sound of pills inside the egg clicked in my head. Zhao Laohei’s forced smile widened, "I’ve never heard of captured spirits that sound like this. Have you boys?” Zhao Jie and I shook our heads, a grin now forming on my face too.
Zhao Laohei opened the egg, twisting it like Master Huang had done. He reached in and took out several white pills. Holding the pills up to the man in the frock he asked, "What's this?"
Master Huang stammered and kept silent. "Hypnotics.” Wang Chunmei’s uncle said. “Those are sleeping pills, I take them when I travel.” He turned to the fraud, his face reddening further. “You went into her room to give her sleeping pills! You thought you could cheat me and run away? You, you, you liar!" He roared.
Wang Chunmei’s aunt adopted a similar expression of hurt and anger. She raised her hand as if to strike the man.
Master Huang had turned the color of old paper. He shook his head wildly back and forth. "Don't listen to him.” He pointed to Zhao Laohei like a kid tattling on the playground. “They know nothing about supernatural air. Those aren’t sleeping pills! They’re ghost suppressants!"
Zhao Laohei interrupted the man with an open-hand slap across the face. “Don’t you dare bring shame to my faith.” He was speaking through his teeth, showing a real rage that I’d never seen in my friend’s father before. “You and filth like you give Taoism a bad name.”
Master Huang started to say something, but Zhao Laohei raised his open hand again, "Don't deny it. I studied Taoism many years ago. My master and his apprentices are powerful, and better than scum like you. How dare you?"
Master Huang let out a terrified yelp and ducked under Zhao Laohei’s outstretched hand. He scrambled towards the yard and was followed by the skinny woman and mustachioed man that he’d cheated.
I watched them stunned, not sure whether to laugh or scream. From the yard we could now hear Wang Chunmei screaming into the sky accompanied by the sounds of a middle-aged couple beating the tar out of a con artist.
Zhao Laohei smirked and paced to the phone. He dialed the police and had a short conversation with them, detailing our afternoon. The authorities arrived within the hour and took the man away. Paramedics treated his surface scrapes, but the couple hadn’t done too much damage. He was crying as they took him away. While they were there, the medics also sedated Wang Chunmei. Zhao Laohei helped them secure her comfortably to the bed once again.
My father came to the house at Zhao Laohei’s request and the two started to reason with Shuang Lin, Wang Chunmei’s mustached uncle, assuring them all the while that no one was trying to con anyone. When the mood settled down and reason was within possibility, Zhao Laohei played his trump card. He placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "I’m sure we can help her, after all Xiao Yong has a very powerful godfather, I’m sure you’ve heard of Master Liu."
Their eyes lit up at the mention of his name.
Shuang Lin nodded enthusiastically and said, "Will he come? Will he help us?"
Zhao Laohei hesitated, "He’s been away for quite some time. I’ve reached out to him, but I can’t say for sure. In the mean time I’m sure there’s something we can do to help.”
Shuang Lin clapped a meaty hand to his face. "Zhao Laohei is it? Are you kidding me? You promise help and tease us with another master who might help?” He raised his hands to make quotations for the word might. “Pardon my bluntness, but this does indeed sound like a con!”
Zhao Laohei back peddled like an expert, "No, no, no! That was not my intention! What I mean is that, we know the spirit is connected to my son and Xiao Yong. So, like it or not we’re all in this together. I have experience with this, but I’m only a half-master here. Master Liu is the expert. If we can convince him to come and help, we should.”
Shuang Lin looked at me, "Master this, master that, do you want to do the ritual too?"
Zhao Laohei nodded and said, "Yes!” I looked at him in horror.
“I don’t-“ I started, but he took back over.
“What I mean” Zhao Laohei started, “Is I can’t do the religious rites, Xiao Yong can’t either. He didn’t start this. There are a lot of details you don’t know yet. Bottom line is, we can’t do it here and it can’t be Xiao Yong, Master Liu, or me. We need to go to the Locust Tree Mountains. And we’ll need your niece."
"The Locust Tree Mountains?” Shuang Lin asked with a look of distaste.
Zhao Laohei nodded. "That's right. The police buried the corpse that followed our boys back in the mountains. We’ll need to go to it to rid your niece of the spirit. She’ll only get worse if we don’t.”
Shuang Lin raised his hands and dropped them in defeat. “I’m only her uncle, maybe we should talk to her parents before we do anything rash…”
“There’s no time!” Zhao Laohei said forcefully. “Xiao Yong has protective charms. He’ll protect the girl with them and I’ll do what I can as well. This must be done and soon.”
The man nodded slowly, his lips pulled down in an uncomfortable smile beneath the bushy mustache.
“We’ll have to bring Shang Haoming too.” Zhao Laohei said to no one in particular.
The next day everyone gathered together to the plan what comes next. My dad and I met and talked with Zhao Laohei and Zhao Jie. Shang Haoming met with Zhao Laohei so the half-master could talk him through the process. With Zhao Laohei’s guidance, Shang Haoming lit a yellow paper amulet and waved it in practice of the ritual.
“Please let this work.” Shang Haoming whispered.
Zhao Laohei nodded at him, apparently thinking the same thing.
The two practiced while the rest of us sat in our homes, waiting.
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Chapter 72 Master Huang is a Liar
At Master Huang’s declaration, Wang Chunmei collapsed in a heap between her aunt and uncle. The uncle, who had been holding the ropes tightly to keep her from squirming, yanked on the rope and lifted her left hand like a puppeteer. The arm raised limply, the skin under the rope making a rough rasping sound against it. Everyone continued to look stupidly at her for a moment. All at once her aunt was crying.
“Thank you master! You’ve saved her!” They moved to unravel their unconscious niece. Zhao Laohei lent a hand and soon she was free of the restraints. With Zhao Laohei’s help, the two men picked up the unconscious girl and moved her inside the house. They deposited her onto the bed she’d once been tied to. Her uncle dropped her feet unceremoniously onto the mattress, which gave an enthusiastic twang of springs. Zhao Laohei, holding the girls head, lowered her much more gently. He placed her head on the pillow and swept the ropes of dirty hair away from her face. She looked almost peaceful.
“What’s wrong?” The uncle asked, “Why doesn’t she move?"
Master Huang hefted the box containing the egg and said, "I have removed the spirit, but the body is weak. She’ll have to rest for some time, you understand. Here,” He rummaged in a pocket of his frock and withdrew a set of pills that looked like beetles. “Give her two of these every six hours for three days. Only then will she recover.”
Wang Chunmei’s aunt took the pills and showered the man with thanks.
“Now about payment.” Master Huang said, bending down and placing the box into a suitcase that must’ve been his. “I have other cases to deal with and really must be going. That will be two hundred yuan from you,” He gestured to Wang Chunmei’s aunt. “And three hundred from your families.” He turned to Zhao Laohei.
Wang Chunmei’s uncle happily retrieved his wallet from the other room and came back with the money in his hand. He passed it to Master Huang with another shower of thanks. Master Huang turned to Zhao Lahoei, “And you?” He said, “I’ve taken care of the pest. It won’t bother the children any longer. I believe we agreed on three hundred yuan.”
Zhaoe Laohei put a hand on Zhao Jie’s shoulder, and then mine. “We’ve got your money, but not here. Would you mind accompanying us back to my house or Xiao Yong’s?”
A look passed between the two men. The uncomfortable silence that followed it made me want to scream. Finally, Master Huang smiled his Chiclet smile and said, “Of course. Lead the way.”
“Great!” Zhao Laohei said in a voice that didn’t mean it. He nudged his son and Zhao Jie began walking towards the door. I looked from one man to another and again had the urge to scream. What was so wrong here? We’d almost reached the front door when a low laugh came from the other room. We turned around as one, like a force had pivoted everyone’s necks towards the bedroom door.
The laugh came again, rolling from the open door like a thing of power. Master Huang managed a small, “What?” before a voice followed the laughter.
“You’re so noisy!” Giggled a sexless voice, both deep and falsetto at the same time. “How will my baby ever fall asleep?” It asked. Another low series of laughter followed. “Do you want me to die?” The last came as a whisper, but we all heard it clearly.
Wang Chunmei’s aunt took a step back away from the door, bumping her foot into Master Huang’s suitcase. She gave a small chirp of fright that seemed to open the floodgates. The voice mimicked her squeak, repeating it over and over again until it became a steady roar of screaming.
Master Huang managed another, “What?” before Wang Chunmei came through the doorway. No one had bothered to tie the girl down now that she was cured. She moved with impossible momentum that nothing could have gathered in the few steps between the bed and doorway. With incredible speed she barreled through her uncle, sending him reeling backwards. He flew like the ragdoll in her hand and hit the wall across the room hard enough to send cracks spider webbing from the impact.
Wang Chunmei’s mouth was open in an impossible grin that looked to reach her ears. She clutched the doll in her hand and held it like one would hold a knife. Its cloth arms and legs swung wildly as she dashed past Master Huang cackling. She flew to the door and disappeared into the yard.
Wang Chunmei’s aunt was on Master Huang in seconds. She clawed at his frock and pleaded into his face. I watched her spit flitter onto his face as she screamed. “What’s happening? What’s is it?”
Across the room, her husband began to stir.
Master Huang only stood stunned, apparently oblivious to the woman screaming into his face. Zhao Laohei stepped in to comfort the woman right as Master Huang flung her off. She managed to keep her feet. "Impossible!” Master Huang said, “It’s just impossible! Is there another ghost? Impossible!"
While muttering his disbelief, Master Huang was taking calculated steps towards the front door. At first he seemed to be shuffling in confusion, but as he edged closer he looked ready to bolt. Zhao Jie noticed this at the same time I did. We moved to stand between the so-called master and his exit.
Wang Chunmei's uncle had regained himself by this point. He joined Zhao Jie and I in stopping the Master. “What happened?” He demanded, face purple above his disheveled mustache. “You said you fixed it! Why is she still acting…acting…insane?” He jabbed a meaty finger at the master. “Answer me!”
Master Huang's face paled. All eyes were on him, save for the girl who was now screaming into the sky outside the house. “There must be some mistake,” He said, his small voice shrinking further. “There must be another ghost!” He held his hands palm outwards, then clapped them and raised a finger towards the ceiling. “Aha! No matter, we’ll simply repeat the ritual! Would you tie the girl up please?” He said to the fuming man standing by Zhao Jie and I.
Zhao Laohei knelt down to the bag. “Wait.” He said simply, halting everyone in the room. "Master Huang, I’d like it if you dropped this charade before anyone gets injured.” He reached inside the case, rummaged for a moment, and then withdrew the jeweled egg. “I thought your ritual felt a bit strange. No supernatural air, no conjuration footwork, tell me, how did you capture anything without completing the procedure?”
“Give that back!” Master Huang snapped, clawing at the egg with one hand. Zhao Laohei pulled it out of his reach easily. “If you destroy that, you’ll release the spirit on us all. Our deaths will be on your hands!” He was shouting now, his small voice squeaking in protest.
Zhao Laohei forced a smile and then held the egg up in both hands. Waving like a cheerleader, he shook the egg with all of his might. It rattled.
The rolling sound of pills inside the egg clicked in my head. Zhao Laohei’s forced smile widened, "I’ve never heard of captured spirits that sound like this. Have you boys?” Zhao Jie and I shook our heads, a grin now forming on my face too.
Zhao Laohei opened the egg, twisting it like Master Huang had done. He reached in and took out several white pills. Holding the pills up to the man in the frock he asked, "What's this?"
Master Huang stammered and kept silent. "Hypnotics.” Wang Chunmei’s uncle said. “Those are sleeping pills, I take them when I travel.” He turned to the fraud, his face reddening further. “You went into her room to give her sleeping pills! You thought you could cheat me and run away? You, you, you liar!" He roared.
Wang Chunmei’s aunt adopted a similar expression of hurt and anger. She raised her hand as if to strike the man.
Master Huang had turned the color of old paper. He shook his head wildly back and forth. "Don't listen to him.” He pointed to Zhao Laohei like a kid tattling on the playground. “They know nothing about supernatural air. Those aren’t sleeping pills! They’re ghost suppressants!"
Zhao Laohei interrupted the man with an open-hand slap across the face. “Don’t you dare bring shame to my faith.” He was speaking through his teeth, showing a real rage that I’d never seen in my friend’s father before. “You and filth like you give Taoism a bad name.”
Master Huang started to say something, but Zhao Laohei raised his open hand again, "Don't deny it. I studied Taoism many years ago. My master and his apprentices are powerful, and better than scum like you. How dare you?"
Master Huang let out a terrified yelp and ducked under Zhao Laohei’s outstretched hand. He scrambled towards the yard and was followed by the skinny woman and mustachioed man that he’d cheated.
I watched them stunned, not sure whether to laugh or scream. From the yard we could now hear Wang Chunmei screaming into the sky accompanied by the sounds of a middle-aged couple beating the tar out of a con artist.
Zhao Laohei smirked and paced to the phone. He dialed the police and had a short conversation with them, detailing our afternoon. The authorities arrived within the hour and took the man away. Paramedics treated his surface scrapes, but the couple hadn’t done too much damage. He was crying as they took him away. While they were there, the medics also sedated Wang Chunmei. Zhao Laohei helped them secure her comfortably to the bed once again.
My father came to the house at Zhao Laohei’s request and the two started to reason with Shuang Lin, Wang Chunmei’s mustached uncle, assuring them all the while that no one was trying to con anyone. When the mood settled down and reason was within possibility, Zhao Laohei played his trump card. He placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "I’m sure we can help her, after all Xiao Yong has a very powerful godfather, I’m sure you’ve heard of Master Liu."
Their eyes lit up at the mention of his name.
Shuang Lin nodded enthusiastically and said, "Will he come? Will he help us?"
Zhao Laohei hesitated, "He’s been away for quite some time. I’ve reached out to him, but I can’t say for sure. In the mean time I’m sure there’s something we can do to help.”
Shuang Lin clapped a meaty hand to his face. "Zhao Laohei is it? Are you kidding me? You promise help and tease us with another master who might help?” He raised his hands to make quotations for the word might. “Pardon my bluntness, but this does indeed sound like a con!”
Zhao Laohei back peddled like an expert, "No, no, no! That was not my intention! What I mean is that, we know the spirit is connected to my son and Xiao Yong. So, like it or not we’re all in this together. I have experience with this, but I’m only a half-master here. Master Liu is the expert. If we can convince him to come and help, we should.”
Shuang Lin looked at me, "Master this, master that, do you want to do the ritual too?"
Zhao Laohei nodded and said, "Yes!” I looked at him in horror.
“I don’t-“ I started, but he took back over.
“What I mean” Zhao Laohei started, “Is I can’t do the religious rites, Xiao Yong can’t either. He didn’t start this. There are a lot of details you don’t know yet. Bottom line is, we can’t do it here and it can’t be Xiao Yong, Master Liu, or me. We need to go to the Locust Tree Mountains. And we’ll need your niece."
"The Locust Tree Mountains?” Shuang Lin asked with a look of distaste.
Zhao Laohei nodded. "That's right. The police buried the corpse that followed our boys back in the mountains. We’ll need to go to it to rid your niece of the spirit. She’ll only get worse if we don’t.”
Shuang Lin raised his hands and dropped them in defeat. “I’m only her uncle, maybe we should talk to her parents before we do anything rash…”
“There’s no time!” Zhao Laohei said forcefully. “Xiao Yong has protective charms. He’ll protect the girl with them and I’ll do what I can as well. This must be done and soon.”
The man nodded slowly, his lips pulled down in an uncomfortable smile beneath the bushy mustache.
“We’ll have to bring Shang Haoming too.” Zhao Laohei said to no one in particular.
The next day everyone gathered together to the plan what comes next. My dad and I met and talked with Zhao Laohei and Zhao Jie. Shang Haoming met with Zhao Laohei so the half-master could talk him through the process. With Zhao Laohei’s guidance, Shang Haoming lit a yellow paper amulet and waved it in practice of the ritual.
“Please let this work.” Shang Haoming whispered.
Zhao Laohei nodded at him, apparently thinking the same thing.
The two practiced while the rest of us sat in our homes, waiting.
Chapter 72 Master Huang is a LiarAt Master Huang's declaration, Wang Chunmei collapsed in a heap between her aunt and uncle. The uncle, who had been holding the ropes tightly to keep her from squirming, yanked on the rope and lifted her left hand like a puppeteer. The arm raised limply, the skin under the rope making a rough rasping sound against it. Everyone continued to look stupidly at her for a moment. All at once her aunt was crying. Thank you master! You've saved her! They moved to unravel their unconscious niece. Zhao Laohei lent a hand and soon she was free of the restraints. With Zhao Laohei's help, the two men picked up the unconscious girl and moved her inside the house. They deposited her onto the bed she'd once been tied to. Her uncle dropped her feet unceremoniously onto the mattress, which gave an enthusiastic twang of springs. Zhao Laohei, holding the girls head, lowered her much more gently. He placed her head on the pillow and swept the ropes of dirty hair away from her face. She looked almost peaceful. What's wrong? The uncle asked, Why doesn't she move?"Master Huang hefted the box containing the egg and said, "I have removed the spirit, but the body is weak. She'll have to rest for some time, you understand. Here, He rummaged in a pocket of his frock and withdrew a set of pills that looked like beetles. Give her two of these every six hours for three days. Only then will she recover. Wang Chunmei's aunt took the pills and showered the man with thanks. Now about payment. Master Huang said, bending down and placing the box into a suitcase that must've been his. I have other cases to deal with and really must be going. That will be two hundred yuan from you, He gestured to Wang Chunmei's aunt. And three hundred from your families. He turned to Zhao Laohei.Wang Chunmei's uncle happily retrieved his wallet from the other room and came back with the money in his hand. He passed it to Master Huang with another shower of thanks. Master Huang turned to Zhao Lahoei, And you? He said, I've taken care of the pest. It won't bother the children any longer. I believe we agreed on three hundred yuan.Zhaoe Laohei put a hand on Zhao Jie's shoulder, and then mine. We've got your money, but not here. Would you mind accompanying us back to my house or Xiao Yong's? A look passed between the two men. The uncomfortable silence that followed it made me want to scream. Finally, Master Huang smiled his Chiclet smile and said, Of course. Lead the way. Great! Zhao Laohei said in a voice that didn't mean it. He nudged his son and Zhao Jie began walking towards the door. I looked from one man to another and again had the urge to scream. What was so wrong here? We'd almost reached the front door when a low laugh came from the other room. We turned around as one, like a force had pivoted everyone's necks towards the bedroom door.The laugh came again, rolling from the open door like a thing of power. Master Huang managed a small, What? before a voice followed the laughter. You're so noisy! Giggled a sexless voice, both deep and falsetto at the same time. How will my baby ever fall asleep? It asked. Another low series of laughter followed. Do you want me to die? The last came as a whisper, but we all heard it clearly.Wang Chunmei's aunt took a step back away from the door, bumping her foot into Master Huang's suitcase. She gave a small chirp of fright that seemed to open the floodgates. The voice mimicked her squeak, repeating it over and over again until it became a steady roar of screaming.Master Huang managed another, What? before Wang Chunmei came through the doorway. No one had bothered to tie the girl down now that she was cured. She moved with impossible momentum that nothing could have gathered in the few steps between the bed and doorway. With incredible speed she barreled through her uncle, sending him reeling backwards. He flew like the ragdoll in her hand and hit the wall across the room hard enough to send cracks spider webbing from the impact.Wang Chunmei's mouth was open in an impossible grin that looked to reach her ears. She clutched the doll in her hand and held it like one would hold a knife. Its cloth arms and legs swung wildly as she dashed past Master Huang cackling. She flew to the door and disappeared into the yard. Wang Chunmei's aunt was on Master Huang in seconds. She clawed at his frock and pleaded into his face. I watched her spit flitter onto his face as she screamed. What's happening? What's is it?Across the room, her husband began to stir.Master Huang only stood stunned, apparently oblivious to the woman screaming into his face. Zhao Laohei stepped in to comfort the woman right as Master Huang flung her off. She managed to keep her feet. "Impossible! Master Huang said, It's just impossible! Is there another ghost? Impossible!"While muttering his disbelief, Master Huang was taking calculated steps towards the front door. At first he seemed to be shuffling in confusion, but as he edged closer he looked ready to bolt. Zhao Jie noticed this at the same time I did. We moved to stand between the so-called master and his exit. Wang Chunmei's uncle had regained himself by this point. He joined Zhao Jie and I in stopping the Master. What happened? He demanded, face purple above his disheveled mustache. You said you fixed it! Why is she still actingactinginsane? He jabbed a meaty finger at the master. Answer me!Master Huang's face paled. All eyes were on him, save for the girl who was now screaming into the sky outside the house. There must be some mistake, He said, his small voice shrinking further. There must be another ghost! He held his hands palm outwards, then clapped them and raised a finger towards the ceiling. Aha! No matter, we'll simply repeat the ritual! Would you tie the girl up please? He said to the fuming man standing by Zhao Jie and I.Zhao Laohei knelt down to the bag. Wait. He said simply, halting everyone in the room. "Master Huang, I'd like it if you dropped this charade before anyone gets injured. He reached inside the case, rummaged for a moment, and then withdrew the jeweled egg. I thought your ritual felt a bit strange. No supernatural air, no conjuration footwork, tell me, how did you capture anything without completing the procedure? Give that back! Master Huang snapped, clawing at the egg with one hand. Zhao Laohei pulled it out of his reach easily. If you destroy that, you'll release the spirit on us all. Our deaths will be on your hands! He was shouting now, his small voice squeaking in protest. Zhao Laohei forced a smile and then held the egg up in both hands. Waving like a cheerleader, he shook the egg with all of his might. It rattled. The rolling sound of pills inside the egg clicked in my head. Zhao Laohei's forced smile widened, "I've never heard of captured spirits that sound like this. Have you boys? Zhao Jie and I shook our heads, a grin now forming on my face too. Zhao Laohei opened the egg, twisting it like Master Huang had done. He reached in and took out several white pills. Holding the pills up to the man in the frock he asked, "What's this?"Master Huang stammered and kept silent. "Hypnotics. Wang Chunmei's uncle said. Those are sleeping pills, I take them when I travel. He turned to the fraud, his face reddening further. You went into her room to give her sleeping pills! You thought you could cheat me and run away? You, you, you liar!" He roared.Wang Chunmei's aunt adopted a similar expression of hurt and anger. She raised her hand as if to strike the man.Master Huang had turned the color of old paper. He shook his head wildly back and forth. "Don't listen to him. He pointed to Zhao Laohei like a kid tattling on the playground. They know nothing about supernatural air. Those aren't sleeping pills! They're ghost suppressants!"Zhao Laohei interrupted the man with an open-hand slap across the face. Don't you dare bring shame to my faith. He was speaking through his teeth, showing a real rage that I'd never seen in my friend's father before. You and filth like you give Taoism a bad name. Master Huang started to say something, but Zhao Laohei raised his open hand again, "Don't deny it. I studied Taoism many years ago. My master and his apprentices are powerful, and better than scum like you. How dare you?"Master Huang let out a terrified yelp and ducked under Zhao Laohei's outstretched hand. He scrambled towards the yard and was followed by the skinny woman and mustachioed man that he'd cheated. I watched them stunned, not sure whether to laugh or scream. From the yard we could now hear Wang Chunmei screaming into the sky accompanied by the sounds of a middle-aged couple beating the tar out of a con artist.Zhao Laohei smirked and paced to the phone. He dialed the police and had a short conversation with them, detailing our afternoon. The authorities arrived within the hour and took the man away. Paramedics treated his surface scrapes, but the couple hadn't done too much damage. He was crying as they took him away. While they were there, the medics also sedated Wang Chunmei. Zhao Laohei helped them secure her comfortably to the bed once again. My father came to the house at Zhao Laohei's request and the two started to reason with Shuang Lin, Wang Chunmei's mustached uncle, assuring them all the while that no one was trying to con anyone. When the mood settled down and reason was within possibility, Zhao Laohei played his trump card. He placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "I'm sure we can help her, after all Xiao Yong has a very powerful godfather, I'm sure you've heard of Master Liu."Their eyes lit up at the mention of his name. Shuang Lin nodded enthusiastically and said, "Will he come? Will he help us?"Zhao Laohei hesitated, "He's been away for quite some time. I've reached out to him, but I can't say for sure. In the mean time I'm sure there's something we can do to help.Shuang Lin clapped a meaty hand to his face. "Zhao Laohei is it? Are you kidding me? You promise help and tease us with another master who might help? He raised his hands to make quotations for the word might. Pardon my bluntness, but this does indeed sound like a con!Zhao Laohei back peddled like an expert, "No, no, no! That was not my intention! What I mean is that, we know the spirit is connected to my son and Xiao Yong. So, like it or not we're all in this together. I have experience with this, but I'm only a half-master here. Master Liu is the expert. If we can convince him to come and help, we should. Shuang Lin looked at me, "Master this, master that, do you want to do the ritual too?"Zhao Laohei nodded and said, "Yes! I looked at him in horror. I don't- I started, but he took back over.What I mean Zhao Laohei started, Is I can't do the religious rites, Xiao Yong can't either. He didn't start this. There are a lot of details you don't know yet. Bottom line is, we can't do it here and it can't be Xiao Yong, Master Liu, or me. We need to go to the Locust Tree Mountains. And we'll need your niece.""The Locust Tree Mountains? Shuang Lin asked with a look of distaste.Zhao Laohei nodded. "That's right. The police buried the corpse that followed our boys back in the mountains. We'll need to go to it to rid your niece of the spirit. She'll only get worse if we don't.Shuang Lin raised his hands and dropped them in defeat. I'm only her uncle, maybe we should talk to her parents before we do anything rash There's no time! Zhao Laohei said forcefully. Xiao Yong has protective charms. He'll protect the girl with them and I'll do what I can as well. This must be done and soon. The man nodded slowly, his lips pulled down in an uncomfortable smile beneath the bushy mustache.We'll have to bring Shang Haoming too. Zhao Laohei said to no one in particular.The next day everyone gathered together to the plan what comes next. My dad and I met and talked with Zhao Laohei and Zhao Jie. Shang Haoming met with Zhao Laohei so the half-master could talk him through the process. With Zhao Laohei's guidance, Shang Haoming lit a yellow paper amulet and waved it in practice of the ritual. Please let this work. Shang Haoming whispered.Zhao Laohei nodded at him, apparently thinking the same thing.The two practiced while the rest of us sat in our homes, waiting.
