Chapter 5: I Really Saw a Ghost

  After a busy day, Liu Li finally pieced together all the glass fragments collected from the crime scene. After finishing, Liu Li called the director to say he had something to attend to and then left in the police car.

  The next afternoon, Liu Li and Dou Zhihao came to the scene again. He carefully examined the terrain, marked out several cotton piles around the tomb, and gullies that could hide people, and focused on investigating the route from the highway side to Wang Jie's grave.

  When Liu Li saw a pile of burnt ashes in front of Wang Jie's tomb, he couldn't help but ask Dou Zhihao: "Brother, who came here before?"

  "This morning, Du Yan and Peng Fei came here. They seemed to be frightened by what happened that night and were worried that Wang Jie's ghost would continue to haunt them. So the two of them burned paper money for Wang Jie at home in the evening and came to her grave this morning to burn more paper, praying that Wang Jie's ghost wouldn't bother them."

  At this point, Dou Zhihao pointed to a distant intersection, where two women were kneeling on the ground burning paper: "Liu Ge, look, now there are people over there burning paper, this is one of our local traditions.

  It is said that on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, Yan Wang Ye, the king of the underworld, will open the Ghost Gate and allow the ghosts in the underworld to return to their homes in the world of the living to receive the paper money and clothing burned by their families.

  Although tomorrow is the Ghost Festival, some people have already started burning paper money for their deceased ancestors today. Those who burn paper money in advance are mostly people who live far away from home, such as women who have married into another family and cannot return to their own homes to pay respects to their ancestors, so they will burn paper money on the side of the road or at the entrance of the village where they reside.

  As for those who have the condition to go to the grave of the deceased, they will go to the grave of their relatives on the evening of the Ghost Festival, which is July 15th in the lunar calendar, burn paper and worship, and tell the good things and happy events at home to the deceased.

  Let the dead rest in peace, don't think about home, no need to come back if there's nothing going on. If the dead keep thinking about things at home and wandering around all day, it would be troublesome, the family will be haunted by ghosts all day long."

  After listening to Dou Zhihao's words, Liu Liruo nodded thoughtfully and looked around before asking him, "I asked you to keep an eye on Du Yan, did you gain anything?"

  Doubi shook his head: "No, Du Yan has been at home from the time of the incident to now, and only came here with Peng Fei today to burn paper money for Wang Jie, then returned home, nothing unusual."

  But? Today, when I was tailing Du Yan, I had a strange feeling that someone else was also watching her. Just as I was about to search around, Peng Fei appeared, and at that moment, my feeling suddenly disappeared, so I didn't search carefully, maybe it was just an illusion."

  "Is it an illusion? Maybe?" After muttering to himself, Liu Li paused for a moment, then instructed Dou Zhihao: "Continue to keep watch. If there's still no discovery by tomorrow afternoon around 7 o'clock, you can withdraw the alert here and drive the police car back to the police station."

  After returning to the police station, Liu Li went to Director Zhao Fei's office and asked about the progress of the investigation by the criminal police team. As a result, Zhao Fei told him that the people from the first team of the Criminal Police Brigade were still conducting door-to-door investigations around Lin Na's social circle before her death. Upon hearing this, Liu Li just smiled slightly and then left Zhao Fei's office.

  At 8:50 on the evening of July 15th in the lunar calendar, Liu Li and Dou Zhihao stopped the police car three kilometers away, then took advantage of the darkness and quietness to walk along the way, wiping their faces black until they reached the north side of Guo Jiacun Village's tomb area.

  After arriving at the tomb, Liu Li and Dou Zhihao quietly crawled into the ditch beside the highway. At this time, it was in the dry season, there was not a drop of water in the ditch, only some weeds, which was very suitable for hiding people.

  "Liu Ge, how did you end up dressing like this? You're not afraid of running into ghosts too, are you? Right? Where did you get that Taoist robe from? We don't sell those in our district, do we?" Dou Zhihao couldn't help but speak up as he looked at Liu Li's outfit.

  At this time, Liu Li was wearing a police uniform inside and a bright yellow Taoist robe outside. When he heard Dou Zhihao's inquiry, although his face turned red, he still stubbornly said: "Nonsense, I've never believed in ghosts or gods, let alone be afraid of them."

  "This garment was taken from those fake Taoist priests who were selling the aphrodisiacs last time, I only wore this Taoist robe outside because... uh... I was worried that squatting here to stake out would get my police uniform dirty, not because I'm afraid of running into ghosts, really not."

  After hearing Liu Li's explanation, Dou Zhihao clearly didn't believe it. He hesitated for a moment, then pulled out a bunch of pendants from the pocket of his police uniform. These pendants were square and round, with some having "smooth sailing" written on them, others having "safe entry and exit", and still others having "travel safely".

  "Liu Ge, I picked these up from the cars when we came here. There are peach wood ones, crystal ones, and jade ones. There's Guanyin Bodhisattva, Sakyamuni Buddha, and Chairman Mao. Take a look, see if any of them appeal to you. If so, I'll give one to you as a brother. They say these things are quite auspicious."

  "Old ideas, feudal superstitions, I've educated you more than once, at such a young age don't believe in these things, believe in science, how can you not make progress at all? It's really disappointing. Although he said this with his mouth, Liu Li's hands were carefully selecting the pendants in Dòu Zhìháo's hand."

  Finally, he put a pendant with Guanyin Bodhisattva on it in his pocket and said solemnly: "According to the old people's saying, wearing pendants is particular, can't be worn blindly, men wear Guanyin and women wear Buddha, this Guanyin Bodhisattva belongs to me."

  "I didn't expect...wearing a pendant would have so many considerations, Liu Ge, I didn't think you were an expert in this field." Dou Zhihao was somewhat astonished.

  "Hehe... an expert dare not claim, just a little understanding, a little understanding." Just as Liu Li was about to tease Dou Zhihao with a few words, he suddenly saw someone coming from afar. He hastily made a silencing gesture and quietly stared at the figure in the distance.

  When the man came to the tomb to burn paper, Liu Li finally saw clearly that it was a villager from Guo's village who had come to offer sacrifices to his ancestors. During this time, many people came to the tomb to offer sacrifices, and everyone burned paper while sobbing and crying. Being infected by this atmosphere, Liu Li felt a chill all over her body.

  It was after eleven o'clock at night when no one came to offer sacrifices anymore, but then the wind started blowing. Listening to the "whooshing" sound of the wind beside them, although it was summer, for some reason, Liu and Li felt a bit scared.

  "Liu Ge, this wind is quite eerie, it's blowing me straight to shivering. Do you think this could be a yin wind? I don't see anyone coming to burn paper now, how about we head back first? If we continue to guard, who knows, we might really run into ghosts." Dou Zhihao couldn't hold on anymore.

  At this time, Liu Li's heart was also trembling a little. After hearing Dou Zhihao's words, he looked up and saw that there was indeed no one outside. He muttered to himself: "Could I have misjudged?" Then he thought of retreating.

  Just then, another figure suddenly appeared from the direction of Guo's village. Seeing this, Liu Li and Dou Zhihao immediately lowered their heads again.

  When the figure approached, Liu Li recognized him. The person was Du Yan. At this time, Du Yan walked straight to Wang Jie's grave and knelt down in front of it. She took out some yellow paper from her bag, lit it on fire, and while facing the grave, she kowtowed and wept:

  "Wang Jie, I was wrong. I shouldn't have told you about Lin Na's matter in the first place. You've already killed Lin Na, please spare me! We're good sisters, please don't bother me anymore. I'll burn incense money for you, whatever you need, I'll burn it for you, just please forgive me... wuuu..."

  At the moment when Du Yan was burning paper and crying, Liu Li, who was squatting in the distance, saw an unthinkable thing through the firelight produced by the burning yellow paper. A woman with disheveled hair and white clothes slowly emerged from Wang Jie's tomb.