Chapter 18-Part 4

Huo Qiu was quick and efficient. He soon bought a set of clothes, dressed Qizhi up as a young master out on a trip with his father, and took him into the tower.

Not long after, Huo Qiu came out of Caifeng Tower and returned to guard the carriage outside. Teng Yuyi was just about to lower the curtain when she noticed an elderly, white-haired Taoist in blue robes among the crowd.

The man held a tall yellow banner inscribed with: “Yin and Yang in Harmony, Omniscient and All-Knowing.”

The old Taoist slowly walked to a ginkgo tree by the street, lazily sat down, and flicked the string of his hat back over his shoulder. In a long drawl, he called out, “Good and evil, fortune and misfortune, each has its cause; if you wish to know your future, just offer silver coins.”

This Taoist was clearly a wandering fortune-teller, different from orthodox Taoists who practiced rituals and fasting.

Jue Sheng secretly sneered. He’d seen plenty of these types, people who used the Taoist name to cheat and swindle. They’d better not catch this Taoist doing anything shady, or else—hmph.

Teng Yuyi was about to look away when, out of nowhere, the old Taoist glanced at the carriage with a peculiar smile in his eyes, and his expression was very strange.

Teng Yuyi glanced at the old Taoist, then lowered the curtain and asked Juan Er’li and Bao Zhu, “Now, you can tell me, what exactly happened in the tower?”

Juan Erli and Bao Zhu responded uneasily, ‘Actually, we don’t know much either.’

“No matter, just tell me what you do know.”

Bao Zhu glanced fearfully out the window.

“I heard the madam say that the previous owners of Caifeng Tower, the couple who ran the silk shop, died under strange circumstances. Ever since their deaths, the place hasn’t been peaceful.”

Jue Sheng was surprised.

“If the shop owner’s death seemed suspicious, why wasn’t it reported to the authorities?”

Juan Erli said, “The shop’s workers did report it, but on the night the shop owner died, there were several physicians present administering acupuncture. These physicians had been treating the shop owner for some time, so there was nothing suspicious about the cause of death. As for the shop owner’s wife, she hanged herself three days after her husband’s death. She not only left a note before she died but also donated her valuable jewelry to various temples, all of which are well-known ancient temples in Chang’an. There’s no way they could be connected to her death. So although the county magistrate official looked into it, they didn’t pursue the matter further.”

‘If that’s the case, why do people still say their deaths were suspicious?’

Juan Erli and Bao Zhu were different from ordinary courtesans; they had been forced to learn to read and master the arts from a young age. Their speech was clear and articulate.

Bao Zhu shrank back a little, but then mustered up the courage to speak.

“I heard the madam say that the silk shop only stocked expensive silk. Most of the famous courtesans from the southern part patronized the shop. The shop owner was in his forties, stronger than most, and originally poor with no one to rely on. He had risen in life thanks to his wife’s dowry. Despite his success, he remained submissive to his wife.”

“The couple had been married for fourteen years, but the wife had never borne any children. After much persuasion, the shop owner finally convinced his wife to allow him to take a concubine. Shortly before he fell ill, he had just bought a beautiful concubine from Yuezhou. Outwardly, his wife seemed to accept it, but in private, she often beat and scolded the concubine. One time, when the shop owner took some workers out of town to purchase goods, his wife’s abuse of the concubine escalated. Unable to bear the humiliation, the concubine secretly threw herself into a well. The day she died, the shop owner happened to return from out of town. When he heard about the concubine’s death, he was so enraged that he fainted. When he woke up, he started having headaches and claimed to see the concubine wandering in the courtyard, which terrified him and kept him awake at night.”

“The shop owner’s wife was domineering by nature. She immediately rushed into the courtyard and cursed at the concubine, saying that she was a foxy woman that seduced people while alive and was still causing trouble after death. Her shouting was so loud that many neighbors heard her. Shortly afterward, the shop owner’s wife went to the nearby Qingguo Temple to request talismans to paste around the courtyard, and things quieted down after that. But the shop owner’s illness continued to come and go. Several physicians were consulted, all of whom diagnosed him with headaches. After several months of illness, he finally passed away one day.”

“The owner’s wife’s death was even stranger. All the experienced madams in Pingkang Ward had dealt with her before, and they all said she was extremely stingy, so much so that even if she died, she would take her wealth into the grave. Because of her cold-heartedness, she had long since severed ties with her relatives. Her suicide might have been understandable, but it was out of character for her to donate her jewelry and valuables to the temple. The most terrifying thing was the letter she left behind…”

Teng Yuyi quickly asked, “What did the letter say?”

Bao Zhu, growing more frightened, looked to Juan Erli for help.

Juan Erli shuddered and stammered, “The letter was filled with the same sentence written over and over: ‘I am a dog and a pig, unworthy to live; I am a dog and a pig, unworthy to live…'”

A chill seemed to sweep through the carriage. Although Teng Yuyi considered herself brave, she couldn’t help but feel a cold sweat on her back.

Jue Sheng cleared his throat and said, “It sounds like a vengeful ghost used some illusion to confuse the owner’s wife, first forcing her to write a confession, then making her hang herself. By rights, such a malevolent spirit shouldn’t have much power and would either be exorcised or subdued quickly. Has no one performed any rituals to deal with it afterward?”

“The authorities investigated for a while and determined that the shop owner’s deaths weren’t caused by anyone else, so they closed the case. Since the shop owner and his wife had no heirs, the officials put the shop up for sale. But ever since then, strange noises have been heard in the building, scaring the neighbors. They pooled their money to invite an elder monk from Qingguo Temple, who said there was indeed some grievance in the building, and performed a few rituals to calm the spirits. The place was quiet for a while after that, but whenever someone came to view the shop, they would see something unclean inside. It’s been half a year, and the shop still hasn’t sold.”

Teng Yuyi asked, “Why did this new shop owner from Luoyang agree to take over the shop?”

Baozhu glanced at Juan Erli and asked, “Didn’t you hear the reason that day? What did the madam say?”

Juan Erli recalled the situation from that day and began to speak again, “When the new owner arrived, he brought a very skilled sorcerer to assess the place. The sorcerer said that the location, with its sunken center and raised surroundings, naturally had the characteristics of a ‘Kanjing‘ formation. Such a treasured site is ideal for doing Yin people business. In the past, the shop dealt in high-end silk fabrics for women, which could bring in a fortune daily. Now that the new shop is opening as a brothel, it will undoubtedly become famous as well. Although there are some unclean things in the building, it’s not impossible to resolve. All that’s needed is to place a statue of the Pure Lotus Child in the backyard, and it will be fine.”

(T/N: In traditional Chinese geomancy (Feng Shui), (Kǎn jǐng) refers to a land formation resembling a well or pit. (Kǎn) denotes the Water element in the Bagua system, linked to the north, danger, and depth, while (Jǐng) means “well” as water well. Combined, ‘Kanjing’ represents a formation with well-like characteristics, associated with strong yin energy—dark, watery, and underworldly. This type of formation is considered ideal for Yin people business because it is an ideal place for practices that involving spirits or the deceased, such as funeral services or, in some contexts, establishments like brothels because the Yin also associated with feminity)

Teng Yuyi nodded, “It seems your new shop owner followed the advice, and since the opening of Caifeng Tower, business has indeed been booming. But then what happened? Did the sorcerer’s method not work?”

“Strange things have continued to happen, but business has been unexpectedly good. Our shop owner couldn’t bear to lose the large daily income and feared that inviting someone to perform rituals might affect business, so he kept everything hidden.”

At this point, Juan Erli and Bao Zhu huddled closer together, showing signs of fear.

“About three months ago, shortly after Caifeng Tower opened, a guest from Hongzhou came to seek pleasure in the shop. He got drunk and stayed in the room of a woman named Ruanhong. In the middle of the night, he heard footsteps outside the door. He thought it was just another drunkard, but the footsteps lingered. The guest became annoyed and shouted for the person to leave, but the voice outside replied, ‘I am Ruanhong, it’s cold out here, please let me in, my lord.'”

“The voice was identical to Ruanhong’s, so the guest, half-asleep, got up. But when he looked at the bed, he saw Ruanhong sleeping soundly, wrapped in a quilt. He immediately sobered up and tried to wake her, but no matter how hard he shook her, she wouldn’t wake.”

“That bedroom was in the northwest corner of the backyard, already a quiet area, and it was the middle of the night. Why didn’t the knocking wake anyone else? The guest became more and more frightened, trembling as he cursed, ‘Get lost! You’re not Ruanhong, stop pretending to be a ghost! If you keep this up, I’ll have the madam punish you severely!”

“Suddenly, the woman outside let out a shrill scream, ‘There’s a ghost in your room! I am the real Ruanhong!'”

“The guest was so terrified, he almost lost his soul. He didn’t dare open the door or go back to the bed, so he froze in the middle of the room, shouting for help. Just then, the thing outside began to bang on the door violently. The guest fainted in fear, and when he woke up, it was already daylight. The other guests had carried him to the bed. When he saw Ruanhong standing behind the madam, he nearly fainted again.

“Ruanhong looked pale and said she had also experienced something strange the previous night, but her experience was the exact opposite of the guest’s. She woke up in the middle of the night to hear the guest knocking on the door outside, but when she turned around, she saw him lying on the bed. The thing outside also said there was a ghost in the room, screaming for her to open the door.”

Teng Yuyi’s expression remained calm, but she felt a chill run through her body. She turned to look at Jue Sheng, who thought for a moment and said, “At first, it sounds like a ghost was causing trouble, but then it doesn’t seem so. Let’s not discuss that for now. Since Caifeng Tower opened, how many such incidents have occurred?”

Bao Zhu, with a pale face, replied, “At least three or four. Strangely, they all involved out-of-town guests. These guests didn’t stay in Chang’an for long and left with compensation from the owner, so although they were all scared out of their wits, almost no one in Chang’an knows about these incidents.”