Grocery Store No.514

On February 28, 3012, after Gao Ying was brought back to the underworld by Hei Bai Wuchang, Ling Hua’an took out another paper talisman, chanted the incantation silently, and called Hu Si.

Dressed in a bright gray coat and white sneakers, Hu Si narrowed his small eyes and said with a smile, “Hello, Mr. Ling, I was thinking of coming to the yang world, and then I received a letter from Mr. Ling. It’s a coincidence.”

The Underworld’s messengers can’t come to the human world as they want unless they have a task or are summoned by a Spirit Guide. 

Ling Hua’an smiled, “Mr. Hu wants to come to Yang World. Is there something wrong?”

Hu Si stroked his mustache and said with a smile, “Isn’t there a new sneaker just released recently? It’s a limited edition. I’m afraid I won’t be able to get it later. Let’s not talk about it. What did Mr. Ling ask me to do?”

“I would like to ask Mr. Hu something.” Ling Hua’an asked, “Has Mr. Hu ever heard of the Hao family, a family of ghost hunters?”

Hu Si was a Taoist Priest during his lifetime, and he was the best at catching demons and ghosts. Because of the merits he accumulated during his lifetime, Yan Jun specially asked him to become Underworld’s messenger. That’s why Ling Hua’an asked about this.

“Hao family?” Hus’s face changed, and said, “why does Mr. Ling ask this?”

“There is a recent case that is somewhat involved with the Hao family. That’s why I’m asking this question.” Ling Hua’an did not hide. He told the story of Sun Ting’ and her sisters.

“So that’s how it is.” Hu Si was silent for a while and then said, “Speaking of the past, the Hao family was considered the top among the Xuan Sect, but the way they work is too overbearing and got rejected by Xuan Sect. All the mysterious sects attacked the twenty-seventh-generation head of the family for practicing evil arts. Since then, the Hao family has slowly fallen. Unexpectedly, this Hao family not only didn’t learn their lesson but continued to do evil. They really won’t change.”

“Practicing evil arts?” Ling Hua’an frowned slightly and asked, “Does Mr. Hu know what kind of evil arts they practice?”

Without answering, Hu Si asked, “I wonder if Mr. Ling has ever heard of the Xiyu cult?”

“Xi Yu?” Ling Hua’an’s brows became even tighter, and he asked, “Could it be that the head of the Hao family has anything to do with the Xiyu cult?”

“The original owner of the Hao family was named Hao Zhen, who came from the Taoist school. Later, he was expelled from the school for doing something wrong, and then he returned to his hometown.

Hao Zhen was very good at scheming for people’s hearts, plus he really had some skills, so the Hao family slowly grew up through his guidance. The Golden Age of the Hao Family was when the 15th-generation head of the family, Hao Xiu, was in power. That was when the entire Xuan Sect was at its peak, along with the Mao, Ma, and Hua families, known as the four great families of the Xuan Sect. After Hao Xiu, the Hao family began to fall into disrepair until Hao Man, the twenty-seventh generation head of the Hao family, took over as the head of the family. He wanted to revive the Hao family’s reputation and precarious position in the Xuan Sect, so he secretly searched for various evil arts to practice, including the evil arts of the Xi Yu Cult. He murdered people and went out to catch ghosts. At first, it was somewhat effective, but more and more people died, which attracted Xuan Sect. Only then did Hao Man’s conspiracy be seen through. Hao’s family was kicked out of the Xuan Sect, and Hao Man’s soul was devastated by the evil arts. It has been more than 200 years since Hao man died.”

“There was a case before related to the Xiyu cult. The prisoner once said that he found a sorcerer in an ancient book. I didn’t care about it at the time. Now it seems that the matter is not that simple.” Ling Hua’an was a little worried and said, If there is really any conspiracy behind this and it’s related to the Hao family, I’m afraid it’s difficult for me to deal with it.”

Translated by Cafe No. 20 – cafeno20.wordpress.com

“Mr. Ling, don’t worry. With your relationship with the Underworld, asking for help is easy. No matter how powerful his Hao family is, they can’t be an enemy of the underworld. Besides, I still have some connections with the Hao family, so If there is something I can do for you, Mr. Ling, just send a letter.”

“Then, thank you in advance, Mr. Hu.” Ling Hua’an changed his tone and said, “There is one more thing I need to trouble Mr. Hu for.”

“Mr. Ling, please go ahead.” To get the limited edition sneakers, Hu Si was very talkative.

“A female corpse is buried in a sinkhole on the east side of Xihua Mountain. She died seven days ago. I have to trouble Mr. Hu to lead someone to find the corpse and call the police.” Ling Hua’an took out the soul jade and handed it to Hu Si, saying,  “This is the object of the female corpse, and it has her breath on it.”

“Soul Jade!” Hu Si’s eyes lit up. He reached out and took it, playing with it carefully. After a while, he looked up at Ling Hua’an and said inexplicably, “Soul jade is a rare good thing, especially for ghosts. Even for Hei Bai Wuchang level, they will drool when they see it. You handed it over to me so boldly. Are you not afraid I would not return it after taking it?”

Ling Hua’an smiled lightly and said, “I can trust Mr. Hu’s character.”

Hu Si did love money, but he was very principled. He will take what belongs to him, and he won’t take any who doesn’t belong to him. Moreover, if his character is not good, the underworld will not allow him to be an underworld messenger, which makes Ling Hua’an trust him.

Looking at Ling Hua’an, Hu Si nodded. He put the soul jade away and said, “Okay, when it’s done, the soul jade will be returned once it’s done. Please pay the reward on time, Mr. Ling.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Hu, I’ll call the store and burn it to Mr. Hu tomorrow at the latest.”

Hu Si waved his hand and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Ling Hua’an took out his mobile phone and called the store. Because of his frequent orders, the store manager would usually prioritize Ling Hua’an to deliver the goods.

At five o’clock in the afternoon, Jiang Chengyan was checking the surveillance video in the office when the door was suddenly pushed open. Yao Min stood at the door and said, “Captain, a female body was found in Xihua Mountain.”

“A female corpse?” Jiang Chengyan frowned slightly, stood up, and said, “notify people to go to the scene.”

Yao Min responded, turned, and left.

As soon as Jiang Chengyan came to the door, the phone rang. He saw the name on the screen and quickly connected the phone, saying, “Hello, Hua’an.”

“Captain Jiang, did you receive the emergency call?”

Jiang Chengyan was stunned for a moment, then reacted immediately and asked, “Is it the female corpse on Xihua Mountain?”

“That female corpse is Gao Ying. Her ghost came to me just now. You should go out to the scenes first. When you return to the police station, give me a call, and I will tell you the whole story.”

Jiang Chengyan’s eyes lit up at the words, and he said, “Okay, then I’ll call you when I get back.”

Jiang Chengyan took people to Xihua mountain. Suke and Hu Yang were digging out the body bit by bit, and the head of the body had been completely exposed. Because it was on the mountain, and it was winter now, the body was well preserved, so Jiang Chengyan recognized it at a glance.

Translated by Cafe No. 20 – cafeno20.wordpress.com

Yao Min said in surprise, “this female corpse looks exactly like Sun Ting. Could it be that she is Gao Ying?”

“We still have to wait for the DNA test report, but their looks are really similar. She is likely to be Gao Ying.” Although Jiang Chengyan already knew the result, he still had to pretend to be confused.

Yao Min frowned and said, “No wonder we couldn’t find her no matter how we searched. It turns out she was killed. If she is really Gao Ying, then isn’t this a case of ‘death without proof’, so we can only accept Sun Ting’s words?”

Jiang Chengyan smiled and said, “the real case of ‘death without proof’ is when you don’t see a person alive and don’t find their dead body. Now that we have found the body and confirmed that Gao Ying is dead, doesn’t it mean that the case is not like what Sun Ting said? Someone was silencing her.”

Su Ke kept moving his hands and said, “your captain is right. The living can lie, but the dead can’t. Maybe we can find a breakthrough from this corpse?”

“Why don’t we say Su Ke is the ‘god’ that our police force believes in? We have to rely on you to solve the case.”

Su Ke glanced at Jiang Chengyan, “don’t flatter me. I’m the best at grave-diggers. How can I be compared with the head constable? You still need to rely on Captain Jiang to solve the case.”

Jiang Chengyan chuckled, looked at Yao Min, and said, “Girl, go and record a statement for the reporter.”

Yao Min nodded and turned toward the reporter.

Jiang Chengyan put on his gloves and wanted to help Suke, but Su Ke stopped him and said, “don’t, don’t, don’t, I don’t trust you. You are so careless. You’d better do something else.”

Jiang Chengyan jokingly said, “how can I be careless?”

Su Ke glanced at him, curled up his lips, and didn’t speak.

“Okay, okay, if you don’t need help, then  I’ll go to Mr. Qin.” Jiang Chengyan stood up and walked towards Qin An.

After wandering around the sinkhole, he found nothing but a few cigarette butts. Jiang Chengyan looked in the direction of Su Ke and saw that the body had been completely dug up, so he walked over and asked, “How did she die?”

Su Ke, who was examining the body, said without looking up, “the face and lips of the deceased were purple, and the earlobes were cherry red, which are common features of cyanide poisoning.”

“What about the time of death? Can you predict it?”

“Looking at the environment of the scene and corpse condition, the deceased has been dead for about five or six days. We need to go through a detailed autopsy to know the exact time of death.” Su Ke looked up at Hu Yang and said, “You put the corpse in the body bag.”

“Wait.” Jiang Chengyan carefully rolled up the sleeve of the deceased and found a scratch near her wrist, saying, “It seems that this corpse is Gao Ying.”

Translated by Cafe No. 20 – cafeno20.wordpress.com

“Even if you’re sure, we still need to do a DNA test.”

“En, but fingerprints are more important to us.”

It was already eight o’clock when Jiang Chengyan returned to the police station. Looking at the tired crowd, he clapped his hands and said, “Okay, I’ll be here today. Everyone should go home.”

The people had a breathless response, packing up their things one after another out of the office. Jiang Chengyan stayed for a while before turning off the lights in the office. He put on his coat and left the police station. Looking at the grocery store opposite the police station, Sun Ming was standing in front of the cash register while his familiar figure was lying in the hospital. Jiang Chengyan suddenly had an intense longing in his heart. He walked quickly to the parking lot, opened the car door, sat up, and went straight toward the direction of the hospital.

Inside the hospital, Ling Hua’an was listening to music, and after the nurse finished changing the IV, she looked at him with a desire to speak.

Although Ling Hua’an couldn’t see, his senses were sharp, and the nurse’s eyes were too hot. He couldn’t ignore it if he wanted to.

“Miss nurse, what’s the matter with you?”

The nurse hesitated and asked, “Mr. Ling, I have a colleague who wants me to ask if you have a girlfriend.”

Ling Hua’an answered frankly, “I already have a partner.”

“Oh, okay.” The nurse said with deep disappointment in her tone, “Then Mr. Ling take a good rest, and call me if you need anything. I’ll go out first.”

As soon as the nurse’s voice fell, Jiang Chengyan pushed open the door and walked in. The nurse smiled at Jiang Chengyan, turned, and walked out of the ward.

Ling Hua’an looked in the direction of Jiang Chengyan and asked, “Captain Jiang?”

“Mr. Ling is really popular.” Jiang Chengyan’s tone was sour, no matter how he heard it.

Ling Hua’an smiled and said, “Even though he is popular, Mr. Ling has a master now.”

~~~