I could hardly believe my ears when I heard Aunt Ulan uttered the words. So this was the true reason she was so anxious to expedite matters! She wanted me to bring her to Wu Zhong where she could once again see Father! "Is this even fine?" I collapsed into a chair and fumbled miserably for other options. Still, my mind was completely blank! Just as I was still grappling for ways to answer, Godmother spoke suddenly, "Sister, I think it's better if you stay here." Aunt Ulan stared at her, shocked by her words. Quietly, she turned to Godmother, who promptly continued, "There was indeed passion between Murong Hai and us, Sister. But the time has long gone, and you are a mortal. Mortals grow old. Even today, Murong Hai maintains a youthful and exuberant appearance, while you are now a frail old lady? Do you really wish to let him see you like this? Frankly, Sister, even I... Even I would never dare show myself before him again!" Godmother must have remembered

I said nothing at first, leading him to a snooker lounge where we had a game of billiards. But he could see that I had something to talk to him about. Unable to concentrate with the game, he pointed his snooker cue at me and bellowed, "Come on! What is it that you wanted to talk about!?" To me, the Center was a joint venture; a shared interest that should be equally divided between us three. So was the decision which I strongly believed that we should make together. Apprehensively, I asked Lin Feng, "So, how go things between you and Yuanyuan?" He was surprised to hear me saying this; this was one of the last questions he was expecting to hear from me. "Well, what else? We're still the same," he answered after shrugging his shoulders, "My parents are fine. But I have yet to meet her parents." I nodded and took a swig from my can of Coke. "You know Chongxi also has a girlfriend now, do you? A girl called Xiao Yu?" He merely nodded. My head bobbed slowly to

The farmer would have thought this would have been a trivial case of just keeping his chickens safe from predators and the encounter with the weasel might discourage the beast from having second thoughts about his chickens ever again. But in the second morning when he woke up, his fields were covered with litters of bricks and roof tiles! Still wearing his trademarked blank and dull expression as he listened intently, Chongxi merely responded with a blunt and short "oh" when the farmer's tale reached its end. He peered at his future mother-in-law and the farmer. "Which sort of fertilizers do you use at the farm?" he asked quietly. Puzzled by his question, the farmer blabbered, "Manure from horses and mules, of course!" Chongxi chuckled viciously. He whispered into the farmer's ears who nodded, taking in everything he said and gave the farmer a name card, telling him to place another call to us; we would accept the case. Chongxi then declined the offer of an upfront pay

From the sound of it, Yuanyuan and her friend could hear that we were going to help with a client about some spooky cases, and they agreed to help us. Chongxi was already pestering us to get a move on even as we barely finished lunch. He was anxious to meet the farmer, this being the first time he had handled a case by himself. The farmer had already completed his work of flipping the fertilizers into the ground when we reached his fields. He immediately tossed his cigarette to the ground and grounded it with his boot when he saw us stopping the car and got up to his feet, walking towards us with brisk steps. He was in good spirits; offering each of us a cigarette while thanking us, "What a tall order you've accomplished indeed! You guys are the real deal!" Real, of course, I mused wryly, we are as real as it gets. Chongxi chuckled gleefully, extremely pleased at himself, "Don't mention it! It's just a simple task for us!" I breathed and exh

With my Spirit Sight, I could see the thick tendrils of foul aura curling around the demon. It must be at least centuries old like Godmother. But why did it surrendered itself as soon as it saw us, behaving so meek like a sheep? In anyhow, I would gladly choose to talk rather fight any day. Feigning arrogant magnanimity, I heaved a puff from my cigarette, and stared down at it. "Enough fretting," I said, with all the frostiness I could muster, "Speak up. What are you and what evil have you wrought? I'd have no lies from you!" My cold and steely voice sent a chill down the monster's spine. It looked even more fearful than before as if Death was lurking from behind every syllable I uttered. Its lips quivered as it struggled to summon the courage to speak, until he spoke at last, "Er... Er... P-please! H-have mercy on me!" The monster's courage was no better than its hideous looks, I mused. Then I smiled and said, "Very well, mercy it is, for now," I added quietly, trying