I don't know just how much Xiaotao had eavesdropped so I frantically explained, "I know my motives are selfish but I can’t watch you put your life in danger!"

"I hate it when people make decisions on my behalf without my accord, even if it’s for my own good!” Xiaotao retaliated, glaring angrily at me. “From now on, I won't speak to you outside of work, and you’re no longer allowed into my home!"

She folded her arms and turned away, as if too infuriated to tolerate looking at me. I scrambled to salvage the situation, lengthy apologies spilling from my lips in an attempt to coax her into calming down.

In truth, Xiaotao wasn’t as angry as she pretended to be, but at the time I was completely deceived by her impressive acting skills. In my state of confusion and worry, I thought I had committed a terrible blunder and was anxious to make amends.

With much grovelling on my part, Xiaotao eventually snorted, "Okay, okay. I’ll let this matter go for the time being. I’ll punish you later. So how are you going to look for the Yin object dealer?"

"You believe in the existence of Yin objects?" I asked in surprise.

"In the past, my thoughts on the matter would’ve mirrored Director-General Cheng’s, but after all the strange things we’ve experienced together, I’m not surprised to learn of Yin objects."

I was awash with relief at her words. "Then let's look for him."

The three of us walked to a nearby telecommunications store where I paid for my phone bill and asked for the call list. The last number on the list was the one we were looking for–the number Pockmark Li dialled the other day.

When I called, Pockmark Li and the Yin object dealer were together. I introduced myself and my profession which drew surprise from the man. "Traditional Coroner?” he exclaimed. “This profession is very strange."

"Can we meet up to talk?" I asked.

"Yes, come to the nearby teahouse,” he said. “I’ll treat you to some Longjing tea."

At the teahouse, Song Xingchen waited for us downstairs, while Xiaotao and I were taken to a private room by a waiter. Just before we entered the room, Xiaotao whispered, "The last time I met a Jianghu master, it was some fortune teller my father took me to. The old Daoist spoke a lot of nonsense, claiming that I was born under the Greedy Wolf Star and would live in turmoil my whole life. I was advised to marry a man born in the year of the tiger during the Yin hour to suppress the effects. He said that the tiger and wolf complement each other and would surely accomplish great things together. Don’t you think it’s ridiculous to ask for someone’s birth date before you go out on a date?"

My jaw dropped in shock. In fact, I was almost named Song Erhu because I was born in the year of the tiger during the Yin hour.

Xiaotao stared wide-eyed at me upon noticing my odd reaction. "You’re not, are you?"

My face turned crimson as I rushed to hide all traces of my faux pas. "No! My birthdate is very ordinary."

"I knew it! How could there be such a coincidence?” scoffed Xiaotao. “He’s just another Jianghu charlatan!"

The middle-aged man and Pockmark Li were leisurely drinking tea in the room. When we made our presence known, he held out his hand to Pockmark Li and sniggered, "What did I tell you, eh?"

Pockmark Li pulled out a hundred yuan and reluctantly handed it to him. The two must have bet on us showing up or not, which suggested he wanted to cooperate with us as well.

The middle-aged man invited us to take a seat before describing a little about themselves. Pockmark Li and the middle-aged man, named Zhang Jiulin, came from Wuhan. They ran an antique shop and usually travelled around the country collecting Yin objects, having experienced enough to write a whole book about their adventures.

Zhang Jiulin poured us some tea and said, "Speaking of writing a book, I just remembered that I actually wrote a book about myself. Of course, all of the names were pseudonyms. Would you like to have a look? Just search for ‘Otherworldly Merchant’ on the website, Mars Novels.[1]”

"I'm not interested in online novels,” I retorted. “I’m here to listen to a detailed explanation of what a Yin object is!"

He explained that a Yin object was any item that contained the resentment or obsession of the dead. As an example, he described how he had received the pipe Ji Xiaolan personally used for a lifetime. It then fell into the hands of a man who ended up smoking himself to death.

"You might as well tell us you received Lu Bu’s famed halberd and Yang Guifei's mirror," I quipped.

"I actually did come across both of those things," laughed Zhang Jiulin.

I couldn’t help but doubt the man’s reliability with all that big talk. "You should already know why we’re here," I said, cutting to the chase.

"I understand,” he nodded. “You need my help. What a coincidence! I was going to look for you too. Don’t you think we’re connected by fate?” he continued to ramble. “Pockmark Li and I don’t know anyone in these parts. It’ll be convenient having a police consultant for assistance in a case involving so many murders."

"You don’t have to butter up to me,” I mocked. “It's just a temporary cooperation between two people who can help each other. As soon as we solve the case, we’ll each go our own way."

"Why do you have to sound so rude?!” interjected Pockmark Li. “Is this how you usually speak? How does your girlfriend stand that bad temper of yours?"

Red in the face, Xiaotao clenched her fist and slammed the table, causing the teacups to overturn. She stood up and pointed at Pockmark Li, spitting with fury, "Watch how you speak! Don't forget that you still have a criminal record with us."

Caught off guard, Zhang Jiulin swept a look of inquiry at Pockmark Li and asked in a low voice, "Were you at the massage parlor again? You were arrested?"

Pockmark Li hastily refuted, "Of course not! Why would I step into that sort of place? I helped an old lady cross the road but was treated as a troublemaker. I swear I’m more innocent than Dou E!"

I didn't bother to uncover his lies. Zhang Jiulin flicked his gaze up to meet mine and solemnly said, "Xiao Song Yang, we can't cooperate if this is the sort of attitude you have. You have to understand one thing–you need our help but we’re not your subordinates."

He squinted at me through hardened eyes, trying to pressure me with that stony expression of his but I met his gaze without weakness or submission. "Tell me what you know!" I demanded.

"Look, here we go again,” sneered Zhang Jiulin. “Is this how you speak to people?"

Perhaps his identity as a Jianghu man led me to subconsciously speak in the same tone I used with Baldy and his gang. However, my intuition told me he wasn’t at all like those gangsters so I softened my tone, "Let’s exchange information. I'll tell you what we know first."

"That's the way!" nodded Zhang Jiulin.

I told him all the information we had gathered so far and reminded, "These are all police secrets. Don’t speak a word of it."

"Not bad, kid! You actually deduced that the murder weapon is a musical instrument,” he commended. “Well, here’s a fair exchange. I'll tell you what I know."

He explained that he was actually entrusted by a client to collect a Yin object, though the client’s identity had to remain hidden. He assured us his client had nothing to do with the case. They traced the object all the way to Nanjiang City where he had an unexpected encounter with the police and was wrongfully accused of being a suspect.

The Yin object, known as the Heartbroken Xun, was made from the skull of an ancient bandit. Playing a special tune with it would plunge the listener into a state of depression and eventually induce them to commit suicide. Having discovered the identity of the man in possession of the Yin object, Zhang Jiulin and Pockmark Li were saved from a lot of investigation work.

Judging from the current progress of the case, the interval from the time the victim first heard the music to the suicide had drastically decreased. It had taken Officer Niu a few days while Officer Ouyang lasted less than a few hours. The people in the restaurant suffered an almost immediate effect. With this development, it was clear that the Yin object was beginning to slip out of the user’s control. If we didn't contain it in time, who knew what disaster awaited us?

1. Also available on Wuxiaworld: https://www.wuxiaworld.com/novel/otherworldly-merchant