Two happy events took place during this time. First, Ru Xue gave birth to a baby girl. In memory of Li Mazi’s late wife, Chu Chu, he named the little girl, Nianchu – remembering Chu. I then became Nianchu’s uncle. Second, after a few months of fleeing, Senior Shu had finally escaped from his enemy. He swaggered and came to my shop. He stayed half a month here before leaving.

After Senior Shu left, my life became boring. Yin Xinyue was so busy with her work that she couldn’t make enough time to stay with me. Li Mazi had transformed into an old eunuch that served Ru Xue twenty-four hours a day.

I had stayed idle and bored in my shop for three days, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I called Senior Shu. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Why did you call me? I’m busy making money. I don’t have the time to play with you,” Senior Shu answered crudely. “I’ve accepted many cases while I was on the run. I have to solve these problems, you know.”

It seemed Senior Shu was busy. “Senior, if you have too much on your plate, you can share one or two cases with me. I’m so bored right now that I might as well be your footman.”

“Really?”

Senior Shu was so happy when he heard that. It sounded as though he was worried that I would change my mind in the next second, so he hurried to say, “There’s a tea merchant named Lu Ming in Fujian. He called me a few days ago! I will give you his contact. Thank you, thank you so much, grandson!”

After saying that, he shamelessly hung up the call. In the next second, I received his text message.

When I saw that the address was in Quanzhou, Fujian, I thought I was fooled. That old man must have given me the farthest case he had received. But since I was bored to death, I shouldn’t be picky. I called Lu Ming and asked if he needed help.

At first, Lu Ming sounded cold. He only changed after I told him who I was. “Oh yes, oh yes sir, I need help! When can you come here? I’ll personally come to fetch you.”

His attitude toward me was even better than that of a son with his father. I knew this merchant was in big trouble! I told him to wait one day. After finishing the call, I directly booked a flight ticket to Quanzhou.

I arrived at Quanzhou airport the next morning. This was the first time I had come to Quanzhou. I didn’t call Lu Ming immediately but toured around.

Perhaps it was due to my profession, but I adored and cherished Chinese culture. Quanzhou had a rich history. I went to visit Guan Yu Temple, Haiyin Temple, and other ancient structures. As I stood in between these archaic structures, I felt the rich history of the city of Quanzhou. Unfortunately, I still had a job to do. Around evening, I reluctantly called Lu Ming.

The guy was so excited when he learned I had arrived in Quanzhou. He soon came to pick me up.

As I waited for him, I pictured him in my head. I thought he would be a big-bellied rich businessman. But when he arrived, I discovered that I was wrong.

He looked similar to the movie star Chen Daoming. He had a nice body and was in his late thirties or early forties. His eyes looked sharp, and his shiny leather shoes fit his tailor-made suit very well. However, he had dark circles under his eyes. I guessed he was troubled by something.

While we were on the way to his house, I asked him for more details.

“You don’t know what has happened?” He sounded surprised.

I was speechless and cursed Senior Shu under my breath. I said embarrassedly, “When Senior Shu told me about you, he didn’t give me many details.”

“Emh, understood.” Lu Ming frowned.

He was doubting my skills, but he still politely gave me a nod. I felt much better with his mannerisms.

Lu Ming’s family had worked in the tea industry for generations. However, they didn’t have much luck until Lu Ming’s generation. With his extraordinary Internet marketing skills, he made his family’s tea brand famous nationwide. He even brought his business across the border to Japan and other Southeast Asian countries. He became a tea tycoon.

With these achievements and his young age, Lu Ming had become the new star in the industry. He sometimes thought that his life was already perfect. Unexpectedly, after the Lunar New Year, some strange incidents started to happen in his house.

At first, the best quality tea he had put in his drawer went missing. He thought one of the guests might have taken part of it to try it, so he didn’t mind it. But from that day onward, almost every few days, part of his best tea would disappear. He wanted to catch the thief, so he quietly installed cameras in his house.

When he came to this part of the story, Lu Ming gulped. His face turned tense and his eyes became fearful. He looked as though the event he was about to tell me was terrifying. It seemed he didn’t want to disclose it.

“Don’t worry. I’m here to help you solve the problem!”

He was really scared, so I had to ease his worries. Lu Ming’s face turned better. “The day after I installed the cameras, three bags of my tea, which were worth hundreds of thousands of renminbi, were gone. I couldn’t wait anymore and checked the video. I looked at the drawer where I had kept the tea. It opened by itself. Then, the bags of tea flew up. It looked like an invisible man took the tea away...”

I closed my eyes to picture the scene in my head. My scalp went numb afterward. I opened my eyes and asked, “Before you went to Senior Shu, did you ask any other masters?”

I was sure something foul was troubling him, but Fujian had many famous Daoist priests and monks. Lu Ming belonged to the high class in this society. It shouldn’t be difficult for him to invite a master to help. Why did he invite Senior Shu who lived so far away?

Lu Ming’s face grimaced when I asked that. “After I saw that, I knew there was something foul in my house. I asked geomancers with high reputation in Fujian to come to my house to check. However, they all rejected me after a few minutes of stepping into my house. They said they didn’t dare to accept my case. A master adhered a few yellow talismans in my house. He didn’t charge me and told me that if the talismans didn’t work, I should invite someone stronger.”

After that master left, Lu Ming became more anxious. He was really worried that the talismans wouldn’t work. On the day when the tea was supposed to disappear, he didn’t dare to stay home. When he came back the next morning, he found that all the yellow talismans had burned into ashes. His heart chilled at that moment. He hurriedly pulled the drawer to check, and the tea was gone.

Lu Ming left the house immediately, found that master, and implored him for his help. However, the master no longer wanted to put his hand in this.

Eventually, Lu Ming used his connections and asked around. That’s how he learned about Senior Shu. He offered a large sum of money to Senior Shu and begged him to help. Unfortunately, Senior Shu was on his run at that time and had forgotten about Lu Ming’s case.

I thought something terrifying must have happened afterward. If it was just tea thievery, Lu Ming wouldn’t have been so frightened.

“Nobody agreed to help me, but I didn’t lose hope. I thought it wasn’t a big deal that my tea was stolen like that. However, the day after the yellow talismans were burned, for seven nights in a row, I’ve dreamt of a white-bearded old man! He wore black shrouds and looked furious. He used his staff to knock my head until I woke up. I thought those talismans provoked a wandering soul, so I burned a lot of paper money for him. I even moved out of my house. However, no matter where I slept, I still dreamt of that old man. He scared the wits out of me then used his staff to knock me until I woke up. Now, I have started to sleep during the day and stay up at night. It has gradually turned better for me…”

After telling me his story, Lu Ming still looked scared. I now knew why he had dark circles under his eyes. He hadn’t slept at night for a few months. Instead, he took naps during the day. Even if he was an immortal, he wouldn’t be able to endure this!

From what Lu Ming had told me, I guessed that the old man wasn’t someone too evil. Otherwise, he would have dreamt of that old man during the day as well. Moreover, the old man didn’t seem to want to hurt Lu Ming. He used his staff to knock Liu Ming’s head to give him a lesson.

I had a feeling that Lu Ming had done something wrong. I decided to ask him directly. “Mr. Lu, have you offended someone? Or, did you do something immoral?”

“I…” Lu Ming kept silent for quite a long time. In the end, he shook his head. “I’ve always been busy with my tea business. I didn’t have time to do anything immoral. Although I have many competitors, it's normal when you do business. I don’t think I have done something bad enough that caused someone to send an old ghost to deal with me.”

Lu Ming sounded reasonable. However, I still stuck to the idea that the old ghost wouldn’t have hit him in the head without reason. “Mr. Lu, could you think about it carefully? The old man has come to your dream many times. Has he ever said anything?”

“Oh, he did talk. He yelled at my face the entire time, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying!” Lu Ming almost cried. “I don’t know what to do after all of this...”

After hearing him, I felt much more determined. If the ghost of the old man talked to him, it proved that we had a chance to talk him out of this. Perhaps the ghost didn’t have enough Yin energy, which made his talking inaudible to Lu Ming. I needed to go there and arrange something to enable his voice. When Lu Ming could finally understand him, we could solve this problem.

Lu Ming soon stopped his car in front of a villa. When he went to open the gate and the double-door to the house, I saw spider webs all over the place. Lu Ming felt a little embarrassed. “Since there were paranormal activities in this house, no one dares to live here anymore.”

I just gave him a faint smile to encourage him. Then, I followed him into the villa. I pulled myself together and carefully assessed the interior of the villa. The arrangement of the rooms wasn’t bad.

“When you built this villa, did you consult a geomancer?”

“Yeah, I did. That’s why I’m puzzled. My house has great geomancy, as you can see. How could it attract some unknown ghost?” Lu Ming looked begrudged.

I also had a big question mark in my head. There was a small stream in front of his villa and lush and green hills behind his house. Together, they formed a great formation that could gather fortune. The interior of his house, including the arrangement of the tables, chairs, beds, and other furniture followed the common rules of geomancy. There was no reason for the villa to attract some ghosts. That ghost could only be a spirit dwelling in an otherworldly item in Lu Ming’s villa.

However, I had checked all the corners of the villa and didn’t find a wisp of Yin energy! Everything looked normal. It seemed the possibility of having an otherworldly item wreaking havoc was small.

Suddenly, Lu Ming screamed. I followed his line of sight. He was shakily sitting in front of a cabinet. One of the drawers was pulled open. The bags of tea inside were torn, and the tea leaves scattered around messily.

“Something’s missing again?” I asked.

From his appearance, I knew the ghost had taken his tea again.

Lu Ming dumbly nodded. Then, he put on a wry smile. “I’ve been out of this villa for three months. Twelve tea bags were taken. It seems he didn’t even miss a day! I admire this ghost now. Where else could we find a tea maniac ghost like this one?”

I had accepted dozens of otherworldly item cases, big and small. The spirits I knew had done a lot of horrible things. However, I had never encountered a spirit that loved to steal tea leaves. This ghost was odd.

After Lu Ming pulled himself together, I asked, “Have you ever bought or brought any antiques to your house?”

He immediately shook his head. “I don’t have a hobby of collecting antiques.”

It was really weird then! For the time being, I didn’t have a clue. However, luckily for me, the old man visited Lu Ming’s dreams every night. I wasn’t afraid of losing sight of him!