After helping Qu Yuan’s spirit ascend, I was confused for a long time. I didn’t see any reason that could cheer me up. When Senior Shu saw that I was dispirited, he asked me to travel with him.

It had been a long time since I had gone out and dealt with otherworldly items with him. I agreed, with the thought that I would seize the chance to dig one or two more magic tools from him…

Senior Shu hadn’t planned to bring Li Mazi. However, that rascal was a smartass. He knew there would be big rewards when traveling with Senior Shu. He stubbornly insisted on accompanying us. Even the despicable Senior Shu had to yield.

Even though we had worked together efficiently, when Li Mazi and I went out seeking a case, most of the time, we would come home empty-handed. Unexpectedly, after three days of traveling with Senior Shu, we got a new case!

The client was from Suzhou. Senior Shu said that our client was a woman. Li Mazi’s spirit boosted immediately. In a despicable voice, he said, “What does she look like? Is she married?”

“Why does it matter to you if she has a husband or not? Do you want me to tell Ru Xue to beat you up?”

Senior Shu palmed Li Mazi’s head. Li Mazi gingerly retracted his neck and didn’t dare to talk again.

We had an appointment with the client the next day in a coffee shop in Suzhou. When we got there, the client was waiting for us. She politely shook our hands and welcomed us.

“Good, good, good…” Li Mazi almost drooled when he shook her hand. If it were under different circumstances, I would have kicked him. However, his reaction also proved that the woman’s appearance was extraordinary.

She was around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, and she looked like the movie star, Zhao Liying. She belonged to the type of standard beauty, especially with her prominent, deep cleavage. However, her brows slammed together, which gave the impression that something was weighing on her mind.

After we all took a seat, she started to introduce herself. “I am Li Qiushu, a native of Suzhou. After graduating, I have been promoting and selling cosmetics via WeChat with my bestie. We’ve accumulated a huge sum already.”

I felt funny and thought that Li Qiushu was giving us a thorough introduction about herself. This wasn’t a match-making meeting, though.

“My bestie is called Zhang Yan. We’ve been best friends since university. We’ve eaten and slept together. After graduating, we tried our best efforts to earn money. We didn’t think about the hardships, even when we had to sleep in someone’s basement. Our relationship didn’t change after we became richer. However, these days, I don’t know why, but Zhang Yan, she…”

Li Qiushu’s eyes turned red. She knew that she was losing herself to her emotions. She quickly wiped her eyes with a tissue then continued the story.

It turned out her bestie Zhang Yan had become quite malicious these days. She had changed from caring to daring. She challenged and competed against Li Qiushu on everything!

At first, Li Qiushu didn’t mind it. They had competed against and challenged one another for many years to help each other’s progress. However, one day, they were discussing the details of a contract with a big customer. When it came to the part where they had to sign the contract, Li Qiushu naturally signed first, as she had always done. Zhang Yan suddenly tore the contract with the reason that she didn’t want her name to be placed after Li Qiushu’s name.

At that time, Li Qiushu felt so aggrieved. However, she didn’t say anything after considering their years of sisterhood. But then, after that day, Zhang Yan remained hostile toward her. She even deliberately fabricated stories about her to harm her.

Even so, Li Qiushu treasured their friendship a lot. She decided to call Zhang Yan’s husband. After that, she learned that Zhang Yan didn’t just treat her that way. She had treated everybody with hostility and a competitive attitude. Even when she was in her own home, she saw the entire world as her enemy.

Li Qiushu talked to Zhang Yan’s husband for a while and they both agreed that it was absurd and impossible for Zhang Yan to have changed greatly in just a short time without a known reason. They guessed she was bewitched by something evil.

Li Qiushu happened to hear about Senior Shu while having dinner with a customer. She decided to use a big sum to invite Senior Shu to help her.

After listening to her story, I knew that Zhang Yan had probably provoked something foul. I turned to look at Senior Shu’s eyes. He gave me a faint nod as his answer.

It seemed he wanted me to solve this. He would be watching and giving me support. I didn’t talk nonsense and asked Li Qiushu to take us to Zhang Yan’s house to have a look.

Li Qiushu put on a reluctant face. “Zhang Yan has become very cautious. It seems she’s got persecutory delusions. Anyway, I can ask Zhang Yan’s husband to meet with us. Perhaps we can get some clues from him.”

“Yeah, could you check if he has time to meet up now?” I agreed with her. Anyway, they were a married couple that ate and slept together. Zhang Yan’s husband should know something.

Then, Li Qiushu called Zhang Yan’s husband. His name was Feng Yuanzheng. When Feng Yuanzheng knew that we were waiting for him, he was excited and told Li Qiushu that he would come right away. However, the call had ended quite a long time ago, but he hadn’t shown up yet. Senior Shu’s face slowly turned dark.

I also thought he wasn’t polite at all, making the four of us waiting for him here. If we didn’t consider Li Qiushu’s sincerity, we would have left already!

We had waited for one more hour when we finally saw a man wobble into the coffee shop. He looked dirty. He even had dabs of blood on his body. At first glance, he looked like a beggar. Li Mazi told him, “Please sit far from us and have this dish.”

“Qiushu, sister, it’s me. I’m Feng Yuanzheng!”

The man didn’t receive the dish but directly sat next to Li Qiushu. Li Qiushu finally recognized him. “What happened to you? Why are you dressed like this?”

“Argh, this…” Feng Yuanzheng stuttered for a while. In the end, he gritted his teeth. “After I hung up the call, I was prepared to go out. But then, Yan checked my phone and accused me of having an affair with you. She locked me in the room. As she didn’t let me go, I had to jump through the window from the second floor…”

“Ptui!” Li Mazi directly spat out his coffee.

I rolled my eyes at him then talked to Feng Yuanzheng. “Mr. Feng, please tell us about your wife’s strange behaviors.”

Perhaps Feng Yuanzheng had already arranged his words on the way here. He started to tell us an orderly story. But what he told us wasn’t much different from what we had heard from Li Qiushu. Those were just the details on the surface. Senior Shu couldn’t wait anymore. He interrupted the man’s ranting and asked with a low voice, “Has anything strange happened in your family these days? Did you buy a strange antique or renovate your house?”

“Strange situation? Strange things have happened around Yan, but…” When he came to this part, Feng Yuanzheng’s eyes sparkled. He patted his head. “Yeah, I remember now. After Yan came home from her mother’s place, she turned into that horrible person!”

When I heard that, my spirit was boosted. “Please tell us in detail.”

Feng Yuanzheng nodded. He thought then said, “I remember it was autumn. Zhang Yan went to her mother’s village to help harvest the rice. Before she left, she was fine, but when she returned, she had changed completely.”

Since Zhang Yan’s change in attitude wasn’t improving, Feng Yuanzheng didn’t tell her parents. However, as things had come to this, we couldn’t hide it anymore. I asked him to take us to Zhang Yan’s hometown to see.

Senior Shu didn’t like to travel by car much. He found a hostel to rest while the four of us drove away. At around noon, we arrived in Zhang Yan’s hometown.

Her parents were honest and friendly farmers. They treated us well with a table of various foods for lunch. After lunch, Feng Yuanzheng took a lot of time to prepare himself before telling his in-laws about Zhang Yan’s change. After talking, he asked carefully, “Father, mother, did Yan touch something she shouldn’t have while she was here?”

“Oh my God… Did our little Yan touch something foul?!” Zhang Yan’s mother was a typical countryside woman. When she heard that, she burst out crying.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yan’s father wore a stern face and smoked two cigarettes. After a while, he waved at us. “Come with me.”

We followed him and walked for around five minutes. We reached a tattered farmhouse outside the courtyard. The farmhouse was fenced, and the roof was covered with wormwood. There were so many cracks on the walls. It seemed that no one lived here.

Zhang Yan’s father took us to the house and explained. It turned out this place was where Zhang Yan’s grandparents had lived when they were alive. Little Zhang Yan loved to play and stay with her grandparents in this house.

After her grandparents passed away and Zhang Yan married, she moved to the city. However, whenever she returned to her hometown, she would come and clean this house. She hadn’t forgotten her experiences here.

The last time they harvested the autumn crop, Zhang Yan had come back to help. She also went to clean this house and found a swallow nest under the eaves of the roof.

A swallow nest in the front eaves of the house was always an auspicious sign. Zhang Yan was happy and told this to her parents. Her father was also delighted. Zhang Yan and her father brought the bamboo ladder to the old house to watch the swallow nest. However, they were surprised when they found a fist-sized, iron swallow inside the nest. They didn’t know where the thing had come from.

The iron swallow was realistic; it was well-carved and chiseled from the eyes to every single feather. Zhang Yan liked it at first glance. Moreover, as her name also meant ‘Swallow,’ she decided to take the iron swallow with her.

“An iron swallow that came out of nowhere... That isn’t normal. Uncle, how could you let her take it away like that?” I sighed.

Mr. Zhang lowered his head and blamed himself.

I knew the iron swallow couldn’t have just appeared out of thin air. Someone had done that. “Uncle, did you or your wife offend someone or do something taboo?”