I hurriedly cut in. “The girl beside you is named Tào Tiểu Thu, and this soul is Tào Tiểu Tinh. I’m here at Tào Tiểu Tinh’s request, to help her tell her younger sister apart.”
The underworld bailiff checked the ledger again, nodded, and bound the paper figure of Tào Tiểu Thu on the floor with a rope. Then he glanced at Vương Văn Viễn, lying some distance away. “What happened to that man? Where’s his soul?”
I feigned innocence. “That’s Tào Tiểu Thu’s husband. When he saw she was about to give birth, he was so frightened he had a heart attack and died. His soul… seems to have been sucked into this ‘inverted bagua formation.’”
The bailiff frowned, his voice ringing like a bronze bell. “‘Inverted bagua’ is a forbidden art. You’re only a minor practitioner—how dare you set up a formation like this to harm people!”
I hastily explained, “The Three Pure Ones, my revered masters, taught me better. How would I dare do such a thing? As for why this formation is here, Bailiff, please investigate it yourself.”
The bailiff sighed and looked at me again. “You practitioners think you have a little talent, so you play at ‘warding off disasters and dispelling calamities’ to make money. Be careful not to reveal heaven’s secrets and bring down heavenly thunder!”
I bowed in salute again. “Thank you for the warning, Bailiff. I’ll abide by the order of heaven and earth and never reveal heaven’s secrets.”
The underworld bailiff came like a breeze and left like one, too.
With the oppressive presence gone from the house, Tào Tiểu Tinh immediately looked up. “Văn Văn, the bailiff’s gone. What’s going to happen to Tiểu Thu?”
I went to the door to ask Mẹ Tào to call an ambulance, but she was already unconscious on the floor. She must have been overwhelmed by the evil yin energy and fainted.
“Your mother’s passed out. She and Tào Tiểu Thu both need an ambulance.”
Tào Tiểu Tinh pleaded through her tears, “Please, be a good person and see this through. Help me one last time.”
I stood there with a regretful expression. “You heard what the bailiff said before he left. Do you really think they could be fooled by a little paper figure? If I interfere too much with other people’s fate, not only will I be doomed—you and Tào Tiểu Thu won’t escape it either.”
Tào Tiểu Tinh was at a complete loss. “Then what should I do? How can I save them?”
I slowly turned my gaze toward the room at the end of the hall. “Send her a dream. The child must be sleeping soundly after Tào Tiểu Thu gave her medicine. You can use the last of your spirit’s energy to appear in the child’s dream and wake her so she can call for help. But you’ll disappear from this world. Perhaps you’ll have another life; perhaps there’ll be nothing at all. It all depends on fate.”
Tào Tiểu Tinh touched Tào Tiểu Thu’s face, then went outside and knelt to kowtow a few times to Mẹ Tào. Finally, she looked at Vương Văn Viễn’s body on the floor. “Will he come back to life?”
I shook my head. “No. He entered the inverted bagua formation and has to endure the torture of the seven gates of death. If he can’t withstand even one gate, his soul will be scattered beyond recovery.”
Perhaps my gentle voice helped Tào Tiểu Tinh relax, too. “Thank you for helping me save Tiểu Thu. If I get the chance, I’ll repay you!”
“You’ve already repaid me with that golden light of merit. There’s no need to thank me.”
Tào Tiểu Tinh resolutely went into Viên Viên’s room.
Three minutes later, the little girl opened the door, tears streaming down her face, and rushed over to hug Tào Tiểu Thu. “Auntie, what’s wrong?”
I watched the little girl use her phone to call an ambulance and the police, then cleaned up any traces I’d left in the house and departed.
Two months later, I was making paper horses in my shop when Tào Tiểu Thu hurried in. “You once said only people who are about to die can see your shop. Why can I see it now? Am I going to die?”
I pulled out a chair for her. “Someone close to you died within the past three months. You’ve been touched by the aura of death, which is why you can see my shop.”
Tào Tiểu Thu breathed a sigh of relief. “My son. The one who died was the son I had with Vương Văn Viễn.”
I sat quietly and listened as she continued. “After they took me to the hospital, I had a C-section and gave birth to a boy. But my water had broken, and I passed out, so the baby aspirated fluid and developed pneumonia. He was severely deprived of oxygen. I thought I was going to die, so I didn’t think to make arrangements for the baby. Besides, he was Vương Văn Viễn’s child. I’d never wanted him to be born. But I told myself he was a life, and if he survived, I’d raise him well. He only lived for a month before he died.”
Tào Tiểu Thu didn’t seem sad as she went on. “The day after I gave birth, I went in a wheelchair to have Vương Văn Viễn cremated, then dumped his ashes into the crematorium toilet. Viên Viên told me she dreamed of her mother, who told her to wake up and call an ambulance to save her aunt and grandmother.”
Only then did Tào Tiểu Thu’s eyes fill with tears. “Where did my sister go? Will I ever see her again?”
I shook my head. “Your sister has gone where she needed to go. If fate allows, you’ll meet again.”
After a few words of thanks, Tào Tiểu Thu got up to leave. As she stepped outside, she turned back, a hint of confusion in her eyes. I thought she’d probably let go of her obsession and could no longer see my shop.
Even though she couldn’t see me, her eyes still glistening with tears, she faced my shop and shouted:
“I’ll be a good daughter to my mother and take good care of Viên Viên. Please tell my sister that in our next lives, we’ll still be one family. I want to be her sister again!”
Perhaps she knew I wouldn’t answer. As soon as she finished shouting, she turned and left. Her steps were sure, but she didn’t notice a little white butterfly land on her windblown hair.
A gust of wind swept by. Beneath the sunlight, the little butterfly spread its wings and flew, then gradually turned into brilliant specks of light and finally vanished from sight.
-THE END-