Judge of Souls - Chapter 95

Early the next morning, Chu Xuanliang drove over to pick up Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng asked, “Have you contacted them?”

“I haven’t had time to contact them yet. If they don’t allow it, we’ll just take a look around the residential area to see if there’s any yin energy,” Chu Xuanliang said, shifting gears and looking ahead. “They’re not from A City and live in the same residential area as Mrs. Miao. I checked the map – that area is a villa district. It seems the victim’s family is quite wealthy. The matter has already been negotiated and will be handled as an accident. The other party didn’t file a lawsuit, so Mrs. Miao’s side must have provided an explanation.”

Chu Xuanliang continued, “After their son died last year, the couple found people from a Taoist temple to perform rituals to send him off, so they should be quite believing in these things.”

Four hours later, following the GPS, they arrived at the entrance of Mrs. Miao’s residential area.

Chu Xuanliang was driving a luxury car. He gave the security guard a cigarette and casually mentioned a unit number. The guard didn’t suspect anything, raised the barrier, and let them in.

Chu Xuanliang parked in a temporary parking space outside and took out his phone to call the woman.

The child’s father was surnamed Zhou.

Chu Xuanliang asked, “Hello, is Mr. Zhou there?”

“He went to work. This is my phone number,” Mrs. Zhou said. “Who are you?”

Chu Xuanliang wavered among various identities – police, reporter, neighborhood gossip squad, Mr. Zhou’s assistant – before finally being honest, “Hello, I’m a Taoist priest from Qianyuan Temple, Chu Xuanliang.”

“I know,” the woman said. “I mean, I know about this temple.”

Chu Xuanliang smiled, “We’d like to meet with you. About what happened in January last year. Could you spare a few minutes?”

“Why are you asking about this?” Mrs. Zhou asked nervously. “Did something happen to the child?”

Chu Xuanliang replied, “No, no, please don’t be nervous. Recently, our temple is preparing to hold a ritual and wants to accumulate some merit for several children who died unjustly. We heard about your situation from a fellow Taoist, so I came to ask for your opinion. If you believe in these things, you could give me the birth date and time for us to try. It’s free. But I need to understand the situation to see if it’s suitable.”

“Alright,” Mrs. Zhou said dully. “Actually, paying would be fine too.”

Chu Xuanliang said, “We’re downstairs right now. Would you prefer to come down, or would it be more convenient for us to come up?”

“What?” The other party was very surprised. After thinking for a moment, she still didn’t dare let strangers into her home and said, “I’ll come down instead. Let’s chat in the leisure area next to the first floor.”

“Alright,” Chu Xuanliang agreed.

Mrs. Zhou took the elevator down, opened the door, and they went to sit at an empty round table in the back.

Although there was no air conditioning, this shaded area blocked the sun and had a strong breeze, making it quite cool.

When Jiang Feng saw her, he noticed her belly was slightly protruding – she was obviously about six or seven months pregnant. Without makeup, she looked somewhat haggard and wasn’t in good spirits.

Chu Xuanliang didn’t know about this. His gaze lingered on her abdomen for a moment before he said, “Sorry for the sudden visit and bringing up this matter. I hope it won’t make things difficult for you?”

Mrs. Zhou touched her belly and shook her head, “It’s nothing. I’m not that fragile.”

Chu Xuanliang showed her his business card. Mrs. Zhou said in surprise, “You have business cards?”

Chu Xuanliang replied helplessly, “Because people always ask for my phone number.”

Mrs. Zhou said, “I understand.”

She leaned back in the rattan chair and said, “I had a dream last week where I saw Yangyang. He stood in front of me crying nonstop. I asked him what was wrong, and he said it hurt so much. Is he not doing well over there?”

Hearing her description, Jiang Feng’s mind flashed with the image of Zhang Yangyang’s tear-stained face…

What an indescribably heartbreaking name.

“This is psychological,” Chu Xuanliang consoled. “It’s your inner mind suggesting things to yourself. It has nothing to do with your son.”

Mrs. Zhou said, “Is that so… That’s wonderful then.”

Seeing that her emotions were relatively stable, Chu Xuanliang got to the point. “Could you tell us a bit about what happened at the time?”

“There’s nothing much to say. It was basically what everyone’s been saying. The dog rushed toward Yangyang, and I didn’t watch him closely enough for a moment… It was also my fault. I was too negligent. If I hadn’t been looking at my phone then, I could have pulled him back in time… But he ran into the road and was hit by a speeding car, then got dragged under the wheels of another oncoming car… So many coincidences, as if everything had been planned… Why did this happen? Yangyang was still so young and especially smart. It felt like heaven was determined to take his life. You don’t know how horribly he died…” Mrs. Zhou’s voice began to grow hoarse, and she pressed her fingers to her nose.

Chu Xuanliang asked, “Did they provide compensation?”

Mrs. Zhou asked, “Who do you mean?”

Chu Xuanliang replied, “The person walking the dog.”

“They compensated us. After negotiation, they paid two million. But this isn’t about money at all – I don’t lack money,” Mrs. Zhou said. “They kept apologizing to me, saying they usually put the dog on a leash, but that day they had their housekeeper take the dog for a walk first, and she didn’t bring the leash. After going downstairs, she thought the dog was usually well-behaved and never bit anyone, so if she just watched it carefully, nothing would happen, so she didn’t go back upstairs to get it. Who knew something would happen?”

Mrs. Zhou choked up, “I was really devastated at the time. I wanted to find someone to vent my anger on. If there was no one to blame, I really might not have been able to go on. So I was thinking of filing a lawsuit then. But the other party said she was pregnant, so I thought, forget it – why make things difficult for a pregnant woman?”

Mrs. Zhou became agitated as she spoke. “But what happened? Her own child was also knocked down by that dog! That was a vicious dog! She took that dog out without a leash! And I actually believed her and forgave her! You see, there is still retribution in this world! It’s just pitiful for that child, as pitiful as my Yangyang. That dog deserved to die!”

Chu Xuanliang said, “Please calm down. It’s all in the past.”

“Why didn’t they leash the dog when walking it? Why? That was a large dog! If they couldn’t control it properly, why did they keep a dog?” Mrs. Zhou slammed the table. “Dogs don’t understand human rules, but doesn’t she understand human rules as a person?! With an owner like her, that dog died because she dragged it down!”

Jiang Feng said, “Actually, that dog is already dead.”

Chu Xuanliang nudged him and said, “You’re right. Mrs. Miao has also been punished.”

The three sat for a while longer. Chu Xuanliang didn’t get any further information.

Chu Xuanliang said, “Please give me your son’s birth date and time. I’ll take it to my master and have him help with the arrangements.”

Mrs. Zhou took out a piece of paper from her small side bag and handed it over.

“Can you help me ask how Yangyang is doing?” Mrs. Zhou said. “Give me an answer. I need some comfort.”

Deep down, she actually doubted whether ghosts existed and whether these Taoist priests were real or fake – she just wanted to believe.

Chu Xuanliang looked at the birth chart and felt it looked somewhat familiar. He calculated with his fingers and said, “You had a cesarean section, didn’t you?”

Mrs. Zhou looked up, “How did you know?”

Chu Xuanliang said diplomatically, “This birth chart is very good.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Zhou said. “We had a master calculate the auspicious time for Yangyang, then went into the delivery room for the cesarean. His destiny was really good.”

Chu Xuanliang’s expression changed uncertainly. Finally, he sighed and looked at her belly, “I suggest you don’t do this for this child.”

Mrs. Zhou’s hand covered her belly, suddenly nervous. “Why?”

Chu Xuanliang said, “Everyone has their own destiny.”

“That’s right,” Mrs. Zhou said. “So my child’s birth chart is the best! He should have been—”

Chu Xuanliang interrupted her, “The so-called heavenly destiny isn’t determined solely by the time of birth. When a person’s destiny cannot bear their birth chart, problems easily arise. Isn’t a peaceful and smooth life good enough? For parents, their children’s health is the most important thing. Why must they become dragons and phoenixes? For a person to succeed, effort is more important than birth charts.”

Chu Xuanliang put the paper away in his pocket, stood up and said, “Mrs. Zhou, if you don’t believe in these things, then there’s no need to do this. If you truly believe in these things, there is such a saying. I suggest you let nature take its course. Farewell.”

Mrs. Zhou sat in place in a daze, unable to come to her senses for a long time.

****

The two returned to the car, and Chu Xuanliang started the engine and turned on the air conditioning.

“The gears of fate,” Chu Xuanliang sighed. “Insisting on defying heaven to change destiny often leads to early death instead.”

Jiang Feng had a slight headache.

Mortals always liked to take shortcuts. But no matter how clever they were, they would inevitably make mistakes someday.

From hearing Mrs. Zhou describe the child’s death, he felt something was wrong.

Coincidentally not leashing the dog, being frightened onto the road, happening to encounter a speeding vehicle, being hit and then struck by an oncoming car, dying despite rescue efforts… Everything was arranged so clearly, as if they were afraid he wouldn’t die.

The child nicknamed Yangyang was only three years old. Chu Xuanliang believed he was indeed exceptionally intelligent and, if he could have lived, would likely have been a genius. That’s why he suffered the backlash.

Jiang Feng said, “If that’s the case, Yangyang has no reason to harbor resentment and haunt Mrs. Miao. What scared him was the dog, what directly killed him was the driver, and what indirectly wanted him dead was the Heavenly Way. Why would he specifically haunt Mrs. Miao? And obviously, that ghost harbors deep resentment against Mrs. Miao.”

“So it’s not him? There’s someone else?” Chu Xuanliang said with a headache. “But from what I’ve found out, besides Mrs. Zhou, there’s nothing else worth noting.”

Jiang Feng replied, “Compared to Mrs. Zhou, other people’s hatred might seem less significant.”

“Then I’ll ask around more,” Chu Xuanliang said. “Mrs. Miao also lives here, right? Since she won’t let you go to her house, let’s walk around the residential area and see if there’s anything suspicious.”

Jiang Feng agreed, “Alright.”

Chu Xuanliang was pulling over his seatbelt when Jiang Feng’s phone rang.

As soon as he answered, Mrs. Miao shouted loudly from the other end. “Master Jiang! Master Jiang, come quickly! My talisman is burning! What should I do now?”

Jiang Feng asked, “Where are you now?”

“I’m at home!” Mrs. Miao said. “I’m at XX residential area in J City… No, Master, I want to know what I should do right now! Right now!”

Jiang Feng replied, “I’m downstairs in your residential area right now. Do you want me to come up, or shall I give you remote guidance?”

Mrs. Miao was stunned by his response. “What? Then… remote… what should remote guidance tell me to do?”

“Close your eyes,” Jiang Feng said. “Pray.”

Mrs. Miao: “……”

Mrs. Miao broke down: “Please come over. I’m at home now. I’ll open the door for you! I’m in Unit 1 of Heyuan.”

The two got out of the car again and walked over.

Before they reached the apartment, Mrs. Miao had already run out herself. The three met on the road.

Jiang Feng carefully confirmed what he saw. Besides some residual dark energy around her, there was nothing else. The other party either hadn’t followed or had discovered they were here and fled.