Grocery Store No.514

“Pā”, Jiang Chengyan was successfully stunned by a loud slap in the face. He looked at Ling Hua’an in disbelief, hoping that he would give himself an explanation. But after waiting for a long time, he remembered that Ling Hua’an was blind.

“Why did you hit me?”

“Why did you lie to me?”

“I lied to you?” Jiang Chengyan was even more confused now, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he asked, “when did I lie to you?”

Ling Hua’an fumbled to pick up the 50 bill and said with an expressionless face, “is this 10 yuan?”

Jiang Chengyan was startled, he felt a little guilty and then quickly explained, “even if it’s not 10 yuan, I didn’t give you less money.”

“How much is this?” Ling Hua’an held up the bill. Jiang Chengyan hesitated and said  “50.”

“Isn’t that a lie?”

Being watched by Ling Hua’an particular eyes, Jiang Chengyan inexplicably feels a sense of oppression, and he said helplessly “I’m not trying to deceive you, I’m just…”

“Sympathy? Pity?” Ling Hua’an said coldly, “I don’t need it.”

“I don’t mean that, I just want to help you. Don’t get me wrong,” Jiang explained anxiously.

“How much money did you give me in total, go back and figure it out. Come over tomorrow and I’ll pay you back.” Ling Hua’an took out 45 yuan from the cash register, put it on the table with the instant noodles box, and said “you can leave now.”

After looking at Ling Hua’an, Jiang Chengyan picked up the money and instant noodles before turning to leave. He walked out of the shop and looked back. He happened to see Ling Hua’an also looking out the window. He felt tight in his heart and just wanted to turn around. Then he remembered again that Ling Hua’an was a blind man. He couldn’t help but breathed a sigh of relief. He touched his hurt face and muttered in a low voice, “obviously it’s a good deed. In the end, not only did get beaten but also have to apologize. I don’t know where to justify this.”

Wang Lei whispered in Ling Hua’an’s ear, “Laoban, that ghost has been knocked down.”

Ling Hua’an nodded, shut the drawer, and looked straight at the floating headless ghost floating across him.

Suddenly, the store bell start ringing rapidly, the lamp that shine normally just a moment ago suddenly flickered on and off, an ill wind¹ blew through, and the goods on the cash register table were blown scattered to the ground. A hoarse voice echoes, as if far and near “Who are you, and why are you meddling?”

“You are a resentful ghost and you have just taken shape. Once you do harmful things, you are unable to reincarnate again. I am helping you.”

“I died so tragically. I must take revenge or I will not die in peace!” The Ill wind blowing around within the store, the goods on the shelves falling one by one.

“Revenge? Do you know who the enemy is? Do you know how you died?” Ling Hua’an asked lightly.

The Ill wind suddenly stopped, and the voice echoes again, “How did I die, who was the enemy… why can’t I remember?”

“Because you died in vain. Your memory before death is unclear, also you have resentment in your heart that makes you can’t reincarnate yet.”

“What am I supposed to do? Why do you know that? Who exactly you are?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is that I can help you.”

“You can help me. How can you help me?”

“I can help you find out the truth about your death, dispel grievances in your heart and help you reincarnate.” Ling Hua’an paused for a moment and then said, “But I have conditions.”

“As long as you can help me find out the truth, I will agree to any condition!”

“I want one-fifth of all your family property. And if you agree, put your handprint on this piece of paper.”

Ling Hua’an took out a box of red ink paste² from his pocket and a piece of yellow paper from the drawer under the cashier. A few lines of calligraphy are neatly written on it. A very beautiful formed characters, which in small block letters, no less than the so-called calligraphers wrote today.

Just now that fiends resentful ghost saw calligraphy on it and become fascinated in seconds, said in admiration, “Who wrote this calligraphy? It’s too beautiful! Is it for sale? Do you want to hold a painting and calligraphy exhibition? I can provide the venue for free.”

Wang Lei was dumbfounded by the headless ghost’s transformation and muttered in a low voice, “Laoban, there’s nothing wrong with this guy, right?”

“Not for sale, and I don’t want a calligraphy and painting exhibition. If you agree, put your handprint on it.”

“Do you write this calligraphy? How old are you this year? From which school or group did you come from?” The headless ghost continued to chatter excitedly.

Ling Hua’an frowned slightly and looked at the headless ghost in silence, obviously somewhat impatience.

The headless ghost suddenly felt an invisible sense of oppression coming to his face, and he said with a smile, “I’m a ghost now, can I still make handprints?”

“This red ink paste is special, if you agree press on it.”

The headless ghost hesitates for a while before stretching out his finger and pressing it on the red ink paste. When he was just about to print it on paper he was stopped by Ling Hua’an. He looked at Ling Hua’an in confusion and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“There’s no use to press it, your fingerprints are already gone. Wait until you remember who you are, and sign it again.”

The headless ghost was taken aback, raised his hand to look, but forgot that he had no head now.

“Okay, don’t look at it. It’s not easy to talk to me in your current situation. Do you still remember who you are and where you live?”

The headless ghost said blankly, “Who am I? Who am I ……”

Sensing the ill wind rises again, Ling Hua’an quickly interrupted and said, “Well, you don’t remember it’s normal, no need to think about it again. Just tell me what you remember.”

The headless ghost was silent for a while and said, “I only remember that I was painting the studio, there are a lot of oil paints in the studio. I think my work should be related to oil painting.”

“Earlier you said that you can provide a venue for free, which shows that you have the ability to hold painting and calligraphy exhibitions. In addition, your work is related to oil painting. It can be inferred that you are most likely a well-known painter. What do you remember? Think about it carefully. Don’t hide any clues. ”

There was another period of silence, the headless ghost thought for a long time before he said out loud, “There was also a little boy who looks five or six years old. I called him Hanhan. Other than that, I can’t remember anything else.”

“Okay, I get it.” Ling Hua’an took out a small bell that was made of copper with dense red ancient characters written on it, “until your business is finished, stay inside this bell for now.”

After Ling Hua’an finished speaking, he silently chanted the incantation. Without waiting for the headless ghost to return to his senses, suddenly he felt a burst of powerful suction force, and in the blink of an eye, he was in a small space.

The headless ghost was taken aback, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses, “Dàshī³, Shénxiān⁴, who are you?”

“I’m Ling Hua’an, the owner of the grocery store.”

***

On October 25, 3020, in the office of the Criminal Investigation Team, Jiang Chengyan came to the office early in the morning convened a meeting with everyone, and deployed the next investigation task.

“Captain, why are you still wearing a mask in the office?” Yao Min asked strangely.

Jiang Chengyan touched his face. Yesterday Ling Hua’an’s slap was really hard. He wears a mask to cover his swollen face. Otherwise, these stinky boys who are afraid of the world will definitely break the casserole and ask to the end⁵.

“I have a cold and don’t want to infect you guys.” Jiang Chengyan replied perfunctorily and immediately changed the subject. “Now lets we sort out at once the case and arrange the next task.”

Everyone quieted down, took out their notebooks, and cast their eyes on Jiang Chengyan.

Jiang Chengyan looked at Yao Min and asked, “Did that drunkard make a statement last night?”

Yao Min nodded, “the man who found the body called Luo Da, 45 years old, divorced and had a son who lived with him. Because of work reasons, he was in a bad mood and drank in a small restaurant not far from the crime scene, continuously drinking until the small restaurant closed at 10 pm. Because he was drunk and unsteady, he knocked over the trash can and found the body inside. Due to time reasons, I haven’t had time to implement it. ”

“Did he give any useful clues other than that?”

Yao Min thought about it and said, “Oh yes, he also said that there were two other people at the crime scene, standing not far from the entrance of the alley, a man and a woman. Before he arrived at the crime scene, those two people were already there.”

“The entrance to the alley? There’s a surveillance camera right there. If it was the murderer, they definitely won’t be standing there. But since two people appeared at the crime scene earlier than Luo Da, maybe they saw something. Li Tong, Zhang Liang, you two are responsible for retrieving the surveillance at the entrance of the alley to find these two people.”

Zhang Liang and Li Tong looked at each other and stood up one after another and said, “Yes, Captain. We’re on our way.”

“In addition to monitoring there, take a look at the perimeter, there is a T-junction. All the surveillance of the three intersections must be retrieved. For now, retrieve it 48 hours before the incident.”

“Yes, Captain.” Zhang Liang and Li Tong then leave the office.

“We haven’t found the deceased’s head yet. Since his fingerprints have been destroyed, it’s difficult to determine his identity. Now we can only start investigating the most recent missing person. Yao Min, Liu Ran, this task is entrusted to you.”

“Yes, Captain. We’re on our way.” Yao Min and Liu Ran also got up one after another and left the office.

Jiang Chengyan closed his notebook, looked at Wang Bin, and said, “Wang Bin, you, me, and others will cooperate with the police to continue searching for the victim’s head around the crime scene, and the range will be set at a radius of ten kilometers. ”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Good. The meeting is finished.”

Jiang Chengyan got up and walked out of the office, Wang Bin quickly followed, “Captain, where are we going?”

“First, let’s go to the forensics department to see the autopsy.”

The two came to Su Ke’s office and found that there was no one inside. When they came out, they happened to run into Assistant forensic doctor Hu Yang.

“Hu Yang, where is Su Ke?”

“Su Ke is still in the autopsy room.”

“Still in the autopsy room… did he stay there all night?” Jiang Chengyan frowned slightly.

“Yes, Su Ke has been in the autopsy room since last night.” Hu Yang hesitated for a moment, “Captain Jiang, please persuade Su Ke. In addition with the case of the second team, he has not been rested for two days. If it goes on like this, even the iron body will not be able to hold it up.”

“Okay, you hurry back to work, I’ll go over and check him out.”

Jiang Chengyan turned around and walked towards the autopsy room, pushed open the door, and walked in.

“Su Ke, why didn’t you return to rest yesterday? ”

“This is a murder case with a dismembered corpse, dissecting the corpse as soon as possible can save me a lot of trouble.” Su Ke closed his eyes tiredly and raised his hand to wipe the sweat with his sleeve.

“Don’t move.” Jiang Chengyan took out a tissue to help him wipe it, and said with concern, “look at your appearance, the whole thing is on the verge of collapse. If you fall collapse, what about the case?”

“I’m a big man. I’m not as weak as you say. It’s you who are so particular today and even wear a mask.”

~~~

1. pinyin is yīnfēng, MTL as evil, chill, or ill wind. We choose the later ↺
2. pinyin = yìnní ↺
3. Dàshī = Master ↺
4. Shénxiān = Immortal ↺
5.  The idiom means to wish for the whole world to be in chaos and also idiom means to go to the bottom of things. ↺