"Alright, stop looking so glum.
Since you treated me to a meal, I can't just watch you die."
Just as I was about to cry, the brother spoke calmly.
I looked at him suddenly: "I knew you'd have a way!
Brother, from now on, you're my real brother. You've got to save me!"
The security guard rolled his eyes: "Quit trying to cozy up. Zhou Yi, listen carefully.
You're missing a wisp of your soul now, so you're no longer fully alive.
That's why you can see ghosts, and ghosts can get close to you.
If you don't fix this, you'll keep running into 'dirty things' nonstop.
Some are kind and won't bother you,
But others are evil ghosts—they'll harm you if they see you.
Even if ghosts don't haunt you,
As your soul stays separated longer, your sanity will fade little by little.
Eventually, you'll forget everything and become a fool."
Pausing, he added: "This won't take more than two months.
So the most important thing now is to learn to protect yourself.
Make sure you don't become a fool.
Make sure you survive when you meet evil ghosts.
As for that Ye Manman you mentioned… to save her, you have to stay alive first.
Understand?"
My throat felt dry. I swallowed hard: "I understand. I have to live. Only if I live can I save her."
The brother went on: "I can't leave this place, so I can't help you find your soul.
But I know someone. Go find him and say I sent you.
Maybe he can save you."
With that, the brother gave me an address,
Then told me his own name.
"My name is Ye Zhu. Mention me, and he'll know who you are."
"Okay! I'll go find him tomorrow.
By the way, why can't you leave here?"
After I asked, the brother didn't answer. Instead, he turned to look behind the security booth—
Behind it was the old factory building of Xinbei Pharmaceutical Second Factory.
Without any lights,
The old factory was just a black silhouette,
Like a huge monster standing silently in the darkness.
Staring at it for too long sent shivers down my spine.
The brother looked back at me and smiled: "If you survive, I'll tell you why.
Zhou Yi, humans and ghosts walk different paths. Don't come looking for me unless it's necessary."
I nodded in agreement.
The brother smiled, turned, and walked into the security booth.
The shabby door slammed shut,
And then the entire booth slowly sank into darkness.
In the blink of an eye, the security guard was gone.
The booth returned to its original dilapidated state.
"Brother? Ye Zhu?"
No one replied.
In the night, only a gentle breeze blew by.
I took out my phone to check the time—it was 1:30 a.m.
I planned to go back to rest, then head out first thing in the morning to find the person the security guard had mentioned.
He said this person was more powerful than Uncle Ma,
While Uncle Ma's skills as a ghost-sender were so low they barely counted.
If I could get this person's help, I'd definitely solve the problem of my lost soul.
Back at the dorm, I rested for the night.
The next morning, I bought cigarettes and alcohol as gifts,
Then took a bus for over a dozen stops to "Yellow Spring Street" as the brother had said.
The name was unlucky. Its real name was "Wangquan Street,"
But since most shops here sold funeral supplies,
Over time, people started calling it Yellow Spring Street.
It was only 3 kilometers from the city's largest funeral parlor.
As soon as I entered the street, half the shops on both sides were funeral stores:
Some sold shrouds, some sold paper effigies,
Some sold urns, and others offered hearse rentals.
It was my first time here, and everything dazzled me.
But despite the funeral business, the street felt like any other.
It was just lunchtime,
And shop owners and workers were all eating boxed meals,
Chatting and bursting into cheerful laughter now and then.
I walked down the street and stopped in front of a small shop.
A sign stood at the door, reading:
Fortune-telling by birth date, face reading, and divination.
Yin-Yang feng shui, luck enhancement.
Inside, only a young man in his early twenties was cleaning.
I walked in and asked: "Excuse me, is Mr. Zhang Chenglou here?"
The young man stopped working, looked me up and down,
Then shook his head: "No, he's not here. We're closed today, so don't come in."
As he spoke, he waved his rag, trying to shoo me out.
I was confused.
Who was this guy?
I definitely couldn't leave like this.
Dodging his rag, I asked: "Then when will Mr. Zhang be back?"
The guy was about to answer when his phone rang.
He answered it right in front of me.
"Has the person I'm waiting for arrived?" A man's voice came from the phone, sounding around forty or fifty years old.
The young man immediately pulled a bitter face, glanced at me,
And said into the phone: "Yes. Just like you said—white T-shirt, jeans, carrying a big red plastic bag."
I froze.
White T-shirt, jeans, red plastic bag—
That was me!
Then the voice on the phone said: "Oh, let him wait in the shop. I'm stuck with something and will be back late."
The young man looked displeased but didn't dare argue.
Hanging up, he pointed at me: "You, come in. Don't touch anything, just wait quietly for Master Zhang to return."
After that, he went back to work,
Stealing glances at me now and then.
I sat on a chair and looked around the shop.
There wasn't much stock, just some incense, ingots, paper offerings, and cinnabar stones stacked against one wall.
On my side, where I sat,
There was a large tea table,
With a feng shui compass, divination sticks, and a tube for drawing lots placed against the wall.
Clearly, the shop ran two businesses:
Mainly fortune-telling and divination, secondarily selling incense and paper ingots.
He'd even known in advance what clothes I was wearing and what I was carrying.
Could he have predicted that with divination?
Since he let me wait, it meant Mr. Zhang Chenglou was willing to see me.
Maybe my request wouldn't be too hard to grant.
Time passed minute by minute.
By 3 p.m., I was starving—I'd rushed here without eating.
So I ordered takeout and ate hungrily at the tea table.
Midway through my ravenous meal, the young man, who'd finished cleaning and was dozing in the corner, suddenly jumped up,
Smiling broadly as he greeted someone at the door: "Master, you're back!"
A lean, faced ruddy-cheeked man in his fifties strode in.
He said: "I haven't accepted you as a disciple, so stop calling me 'master.'"
The young man served tea with a grin: "Sincerity moves mountains. Sooner or later, you'll accept me!"
No doubt, this was Zhang Chenglou, the man I'd come to find.
The man took a sip of tea, ignored the young man's words, and asked: "Where is he?"
I quickly wiped my mouth.
The young man pointed to me behind the tea table: "Over there."
I greeted him immediately: "Master Zhang, hello. I'm—"
Zhang Chenglou cut me off: "No need to say anything. I know who you are."
Huh?
He knew?
Seeing my stunned look, Zhang Chenglou studied me and said:
"You've lost a soul, and it happened recently. There's yin energy on you—you've been running into ghosts a lot lately, right?"
I nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, exactly!"
Zhang Chenglou continued: "Yesterday morning, when I burned incense for my ancestors, the incense broke.
So I burned incense, bathed, and cast a divination.
The hexagram showed that at noon today, a young man
Wearing white on top, blue below, holding red, carrying cigarettes and alcohol, would come from the east."
I lived in Qingshan District, which was east of Anyang City.
I really had come from the east!