Chapter 5: Seeking Ghosts

After a moment, the two arrived at the main gate of the Wang family mansion.

Gu Xu couldn't help but marvel at the towering walls and grand entrance. Truly befitting of a wealthy family's mansion, the size of this place was at least seven to eight times larger than his own small courtyard.

The widow of Mr. Wang, the wealthy master, was already waiting outside the main gate.

She was a young and graceful lady, appearing to be in her twenties. She wore coarse mourning clothes, with her hair tied up in a bun. Her face was beautiful, but filled with tear stains. Her eyes were swollen and red, evidently from mourning her departed husband.

Behind the young lady stood a short and chubby little boy who seemed to be Mr. Wang's son.

Dressed in mourning attire and pale-faced, he kept his head down, gazing at his own feet without uttering a word.

"Are you the officials from the Exorcism Bureau?" Mrs. Wang asked as she saw Gu Xu and Xiaohan. "May I know how to address you, two?"

"I am Inspector Xiaohan from the Exorcism Bureau," Xiaohan replied, raising her head proudly.

Gu Xu pondered for a moment and answered, "I am Xiao Changshou."

Taking precautions, he improvised a pseudonym.

"So, you are the renowned 'Heartless Ghost Slayer' Miss Xia," Mrs. Wang said, looking somewhat surprised at Xiaohan. "I have heard of your great name. I apologize for any disrespect."

Then she turned her gaze to Gu Xu, lingering on him for quite some time before reluctantly shifting her eyes away. "This young man, Mr.Xiao, looks so handsome!"

"Lady, you flatter me," Gu Xu touched his face and inwardly complained, "Lady, your husband's body hasn't even turned cold yet!"

Gu Xu and Xiaohan followed Mrs. Wang into the mansion.

It was a spacious and open three-section, four-courtyard compound. It had a main hall, side halls, side wings, courtyards, a pond, and artificial hills. It appeared ancient and understated, seemingly elegant and low-key, yet secretly exuded luxury.

However, at present, the place was enveloped in smoke and ghostly banners, and the air was filled with the scent of burnt joss paper. The entire mansion was shrouded in a solemn, heavy, and undispellable gloom.

It had not been seven days since Mr. Wang's passing.

Therefore, his body had not been buried and was still placed inside the house, dressed in funeral clothes with yellow paper on his face, giving him a somewhat eerie appearance.

"Please, you must kill the evil ghost and avenge my husband!" Mrs. Wang couldn't help but burst into tears again when she saw her husband's body. Sobbing and wiping her tears with a silk handkerchief, she pleaded.

"Lady, rest assured. We will not let you down," Xiaohan reassured her. Then, she licked her lips and looked at Gu Xu. "Aren't you known as the person who understands ghosts the best in the Exorcism Bureau? Find the ghost quickly, and I will take care of it."

She wasn't afraid of the hidden ghost; in fact, she seemed a little excited.

"I'll take care of it," Gu Xu smiled and replied.

Then he turned to Mr. Wang's son—the chubby, eight or nine-year-old boy.

"Young man, what is your name?"

"Wang Guicai."

"Were you the one who reported to the Exorcism Bureau before?"

"Yes, sir."

"And the deceased Mr. Wang was your father?"

"Yes."

"So, Mrs. Wang is your mother?"

"No, she's my stepmother."

Gu Xu glanced at Mrs. Wang, who had a charming figure and youthful beauty. Then he looked at the chubby boy in front of him and thought to himself that such a young woman indeed couldn't have given birth to such a big child.

Men are truly devoted, regardless of age, and always fond of pretty young girls.

"Guicai, why are you so convinced that the ghost is hiding in your house?" Gu Xu asked.

"Because every night when I lie in bed, I hear knocking on the door," the chubby boy said with a trembling voice. "But when I open the door to my dormitory, there's no one outside."

"I think... the ghost that killed my father must have targeted me now... I'm scared. It will open my chest and eat my heart while I'm asleep, just like it did to my father..."

The boy looked exhausted, his eyes bloodshot. It seemed he hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time.

"Guicai, don't be afraid. I'm here," Gu Xu patted the boy's head, comforting him like a startled dog. "Take me to your room first."

"Yes, sir," Wang Guicai lowered his head and obediently replied.

......

Parents lived in the north room, the eldest son in the east wing, the second son in the west wing, and the daughter in the backyard. Servants lived in the reverse building. This had always been the custom of the Great Qi Dynasty's four-courtyard mansions.

As the only son of the deceased Mr. Wang, Wang Guicai naturally occupied the spacious and comfortable east wing.

With corridors on all sides, flying eaves at the corners, carved windows, and crimson curtains, it combined wealth and elegance.

But now, to ward off evil spirits, the room had mugwort hung on the door, a peachwood sword on the beam, and the windows were covered with densely packed talismans—yellow paper with red characters, intricate and eerie, giving off a chilling vibe.

Gu Xu glanced at these seemingly profound and inscrutable talismans, silently shaking his head. As a practitioner specializing in talismanic arts, he couldn't help but feel that these fraudsters were making money too easily.

He walked straight to the door of the east wing, grabbed the copper door handle, and knocked twice, asking, "Guicai, is this the sound you hear when you sleep at night?"

Wang Guicai furrowed his brow slightly, hesitated for a moment, and replied, "I suppose so."

Gu Xu noted the boy's hesitant expression in his mind.

Then he pushed open the door.

The first thing that caught his eye was a life-sized bronze mirror.

In this bronze mirror, Gu Xu saw his own reflection—

His eyebrows were as dark as ink, and his eyes shone like bright stars. What a handsome young man he was.

However, compared to the glass mirrors of his previous life, the imaging effect of the bronze mirror was much more blurry, as if it had an extra layer of an underworld filter.

A mirror facing the door was considered taboo in feng shui.

In the books Gu Xu had read, it was mentioned that mirrors belonged to yin and had a light-absorbing effect. Placing a mirror facing the door easily formed a yin energy field, absorbing the surrounding ominousness and bringing misfortune to people.

Especially now, as the Wang family was organizing a funeral, there was a strong accumulation of gloomy energy in the vicinity.

It was widely known that yin energy was a breeding ground for evil spirits.

Wary, Gu Xu's expression slightly froze.

He bypassed the mirror and looked around.

Dim sunlight seeped through the talismans on the windows, casting a hazy halo over the objects in the room.

The indoor furniture was exquisite and brand new, carved with intricate patterns, but it didn't appear comfortable.

Several potted green plants were placed in the corner, lush and verdant, yet they failed to add a touch of liveliness to the room.

Gu Xu felt the air he breathed was filled with a suppressed mood.

"Guicai, have you ever thought that the knocking sound you hear at night may not come from outside the door?" Gu Xu suddenly remembered a case recorded in ancient texts and came up with a bold conjecture.

"Sir, are you saying..." Wang Guicai looked a bit confused, as if he didn't understand what Gu Xu was talking about.

Gu Xu smiled slightly and tapped the bronze mirror with his hand twice.

"Dang! Dang!"

The clear sound reverberated in the silent room.

Wang Guicai's face turned pale.

He pointed at the bronze mirror, staggered back a few steps, almost falling to the ground, and stammered, "Yes... sir, that's it... the knocking sound I hear late at night... it's this sound... that ghost... it's inside this mirror... it wants to come out."

"Don't panic."

Gu Xu raised a finger, signaling him to stay calm.

Then, he looked at the bronze mirror and grinned.

His reflection in the mirror also grinned.

He blinked his eyes.

The reflection in the mirror blinked as well.

He made a rock-paper-scissors gesture.

The reflection in the mirror also made a rock-paper-scissors gesture.

"How about playing a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors?" Gu Xu's face bore a pleased smile as he proposed to his mirror image. "Come on, rock, paper, scissors!"

Then he lost four rounds in a row.