IBGSW Chapter 56
Taking Another Ghost Case
"Forget it." Since she couldn't work out the cause and effect for the moment, Zhao Fusheng simply stopped thinking about it. Things sort themselves out when the time comes.
"What we can confirm for now is that Paperman Zhang's target is the ghost coffin."
With the Beggars' Alley calamity resolved and the Beggar Ghost not fully sealed, if Paperman Zhang were a ghost-controller as Zhao Fusheng guessed, then rashly entering the Confucian temple would very likely make a ghost revive and put him in danger. A ghost-controller could never compare with a truly undying ghost. With his temperament, he would lurk nearby and wait for a proper chance.
"Anyway, he won't leave. One day he'll lose patience and show his hand, and when we catch him, everything will come out."
Zhao Fusheng waved her hand, and the others nodded.
Zhang Chuanshi, kneeling beside her, let out an imperceptible sigh of relief. Out of the corner of her eye Zhao Fusheng caught it, and a hint of a smile touched her mouth.
Then she pursed her lips as if she hadn't noticed his odd behavior and asked Fan Bisi: "Did your trip to Baozhi County go smoothly?"
The Fan brothers' expressions tightened. Fan Bisi kicked his brother, who hurriedly stood and answered: "Smoothly."
Fan Bisi nodded too.
"After you suppressed the two ghosts, nothing strange happened along the way. We went as fast as we could, only to finish the job and get back, and didn't alert 'other people.'" By "other people" he of course meant Deputy Commander Zheng of the Baozhi County bureau.
But Fan Bisi didn't look pleased. He hesitated, "But Fusheng..."
He had barely started, and Zhao Fusheng guessed what he hadn't said.
"You're worried it won't stay hidden for long, and my parents' bodies will revive again?"
Fan Bisi lowered his head and said nothing, but his attitude was an admission.
"Don't worry." Zhao Fusheng shook her head and rocked her chair a couple more times.
"I've thought about that too." At this the Fan brothers' tense expressions eased. For some reason, Fan Bisi was now both wary and a little afraid of her. Since she had returned from the dead, her whole bearing had changed, as if she'd been remade.
After solving the Beggars' Alley case, her prestige had grown, and now when she talked about ghost calamities, Fan Bisi had not a trace of doubt in her ability.
"The ghosts' revival was only interrupted for now. With the ghost fog appearing, that kind of seal won't last long. In a while, when things in Wan'an County settle down a little, we'll find a way to deal with that case."
Her words made both the Fan brothers smile in spite of themselves. When the two had made their choice under duress, they had secretly buried the Zhao couple's bodies in Baozhi County's territory. If this were exposed, Deputy Commander Zheng would never let them off.
The brothers didn't control ghosts, and now their backer was dead. Offending a powerful ghost-controller would be a headache in the future. If Zhao Fusheng was willing to step in and clean up, it was the best possible outcome for them.
Zhao Fusheng noted the brothers' subtle changes of expression, smiled, and then instructed: "Starting tomorrow, announce to Wan'an County that I will take ghost cases from now on. If any place has a case, the local town or village must report it, with no delay."
She looked at Fan Bisi again.
"You're an old hand at the bureau. By the old rules, recruit some odd-job workers and servants to manage the household affairs. Clean out all the side chambers, especially the case-scroll archive room. It would be best to find someone who can read and count to sort out the scattered scrolls."
Having finished the Beggars' Alley case, she had some spare time for now. In the gaps between cases she would read scrolls, to increase her understanding of this world and of ghosts.
Hearing this, Fan Bisi felt a weight lift from his heart and quickly nodded.
"The silver the gentry sent—" he began, but Zhao Fusheng cut him off.
"Put it in the treasury and use it to pay the workers' and servants' wages." Then she added: "But keep the accounts detailed."
Her words startled Fan Bisi.
"But this is your private property—"
The bureaus in the Great Han were not poor, but what was rich wasn't the treasury; it was the commanding officers and order envoys in the yamen. Local gentry and powerful families customarily paid money and tribute to the commanding officer. It was "protection fees," an unspoken understanding. As for the bureau's other expenses, as long as the commanding officer was strong, plenty of people were willing to come do odd jobs under the protection of the strong.
"You don't even need to pay them," Fan Wujiu said. "Once the bureau is back up and running, not only would you not pay wages, they'd have to bring you tribute! You'd do better to recruit order envoys at high pay, which would be of great use."
Fan Bisi and Zhang Chuanshi both nodded, plainly seeing nothing wrong with Fan Wujiu's words.
"..."
Zhao Fusheng had a sudden moment of self-reflection. She had a little capital now and had been working out how to squeeze wages down when hiring people. She had thought herself ruthless enough, never expecting that the people around her were even better at exploiting.
But Fan Wujiu's words did not tempt her. Silver doesn't grow from nothing. If, as they said, odd-job workers were hired without pay and made to pay tribute instead, it was easy to imagine where that "tribute" would come from.
"The bureau won't add order envoys for now," Zhao Fusheng said after thinking it over, and settled it: "Do as I said."
Fan Bisi didn't understand but, with Zhao Fusheng the strongest now, everyone listened to her.
With the Fan brothers assigned, Zhao Fusheng's eyes fell on Zhang Chuanshi. He felt uneasy and hurriedly offered: "Then I could take on some of the accounts work—"
His right eye twitched nonstop; he was afraid that if he spoke too slowly disaster would fall on him.
"I ran a shop for many years and am good at accounting—"
"No need for you to do that."
Even if he hadn't spoken up, Zhao Fusheng wouldn't have forgotten him: "You don't keep your accounts straight."
Zhang Chuanshi remembered their first dealings and felt guilty. Hearing that, he was about to defend himself when Zhao Fusheng smiled at him: "And you have other things to do."
To Zhang Chuanshi, her smile looked ill-intentioned, and while he was trembling with fear, he heard Zhao Fusheng say: "Next ghost case, you're coming out with me."
"..."
Zhang Chuanshi's face went deathly pale and he collapsed to the floor. His eyes quickly turned bloodshot and darted around, and then fierce light flashed in them. His fists clenched and he was about to resist, but when he raised his head and saw Zhao Fusheng looking at him coldly, as if waiting for him to act, the anger and resentment filling him drained away again.
"L-Lord Zhao—" he called out, his body trembling.
Beside him the Fan brothers exchanged a look and showed relief at surviving a close call.
Zhao Fusheng's words had made two things clear.
First, she held a grudge against Paperman Zhang, and Zhang Chuanshi was close to Paperman Zhang, and from the conversation just now one could tell he'd been hiding something. She'd said she would bring Zhang Chuanshi on the next ghost case, plainly to teach him a lesson, and also to make an example for the Fan brothers to see.
Second, she had assigned the bureau's tasks, asking the Fan brothers to manage odds and ends and naming Zhang Chuanshi to go with her, which meant the Fan brothers would not take part in the next ghost case. For the two, this was surely excellent news.
Fan Bisi was a deep thinker. He guessed this was a reward for him and his brother having handled the Zhao couple's burial. Realizing this, he knew immediately what to do going forward.
Zhang Chuanshi was not stupid either. He had thought of what Fan Bisi thought of, so he hurriedly cried injustice: "I truly don't know where Paperman Zhang went. He definitely isn't dead. As for whether he controls a ghost, I really don't know, Lord Zhao..."
Hearing him, Zhao Fusheng lowered her leg and sat up straight. She leaned over to look at Zhang Chuanshi.
"That's all?"
Seeing her come close, Zhang Chuanshi was so startled he sat back on his heels, and nodded desperately.
"Yes, I'm just an ordinary person, a distant relative of Paperman Zhang's, and usually borrow his famous name to throw my weight around and make a living—"
Zhao Fusheng smiled and reminded him: "Old Zhang, when my parents' ghosts revived, the two door planks they had been laid on were left with ghost shadows. Did you tell Paperman Zhang?"
At this, Zhang Chuanshi broke into a sweat and dared not make a sound.
"The moment we set out with the funeral procession, you went right after us to report—"
Having been through the Beggars' Alley calamity, her understanding of ghosts was far better than when she had first entered this world. Things that accompanied a ghost could turn into malevolent objects, such as Liu Huacheng's One-Name Register, the Headless Ghost's ghost coffin, and the Zhao couple's door planks. Zhang Xiongwu didn't just covet the ghost coffin; the Zhang family might also be collecting great malevolent objects.
The day of the Zhao couple's burial, it was no coincidence that Zhang Chuanshi had shut his shop; he might have gone to carry the news. His Coffin Shop was right across from the bureau, and he'd refused to leave even after the bureau fell into trouble. He must have some plan regarding the bureau.
"What do you want from staying here?" Zhao Fusheng asked again.
Zhang Chuanshi sweated rivers. His lips trembled, but he did not speak.
Zhao Fusheng had no intention of forcing him. She laughed coldly: "If you don't want to say, forget it. I have plenty of patience, and then we'll see whether your life is tougher or mine."
"..."
Zhang Chuanshi shuddered. Like an eggplant hit by frost, he slumped limply onto the floor.
Zhao Fusheng stopped paying attention to him and waved everyone to disperse.
That night was the calmest since her rebirth in this world. There were no revived malignant ghosts, and her room was infinitely more comfortable than Beggars' Alley, but, unusually for her, Zhao Fusheng couldn't sleep and lay awake all night. Luckily, now that the ghost case was done, Magistrate Pang had the sense not to come bother her.
She caught up on sleep in the daytime and felt much better when she woke at noon.
Though Fan Bisi was ruthless, he was sensible and efficient, and after receiving Zhao Fusheng's order he had the task done within a day. The people he chose seemed quite honest and reliable. While she took her second nap, he first had the side chambers that held the files and case scrolls cleaned and tidied.
When she got up, Fan Bisi brought a plate of freshly pan-baked flatbread and handed it to her, saying:
"The ones we found first are odd-job workers. As for suitable people to sort the scrolls, that will take some time—"
As he spoke he stole a look at her expression. Seeing her roll up the flatbread and eat in big bites, not looking angry, he relaxed and added: "So I had them just clean the side chambers for now and gather up the scattered scrolls, and when someone is found we'll sort them into categories."
"Not bad." Zhao Fusheng nodded.
The flatbread was coarse grain and scratched her throat as she swallowed. Seeing her frown, Fan Bisi quickly said: "The bureau was hit by a ghost calamity not long ago, and many big households in the city fled, so lots of things are in short supply. In a while it'll be much better."
Living conditions in the Great Han were indeed backward. Even the flatbread on her plate was a "delicacy" most people in this age couldn't enjoy. And her first task now wasn't eating but saving up merit to keep herself alive.
"Mm," she answered, then said: "For the next few days you make the call on small matters. Don't bother me unless something comes up. If there's news from Magistrate Pang, tell me right away."
The Soul-Life Register was in her hands, so for now the Fan brothers were pinned down tightly, and on big matters she wasn't afraid they'd get ideas. She didn't plan to entrust big matters to them anyway. As for small ones, she knew clearly what to hold and what to delegate. From the current situation, Fan Bisi was doing very well on what she had assigned.
She handed back the empty plate. Fan Bisi took it, and Zhao Fusheng pushed open the door of the side chamber and went in. It was completely different from the first time she came.
The chamber was cleaned thoroughly, broken tables, chairs, and shelves swept away, and spilled blood scrubbed off, with water marks not yet fully dry. The case scrolls that had been scattered on the floor were gathered up and temporarily stacked on one bookshelf. The shelves that had been dusty were wiped spotless, the blood-spattered cobwebs overhead cleared, and the windows thrown open so the whole room felt bright and comfortable.
Fan Bisi followed her with the plate and hesitated for a good while.
Zhao Fusheng said: "If you have something to say, say it."
She was looking around the room, yet it seemed she had eyes in the back of her head and saw his behavior.
Fan Bisi's heart trembled and he quickly said: "Fusheng, the door planks—"
He paused for a moment.
"When we buried your parents, I was worried something would happen, so on my own initiative I had the door planks and the coffins buried in two separate places."
He had long known that things accompanying a ghost might turn into great malevolent objects, but he had been guarding against Zhao Fusheng before and had deliberately told half and kept half. Zhang Chuanshi's case had sounded an alarm for him, so today he came to offer his allegiance.
Zhao Fusheng smiled, knowing that her handling of Zhang Chuanshi had shown results. Fan Bisi was indeed clever, and used well, he'd clearly be helpful to her.
"You did well. When I have time, I'll go dig out those two door planks."
Fan Bisi, though steady, was still young, and having been on tenterhooks until now, he couldn't help smiling when she praised him.
For the next stretch Zhao Fusheng left everything alone and threw herself into the case scrolls, reading the ghost cases the Wan'an County bureau had handled over the years to learn from experience.
Ten days passed in a flash.
On that day Magistrate Pang came to the bureau yamen in person in a small sedan chair, bringing his secretary and two or three uneasy-looking elders.
They had brought a new ghost case, hoping Zhao Fusheng would come out and resolve it.
