Song of the Setting Sun (V)

Xu Yuanfang continued, “Shanguang had two abortions while she was with Fan Cheng. Both times, Fan Cheng and Wang Ruimei took her to the hospital. Fan Cheng signed the consent forms, and Shanda Gen, her father, knew nothing about it.

After Fan Cheng died, his assets were inherited by his two children and his parents. Wang Ruimei, holding the surgical consent forms signed by Fan Cheng, went to the Fan family to demand money, insisting that Shanguang also had inheritance rights. The Fan family drove her out.

Wang Ruimei attempted to fight for the inheritance through legal means. When her case was rejected by the court, she and Shanguang posted large-character posters in the Fan family’s electronics factory and their residential area, resulting in their detention at the police station for fourteen days.

At the time, Shanguang was interning. Her internship was abruptly ended due to her detention, and the school nearly expelled her when they found out. The only reason she wasn’t expelled was because Wang Ruimei went to the school and caused a scene, crying, shouting, and threatening suicide. The school had no choice but to compromise.

Initially, neither the school, the internship organization, nor even the Fan family publicized Shanguang’s situation. But after Wang Ruimei’s dramatic actions, everyone knew. Shanguang received her diploma and then ran away, leaving home for another city.

Over the years, she worked many jobs, none for long. She married, but later divorced. Perhaps as she grew older, she began to miss the warmth of family. This year, she returned to her long-lost hometown, only to learn from neighbors’ gossip that Wang Ruimei had an affair.

She quarreled with Wang Ruimei, even urging her to divorce. Wang Ruimei’s condition was that, if she divorced, she would take possession of the current house and all the savings, leaving Shanda Gen with nothing. Besides, Shanda Gen would have to give half his pension to her every month as alimony.

If Shanda Gen refused, then Shanguang would have to give her two million yuan, and she’d agree to divorce.

Shanguang didn’t want her father to suffer, nor could she come up with two million. So she hired me to investigate evidence of Wang Ruimei’s infidelity.”

While infidelity wouldn’t strip someone of their assets, it could sway a verdict in favor of the betrayed party, and if mediation failed, the court could grant a divorce. Thus, even if Wang Ruimei refused to let go, she couldn’t have her way.

Xu Yuanfang had seen many cases like this—infidelity and catching the third party—but for He Lingyu, it was still something novel.

“Shanguang was traumatized and mentally unstable; that I can understand. But what about Wang Ruimei and those others who lost their minds?”

Xu Yuanfang, of course, had no answer.

Fortunately, the next day, the two guides—Little Red Riding Hood and Little Yellow Hat—returned with the tourists. They came to collect their luggage and settle the bill with the inn.

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It turned out that of the twelve mentally disturbed tourists, ten had already returned to normal. When asked about the cause of their episode, they were bewildered, only recalling how overwhelmingly sleepy they had been, unable to keep their eyes open.

After the incident, the twelve tourists were taken to the township hospital, whose psychiatric department was largely nominal. Thus, for a day and two nights, there was no effective treatment, though arrangements were made for specialists from the city hospital to come.

Now, before the city doctors arrived, the ten tourists had recovered on their own. They were still curious why, upon waking, they found themselves in the hospital.

Of the twelve, only Wang Ruimei and Zhang Hongfa—the first to exhibit symptoms—had not recovered.

They began by shouting and screaming, then rolled their eyes and stuck out their tongues, behaving like mischievous children.

The lead guide had never encountered such a situation before. He coordinated with the travel agency to contact the families of Wang Ruimei and Zhang Hongfa, while preparing to bring the rest of the group home at once.

Unexpectedly, all the tourists agreed, except two.

Those two were Uncle Gao and Shen Chunhua, the couple who were about to divorce but hadn’t yet.

Little Red Riding Hood’s guide was at his wit’s end. After discussing with the travel agency, he asked Little Yellow Hat’s guide to help and take the other tourists back to the city first.

“Sigh, when I get back, I must go to the temple and pray. If it weren’t for bad luck, who would lead a tour and run into something like this? Now, everyone’s gone, and I have to stay behind and keep watch.” The guide wore a helpless expression.

He Lingyu sympathized, “Once the families of those two come, you’ll be able to go home.”

“It’s not those two. They’re being cared for by the hospital; I have nothing to do with them. I’m talking about the two who refused to leave.” The guide was nearly in tears, more troubled by them than by the two in the hospital.

He Lingyu understood: he meant Shen Chunhua and Uncle Gao.

“Why won’t they go back?” He Lingyu asked curiously.

“They won’t say, but they simply refuse to leave. No matter what, they won’t go. Sigh, these elders—there’s no reasoning with them!”

So, Little Yellow Hat’s guide took the others away, leaving the young guide to stay with Uncle Gao and Shen Chunhua at the inn.

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Of course, the cost of staying at the inn was entirely borne by the travel agency. After all, those two had fallen ill during the trip; not demanding compensation for mental suffering was already generous, so covering the expenses was nothing.

Luckily, this time the two were sharing a room, so only one was needed.

Night had fallen. He Lingyu said to Ashu, who looked unhappy, “Since you don’t like watching the news, why not take this chance to check in on Room 202?”

Room 202 was where Uncle Gao and Shen Chunhua, the quarreling couple, were staying.

Ashu, bored, pressed the remote a few times, then transformed into a speck of red light and flew out the window.

An hour later, the red light returned, and Ashu appeared in her true form.

“Utterly boring. Those two old fools—guess what they were doing in there?”

He Lingyu hesitated. Could they be doing something indecent?

Ashu gave her a sidelong look, “What are you thinking? They were arguing, and not just that—they closed the doors and windows and kept their voices down, as if afraid anyone might overhear.”

Unfortunately, though no one heard, the ghosts listened clearly.

“They kept blaming each other for not collecting the full payment. Shen Chunhua said it was all Gao’s fault, believing Wang Ruimei’s nonsense, and only got half the money. Now Wang Ruimei is insane herself; who knows when she’ll recover. If she never wakes up, they’ll never get the rest of the money.

Shen Chunhua questioned Gao whether he was having an affair with Wang Ruimei, or why else would he believe her.

Gao cursed Shen Chunhua for talking nonsense and for being impatient. He said even if Wang Ruimei was crazy, the people from the plantation were still around. Tomorrow they could go and demand the money from them, and if things got serious, those people wouldn’t dare refuse.”

He Lingyu was stunned. “Could it be that the sudden madness of those people was a scheme between the plantation and Wang Ruimei, and that Uncle Gao and Shen Chunhua were hired to do something shady together?”

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