Chapter 33 Fresh Beginnings

Only after recognizing them both, I realized that there another two persons with them. The two strangers greeted me and I too waved back politely. I invited the guests indoors and made them tea when Lin Feng came back with a sweat-soaked towel over his neck; he must have been out exercising. Seeing that there were already guests present, Lin Feng came over and introduced himself. As the four guests were getting themselves comfortable in their seats, Lin Feng and I shared a quick look: Fate must have been smiling upon us! We had clients despite being freshly opened for the first day of business, we thought in unison! I turned towards the two strangers that the couple had led to us, a man and a woman who were watching me expectantly. "So, they are..." I asked curiously, gesturing to them. Brother Plasticbag (as he would henceforth be known as, for his past exploits with a plastic bag he had mistaken as a wraith) then explained, "They are our neighbors who live near my place. They too have encountered something strange. I had initially brought them to the Institute to look for the Head Person, but he refused to intervene, despite my many pleadings. At last, I met an old man at the Institute who pointed us here, saying that the son of the Head Person is operating his own establishment; hence here we are. The old man only said that his name starts with 'Lin'. He thinks you'd know who he is." I see, I thought. So they were asked to come here by Uncle Quan. I asked the man and woman, "So how can I help you? Pray to relate to me your grievances." The man explained, "This is my wife, and we live together somewhere in the middle of the hills. But to be frank, Young Master, it was not we who had encountered something strange, it's my mother!" I nodded and asked, "Oh? What is it that your mother had seen?" The man suddenly turned sour, hesitantly he said, "She was frightened by something!" I began to feel a frown forming on my brows. Something that was able to frighten the living daylights out of a person, I wondered. This might turn out to be a messy business after all. I returned my attention to the man who was continuing, "I did not believe what she said at first. But my wife cautioned me that something about the matter seemed evil and foul, pestering me to seek help..."