Chapter Twenty-One: With Such a Wife, What Else Could a Husband Desire?

It was past three in the afternoon when An Mingshan and I arrived at our destination, Village P. I bought some glutinous rice nearby, met up with Liu Shan, and checked into a hotel. An Mingshan insisted on having her own room; Liu Shan and I were in no position to interfere, nor could we afford to. Thus, Liu Shan and I shared one room, and An Mingshan took another.

Once inside our room, I immediately opened my suitcase to take inventory, only to discover one of my Taoist robes was missing. Seeing the robes, Liu Shan remarked, "Perfect! I was just worrying about where to find one. Now we have one ready to go." Upon hearing this, I silently cursed An Mingshan’s entire ancestral line.

I signaled for Liu Shan to be quiet and cast a divination, which revealed that one of us would face a bloody disaster tonight. When Liu Shan asked for the result, I only told him that we would hold the upper hand.

After settling in, we went to knock on An Mingshan’s door. I noticed Liu Shan giving me an odd, mischievous look. We waited for a long time, and just as I was about to pick the lock, An Mingshan returned, carrying a bulging cloth bag.

She was accompanied by a beautiful woman—a real stunner with a perfect figure, though slightly shorter than An Mingshan’s five-foot-seven frame, standing at maybe five-foot-five. Her skin was so flawless it looked like it would break at the slightest touch. Even so, I remained unmoved. Liu Shan and I reacted quite differently. My self-control held, allowing me to maintain the image of a gentleman who "passes through the flowers without plucking a petal"—after all, I had my own beloved, even if she was no longer with us. Liu Shan, on the other hand, looked as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head. I poked him quietly and whispered, "Fatty, your image, maintain your image!" Suddenly, my shoulder sank; Liu Shan had fainted, drool and a nosebleed staining my clothes. I was speechless. Apparently, a beauty could not only topple fish and geese or eclipse the moon and flowers, but also instantly hypnotize a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound man.

"My apologies," I said. "Please excuse him. I am Li Shucheng."

I heard the beauty whisper to An Mingshan, "So elegant, so refined! He’s so handsome! A total heartthrob!"

An Mingshan replied in the same hushed tone, "Heartthrob? More like a heart-case."

"An'an," I asked, "who is this?"

An Mingshan began, "Her name is..."

The beauty interrupted, "I’m Wu Siling. The Chief sent me to assist you all. You can call me Lingling. Um, and who is this?" She showed her credentials. I checked them; everything was in order.

Liu Shan suddenly shot up, wiped the drool from his mouth with his sleeve, and declared, "I am the director of the Supernatural Bureau..."

Wu Siling said, "That’s not right. I remember the director being an old man."

Liu Shan continued, "...'s assistant, Liu Shan, Jack Lau. You can call me... Jack." With that, he turned his head, and suddenly he was wearing a pair of sunglasses.

"Is he blind?" Wu Siling asked. An Mingshan and I were left speechless.

"Alright, enough fooling around," I said. "An'an, get Miss Wu settled. We’ll meet in our room shortly to discuss our plans for the next few days. You can keep that robe if you like, just don't get it dirty." An Mingshan smiled sheepishly.

Thirty minutes later, at 3:30 PM, in Liu Shan’s and my room:

"We don't know the situation yet," I said. "Why don't we go out and gather some intelligence? What do you all think?"

"Of course," Liu Shan agreed. "Let's disguise ourselves and go on an incognito investigation."

"Um... let's skip the disguises," I said. "We'll split up..."

"Good idea," Liu Shan interrupted. "I’ll handle the groups. Brother Li and An'an will be one team, and as for me..." He glanced at Wu Siling and added, "I’ll be with Miss Wu, of course. It’s settled. Let’s go!"

An Mingshan and I headed out to a restaurant. She ordered a pile of food, while I ordered nothing.

I sipped the water provided and asked, "An'an, how did you meet her?"

"I met her while shopping at the supermarket," she replied.

"Be more realistic," I said. "Tell me the truth, where did you actually meet?"

"Well... you see... I met her in the hotel lobby," An Mingshan admitted. "Really, she was the one who recognized me first."

I called the Chief to verify her story. It turned out the Chief had arranged for Wu Siling to meet An Mingshan. He had known we would come to this hotel and had instructed Wu Siling to wait in the lobby to intercept her. I asked the Chief to send over Wu Siling’s file, which arrived a few minutes later.