Chapter 0073 The Forbidden City
Wang Jiao laughed. "Xicai is usually incredibly stingy, but him being generous for once shows he truly wants to thank you, Brother. Are you free for National Day? If so, come with us!" My parents also urged me to agree, saying the young couple was being sincere and that I didn't have anything better to do anyway.
Since everyone was pushing for it, I had no choice but to agree. That night, I called Frank Fang. He also found it strange. Logically, it's not that easy for an ordinary person to be rid of a haunting spirit unless the spirit finds a better host or manages to cross over. However, since the Five Venoms Oil had returned to its transparent state, it seemed the spirit was truly gone.
I wanted to find a moment alone with Wang Jiao to ask for more details, but I was afraid Sun Xicai would overhear, so I dropped it. A few days later, Sun Xicai texted saying the train tickets were booked and we'd leave in two days. I figured there was no point overthinking it—I'd never been to Beijing, so I might as well enjoy the trip.
To make a long story short, Sun Xicai, Wang Jiao, and I arrived in Beijing and checked into a chain hotel near Xizhimen. That evening, we went to Quanjude for roast duck. During dinner, we planned our itinerary. Sun Xicai strongly suggested the Forbidden City as our first stop for the next day. I checked the weather forecast and saw it would be cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms and heavy rain at night.
Wang Jiao suggested, "Maybe we should go somewhere else tomorrow?"
Sun Xicai dismissed the idea. "What's wrong with a cloudy day? we're visiting during the day, not at night. It'll be cooler, and we won't even need parasols. They start clearing the Forbidden City at 5:00 PM; it won't even be dark then. It's so close to Xizhimen, what's there to be afraid of?" Wang Jiao and I agreed. The Forbidden City tomorrow, then the Summer Palace, Beihai Park, Fragrant Hills, and Prince Gong's Mansion on the following days.
During dinner, a female "net-pal" from Beijing whom I'd met on QQ called me. Knowing I was in town, she wanted to meet up and have me treat her to dinner. Since she looked quite ordinary in her photos and didn't have much of a personality, I declined. I told her I was traveling with my cousin and didn't have time for private meetings. After hanging up, Sun Xicai teased me, "Brother Tien, a girl asks you out and you're playing hard to get? It's fine, go ahead. We aren't strangers."
"Forget it. Am I the type of person to ditch my relatives for a net-pal? I'm not going!" I said, pretending to be loyal.
The next day, we took the subway to the Forbidden City. The sky was gloomy, but the crowds hadn't thinned out at all—there were tons of foreign tourists and tour groups. Honestly, I'd never been there before. Seeing Tiananmen and the Meridian Gate on TV made them look massive, but in person, the buildings felt somehow smaller, not quite as majestic as they appeared on screen.
We bought a guidebook at the ticket office and entered through the Meridian Gate. As Wang Jiao and I chatted while walking, I instinctively looked back and saw Sun Xicai standing near the gate, constantly looking behind him. I asked what he was looking at. "Oh, nothing," he said. "Just a really tall foreigner." I looked but didn't see anyone particularly tall. I didn't think much of it, and we continued inside.
We toured the main halls—Supreme Harmony, Central Harmony, and Preserving Harmony—moving from the center to the sides. By 3:00 PM, we had given most of the open areas a cursory glance, including the Treasure Gallery and the Clock Gallery. Near Zhen Fei's Well in the Pavilion of Expecting Good Fortune, dozens of Taiwanese tourists were huddled around a guide. The guide was explaining with great solemnity: "The Forbidden City is the place with the heaviest Yin energy in all of China. So many people died here during the Ming and Qing dynasties—eunuchs, maids, concubines, and even princes. Think about it: in the old days, there were over three thousand eunuchs and maids. The rules were strict; one slip-up and you'd lose your life. If a maid sneezed or broke wind while serving the Emperor or Empress, they'd be executed. Even if you did nothing wrong, if the Emperor was in a bad mood and decided you were too ugly, he could have you dragged out and killed with a single word. Then there was the oppression among the servants, and the favored concubines who were murdered—Concubine Zhen was pushed into this very well by Empress Dowager Cixi!"
The tourists crowded around the well. Though the opening was sealed with a large stone, people were still peering through the small hole in the center as if hoping to see something.
The guide continued, "It's especially 'Yin' on cloudy days. Without sunlight—which ghosts fear most—they only dare to come out at night or when it's overcast. A few years ago, during a lightning storm, several tourists saw a line of palace maids walking along the walls."
Aside from the Taiwanese group, other bystanders like us stood there with serious expressions. Some of the Taiwanese women looked pale and even asked to leave early, clearly spooked by the well. The guide laughed, "Don't worry, the well is sealed and a Taoist priest performed a ritual here years ago. As long as you don't spit in it, Concubine Zhen won't bother you!"
The more he talked, the more frightened people became, and they began to scatter. Wang Jiao whispered to me, asking if it was true. I nodded. "Any place where people died frequently will have heavy Yin energy, and the open spaces are good hiding spots for spirits. That's why there are so many ghost stories about the Forbidden City." Wang Jiao stuck her tongue out, looking a bit scared herself.
As we walked, I noticed Sun Xicai would often stop and stare at a specific tourist, though I couldn't see anything special about them. I figured he just hadn't seen many foreigners in Shenyang and was curious since they were everywhere in Beijing.
By now, Wang Jiao and I were exhausted, our feet aching. But Sun Xicai didn't seem tired at all; he insisted on seeing more until they closed the gates. Wang Jiao groaned, "I can't walk another step! We've seen the whole place, haven't you had enough?"
"We've only seen a third of it!" Sun Xicai laughed.
Wang Jiao was shocked. "How is that possible? Didn't we do a 'carpet-style' tour?"
I interjected, "Xicai is right. Only about 35% of the Forbidden City is open to the public. Nearly two-thirds is closed off."
Wang Jiao was puzzled. "Why? Oh, I know—there must be tons of artifacts hidden away that they can't show everyone."
I laughed and pointed to a page in the guidebook. "You're only partly right. Some of the closed areas are for storage, some are offices for the staff, some are for receiving VIPs, and some are just too dilapidated and haven't been restored yet."
At Sun Xicai's request, we crossed through the Imperial Garden from the northeast corner to the northwest corner. It was already 4:30 PM, and the tourists were sparse. Wang Jiao checked the guidebook: "It says the northwest corner was quite remote during the Qing Dynasty. This is where concubines who fell out of favor were sent—the 'Cold Palace'—and where they kept storage."
"No wonder it feels chilly here," I remarked.
Sun Xicai sat down on a white marble railing and handed Wang Jiao ten yuan. "I'm thirsty and exhausted. Go buy me a Coke. There was a small shop in that hall across the way we just passed. Hurry."
Wang Jiao complained, "When I said I was tired, you said you weren't; now you can't move? Just hold on, we need to head out soon. They're clearing the place out. It's cheaper to buy a drink outside." Sun Xicai wouldn't budge; he insisted on a Coke. Reluctantly, Wang Jiao went to buy it. Not wanting to be alone with him, I said I needed to find a restroom and walked off with her, telling Sun Xicai to wait right there.
When we returned with the Coke, Sun Xicai was gone. Wang Jiao called out for him and we searched the immediate area, but there was no sign of him. When she tried his cell phone, it was turned off. Wang Jiao was furious. "What is wrong with him? He just has to do the opposite of what I say! We told him to stay put, and he goes wandering off!"
I suggested, "We should split up and look. Call me when you find him. He's probably just curious and nearby."
And so, we split up. In the northwest corner, many of the palace gates were locked tight—clearly restricted areas. I searched for a while but found nothing. As I turned a corner, I noticed a small palace door in a stretch of wall that was slightly ajar, leaving a narrow crack. I walked over and peeked through the opening.