CH 30

For a moment, Jing Xian’s heart was deeply shaken.

Then the pounding heart became too soft again.

He had almost pressed Lu Yingjiu on the floor-to-ceiling window, and as long as he lowered his head lightly, he could kiss him. He had never, ever wanted to do it so urgently before.

Lu Yingjiu spoke again in his arms.

His voice was low, hoarse, and sounded inexplicably gentle, “However, Jing Xian, you have to go. I won’t let you stay by my side.”

Jing Xian’s movements froze.

The ‘full of joy and tenderness’ seemed to freeze in an instant.

Knock knock

There was a light knock on the door.

Xiao Ning poked his head in a very untimely manner and spoke with a lowered voice, “They are gone, come with me.”

Seeing the intimate position of the two, he was taken aback for a moment, but he didn’t think about it too much.

Lu Yingjiu sighed silently, and said to Jing Xian, “Go ahead first.” He wanted to move forward, but Jing Xian didn’t give way, and was still blocking him. Lu Yingjiu raised his head and said helplessly, “I will explain it clearly to you.”

Jing Xian paused for half a second before stepping aside.

Following Xiao Ning, they walked forward along the dark corridor.

The evidence room was just ahead. After the three of them swiped their work cards, the light at the door turned green, and the security door opened automatically. However there was still another door, which was covered with talisman papers, and various symbols were painted on it.

Xiao Ning took out a lot of talisman papers from his body, pasted them here and there, and finally conjured a spell.

Their clothes didn’t automatically flutter.

A few seconds later, the newly pasted talisman paper began to burn and turned into flying ashes.

And the door opened.

Lu Yingjiu said, “Why is it so complicated now?”

“Hey, isn’t this for the sake of safety?” Xiao Ning said as he walked, “We are also very annoyed, we have to bring so many talisman papers when we come here.” He then turned on the light with a flick.

What appeared in front of their eyes was densely packed physical evidence storage cabinets. Except for the combination locks, every cabinet was covered with talisman papers.

Xiao Ning took them and asked them to wait on the periphery. He walked all the way to the depths of the fifth row of the cabinets, entered the password, and made a series of complicated gestures, then the talisman paper slowly flew up and landed obediently beside it.

He said, “You guys, come over.”

Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian went over, Xiao Ning took out a box and opened it.

Inside the box were various pieces of physical evidence, including fingerprints, hair, the victim’s mobile phone, and several pieces of blood-stained talisman paper.

Xiao Ning said, “Chairman Chen has already explained the situation to me clearly, you don’t need to look at other physical evidence, just this is enough.”

He took out a mobile phone wrapped in a small bag.

This was an old-fashioned flip phone, even if it was placed 6 years ago,  it would still be an outdated style. The screen was very small, and only half of it was not damaged. The characters on the keyboard of the mobile phone had almost faded out, indicating that it had been used for many years.

It looked like someone stepped on it severely, or that it fell from a high place. The cable of the mobile phone was broken, the screen shouldn’t be able to turn on, the memory card was also broken, and all data couldn’t be retrieved, parts of all sizes were scattered in fragments.

Xiao Ning explained, “This is Chen Minlan’s mobile phone. When I found it, it was in Chen Minlan’s hands. But perhaps because Chen Yanyan……..Uh, I mean Fan Xin, was too flustered at the time, thinking that Chen Minlan was going to call the police, she kicked it, and the phone hit the wall and broke like this.”

Lu Yingjiu said, “How strong is it, to be able to kick it into this.”

In his impression, Fan Xin didn’t have much strength, she was soft and weak.

Xiao Ning said, “Well, one is that this mobile phone is very old, and it is not very resistant to falling; the other is that Mrs. Chen has a habit of smashing walnuts with her mobile phone, and she smashes a dozen of them a day…… For a long time, the phone is already on the edge of being damaged. Look at the dents on the side, they are all made by smashing walnuts.”

Lu Yingjiu: “……”

Xiao Ning laughed a few times, and continued, “It was already damaged like this when it came back from the scene for evidence collection. My senior sister was in charge of the evidence collection, and she said that it was impossible to recover the data.”

“At that time, no one had any hope. They just put away the damaged mobile phone and put it in the physical evidence room. A few days later, when the senior sister came to the physical evidence room, she heard the ringing of the mobile phone. The sound of “ding dong” was very short. It’s the notification tone for a text message.”

“According to logic, several mobile phones were turned off after the forensics was completed. This kind of thing should not happen.”

“Senior sister followed the sound and found that it was the evidence cabinet of the extermination case. She thought that some mobile phone was still on, but when she opened it, it turned out that it was the damaged phone’s screen that was lit on.”

Lu Yingjiu looked at the phone again.

It’s so damaged that it’s impossible to turn it on, let alone receive text messages.

When this matter was mentioned, Xiao Ning also felt chills on his back, and swallowed, “Senior sister was also very scared at the time and wanted to call someone over, but she only needed to lightly press it to see the content of the text message.”

“They speculated that the old lady must have left clues about the murderer at the last moment of her life. This is simply too important to the case. Therefore, the senior sister clicked on the text message because she was afraid of missing the opportunity.”

He stopped here.

Lu Yingjiu asked, “What is the content of the text message?”

Xiao Ning hesitated and said, “….Why don’t you see it yourself.”

He pressed the power button of the phone, and the phone, which was so damaged that it was almost a pile of parts, actually turned on.

He handed the phone to Lu Yingjiu.

The boot process lasted more than thirty seconds.

After a white light, the text message finally appeared.

The screen was broken, with grotesque colors and distorted fonts on it, split by several cracks:

[Your time has come]

“…..” Lu Yingjiu’s pupils narrowed for a moment, and instinctively looked above the text message.

Recipient mobile phone number: 186xxxxxxx029

Lu Yingjiu saw that this number was very familiar, thought for a few seconds, and then remembered: it was his old mobile phone number.

This is a text message sent to him.

Lu Yingjiu’s head was in a mess.

Countless questions flashed through his mind: What is the content of the text message? Does Chen Minlan know herself? Could she have something to do with the ghost marriage? Why didn’t he receive such a text message back then?

Six years ago, Chen Minlan tried to contact him.

And 6 years later, her ghost also took the initiative to find him, as if she wanted to tell Lu Yingjiu the unfinished message.

He was in a state of confusion, then his left hand was suddenly held by Jing Xian.

This grip was light but reassuring.

It was the same as when they were under the sea, Jing Xian hugged him tightly from behind, and the warm body temperature overwhelmed the cold and dark sea water.

At this moment, the tide that was about to submerge Lu Yingjiu seemed to have disappeared.

Lu Yingjiu took a deep breath and shook his head.

After calming down, he was able to think carefully again.

He looked at the date of the text message, it was [2015.12.10]

Looking back, his phone number was changed together with his phone. He should……..He should have changed it in the second half of 2015, around November. If he goes home and looks for it, he can get back the electronic receipt.

Although he couldn’t remember the exact date, he remembered that it must have been before December.

In other words, Chen Minlan sent a message to his old mobile phone number that time.

But Lu Yingjiu couldn’t have received it.

Xiao Ning looked at his face and asked cautiously, “Mr. Lu, are you okay?”

Lu Yingjiu: “…….”

He let out a long breath and rubbed his eyebrows, “I’m okay.”

Xiao Ning said, “They listed you as a suspect back then because of this text message, especially the weird content of the text message, which could even be interpreted as…..some kind of threat, a threat to the perpetrators. But the evidence is not sufficient, you stayed in Z City for another 2 months before the investigation began, thus they let go of their suspicion of you.”

Lu Yingjiu asked, “Why didn’t you show me this text message?”

“It’s a bit embarrassing to say,” Xiao Ning scratched his head, “Only the senior sister saw the text message, and after that she couldn’t access the phone again. She has a good memory and has a photographic memory. She wrote down your phone number at a glance. It’s a pity that she didn’t have time to take pictures, thus she can only dictate to others-this greatly reduces the credibility. If it weren’t for her high position, it would probably be regarded as nonsense.”

Lu Yingjiu glanced at the lit phone in his hand, “Then how can it work now?”

“It was only recently that it turned on again.” Xiao Ning said, “It was about two months ago. Chairman Chen also advocated a new investigation of you because he saw this text message.”

As far as Lu Yingjiu knew, the investigation on him really started two months ago.

The time fits. 

In actuality, Chen Zheng did have the right to investigate this clue. Chen Minlan was Chen Zheng’s elder and mentor, and he had always been harboring doubts about the extermination case.

Personally speaking, he didn’t want Lu Yingjiu to stay any longer, and this was an excellent opportunity.

As for whether Chen Zheng believed that Lu Yingjiu was the murderer in his heart, perhaps he only knew it himself.

Lu Yingjiu held the phone and remained silent for a long time.

He seemed to want to imprint every word and every detail of the text message into his soul.

Then Lu Yingjiu gently handed the phone back, “Take it back, I’ve finished reading it.”

Xiao Ning took the phone, put it back in the box and put it away.

The process of going out of the evidence room was as cumbersome as that of coming in.

After finally getting out of the layers of talisman paper seals, Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian took the elevator downstairs and left the building through the back door.

The evening breeze was cool, and they walked forward side by side.

There was a small alley from the back door, without a street light, and a stray cat in the corner. It was dirty, it was licking its fur at first, but then looked up with great vigilance.

It glanced at them both, turned around and ran away.

Other than that, there were no other living creatures, and the road ahead was pitch black, as if there was no end in sight.

Jing Xian wanted to say something, but was interrupted softly by Lu Yingjiu, “Jing Xian, please be quiet for a while.”

Thus Jing Xian remained silent and remained quietly by his side as usual.

Back in front of the car, Lu Yingjiu opened the door and got on the co-pilot, fastening the seat belt. Jing Xian started the car, the headlights turned on, and the bright yellow beams stretched to the distance, illuminating the floating dust in the air.

Lu Yingjiu suddenly said, “Do you want to go to a bar?”

Jing Xian was stunned for a moment, “I have no problem with it.”

“Then let’s go.” Lu Yingjiu said, “I want to have a drink.”

After 15 minutes, the car stopped at a remote street corner.

There was a very small bar here, wooden tables and chairs were placed outside, and the signboard was made of wood as well. Illuminated by yellow-brown lights, and surrounded by a circle of beautiful flowers, it looked like it had been carefully taken care of.

They found a table outside, facing the deserted street.

At night, this southern city finally cooled down, taking a deep breath, the slightly cool air moistened the lungs.

Lu Yingjiu was not interested in the variety of wine, therefore he ordered the most common cold beer, and placed a large glass in front of him.

Jing Xian originally wanted to order whiskey, but Lu Yingjiu glanced at him lazily and said, “You don’t want your driver’s license anymore, do you want to be deducted 12 points? Give me the list, and I’ll help you order something else. Drunk ghost, it’s not rarely seen.”

Just after getting the drink list, Lu Yingjiu changed his mind again and said, “Forget it, just drink, it’s not a big deal to call a substitute driver.”

This time it was Jing Xian who didn’t want to.

He said, “You should help me out.”

His tone carried anticipation.

So two minutes later, a large glass of strawberry milk was placed in front of Jing Xian.

The pink was tender, cute and lovely.

Jing Xian: “…….”

The drink ordered by the wife, even if it is magma, he must drink it. He just took this pink glass and watched Lu Yingjiu take a few sips of his alcohol.

Then, Lu Yingjiu said, “I attracted ghosts when I was born, and I can see many things that others cannot see.”

“Like on the road at the gate of the primary school. All the students were walking happily and only I can see that the road is full of ghosts, under street lights, in the lake or on the wall. Most of them have maintained a miserable state of death. Some have no heads, some have no limbs, and they wander between the heavens and the earth only by their obsession.”

“Every ghost wants to find me.”

“Or they want to talk to me, or beg me to settle their grievances, or want to kill me.”

He took another sip of the beer, “At first I was very scared, and I couldn’t figure out, why can others live a simple life yet it was so difficult for me? There are so many people in the world, yet why do ghosts come to me?”

“My family invited many ghost exorcists, but they couldn’t do anything about it and could only give me some talisman papers that were of little use to drive away the lowest level ghosts.”

“But the ghosts I met, if they saw them, they would probably be scared to death. What use can those talisman papers have?”

The water droplets on the wine glass slowly slid down, and wet Lu Yingjiu’s slender fingers.

He looked at Jing Xian, only to see that Jing Xian was sitting in a well-behaved manner, listening to him attentively, and still holding the glass of strawberry milk—one-third of which had already been consumed.

Lu Yingjiu smiled unconsciously.

It was a smile that he didn’t even realize.

He went on to say, “It costs a lot of money to hire a ghost exorcist for a long time. My family is not well-off, thus we can’t afford it at all. I thought, since the talisman paper is useless, I might as well imitate them and draw them myself. So, every day I wake up at four or five o’clock, imitate the talismans, and bring them with me when I go out.”

“At the beginning, the talisman paper was useless, like a piece of waste paper. But the more I drew, the better I got, and soon I was better than those ghost exorcists.”

He shook the beer glass in his hand, and saw the clear liquid swaying in it with a yellow-brown light.

“I always thought that everyone could do this. Until one day when I was using a talisman paper, I met a fortune-telling master on the street.”

“When the master saw the talisman paper, he was so excited that he grabbed me and asked me who drew it. I replied, ‘I drew it myself’.”

“In the end, do you know what he said?” Lu Yingjiu smiled, “He said that I am already capable of lying to people at a young age——obviously he himself is the biggest liar.” 

“I showed him the drawing on the spot, which proved that I did not lie. The master was so excited that he took my hand and said that I am a peerless genius. Asked me if I want to join the glorious road of exorcising ghosts today and fight against the evil forces in the world side by side with him, that this world can be saved by the two of us.”

Jing Xian took a sip of strawberry milk, the slightly sweetness exploded on the tip of his tongue, but it was not annoying.

He asked, “Did you agree?”

Lu Yingjiu shook his head and said, “No, because I think he is trying to cheat me out of money.”

Jing Xian said: “Then what is it actually?”

Lu Yingjiu said, “He insisted on pulling me for a fortune telling, and really cheated me of 20 yuan.”

Jing Xian: “……”

Lu Yingjiu added, “The 20 yuan was the money I used to buy tutoring books. When I went home and told my mother that I lost the money, she believed that I used it to buy snacks. But fortunately there is no need to do the questions anymore. I was actually quite happy.”

Jing Xian: “…….”

Lu Yingjiu raised his glass and drank.

He continued, “The master later came to my house and said that there is a way to solve my natural bad luck. After that, there’s the matter of the ghost marriage, I’ll just skip it there.”

“The master made a calculation for me, saying that I will definitely not live to be 27 years old, and that it was an unavoidable death.” 

Jing Xian’s hand retracted imperceptibly.

He said, “You’ll be fine, I’m by your side.” In fact, his appearance was just for this moment.

“………Although the master is very unreliable,” Lu Yingjiu smiled, obviously not believing him, “but a certain intuition makes me think that what he said was right.”

“I don’t think I’m more unlucky than others. After all, my talent is beyond their lifetime. However, sometimes I wonder if I really have less luck.”

“Look, I’m already at the pinnacle of the ghost exorcism world. But there are still things that I have no clue about and can’t control.”

Jing Xian was silent for a few seconds, and said, “Is it the ‘time has come’ thing?”

“Yes.” Lu Yingjiu nodded, “At first I thought it was just an ordinary ghost encounter, but time and time again, the situation was completely wrong. Today, when I saw Chen Minlan’s text message, I was certain that this incident spanned several years – or perhaps even earlier.”

“It’s the only thing in my life, about ghosts, that’s completely out of my control.”

“I believe it is my death.”

Lu Yingjiu let out a long breath, “Okay, I’ve finished what I wanted to say, I feel comfortable.”

Jing Xian wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Lu Yingjiu, “Don’t mention it, we’ll talk about it later.” He smiled at Jing Xian.

He drank the last drop of beer, his fair face was slightly flushed, his eyes gleamed with water, and he looked at Jing Xian under the light.

At this glance, it was like a little deer hoofing for fun, it plunged into Jing Xian’s heart, bumping around. He pretended to bow his head inadvertently, The strawberry milk was already gone, yet he could still taste the sweetness on the tip of his tongue.

But suddenly, he remembered Lu Yingjiu’s words today.

The deer slammed and crashed to death on an iceberg.

Back in the car, Lu Yingjiu lowered the seat and prepared to take a nap.

The car drove across the street silently, the high and low buildings passed by the windows, the night wind rolled out the curtains of several houses, and were fluttering in the wind.

After Lu Yingjiu drank, he was a little dazed, and his tone was a little vague, he then suddenly said, “By the way, about the 20 yuan–” 

Jing Xian: “Hm?”

“Although my mother firmly believed that I used the money to buy snacks, she didn’t scold me or beat me up. She just took out another 20 and put it in my hand, saying that next time I want to eat snacks, I can just directly tell her. Although she doesn’t have much money, and she spent an extra yuan to buy groceries, I can miss it for several weeks, but it still made me happy.”

Jingxian asked: “Then you went to buy some snacks?”

“No,” Lu Yingjiu closed his eyes, “I went to buy the tutoring book, those questions are really disgusting.”

The two of them laughed together.

After laughing, Lu Yingjiu said, “Although I am not yet very old, I have really met many, many people. Some people hate me and hope that I will die today, while others love me and hope that my future will always be bright.”

“Of course, extreme love and hate are a minority, and most people are in the middle.” He continued, “So, Jing Xian, which one are you?”

This sounds like a send sub-question. (TL: refers to common routines in the world, or some old stalks that have been used to test others’ hearts.)

Jing Xian was about to answer when he heard Lu Yingjiu laughing again, “No need to answer, I know the answer already.”

Jing Xian: “…En.”

Although he wasn’t able to grab the sub-question, his ears were slightly hot.

Lu Yingjiu said, “That’s why I feel that you should no longer stay by my side. You know the price of priests coming to the world using mortal bodies, right?”