Jingxian was shocked for a moment.
Then my pounding heart softened.
He almost circled Lu Yingjiu against the French window. He only needed to lower his head slightly to kiss her. But he had never wanted to do it so badly before.
Lu Yingjiu spoke for the first time in his arms.
His voice was low and hoarse, sounding strangely gentle: "But, Jing Xian, you have to go. I won't let you stay by my side."
Jing Xian's movements froze.
The joy and tenderness in my heart seemed to turn into ice in an instant.
“Dongdong—”
was knocked gently.
Xiao Ning poked his head in at a very inopportune moment and lowered his voice: "They've left, come with me."
He was stunned for a moment when he saw the two of them being intimate, but he didn't think too much about it.
Lu Yingjiu sighed silently and said to Jingxian, "Let's go first."
He wanted to move forward, but Jing Xian did not give up his seat and still blocked his way.
Lu Yingjiu raised his head helplessly: "I will explain it to you clearly."
Jing Xian paused for half a second before stepping aside.
Following Xiao Ning, they walked along the dark corridor.
The evidence room was just ahead. After the three of them swiped their work badges, the light at the door turned green and the safety door opened automatically. There was another door inside, covered with talisman paper and various symbols painted on it.
Xiao Ning took out a lot of talisman papers from his body, stuck them here and there, and finally made a gesture.
Their clothes fluttered in the wind.
After a few seconds, the newly pasted talisman paper began to burn and turned into ashes.
The door opened.
Lu Yingjiu said: "Why is it so complicated now?"
"Hey, isn't this for safety reasons?" Xiao Ning said as he walked, "We are also very annoyed that we have to bring so many talismans for each trip."
He flicked on the light.
What appeared before my eyes were densely packed evidence storage cabinets. In addition to the combination locks, each cabinet was covered with talisman paper.
Xiao Ning led them and asked them to wait outside. He walked all the way to the back of the fifth row of cabinets, entered the password, and made a series of complicated gestures. The talisman paper slowly flew up and landed obediently beside him.
He said, "Come over here."
Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian came over, and Xiao Ning took out a box and opened it.
The box contained various physical evidence, including fingerprints, hair, the victim's cell phone, and several blood-stained talismans.
Xiao Ning said: "President Chen has explained the situation to me clearly. You don't need to look at his physical evidence. Just looking at this is enough."
He pulled out a cell phone in a small bag.
This is an old flip phone, even if it was bought 6 years ago, it was still an outdated model. The screen is very small, only half of it is intact, and the letters on the phone keyboard are almost worn out, which shows that it has been used for many years.
It looked like someone had stepped on it hard, or it had fallen from a height. The phone cable was broken, the screen wouldn't light up, the memory card was broken, all the data was gone, and all the parts, big and small, were broken into pieces.
Xiao Ning explained: "This is Chen Minlan's phone. When it was found, it was in Chen Minlan's hand. But maybe Chen Yanyan... Well, I mean Fan Xin was too panicked at the time. She thought Chen Minlan was going to call the police, so she kicked it and the phone hit the wall and broke into pieces like this."
Lu Yingjiu said: "How much strength must he have to kick like this?"
In my impression, Fan Xin doesn't have much strength and is very weak.
Xiao Ning said, "Well, one reason is that this phone is old and can't withstand drops. Another reason is that Mrs. Chen has a habit of using her phone to crack walnuts. She cracks more than a dozen a day... After so long, the phone is on the verge of breaking. Look at these dents on the side, they're all caused by cracking walnuts."
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
Xiao Ning laughed dryly and continued, "After collecting evidence from the scene, it was already in such a bad state. My senior sister was in charge of collecting evidence, and she said it was impossible to restore the data."
"No one had any hope at the time. They just collected the broken phone and put it in the evidence room. A few days later, when my sister came to the evidence room, she heard the phone ring. It was a short "ding dong" sound, which should be the notification tone of a text message."
"Logically speaking, the phones were turned off after the evidence was collected. This kind of thing shouldn't have happened."
"The sister followed the sound and found the evidence cabinet where the murder was solved. She thought it was a cell phone that was still turned on, but when she opened it, she found that the screen was actually this broken cell phone."
Lu Yingjiu looked at his phone again.
It was so broken that I couldn't even turn it on, let alone receive text messages.
When Xiao Ning mentioned this incident, he felt a chill down his spine and swallowed his saliva. "My senior sister was also scared at the time and wanted to call someone over, but she only needed to press a button to see the content of the text message."
"They speculated that the old lady must have left clues to the murderer at the last moment of her life. This is extremely important to the case. So, I was afraid of missing the opportunity and still opened the text message."
Here he paused.
Lu Yingjiu asked: "What is the content of the text message?"
Xiao Ning hesitated: "...why don't you just look at it yourself?"
He pressed the power button of the phone, and this broken phone, which was almost broken into a pile of parts, suddenly lit up.
He handed the phone to Lu Yingjiu.
The boot process lasted more than thirty seconds.
After a flash of white light, the text message finally appeared.
The screen was broken, with bizarre colors on it, and the fonts were distorted, split by several cracks:
Your time has come
"..." Lu Yingjiu's pupils shrank for a moment, and he subconsciously looked above the text message.
Recipient's mobile phone number: 186xxxxxxx029
Lu Yingjiu saw that the number looked familiar. After thinking for a few seconds, he remembered: that was his old cell phone number.
This is a text message sent to him.
Lu Yingjiu's mind was in a mess.
Countless questions flashed through his mind: What was the content of the text message? Did Chen Minlan know him? Could she be related to the fake wedding he encountered? Why didn't he receive this text message that year
Six years ago, Chen Minlan tried to contact him.
And six years later, her ghost also came to find her, as if to tell Lu Yingjiu the unfinished news.
He was in a state of confusion, and his left hand was suddenly grabbed by Jing Xian.
The grip was light, but reassuring.
Just like 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.
He looked at the date of the text message.
Looking back, he changed his phone number along with his phone. He should have… He should have changed it in the second half of 2015, around November. If he goes home and looks for it, he can find the receipt or electronic document.
Although he couldn't remember the exact date, he remembered that it was definitely before December.
In other words, Chen Minlan sent messages to his old mobile phone number.
But it was impossible for Lu Yingjiu to be collected.
Xiao Ning looked at his face and asked cautiously, "Mr. Lu, are you okay?"
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
He sighed and rubbed his brow: "Not bad."
Xiao Ning said, "They listed you as a suspect because of this text message. The content of the text message was strange, and it could even be understood as... a threat to the criminal. But the evidence was not sufficient. You only stayed in City Z for two months, and they gave up their suspicion of you before the investigation began."
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 my senior sister saw the text message, and the phone couldn't be opened afterwards. She has a good memory and remembers everything she sees. She wrote down your phone number at a glance, but unfortunately she didn't have time to take a photo, so she could only dictate it to others - which greatly reduced the credibility. If she wasn't in a high position, it would probably be regarded as nonsense."
Lu Yingjiu glanced at the lit phone in her hand and asked, "How can I use it now?"
"It was only recently that I was able to turn my phone back on." Xiao Ning said, "About two months ago. It was because of this text message that President Chen decided to re-investigate you."
As far as Lu Yingjiu knew, the investigation into him did start two months ago.
The timing is right.
From a public perspective, Chen Zheng does have the power to investigate this clue. Chen Minlan is Chen Zheng's elder and mentor. He has always been concerned about the murder case and is full of doubts.
Personally speaking, he didn't want to stay with Lu Yingjiu anyway, and this was a perfect opportunity.
As for whether Chen Zheng believed in his heart that Lu Yingjiu was the murderer, perhaps only he himself knew.
Lu Yingjiu held the phone for a long time without saying anything.
It was as if he wanted 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 and put it back into the box.
The process of leaving the evidence room was just as cumbersome as the process of coming in.
After finally coming out from the layers of talisman paper seals, Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian took the elevator downstairs and left the building from the back.
The evening breeze was cool and they walked forward side by side.
The back door led to a small alley without any street lights. In the corner, there was a dirty stray cat licking its fur. It raised its head and looked at the two of them warily, then turned and ran away.
Apart from this, 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 by Lu Yingjiu, "Jing Xian, please leave me alone for a while."
So Jing Xian said nothing and stayed quietly by his side as usual.
Back in front of the car, Lu Yingjiu pulled the car over and got on the passenger seat, fastening his seat belt. Jing Xian started the car, and the headlights came on, with a bright yellow beam extending far into the distance, illuminating the dust in the air.
Lu Yingjiu suddenly said, "Do you want to go to the bar?"
Jing Xian was stunned for a moment: "I'm fine."
"Let's go then." Lu Yingjiu said, "I want to have a drink."
Fifteen minutes later, the car stopped at a remote street corner.
There is a small bar here with wooden tables and chairs outside. The sign is also made of wood and illuminated by yellow-brown lights. It is surrounded by a circle of gorgeous flowers, and it is obvious that it has been carefully maintained.
They found a table outside, facing the empty street.
At night, this southern city finally cools down. Take a deep breath and the cool air moistens your lungs.
Lu Yingjiu was not interested in the types of wine, so he ordered the most ordinary ice beer, and a large glass was placed in front of him.
Jing Xian wanted to drink whiskey, but Lu Yingjiu glanced at him lazily and said, "You don't want your driver's license anymore, do you want to deduct 12 points? Give me the bill and I'll help you drink something else. I've seen drunkards before."
Just after I got the drink menu, Lu Ying, the bartender, changed his mind and said, "Forget it, just drink. At worst, you can call a designated driver."
This time, what I don't want to do is Jing Xian.
He said, "You should help me."
The tone was expectant.
So two hours later, a large glass of strawberry milk was placed in front of Jing Xian.
Pink and tender, so cute.
Jing Xian: “…”
He had to drink his wife's drink, even if it was magma. He took the pink cup and watched Lu Yingjiu take a few big gulps of the wine.
Then, Lu Yingjiu said, "I am born with the power to summon ghosts. I can see many things that others cannot see."
"Like the road at the entrance of the elementary school. All the students walked there happily, but I was the only one who could see that the road was full of ghosts, under the street lights, in the lake, or on the walls. Most of them died in a miserable state. Some had no heads, some had no limbs, and they were able to wander between heaven and earth only because of their obsession."
"Every ghost wants to find me."
"They either want to talk to me, or ask me to settle their grievances, or they want to kill me."
He took a big sip of beer. "At first I was scared. I couldn't understand why a simple life for others was so difficult for me? Why did the ghosts choose me out of all the people in the world?"
"My family has hired many exorcists for me, but they can't do anything. They can only give me some useless talismans to drive away the lowest level ghosts."
"But if those monsters and ghosts I met were to see me, they would probably be scared to death. What use would that talisman paper be?"
The water droplets on the wine glass slowly slid down, wetting Lu Yingjiu's slender fingers.
He looked at Jing Xian, who was sitting properly, listening to him attentively, and holding the glass of strawberry milk—one third of which he had already drunk.
Lu Yingjiu smiled unconsciously.
Even he himself didn't realize this smile.
He continued, "It costs a lot of money to hire an exorcist for a long time. My family is poor and we can't afford it. I thought, since the talisman paper is useless, why not imitate and draw it myself. So, every day I get up at four or five o'clock, imitate and draw the talisman paper, and carry it with me when I go out."
"At first the talisman paper was useless, just like a piece of waste paper. But the more I drew, the better I got. I am almost better than those exorcists."
He shook the beer glass in his hand and watched the clear liquid swaying inside under the yellow-brown light.
"I always thought that everyone could do this. Until one day when I was using talisman paper, I met a fortune teller on the street."
"When the master saw the talisman paper, he was so excited that he stopped me and asked me who drew it. I told him that I drew it myself."
"Do you know what he said in the end?" Lu Yingjiu laughed, "He said that I was a liar at such a young age - but it was obvious that he was the biggest liar."
"I drew it on the spot to show him, proving that I was not lying. The master was so excited that he held my hand and said that I was a genius. He asked if I wanted to join the glorious road of exorcism today and fight against the evil forces in the world shoulder to shoulder with him. It was up to the two of us to save the world."
Jing Xian took a sip of strawberry milk, and the slightly sweet taste exploded on the tip of his tongue, but it was not unpleasant.
He asked, "Do you agree?"
Lu Yingjiu shook his head and said, "No, because I think he was trying to cheat me out of money."
Jing Xian said: "What about the actual situation?"
Lu Yingjiu said: "He forced me to have my fortune told and then swindled me out of the 20 yuan I had."
Jing Xian: “…”
Lu Yingjiu added: "I used the 20 yuan to buy tutoring books. I went home and told my mom that the money was lost, and she was convinced that I had used it to buy snacks. But I was actually happy that I didn't have to do the exercises anymore."
Jing Xian: “…”
Road welcomes the wine and raises the glass to drink.
He continued, "The master came to my house later and said he had a way to break my bad luck. What happened next was the ghost marriage, so I won't go into details."
"The master told me that I would not live past the age of 27 and that I would inevitably die."
Jingxian's hand shrank slightly.
He said, "You'll be fine, I'm with you."
In fact, he appeared just for this moment.
“… Although the master is unreliable,” Lu Yingjiu smiled, obviously not believing him, “but some kind of intuition makes me think that what he said is right.”
"I don't think I'm more unlucky than others. After all, my talent is something they will never be able to catch up with in their lifetime. But sometimes I wonder if I'm really less lucky."
"Look, I'm at the top of the ghost exorcist world. But there are still things I have no clue about and can't control."
Jing Xian was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Is it about the 'time has come' thing?"
"Yes." Lu Ying nodded. "At first I thought it was just an ordinary ghost encounter, but after so many times, something was completely wrong. After seeing Chen Minlan's text message today, I was sure that this incident spanned several years - maybe it existed even earlier."
"This is the only thing in my life about goblins that I have no control over."
"I believe this is my doom."
Lu Yingjiu let out a long sigh: "Okay, I've said everything I wanted to say, I feel better now."
Jing Xian wanted to say something but was interrupted by Lu Yingjiu: "Don't mention it anymore, we'll talk about it later." He smiled at Jing Xian.
He drank the last drop of beer. His fair face had turned slightly red and his eyes were watery. He looked very leisurely under the light.
This glance was like a little deer running around happily, diving into Jingxian's heart and running around everywhere. He pretended to look down casually. The strawberry milk was gone, but he still felt the sweetness on his tongue.
But suddenly, he remembered what Lu Yingjiu said today.
The fawn hit its head on the iceberg and died with a bang.
Back in the car, Lu Yingjiu lowered the seat and prepared to take a nap.
The car drove silently through the street, and tall and low buildings passed by the window. The evening breeze rolled out the curtains of several houses, which fluttered in the wind.
Lu Yingjiu was a little dazed after drinking, and his tone was a little vague. He suddenly said, "By the way, about the 20 yuan—"
Jing Xian: “Hmm?”
"Although my mother firmly believed that I used the money to buy snacks, she didn't scold me or beat me. She just took out a 20 yuan note and put it in my hand, saying that next time I wanted to eat snacks, I could just tell her. Although she didn't have much money, she would be worried for several weeks if I spent an extra dollar on groceries, but she could still make me happy for a while."
Jing Xian asked: "Then you went to buy snacks?"
"No," Lu Yingjiu closed her eyes, "I went to buy the tutorial book. The questions there are really disgusting."
They both laughed together.
After laughing, Lu Yingjiu said: "Although I am not very old, I have met so many people. Some people hate me and wish I would die today, while others love me and hope I will always have a bright future."
"Of course, those who love or hate in the extreme are in the minority, and most people are somewhere in between." He continued, "So Jing Xian, which one are you?"
This sounds like a suicide question.
Jing Xian was about to answer when he heard Lu Yingjiujiu laugh: "No need to answer, I know the answer."
Jing Xian: “… Yeah.”
Although he didn't get the free question, his ears felt slightly hot.
Lu Yingjiu said: "That's why I feel that you can't stay with me any longer. You know the price a priest has to pay for coming to the human world in the flesh, right?"