"Get out of here..."
Sun Jiayu began to tremble all over, secretly exerting strength on his muscles, and his face turned red. "I didn't ask for help. You charlatans are just saying these nonsense to cheat my dad out of his money!"
Chen Ling was indifferent, "But your father didn't pay me anything, so your claim of cheating me is totally untrue."
"Mr. Chen, I think you are deliberately provoking my brother." Sun Zhi pulled Sun Jiayu behind him to protect him, and said cautiously, "I don't think you can bring him any help, please leave immediately."
Chen Ling didn't want to pay attention to him. He looked at Sun Peifeng, who was looking worried, and said, "Mr. Sun, let's go downstairs and talk."
"Okay..." Sun Peifeng had only been in this room for ten minutes, but he felt like he had aged ten years. Whenever he thought of his son's madness, his heart would ache.
Standing in the corridor, Sun Peifeng closed the door for his son and said in a tired tone, "Mr. Chen, you can see that he is now rude and has a bad temper. He is a completely different person."
Chen Ling lowered his eyes, looked at the shadows extending from under the door, and said calmly: "Let's go downstairs and talk."
Mrs. Sun downstairs was pacing anxiously.
Seeing the two men coming down from upstairs, she stepped forward, grabbed her husband's arm and asked, "How is it, what did Mr. Chen say?"
"Mr. Chen didn't say anything, just told me to come downstairs first."
"Sun Jiayu's situation is somewhat special. There should be two souls living in his body." Chen Ling said with certainty, "This is different from ordinary ghost possession. Ghost possession is when an evil ghost secretly possesses the person without the person's knowledge and forcibly takes control of the body. In Sun Jiayu's case, it should be that the lonely ghost was able to possess him only after obtaining his consent, which resulted in the current situation where two souls share one body."
Sun Peifeng felt a chill in his heart as he listened, his voice trembling, "Mr. Chen, could the wandering ghost you are talking about be my eldest son?"
The third master said that the eldest son was reluctant to leave his parents and brothers, so he stayed at home and could not leave.
Sun Peifeng didn't want to think badly of his eldest son. "Maybe he just wanted to use this incident to draw our attention and make us aware of his existence?"
Chen Ling ruthlessly broke his fantasy, "He's not your eldest son."
He organized his words in his mind and slowed down his speech, trying to prepare Sun Peifeng mentally. "If he is really your eldest son, why would he choose to hurt his own brother so many years later to attract your attention? Mr. Sun, I think you heard clearly what I said to Sun Jiayu just now."
"Yes, I heard you clearly. You said that two souls living in one body would be crowded, and you also said... and you also said..."
"What else are you talking about?!" Mrs. Sun was irritated by her husband's hesitant attitude.
Sun Peifeng was afraid that his wife would be upset, so he put his big hands around her shoulders and said, "Mr. Chen said that Jiayu's soul is asking us for help."
Mrs. Sun’s face turned pale, her hands were pressed on her heart, and her body suddenly lost strength and fell backwards, hitting the back of the sofa heavily.
Sun Peifeng quickly laid the person flat on the sofa, took out a bottle of quick-acting heart-saving pills from the drawer of the coffee table, fed them to his wife, and asked her to hold it under her tongue.
This heart attack was not that serious. After about half an hour, Mrs. Sun's condition improved.
Chen Ling had been sitting quietly on the sofa. Seeing that her face had regained some color, he whispered, "Don't worry, I will definitely capture the wild ghost for you."
Sun Peifeng looked worried, "Mr. Chen, will this have any impact on my son?"
Chen Ling's lips moved, and he saw a figure flash by at the stairs. He pursed his lips and looked towards the stairs.
The landing between the first and second floors is a dividing point. There are no handrails on the stairs under the landing, so the situation on the stairs can be seen clearly.
The stairs on the terrace have handrails made of solid wood, so they cannot be seen even if someone hides behind them.
Sun Peifeng was so nervous by his reaction, "What's wrong?"
"I seemed to have seen your nephew just now." Chen Ling pointed with his fingers on his knees and said, "As long as the wild ghost is captured early, there will not be a big impact. If it's too late..."
Sun Peifeng knew what the young man meant by the unfinished words. He clenched his fists and suppressed his fear. "Is there anything I can do?"
"There is indeed a small matter, and I hope Mr. Sun can do it for me."
"You tell me." Sun Peifeng, "As long as it can save my son, I'm willing to do anything."
Chen Ling took out a talisman from the small pocket on the side of his bag and handed it to Sun Peifeng. His voice suddenly became louder, "Mr. Sun, just put it under your son's pillow."
Sun Peifeng carefully put his hands together, afraid of damaging the talisman paper, "Can this drive the ghost out of Jiayu's body?"
Chen Ling: "When the wild ghost wants to completely take over the body, the Yin energy will definitely increase greatly, and the talisman paper will automatically become aggressive towards it."
Sun Peifeng was actually not sure whether the young man in front of him could really help him, but at this point, he had no other choice and could only give it a try with a fluke mentality.
Chen Ling hung his backpack on his shoulders and stood up from the sofa. "Mr. Sun, I have some things to do back at the base. You can call me if you have anything."
"I'll give it to you." Sun Peifeng handed the talisman to his wife and asked her to keep it carefully.
Sun Jiayu has been very resistant to things related to metaphysics recently, so they can only secretly put it under his pillow after he falls asleep.
On the way back, Sun Peifeng did not ask his subordinates to come, but drove the car himself. Chen Ling was embarrassed to sit in the back, so he sat in the passenger seat with his backpack.
When passing by the zoo's billboard, the quiet young man suddenly suggested going for a meal.
Chen Ling had been running around outside since morning and was already hungry, but eating was not his main purpose. Instead, he wanted to find a quiet place to talk with Sun Peifeng alone.
Sun Peifeng was worried about his son's matter and realized that it was already past lunchtime. He apologized repeatedly for being rude.
Chen Ling shook his head and pointed to a roadside restaurant: "Let's go there, okay?"
"I'm fine with anything." Sun Peifeng turned the steering wheel and parked the car on the side of the road.
Chen Ling held the door handle and was about to get out of the car when he saw Sun Peifeng reaching for the cell phone on the console. He raised his hand to stop him, raised a finger and moved it to the left and right, signaling Sun Peifeng not to bring the cell phone.
Sun Peifeng felt puzzled and confused but did not ask any questions. He obediently retracted his hand that was about to touch the phone.
The restaurant is not big, but the interior design is clever. There are vertical partitions between the booths, creating a more private space for each table of diners.
Chen Ling chose the spot in the corner.
After the waiter took our order, poured our tea and left, he asked, "Mr. Sun, has your son been to any place with heavy yin energy recently, or obtained any items used by a dead person from somewhere else?"
Sun Peifeng never expected the young man to ask this and was stunned.
Chen Ling went on to say, "Sun Jiayu is not someone who has a lot of Yin energy and is easily attracted to evil spirits. On the contrary, he has a lot of Yang energy and is full of vigor. Under normal circumstances, the chances of this kind of person encountering ghosts are almost zero."
Sun Peifeng was a smart man, and was immediately enlightened by this sentence. "You mean that Jiayu's situation is abnormal, and someone is deliberately trying to harm us and is instigating and guiding us from behind?"
"This is just my guess." Chen Ling said, "For another soul to live in your son's body, there is a very important premise, that is, Sun Jiayu somehow attracted the ghost and reached an agreement with the other party, or was lured into reaching an agreement, to offer his body to the other party to possess him."
Sun Peifeng was obviously shocked by this speculation and couldn't say a word for a long time.
Chen Ling: "Of course, maybe it wasn't someone else who lured him, but your son did something that attracted a ghost by accident out of curiosity."
He paused for a second or two before continuing, "Curiosity always comes from a source, such as someone telling him something, or he saw something on a forum, or he simply wanted to take a risk."
"Jiayu, he is indeed quite curious about ghosts and gods." Sun Peifeng took a deep breath and recalled, "When my wife was pregnant with Jiayu, she had severe morning sickness. She vomited almost everything she ate. After the situation improved, she couldn't eat much and was always nauseous. As a mother, she had little nutrition, not to mention the fetus in her belly. Jiayu was only four pounds when he was born, very small, with wrinkled and dark skin, like a little monkey."
Recalling this past event, he couldn't help but smile, but his expression darkened in an instant.
"Jia Yu has had poor health since birth. He was hospitalized three times before he was six months old. Two of them were meningitis caused by common viruses. The other time was a cough caused by catching a cold. It was originally just a minor problem, but his resistance was too weak, so it turned into bronchitis in just two days and almost developed into pneumonia."
Both times, Sun Jiayu was seriously ill, and the hospital even issued him a critical illness notice.
Chen Ling thought of the young man lying on the bed before. He looked thin, but not weak. The muscles on his exposed arms were obvious. He must have a habit of fitness. If so, Sun Jiayu's physical fitness should not be bad.
"Mr. Sun, Sun Jiayu doesn't look frail and sickly now."
"This is because of the blessing of gods and Buddhas." Sun Peifeng said, "There is a custom in my hometown that if there is a child who is weak and sickly since childhood, the child can be named after the gods and Buddhas, commonly known as a pseudonym. For example, if the gods and Buddhas have the surname Zhou, then my son should be named Zhou Shou, so Jiayu also has another name, Sun Zhoushou."
Chen Ling was familiar with this custom.
Before sending the child's name, parents need to go to the temple to burn incense, and then put the child's birth date and horoscope in a red cloth bag they sewed by hand and hang it on the Buddhist cabinet. This red cloth bag is called a "passing bag".
At the end of each lunar year, the monks in the temple would prepare food and send it to the child's home, which was considered a New Year's Eve dinner for the "adopted child". Before the monks left, the child's parents had to return the incense money wrapped in red paper.
However, the temple only provides this kind of "New Year's Eve dinner" for three years.
In the last year, the monks will name the child, which is what Sun Peifeng said, the name must contain a character that is the same as the surname of the deity or Buddha.
Early in the morning of the next day, the first day of the new year, the family has to take the children to the temple to burn incense, formally completing the "passing the Ji" ceremony. When the children put the incense into the burner, they need to respectfully and sincerely call the Ji Buddha "Ji Ye".
"Ye" is a local dialect, meaning father.
The father should be called after the person reaches adulthood and gets married. It is not allowed for illegal marriages before the age of 18. The day after the marriage, the child should personally go to the temple to take down the red cloth bag from the Buddha cabinet. This is called "pulling the bag".
It is said that during this period, the child will be blessed by gods and Buddhas and will gradually become healthy.
Sun Peifeng would not bring this up for no reason, so Chen Ling asked him, "Did Sun Jiayu hang up a post in the name of gods and Buddhas?"
"Mr. Chen, do you know the custom of sending mail?" Sun Peifeng was surprised. "This custom is very rare nowadays. I thought only a very few people in my hometown knew about it."
"I heard Master mention it. He said that the gods and Buddhas are merciful and cannot bear to see young children suffer, so they bestowed blessings on children so that they could overcome the suffering and avoid premature death."
"Yes, the gods and Buddhas really do show their power." Sun Peifeng was slightly excited. "In fact, since the first posting bag was hung, Jiayu's health has gradually improved, his spirits have become better and better, and his thin body has also gained weight."
Chen Ling asked: "Don't you have to go back to your hometown every year to burn incense for Master Ji on the first day of the new year?"
"No need." Sun Peifeng, "My father and I brought my mother and two brothers out of the small mountain village when my elder brother and I were still young. There is no one left in our hometown, and we have no place to stay even if we go back. In order to make it easier to burn incense and make offerings, after asking about the various matters related to the temple for the first time, I went to the antique city to ask for an ancient Buddha statue back."
"Is it the one you have enshrined in your home now?" Chen Ling asked.
"Yes." Sun Peifeng said, "The master in the temple said that this is also possible, and it will show more sincerity. The daily incense burning and offerings are all done by Jiayu himself."
Chen Ling pondered and agreed that this was indeed the way to go.
Whether it is the gods and Buddhas or the Taoist ancestors, they are all omnipresent, either in the hearts of believers or in every visible or invisible corner of the world, saving people from hardships and removing their evil obstacles.
In this case, what difference does it make whether you worship it in a temple or take it home and worship it yourself
"Mr. Sun, is this the reason why Sun Jiayu believes in ghosts and gods?"
"Yes, you say he is respectful to the gods and Buddhas, and he often talks to the Buddha statues as if he were chatting with a friend. You say he is disrespectful, but before he burns incense every day, he washes his hands and personally selects the freshest fruits from his home to offer as sacrifices." Sun Peifeng smiled and shook his head, "Sometimes, I really feel that he treats the Buddha statues as his elders."
"But when you and I were together in the room upstairs before, he didn't express any disapproval towards Sun Zhi's words."
"Well..." Sun Peifeng hesitated and said, "Actually, ever since he got sick, he has never burned incense in front of the Buddha cabinet. He usually walks around it."
"Evil spirits have a natural fear of gods and Buddhas, especially those with evil intentions. Naturally, they dare not approach the Buddha cabinet." Chen Ling let out a soft "hiss". "Since your son believes in the existence of ghosts and gods, it is not impossible for someone to use this to trick him into doing something that would attract wild ghosts."
The waiter came over to serve the food. Chen Ling helped to move the teacup away. After the waiter left, he continued, "Everyone is curious. Sun Jiayu knows that he is blessed by gods and Buddhas. He may be a little braver than ordinary people and is not afraid of small minions like lonely ghosts. Mr. Sun, you'd better recall carefully whether he had any suspicious behavior before he officially showed abnormality."
Sun Peifeng did not answer immediately, but brought the topic back to the previous one: "Mr. Chen, I would like to ask you a question. Regarding Jiayu being possessed by a ghost, you seem to be more inclined to believe that he was deliberately guided by someone."
The repeated mention of it was obviously intended to lead his thinking in the direction of artificiality.
"I do have such doubts." Chen Ling admitted.
"So you told me not to bring my cell phone and found a corner like this to talk. Are you afraid that someone might eavesdrop on us through our cell phones and car phones?" Apart from the driver, the only people who had access to his cell phone and car were his family members.
The wife loves her son, so she was ruled out as the first option; the driver has been with him for almost eight years and there is no conflict of interest, so he was ruled out as the second option.
Sun Peifeng: "Mr. Chen, are you suspicious of my nephew?"
The word "nephew" does not just describe the relationship between the two parties, but also means more than ten years of family affection.
But the person in front of him was telling him that all those deep affections and friendships were a scam, a false illusion created to harm his son!
Sun Peifeng was furious, thinking that everything Chen Ling said and did before was just pretense and that he had no real skills or abilities at all. He was deceived, his wife was deceived, and even his good friend Lao Lin was deceived by this master and apprentice duo!
He stood up by holding onto the table, "Mr. Chen, I think you may not be suitable to handle our family affairs. Sorry for bothering you to make this trip today."
"Mr. Sun." Chen Ling called out to the person who had already walked out of his seat. "When you and I came out of the room and were still standing in the corridor, a figure passed through the gap under the door. Of course, maybe it wasn't your nephew who was eavesdropping, but just happened to pass by. But..."
"I don't want to hear any buts!" Sun Peifeng interrupted him, "Mr. Chen, you may not know that Sun Zhi has always regarded Jia Yu as his own brother and would stand in front of his brother in any matter. He was rude to you, but it was not out of guilt. It was because he opposed me not sending my son to the hospital anymore and relying on metaphysics instead."
He closed his eyes and tried his best to suppress his anger. "Anyone could do it, except him!"
"After coming down from upstairs, when we were sitting in the living room and talking, I said that I seemed to have seen Sun Zhi." Chen Ling was afraid that he would turn around and leave in anger, so he spoke quickly, "I believe I was not mistaken. He did appear on the stage at that time."
Sun Peifeng remembered this incident, but it didn't mean anything. "Maybe he just wanted to come down to get something, and when he saw us talking about something, he avoided us."
Knowing that he could not accept that all the sincere love he had shown him over the years would go to waste, Chen Ling stopped persuading him, lest Sun Peifeng become more and more dissatisfied with him.
"Of course there is this possibility." He took a step back, "I know what I said just now was unpleasant, but I still hope that you can put the talisman I gave you before under Sun Jiayu's pillow."
"I understand." The young man maintained a good attitude throughout, which made it impossible for Sun Peifeng to say anything bad to him. He just left with a perfunctory remark and a cold face.
He walked out of the restaurant quickly, and the sunlight reflected from the car windshield stung his eyes fiercely, the pain was unbearable, and everywhere he looked was dark green spots.
Standing there and closing his eyes to relax, Sun Peifeng opened the car door and got in. When he looked up, he saw the pitch-black cell phone on the console.
The phone was hot in the sun, and when he picked it up, the metal body burned his fingertips, and a chill began to run down his spine.
It is undeniable that the young man’s words had an impact on him that could not be ignored.
In my mind, I replayed every moment of my nephew and I've been together over the years, just like a passing scene.
Sun Zhi's obedience to him, his proper way of dealing with people, his friendly attitude towards his wife, and his diligent care for his son these days... these are all true, they can't be false.
Another voice gradually rose in my heart: "He is pretending. What if he is pretending?"
Sun Peifeng shook his head vigorously, gripped the steering wheel as if to vent his anger, and banged his forehead against it.
The sharp sound of car horns rang out on the busy street, but was quickly drowned out by the rest of the noise. Chen Ling was eating his food, and when he looked sideways, he found that no one had left.
"Sir, here's the casserole porridge you ordered." The waiter reminded, holding the boiling hot casserole in both hands.
Chen Ling put down his chopsticks and helped make room.
The porridge smells so good that I don't have the time to think about anything else. Filling my stomach is the most important thing. I look back and start concentrating on solving the problem of eating.
Apart from anything else, the prices in the restaurants near the zoo are very reasonable. Four dishes and a soup per person only cost a little over 200 yuan.
Chen Ling carried the packed vegetables and walked back to the breeding base. As they had just finished their lunch break, many people were riding bicycles along the scenic path.
Qian Qing was on duty at noon. He had just finished his work and was eating lunch when he saw a man standing outside the office door.
"Have you just eaten? It's so late now." Chen Ling shook the take-away box in his hand, "All of them are untouched. How about adding two more dishes?"
It was too extravagant for one person to eat four dishes. In order to promote core values, Chen Ling only drank a full belly of casserole porridge and did not touch the other dishes.
Qian Qing was so hungry that she felt like she could eat a cow. Thinking of the horrific time when she was tortured by the male violet parrot, she didn't intend to be polite to the parrot's owner. She took one of the takeaway boxes, opened the lid and put a few pieces of meat into her own lunch box.
Chen Ling put the rest of the takeout boxes aside and sat down on the stool opposite Qian Qing.
Glancing at the work badge on the other person's chest, he called out, "Director Qian."
"The badge is printed wrong. The word 'deputy' is missing, and he was just promoted." Qian Qing said, "I will replace the deputy director's badge when the new one arrives this afternoon, so don't shout nonsense."
Having said that, she actually felt that the person who made the badge did it on purpose.
There were many people who entered the base through the back door, and she was the one who was promoted the fastest. Many people gossiped about her behind her back.
After the work badge was delivered yesterday, the logistics officer spoke particularly sarcastically, saying that it didn't matter whether he was a deputy or not, he would be promoted to a full-time position sooner or later anyway, and it was just a matter of a word from the director of the base.
Qian Qing got so angry after hearing this that he almost got into a fight with the guy. He felt aggrieved and angry.
Yes, she got in through the back door, but she has the ability and academic qualifications, and has published several academic papers on bird reproduction in authoritative journals.
It's not that she is conceited. Her ability is indeed better than many researchers of the same level. She works hard and never slacks off.
It was because of these that she was promoted as an exception. It was true that she got into the base because of her family's influence, but the promotion was all due to herself.
Seeing her cheeks puffed up like a puffer fish, Chen Ling reminded her, "It's easy to burp when you're sulking while eating."
Qian Qing glared at the young man, then puckered up her cheeks. In a second, she returned to her gentle and amiable face when they first met. She poked the rice and asked, "You've only been away for a short time and you've come back. Are you worried about the parrot?"