Tang Siping, as the CEO of Sifang Greening, is wealthy and generous, but he has one condition, which is that you must have the real ability to exorcise evil spirits.
If this approach is ineffective and he finds out that the "master" he invited is a liar, he will definitely be held accountable for legal consequences.
Once the news came out, no one without a sect would dare to take the order easily.
If something bad happens to Siping in the Later Tang Dynasty and people blame them for the incident, they will be unable to explain themselves even if they jump into the Yellow River.
After Wu Weiwei explained the news he got from the group, he was a little confused. "Since the Special Investigation Department has been there and confirmed that there is no haunting, why would Tang Siping release such news? It's as if he knew there would be hauntings."
"I don't know." Chen Ling sat down at the stone table, poured himself a glass of water and took a sip. "Unless he is just like Aunt Guifang just now, knowing the inside story but refusing to reveal it."
Wu Weiwei: "Brother Chen, do you want to take this order? None of my friends in the group dare to take it, fearing that something bad might happen later."
Chen Ling shook his head. "Not yet. Let's wait and see what happens next."
The people from the Special Investigation Department have intervened, so there is really no need for Tang Siping to look for someone outside on his own.
He put down the teacup, and the bottom of the cup hit the stone table with a crisp sound. "Wu Weiwei, ask Li Hongyu again why the Special Investigation Department doesn't take orders themselves."
"Give me ten minutes." Wu Weiwei held the phone in both hands, stared at the screen, and began to send messages to Li Hongyu.
Li Hongyu's mouth was like a clam shell, very tight, and finally he was really annoyed by the bombardment of text messages, and replied impatiently: When Tang Siping moved the company to the foot of Sifang Mountain, he went to the temple to ask my second master to take a look, and there were no problems in all aspects. So when the remains that had been buried for two years were dug up, Tang Siping was extremely angry, thinking that the Taoist priests in the temple were just a group of liars who were cheating under the banner of a religious association.
Wu Weiwei asked directly: So has your second master really made up his mind
Approved. After Li Hongyu finished his reply, he refused to say another word.
After reading the chat records, Chen Ling said thoughtfully: "I remember the screenshot of the Special Investigation Department website you sent me. It said that Li Hongyu is the chief disciple of Qingxuan Temple. His second master should be the junior brother of the temple master, right?"
Hearing the words "Qingxuan Temple", Zhao Xunchang, who had just sat down and was busy peeling melon seeds for the parrot, suddenly looked up and said, "The deputy abbot of Qingxuan Temple, that is, the abbot's junior brother you just mentioned, is named Li Daoheng, and he has good abilities."
Since Master has said it is correct, then Qingxuan Temple’s judgment at the time should be correct.
Chen Ling rubbed his fingertips along the rim of the cup. "It was mentioned in Tang Siping's company profile that they only moved the company to the foot of Sifang Mountain in the first half of last year, but the remains have been buried for at least two years... The place where the remains are buried has heavier yin energy than other places, and there is a lingering death aura that will take many years to dissipate.
If the remains had already existed before the company moved here, there was no reason why Li Hongyu's second master would not have discovered them.
Then there is only one possibility.
Chen Ling said: "The remains may have been buried after Tang Siping moved here."
Wu Weiwei was stunned for a moment, and thought of something: "Ghost?"
"Yes." Chen Ling said seriously, "The spirits eat people and leave bones behind. So when the bodies are buried underground, there is no step for the flesh to decay and decompose. The bones are directly corroded by various bacteria in the soil, which creates the illusion that the bones have been buried for too long."
"… Moreover, spirits are neither ghosts nor humans, and they will not leave obvious yin and death energy. Therefore, when Li Hongyu and his senior brother went to Sifang Mountain to check yesterday, they did not find anything unusual."
"Go and take a look at the remains in the jar. If it is really the work of a ghost, there will definitely be traces left on it." Jiang Yu said in a cold voice.
Chen Ling immediately stood up and went to his room to get the jar of remains.
He and Wu Weiwei each took half, and each of them held a magnifying glass that Zhao Xunchang used to read the newspaper, and began to examine each one carefully.
The grayish-white bones were not clean; dirt had seeped into the bone joints, leaving black and brown lines.
It was Wu Weiwei's first time doing this, and he was so nervous that his whole body was stiff, and he almost broke his bones several times. After being glared at by Chen Ling, he forced himself to calm down and recited the Heart Purification Mantra.
Knowing that he was careless, he endured the goose bumps all over his body and rubbed his fingers lightly on the bones, checking every detail.
Seeing that he was really scared, Chen Ling whispered, "Human bones are not scary. After being buried in the soil, the organic matter and water are decomposed, leaving only a pile of inorganic calcium salts. As long as there are no ghosts messing around, they will definitely not suddenly jump up and punch you. Don't be afraid of them."
"Brother Chen, you know so much." Wu Weiwei was a little envious and smiled embarrassedly, "I haven't been to school, so I don't understand these things."
Chen Ling stopped what he was doing and suddenly asked, "Wu Weiwei, are you good at anything?"
"Am I really rude..." Wu Weiwei thought of the inappropriate joke he made in the afternoon and silently warned himself not to make nonsense jokes in the future.
Chen Ling's mouth twitched, and he added: "I'm talking about the aspect of magic."
"No, I just have a very good memory. I can memorize the general idea of a book after reading it several times." Over the years, he has been relying on what he memorized to talk about theory and make a living.
Chen Ling lowered his head and continued to study the shin bone in his hand, saying, "There will always be something you are good at. Pay more attention to it in the future."
Wu Weiwei is not very talented. Chen Ling has seen him drawing talismans privately. However, due to the thin spiritual energy in his body, his writing is slow and the talismans he draws are effective, but not very effective.
You can drive away small ghosts that are not very powerful, but when you encounter an evil spirit with strong hostility, the only way out is to run away and die.
There are many kinds of magic, including incantations, talismans, Lu Ban magic, black magic, puppetry, ghost raising, and witchcraft... Although Chen Ling is not an all-rounder, he is still proficient in talismans and Lu Ban magic thanks to Zhao Xunchang's teachings.
Wu Weiwei needs to choose the one that suits him best based on his situation and talents.
However, this requires an opportunity, an opportunity for Wu Weiwei to completely wake up.
"I've remembered that. Thank you, Brother Chen." This was the first time Brother Chen talked to him about magic. Wu Weiwei was so excited that he examined the bones more carefully.
The human body has a total of 206 bones, 103 in each person.
After checking the limbs and torso, only the skull was left. Looking at the skull with its mouth open and only black holes for its eyes, Wu Weiwei's heartbeat quickened and his fingertips trembled.
Start with the outside of the skull, moving your gaze along the side arc, then to the frontal bone, orbital bone, and nasal bones in front.
Finally, he found marks on the alveolar bone.
"Brother Chen, look at this." Wu Weiwei gently placed the skull on the stone table and pushed it in front of Chen Ling.
There is a scratch mark at the eleventh alveolar bone on the edge of the mandible. The mark is smooth and flowing, which shows how sharp the tool used for the scratch was.
Chen Ling almost pressed his eyes against the magnifying glass. "It doesn't look like it was scratched by a knife."
The scratch marks left by the knife should not be so wide, they should be thinner.
If it was really a demon, then the mark should have been left by the demon biting the gums.
… it’s too strong.
Chen Ling quickly raised his head and drank a sip of water, then put the remains back into the jar and said to Wu Weiwei, "Tell Li Hongyu about this first."
"good."
When Wu Weiwei called, Li Hongyu was driving. He turned off the phone in the car and continued driving without looking away.
But when he heard that there was a mark on the alveolar bone, he lost his composure. He turned the steering wheel, stopped the car on the side of the road, and asked carefully: "Are you sure? Did you see it wrong?"
Wu Weiwei: "Of course not, Brother Jiang also confirmed our speculation about the monster."
Monsters are not common, they live in the mountains and forests, hiding from the world. According to the archives of the Special Investigation Department, the last time a monster came out to cause trouble was several decades ago.
Li Hongyu had something else to do and couldn't go to Yuhe Mountain right away, so he said, "Send the location of Yuhe Mountain to my phone, and I'll go there early tomorrow morning."
Wu Weiwei hung up the phone and told Chen Ling that Li Hongyu would be coming over tomorrow morning. He asked reluctantly, "Does that mean I should make an extra portion for tomorrow's breakfast?"
"You don't want to do it for him." Chen Ling found it funny. The relationship between Wu Weiwei and Li Hongyu was like that of kindergarten kids who would fight whenever they met.
Wu Weiwei said awkwardly: "Not really... well, I just feel a little embarrassed."
This group of half-baked people have always been at odds with the Special Investigation Department. They were almost forced to go hungry several times. Everyone was very dissatisfied with the Special Investigation Department. Wu Weiwei was instigated and influenced by everyone, and unconsciously developed a resistance to Li Hongyu.
But after getting along with each other for a while, he felt that apart from being a little strong when they first met, Li Hongyu was not that annoying.
Chen Ling hooked the man over, grabbed his shoulders and said, "It's okay, just spend more time with him. I think Li Hongyu's attitude towards you is pretty good."
"I don't have any grudge against him." Wu Weiwei muttered, "Oops!", "I'll send him a text message and ask him to come over here tomorrow to have breakfast together."
Chen Ling nodded, stood up holding the jar of remains, and put it back in the small corner of his room.
When he bent down, the five-zhu coin in his pocket jumped out and rolled to the ground.
Chen Ling then remembered that there was still a wild ghost that he hadn't dealt with. He picked up the five-zhu coin and held it in his palm. "Are you still there?"
"Yes." Wuzhuqian said faintly, "Are you going to save my soul?"
"Do you want to be saved?" Chen Ling respected its opinion very much.
"No, I have been sleeping for so many years, the time for reincarnation has long passed. Who knows what will happen after I am taken to the underworld by the ghost." Wu Zhuqian said in a sad voice, "Why don't you keep me here? I can help you guard the door, clean the place, and even identify antiques for you."
Chen Ling: "You still have this ability."
"Yes, I've been in the soil for a long time, and I can smell the soil of any year."
"…" It sounds so smart. Chen Ling thought for a moment and said, "I'll go ask first."
Chen Ling found Jiang Yu holding the five-zhu coin and asked eagerly, "What would happen if it was taken down to the netherworld?"
"People only have one chance to reincarnate after death. If you miss it, you miss it. If it is taken to the underworld, it will only become a ghost on the sea of blood." Jiang Yu picked up the cold five-zhu coin and passed a trace of Yin Qi through his fingertips to solidify its soul. "If you like it, you can keep it."
Chen Ling asked Wu Zhuqian: "Do you really want to stay?"
The five-zhu coin bounced twice in his warm palm, expressing his wish.
Chen Ling thought for a while with his eyelids drooping, then looked up at the old ancestor again. He came up with an idea, turned back to his room, hung the five-zhu coin on the inside of his door frame, and said in a neither-too-loud nor-soft voice, "I felt a ghost crawling on my bed in the middle of the night. Can you help me guard the door?"
"Yes, yes." The five-zhu coin swung back and forth excitedly, making a clanging sound against the wooden door frame.
Chen Ling narrowed his eyes at the man outside the door and smiled meaningfully, "Go to bed early. I'm going to bed first. Good night."
Jiang Yu was covered in pale moonlight, and his cold face made his eyes look deep. "Good night."
At night, Chen Ling slept soundly, without sleep paralysis or nightmares. After taking a bath in the bathtub in his room to relieve his fatigue, he crawled into bed and slept until dawn.
He curled up in the quilt and rubbed his eyes, then suddenly sat up, leaned over the edge of the bed and looked down.
The slippers were neatly placed with the toes facing outwards.
The five-zhu coin didn't need to sleep, and it made a clanging sound, "No one came last night, and no ghost came."
"I understand." Chen Ling went to the bathroom to wash up. Just after brushing his teeth, he heard Wu Zhuqian whispering, "Master, your cell phone is ringing."
It had some old ideas left over from the feudal period in its mind, and believed that since Chen Ling took him in, he should be his master.
"In terms of age, you are much older than me. You can just call me by my name." As he spoke, Chen Ling answered the phone.
The voice on the other end of the phone was a little nervous, "Excuse me, is this Mr. Chen?"
Chen Ling took the phone away, glanced at the unfamiliar number on it, and responded, "It's me, are you Mr. Tang from Tang Siping?"
"Yes, yes, it's me." Tang Siping said anxiously, "Your phone number was given to me by the young master of Qingxuan Temple, who said that he could contact you for matters related to exorcism."
He paused and said stiffly, "Besides, I have some friendship with Mr. Gao. To be honest, before calling you, I had contacted him and learned that it was you, Master Chen, who solved the strange problem in their family, so I made up my mind to make this call."
There were some things Tang Siping didn't say. Since last night, he had been looking for someone who could go to Sifang Mountain to exorcise evil spirits, but the masters seemed to have agreed on this and none of them was willing to take the order.
Chen Ling was the last person he hadn't called yet.
Tang Siping brought up the two relationships, just to get Chen Ling to agree to take the order, "Look, you know both Master Li and Lao Gao, so we are friends. Master Chen, if you are free, can you come to Sifang Mountain today?"
Thinking of something horrible, his voice got stuck, as if his throat was being strangled. After a long while, he managed to utter a few trembling words: "I saw the female ghost in white again last night."
"I'll be there in an hour and a half." Chen Ling took the order on the spot, hung up the phone and continued washing his face.
He walked out of the room and found Wu Weiwei in the kitchen. "I've taken Mr. Tang's order. We'll leave in forty minutes."
Wu Weiwei was cooking noodles. "Just in time, Li Hongyu will be here soon."
Just as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door in the yard.
Zhao Xunchang held the macaw on his shoulder and went to open the door. He smiled kindly at the young man outside and said, "Come in. We're waiting for you."
"Do you know me?" Li Hongyu's gaze paused on the macaw, and he looked at the old man in front of him blankly.
"I don't know him." Zhao Xunchang invited him in, "But I know there are guests coming."
The old man in front of him was wearing a short-sleeved satin training suit, his graying hair combed back, one hand holding the bird on his shoulder and the other holding a nut. He was dressed very down-to-earth, without the sage-like temperament of his master and second master.
Li Hongyu firmly remembered the principle that one should not judge a person by his appearance, and did not dare to look down on the old man. Recalling that Wu Weiwei had mentioned that Chen Ling's master's surname was Zhao, he nodded respectfully and greeted: "Hello, Mr. Zhao."
"No need to be polite, come in." Zhao Xunchang threw the peeled nuts up, and the parrot opened its mouth to catch them and swallowed them.
It savors it with relish: “One more, one more.”
Chen Ling just brought out the noodles and put them on the stone table. He called out to Li Hongyu, "Come and eat the noodles first, or they will get clumped up."
Wu Weiwei followed with a bowl in one hand. Chen Ling counted the number of people in his mind and found that there was still one bowl missing. "Is Jiang Yu not going to eat?"
"No." Wu Weiwei said, "I asked him before going to bed last night, and he said that I don't need to make breakfast for him anymore. Brother Chen, it's not good for Brother Jiang to torture his stomach like this."
Chen Ling: "There's nothing wrong with that. He has an iron stomach and is tough."
Wu Weiwei: “…”
Li Hongyu sat quietly on the stone bench. He waited until Zhao Xunchang sat down and the host started eating before he picked up the bowl and chopsticks and started eating. The noodles were silky smooth, with broth and minced meat on each strand, and a little fragrance from chopped green onions. It was absolutely delicious.
Chen Ling was also eating with great concentration, finishing the meal in a few gulps.
Zhao Xunchang handed him a piece of paper to wipe his mouth, "I remember you promised the breeding base that you would take Xiaolan there every day?"
Chen Ling wiped his mouth and responded vaguely.
Zhao Xunchang: "You guys are busy, leave this kind of small matter to me." Thinking of another thing, he said, "It just so happens that Mr. Jiang Shengxing invited me to his company, saying that he has investment details to discuss."
At exactly eight o'clock in the morning, the group was ready to set off, and the old man came out with the car keys, ready to be everyone's driver.
Chen Ling did not refuse and let Li Hongyu drive in front and lead the way.
Sifang Mountain is quite the opposite of Yuhe Mountain, with lush vegetation and shady trees. The planting area from the middle of the mountain to the foot of the mountain blends seamlessly with the mountain scenery without any sense of incongruity.
Li Hongyu drove Jiang Yu's car into a wide asphalt road, circled the foot of the mountain, and stopped in front of a building, which was an office building with green areas on all sides.
Tang Siping's residence is behind the office building.
They parked their car in the parking lot outside the office building and walked to the small single-family villa at the back.
In the villa, Tang Siping was counting the time anxiously. When the doorbell rang, he was stunned for a moment. After he reacted, he hurried to the entrance to open the door.
Seeing the person outside the door, he was surprised and asked, "Master Chen, how come you are here?"
Worried that Chen Ling couldn't find the place, he kept holding his phone waiting for a call asking for directions. He didn't get the call, but he waited for the person to come.
Chen Ling said: "Li Hongyu showed me the way."
Tang Siping then saw Li Hongyu, and he moved his lips and said unhappily, "Little Master of Qingxuan Temple, didn't I tell you that I won't perform rituals on you?"
Li Hongyu: "Mr. Tang, the matter at Sifang Mountain is not simple. It cannot be solved simply by performing a ritual."
Tang Siping's face turned pale, "What do you mean?!"
"We judge that there might be a ghost causing trouble." Chen Ling said and suddenly looked behind Tang Siping.
The built-in elevator not far away opened its door, and a woman in a pink dress came out in a wheelchair.
She was thin and gentle, giving people a sense of weakness, and her voice was also very soft. "Old Tang, has the master you invited arrived? Why don't you invite him in?"
Tang Siping slapped his forehead, realizing that he had blocked the door. "Sorry, sorry, I'm sorry for neglecting you all. Please come in."
The decoration in the living room is very simple, mainly in light colors. There is a small flower bed in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, with a row of green plants planted in it, including the common green ivy and the uncommon precious orchid.
In this green area, there is a pansy, commonly known as butterfly flower or human face flower.
The pot in Tang Siping's house is the most common type. The pink and white petals are dotted with three small purple clusters. From a distance, it does look a bit like a pale human face with a big mouth and two small eyes staring.
Chen Ling stopped looking around and sat on the sofa. Jiang Yu sat next to him.
It would be impolite to look directly at them, so Tang Siping only glanced at them briefly and asked cautiously, "Who are these two?"
"We are a team." Chen Ling gave a general answer.
"I see." Since he is one of us, there is nothing to be secretive about. Tang Siping began to talk about his situation.
"Last night around three o'clock, I went downstairs to drink water, and when I passed the living room, I felt something staring at me." He swallowed nervously, and his hands on his knees began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Master Chen, it's not an illusion. I just felt like something was staring at me! It's been staring at me since the first second I went downstairs and stepped into the living room. I was scared, so I ran to turn on all the lights downstairs. Strangely, the sight disappeared. I comforted myself that it was an illusion, and finally went into the kitchen."
The highlight was probably coming later, so Tang Siping stopped talking and took a deep breath.
Mrs. Tang gently grasped her husband's hand and said softly, "It's okay, don't be afraid, the masters are here, even if there are demons and ghosts, they dare not hurt you."
Chen Ling looked at the couple's tightly clasped hands and thought that they had a very good relationship.
Tang Siping prepared himself mentally and said in a deep voice, "After entering the kitchen, I heard the sound of something heavy falling from a height. Ghosts usually make scary faces, so I thought it might be a thief sneaking in, so I called the security department..."
In the office building in front of Sifang Greenery, there is a small part which is the staff dormitory, providing a convenience for the employees who work too far away or are not local.
The security guards were changing shifts at that time. The group on duty had just woken up and were full of energy. After hearing the boss' phone call saying there was a thief, they immediately split into two groups to search everywhere.
Tang Siping was impatient and couldn't sit still. After waiting in the living room for half an hour without any news, he could not help but run out, where he met the security guard who had searched his villa.
After giving a few instructions, he walked under the bright street lights and came to the front of the office building.
Opposite the center of the building is the straight road that Chen Ling and his companions drove when they came. Tang Siping couldn't explain why he was unwilling to go forward. He felt inexplicably uneasy, always feeling that something would suddenly appear on that road.
He called the security captain and asked him to search along the road with a flashlight.
The security guard was brave, holding the flashlight steadily, and strode forward. When he passed a lush tree, a white shadow appeared.
It was a girl with loose hair and wearing a white dress. At first, she was lying on the tree trunk with her face pressed against the bark as if she had no bones. When the security guard came in, she slowly squatted down, holding her stomach.
The security guard heard the girl's stomach growl, and was stunned for a moment, then asked anxiously, "Where are you from, little girl? Are you hungry?"