Chapter 98

Chapter 95

"Hey, early, uncle, this is for you."

"Auntie, you look really good today, this is yours."

"Sister, your ring is so beautiful, it must have been sent by your significant other. Hey, I can tell at a glance, when you get married, remember to invite me, I'll have my old Tan bring a gift."

Tan Yunlong was originally leaning back in his office chair with his feet on the desk, dozing off, when a familiar voice appeared beside him in his sleep.

Opening his eyes, he saw his son handing out breakfast and chatting and responding naturally to his colleagues in the office.

Tan Yunlong had always known his son was outgoing and spoke freely, but the emotions he showed at that moment made him, as a father, feel a little strange.

Seemingly enthusiastic, there was actually a kind of alienation that didn't make people dislike him, and his colleagues' reactions were also very interesting. They weren't as casual as when they faced other colleagues' children, but rather showed some restraint.

In this atmosphere, if someone didn't know, they would think a leader from the bureau had specially come down to connect with the people.

The most important thing was, this kid was coming to his new unit for the first time today.

"Here, Dad, this is ours."

Tan Yunlong put his feet down.

Tan Wenbin picked up the towel from the shelf next to him, dusted the desk, and then placed the steamed buns, fried dough sticks, and soy milk down.

"I say, Dad, why don't you sleep in the dorm? I went to your dorm early this morning and found it empty, I almost suspected you were taking advantage of Mom not being here and letting loose."

"If you can't speak human words, just shut up."

Tan Yunlong picked up a bun and took a bite.

He had just gone back to the dorm to wash up and change clothes recently. He hadn't slept properly and had basically been spending the nights in the office like this.

"Dad, Mom's work hasn't been handled yet, when will she come to Jinling? Without her watching you, you really won't be doing well, look at you now, this disheveled appearance."

"Let's talk about it later. Your mom coming over suddenly and not being familiar with the place, there's nothing she can do. I also don't have much time to accompany her."

"Is it a housing problem? Or I can rent one for you."

"You have a lot of money on hand?"

"Much, much more than your salary."

Tan Yunlong glared at him but didn't say anything else. He knew that the money his wife and the elders from both sides gave his son, this kid basically didn't spend it.

"You came over early this morning, does Xiao Yuan have something?"

Tan Wenbin cleared his throat, held a fried dough stick in both hands, and said in a sincere voice: "By the decree of the Dragon King, recipient of heaven's mandate......"

Seeing Tan Yunlong still eating buns, Tan Wenbin deliberately said: "Bold, why do you not kneel to receive the decree?"

Tan Yunlong's hand reached for his belt buckle.

"Daddy, your son has something to ask of you!"

......

"So, the dorm I'm living in now was a women's dorm a few years ago. I said, why is the position of the urinal in the public toilet on the floor so strange? It turns out it was built afterwards."

Tan Wenbin was quickly flipping through the case files while taking notes with a pen in his notebook. There was no way, who called him not to have Yuanzi Ge's ability to flip through pages 'swish swish' and still remember everything in his head.

Five years ago, this dorm building was still a women's dorm. Later, the school changed it to a men's dorm. In the five years from ten years ago to five years ago, there were a total of two notable cases involving female students living in this dorm building.

One was the Tang Qiuying missing case.

One was the Qian Meishu suicide incident.

Tang Qiuying went missing while still in school. At that time, the school police and her family all carried out multi-faceted searches, but there had been no results until now.

Qian Meishu committed suicide by drinking pesticide in the dorm. She left a suicide note related to emotional problems.

Tan Wenbin tapped on Tang Qiuying's photo with his finger. If the high-heeled female ghost was really between these two, then it was likely this Tang Qiuying.

Because Xiao Yuan Ge had said that the high-heeled female ghost's corpse should be buried near the dorm building, forming some kind of tie that limited its activity range.

As for the suicide Qian Meishu, her corpse would definitely be collected.

It was a pity that when Yuanzi Ge interrogated the high-heeled female ghost that night, he didn't walk the yin and couldn't see the female ghost's true appearance, otherwise he could now compare it with the photos in the case files.

Because they were all former university students of the school, their ID photos were included in the case files.

"Dad, can I take these two files back first?"

"Remember to return them in time."

"You're so easy to talk to?"

"I'm doing this for cracking the case." Tan Yunlong paused and added, "If Xiao Yuan really has clues, remember to remind Xiao Yuan to notify the police in time."

"Understood, that goes without saying." Tan Wenbin poked his head out again and swept his eyes over the desktop, asking, "What's the progress on Qiu Minmin?"

Tan Yunlong handed a bag to Tan Wenbin: "This is the progress I've investigated myself recently, it's not filed, you take it back and give it to Xiao Yuan."

"Yo, Old Tan, you're really on the ball, I'll petition the Dragon King later and make you a Crab General."

"Heh, then what are you?"

"I'm the Turtle Prime Minister, of course."

Tan Yunlong took a deep breath.

"Hey hey." When Tan Wenbin was putting the case files into his bag, he looked at another stack of case files placed next to them. He subconsciously flipped through the bottom one and saw a photo inside.

The photo showed a water jar with a person standing in it. This person's height was a bit abnormal.

Upon closer inspection, he realized they were standing on stilts, but because the water surface blocked the view, the stilts weren't very obvious.

This person was wearing white clothes, a high hat, had a pale face, and held a white lantern in each hand.

One said: Underworld.

One said: Lead.

Tan Yunlong noticed his son's actions and said: "That stack is case files that others have just sorted out for use, it has nothing to do with the two cases you want to find."

"Dad, is this person playing Bai Wuchang?"

"This is not a person." Tan Yunlong stood up. This stack of case files was something he had helped that colleague find together, so he more or less knew some of the content. "The photo shows a clay figure placed on a water jar."

"Didn't they say clay Buddhas crossing the river can't even save themselves? Why would this clay figure be deliberately placed on a water jar?"

"Why are you still asking me about this kind of question?"

"You say that, who else can I ask if I don't ask you? There are no other people in this archive room." Saying that, Tan Wenbin deliberately looked around two circles and called out softly, "Hey, is there anyone else?"

The paper of the file in front of him suddenly blew up.

Tan Wenbin's eyes widened immediately. The archive room door was closed, and the only window was a small, completely sealed glass skylight in the corner of the wall. Where did the wind come from?

After entering this line of work, he was extremely sensitive to this kind of phenomenon where wind arose without cause.

Yuanzi Ge had said that some evil things would express their sense of existence through common daily forms.

Could it be, there really were evil things here?

Mom, what evil things dare to parasitize in the police bureau?

Tan Wenbin tried to convince himself that he was being too sensitive.

Tan Yunlong detected his son's abnormality and asked: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing. I didn't sleep well last night, I'm a bit distracted from being sleepy. Dad, what did you just say?"

Tan Yunlong pointed at that photo again: "This kind of thing, shouldn't you be more professional than me?"

"Dad, this is like sending you to do physical evidence technical analysis and forensic dissection. We're all police, don't tell me you can't?"

"Then what about Xiao Yuan?"

"My Xiao Yuan Ge is definitely not the same."

"Then how can you not be like Xiao Yuan..."

"Dad, stop, I feel that if this topic continues, it will easily harm our deep father-son relationship."

To change the subject, Tan Wenbin looked at that photo again: "Dad, this clay figure is Bai Wuchang?"

"No, according to the oral confession of the arrested criminal suspect, this is not Bai Wuchang, they call it 'Yu Po Po'."

"Is it female?"

"Yes, the criminal suspects knew they were doing something against heaven and goodness, and worried that they would be thrown into the oil pot after death, so they offered this 'Yu Po Po' in advance, hoping that when that day came, she could pretend to be a ghost messenger and lead them away, avoiding punishment.

However, not many of these offerings exist, it's not widespread, only among a small number of criminal elements. Currently, we are investigating based on the sales orders provided by the sculptor master as clues."

"What crime did they commit?"

"Child trafficking."

......

In the study, today standing in front of the painting table painting was not the girl, but the teenager.

In terms of painting, Teacher Li Zhuiyuan inherited from A Li.

But just like his chess skills, relying on his good brain, he quickly learned to be excellent. But once he reached this level, he became lazy to continue researching and improving.

Even the smartest person couldn't learn everything, and moreover, to be familiar with and understand things, after reaching a certain level, to go further, one had to spend more time and energy. In short... it was not worth it.

Anyway, for the teenager, learning to play chess and paint was just to enrich the games between him and the girl, not to compete with the girl for victory or defeat.

A Li stood by, helping him mix colors and change brushes.

No need for reminders, the whole process was silent, yet flowing with tacit understanding.

Finally, Li Zhuiyuan finished painting.

The person in the painting was wearing a white robe, a high hat, standing on stilts, and holding a lantern in each hand.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't paint the words on the lanterns because he knew that wasn't its original image, that thing was written deliberately by that thing to stimulate A Li for the curse.

On the original version of the lantern, there should be other words.

Because he painted too quickly, he still had to air dry the painting before rolling it up and taking it away.

The teenager didn't know who was in the painting, and moreover, he couldn't take the initiative to ask Willow Grandma, this would make Willow Grandma stained with karma.

However, Li Zhuiyuan had a feeling in the dark.

Before I didn't know who you were, that didn't matter, but when I really painted your image... the river water will push you in front of me.

Last night he was still thinking about how to turn passive into active, today, this thing took the initiative to come to his doorstep.

Li Zhuiyuan liked this kind of mysterious feeling, and at the same time, he liked the process of peeling away this mysterious feeling even more.

In his view, walking Jiang could be seen as an exam.

Most examinees before entering the exam room are nervous and apprehensive, and only when the exam paper with the fragrance of ink is sent into their hands, do they start to respond according to the knowledge reserve they have studied previously.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't like this kind of examinee mentality. He liked to understand the person who set the questions, treating every exam as a dialogue with the question setter, guessing their thoughts while conveniently commenting on them.

Must I wait for you to set the questions for me?

Come, you first take a look, the question I set for myself, are you satisfied?

Li Zhuiyuan took several steps back and sat down on the edge of the bed.

A Li used a silk handkerchief to carefully wrap the brush that the teenager had just used.

She had left all her many collection boxes in the basement of that building. Anyway, it was nearby, and she could go back to look at them at any time, she just didn't move them over.

However, this also counted as a kind of 'clearing out the collection', and the girl's enthusiasm and joy for collecting were therefore amplified.

Willow Yumei specially made two large collection boxes for A Li on the third floor, which was also the room where the entry and walking Jiang ceremony was held yesterday, and placed them under the offering table.

The original intention was to make it convenient for A Li to add things to the collection boxes when she went to get the ancestral tablet.

But the verbal explanation was that anyway, A Li had the habit of appreciating her collection before going to bed, so it was also just providing an opportunity for everyone to see 'A Li'.

After packing the brushes, A Li looked at the painting scroll on the table.

Obviously, compared to the brushes, she wanted to collect this more.

"A Li, I want to take this away, I have a use for it." Li Zhuiyuan saw through the girl's thoughts and explained in advance.

A Li nodded, but her fingertips still lightly touched the scroll.

"After I'm finished using it, I'll bring this painting back to you and give it to you." Saying that, Li Zhuiyuan looked at the painting table, "Aren't those painters all like to stamp their collections? A Li, you can also carve one for yourself."

The teenager had seen A Li's craftsmanship, she could even easily carve array patterns, carving a stamp was even simpler.

This was also to find something for the girl to do. Before, when A Li was carving patterns for herself on the wooden flower rolls, Li Zhuiyuan would feel heartache for her effort, always feeling that a little girl doing these things was too tedious and too tired.

But since yesterday, knowing that A Li had been surrounded by those things all along, he realized that perhaps for the girl herself, having something on hand that she could concentrate on and clear her mind was on the contrary a kind of relaxation and happiness.

A Li sat down, spread out a piece of paper, picked up a pen, and began to design the seal.

The tip of the pen danced lively and quickly on the paper, showing her inner state.

Li Zhuiyuan opened the curtains, letting the sunlight penetrate in and bask in it.

In the courtyard outside the window, Runsheng began his practice today.

His movements were faster and much more fluent than yesterday, it seemed he was already adapting.

Seemingly detecting the gaze, Runsheng still smiled in the direction of the teenager while practicing his fist.

Then, Runsheng fiercely slapped the back of his own head with his right hand, and the slowed movement accelerated again.

Now Runsheng no longer needed Uncle Qin to kick stones to wake himself up, he could complete his own self-whip.

In the corner of the courtyard, Uncle Qin was squatting there, holding a stone in his left hand and a plaster knife in his right, re-repairing the goose egg stone road that he had kicked yesterday.

"Breakfast is ready."

Aunt Liu's voice was obviously hoarse.

Li Zhuiyuan rolled up the painting and then came to the dining table with A Li.

Yinmeng was already sitting at the dining table, her head lowered, not moving.

"Yinmeng?" Li Zhuiyuan tried calling her name.

Yinmeng lifted her head: "Xiao Yuan Ge."

Her eyes were all black, and when her eyeballs moved, only a little translucent was visible.

"Your eyes?"

"It's alright, I can see again after the noon detox."

"Oh." Li Zhuiyuan nodded and didn't say anything else.

When Willow Yumei walked downstairs and sat down at the dining table, she asked: "Where's Zhuangzhuang?"

"Grandma, Zhuangzhuang had something early this morning."

"Even if he's busy, he still has to come here every day."

"Grandma, rest assured, I'll remind him."

Mainly, everyone at home had work to do. If Zhuangzhuang didn't come, she, Willow Yumei, would appear idle, but she happened to not know how to cook.

"Xiao Yuan, those books you wanted will be sent tomorrow, there are quite a lot, just put them all in the basement of that building. You can go and get them yourself when you want to read them."

"Grandma, I'll first concentrate on selecting a batch that I feel is useful and then move them to the shop basement."

This way, he could cut down on the karma even more.

"Alright, as you wish." Willow Yumei pushed the soup bowl in front of her to the teenager, "The military training is ending soon, right? You should also formally attend classes, you'll be busy then, remember to supplement your body."

This kind of dialogue seemed to suddenly return to the riddle-guessing conversations at Great Grandpa's house.

"Rest assured, Grandma, I've previewed my homework, and for some knowledge points I don't understand, I'll go and ask the teachers in advance."

Willow Yumei smiled kindly.

But in her heart, she thought: How can I not understand the metaphor this child is using?

After breakfast, Li Zhuiyuan left here and returned to the dorm.

When he went to wash his hands at the washbasin, he met Lin Shuyou who was washing clothes. He was washing stage costumes, and they were new ones.

Lin Shuyou reacted very strongly when he saw Li Zhuiyuan, his whole body shrinking back.

This was not fake.

In fact, at that time, when he and Tan Wenbin were bathing together at the washbasin, his state and actions of shouting 'big brother' were all natural.

Binbin had told him that this guy might have a split personality.

"Hello." Li Zhuiyuan greeted him.

"Hello... Li Zhui... Xiao Yuan Big Brother."

Since he was beaten into the medical room, Lin Shuyou had basically been recuperating in the dorm on weekdays, and he hadn't really met Li Zhuiyuan again.

He was not open-faced now... no, even when he was open-faced, facing the teenager in front of him, he seemed to be struggling to breathe.

"Lin Shuyou, classmate."

"Here!"

Suddenly being called by his full name made Lin Shuyou so startled that he showed off the whole set of military training movements.

"I just divined a hexagram, and from the hexagram image, it seems that there might be evil things causing trouble recently, you should pay more attention."

"Yes, I know."

"If you sense anything wrong, please tell me in time. Although we have had some friction, our common goal of guarding the righteous path is consistent.

In short, don't be embarrassed at all, if you need help, just speak up directly."

"Thank you." Lin Shuyou nodded vigorously again, this time his eye sockets were a little red.

This kind of turning hostility into friendship play is easiest to move people, especially for him who was on the 'hostility' side, it could still supplement his sense of defeat.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Lin Shuyou's reaction and didn't feel surprised. No wonder he could be fooled by Binbin into shouting 'big brother', this guy was really easy to coax when he wasn't open-faced.

The main reason was considering that Runsheng and Yinmeng were both undergoing special training now, and Li Zhuiyuan himself added fuel to the fire today.

The teenager wasn't sure when this fire would burn out, in case Runsheng and Yinmeng were still not finished with their special training at that time, he wouldn't have anyone available under his hand.

He believed that Binbin would stand in front of him without hesitation, but Binbin was a little fragile.

Lin Shuyou was just suitable.

Moreover, this guy belonged to the category of a tool person, if he broke, Li Zhuiyuan wouldn't feel heartache.

Li Zhuiyuan shook his hand and walked out, and Lin Shuyou plucked up the courage to say:

"Yuan Ge."

"Huh?"

"If you have anything, please also notify me. Exorcising evil and guarding the path is our responsibility."

That's the sentence I was waiting for.

"You're thinking too much, I don't need you."

After leaving this sentence, Li Zhuiyuan walked back to his dorm.

At the washbasin, Lin Shuyou was both shy and annoyed, and also felt that the other person was right. His emotions were too rich for a while, causing his forehead to sweat.

Li Zhuiyuan sat down at his desk and placed the painting scroll to one side.

Then, he opened his notebook, picked up his fountain pen, recalling the content of the in his mind while starting to seek and design a method to stimulate potential during spirit possession.

For example, enabling Lin Shuyou to forcibly invite down an official general that he couldn't invite down originally.

He said he didn't need him, but in fact, he was already planning how to use him to death.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't feel there was anything wrong with him. He now vaguely felt a bit more human skin, but it was only limited to those few people within his circle.

As for others, he was still indifferent.

Furthermore, wasn't it because there were many ancient book secret methods in his mind that the naive young man on the playground that night didn't get messed up and die by inviting down the White Crane Boy?

He not only didn't kill him, even the medical fees were paid by Binbin for him.

On the medical room bed, he opened his vertical pupils and scanned chaotically. If Binbin hadn't closed them for him, he would have died at the hands of the corpse demon at that time.

So, calculated, he owed him two lives.

Then he would just take a little loss, he only needed him to return one life, that was enough.

This was very reasonable.

Li Zhuiyuan suddenly stopped writing. Just now, wasn't his own thinking producing some resonance with the 'question setter'?

At this moment, the dorm door was pushed open.

"Xiao Yuan Ge, I'm back."

"So fast?"

"Mainly, my dad's service attitude is good."

Tan Wenbin handed the case files and materials to Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan took them, opened the case file, saw Tang Qiuying's ID photo, and immediately tapped it.

Just her.

Tan Wenbin saw the situation, walked to the window sill, and picked up the high heels that he watered every day:

"High heels, so your name is Tang Qiuying.

Hello Senior Sister, no, hello Senior Aunt."

Immediately, Tan Wenbin turned his head to look at Li Zhuiyuan and asked: "Xiao Yuan Ge, but she's missing, what do we do?"

"Knowing her name is much easier to handle, and even more so, the case file also records her date of birth, I can find her corpse."

"Xiao Yuan Ge, really, it's a shame you're not a detective."

"Very few can turn into evil things after death."

Li Zhuiyuan opened the separate file bag for the Qiu Minmin case and then began to quickly flip through the pages.

Tan Wenbin heard this 'swish swish' sound and couldn't help but say: "Envy."

Li Zhuiyuan continued to flip through the pages as he spoke: "Compared to Runsheng and Yinmeng now, I'm quite relaxed."

"Because Xiao Yuan Ge, you are too smart, the price they are paying now is just the price of catching up with a genius."

Tan Wenbin leaned against the desk, his task for today was completed, and his heart fell into some confusion and loss again.

If he could, he would also be willing to grit his teeth and nail coffin nails for himself or test poisons with his body.

But the problem was, he knew that doing so would just directly lead to his own demise.

"Sigh..."

The biggest sorrow of being useless is, you want to go and learn from others and fight for your life, but you find that you don't even have the qualification to fight.

Tan Wenbin was feeling melancholic while casually picking up the painting scroll on the desk next to him.

People, well, they always have to play some role, for example, praising my Yuanzi Ge's new work.

But when this painting scroll was unfolded, Tan Wenbin was stunned.

"Xiao Yuan Ge, did you paint Yu Po Po?"

Li Zhuiyuan immediately put down the file in his hand, turned his head to look at Tan Wenbin, and asked very seriously:

"Binbin Ge, you know?"

"It's a coincidence, isn't it? I just saw this photo in the archive room this morning, and it's simply identical to what Xiao Yuan Ge you painted, the only difference is that her two lanterns have words, and the one Xiao Yuan Ge you painted doesn't."

Li Zhuiyuan immediately put down the file in his hand, leaned back in his chair, lifted his head, and a smile appeared on his face.

"Xiao Yuan Ge, you... what's wrong?"

In Tan Wenbin's impression, Yuanzi Ge rarely made sudden emotional movements.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the dorm ceiling and murmured:

"Indeed, this can be played like this.

Come on,

From now on,

I'll call out names one by one!"

---

We're about to be overtaken in the first position. Those who still have tickets can vote them out and help us at least keep the first name today. Thank you everyone.

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