Parasitismus-Eve - Kapitel 17
She slowly grasped Ouyang's thin hand and gently pushed it away from her face.
"It hurts," she said with a laugh.
Understanding what has happened can guide our future path. But if we are walking in the dark, the faint light of streetlights only makes the darkness ahead seem more daunting. Those who are already on the road have nowhere to escape.
Eight ominous signs
Sun Jing threw two large, full garbage bags into the trash can in the alley.
"Are you moving?" Old Wang from the tailor shop next door asked him.
"Just tidying up the house," Sun Jing smiled at him.
The amount of junk he cleared out in the past two days was enough to fill an entire large trash can. This was the first time in many years that he had seriously cleaned out his house; every door, every drawer, every box was turned upside down.
He will soon have access to the wizard's skull, and perhaps he will feel the mysterious power within it, just as Sven Hedin did; or perhaps he will find nothing at all. Sun Jing's current interest lies entirely in what happened surrounding the skull during those thirty-five years from 1934 to 1969. His original concerns, such as how to smuggle it out of the country and how many millions of euros it could fetch at auction, have been forgotten.
Xu Xu devoted all his energy to preparing for Ouyang Wenlan's solo exhibition of oracle bones. His birthday was next month, and before that, he had to deal with various museums to borrow exhibits. Time was very tight, and Xu Xu was as busy as a spinning top being constantly whipped. Sun Jing couldn't be involved too much in this regard, so he was much more relaxed than his partner. He looked forward to seeing the skull with his own eyes, but he didn't want to spend all his time waiting.
Could there be any clues left by his great-grandfather in this old house he lives in? Like the notebook Wilton left for his descendants? With these thoughts in mind, Sun Jing began a massive and thorough cleaning project.
Over the past two days, he had discovered many things hidden deep in his memory, things he had almost forgotten. For example, a rattle drum, an iron frog, several rolls of grain coupons, a box of badges of leaders of various materials, and two hemp ropes twisted together—a homemade jump rope. There were also things he had never seen before, like love letters—written by his father to his mother and by his grandfather to his grandmother, all bound together; a rusted music box; and two broken tortoise shells wrapped in newspaper at the bottom of a box. Sun Jing recognized them; he seemed to have seen them before in *Iron Cloud's Hidden Tortoise Shells*②, but he didn't know when they had fallen into the hands of his father, grandfather, or great-grandfather.
One by one, old objects appeared before his eyes, and the shadows of the eras they represented began to emerge faintly in this old house. Looking at these things, one couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia, but this was not the gain Sun Jing desired most.
——————————
① Taiwu reigned for seventy-five years. The two Shang kings before him, Yongji and Xiaojia, reigned for twelve years and thirty-six years respectively. Yongji and Xiaojia were both Taiwu's elder brothers.
② *Tieyun Canggui* is the first book to record oracle bones. In 1903, Liu E selected 1,058 pieces from his collection of more than 5,000 oracle bones and compiled them into the six-volume *Tieyun Canggui*. Liu E, courtesy name Tieyun, was also the author of *The Travels of Lao Can*. After his death in 1909, most of his collection of oracle bones were acquired and scattered in various places.
He clapped his hands lightly after throwing away the trash. He was almost done tidying up. Maybe he should go through the oldest book in his study; perhaps he'd remember something on one of its pages.
Of course, what he wanted might be hidden in a room that no longer belonged to his family, might have been casually thrown away by a neighbor years ago, or perhaps his great-grandfather strictly adhered to the vow he made to his ancestors and left nothing behind.
Back downstairs at his apartment building, Sun Jing opened his mailbox. He removed the satellite installation advertisement that had been slipped in; underneath was a letter.
A letter that wasn't addressed to him; it was unsigned.
The envelope was addressed to "Mr. Sun Jing, for Ms. Xu Yin." The words were printed on a small white slip and then pasted on.
Xu Yin is the same as Xu Xu. This is the pseudonym she used to publicly announce during the Wizard Skull Project.
Sun Jing squeezed the envelope. It was very thin; there probably wasn't anything inside besides the letter. Just as he was about to open it, his phone rang.
"Where are you?" Xu Xu asked impatiently on the phone.
Sun Jing smiled, hung up the phone, and went upstairs.
“I’m here.” He walked to the middle of the first floor and looked up at Xu Xu, who was standing in front of his door on the second floor.
Although the specific tasks are being carried out gradually, Sun Jing needs to understand and grasp the progress of the entire plan, which cannot be clearly explained over the phone. Regular face-to-face communication is necessary, just like holding a work meeting.
"Let's just find somewhere nearby to eat. I'm exhausted and starving, I have no energy left," Xu Xu said, leaning against the wall listlessly.
“Okay, I’ll change my coat.” Sun Jing took out his key to open the door, looked at Xu Xu, and said, “You look like a tired little dog, you’re practically sticking your tongue out.”
Xu Xu immediately stuck out half of her tongue, pressing her body against the wall like a cartoon character who had been knocked into the wall. Noticing Sun Jing's gaze, she quickly retracted her tongue.
“The walls in this corridor are just like bronze artifacts,” Sun Jing said, looking at Xu Xu’s design with great interest instead of immediately entering the room.
"What?" Xu Xu didn't understand.
"I mean, it's hard to imagine what its original color was."
"Ah!" Xu Xu exclaimed, leaping forward. Sun Jing reached out and caught her. He looked into Xu Xu's eyes, then turned his head to kiss her.
"You bastard." Xu Xu pushed Sun Jing's chest with her hand and said through gritted teeth, "I told you last time that you didn't have a chance."
“You liar,” Sun Jing said, putting his arm around her waist.
"I'm exhausted and starving, I have no strength left." After muttering these words, Xu Xu's stomach growled loudly. It was louder than her voice, and even Sun Jing's stomach felt the vibration.
"Who told you to love being on top so much? Let's go out for dinner?" Sun Jing said, reaching out to pat Xu Xu's butt.
She slowly rolled off Sun Jing and lay down beside him, pulling a corner of the blanket over her stomach, saying, "I'll lie down for a while."
Listening to the soft breathing beside her ear, Sun Jing initially thought she was probably asleep. But a moment later, he heard her say in a self-talking tone, "If Ouyang Wenlan knew that I've been lying to him all along, wouldn't he be very sad?"
After a pause, she added, "He'll find out eventually."
“Are you confessing? Okay, you can treat me like a priest,” Sun Jing said.
"I always feel very satisfied when I've fooled people completely, but sometimes I think it's quite cruel when they find out that it's all not true."
"You're starting to feel guilty."
“Occasionally,” he said slowly after a few breaths.
"Every true con artist will face this problem sooner or later. See clearly what the world is like, see clearly what you are doing, and then solve it."
"How do we solve this?" Xu Xu asked.
"Either quit or keep doing it."
"It sounds no different from being unsolvable."
"So the important thing is what comes first. Most people are blind all their lives, but what we do is figure out people's hearts. Talented people will see this key point very early on."
Tell me what you have to say.
“The world is different in everyone’s eyes,” Sun Jing said.
But after a while, he spoke again: "If you feel that you have hurt someone, then you will feel guilty."
Isn't that so?
"When food factory workers put a bunch of additives into food, construction workers build houses with substandard cement and iron pipes, animal husbandry workers feed fish and pigs with chemical feed, and steel mill and printing plant workers work hard to discharge wastewater and exhaust gas into rivers or the sky, do they feel that they are harming others?"
"But that's not always the case."
"Honking can cause psychological stress, and accumulated stress can lead to trauma; people who run red lights have many followers, and one of the unlucky ones may one day die in a traffic accident caused by it; shouting when you see a thief stealing might get the victim stabbed. Any action can cause harm, and what I want to say is that harm is the norm. It is always happening."
He slowly pondered Sun Jing's words and gave a faint reply.
“People often can’t see themselves clearly. In fact, if we can see our own desires clearly, we can see ourselves clearly. We make others pay the price, so that they will have a deeper understanding of their own desires.” Sun Jing smiled gently. “This is an equal exchange. It’s hard to say which is more important, spiritual wealth or material wealth.”
“Of course, as far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t target those who haven’t matured enough to understand their own desires,” Sun Jing added.
“That’s because they don’t have enough profit,” Xu Xu said. “But I feel like there’s something else you haven’t mentioned.”
“Fate.” Sun Jing smiled silently. “It’s quite interesting to make others feel the tricks of fate. In a way, I’ve participated in the creation of their fate.”
"But taking control of your own destiny is the most important thing, isn't it?"
“Your expectations are quite high.” Sun Jing reached for the letter on the bedside table and handed it to Xu Xu. “Here’s a letter for you.”
He slowly tore open the envelope, lay down and read the letter, then handed it to Sun Jing.
“It’s quite interesting,” she said.
Sun Jing skimmed through the letter; it was an anonymous whistleblower letter, fiercely attacking Wen Zhenhe. The accusations included poor management skills, repeated sexual harassment of female interns, and embezzlement of office funds.
To the writer's surprise, his efforts to criticize Wen Zhenhe failed to change Wen Zhenhe's image in Xu Xu's mind, because it was already bad enough.
"Why does this fool hold such a grudge against Old Man Wen?" Xu Xu asked.
The hesitant, pretentious anonymous letter writer seemed utterly ridiculous to Xu Xu. The only person who knew so much about Wen Zhenhe's situation, and who knew to ruin Wen Zhenhe's image through Xu Xu so he wouldn't become the so-called curator of the private museum, was none other than Wen Zhenhe's only subordinate, Xiao Chen.
“I noticed his expression was off that day, so I went to find out more about it,” Sun Jing said.
Squeak. My stomach rumbled again.
She seemed to have regained her strength, jumped up and stood on the bed, sticking out one foot and fiddling between Sun Jing's legs, "Get up, get up, let's go out for dinner."
Sun Jing grabbed her ankle and pulled her back down onto the bed with a gasp.
The next day was Saturday, and everyone at the museum was off work, which made things a bit quieter for Xu Xu as well. But there were still venue rentals to finalize and guests for the opening ceremony to invite one by one, so things weren't too hectic. I'd been busy the past few days and hadn't been able to take care of Ouyang Wenlan as much, so I had to make time to visit the elderly man on my days off. He wasn't ready to retire yet, so I had to keep him happy.
After spending two hours with Ouyang Wenlan, Xuxu immediately called Sun Jing to share the good news as soon as she left.
“Ouyang Wenlan has contacted the Dongbo Museum himself, and the curator has agreed to sign a loan agreement and take out insurance. The wizard skull can be delivered as early as next week. His influence is really useful, which will give you more time.”
“There might be even more available.” Sun Jing gave an address and asked Xu Xu how long it would take to arrive.
This is in Wujiaochang, a place very close to Fudan University. Twenty years ago, it was extremely remote, but now the housing prices are not much lower than in the city center.
An hour later, he slowly crawled out of the taxi.
Sun Jing was smoking by the roadside when he saw Xu Xu, so he put out his cigarette and threw it into the trash can.
"Do you think Chen Jiongming hates Wen Zhenhe so much?" Sun Jing asked.
"Little Chen? His girlfriend got stolen by Old Man Wen?"
"His year-end bonus was all gone because he brought outsiders into the cultural relics warehouse without permission."
"An outsider?" Xu Xu blinked, then looked surprised. "Han Shang?"
"It was Han Shang, two days before she died. Han Shang brought a digital video camera and filmed the wizard's skull thoroughly."
"clever."
“Wen Zhenhe immediately reported it when she found out. The day we went to see Wen Zhenhe for the second time, Chen Jiongming had just received a punishment notice that his year-end bonus would be withheld.”
"No wonder, poor thing. You're trying to get your hands on the video Han Shang took? Did you find out where his parents live? They live around here?"
"You're the one who got it. A man going to his parents' house to ask for his belongings... Haha, if you went, people wouldn't suspect anything."
"What do you want?"
Sun Jing smiled at her and said, "What do you think?"
After thinking for a moment, he said, "To take, one must first give."
"Your basic skills are good." Sun Jing took out a brand new, unopened Canon digital camera from his bag and handed it to Xu Xu. "Just bought it, it's a genuine Hong Kong product."
Sun Jing pointed out the building where the Han family lived, and then sat on a clean bench in the community garden to wait for her return. He didn't discuss with Xu Xu in detail how to give before taking; there was no need. It was a simple trick. For example, he could say he only learned of his best friend's death after returning from a business trip to Hong Kong, and that the digital camera Han Shang had asked him to bring back from Hong Kong was now in Han Shang's parents' possession. Xu Xu and Han Shang were about the same age, so who would doubt her identity if he said that? The video recording was also easy to handle. He could say that the camera contained a video of a gathering, which he wanted to copy as a tribute to the deceased. It would be best if he could borrow the camera, and the copy should be made on the spot at the Han family's house. Making an extra copy of the wizard's skull video would also be easy to explain. As for why the gathering video couldn't be found, it must have been deleted, and he could only express his deepest regret.
With Xu Xu's skills, he can definitely do a better job than he imagines.
After sitting for more than half an hour, he slowly returned, with a very strange expression on his face.
"So early? Is it not going well?" Sun Jing asked curiously.
“His father and mother are both here. They said Han Shang has already returned the apartment he rented, and all his belongings have been packed up.” Xu Xu's brows furrowed even more as she spoke. “But we didn't see the camera.”
"What!" Sun Jing was taken aback.