Oracle bone fragments

Chapter 19

This was the first time Sun Jing and Xu Xu had truly looked at Chen Jiongming.

He was slightly overweight with a square face, but didn't come across as masculine. He had sparse eyebrows, small eyes, and a shifty gaze.

Those who can orchestrate murders all possess a certain framework, but Chen Jiongming's spirit and energy don't seem to fit that description at all.

Seeing the two of them staring at him like that, Chen Jiongming probably remembered the letter he had written, and he suddenly became uneasy. He smiled, took out his phone, and called Wen Zhenhe to tell him that Xu and Sun had boarded the car and were about to depart.

Sun Jing was thinking about how to strike up a conversation when she noticed his phone was the latest Nokia N95-8GB. A thought struck her, and she asked, "That phone is quite nice. It seems to have only been on the market for a short time, right?"

Chen Jiongming smiled wryly: "I just lost my phone. I was thinking of using up some of my year-end bonus in advance to buy this one, hehe." The year-end bonus was a sore point for him, but it wasn't convenient to talk about it now.

When he heard that he had just lost his old phone, Sun Jing began to understand. But she needed to ask more questions and figured out how to bring it up.

“I also lost my phone last month, on the day of Cold Dew,” Xu Xu said.

"Cold Dew?" Chen Jiongming was taken aback. "What a coincidence. I also lost my phone that day."

This year's Cold Dew falls on October 9th in the Gregorian calendar, and it was on this day that Han Shang received a text message from Chen Jiongming's mobile phone.

“Thieves are becoming increasingly rampant these days. Even if you catch them, there’s nothing you can do. At most, they’ll be locked up for a few days and then released again,” Sun Jing said.

"I wasn't sure if it was stolen. When I got home, it was gone. My clothes and bag weren't torn, so I thought I'd left it at work. I've been having such bad luck lately."

Sun Jing and Xu Xu exchanged glances. Chen Jiongming's suspicion had been basically eliminated, but Wen Zhenhe, who was in the same office, was now under increasing suspicion.

The Dongbo Museum wasn't far from the Ouyang family home, and they arrived quickly. This time, however, Ouyang Wenlan opened the door himself. It seemed he was filled with anticipation for this national treasure that had never truly belonged to him, or perhaps he was eagerly awaiting the longevity-praying ritual that would use the wizard's skull as a key artifact. Old people are often indifferent to fame and fortune, but few are fearless in the face of death; besides, Ouyang Wenlan wasn't exactly indifferent to fame either.

With a broad smile, Ouyang Wenlan led everyone to the living room on the first floor. The sallow-faced man from the security company gently placed the safe on the coffee table—a small ceremony, after all. Once Chen Jiongming opened the safe and handed the wizard's skull to Ouyang Wenlan, the mission would be accomplished.

After entering the two sets of eight-digit passwords, I turned the key half a turn in the lock, and with a soft "click," the lockbox door opened.

Everyone, including the security guard, stared at the same spot. Chen Jiongming carefully took the wizard's skull from the safe and presented it to Ouyang Wenlan.

Sun Jing subconsciously held his breath, staring at the grayish-white skull. The upper half of the skull was yellowish, slightly different in color from the lower half. This was because the lower half was a replacement; upon closer inspection, the fine joints were visible. It wasn't that a seamless finish was impossible, but rather that it was intentionally made this way, using specialized adhesive. The two parts could be separated without damaging the skull if needed.

The edges of the circular holes on the top of the skull are smooth, which was quite difficult to achieve at the time. Surrounding the mesh are the two famous undeciphered oracle bone inscriptions. In fact, whether these can even be considered oracle bone inscriptions is controversial. Many scholars believe that they should be special shamanistic symbols, distinct from the oracle bone script system, and Sun Jing also holds this view.

Ouyang Wenlan stared at the skull for a long time, then sighed before reaching out to take it.

Chen Jiongming immediately clapped his hands, and Bao Quan and Xu Xu also clapped along. Sun Jing's eyes were fixed on the skull, and he was even a beat slower than A Bao, who was standing to the side.

Chen Jiongming didn't know Ouyang Wenlan before, but after saying a few flattering words, he bid farewell to the security guards and left. Abao saw them out and didn't come back in, leaving only the old man and two young men in the main living room, admiring this most famous treasure in the world of oracle bones.

In Xu Xu's opinion, Sun Jing's enthusiasm for the wizard's skull was a bit excessive.

After obtaining Ouyang Wenlan's consent, he even picked up the skull and examined it from top to bottom and inside to outside. Keep in mind that Ouyang Wenlan hadn't seen a wizard's skull in person for many years, so Sun Jing's actions were somewhat overstepping his bounds.

However, Xu Xu could understand. If it weren't for this wizard's skull, Sun Jing, and his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, their lives would have been completely different. But she quickly realized her understanding might be flawed. She noticed a subtle change in Sun Jing's expression; what had he discovered?

As she thought this, Sun Jing glanced at her, a hint of surprise in his eyes. Sun Jing wasn't one to show her emotions, especially in this situation. By the standards of a good con artist, no matter how her mood fluctuated, she had to maintain a certain level of control over her facial expression, right?

Xu Xu suddenly realized that Sun Jing's behavior had been very strange ever since he saw the wizard's skull! Including his overbearing behavior, he shouldn't have done such a thing with his self-control.

Sun Jing glanced at Xu Xu only, then lowered his head and studied the skull for more than ten minutes before handing it back to Ouyang Wenlan.

Xu Xu looked at him and asked how they were colleagues, but Sun Jing had already recovered and remained calm, ignoring Xu Xu's question.

Ouyang Wenlan's feelings for the wizard's skull were complex and profound. She stroked the skull with her aged hand, sighing deeply. Xu Xu offered words of comfort and reassurance, her curiosity growing. Knowing full well that Sun Jing wouldn't tell her the truth under these circumstances, she still glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

Sun Jing shook his head slightly and then turned to go to the toilet.

Xu Xu gritted her teeth in anger, thinking of finding an excuse to leave early and get to the bottom of things, but that didn't seem quite right. If Ouyang Wenlan were happy to get the wizard's skull back, he might even invite her to stay for dinner.

Just then, the phone rang; it was a text message. He slowly took it out and saw it was from Sun Jing.

I opened the text message; it contained only two words.

But those two words made Xu Xu's expression freeze instantly.

Fortunately, Ouyang Wenlan had her head down and didn't notice anything unusual.

He slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again, and glanced at his phone screen once more.

"Fake!"

This wizard skull is fake!

In the restroom, Sun Jing sent the simple text message and then stood there stunned for a long while. The wizard's skull, which had been solemnly delivered from the Dongbo Museum's artifact warehouse and placed in a safe, was a fake. Judging from Ouyang Wenlan's expression, he didn't seem to notice anything amiss. Was it that he hadn't realized it yet, or had it always been a fake?

It's ridiculous that I went to all that trouble to make a fake one to switch it out with the real thing.

This sudden turn of events was even more bewildering than Wen Zhenhe's unexpected rejection last time. The moment Sun Jing realized it was a lie, she felt completely stunned.

As Sun Jing took a deep breath and prepared to leave the restroom, her phone received a text message.

He immediately regretted telling Xu Xu the truth now; she was too easily flustered.

But the text message wasn't sent gradually; it came from a completely unfamiliar number.

If you want to know the secrets of the wizard's skull, come alone tomorrow morning at eight o'clock.

The address left at the end is No. 14, Xiaojie Street.

Number 14 on the small street, if I remember correctly, is diagonally opposite the location where Han Shang died.

Number Fourteen on the small street—Sun Jing remembered a phone call Ouyang Wenlan had made to him the day before yesterday. Having seen the newspaper report about the slated demolition of the small street, Ouyang Wenlan finally revealed a secret he hadn't disclosed during their last conversation: shortly after the Meiqi Grand Theater was built, he saw Sun Yu on the street while going to see a play. He called out to him, but Sun Yu ignored him, quickly walking into a house with his head down. Ouyang Wenlan suspected that house was where the mysterious experimenters gathered. He couldn't remember exactly which house it was, but its approximate location was at the end of the small street.

Han Shang's death, the ghost that terrifies Xu Xu, the secret hideout of the mysterious experimenters, the invitation in the text message. These eerie threads all originate from the same seed.

Tomorrow, at number fourteen on the small street, he will see this seed.

What a strong smell of danger! Sun Jing smiled at her reflection in the mirror, turned around, opened the door, and walked out.

Danger is a sharp blade; don't go towards it. But with enough courage and skill, plus a bit of luck, you too can have a chance to grasp the handle and turn the blade around.

Nine Storms

At 6:50 a.m., Sun Jing opened her eyes, carefully moved out from between her hands and feet, and got out of bed.

The bathroom is outside the bedroom, so there's no need to worry about the sound of her washing up waking her up.

Sun Jing splashed cold water on her face, turned around to hang up the towel, but unexpectedly saw Xu Xu standing at the door.

“I’ll be there soon, wait for me,” she said.

"I'll go buy breakfast," Sun Jing said. "What would you like to eat?"

"Then I'll go shopping with you, and you can choose whatever you want to eat."

Sun Jing frowned, looked at Xu Xu for a while, and knowing he couldn't fool her, asked, "How did you guess?"

Xu Xu smiled and pointed to Sun Jing's right hand.

Sun Jing looked at the jade ring on his right hand, puzzled. He knew that Xu Xu had already noticed his habit of unconsciously turning the ring, so he had been very careful to keep his thumb from moving yesterday.

"I felt something was off. I couldn't sleep well last night, and when I woke up around 5 a.m., I saw you still turning your ring while you were asleep. You're definitely hiding something from me. Tell me, where are you planning to go after leaving me?"

“Didn’t Ouyang Wenlan ask you to help prepare for the longevity-praying witchcraft yesterday morning? You seemed quite interested,” Sun Jing asked.

"I overslept and forgot!" Xu Xu glared at Sun Jing. "I'll turn off my phone later."

“The agreement is that I will go alone.” Sun Jing looked at Xu Xu and grinned, saying, “Fortunately, you don’t seem to be very intimidating. The guy waiting for me probably won’t cower and dare not show his face.”

Saturday morning, there were far fewer people on the streets than usual. And there wasn't a single pedestrian on the side streets.

The houses at one end of the street had been completely demolished, turning it into a construction site where it was impossible to walk. The two went around to the other end, where several brick-and-mortar buildings, including number fourteen, had not yet been demolished, but the entrance to the street was blocked off, and two construction workers wearing hard hats were standing next to them smoking.

"I forgot to take some things out of the old house," Sun Jing said to the two of them before heading inside.

Which number is it?

"Number fourteen."

The tall man nodded, but the short man next to him reached out and stopped him.

“This is a construction site, and we have regulations that prohibit outsiders from entering. Otherwise, who will compensate us for the fines we get?”

"This is just asking for money. How come construction workers are like this now?" Sun Jing shook his head inwardly, took out a hundred yuan, and handed it over with a smile.

"Please do me a favor."

The short man shook his head: "There are two of us."

This infuriated Xu Xu, who pulled Sun Jing back, saying, "The things we left behind aren't even worth two hundred. Let's go, we won't take them."

The short man shrugged, surprisingly not knowing when to stop as expected.

Of course, the two couldn't just leave like that, so Sun Jing had to smooth things over by taking out two hundred yuan for each of them, and only then were they allowed to pass.

"That money-grubbing bastard," Xu Xu muttered under his breath.

"This is it." Sun Jing glanced at the doorplate, then looked back across the street. The white circle in the shape of a human figure on the ground was long gone, and most of the flowerpots that had been placed on the Bei family's balcony had been taken away, leaving only a few scattered pots with withered flowers and plants inside.

Xu Xu's expression was a little off. Sun Jing grasped her hand, which was extremely cold.

"What's wrong?"

Xu Xu shook his head. "It's nothing, let's go in."

Sun Jing moved his fingers and touched her pulse point, discovering that her heart was beating very fast.

Xu Xu shook off Sun Jing's hand and pushed the door open. The door wasn't locked and opened slowly and almost silently.

This is an old apartment building with two units per floor. I tried flipping the switch at the entrance a few times, but it didn't work. It looks like the power has been cut off.

Sun Jing rubbed his fingers together and leaned closer to examine the switch. This type of black bakelite switch, which flips up and down, was common in the first half of the last century and is considered extremely old today. His family initially used one of these, but it broke and they replaced it with a newer model. The dust accumulated in the gaps of the switch hole was thick and firmly embedded; it couldn't have settled in a short time. He glanced around again but saw no other switches.

Could this house have been uninhabited for years? Sun Jing wondered, then slammed the door shut, plunging the room into darkness. The doors of the two apartments on either side were ajar, letting in sparse light that illuminated the winding staircase ahead.

"The doors are all open, that's so convenient. Left or right?" Sun Jing asked.

"Left...side." Xu Xu's voice was low, hoarse, and dry, reminding Sun Jing of that night at the mass grave.

The left side? Did she choose it randomly, or did she know something?

The floor inside the door was higher than the floor outside, and it was covered with wooden flooring, unlike the cement flooring outside.

Upon entering, there's a corridor, typical of older apartments. The rooms are located on both sides of the corridor. The two rooms closest to the main entrance are the kitchen and toilet; the kitchen is on the left, facing the street, and the toilet is on the right.

Just by looking up and seeing the cobwebs hanging around the ceiling, Sun Jing knew his judgment was correct. This house had probably been uninhabited for at least ten years; even rubbing your hand against the wall left a trail of dust.

Houses are most prone to decay when uninhabited. The floorboards were rotten, and the sound of walking on them made it seem like they might collapse at any moment. This was entirely possible; there's usually a 30 to 50 centimeter moisture-proof space beneath the floorboards, and you might sink up to half your leg in the next step. Sun Jing stomped on the floorboards hard; it felt like no one had lived there for more than ten years, maybe twenty? Or even longer.

Strangely, there wasn't much dust on the floor. Logically, this should be the last place where dust accumulates, with footprints everywhere.

"Did someone sweep this place recently?" Sun Jing wondered, glancing down at the floor.

What is this?