Chapter 68 Are you human?
Chen Hui glanced over there a few times, stopped the carriage, and said to A Chan, "You wait here, I'll go take a look."
Achan nodded and watched Chen Hui walk towards that person. But just as she walked over, that person suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground.
Achan was startled and quickly jumped out of the car. When she got closer, she immediately saw Song Yan lying on the ground, his face pale and his eyes closed.
"Young Master Song, Young Master Song?" Achan squatted down beside Song Yan and called him twice, but there was no response.
"Let's take him to the clinic first," Chen Hui said from the side.
“Okay.” Achan nodded and tried to help Song Yan up, but Chen Hui stopped her with her hand.
She grabbed Song Yan by one arm, pulled his upper body up, bent down and with a little effort hoisted him onto her shoulder.
The carriage was already quite small because of the large tiger skin inside. After putting Song Yan inside, A Chan sat outside and chatted with Chen Hui.
"I don't know what's wrong with Young Master Song. He seems to be getting weaker and weaker the last two times I've seen him," Achan said.
"Perhaps he has a sudden illness?" Chen Hui glanced back and said, "I remember Boss Xu said he lived in Anpingfang. Why is he suddenly here today?"
This place is quite far from Anpingfang; a round trip would probably take most of the day.
"Who knows? Maybe a wealthy relative is here and has come to visit?" After saying that, Achan suddenly glanced in the direction of the Duke of Song's mansion. "Speaking of which, Young Master Song also has the surname Song. Could he be a relative of the Duke of Song?"
The carriage soon arrived at a clinic, and the two men's conversation came to an end.
Achan got off the carriage first and called the doctor out.
When the doctor in the clinic heard that a patient had fallen unconscious, he rushed out. Before he even left the clinic, he saw a woman carrying the patient back in.
For a moment, he didn't know whether to criticize the other party for being so rude to the patient or to be shocked by the other party's strength.
When Chen Hui carried the person in, the doctor had no time to think about anything else and hurriedly said, "Quickly put him on the bed, let me take a look first."
After Song Yan was placed on the wooden bed, A Chan and Chen Hui stood aside watching the doctor take his pulse. After a while, the doctor seemed a little puzzled and took his pulse with the other hand.
"There's nothing wrong with him," the doctor muttered to himself.
"Doctor, what's wrong with him?" Achan noticed the doctor's strange expression and assumed he had encountered a difficult case, so she couldn't help but ask.
The doctor stood up and said to them, "This young master is not ill."
"But he suddenly fainted while walking."
The doctor thought for a moment and said, "He may be naturally weak. I just took his pulse and his body is severely deficient. If he wants to be like an ordinary person, he needs to take tonics to nourish him year-round."
"But doctor, he wasn't this weak a few days ago."
"This..." The doctor opened his mouth, "Perhaps something unexpected happened that upset this young master."
The doctor's diagnosis didn't sound very convincing; to put it simply, he seemed like a quack. Achan and Chen Hui discussed it briefly and decided to try another clinic.
After declining the doctor's recommended tonic and paying a consultation fee of ten coins, Chen Hui carried the person back to the cart.
Despite being tossed and turned like this, Song Yan still showed no signs of waking up.
Achan returned to the carriage, turned around and lifted the curtain. Song Yan lay curled up inside the carriage with his head facing outwards.
After staring at him for a while, Achan reached out and pried open Song Yan's eyelids. She felt that Song Yan's sudden weakness was not normal.
As soon as she pried open his eyelids, Achan gasped.
Chen Hui noticed that A Chan's expression was strange, and followed her gaze. She immediately saw Song Yan's eyes, which should have been clear black and white, but were now completely black.
Ah Chan stared at those dark eyes for a while, feeling that they looked like they were possessed by a ghost. But ghosts possess people to cause trouble, so why would they just faint and not wake up?
"What's going on? Is he not human?" Chen Hui's face showed a hint of astonishment, rarely being so surprised.
"Probably not." Achan touched his neck; his body temperature and pulse were still there. She then turned to Chen Hui and asked, "Can you sense any yin energy on him?"
Chen Hui shook her head: "He has no yin energy. His heartbeat, smell, and even the flow of his blood are the same as a normal person's."
She is a living corpse, a yin being by nature, and is extremely sensitive to yin energy.
Achan fell into deep thought: "If it's not possession by a ghost, then what is it?"
"Should we still send him to the clinic?" Chen Hui asked.
Ah Chan shook her head: "Never mind, we've known each other for a long time, let's take her home first."
If others discover his abnormality, it will most likely alarm the Mingjing Division, and by the time Song Yan wakes up, he may already be in prison.
Achan felt that she should at least find out what had happened to Song Yan before deciding whether to let him stay or leave. She also wanted to know if the Song Yan she knew was really Song Yan.
When Song Yan woke up, everything was dark. He moved his stiff body and found himself lying on a bed.
He remembered that before he lost consciousness, he had not yet left the outer wall area of the Duke of Song's mansion, and this was obviously not on the street.
Song Yan sat up, feeling his way along the edge of the bed. Using the moonlight filtering through the window cracks, he found the door, walked over, and opened it.
As soon as the door opened, the cold, white moonlight streamed in.
Song Yan looked up at the sky, where a full moon hung. He then remembered that today was the Ghost Festival.
After the door opened, the courtyard was quiet. Song Yan stood at the doorway in the bright moonlight, looking around but not seeing anyone. Hesitantly, he called out, "Is anyone there?"
No one responded.
Song Yan frowned slightly. If the owner of this place had saved him, it seemed inappropriate to leave without saying goodbye.
But if it gets any later, a curfew might be imposed.
Just as he was pondering whether he should leave, a voice rang out from not far beside him: "Young Master Song, you're awake."
The voice sounded somewhat familiar. Song Yan turned her head and saw a figure standing under the eaves. Upon closer inspection, she felt relieved: "Madam Chen."
He wasn't familiar with Chen Hui, at least not as familiar as he was with A Chan. He only knew that her surname was Chen, that she had been married before, and that she wasn't very talkative.
Did you save me?
"On our way back to the manor, Ah Chan and I happened to encounter Young Master Song collapsed on the road, so we took you to see a doctor."
"I see, thank you, Madam." Then, with some doubt, he asked, "Isn't Miss Ji here?"
"Oh, she went to the river to release lanterns with her friends, she'll be back in a bit."
As the two were talking, the door knocker was knocked. Chen Hui bowed slightly to Song Yan and went to open the door for A Chan.
Outside the door, Achan was holding two sugar figurines and waving goodbye to Lin Sui.
Lin Sui and her elder brother walked towards the General's Mansion, and A Chan also entered the house.
"Young Master Song has woken up." Chen Hui smiled and whispered to A Chan as she took the sugar figurine that looked somewhat like herself from her.
Achan walked into the main courtyard and found that not a single lamp was lit. Song Yan was standing at the door of the side room.
Chen Hui turned around and went back into the house to get a tinderbox. She lit the lantern in the yard, and in the light of the lantern, A Chan saw that Song Yan's eyes had returned to normal.
When Song Yan saw A Chan, he quickly thanked her, saying, "Thank you so much for saving me today, Miss Ji."
"Young Master Song, you're too kind. I just have a question that I hope you can answer." Achan was still holding up the sugar figurine that looked a lot like herself, her clear eyes looking at him.
"Miss Ji, please speak?"
"Is Young Master Song even human?"
This question was truly unexpected for Song Yan. He paused for a moment, and his tone became slightly stiff: "Miss Ji, what makes you say that?"
Achan smiled at him: "Did Young Master Song look in the mirror after he woke up? Your eyes are still black, there's no white in them."
Song Yan subconsciously reached out to touch his eyes.
"You're not surprised at all; it seems you already knew about my abnormality."
Song Yan froze.
But then Achan said, "I was just kidding. It was still dark when I saved you, but it's back to normal now."
The other party gave him away with just three sentences, and Song Yan couldn't help but smile wryly: "Miss Ji, I am..."
"Are you human?" Achan repeated her question again.
After a long silence, Song Yan finally admitted, "I am not human."
"Oh." Achan's expression wasn't surprised; her face only showed curiosity. "Is Song Yan your name, or the name of this body?"
"How did you know?" Song Yan didn't answer her question, but asked her in return.
Achan didn't hide anything: "The doctor said your body is normal, just very weak, which means this body belongs to a normal person. But you have some abnormalities, which are very similar to being possessed. I just guessed, and I didn't expect to be right."
After the explanation, Song Yan sighed, "Song Yan is my name."
"So you are... an inkstone spirit?" Spirits often like to have the character "inkstone" in their names.
Although this type of monster is somewhat rare, if it exists for a long time and gets the right opportunity, it is not impossible for it to become a spirit.
Song Yan shook his head: "I am Mo Ling."
"Mo Ling?" A Chan was genuinely surprised this time. "The legendary Mo Ling, who can only gain sentience through the guidance of talent?"
"yes."
"Oh, no wonder your eyes were black just now. I thought you were possessed by a ghost, but it turns out they're the color of ink." Achan said knowingly.
Then he stared at the Song inkstone for a long time with the eyes of someone looking at a rare species. Although the ink spirit also developed its intelligence from the inkstone, it was completely different from the inkstone spirit.
One is a spirit, the other is a creature of spirits. Ordinary spirits take many years to develop intelligence, but the Ink Spirits are different; they are born with high intelligence.
Ink Spirits can only be created by humans, and only the most talented people in the human race can discover them.
Achan searched her memory for information about Ink Spirits, but found very little, because Ink Spirits are extremely rare. The Ink Spirit dissipates after the person who performs the Ink Spirit Initiation dies; their lifespan is much shorter than that of other spiritual beings. Apart from the person who performs the Ink Spirit Initiation, few others have the opportunity to learn about them.
What she knew was mostly what the authors of miscellaneous books had heard and heard, and it wasn't very detailed.
Thinking of this, Achan couldn't help but ask, "Why are you possessing someone else's body? Who is your spirit medium, and where is he?"
After a long silence, Song Yan finally spoke: "He is dead. In order to survive, I can only possess someone else's body."
Ah Chan finally understood why Song Yan's complexion was getting worse and worse, and why his body was becoming increasingly weak.
Because it was too weak, it drained the life force of this body, causing the possessed body to weaken as well, creating a vicious cycle.
"Can't you leave this body and possess someone else?" Chen Hui asked at this moment.
Song Yan shook his head: "No, I'm already very weak. If I leave his body, I might perish immediately. I still have unfulfilled wishes; I can't die."
"Who is the person who inspired your spirit?" Achan asked.
Song Yan lowered his eyes. He had told A Chan everything he should and shouldn't have said, and there was no need to hide anything else.
"Miss Ji should have heard of his name. His name is Song Yu."
As expected, Ah Chan sighed inwardly.
The reason why Mo Ling has this obsession with living is not because it wants to live itself, but because it is related to the person who inspired it.
Thinking back to this period of time, first, Mr. Baomu's book became a sensation in the capital. A revenge story sparked the curiosity of countless people about the Duke of Song's mansion.
Then someone went to the capital to appeal to the emperor, bringing the victim of the revenge story to the public's attention.
Unfortunately, although the real-life revenge story has ended, the murderer in the book was not brought to justice because someone else took the blame, and he escaped punishment.
"Did you write The Revenge?" Asan was a little puzzled while reading the book. It seemed that the author wrote it from the perspective of an observer.
If the events described in the book are true, then who is he? How did he know the truth? If he were Mo Ling, who was close to the victim, it would seem to make sense.
"Miss Ji is truly intelligent," Song Yan exclaimed.
"So what you wrote about are all things that actually happened?"
“Yes.” He knew what A-Chan was going to ask, and continued without her speaking, “Song Yu’s first half of life was just like what is written in the book, he had very little and was always losing. I am a very ordinary inkstone that he bought from the roadside, and he named me Song Yan.”
He would read his writings to me, place me opposite him, and play chess against himself. He even wrote several poems praising me. One day, I suddenly developed a spirit. Afraid of frightening him, I didn't tell him of my existence before his killer appeared.
Sensing the sorrow beneath Song Yan's calm voice, A Chan felt a pang of pity. Ink spirits... possess great wisdom, but they have no power.
"Before he died, Song Yu asked the man why he wanted to kill him. The man seemed to want him to understand why he died, so he told him the truth. He also said that the Duke of Song's mansion had wronged him, but for the sake of the mansion's future, he had no choice but to let him die."
Then that person swiftly and decisively killed Song Yu, but little did they know, I also overheard the truth.
Back then, it could only hide in that ordinary inkstone, watching everything happen, but unable to do anything about it.
Its spirit medium died, so it was supposed to dissipate as well.
Perhaps it was due to an overly strong obsession, or perhaps for some other reason, but it could sense its own weakness, yet it did not disappear immediately.
Later, Song Yu was buried by his relatives, and his belongings were sold by those same relatives.
It returned to the street stall once again, and just when it was about to disappear, it met a scholar.
The scholar bought it for a dozen or so coins. While the scholar was fast asleep, it possessed his body and became Song Yan.
Then, we arrived in the capital.
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