Striving for Science C41 pt2

When Shen Chang'an ran downstairs, he saw a white-furred animal about to reach out a paw to grab the parrot on the bird stand. He quickly stepped forward and grabbed the soft skin behind its neck: "You can't eat this."

The white four-legged animal struggled desperately in Shen Chang'an's hand, kicking its legs, but it couldn't escape his clutches.

"What is this?" Shen Chang'an turned on the nearby light, getting a clearer look at the white animal.

A fox, a fox?

He quickly held the fox in one hand and pulled out his phone with the other, searching for information about foxes.

"Strange, a white fox seems to be an Arctic fox, how did it get here?" After confirming that the fox was likely a second-class protected animal, Shen Chang'an quickly ran out to the yard and said to the crowd who were eating and drinking, "I found an Arctic fox, what should I do?"

The crowd stopped what they were doing, the lively atmosphere became eerily quiet for a second, and they all turned to look at the white fox that Shen Chang'an was holding, its whole body screaming "I want to die."

"This... it probably accidentally ran into the neighborhood, how about we release it?" Liu Mao glanced at the crowd, and they all quickly looked away, the atmosphere returning to normal.

"This isn't the main habitat for Arctic foxes, is it?" Shen Chang'an looked at the fluffy fox. "If we just release it like this, what if it gets hit by a car or captured by bad people? We should call the police."

The white fox, wanting to die: ?!

The crowd: "..."

"Mr. Shen is right." Liu Mao nodded. "I'll arrange for someone to take it to the police station. The police are busy, we should try to reduce their workload as much as possible."

"That's right." Shen Chang'an handed the fox to Liu Mao. "Then I'll trouble you, Brother Liu."

After thinking for a moment, he glanced down at a certain spot on the fox's abdomen, then reached out and stroked the fur on its head: "So you're a boy, don't run around in the future."

Hu Ming: Shen Chang'an, you bastard, did you hear me, you're a bastard.

"It's making so much noise, is it scared?" Shen Chang'an saw the fox suddenly squeaking and kicking its legs. "Is it hungry?"

"I think it might have eaten too much, otherwise why would it be running around and yelling." Liu Mao looked down at the white fox with a smile, his tone gentle, "Be quiet."

Hu Ming: "..."

After someone drove the white fox away, Shen Chang'an washed his hands and continued to sit by the grill, eating the oysters that Uncle Zhao had grilled. While eating, he discussed with everyone how the white fox could have gotten here.

"Luckily, I was the one who found it. This fox's fur is so nice, it would be terrible if someone caught it, skinned it, and made it into a scarf." Shen Chang'an joked, "There are often stories in dramas about white foxes repaying kindness, I wonder if I'll wake up tomorrow morning to find a pile of gold and silver by my bed?"

"Mr. Shen, we should believe in science." Liu Mao put a few scallops into Shen Chang'an's bowl. "There are no yao in this world."

"I'm just joking, don't take it seriously." As Shen Chang'an lowered his head to eat the scallops, he was inexplicably compelled to look up in the direction of Dao Nian's room.

When his eyes met Dao Nian's, he froze for a moment, then got up and used a large plate to grab a huge pile of grilled skewers, along with an empty plate, and ran upstairs with them.

Everyone looked at the empty grill, then looked up at the window of the room where the teacher lived; the curtains there were drawn tightly, and they fluttered slightly in the night breeze.

Half a minute later, Dao Nian looked at Chang'an, who was panting as he stood at his door, and said expressionlessly, "Why are you up here again?"

"I wanted to eat with you." Shen Chang'an put the skewers on the table and dragged a beanbag chair from his own room over, "I can't eat well when you're not around."

Dao Nian turned his head away uncomfortably. He was over twenty years old, how could he still be... still so clingy?

Oh well, he had already taken his key, so he could only... only indulge him.

Seeing Dao Nian's awkward expression, but not making any move to tell him to leave, Shen Chang'an knew that he actually still liked being with people. It was probably because he had been alone for too long that he had become less and less communicative.

"Garlic scallops, my favorite." Shen Chang'an counted the number of scallops in the bowl, there were only five in total, "I'll take three, and give you two."

Dao Nian expressionlessly took the third scallop.

"Hey!" Shen Chang'an stared blankly at the scallop that had been taken, "Can't you let me have it, considering I'm younger than you?"

"You should respect the elderly." Dao Nian calmly put the scallop on his plate.

"You're not old." Shen Chang'an grumbled, "And you don't love the young either."

Dao Nian looked at Shen Chang'an very seriously: "I am very old."

Shen Chang'an: "..."

To actually say he was old for the sake of a scallop, what kind of courage was that? He had just said he wasn't going to eat anymore and was going back to his room to rest, what a two-faced man.

Outside the door, Liu Mao, who was holding a plate of scallops, listened to the commotion in the room, turned around and quietly went downstairs. When he passed the birdcage, he gave two to the parrot Fei Ying: "Top-grade scallops raised by the East Sea Dragon Clan, you got lucky."

Fei Ying didn't stand on ceremony either, after pecking at the scallop, she said thank you: "Where was that idiot Hu Ming sent to?"

"Probably the police station." Liu Mao gave Fei Ying some other things, his expression calm, not the amiable face he showed in front of Shen Chang'an, "Disobedient little pets, what use are they other than being sent away."

Fei Ying paused her pecking, and looked up at Liu Mao.

Liu Mao chuckled softly: "Mr. Shen likes well-behaved little pets, you're very good."

Fei Ying continued to eat, anyway, she just needed to please Mr. Shen. Thinking about it, she was quite like a pet who had climbed up the social ladder through connections.

***

For the next two days, Shen Chang'an was completely immersed in the delicious food at Dao Nian's house, and other than going to work, he was just eating and drinking at Dao Nian's place. He completely forgot that there was an otaku ghost at Uncle Zhang's house waiting to be fed, until Uncle Zhang personally called him. Only then, at noon after work, did he guiltily knock on Uncle Zhang's door.

"Dad, you're finally back to save your child."

As soon as the door opened, a ghostly figure pounced on him, the otaku ghost hugging Shen Chang'an's leg: "I want to drink cola, I want to eat barbecue, I want to eat fries."

"Get up, get up, don't call me dad randomly." Shen Chang'an handed the food he was carrying to the otaku ghost and went to sit on the sofa.

"Oh, who is this, looks a bit familiar?" Uncle Zhang raised his eyebrows at Shen Chang'an, his tone mocking, "Why does he look like a missing person from upstairs in my house?"

Shen Chang'an: "..."

"Uncle, you're my uncle." Shen Chang'an was very afraid of Uncle Zhang's mocking skills, and laughed awkwardly, "It's just that my friend's house is too comfortable to live in."

Uncle Zhang wanted to say something sarcastic, but luckily the other person wasn't a woman, otherwise Shen Chang'an would definitely have married into the family without hesitation. But thinking that Shen Chang'an's unknown friend might be a big shot he couldn't afford to offend, Uncle Zhang wisely didn't say it.

As a cultivator, the most important thing is to be able to bend and stretch, to be a coward when you should be, right? People who are stubborn but have no ability tend to die quickly.

"The reason I called you over today, one is to have you bring some food to shut his mouth," Uncle Zhang pointed at the otaku ghost sitting on the sofa eating, "The other thing is, people from our Metaphysics Association discovered that the yellow-robed Daoist you mentioned is called Ting Zheng. He's a disciple of the abbot of some declining Daoist temple, but yesterday, this temple publicly announced that they had expelled Ting Zheng from the temple and revoked his Daoist certificate."

"Ting Zheng was a person who greatly valued his reputation. In recent years, he had earned a considerable amount of money by doing feng shui, exorcising ghosts, and fortune-telling, and was also highly praised by some celebrities and wealthy businessmen. No one in Wuming City had invited him to perform rituals; he had decided to come here suddenly. The day before his departure, he had not been in contact with any suspicious individuals."

Shen Chang'an frowned, "Could it be that the person behind this has the ability to turn invisible?"

Uncle Zhang sighed, looking at Shen Chang'an with disappointment, "You're a graduate of a prestigious university, at least. Invisibility is just a kind of hypnosis that deceives the human eye, making your brain temporarily forget that person's existence. But this so-called invisibility can't hide from surveillance equipment."

Under Uncle Zhang's gaze that said, "I thought you had a brain, but I guess you don't," Shen Chang'an wanted to say that surveillance cameras couldn't capture ghosts, but he was afraid that if he said it, Uncle Zhang would take off his slipper and smack him on the head. So, he said, "Then is it possible that it's a computer expert who altered the surveillance footage?"

"We have a member in our association who is a very skilled computer expert. He's already checked the surveillance videos, and there are no traces of human tampering." Uncle Zhang added, "He also checked with Daoist techniques, and apart from the ghost Ting Zheng caught, no other ghosts have entered his personal space."

"Huh?" Shen Chang'an said in surprise, "Monks and Daoists have computer experts too?"

"What, is that surprising?" Uncle Zhang said smugly, "If you want to join our Metaphysics Association, Yan Yin and I can be your recommenders. Our association has people from all walks of life. As long as you join our association, you can open the door to a new world."

"I think I'm a traditional and old-fashioned man, and I don't really want to open the door to a new world," Shen Chang'an immediately refused.

"Amitabha." Yan Yin looked at Shen Chang'an with tolerant eyes, "Donor Shen, this humble monk has noticed that you seem particularly resistant to these kinds of things. Why is that?"

Not expecting Dharma Master Yan Yin to suddenly say that, Shen Chang'an was stunned for a moment, then laughed, "It's nothing, I should go to work. If there are any new discoveries, I'll let you know in time."

Watching Shen Chang'an's hurried departure, Uncle Zhang glared at Yan Yin, "See, you talked him to death."

Yan Yin shook his head, "Donor Shen has a knot in his heart. If it can't be untied, he will never accept our metaphysics circle."

"If there's a knot, there's a knot. Why does he have to accept something?" The otaku ghost, who was sitting on the sofa eating, raised his head, "Although he's unwilling to join your metaphysics circle, he hasn't stood idly by when your metaphysics circle has something going on. Everyone has their own lifestyle and principles. If you don't force or disturb them, life will become more beautiful."

For example, he felt that he couldn't become a big shot who could command the wind and rain in this life, but he didn't have to compete with others when he was alive, and after death, he still had a big shot feeding him delicious food, so that was pretty good.

Yan Yin and Uncle Zhang were stunned. They turned their heads to look at the otaku ghost at the same time.

Being stared at by two big figures in the metaphysics world, the otaku ghost was a little nervous and quickly took a sip of cola to calm himself down, "A few days ago, the big shot said that Dharma Master Yan Yin was too attached to appearances, and I think he was right. No matter what his identity is, or what circle he's in, as long as he's willing to help you, that's enough, right? Why do you have to pull him into your circle? We're all citizens of the same country, and we're all working hard to make our country prosperous."

Yan Yin and Uncle Zhang: “……”

Seems… a bit reasonable?

***

"Huh?" Shen Chang'an, driving his car, couldn't help but shiver. His back felt a little cold. Could it be that he was wearing too little today?

Back in the office, he flipped through the newspaper and discovered that the matter of sending the white fox to the police station had actually made the local news. He pulled out the newspaper and said to his colleagues, "My friend is in the newspaper. I want to take this newspaper back for them to see."

The colleagues all expressed no objections. Shen Chang'an carefully folded the newspaper and put it in his coat.

Doing a good deed and getting into the newspaper is also something worth being happy about and commemorating.