Chapter 21 Man is the sum of all social relations
Chapter 21 Man is the sum of all social relations
"How could this be..." Feng Yuxu's legs went limp and she collapsed to the ground. The horrifying scene before her eyes crushed her will, just like when Gu Yunqing died.
In fact, simple violent death or drug poisoning would not scare her so much, because there are traces to follow and they can be avoided through action. However, in this village, the rules are invisible and silent. Unless you violate them yourself or see others violate them, the rules will always run silently in some unobservable corner, never showing up.
If the punishment is unknown, then the power is unpredictable. Traditional Chinese people have two deepest fears: one is the unknown, and the other is guilt.
Feng Yuxu felt like a blindfolded person walking on a tightrope high in the sky. Every step she took was cautious and treading on thin ice. She had no way of judging what the next step would be. She could only walk slowly towards the approximate direction in her memory based on her feeling. Every step she took could lead to death.
But at this time, there was a person who seemed to completely ignore the darkness and unknown around him. His eyes were not blindfolded, and his steps were as casual as strolling in the garden, and he had everything under control.
Ning Zhe came to Feng Yusu, who was slumped on the ground, and extended his hand to her.
"Come with me." He said, shielding her trembling eyes with his palm: "Don't look back, or you will die."
"Okay..." Feng Yusu grabbed Ning Zhe's wrist, struggled to get up, and left the ancestral hall with him under the gaze of the Snake God behind them.
Feng Yuxu noticed that 'Ye Miaozhu' who had just appeared in the ancestral hall had disappeared. The moment she stretched out her hand to open the almanac again, 'Ye Miaozhu's' body dissipated, like a wisp of smoke blown away by the wind, or like a pile of sand crushed by the waves on the seashore, without leaving even a trace.
"That's a ghost." Ning Zhe said, "Ye Miaozhu's identity was stolen by a ghost. What we just saw was it using a knife to kill someone."
In the ancestral hall behind them, a crisp breeze blew through the hall, making the opened page of the almanac rustle. It fluttered like a dead leaf butterfly and was reluctant to fall back to its original position, as if urging the two to turn around and take a look at tomorrow's secret. Ning Zhe did not dare to look back, and walked out quickly with Feng Yushu.
After leaving the ancestral hall, Feng Yusu finally calmed down. She stared at Ning Zhe's profile and asked in a trembling voice: "Why, what happened? Why would Ye Miaozhu..."
"Calm down, you're being incoherent." Ning Zhe said, "To survive in this environment, you need to be under a lot of pressure and have a strong psychological quality. If you don't manage your emotions well, you will rush around like a headless fly, which will only give the devil an opportunity to take advantage of you."
"So calm down, you'll get killed, auntie."
Feng Yushu shook her head repeatedly and held Ning Zhe's wrist tighter: "Even if you say so...how would I know how to avoid being killed by a ghost? I don't even know what method it uses to steal people's identities."
When you don't know which direction the bullet will come from, all your dodging actions will be so ridiculous in the eyes of the sniper.
"How do ghosts steal people's identities? That depends on your definition of 'identity' and 'person'."
Ning Zhe's tone suddenly relaxed, and he said as he walked: "Auntie, what do you think your 'identity' is?"
"Me?" Feng Yushu thought for a moment and said, "I am my husband's wife, my daughter's mother, and my parents' daughter... Who are you referring to specifically?"
"It's both." Ning Zhe said: "A person is the sum of all social relationships. In the eyes of everyone who knows you, your image is different."
"In your husband's eyes, you are a dignified wife; in your daughter's eyes, you are a gentle mother; in your parents' eyes, you are a married daughter; in your school teachers' eyes, you are the parent of a certain classmate; in the shopping guide's eyes, you are a wealthy customer... and so on. Among all these identities, which one is you? The answer is, all of them."
"All the people who know you, the different images of you that they know overlap to form the complete you."
Ning Zhe said, then changed the subject: "I don't know if you can understand my explanation - the one who was replaced by the ghost was not the complete Xie Si Ning, but the Xie Si Ning that Zhang Yangxu knew." "When the real Xie Si Ning died by the river, the 'Xie Si Ning that Zhang Yangxu knew' was replaced. The image of this Xie Si Ning was exactly the same as the legal advisor that Zhang Yangxu knew, and there was no flaw in her words and deeds. However, she could not answer the highly professional legal questions raised by Zhang Yangxu because her identity was incomplete.
"It is just 'Xie Si Ning in Zhang Yangxu's cognition', not the complete Xie Si Ning herself."
"Zhang Yangxu himself doesn't know the answer to this question, so how could the Xie Si Ning in his understanding know the answer?"
"But logically it should know... So when Zhang Yangxu threw out a reasonable question that could not be answered, the rules of 'Xie Si Ning' got stuck."
As Ning Zhe spoke, he and Feng Yusu came to a private house which was quite a distance away from the South Street where the ancestral hall was located. The smoke from the roof of the house had been extinguished and the people inside were eating breakfast.
Feng Yushu chewed over Ning Zhe's words carefully, and heard him continue, "So, Auntie, why do you think the ghost disguised as Xie Si Ning called you on the way back to the ancestral hall?"
After hearing this, Feng Yuxu was stunned. Ning Zhe's words passed through her brain like a string of electricity, opening up that key node.
She hesitated for a long time before she tentatively said, "Is it... to steal the identity of 'Xie Si Ning, whom Feng Yushu knows'?"
"Correct answer." Ning Zhe gave his aunt a thumbs up: "This is the answer to the puzzle."
There are two rules in Hejia Village, corresponding to two puzzles:
[Puzzle 1: Why did the snake god go crazy? ]
[Puzzle 2: How does a ghost impersonate someone else? ]
The answer to puzzle 2 was already in front of Feng Yusu.
"Just like the snake god will only punish you when you break a taboo, the ghost can only steal a specific identity when certain conditions are triggered, and this condition is 'cognition'."
Ning Zhe took a step forward, leaned his shoulder against the outer wall of the house, and said:
"When you see the caller ID on your phone screen and think that the ghost calling you on the other end of the line is Xie Si Ning, it really is."
"When Zhang Yangxu, who was hiding by the willow tree, heard the sound of footsteps on fallen leaves, and thought that the ghost walking towards him on the fallen leaves was Xie Si Ning who had just returned from the toilet, it really happened."
As more and more people who know Xie Si Ning have cognitive errors and think that the ghost in human skin is Xie Si Ning, the Xie Si Ning it plays becomes more complete.
It is complete to a certain degree, even enough to deceive the snake god.
"That's the rule for this ghost."
(End of this chapter)