"Ordinary People"

When Xiang Kun woke up, it was a little after 1 p. m. the next day, and his sleep duration was within the normal range.

After getting up, I performed my routine self-check and then changed the canary's food and water.

I checked my phone and found several missed calls. One of them was from a number I had never seen before, which called three times. There were also two missed calls from Director Lin's number.

He was a little puzzled because he had previously agreed with Director Lin and the others that he would have two days off each week and not be contacted. They had agreed and even included it in the contract. Why were they calling him incessantly yesterday? Was it something urgent?

Although he had already completed the main framework and written a large amount of core module code for that project, he didn't hand it over completely. Instead, he gradually transferred it over, letting Ma Hongguo arrange for the people he recruited to work according to the requirements. It was like a building; the framework was already built, and all that was left was to lay the bricks and paint according to a fixed procedure. The implementation methods and formats were all provided. As long as the recruits had basic qualities, it was unlikely that any problems would arise, and if problems did occur, Ma Hongguo's level of expertise would be able to resolve them.

So what urgent matter could they possibly have?

Xiang Kun called Director Lin back. It rang eight times before being answered. Judging from the sound, Director Lin must have been taking a nap.

"Mr. Xiang, you finally called back," Director Lin said.

"What happened?" Xiang Kun asked curiously.

"Our boss wants to see you, but he can't add you on WeChat and he doesn't answer your phone..." Director Lin said with a hint of helplessness.

Xiang Kun was even more puzzled. "Your boss? You don't mean that Ms. Zhang, do you? What does she want with me? Aren't we the ones who handle our collaborations directly? She doesn't understand technology."

"How would I know? She went to your city a few days ago. Give her a call; the number ending in 939 is hers," Director Lin said.

After ending the call with Director Lin, Xiang Kun looked at the missed calls from the 939 number that had been dialed three times. He thought for a moment, then simply created a contact for it, filled in Zhang Qian's name, but didn't call back.

He had a pretty good idea of what Zhang Qian was up to; she was probably still trying to uncover the secret of that A4 sheet of paper, and he had no intention of explaining it to her.

Xiang Kun recalled the special "emotion" he felt when he sensed the calligraphy lyrics in the van before drinking the blood yesterday. So he tried to sense the calligraphy again, but this time he couldn't sense that special "emotion". However, because of his previous experience, he deliberately looked for that feeling when he sensed it this time, and he could still vaguely perceive a little bit of it, almost imperceptible.

Xiang Kun tried to sense the emotion for a while, but couldn't "grasp" it like he had yesterday, so he simply gave up, opened WeChat, and sent a message to Xia Libing:

"Are you there?"

A minute later, Lao Xia replied with a blank expression.

"You're probably not at work yet, are you resting at the hospital?"

"Are you home? Is something the matter?"

"Oh, nothing, I just ran into your cousin Xia Tianhuo yesterday."

Xiang Kun's main purpose was naturally to ask him about that calligraphy, but Lao Xia was as shrewd as a fox, and asking directly would be too abrupt. He needed to find an excuse to start the conversation first. Brother Xia Tianhuo was the best topic to start the conversation.

Xia Libing: "Oh."

Two seconds later, Xiang Kun was figuring out how to continue the conversation, Xia Libing sent another message: "You hit him?"

Xiang Kun was stunned, once again shocked by Lao Xia's thought process. He sent a "falling over" emoji and then said, "What are you talking about? Why would I hit your cousin? Don't make me sound like a violent maniac..."

Xia Libing: "Oh."

Xiang Kun found a starting point. "Why do you think I would hit your brother?"

Xia Libing: "He's been abroad most of the past few years, and even when he comes back, he doesn't go out much, so it's unlikely you two would bump into each other on the street. But he likes Nana, and you Nana often hang out together, so he probably thought you two were together, which is why he followed you. You're a very vigilant and observant person, so when you discovered he was following you, you beat him up, and then he revealed his name, brought me and my cousin into it to beg for forgiveness. Then he was impressed by your strength, and you two became friends after the fight, and ended up having a pleasant conversation. That's how I guessed how you two met, isn't it?"

Xiang Kun looked at the mess of words that Lao Xia had typed with a bit of a speechlessness. Although it was somewhat different from the actual situation, the idea was actually quite correct.

Whether in real life or online, Lao Xia rarely initiates conversations or asks her questions. She usually replies very concisely. Only when it involves situations that require her analysis or topics that interest her will she talk a lot or type a lot.

"Your cousin is actually quite easy to talk to; he's a reasonable person," Xiang Kun replied.

Xiang Kun was speechless. Was this Lao Xia's version of "give a beating and then a sweet treat"?

"You really know your cousin well."

"I've said it before, I observe everyone."

"But he's already gone abroad, so I can't invite him to dinner."

"Then there's no need to invite them, you can invite me instead."

This sentence was followed by an emoji of a panda begging with a bowl in its arms.

Xiang Kun sent a laughing emoji, "I'll cook for you again when I go back to Citong City, or when you come back."

Then, as if joking, he steered the conversation to the "main topic": "By the way, do you still have the calligraphy I gave you before I came back? You didn't think it was ugly and threw it away, did you?"

When I talked to Lao Xia about this calligraphy last time, Lao Xia sent me a chat log where she asked someone who seemed to be a calligraphy master for their opinion on the piece, and the evaluation she received was naturally not ideal. So, it's actually quite natural for her to ask this question.

Xia Libing sent a photo: a table with his calligraphy piece spread out in the middle.

Then he sent three more words. "Watching it now."

"Are you watching?" Xiang Kun quickly sensed it again, but the feeling was the same as before. The special "emotion" he had felt yesterday was only vague and elusive, but he couldn't "grasp" it.

"What are you looking at?" Xiang Kun sent a question mark emoji.

Xia Libing: "Analyze your mood and state of mind when you wrote this character."

Xiang Kun's eyes widened, and he replied in surprise, "Why do we need to analyze this? Can we deduce anything from these words?"

The most crucial element of an item Emotional Injection " is the emotion experienced during its creation. Did Lao Xia sense something? Otherwise, how could he have pinpointed the key point so quickly?

Xia Libing: "What else can I analyze besides this? I don't know calligraphy, and there's no need to analyze the calligraphy of the characters you wrote. But I really can't analyze it. Write a few more pieces for me so I can make a comparison. The sample size is too small right now to make a judgment."

Hmm, that makes a lot of sense...

The problem is, most people wouldn't analyze the calligraphy a friend gave them, would they?

Xiang Kun: "Okay, I'll write a few more for you when I have time."

Xia Libing: "I heard Nana and my cousin say that you sing this song really well? Record a version and let me hear it?"

Xiang Kun: "I'll give you a live performance next time I go back. I'm the type to perform live; you can't hear the essence if you just record it."

Xia Libing ignored his boasting. "Okay."

Xiang Kun then asked, seemingly with concern, "How are you adjusting to the hospital lately? Is it very busy? Do the psychiatrists have to work night shifts?"

"No rush, no need." Xia Libing's reply became concise again.

After finishing his chat with Lao Xia, Xiang Kun sat down and slowly sorted through the information he had just received.

Judging from what Lao Xia said and the background of the photo, the calligraphy was placed in her bedroom—he had seen that table when he went to Lao Xia's house to cook for her last time; it was in Lao Xia's bedroom.

Since Lao Xia doesn't work the night shift, it means he should be sleeping at home at night—going out for nightlife or spending the night outside is out of the question without even considering it.

Why couldn't Lao Xia dream about that calligraphy despite sensing it multiple times at night? Does this girl not sleep? She's not a vampire like me...

Even Xiang Kun, a vampire, needs to take a long nap after drinking blood every week!

However, when he sensed the unusual "emotion" on that calligraphy yesterday, it was during working hours on a weekday. Lao Xia should have been at the hospital then. Could it be that the unusual "emotion" he sensed at that time wasn't Lao Xia's? Who was at Lao Xia's house at that time, handling that calligraphy?

Another question is, why did Lao Xia analyze his handwriting?

Generally speaking, if a friend gives you a piece of calligraphy they wrote, unless you and your friend are both calligraphy enthusiasts, and your friend's calligraphy is exceptionally good—a true master—you're unlikely to pick it up and analyze it from time to time.

Lao Xia said it's normal not to analyze calligraphy, but who would analyze a friend's mood when writing a piece of calligraphy given to them?

Well, Lao Xia isn't an ordinary person, so this kind of thing doesn't seem too strange for her.

In the bedroom of Xia Libing's home in Citong City.

On her desk, besides the calligraphy of the lyrics to "Someone Like Me" written by Xiang Kun, there was an open laptop with multiple documents and pictures displayed on the screen.

If the photos he just took were displayed on a screen, Xiang Kun would be surprised to find that these pictures contained texts he had written at various stages of his life, various forms and test papers he had filled out, some calligraphy he had posted online during his teenage years, and even Jia Dao's "The Swordsman".

Xiang Kun thought that the "analysis" that Lao Xia was talking about was just analyzing the characters he wrote and observing their shapes. He naturally didn't expect that Xia Libing's "analysis" was far more profound than he imagined.

After receiving the calligraphy lyrics from Xiang Kun, Xia Libing created a special folder to store the analysis results and reference materials, and then this folder began to grow larger and larger.

Over the past month, Xia Libing has disassembled and photographed each of the 301 characters on the calligraphy piece that Xiang Kun gave her, and entered them into the computer. She has also compared each character with Xiang Kun's handwriting from different periods, both with brush calligraphy and pen calligraphy.

For now, all we know is that Xiang Kun's calligraphy style has changed quite a bit from before. The characters are written more neatly, appear more restrained, and the handwriting is more stable. His control over the brush is significantly better than it was in middle school. However, we can't see anything else yet.

However, Xia Libing was quite certain that Xiang Kun must have had a reason for giving her this calligraphy.

Based on her analysis of Xiang Kun's personality, he was definitely not the kind of person who would give away his mediocre calligraphy, especially not on rough-edged paper that was clearly meant for practice.

Whether it's cooking or making wood carvings, you can see that he is a person who pays great attention to details and cares about the feelings of others. This can be seen from the wood carving that Tang Baona posted in the group chat, which was given to her by Xiang Kun. Even the wooden box for the wood carving was made by Xiang Kun himself, who carefully removed the burrs.

From any perspective, Xiang Kun shouldn't have given her such a simple piece of rough-edged paper to practice calligraphy.

Furthermore, this is also evidenced by the fact that Xiang Kun would intentionally or unintentionally mention this matter in their occasional conversations afterward.

At first, she thought the focus was on the lyrics, so she listened to the song "Someone Like Me" many times and analyzed the lyrics in detail. But she soon realized that the core should still be on the words themselves—otherwise, Xiang Kun would not have needed to personally deliver the calligraphy.

Today, Xiang Kun brought it up on his own initiative. She had originally planned to ask him directly, and regardless of whether Xiang Kun's answer was true or not, there was a certain chance that she would get some clues from his reply.

However, Xiang Kun's reply after she said "analyze the mood and state of mind when writing," Xia Libing knew that she was on the right track.

Xiang Kun give her this calligraphy because it expressed some kind of feeling or emotion of his? Did he want her to understand it?

Why try to convey this through words? Why not just tell her directly?

What ordinary person would do such a thing?

However, thinking that it was Xiang Kun, Xia Libing felt somewhat relieved. He was indeed not an ordinary person, so it seemed normal for him to do such strange things.

Could it be... that he's already figured something out?

Was this actually a test he was giving me?

Xia Libing stared thoughtfully at the words on the table.

During her conversation with Xiang Kun, one sentence in particular caught her attention: he asked if she was very busy at the hospital and if she had to work night shifts.

Based on her analysis and judgment of Xiang Kun's personality, Xiang Kun would not show her such meaningless concern, because Xiang Kun certainly knew she didn't need it. Asking "Are you busy? Do you have to work the night shift?" didn't have any follow-up purpose and was not in line with Xiang Kun's usual speaking style.

This only proves that the question was a test posed by Xiang Kun for some purpose, though he himself was not yet clear about his purpose.

What's their purpose in asking me if I'm busy, or if I need to work the night shift?

If I'm on the night shift, I have to stay at the hospital at night; if I'm not on the night shift, I'll rest at home at night.

Xia Libing seemed to vaguely sense something, but upon further reflection, she couldn't make heads or tails of it.

She glanced at the time; it was almost time for work. Without dwelling on it, she closed all the files on her laptop and put it to sleep.

Then I slowly started folding the calligraphy, folding it to the size of an A4 sheet of paper, and put it in a transparent file bag, then put it in the fabric tote bag I usually use to carry things to the hospital.

Zhang Shuo is finally back! ヾ() A novel only has a soul when it has readers like Zhang Shuo.