"Yusheng!" Madam Ran called out Mr. Ran's name again and again, her voice filled with sorrow and lamentation, startling all who heard it.

"Miss, the young master hasn't come back!" The old lady frantically tried to pull her, but couldn't budge her; her face was trembling with anxiety.

The rest of the people were all employees of the Ran family and dared not confront Madam Ran directly. They could only watch as she circled the room twice, searching for Mr. Ran.

Ultimately, of course, it cannot be found.

She rushed back, grabbed Ruan Bei's arm, and asked with tears in her eyes, "Have you seen my Yusheng?"

Ruan Bei was in a dilemma. He couldn't bear to lie to her, but if he told the truth, he might be seen as a liar, which would be more than just a matter of trespassing.

Seeing that he didn't refuse outright but instead looked hesitant, Madam Ran became even more agitated: "Where's Yusheng? You know where he is, right? Help me find him and bring him back. I have money, I have a lot of money, I'll give it all to you. I just want Yusheng. Give him back to me, and I'll give you anything..."

"I don't want money..."

Ruan Bei stamped his foot and gritted his teeth, saying, "Wait for me."

He walked toward the back garden, with Madam Ran following closely behind, and the others staring intently at Ruan Bei as if he were some heartless swindler.

The old lady did offer a few words of advice, but Madam Ran ignored them, her mind preoccupied with Ran Yusheng. The old lady had no choice but to follow her closely, afraid that she would suffer a loss at Ruan Bei's hands.

Under the flowering tree, Ran Yusheng was pacing anxiously. When he saw so many people coming over, he couldn't help but look at Ruan Bei.

Ruan Bei said awkwardly, "Your bodyguards are pretty impressive; they managed to find the security footage..."

As soon as he said that, Ran Yusheng understood. Ruan Bei then said, "Do you... want to say a few words to Madam Ran? She seems to know that you came back before and has been looking for you."

In the eyes of Madam Ran and the others, this suddenly appearing boy was speaking to the empty flowering tree.

Madam Ran clenched her fists, tears welling in her eyes, and gazed in the direction Ruan Bei was looking. Although she couldn't see anything, she remained motionless as she watched.

The old lady looked on with suspicion, her gaze towards Ruan Bei filled with doubt, but it wasn't as sharp as before.

The bodyguards, however, had completely come to regard Ruan Bei as a fraud. They began to wonder which heartless family was trying to swindle someone out of the Ran family, knowing that only a widow was left.

Ran Yusheng stood under the flowering tree, and the first thing he saw when he looked up was his wife's tearful eyes. He had kissed those eyes countless times, with a smile, happy and tender.

But now, just one glance is enough to cause unbearable heartache.

"Speak."

Having gone through a period of intense struggle and despair, Ran Yusheng has calmed down for the time being. His wife has suffered a mental breakdown, so he needs to stay calm.

Ruan Bei looked at the old lady and the bodyguards. Ran Yusheng said, "Mother Shu is my wife's wet nurse. I took care of her since she was a child. The bodyguards are all trustworthy people that I carefully selected. There is no need to be wary of them."

Since he said it was credible, Ruan Bei naturally had no objections: "Shall we go inside to talk?"

Saying such things outdoors felt a bit unsafe, especially since the sun was out and the shade from the trees wasn't very strong. Ran Yusheng felt quite stifled.

Ran Yusheng agreed, so Ruan Bei opened the umbrella and led him into the house.

The others watched him talk to himself, then open a large umbrella in the breezy weather.

The way he held the umbrella was also strange. It wasn't like a single person holding an umbrella and placing themselves in the center of the umbrella, but rather leaving an extra space, as if sharing the umbrella with someone else—even though they only saw Ruan Bei alone.

Madam Ran rubbed her eyes and suddenly reached out to touch Ruan Bei's side. Ran Yusheng subconsciously reached out to hold her hand, but grasped nothing.

Madam Ran's hand passed through his hand, then withdrew, stared blankly for a moment, and then, unwilling to give up, reached out to touch him again.

Ran Yusheng reached out to take it again without hesitation, and their hands crossed once more.

While others were baffled, Ruan Bei saw it all clearly, and it was precisely because he saw it so clearly that it made people feel even more distressed.

Ran Yusheng suddenly stopped in front of the door connecting the back garden to the back hall.

Ruan Bei looked at him: "What's wrong?"

Ran Yusheng looked pained: "We can't get in, the Buddha statue..."

Ruan Bei quickly led him back a bit. They thought the Buddha statue wouldn't work during the day since they were able to get close to the Ran family, but it turned out that the radiation range had just decreased.

It's unclear whether this result was due to Ran Yusheng's previous return depleting the Buddha statue's energy, or whether the Buddha statue itself is more effective at night than during the day.

Now is not the time to delve into this. Ruan Bei said to Madam Ran, "When you and Mr. Ran were traveling in Yuncheng before, an old monk gave you a Buddha statue. Would you please take it to a more distant place first?"

Madam Ran was taken aback for a moment, then hurriedly ordered, "Throw away the Buddha statue, throw it far away."

"Don't throw it away!" Ruan Bei hurriedly stopped her: "That's a real treasure."

Madam Ran remained unmoved: "What treasure! I knew it. Yusheng is back. This Buddha statue is harming him. I don't want to keep it."

She was speaking incoherently. She had insisted that Mr. Ran was alive before, but now she was saying such things. It was clear that she subconsciously still remembered the news of Ran Yusheng's death, but just refused to believe it.

"It was Mr. Ran who wanted to keep it."

Ruan Bei kept urging him to keep the treasure, saying it was a rare find and a waste to throw it away. Ran Yusheng also wanted to keep it to protect his wife.

Hearing that it was Ran Yusheng's request, Madam Ran stopped insisting and had a bodyguard take the Buddha statue away from there, to a safer place.

After the Buddha statue was sent away, Ruan Bei finally brought Ran Yusheng into the house.

The group returned to the living room where they had interrogated Ruan Bei, and sat down again. Ruan Bei swallowed hard: "This is a long story, and you might not believe it, but what I'm saying is the truth..."

He recounted in detail how he met Ran Yusheng, including some small details of their interactions and the love letter that Ran Yusheng asked him to write.

"It's this letter..."

After obtaining Ran Yusheng's consent, Ruan Bei took out a neatly folded pink envelope from his bag, which was tucked inside a book, and handed it to Mrs. Ran with both hands.

"Uncle Ran said he writes you a love letter every year, but he can't this year, so he asked me to help. He can't find a pen, so I wrote this letter for him..."

Everyone was stunned. They wanted to shout and accuse Ruan Bei of lying.

But with Ran Yusheng around, he revealed many private matters that only they knew through Ruan Bei, leaving them no choice but to believe him.

The bodyguards were skeptical, and their long-held belief in materialism and science began to crumble.

The employer died, then returned as a ghost? What kind of urban legend is this?!

Madam Ran and her wet nurse, Mama Shu, both believed it. Mama Shu and other older women of her generation were very superstitious about these things.

Previously, when Madam Ran asked the bodyguard about the last time the surveillance footage showed a glitch, Shu's mother's expression changed drastically because she remembered that it was the seventh day after her son-in-law's death.

Perhaps because of her deep affection, Madam Ran sensed Ran Yusheng's return home on the seventh day after his death and frantically searched for him everywhere.

Her family thought she had suffered another mental breakdown and called a doctor to prescribe medication for her.

Now it turns out she was right, but Madam Ran was not happy. Large tears streamed down her face as she cried without any regard for her image.

The unfolded love letter was soaked by her tears, and the handwriting blurred into black ink blots.

She just cried quietly, unlike before when she would shout and make a scene when she heard that Ran Yu was dead.

Ran Yusheng was heartbroken by her crying and almost shed tears along with her. He called her by her maiden name and used a very affectionate nickname to coax her and beg her not to cry.

She couldn't hear or see her lover kneeling before her, anxiously reaching out to wipe away her tears.

"Xiao Bei...please help me persuade them..."

Left with no other option, Ran Yusheng once again sought help from Ruan Bei.

Ruan Bei touched his nose and said dryly, "Madam Ran, Uncle Ran asked me to persuade you not to cry..."

How could he possibly say those things? He blushed just listening to them...

His half-hearted retelling was clearly ineffective, and Madam Ran cried even harder.

Meeting Ran Yusheng's accusing gaze, Ruan Bei guiltily turned his head away, thinking, "It wasn't me who made your wife cry..."

“Um… Madam Ran, please don’t cry, Uncle Ran wants to cry with you…”

Madam Ran hiccuped: "You're lying, Yusheng has never cried."

Ruan Bei glanced at Ran Yusheng, who was kneeling before Madam Ran, futilely wiping her tears and patting her back even though he couldn't touch her, and said softly, "I'm not lying to you. I saw you crying in the garden before, and Uncle Ran cried too. Ghosts don't have tears, but I saw it, his eyes were crying..."

My heart is crying too...

Madam Ran's expression froze. She wiped her tears haphazardly from her face, but the tears still slid uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes.

She had lived a happy life for half her life, but it seemed as if she was going to shed all the tears of the first half of her life today.

Finally, in despair, he flung his hand away, staring helplessly at the empty space before him: "Yusheng, Yusheng..."

She didn't know what to say, yet it seemed she had so much to say.

Finally, she asked, "Where is he?"

Ruan Bei walked over, took Ran Yusheng's wrist, and then held Madam Ran's wrist, letting their hands gently touch together.

Madam Ran sensed it carefully and smiled, "It's Yusheng!"

She excitedly told Shu's mother, "Mom, it's Yusheng, it's his hand!"

Mrs. Shu wiped away her tears, unable to speak, and could only nod.

As she calmed down, Mr. Ran stopped saying things that made Ruan Bei, a novice in love, blush. Ruan Bei gradually found the right rhythm.

He subtly conveyed the message to Mrs. Ran, who could not see her lover: "Uncle Ran is kneeling in front of you now, his right hand is holding your hand, and his left hand is wiping away your tears."

Madam Ran curled up the corners of her mouth, revealing a sweet smile.

She carefully placed her free hand on her face, where it felt cool; Yu Sheng was wiping away her tears.