Low pavilion

Outside the pavilion, a fierce wind and torrential rain raged, darkness intertwined with the curtain of rain.

The girl crouched in the corner of the pavilion, her cheeks pressed tightly against the gap between her chest and knees. Her rain-soaked hair, its original style unrecognizable, draped messily over her shoulders and clung to the side of her face that wasn't fully buried in her body. Her oversized suit jacket, like a quilt, covered her entire body as she crouched, while also shielding her shivering form.

The night was dark and there was no moon; the terror in those eyes was like that of a trapped beast.

"Hey, hey? Hey!"

Gu Nan called out three times, and Lu Yushi's vision finally cleared up a bit.

“I’m warning you, you’d better not have any dirty thoughts,” Gu Nan narrowed his eyes, putting on a sinister aura and threateningly threatening, “This kind of weather is perfect for dumping a body.”

The intimidation effect was less than satisfactory.

Lu Yushi looked down at her, his pupils clear and bright, and said calmly, "Stand up first."

"It's boring."

Gu Nan adjusted his suit jacket, lazily dragging out a single "Oh."

Rain pattered against the eaves of the pavilion, its sound swallowed up by the downpour.

The pavilion fell silent once again.

The warmth provided by the thick suit jacket is enough to ward off the cold, dispel the chill, and give you a burst of boundless energy.

She turned on her phone screen, only to see a heartless cross in the upper right corner. She clicked her tongue, rested her chin on her hand, and listlessly glanced around, her face full of regret. Why couldn't the leaves talk?

She lightly kicked the stone table with her toe, trying to attract Lu Yushi's attention and break the increasingly suffocating atmosphere.

What do you usually do when you're not busy?

The words were spoken, but the person standing with their back turned did not react.

For a moment she wondered if her vocal cords had frozen to death, but she quickly dismissed the idea, thinking it was more likely that Lu Yushi's ears had frozen to death.

Considering that Lu Yushi had given her his coat, she felt she should be forgiving.

With a loud "boom".

The thunder roared, as if it were trying to scare someone to death.

Lu Yushi then looked up at the sky.

She was fairly certain that Lu Yushi still had hearing for the time being.

A voice of dissatisfaction emerged: "No, it was just casual conversation. Was it really necessary to think about it for so long?"

After a long silence, Gu Nan gritted her teeth. It seemed that Lu Yushi simply didn't want to talk to her. She had even worried about Lu Yushi's ears for a moment.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She drew out each word in a sarcastic tone: "Why do you act stupid for no reason? You don't even chat. If you're annoyed, go lie down in the morgue?"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance and glanced at her half-dead phone.

As long as there is a signal, as long as there is a third living creature breathing in the pavilion, she doesn't have to face this stone.

Fearing Lu Yushi might not understand, he kindly summarized, "He doesn't have any friends."

Lu Yushi withdrew his gaze, turned his head, and stared at her face for a long time. His lips twitched slightly: "I didn't talk to any friends who disposed of the body."

"..." Speechless for a moment after being choked by him, Gu Nan waved her hand, "Go back and be your goalkeeper."

She tightened her suit jacket and continued to bury her head between her knees and chest, pretending to be a quail.

They gave up on breaking the ice and didn't want to communicate.

The figure blocking the corner of the table didn't move. She didn't care. While silently counting her heartbeats, she heard a question again.

"Is this necklace important to you?"

...

"You're a masochist, aren't you?"

When she pressed for answers, people wouldn't even bother to look at her.

After she gave up, Lu Yushi became more talkative.

She rolled her eyes silently, instinctively clutching the necklace, thinking to herself that she and Lu Yushi were definitely incompatible.

The two knew nothing about each other's past, so how many topics couldn't they talk about? But Lu Yushi just happened to be able to choose the one topic she was least interested in from among thousands of possible conversations.

He shrugged. Oh well, better than nothing.

She pressed her forehead against her hand and made up a story: "It was a gift from my ex-boyfriend."

As she spoke, she glanced at Lu Yushi's expression, spread her hands, and lectured him with a hint of schadenfreude: "You should be secretly happy. If he hadn't died, we definitely would never have been together in this lifetime."

That's it?

Lu Yushi couldn't quite describe his feelings. He had witnessed Gu Nan's ability to spout nonsense without batting an eye more than once. After several months of getting to know each other, he thought he had long since gotten used to it, but now it seemed that his mind was still not calm enough. He calmed his breathing and asked, "How did it disappear?"

"Huh?" Gu Nan exclaimed in surprise.

His surprised expression didn't seem fake.

Lu Yushi was startled and lost some of his composure: "What?"

"You're actually curious?" Gu Nan stared at the shadows flickering on the stone tabletop under the lamplight, muttering slowly, "That shouldn't be the case. Curiosity is a normal human reaction. What does it have to do with you?"

His face was full of confusion, and he couldn't figure it out at all.

Lu Yushi was both annoyed and amused. Gu Nan really never took him seriously. She cursed him to his face. Was she sure he had a good temper, or did she think he wouldn't dare to do anything? He squeezed out two words through gritted teeth: "What?"

"Hehe," seeing Lu Yushi narrow his eyes, Gu Nan shook her head and leaned back, not daring to repeat herself, afraid that if she angered him, there would be no one to talk to anymore. The rain showed no signs of letting up, and there was no cell phone signal. At least Lu Yushi was breathing, so she could at least pass the time and relieve her boredom.

Talking nonsense: "Do I really have to bring up my painful memories?"

"A sad thing?" Lu Yushi stared at her for a while, then smiled inexplicably, as if he could see through her lies, making no attempt to hide his suspicion.

Gu Nan didn't care whether Lu Yushi believed her or not, and continued her story: "One day it rained heavily, and he fell off the mountain and died."

The calm tone made it difficult to detect the sadness of life and death separation.

Lu Yushi chuckled, "At least put on an act."

"...I didn't see any sadness in him."

"It's been so many years, I'm numb to it all now. Talking about it would only bring sadness, it's pointless. I'll just keep it as a memento." After saying this lightly, Gu Nan looked at him expectantly and asked, "What about you? Do you have any unforgettable first love, any white moonlight in your heart?"

Lu Yushi didn't respond, but said with a half-smile, "Keeping the necklace until now shows that old feelings are hard to forget."

Gu Nan nodded in agreement, but halfway through, she suddenly realized something was wrong. Her heart skipped a beat, and she cried out silently, "We can't break up!"

Without saying a word, she jumped up and lunged forward, her body leaning forward. She gripped the edge of the table tightly to keep herself from falling into Lu Yushi's arms. She spoke rapidly: "But right now, you're all I have in my heart! You can't be jealous of a dead man, there's no need. His grave is overgrown with weeds, his body has been eaten by rats, he wouldn't even have a chance to come back to life."

"..."

The two were only half an arm's length apart. When she looked up at Lu Yu, she couldn't find any clues and wondered to herself what kind of expression that was.

Don't believe me?

She was afraid that Lu Yushi would just say "I'll grant your wish," and then she might as well jump into a water burial.

"Before he died, he held my hand and solemnly asked me to swear that if I found someone I liked, I would let him go and be with the person I liked. I like you."

The person opposite seemed to have an even more distorted expression, as if they had something to say, or as if something was stuck in their throat, preventing them from opening their mouth.

Gu Nan didn't understand. What kind of reaction was this, given her affectionate and high-profile declaration of love?

Other people's boyfriends must be so happy they could cry.

Her boyfriend, after hearing this, took half a step forward, reducing the distance between them from half an arm's length to a palm's length.

Lu Yushi lowered his eyes. Gu Nan stood a little closer to the light, the dim yellow light softening her facial features. Upon closer inspection, one could even see a thin layer of soft downy hair covering her face. Her red lips opened and closed, and she talked on and on as if she were tired.

In the end, I didn't hear a single word of the truth.

In order to continue to exploit him, she tried her best to act affectionately in front of him, but her acting was so bad that she didn't even realize it.

He didn't mean to point it out, but a mischievous feeling he'd never had before quietly crept into his heart. He said seriously, "Since it's his intention, let's go visit him together when the rain stops."

Gu Nan: "...Didn't I make myself clear? He lives in a cemetery now."

Lu Yushi spoke casually, the corners of his mouth gradually widening until they stopped at an angle that was not easily noticed: "Burn some paper money to express your feelings."

Gu Nan's face was full of mixed emotions: "Bringing your current boyfriend to visit your ex-boyfriend's grave, is this something a carbon-based life form could come up with?"

Lu Yushi didn't take it to heart and said casually, "Since I also..." He paused, deliberately emphasizing his words, "I like you, so I should be even more grateful for his magnanimity."

While speaking, he "thoughtfully" pulled up the corner of Gu Nan's clothes that had slipped down by half an inch.

Gu Nan frowned, questioning the meaning of life.

Isn't that a sign of your magnanimity?

Insisting on taking your girlfriend to visit her ex-boyfriend's grave—you're not just generous, you're ridiculously generous.

If that doesn't work, how about we dig out that old man sitting in the main hall and put him back in there for you?

He was internally screaming, "You still like me? If I weren't useful to you, would you put up with me? My body would be rotting by now."

Lu Yushi knew exactly what Gu Nan was thinking, and smiled, "Aren't you the most polite person? I'll learn from you."

The scene from over a month ago seemed to reappear.

Gu Nan looked at Lu Yushi with disbelief and swallowed hard. Every sarcastic remark she uttered was followed by a perfectly timed sarcastic response from Lu Yushi.

Something must have gone wrong.

"I doubt I'll ever meet anyone more petty than you in my entire life."

Lu Yushi seemed oblivious to the underlying meaning in her words and asked, "Is it inconvenient?"

Gu Nan muttered, "Nonsense, where am I supposed to find an unwanted grave in a short time?"

"What?"

“Convenient, so convenient,” Gu Nan grinned through her teeth. “My boyfriend wants to burn some paper money, how can I not do it? It has to be convenient! Burning paper money is so insincere. You’re so rich, burn real money, and if that’s not enough, burn some checks too. Bring two RVs, I can’t let your ex-boyfriend’s brother live a frugal life over there.”

Lu Yushi: "Intentionally damaging property is a crime."

Gu Nan typed, head down: "Is there anyone kind enough to help arrange a grave?"

He casually retorted, "You think you know everything about the law? You're so ambitious and eager to learn manners, yet you go empty-handed?"

"100,000."

Gu Nan: "...You really are."

Before he could finish cursing, he looked down and edited what he had typed.

[Looking for an unwanted grave, 100,000 RMB a day! A rock-bottom price! Cash on delivery.]

Lu Yushi glanced at it, chuckled, and looked away, saying, "I'll have Sun Qian arrange the location first thing tomorrow morning."