Chapter 94
It's clear that Huang Ruoyu was very careful not to dirty or mess up anything in Napa Valley No. 5.
When Narumi returned home, she only saw a faint bloodstain running from the front door to the gate. The rest of the house, including the bedroom and living room, was spotless, even showing signs of recent washing. After wandering around in a daze, Narumi found only a bloodstained towel in the sink in the guest bathroom on the first floor.
“I hate a messy house the most,” Cheng Shi said, as if Huang Ruoyu was telling him, “Just throw that towel in the trash and then wash the sink with Dettol.”
So as Cheng Shi tidied up the house, which didn't really have much to do, he could constantly hear Huang Ruoyu's slightly shrill voice. For example, when he threw the towel into the black garbage bag, she would say, "Yes, tie the straps on it properly." And when he knelt on the half-laid cobblestone path wiping away the bloodstains, she would say, "Just use a floor scrubber to clean the cobblestone path, plus a capful of cleaning solution. The cleaning solution is in the laundry room. Found it? It's next to the laundry detergent, the white bottle. Yes, that's it. Oh, the blood didn't drip onto the living room carpet, did it? Great. Just water the half-gray path, and use the floor scrubber to clean the stone slabs at the gate too."
How could Huang Ruoyu be dead? Cheng Shi was completely baffled. If her voice and her will were still vividly echoing at Napa Valley No. 5, how could she possibly be dead?
Even after Cheng Shi finished cleaning the halfway through the passageway and the road in front of the courtyard, and was idly walking around No. 5 Napa Valley, turning on and off the lights one by one, Huang Ruoyu was still lingering in No. 5 Napa Valley—she was everywhere, as real as the fragrance emanating from the clothes in her walk-in closet.
Cheng Shi then hid in the dressing room, nestled among Huang Ruoyu's clothes, and only returned to the living room on the first floor after a long time. Then, as if guided by something, he walked into DK.
It was only then that Cheng Shi finally noticed the yellow sticky note stuck on the refrigerator. However, before he could even read the words on it, he quickly turned off the lights in the DK—because through the DK's floor-to-ceiling windows, he could already see Sun Pengfei's car had driven into his backyard and would be driving to his front door after just one more turn.
Chengshi ran back upstairs and locked himself in the airtight walk-in closet again, hiding among Huang Ruoyu's clothes. In the closet, Chengshi heard Sun Pengfei's car park outside the yard, then he heard the sound of the half-open gate being pushed open because of the recent floor cleaning, followed by a series of chaotic footsteps approaching from afar.
"Xiao Cheng?" Sun Pengfei called out in a hoarse voice, "Chengshi? Are you home? Why is the gate open?"
Cheng Shi heard Sun Pengfei walk through every room upstairs and downstairs, calling his name as he went. Finally, he heard Sun Pengfei leave; he heard the courtyard gate close and the car start and drive away.
Narumi was finally able to emerge from the walk-in closet. He sat in the dark bedroom with the windows tightly closed, holding the bright yellow note.
However, after all this commotion, Huang Ruoyu finally stopped talking to Cheng Shi.
In the time that followed, Chengshi tried to find Huang Ruoyu hour after hour, muttering to himself, hoping for a response from her. He went back to the dressing room again and again, opening and closing all the bottles and jars on the dressing table. He also went to DK repeatedly, because Chengshi thought that Huang Ruoyu's soul might still be wandering in DK—her favorite place.
However, Cheng Shi found nothing; Huang Ruoyu had already left.
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