acquaintance
Ren Heshu told them that the cause was a nightmare she had the night before. The nightmare was very real. After she woke up from the nightmare, the pain and fear in the dream continued. She hid in the quilt and dared not sleep all night.
She heaved a sigh of relief the next morning, thinking it was over. Unexpectedly, she had another nightmare the next night, the exact same one. She was so frightened that she had no choice but to call Song Yiyu for help.
Song Yiyu stayed with her the entire day, and at night, he stayed in the house to watch over her sleep. With him around, Ren Heshu felt at ease. She thought she could have a good sleep tonight, but who would have thought that she would be woken up by the same nightmare again, and the pain in the dream became more and more obvious in reality.
"You had a nightmare the night before last. Have you encountered any strange people or things in the past period of time?" Liu Muzhe asked.
Ren Heshu shook her head. Her life now was very simple. She worked to earn money to support herself through college. She went to school and went to the same place every day. She had not met any strange people or things.
"Did you pick up anything? For example, the eyeball-shaped bead you saw in your dream?" Liu Muzhe asked again.
Ren Heshu thought that if she saw a bead that looked like an eyeball on the ground, she would be so frightened that she would never pick it up. However, the day before the nightmare, she found a hundred yuan bill in the alley on her way home. The bill was dirty and covered in mud, and it lay wrinkled in an inconspicuous corner. She was happy for a long time at that time. The hundred yuan was equivalent to half a month's part-time job in the school cafeteria.
"Is it just a piece of money? Is there something like hair or talisman paper?" Liu Muzhe asked.
"No." Ren Heshu shook his head.
When Liu Muze heard about the money being picked up, he thought it was a ghost marriage. However, ghost marriages have many rules, and the red envelope is a crucial one. Besides the money, the envelope must also contain the deceased's hair and their birth chart. A single piece of money certainly didn't fit the rules of a ghost marriage. Liu Muze asked her if she still had the money; he wanted to see it.
Ren Heshu walked into the room and spread the crumpled money on the table in the living room.
Liu Muzhe looked at the money carefully. There were no strange spells written on the front or back. It was indeed just an ordinary piece of money.
"Brother Liu, have you noticed anything wrong with the ground?" Ye Jing'an asked.
"No, but it is definitely connected with the wizards in the West. I am not very clear about their methods, and I don't know what they want to do." Liu Muzhe said.
"Then what should we do?" Song Yiyu asked anxiously.
"It's okay. There are many ways to do evil magic in the West. You should be able to find out if you ask around." Liu Muzhe instructed Ye Jing'an, "You stay here and watch over her. I will be back before 8 o'clock. Call me if you need anything."
"Okay, be careful." Ye Jing'an held his hand.
"Don't worry." Liu Muzhe said with a smile.
Song Yiyu felt distressed when he saw Ren Heshu's bewildered look. He opened the cake he had bought, cut a small piece and handed it to her, comforting her: "It's okay, don't be afraid, we are all here. You must be hungry, have a piece of cake first."
"Thank you." Ren Heshu took the cake and stared at it in a daze. The cake was very delicate, with spherical flowers made of buttercream all over it, just like the real thing.
She'd inquired at the cake shop, and learned that making this kind of cake was incredibly time-consuming and expensive, requiring pre-orders. Yet, she managed to enjoy it every week. She lowered her head and carefully plucked a pink rose from the cake with a fork, taking a sip. It was neither sweet nor cloying, melting in her mouth, a delicate floral fragrance filling her mouth. She held the cake further away, lowering her head and turning her face away.
"What's wrong? Is today's cake not delicious?" Song Yiyu asked softly.
Ye Jingan was sitting opposite her and could see clearly that the little girl was crying out of grievance. He tugged at Song Yiyu's sleeve and used lip language to tell her that she was crying.
Song Yiyu understood and said softly, "You didn't sleep well last night, so you must be sleepy now. Go back to your room and take a nap. Eat after you wake up."
Ren Heshu nodded and walked quickly back to the room.
Ye Jingan asked in a low voice: "Dude, what's wrong with you? You acted like a sissy for three years in high school, and now you have a girlfriend. The key is that I heard from your dad that your girlfriend is a rich girl."
Song Yiyu smoothed his hair and told Ye Jing'an the whole story. He and Ren Heshu were classmates in junior high school. Ren Heshu had a cheerful personality and loved to laugh. He often helped his classmates and was considered a good student by his teachers and classmates.
Song Yiyu had been as rebellious as Ye Jingan since childhood, disobeying discipline and showing disdain for good students. At that time, he had never paid any attention to Ren Heshu. Their story began one day after school in the first semester of the second year of junior high school.
Song Yiyu was sulking with his dad and stayed in the classroom, refusing to go back. He played until around nine o'clock, when the security guard came up to chase him away. He happened to be hungry at the time, so he thought of taking a bus back first. He could also go against his will at home.
It was raining heavily that day. Song Yiyu saw Ren Heshu standing alone at the school gate, looking anxiously toward the road home. He ignored her and got in his car to leave.
The driver didn't take the shortest way home, but instead took a long, remote route. Song Yiyu was unhappy because the long way there didn't have the midnight snack he wanted, so he asked the driver to turn around and go back to the road he usually took. The driver looked a little embarrassed and told him that there was a traffic accident on the road he usually took, and now all the cars were stuck on the overpass and couldn't move at all.
Song Yiyu thought about how Ren Heshu had always been picked up by her mother, and now she was probably stuck in traffic. It was so cold and windy outside at night, and it was unsafe for her to stay out alone. Song Yiyu asked the security guard to turn around and go back to school. He wanted to take Ren Heshu home.
As the car approached the school gate, Song Yiyu saw Ren Heshu still standing there waiting. He suddenly didn't want to see her off. They weren't close to each other to begin with, and it felt like he was trying to flirt with her. There were plenty of guys showing their affection to Ren Heshu, and Song Yiyu didn't want to be talked about.
But leaving like this would make him feel guilty. The car stopped at the side of the road, and Song Yiyu hesitated whether to help. Outside the window, the rain was getting heavier, and there was thunder and lightning. Standing at the school gate, Ren Heshu folded his arms and shrank against the wall.
After much hesitation, Song Yiyu decided to go over and ask. Maybe the other person still didn't want to ride in his car, but he had to lend her his phone to call her mother instead of letting her worry here.
As the car started, Song Yiyu saw Ren Heshu running towards a patch of grass outside the school gate, squatting on the ground and digging something out of the grass. It was raining so hard, Song Yiyu didn't understand why she ran out in the rain without an umbrella. He walked over to Ren Heshu with an umbrella, held it for her, and asked her what she was doing.
Ren Heshu pulled a small orange kitten out of the bushes. It was soaking wet and as thin as a bamboo pole. If Ren Heshu hadn't found it in such a heavy downpour, it would have been dead. Ren Heshu carried the kitten to a place sheltered from the rain at the school gate and wiped the rain off it with a tissue from his schoolbag.
After settling the kitten down, Ren Heshu finally noticed that the person holding the umbrella for her was Song Yiyu, the school's aloof, cool idol. Song Yiyu had never spoken to her, and she hadn't approached him either. The main reason was that there were so many boys and girls who liked him, and being close to him would easily lead to hostility. She didn't want to cause trouble, so she avoided approaching him unless necessary.
Song Yiyu told Ren Heshu about the traffic jam and lent her her phone to call her mother. Ren Heshu called several times but no one answered. Finally, a male doctor answered the phone. Her mother had been in a car accident on the way to pick her up and was now in a coma in the hospital.
Song Yiyu reassured her not to worry and told the driver to take her to the hospital. Ren Heshu's mother lay in bed, her hair and clothes soaked, blood seeping through the white gauze wrapped around her arm. The doctor told Ren Heshu that her mother's condition was not optimistic and she needed constant care. Ren Heshu lost her balance and fell to the ground. It was so sudden, she didn't know what to do.
Seeing her like this, Song Yiyu felt pity for her and asked the driver to take the kitten she had rescued to the veterinary hospital and then go back. He planned to stay in the hospital with her. That night, her mother's condition suddenly became serious and she had to undergo surgery immediately. Song Yiyu helped her pay for the surgery and hospitalization fees.
For the next week, Ren Heshu didn't come to school. Song Yiyu didn't have her contact information, so she decided to go see her. After all, they were classmates, so she had to help them. Just then, the veterinary hospital called to say the kitten had recovered and could be brought over to keep Ren Heshu company.
"Kitten?" Ye Jing'an glanced at the fat cat in the living room who was eating cat food. "Could it be that fat orange cat?"
"Yeah." Song Yiyu called out "Sunny Day", and the orange cat ran over and sat at his feet, rubbing its head against his legs.
"So fat!" Ye Jing'an touched the orange cat's head and asked Song Yiyu, "What happens next?"
"Her mother didn't wake up after that." Song Yiyu leaned back on the sofa, recalling the scene when he saw Ren Heshu again.
When he rushed to the hospital, the bed was empty. The doctor told him that the woman who lived there had been taken home to handle her funeral after failing to be resuscitated. Song Yiyu rushed to Ren Heshu's home, where a mourning hall was set up downstairs. Ren Heshu, pale as a cadaver, knelt beside it.
"At that time, I didn't know her at all. I went to comfort her, and she cried and told me that she had no family left in this world." Song Yiyu sighed. "After that, I stayed with her and learned a little about her past. She was sunny and optimistic at school every day. Anyone would think her family must be very happy. Who could have imagined how miserable her life was as a child."
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