Ruan Bei was stunned, not expecting him to tell him such information that could be considered a weakness.
Ran Yusheng laughed and said, "Don't be so surprised. Even if I don't tell you, you'll naturally find out as you see more of it in the future."
How shrewd he is! As he said, this kind of thing can't be kept secret for long, so he simply told Ruan Bei directly to gain her favor.
Ruan Bei is afraid of ghosts, he can tell; Ruan Bei cares about his family, he can also tell.
The reason he didn't choose the simpler and more convenient method of intimidation and threats to get Ruan Bei to do things for him in the first place was certainly not because he was an upright and kind person—if he really had such good qualities, he wouldn't have used his feelings to deceive that rich young lady in the first place.
Of course, it wasn't because he was soft-hearted; all his soft-heartedness was reserved for his wife.
He was so attached to his promise to his wife that he didn't forget it even after he died and became a ghost. How could he possibly be soft-hearted towards a stranger like Ruan Bei?
He adopted a conciliatory approach from beginning to end, revealing his harmless side, which was initially unknown to him.
On the day they first met, he followed the only boy who could see him all the way to his house, where he saw him stop at the door and then go upstairs.
He followed, but when he reached the door of the house, he suddenly felt a pang of fear.
He sensed something terrifying inside the house, and that if he went in, he would suffer a terrible fate.
Ran Yusheng rationally stopped, noted down Ruan Bei's home address, and then patiently waited in a shady corner of the neighborhood, even during the day.
He waited all day and thought a lot.
He needs Ruan Bei's help, which will inevitably expose his wife's existence. He must not use harsh methods, and he must not harm his family, because he also has a weakness.
Furthermore, there are no other people like Ruan Bei who can see ghosts, even if he held a high position in his previous life.
He knew a few masters with special skills, but at that time he didn't really believe in them and rarely interacted with them.
Ruan Bei can see ghosts, and someone close to him has the ability to control and harm ghosts. These supernatural methods, which are inaccessible to ordinary people, are truly terrifying.
However, this also means that they are not ordinary people.
At this moment, he was incredibly grateful that Ruan Bei was a kind, filial, responsible, and principled good boy.
It's good that he's kind-hearted. A kid like Ruan Bei responds better to kindness than force. Even if he's afraid of him, he'll remember it if he's good to him.
Therefore, Ran Yusheng tried his best to show his goodwill and subtly win Ruan Bei's favor.
If it weren't for the fact that Ruan Bei naturally disliked him because of his ghost identity, Ruan Bei would have regarded him as a reliable and respectable elder long ago, given his demeanor and achievements in life.
But that wasn't enough. If he wasn't worried about giving too much at once, or about being too nice at the beginning and scaring Ruan Bei into becoming wary, Ran Yusheng wouldn't even mind giving him half of his family fortune. After all, this kid was thinking of helping his father make money.
Anyway, his wife could never spend all his money, even if she spent several lifetimes.
Ruan Bei was unaware of these plans; he only thought Ran Yusheng was a very good ghost.
He had dealt with the Lu family and other so-called wealthy people before, but none of them gave him the same good impression as Ran Yusheng.
He thought, this might be a truly virtuous leader.
Little did he know, the big shot saw right through him and was already scheming in his mind.
Fortunately, Ran Yusheng had no ill intentions and was mindful of his own safety; otherwise, with Ruan Bei's limited skills, he would have been no match for such a shrewd and calculating businessman.
Ruan Bei, whose personality was guessed and who was essentially a kind-hearted and good-natured child, was indeed moved.
Even though he was still afraid of Ran Yusheng's ghost identity, that fear had indeed lessened a lot, probably because he knew that as long as he stood in the sunlight in broad daylight, Ran Yusheng couldn't do anything to him.
As fear diminishes, other thoughts begin to emerge.
Thinking of Ran Yusheng, all alone—no, a ghost—staying by in the desolate park all night, Ruan Bei felt a little sorry for him.
"Shall we start writing now?"
He wanted to fulfill Ran Yusheng's wish as soon as possible, so that he could be reincarnated in peace. Being a ghost didn't seem like a happy thing, at least that's what he thought.
Ran Yusheng nodded, and Ruan Bei took out the paper and pen he had prepared from his schoolbag.
He originally planned to write it on the stone table in the small pavilion in the park, but now Ran Yusheng couldn't get there because there was a section of the path without any shade.
Ruan Bei looked around and then squatted down in front of the flower bed. He found a relatively flat spot, took out a book from his schoolbag, placed it underneath, and then put the letter on top.
"Go ahead and say it, I'm listening." Ruan Bei assumed a confident stance, gripping his pen tightly.
When he was a child, he practiced calligraphy with Grandpa He upstairs for a while. Later, he became unpredictable and found it troublesome, so he switched to practicing penmanship. So, despite his young age, he writes very well and is presentable in both calligraphy, penmanship, and blackboard writing.
Ran Yusheng's lips trembled slightly, his voice low and deep: "I wish my wife..."
Ruan Bei quickly wrote it down, then turned to look at Ran Yusheng, signaling him to continue.
May my wife be safe and sound every year, carefree every day, and always happy.
He read each word with utmost sincerity, as if he were reciting a prayer rather than a love letter.
Ruan Bei finished speaking, waited a moment, and then asked hesitantly, "Is that all?"
Ran Yusheng's smile was bitter: "There's too much to say, and I don't know how to start. That's enough."
He used to write love letters, using phrases like "my dearest wife" and "my love," affectionately calling his wife by her maiden name, saying sweet nothings, and even writing love poems.
But when it came to the last love letter, after thinking about it day and night for so many days, after having thought of countless things he wanted to say, in the end, only this one sentence remained.
He left his wife an inexhaustible fortune, not worried about her living a bad life, but only afraid that she would be unhappy.
Ruan Bei looked at the large blank spaces on the letter and the thin line of words, then at Ran Yusheng's melancholy and sad expression, and then he truly realized that what he had experienced was actually a heartbreaking separation of life and death.
"How about... you tell me more? Look, I bought such a thick stack of letter paper. If I can't finish writing today, I can continue writing tomorrow... or... or you can keep the letter here with me first, and I will mail it out for you every year on time."
He thought that if Mr. Ran had so much to say, he could write him many, many letters. Would his wife feel a little comforted if she could receive letters every year?
"No, I'd rather she...forget me..."
It was difficult to say, but Ran Yusheng said it anyway. He smiled bitterly and said, "Emotionally, I hope she will always love me, never forget me, and never forget our feelings, but I can't bear to..."
"She's still young, she has decades of good life ahead of her. We don't have any children, are we going to let her spend the rest of her life alone?"
No matter how much scheming he may have, at this moment, every word Ran Yusheng uttered was from his heart.
What man would be willing to let his lover be with another man? Not to mention he doesn't even want children, and would feel that it diminishes his wife's love.
His wife was like a pampered flower, needing careful nurturing.
In the first half of his life, his father-in-law doted on and protected him. His wife was an innocent and carefree young lady who married him. Even when he initially thought he didn't love her, she never suffered.
After that, once it caught my eye and touched my heart, I wanted to cherish it dearly.
Ruan Bei felt a pang of sadness as he listened. He recalled his previous life, in which he had also left behind only his sister and Kunkun. If he were to return and not be able to find him, how heartbroken he would be.
Feeling a sudden empathy, he hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Would you... like to see your wife again?"
Ran Yusheng was taken aback, his eyes wavered, and finally he silently shook his head: "I can't see him."
"Why?"
Ruan Bei could tell that he wanted to see his wife. If it were him, even if he died and became a ghost, he would also want to see his living relatives and friends, even if they couldn't see him, it would be good if he could see them once.
Ran Yusheng looked gloomy: "A few years ago, my wife and I went on a trip and we encountered a little monk being bullied by some children. I had someone chase those children away. My wife saw that the little monk was pitiful, with injuries on his body and no adults around, so she took him to the hospital first."
"Later, an old monk came over to thank us and gave us a wooden Buddha statue. Although the wood was of average quality, the carving was excellent, and the statue looked kind and benevolent. My wife liked it, so we kept it at home as a decoration."
"Who knew that the Buddha statue was a real treasure. When I first became a ghost, I was confused and didn't know what was going on. On the seventh night after my death, I instinctively went home and almost got killed by that Buddha statue."
Ran Yusheng's mood was not very pleasant, but he knew it was a good thing that could protect his wife, so he had no complaints.
Ruan Bei blinked, her attention immediately shifting to the Buddha statue that could ward off ghosts. She hadn't expected such a wonderful thing to exist! She wished she could get one for her home as well.
"Um...where did you meet that monk?"
Ran Yusheng glanced at him sideways, knowing exactly what he was thinking. Ruan Bei had never even considered taking a liking to the Buddha statue in his house, which made Ran Yusheng feel that he had indeed made the right choice in him.
“We met him in Yuncheng, but we hadn’t heard of any famous temples nearby at the time. You can go and ask around yourself.”
In fact, he felt that with Ruan Bei's special ability to see ghosts, even having a Buddha statue wouldn't help.
Although he was attacked at the time, he had a feeling that the power of the Buddha statue was limited, so he did not get any closer, not wanting to deplete the power of the Buddha statue himself.
He told Ruan Bei his guess, and Ruan Bei was a little disappointed, but quickly cheered up: "You have to try before you give up."
"By the way, since you can't go home, why don't you wait for your wife to come out?" Ruan Bei asked.
“She never liked going out, and this time she hasn’t left the house for many days…” since his death.
"What about during the day? Have you been there during the day? Perhaps the Buddha statues are not used during the day?"
Ran Yusheng watched him silently. Ruan Bei immediately realized what was happening, awkwardly touched his ear, and quickly tried to salvage the situation, saying, "Would you like to try? If you're willing, I can take you there, holding an umbrella... that should be alright, right?"
Ran Yusheng's heart stirred; he really wanted to see his wife again, he really, really wanted to.
"If possible... please!"
"Wait a minute, I'll go buy an umbrella and try it out!"
Ruan Bei immediately jumped up. Because he had been squatting for too long, he stumbled and almost fell. Ran Yusheng subconsciously reached out to help him, but Ruan Bei felt as if he had slapped a piece of paper and missed Ran Yusheng's hand.
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