Night fell over the bustling square, but the darkness that should have dominated was diminished by the clusters of lights that surrounded it.
The clamor piled up under the lit red lights, creating a lively scene. The wind blew the swaying light bulbs, making them sway for a while, as if trying to scatter the light into the night and turn darkness into day.
The white mist broke apart and was exhaled from the mouth, then was completely swallowed up by the wind.
Xu Shiyue had never felt her heart beat so fast, her eyes fixed on the back of the person she was holding.
Time seemed to slow down at that moment, and the person's long hair, which was draped over their back, swayed slightly in her vision.
The noisy surroundings suddenly quieted down, and in the bright light, Xu Shiyue saw Lu Shizhen's face turn towards her.
The stacked and interwoven lights generously illuminated the person's face, making every strand of her hair glow.
Her beautiful eyebrows connected with her straight nose, the light tracing the curves, each stroke landing in a place familiar to Xu Shiyue.
The passing traffic brought a cool breeze, which ruffled Xu Shiyue's messy long hair.
On this winter night, when the air was almost still, she seemed to smell the fragrance of roses again.
For a moment, Xu Shiyue's heart almost stopped.
She... she grabbed Lu Shizhen.
She did not die.
She didn't die...
She knew she wouldn't die...
Xu Shiyue's eyelashes widened, and even her breathing trembled slightly.
She couldn't wait to bring this person she had almost lost back to her, lock him up, and make sure he could never leave her again, but then she heard a questioning voice in her ear: "Who are you?!"
The voice was sharp and unfamiliar, rising in pitch, and the question was full of rejection and dissatisfaction.
Lu Shizhen frowned, her disgust clearly written on her face.
Xu Shiyue was immediately stunned.
And the person with the furrowed brows in sight slowly changed into a different appearance.
Another completely unfamiliar appearance.
Xu Shiyue couldn't believe what she was seeing and turned to look for the small, glowing yellow ball with a string that she had been chasing all the way.
But the small ball that glowed yellow in the darkness was just a specially shaped glow stick in this person's hand.
The red light that had been blocking pedestrians turned green, and the impatient people lifted their feet and walked forward, brushing past Xu Shiyue's shoulder.
Various lights flickered in her vision, and a devastating truth was laid bare before her.
Many people around were holding yellow glow sticks like these.
Even at the stall she had just passed, someone was selling this thing.
The bustling crowd rippled gently like the sea, and she was like a small boat that had been overturned in it.
Isolated and helpless, what she thought was a lifeline turned out to be just an illusion, a wave crashing over her.
Her relentless pursuit led her to mistakenly focus on the wrong person at some point.
how so……
How could this be...?
The crowded, flickering light, in Xu Shiyue's slightly stunned eyes, was divided and overlapped into hexagonal shapes, monotonously and crowdedly filling her vision.
She couldn't believe that the light she had just seen was just a small glow stick, while the person she was holding was becoming increasingly impatient: "Hey, who are you! Let go of me! Did you hear me! If you don't let go of me, I'm calling the police!"
The man was about to turn on his phone to call the police when an arm reached out and stopped him: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my friend mistook me for someone else. I'm so sorry, so sorry."
Shen Yanxing chased after Xu Shiyue all the way before finally catching up. Before things got any worse, he hurriedly advised, "Shiyue, please let go."
Perhaps it was the sound of a familiar voice that made Xu Shiyue's empty eyes react. She looked up and murmured, "She's not Lu Shizhen."
Shen Yanxing didn't know what Xu Shiyue had seen that made her call out Lu Shizhen's name, but the current situation clearly indicated that she had mistaken someone else: "Yes, she is not Lu Shizhen."
The winter wind shook the snow off the bare branches and blew coldly over.
The girl's eyelashes seemed to be unable to bear the weight, and trembled several times as the snowflakes fell.
The green light flashed twice at the bustling intersection, and the countdown numbers appeared.
In those final few seconds, Xu Shiyue released her grip on the passerby's shoulder.
It should be said that her hand fell limply to the ground.
“How could it not be…” Xu Shiyue’s voice was soft and full of frustration, which could be blown away by any passing gust of wind.
The new head of the Xu family, who had quickly carved out a bloody path in the business world through ruthless decisiveness, slumped her back, her messy long hair falling from her shoulders as she lowered her head, as if something had silently shattered.
Shen Yanxing had never seen Xu Shiyue like this before; she was fragile and empty, like a beautifully crafted but soulless doll in a shop window.
She felt as if her heart had been squeezed, and she couldn't bear it, so she comforted her, "Shiyue, it's so dark around here, you might be mistaken."
Xu Shiyue shook her head, her voice filled with an indescribable stubbornness: "I couldn't possibly be wrong."
Since things had come to this point, Shen Yanxing wouldn't bother arguing with Xu Shiyue.
She knew that Lu Shizhen was Xu Shiyue's only stubbornness right now, so since she couldn't persuade her, she simply used it as a roundabout way: "Alright, it's already very late, almost midnight, we have to go back. Yuanzi is home alone, isn't she?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Shiyue immediately raised her head.
As if suddenly remembering something, she nodded as if she had been brought back to life and said, "Yes, I have to go home."
Lu Shizhen was still waiting for her to come home...
Xu Shiyue's car was already parked on one side of the square. Shen Yanxing helped her into the car.
As night deepened, the streetlights on both sides of the road appeared even brighter, dancing into the car and illuminating Xu Shiyue's face in shifting light.
The light reflected off the glass made her pale skin look as exquisite as porcelain, softly outlining her profile and adding a touch of highlight to the tip of her pert nose.
The word "beautiful" alone seems insufficient to describe Xu Shiyue's beauty at this moment.
In the deathly silence of the carriage, she resembled a beautiful but uninteresting doll leaning against a shop window.
Disheartened, her raven-feather-like eyelashes drooped low.
She seemed to be filled with immense sorrow, yet she couldn't cry.
The long night finally came to an end, and the first golden rays of sunlight broke through the sky.
After the seventh day since her death, Lu Shizhen will be cremated and buried.
This sounds especially cruel to someone who has just turned eighteen.
Everyone in Lu Shizhen's family knew her personality; she didn't like associating with unfamiliar people. Lu's relatives had overheard some rumors, and Cheng Meiyan didn't invite any of them.
Compared to the constant wailing and sobbing coming from the mourning hall next door, Lu Shizhen's place seemed unusually quiet.
But the person is already gone. What's the point of such a lively celebration, such heart-wrenching cries that don't even convey sadness?
Xu Shiyue stood closest to Lu Shizhen's coffin, her eyes lowered in thought.
Contrary to the white of death, red filled her vision, surrounding the sleeping girl.
Lu Shizhen loves roses; everyone in her family knows that.
However, winter roses are like gold, and it would take a lot of effort to bring them to Lu Shizhen in their best condition, but this was not a problem for Xu Shiyue.
As long as there are places where roses still bloom, she will definitely be able to bring them.
Whether it was money, antiques, or gemstones, she threw away the pearl bracelet that was wrapped around her wrist without hesitation.
Layer upon layer of petals are piled together, one by one, rich and vibrant.
The vibrant roses rested against Lu Shizhen, as if they were blooming from her withered and exhausted body.
It's really beautiful.
Xu Shiyue watched as the mortician meticulously prepared Lu Shizhen's body, showing no hesitation in touching the cruel corpse.
The girl's slender fingers gently brushed through the stray strands of hair, carefully and softly tidying them up, just as they had done when they were together in the past.
These days, Xu Shiyue always felt that Lu Shizhen was just asleep.
Lu Shizhen could open her eyes at any moment, just like that day when she came home and this person suddenly jumped out from behind the TV, smiling smugly and arrogantly at her, saying, "Just kidding! How about that, were you scared?"
But……
No matter how long the farewell lasted, the moment of cremation still arrived.
Funeral home staff came over and pushed Lu Shizhen's coffin away, and Cheng Meiyan and others couldn't stop crying.
The crying was nothing compared to the agonizing wailing that had just come from next door; the buzzing of flies, however, seemed to originate from the ground beneath my feet.
Intense emotions kept pounding against Xu Shiyue from her feet and back, weak yet continuous, making her bones tremble.
Xu Shiyue belatedly looked at her empty hand, unsure of how to react.
She thought Lu Shizhen would definitely like the roses she had chosen for her.
After all, in the very beginning, it was she who asked me to take care of her roses.
She caught herself when she was determined to die.
In that endless sea of red fire.
The memorial room was empty; no one spoke anymore.
The vast space could not contain this sorrow; even the wind fell silent.
It may be quick, but the minute hand has already gone around the dial more than once.
When Xu Shiyue came to her senses, she had already arrived at the outer room of another room. The half-closed door could not contain the heat wave inside, as if tongues of fire were about to rush out and engulf her.
Xu Shiyue didn't like the intense heat, so she shifted her position slightly. As a result, she saw the box that they had just received yesterday being carried by the staff and placed on the operating table, which was now filled with a lot of things.
It was grayish, like something had turned into dust.
Xu Shiyue stared intently at the box, her gaze unwavering.
She seemed to realize something, but her eyes were empty.
So, she'll be stuck in that kind of place from now on?
She loves freedom so much, why confine her to this box...?
The silver hammer reflected a warm, dull light in Xu Shiyue's eyes; it was small yet powerful.
Xu Shiyue didn't know what this thing was for when she saw the staff member raise a hammer and smash a bone-like object in front of her.
Piece by piece, one bite at a time.
Holding the bones that hadn't yet turned to ash, the white gloves forcefully smashed them into small pieces that could fit into a box.
It's like forcibly stuffing every soul that doesn't want to curl up in this box into it.
From the spine to the ribs, from the knee joints to the shin bones...
Xu Shiyue's eyelashes trembled slightly. Every blow of the hammer onto her bone felt like a blow to her body, each one connected to her heart, causing unbearable pain.
How much pain she must be in.
When I went there, the coffin was so big, but when I came out, there was only such a small space left.
so……
So, does that mean she really can't come back?
The girl seemed to realize something, and the slight trembling of her eyelashes gradually became more intense.
Those raven-feather-like eyelashes, like bird wings, suddenly lost their rhythm of fluttering, frantically connecting many shimmering lights.
Could it be that the Lu Shizhen she saw yesterday was actually a scene where she came to say goodbye to her?
She saw herself, and she saw herself, so she could leave peacefully and never come back... right?
Why are you leaving?
Why leave her alone again?
Why……
Why does she feel safe leaving once they've met...?
What gives her the right to feel at ease?
She left herself alone in this world, so why should she feel at ease?
The wind pushed the clouds that had stopped on the horizon in front of the sun, making them a heavy obstruction to the window.
The soil that had withered and then sprouted new grass grew dark, obscuring the sun like a black void that would never light up, hanging high and despairingly in the most conspicuous position in the sky.
Living alone...
Living alone is so lonely.
Xu Shiyue felt an unprecedented pain, as if an invisible hand had reached into her body, trying to forcibly remove something that was extremely important to her.
A tremendous grief gathered in his throat, struggling to escape, but it all got stuck in one place.
She watched Lu Shizhen in her final moments in this world, with nowhere to go, nowhere to vent her emotions, only a pair of withered, red eyes remaining.
then,
Finally, tears flowed from Xu Shiyue's eyes.
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