Chapter 86
Five or six days before the anniversary of the death, Wang Yidong felt a vague unease in his heart.
But then she thought she was overthinking it, after all, so much time had passed, and the young lady's condition was getting better every day.
She placed the stewed meat and eggs in front of Xiang Wan and tentatively asked, "This year marks the first anniversary of Xiao Yan's death. Should we hold a big celebration at home?"
Wang Yidong saw the young lady pause for a moment, then quickly regain her composure: "No need, I'll just go to the cemetery and put a bouquet of flowers myself."
"good."
Even though the young lady said that, she still felt inexplicably uneasy.
On the anniversary of Chen Yan's death, the maid was washing dishes in the kitchen, and Wang Yidong was wiping vases on the cabinet outside, when a crisp sound came from inside.
She strode out of the kitchen and looked at the broken stew pot on the floor and the maid who was looking at her helplessly. Wang Yidong did not get angry with her, but her mood still sank: "Put on gloves and clean up the broken plate."
"yes."
Instead of watching the maid clean up the mess, she went outside, took out her phone, and called Xiang Wan.
The phone went unanswered for a long time, and just as Wang Yidong was about to drive to the cemetery, her call was finally connected.
"What's wrong?"
Hearing the young lady's voice, she finally felt relieved: "I forgot to ask the young lady what time she's coming home for dinner today?"
Xiang Wan, who was opposite her, was silent for a while. She stood on the beach, watching the waves surging towards her, and finally chose to lie: "It might be a little late."
"I leave the light on for Miss no matter how late it is."
"..."
After the other end of the phone hung up, Xiang Wan looked at the waves that were almost up to her waist, and suddenly the fairy tale came to mind.
When Zhou Chengze collapsed, on the first floor of the hospital, the children's author was telling a fairy tale to a sick child:
Legend has it that a princess fell in love with a knight, but the knight sacrificed himself to protect her. One day, a witch found the princess and said she could let her see the knight again.
She said that the goddess of love was born from the sea and that the goddess of love would allow her to see the person she wanted to see, but the witch was actually a voodoo elder in disguise.
But the princess believed it anyway, and in order to see the knight, she chose to jump into the sea and die for love.
Whether Cupid truly exists or not, she was moved by their love, and in the end, the naive princess actually met the knight, and the two lived happily ever after...
Xiang Wan wanted to commit suicide by drowning, not because she believed in this fairy tale, but because her soul had already drowned in a sea called guilt.
If it weren't for her mistaken decision back then, Chen Yan wouldn't have died.
She felt that his death was due to the butterfly effect brought about by her rebirth, and that Chen Yan was the one whom fate sacrificed to take revenge on her.
Xiang Wan doesn't consider herself a great philanthropist, but the idea of letting Chen Yan die in her place to survive goes against her worldview, and she can't accept it.
But her pride wouldn't allow her to simply accept her fate, so she chose to let herself sleep in the sea.
She didn't die of a heart attack at the age of 26, as 'she' had written for her; instead, she died on the day she chose to die.
It is both resistance and demonstration.
The waves pushed her toward the shore, but she went against the current, walking step by step toward the depths of the sea.
The sky was clear and the clouds were as soft and light as cotton candy.
The sea gradually transitions from shallow to deep, and the sand beneath your feet is no longer the beach where you can touch the bottom, but the bottomless seawater.
Xiang Wan let her body sink into the sea. In the last second of her brain being deprived of oxygen, she glanced at the sky, which looked just like the day she died in her previous life.
The seawater enveloped her as she sank, and she watched the distant horizon, but she stopped struggling...
'If she could live another life, in Li Family Village that winter, she wouldn't choose anyone.'
*
On the other side, the cemetery.
Holding the flowers, Shen Feiyang turned to look at Jiang Zhuochun and Che Nanbei, and couldn't help but tease them: "I say, even though you two are married, you only bought one bouquet of flowers for Chen Yan. Isn't that a bit stingy?"
The two: "..."
Jiang Zhuochun was speechless for a moment, while Che Nanbei, who was standing next to her, took her husband's arm and raised her chin at Shen Feiyang: "Chen Yan likes Wanwan so much, he won't blame us."
“Exactly.” Since his wife had spoken, Jiang Zhuochun naturally supported her.
Upon hearing this, Shen Feiyang laughed so hard he bent over, and looked at the two of them, laughing and cursing, "Shameless!"
Che Nanbei pulled his arm away from Jiang Zhuochun and instead hooked it around Shen Feiyang's waist, making a face at her: "Hehehe."
"..."
As the three walked into the cemetery, they couldn't help but mention the other member of their group of four:
"Why didn't Xiang Wan come with us?"
"I tried calling her this morning but couldn't get through. She might be meeting with some important business partner, after all, today is a workday."
"Could it be that he/she forgot?"
"How could that be?"
…
All three thought Xiang Wan would arrive later, until they reached Chen Yan's grave and saw the bunch of cornflowers neatly placed in front of it.
Che Nanbei placed the flowers he was holding next to the bouquet and asked the two people behind him, "Huh? Has Wanwan already been here?"
Jiang Zhuochun was curious about the type of flowers: "What kind of flowers are these? Did Xiang Wan leave them?"
Only Shen Feiyang's expression turned somewhat strange after seeing the bouquet of flowers.
She ignored her two friends behind her and took out her phone to dial Xiang Wan's number. But just like that morning, the phone was switched off.
Her expression grew increasingly serious, to the point that even Che Nanbei noticed his friend's odd behavior: "What's wrong?"
Shen Feiyang didn't even turn his head: "This bunch of cornflowers must have been placed by Xiang Wan."
Upon hearing this, Che Nanbei found his friend's reaction somewhat strange: "Probably, but so what?"
Shen Feiyang's face was unusually pale: "Wanwan once told me that if she died one day, she wanted us to send her a bouquet of cornflowers on the anniversary of her death."
"What??"
Jiang Zhuochun frowned, his expression becoming somewhat serious: "I just called Xiang Shuhan, but her phone was switched off."
The three exchanged glances, realizing that something big was about to happen.
Shen Feiyang looked at them and said, "Get in my car first."
The two said in unison, "Okay."
In the car, Jiang Zhuochun drove the car out of the cemetery, while Che Nanbei first called Wang Yidong.
Fortunately, the call was answered quickly. While fastening her seatbelt, she asked, "Sister Yidong, is Xiang Shuhan home right now?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Yidong on the other end of the phone paused for a moment: "Didn't the young lady go to the cemetery with you?"
“We didn’t see Wanwan, we only saw a bunch of cornflowers she left in front of Chen Yan’s tombstone.”
As Jiang Zhuochun turned the steering wheel, he said, "Could it be that someone else planted the flowers, and Xiang Wan hasn't arrived yet?"
Wang Yidong was somewhat distraught: "But the young lady set off at seven o'clock in the morning."
"!!!"
After the negotiation, the group panicked completely, and no one had any clue what to do.
Xia Yueshen, who was hula hooping in the backyard, came in and heard Wang Yidong on the phone, so she went over and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you so serious?"
As if he had completely lost his composure, Wang Yidong's voice trembled slightly: "Xiang Wan is not in the cemetery."
"What?" Xia Yueshen paused in his pouring of milk, somewhat not understanding her implied meaning.
The call wasn't disconnected. Shen Feiyang repeated it briefly from the back seat: "It's only a half-hour drive from the cemetery to the villa. Sister Dong said Xiang Wan went out early this morning. She should have been back by now, but she's neither at the villa nor at the cemetery, and we can't get through to her on the phone."
Upon hearing this, Xia Yueshen did not panic. Instead, he left a message saying "Wait for me," and rushed upstairs. He quickly came down with something in his hand.
“I felt that she was acting strangely a while ago, so I secretly installed a GPS tracker in her watch.”
After saying that, Xia Yueshen opened his laptop and searched for the location of Xiang Wan's watch.
Both people on the other end of the phone were waiting for her. Jiang Zhuochun also parked his car on the side of the road, waiting to go to the address she was going to give him.
"She's by the sea! It's the XX Sea in Beiyi."
After Xia Yueshen finished speaking, Che Nanbei entered the destination into the navigation system in the passenger seat, and Jiang Zhuochun quickly started the car and turned it around rapidly at the intersection.
Wang Yidong said succinctly, "Then we'll join you later."
"good."
The group split into two groups, but when they reached the beach, they didn't see Xiang Wan. Instead, they only saw a pair of shoes on the shore.
Upon seeing the shoes, Wang Yidong collapsed onto the beach, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his pants were wet: "...These are the shoes she wore when she went out..."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhuochun and Shen Feiyang, who were the best swimmers, took off their shoes and plunged into the sea, trying to save their childhood friend from the clutches of death.
But the endless sea soon pushed them back to shore by the surging waves.
Seeing the two return dejected, Wang Yidong knelt on the beach, facing the sea, and clasped his hands together in prayer that Xiang Wan would be safe and sound.
Che Nanbei had contacted the maritime helicopter search and rescue team as soon as they set off. The group stood on the beach, watching the helicopters circling overhead, each with a heavy heart.
Half an hour later, the police arrived and the entire beach was cordoned off by them. The underwater search and rescue team also arrived, and everyone was working together to find Xiang Wan's whereabouts.
Later, the media somehow got wind of the situation and began to keep watch outside the control perimeter.
*
Two days later, 52 hours after Xiang Guan went missing.
A diver surfaced and gestured to the people on the speedboat, followed by a shout from the beach: "There are people here!"
Soon, many divers swam toward his location.
Fifteen minutes later, a body was pulled from the sea. The beach was silent for a few seconds, then a heart-wrenching wail could be heard...
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