Chapter 24 The Third Woman in the Purse
When Chang Xile arrived at his destination, following the address on his phone, he saw numerous tents pitched in a large open space. Zhang Junchan was chatting with visitors at the entrance. Her face was haggard, her eyes red and puffy, evidently from much crying. Yet, she forced herself to greet the guests.
She immediately noticed Chang Xile. After greeting the guests in front of her, she quickly walked over, took Chang Xile's hand, and said, "You're here? Come, sit here."
Chang Xile was assigned to a table near the inner room. Everyone at this table had a somber expression and spoke little, a stark contrast to the occasional chatter and laughter at the entrance. Chang Xile guessed that this table probably held Xu Wanjia's closest relatives.
Chang Hele had previously attended the funeral of an elderly man. The man had passed away at an advanced age, free from illness and suffering no calamity, making it a happy funeral. The atmosphere at the funeral wasn't particularly somber; everyone discussed the man's life and shared their memories.
However, Chang Xile looked at the black-and-white photo of Xu Wanjia displayed not far away. The child didn't seem to have any serious photos, so she chose one of them happily making a "V" sign for the camera on the lawn. However, the black and white color scheme made it look particularly sad.
She was still so young, her wonderful life hadn't even begun. People didn't even know where to begin when they wanted to talk about her life.
Chang Xile felt her eyes ache, but she held back her tears.
Crying in front of someone who is trying hard to suppress their sadness is also a disturbance.
After she followed the others to Xu Wanjia's black and white photo and presented white chrysanthemums, she apologized to little Xu Wanjia in her heart: "I'm sorry, Jiajia, I clearly said I would come to visit you."
She suddenly thought: If there really are ghosts in the world, could it be that Xu Wanjia's own spirit is here watching everyone?
Chang Xile gave up her seat to other people who came to present flowers. Before she could return to her seat, Zhang Junchan came in front of her.
Zhang Junchan sniffed and said gently, "Good boy, can auntie talk to you?"
The two walked to a flower bed farther away where there were few people and sat down. Zhang Junchan held Chang Xile's right hand, opened her mouth, and her voice choked as she spoke. She covered her mouth, lowered her head and said, "I'm sorry..."
Chang Xile patted her back gently and whispered, "It's okay, Auntie. Please speak slowly."
After Zhang Junchan recovered her composure, she patted Chang Xile's hand, sat down, bowed to her, and said, "Auntie, I really want to thank you."
"No, no!" Chang Xile hurriedly helped the man up. "I didn't do anything. You don't deserve to thank me."
Zhang Junchan slowly shook her head, trying to argue, but her voice choked. She took a few deep breaths before saying, "Thank you for saving our Jiajia that day, allowing me to spend another day with her. We were having a fight that day."
That day, Chang Xile rescued Xu Wanjia. After leaving the ward, Zhang Junchan wanted to teach Xu Wanjia a lesson.
But her little daughter hugged her waist tightly, crying and saying, "Mom! I love you!"
"Why are you saying this suddenly?" Xu Wanjia hadn't finished scolding her yet. She suspected that this girl was acting coquettishly to avoid being punished.
But Xu Wanjia buried her face in her clothes, took a deep breath, and said, "Mom, I shouldn't have been angry with you this morning. It was a lie when I said I didn't love you anymore! If I had fallen just now, I would never have been able to tell you that I love you again."
Zhang Junchan was stunned for a moment, then gently stroked Xu Wanjia's hair with her right hand and sighed, "Mom loves you too, Jiajia."
You are my sweetheart. How can I live without you?
At this point, Zhang Junchan solemnly said to Chang Xile, "Thank you for giving us more time to speak our minds. Otherwise, I really wouldn't want to live anymore."
Chang Xile's tears, which she had been holding back for a long time, slowly fell. She wanted to say that this was what she should do, but in the end she could only shake her head with tears in her eyes.
She recalled the list she had written at the hospital that Li Chuanliu and Xia Lai had mentioned yesterday, and she couldn't figure it out. Chang Xile asked Zhang Junchan, "Auntie, can I ask what happened to Jiajia later?"
Zhang Junchan didn't shy away from the question, but it wasn't a complicated matter. When she woke up in the morning and tried to wake Xu Wanjia for the nurse's ward rounds, she discovered her daughter's body was already cold. She had died of cardiac arrest during the night, without warning, and without even time to save her.
Chang Xile was speechless. She patted Zhang Junchan's back gently until someone came to call her at the table.
She quickly wiped the tears from her face, stood up, and replied, "I'm coming!" She turned to Chang Xile with a look of regret and said, "I've talked to you for so long. I'm really sad. Good child, come and eat."
Chang Xile was in no mood to eat. She shook her head and said to Zhang Junchan, "I'll sit for a while. You go and get busy."
Only when she was alone by the flower bed did she let out a sigh of relief. A gentle breeze blew across her cheeks, lifting her hair. While Chang Xile was still lost in thought, a man in a black windbreaker suddenly sat down on the bench.
The man sat down so smoothly that he wasn't just some passerby who wanted to take a break. In fact, he had been staring at Chang Xile intently since the beginning.
The man was dressed in black, his hands in his pockets, and a black mask on his face, revealing only his almond-shaped eyes. The corners of his eyes were slightly raised, as if he had seen something that concerned him deeply.
"Girl, are you also a relative of the deceased?" he asked.
Chang Xile shook his head.
"So, are you friends?" the man asked again.
Chang Xile still shook his head.
"Ah, that's strange." The man looked puzzled. "Since you are neither close relatives nor close friends, it's almost like you just met by chance, so why are you crying so sadly?"
This was very rude. Chang Xile looked up at him and said, "She was so young, and yet she passed away like this. Isn't it worth regretting and being sad?"
The man shook his head and shrugged. "An elderly person in a rocking chair will die, and so will a baby in swaddling clothes. There is no such thing as old or young on the road to the underworld."
Just because death is common doesn't mean the living have the right to cry. Chang Xile didn't have the energy to argue with him anymore, and only murmured, "Cold-blooded."
The man didn't care about this. He blinked and suddenly asked, "What should I call you?"
Chang Xile opened her mouth and was about to answer, but suddenly remembered what her aunt had told her.
"Remember, never tell strangers your name at any time."
The name Chang Xile rolled around on her tongue before she finally swallowed it. She asked, "Before asking someone's name, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"
"Ha..." Although the man was wearing a mask, Chang Xile felt that he seemed to be smiling and raised the corners of his mouth. He sighed, "You are really vigilant."
"It's okay. I'll find out eventually."
Chang Xile turned her head and met his playful gaze. His eyes were so beautiful that anyone who saw them would remember them instantly. And she felt that those eyes were so familiar, as if she had seen them somewhere before.
The dark clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, revealing the dazzling scorching sunlight.
Noon is approaching.
Chang Xile blinked again, and there was no one in front of her. She looked around, but she couldn't see the man in the black windbreaker anymore.
She murmured, "How could it be..." It felt so familiar.
It was as if the same conversation had taken place long ago. Chang Xile had once heard someone describe this as déjà vu.
She was still reminiscing when someone suddenly patted her shoulder from behind. Chang Xile jumped up from her chair in shock, startling the person behind her as well.
"Who is it?" Chang Xile turned around, still feeling frightened.
The person in front of her was a stranger, but her eyes and eyebrows gave her a sense of familiarity. The other person was still apologizing: "I'm sorry, did I scare you?"
Seeing that Chang Xile didn't recognize her, the woman thought for a moment, covered the lower half of her face with her hand, and asked, "Can you recognize me like this?"
After carefully examining her, Chang Xile said uncertainly, "Nurse Xu?"
The person in front of her was none other than Nurse Xu, who had been in charge of Chang Xile during her hospital stay. Nurse Xu had always worn a mask while in the hospital, so Chang Xile had never seen her full face, so it was no wonder she didn't recognize her at first.
Thinking of this, Chang Xile suddenly got goosebumps. She recalled the dream she had a few days ago while in the hospital, and the face of the man who sat down at the long desk and asked her name.
In her imagination, she covered the lower half of the man's face, and the pair of beautiful eyes filled with indifference became more prominent, overlapping with the eyes of the person who had just looked at Chang Xile. The identity of the owner was revealed.
How could this happen? Wasn't he the person in my dream? How could he appear in the real world?
"Yes, I thought you looked familiar when we were at the table, and it turned out to be you." Nurse Xu smiled with her eyes curved, interrupting Chang Xile's thoughts. She stretched out her hand and said, "Now that you're discharged from the hospital, don't call me Nurse Xu anymore. Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Xu Shiran."
Chang Xile shook hands with her absentmindedly. Xu Shiran asked again, "Have a few people come to see you in the past few days?"
Chang Xile was stunned: "How did you know?"
On the day Xu Wanjia died, Zhang Junchan couldn't accept her daughter's silent death. After causing a scene at the hospital, she was told it was indeed an accident and no one was at fault. Zhang Junchan covered her face and cried, and finally left with her daughter's body.
But not long after, someone claiming to be from some bureau arrived with credentials to investigate. This included questioning the nurses on duty during the previous few days, including Xu Shiran. Basically, everything was fine, except for the paper that the ward attendant had accidentally cleaned out from Chang Xile's room.
"They asked me what kind of person you were. I told them you were a very good girl, and we all knew that. The story of how you saved two patients twice is still circulating among us."
Chang Xile blinked her eyes and asked, "Dai Shanyan, how are you now?"
Xu Shiran fell silent for a long moment before he said, "Last night, she passed away despite failed attempts to save her."
Seeing Chang Xile fall silent again, Xu Shiran suddenly began to rummage through the bag he was carrying: "By the way, I have something for you. I always carry it with me because I don't know when I'll meet you again."
She rummaged for a long time and took out a purple purse, which Chang Xile had asked her to give to the critically ill Dai Shanyan.
Chang Xile took the purse in silence, then weighed it in his hand.
"Strange." She suddenly said to herself, "Why does it feel so much heavier?"
"Eh, has it gotten heavier?" Xu Shiran was a little surprised. She said, "I didn't add anything else to it."
Chang Xile opened his purse and looked inside, only to see that there was indeed only a piece of yellow talisman paper inside, and nothing else.
"It's okay, it's okay, maybe it's just a psychological effect?" Chang Xile consoled herself, not wanting Xu Shiran to worry too much. However, the moment she took the purse, she felt a chill running up from the soles of her feet.
If the man in black who refused to reveal his name was still here and saw this scene, he would definitely take the purse at all costs.
However, Chang Xile was so focused on weighing his purse that he didn't notice the third woman standing next to him.
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