goodbye
The He'an Cemetery was quiet, and the sky was dark, as if a heavy rain was being planned.
Yu Xi remembers clearly that on the day Meng Chou died, City A also entered the rainy season, and the surrounding air was just as gloomy and deathly still.
"I'll go with you." The moment the car door opened, a cold wind blew in along with the assistant's words.
Yu Xi remained silent for a long while, then smoothed out the fluttering hem of her clothes with her hand and uttered two words: "No need!"
"But Dr. Liang instructed that..."
"I said I'll go by myself, don't you understand human language?" Yu Xi shouted with all her might, "I'm not sick! I'm fine, do I not even have the right to see him myself now?"
The assistant didn't know what to say. Not wanting to lose her job, she tactfully handed the black paper bag to her. Worried about her safety, she said with difficulty, "For your safety, I will come to see you in half an hour."
Yu Xi didn't say anything more and continued walking forward on her own. Even though she was unhappy that she could only spend half an hour alone with Meng Chou, she had no choice but to accept it.
He'an Cemetery is located in the suburbs of City A, surrounded by three mountains with a river winding at the foot of the mountains. The price of burial plots is quite high. In order to facilitate tomb sweeping, the cemetery has even built a road to open a special line for tomb sweeping.
Every year, Yu Xi would visit Meng Chou on his birthday, and each time she insisted on going alone.
Yu Xi skillfully crossed the stone path, squatted down in front of Meng Chou's tombstone, put down the black paper bag she was carrying, took out a silk scarf, and carefully wiped the photo on the tombstone.
The person in the photo is young, with prominent eyebrows, thin lips and pupils with a slight smile. Even in black and white, the noble and aloof air cannot be concealed.
Yu Xi gently rubbed his cheek with her fingertips. The cold touch traveled from her fingertips to her heart. She could no longer hold back and leaned against the tombstone, suppressing her soft sobs.
Completely unaware that not far from her, a pair of eyes, filled with a mixture of joy and apology, were lingering on her frail figure.
After a while, the howling wind stopped abruptly. Yu Xi stopped crying, took out a cake from the black paper bag, lit the candle with the number '27' inserted, and the flame flickered, shimmering with an orange-red light.
"Happy birthday. It's been five years, Mengchou, five years. Don't you even want to come to see me in my dreams once?" she said weakly, tears falling uncontrollably to the ground.
The ghost hiding behind the cypress tree couldn't bear to watch any longer, so it floated right up to her, disregarding everything else.
Yu Xi lowered her head and saw the flickering flames. A cool breeze came towards her, but the branches of the cypress tree next to her did not tremble at all, so it was obviously not a wind.
An invisible force of wind surged in, as if it understood her words and wanted to rush over and hug her.
The moment Yu Xi looked up, a pale, sickly face appeared before her, and a chill instantly crept up her spine.
A ghost appeared naked in front of her, semi-transparent, and judging from its shape and posture, it was an adult male with an unfamiliar face, yet upon closer inspection, it evoked an indescribable sense of familiarity.
The moment the human and the ghost locked eyes, they both froze for a second.
Yu Xi firmly believed that ghosts existed in this world; otherwise, why had Meng Chou never come back to see her all these years?
He couldn't bear to keep not coming to see her.
Many possibilities flashed through Yu Xi's mind, and her heart pounded. She felt no fear, nor did she immediately think of running away. Instead, she calmly asked, "Who are you?"
The ghost's gaze was deep, tinged with a hint of reluctance, as it said, "You don't need to know who I am right now, but I will definitely help you."
"You're crazy!" Yu Xi muttered under her breath, wiping away her tears, quickly tidying up the cake on the floor, and turning to leave.
She carried a black paper bag and walked quickly forward. The ghost from before was half-floating, its feet half a meter off the ground, following beside Yu Xi.
Are you here to celebrate his birthday today?
Do you come to see him every year?
"So many years have passed, and you still think about him all this time."
Yu Xi didn't want to pay attention to him, but his words seemed to have a penetrating power, landing squarely on her heart.
After the ghost followed her out of the cemetery, the raindrops pelted down in large swaths, instantly wetting the dusty road and filling the air with the smell of earth.
The assistant saw Yu Xi hurrying towards them from afar and quickly took out a black umbrella to greet her. "Mr. Yu, it's still early. Would you like to stay a little longer?"
Yu Xi raised her hand and glanced at her watch. Just fifteen minutes had passed, and a thin layer of mist had formed on her silver-rimmed glasses, revealing no emotion in her dark pupils.
"No, let's go back." After what just happened, she didn't want to return.
The car started, and she sat in the back seat, holding the cake she had just eaten. Before she could clear her mind, she was startled by the ghost sitting in the back seat as well.
"Who told you to follow me?"
"Get out!" she commanded. The assistant driving looked at the back seat through the rearview mirror, and as his gaze shifted to the right, he felt a chill run down his spine.
There was clearly nothing there.
Who is she talking to?
As the car drove away from the cemetery, the sky darkened. The assistant turned on the headlights and cautiously asked, "Mr. Yu, do you mean I should get out?"
Yu Xi sighed, unsure how to explain seeing a ghost, so she asked, "Xiao Liu, do you believe in ghosts?"
"President Yu, don't scare me like that. It's raining, and we just left the cemetery." The assistant glanced at the back seat again, still a little scared, to make sure that only Yu Xi had gotten into the car.
"Maybe the recent manuscript leak has made me so busy that I'm hallucinating." Yu Xi lowered her eyes, her slender white fingers tracing the paper bag, her brows furrowing slightly as she turned to stare at the ghost.
"You need to get some rest after this is over," the assistant said with some concern.
The car weaved through the rain. Yu Xi looked at the ghost beside him. He sat quietly, no longer chattering like he had in the cemetery. He just stared out the window, lost in thought at the raindrops.
Strangely enough, she saw sadness on the face of a ghost, a helpless sense of brokenness no less than the helplessness and heartache she felt when she learned of Meng Chou's death.
Perhaps he was a lost soul, just trying to hitch a ride down the mountain.
But why didn't he just float down? Wouldn't that be much faster than taking a car?
As Yu Xi thought to herself, she gripped the paper bag even tighter and couldn't help but complain inwardly, "If ghosts really exist in this world, then Meng Chou, you're too heartless. You never come to see me even once."
The assistant assumed she was just heartbroken and quietly played some soothing music. Hearing this, the ghost became agitated and said, "No, that's not it."
"There are also rules for us ghosts coming to the human world. We need approval to be seen by the living. This approval is very difficult. You either have to work hard to earn money and spend a lot of money to buy it, or you have to register and wait in line for fifty years to get a chance."
"However, neither of these two scenarios is practically possible. Ghosts also need to work, and if they can't pay their lodging fees, they'll be thrown into the furnace of the underworld and reduced to ashes. No one would be foolish enough to wait in line for fifty years. If they don't get to wait, they might be thrown into the furnace because they owe money."
Yu Xi listened silently to his explanation, her thin lips moved, but she never asked a question, assuming that she was just imagining things.
"It's true, it's so hard to see your loved ones again." The ghost said, tears of blood streaming down its face. "It's my fault that I haven't been able to see them all these years."
These words sounded like an explanation to himself, or perhaps they were meant to be said deliberately, causing Yu Xi's already turbulent heart to beat even faster, and a stabbing pain to spread throughout her body.
Her brows furrowed as she clutched her chest.
After exiting the highway, her assistant noticed her condition and hurriedly asked, "Ms. Yu, do you need to take some medicine?"
“I remember there was also a spare amiodarone.”
Yu Xi waved his hand to indicate that he was fine, then said with a wry smile, "Xiao Liu, you forgot, I had heart surgery a long time ago, and I'm all better now."
"Just now, when I saw him at the cemetery, I still felt a sudden pang of sadness."
The assistant, unaware that the "he" Yu Xi was referring to was the ghost, assumed she was still grieving Meng Chou's death and began to comfort her.
—
The moment Yu Xi pushed open the door, she tried her best to compose herself. The next second, with a childish call, the little dumpling ran towards her.
"Mom, you're back!"
Yu Xi squatted down and picked him up in one go. "Has Zeze been a good boy at home?" As she spoke, she brushed the stray hairs on Meng Qingze's forehead behind his ear, took his hand and walked inside, magically pulling a lollipop out of her coat pocket.
When Meng Qingze saw the candy, he laughed happily and asked, "Mom, did Dad bring this for me?"
"Today is his birthday. Can he come back so we can celebrate with him? I have a present for my dad." He said, jogging towards the music room.
A moment later, he took Meng Yun's hand and came out. "My second uncle taught me a new song today. I want to let my dad hear it too."
Seeing the expectation in his eyes, Yu Xi choked up for a moment and stood there stunned.
When Meng Chou passed away, he was not yet born. His family kept the question of where his father went a secret from him, planning to tell him when he was older and more sensible.
Therefore, he kept lying to him, saying that Mengchou was busy with work and traveling all over the world.
"Zeze, go wash your hands and get ready for dinner." Meng Yun patted his head and urged him.
"Sister-in-law, please sit down too." He skillfully pulled out a chair for Yu Xi and picked up her coat to hang it on the hanger.
Everything was so natural and relaxed, as if they were the real family.
The ghost who had followed Yu Xi back leaned against the doorframe, a twitch at the corner of its mouth, and a hint of displeasure on its face.
Ghosts cannot touch any objects in the human world. He sneaked in the moment Yu Xi held Meng Qingze in her arms and looked everything up and down in the living room.
Then it floated to the dining table, and then floated all the way to the ceiling. With its arms crossed, it said with some dissatisfaction, "He's already passed away, and today is his birthday. Why don't we pay our respects at home?"
Yu Xi was startled to find that he had followed her in. When she looked up at the ceiling, the chopsticks in her hand fell to the ground. Since Meng Yun and the other person were still there, she couldn't bring herself to tell him to leave, so she pretended not to hear him.
"Auntie, could you bring us another pair of chopsticks?" Meng Yun called out to the kitchen as she placed the peeled shrimp into Meng Qingze's bowl.
"Xiaojun, did you hear someone talking just now?" Yu Xi asked abruptly. The ghost had appeared repeatedly, and she was beginning to doubt herself.
Was it auditory hallucination? Or was it due to excessive psychological stress?
Meng Yun smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, you must be too tired and hallucinating, right? Don't worry, I will do my best to help you with the company's affairs."
As he spoke, he slightly stood up and placed a peeled shrimp into Yu Xi's bowl. The second button of his shirt was undone, and as he stood up, his eye-catching figure was vaguely revealed.
"Thank you," Yu Xi replied politely, glancing away discreetly.
While she wasn't paying attention, Meng Yun saw her reaction and a smile appeared on his lips.
This stunned the ghost that had been observing them from the ceiling. He swooped down and shouted beside Yu Xi, "How could he do this? He did it on purpose!"
"Uncle, are you here to celebrate Dad's birthday too?"
Meng Qingze couldn't wait to stand up, but the stool was too high, and his short legs couldn't make it even after a few attempts. He pointed to the air next to Yu Xi and shouted with a grin.
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