After learning his identity, Lin Sui asked to go back, saying, "I want to go and see."
“On a barren mountain,” Shi Xi said.
barren.
In Xu Youchu's memory, there were only bare forests, barren land, and dilapidated houses... unchanged year after year, as if abandoned by time.
The most vibrant plants are the most ordinary wildflowers at the foot of the mountain.
"Mm." Lin Sui nodded.
...
Shi Xi went to the study on the third floor and saw Qin Budu sitting at his desk. Seemingly realizing Shi Xi had arrived, Qin Budu looked up.
"What's up?"
Qin Budu tilted his head toward Shi Xi.
Shi Xi pulled out a chair from under the desk and sat down.
"I want to go home." Shi Xi told Lin Sui about it directly. "It's not far, I only need to take half a day off."
Shi Xi came to Qin Budu to ask for leave thanks to Ji Ruwen's daily instruction.
Qin Budu tapped the table a few times with his fingers. He thought for a moment, then leaned forward slightly, his obsidian-like eyes looking at Shi Xi with a teasing smile on his face.
"Do you know that Qi Tingsong has left?"
"Not going to find him? You said it would be a piece of cake."
"..." Hmph, what are you laughing at?
It's your wife who ran away!
Shi Xi stubbornly replied, "Never mind, it's part of my plan."
"OK."
Hearing him say that, Qin Budu considerately didn't ask any further questions, but simply nodded and said, "Tell your assistant to take my car."
...
Just like I remembered, there was nothing to see in the barren mountains.
Because no one had lived there for more than half a year, the tables and chairs inside were covered in dust, and the walls were somewhat mottled. Shi Xi took out an orange-flavored hard candy from her pocket and put it in her mouth.
He put the candy wrapper in his pocket, and then heard Lin Sui next to him say, "Can I have one?"
Shi Xi turned around. On the way here, he had bought the two bags of fruit he had promised to give to the other party. But since Lin Sui had asked, he wouldn't refuse. So he took one out of his pocket and handed it to him.
Lin Sui happily reached out and took it.
“That’s your father’s room,” Shi Xi said, pointing to one of the rooms, her tone tinged with nostalgia.
Lin Sui nodded, her expression slightly tense, and with a mix of trepidation and anticipation, she pushed open the door and went inside.
Shi Xi turned around and went into the original owner's bedroom.
The room was sparsely furnished, with just a bed, a table, and two windows, making it exceptionally bright.
There was a stack of books about feng shui on the desk, but even more textbooks... from elementary school to university, textbooks for all subjects were piled together, and the number looked astonishing.
Shi Xi glanced at the neatly arranged books on the table and discovered that the original owner had once cast a divination for her.
The result was the thirty-fifth, Ding-Wu, an extremely unlucky number.
The poem reads: [A mountain like a painting faces the clear river, reunion and double happiness are within the gate; who could have foreseen the separation halfway through, leaving only an empty banner and a silent silver lamp.]
The interpretation is: [Although the feng shui is auspicious, fate is not in harmony, misfortune will befall the family, good things will come to naught, husband and wife will be separated, family members will be scattered, everything will be unsuccessful, and things will begin but not end.]2
Shi Xi stood there, holding the bamboo stick for a while, and said, "Your calculations are really accurate."
If I remember correctly, Xu Youchu's father's surname wasn't Xu, and he didn't care what his surname was.
Lin Yi named him Xu Youchu, hoping to give him a glimmer of hope, but in the end, he could only suppress his luck and could not change his fate.
He placed the divination sticks in the divination bucket, closed the door to the room, then picked up the hoe from the corner and took Lin Sui to the grave.
"Come with me."
Shi Xi waved to Lin Sui, signaling him to follow behind him.
When they descended the mountain, the original owner, following Lin Yi's request, buried him together with his wife, who was also the original owner's master's wife.
“Master and Mistress, I have brought your son back.”
Shi Xi put down the hoe, bent down and cleared the weeds from the grave, placed some offerings in front of the tomb, sincerely bowed, lit incense and candles, and then burned a lot of paper money, paper houses, paper cars...
Lin Sui knelt beside him, her eyes red-rimmed, silently burning paper money, and finally only said one sentence—
"Mom and Dad, I've been doing very well these past few years."
Shi Xi patted his shoulder, dug a small hole next to him with a hoe, and buried the dagger in it.
Then he stood up, clapped his hands, turned to Lin Sui and said, "Now your graves are all complete."
Lin Sui glanced at it and said, "Thank you, big brother."
It was afternoon.
The desolate mountain was empty and the wind was strong, making Shi Xi's hair a mess. Lin Sui wanted to reach out and fix his hair... but in the end, he just watched Shi Xi tuck his hair back behind his head.
The incense and candles had already burned out.
Lin Sui glanced at the ashes of the papers in the brazier. "Little brother, they're gone."
He looked at Shi Xi, as if hoping she would say something.
As a ghost, he was quite sensitive to changes in the Ghost Realm. He could sense that the Ghost Realm was stirring and guessed what Shi Xi was going to do.
He suggested coming back to visit, with his own ulterior motives. He not only wanted to see his father and mother, but also hoped that Shi Xi could stay.
Unexpectedly, Shi Xi simply said, "Since it's gone, then I'll be leaving."
He's going into the Ghost Realm, and Lin Sui isn't suitable to go with him.
As Shi Xi finished speaking, she turned and left.
"Bye-bye." Shi Xi waved.
Lin Sui stood there stunned, not stopping her, but watching with a forlorn expression as Shi Xi's figure gradually disappeared from sight.
"Hey bro, remember to come back when you have time."
...
On the day before the Ghost Festival, Gan Sui left the manor under the repeated urging of his father.
"I'm going back now, Xiao Chu, are you really not coming with me?" Gan Sui looked at Shi Xi.
Shi Xi shook her head. "Alright, birthday girl, you should hurry up and go, or you'll miss your flight."
"Oh, by the way, I prepared a gift for you, remember to accept it."
"Okay." Gan Sui hugged Shi Xi and whispered in his ear, "Be a good boy and wait for me to come back."
“It’s getting late, Mr. Gan, if you delay any longer, you’ll really miss your flight,” Ji Ruwen said with a smile.
Gan Sui sat in the car, his gaze lingering on Shi Xi, who was standing at the entrance of the manor.
For some reason, Gan Sui felt uneasy. He wouldn't have left if he weren't the one who had to be present at the birthday banquet.
He knew his birthday was on Ghost Festival, but in previous years Ghost Festival was peaceful, at most there were mischief from little ghosts, and nothing really happened.
Moreover, nothing should happen to Shi Xi at Qin Budu's manor.
Gan Sui thought that he would rush back as soon as the birthday banquet was over.
There shouldn't be any problems.
...
Just as Shi Xi was about to turn around, she saw Qi Tingsong.
The other party did not know when they arrived or how long they had been watching.
Shi Xi looked at Qi Tingsong walking towards her. She didn't know why, but Qi Tingsong looked no different from before, yet she felt that something was different about him.
Qi Tingsong slowly walked up to Shi Xi, smiled at him, and began to speak softly—
"Xiao Chu, I'm back."
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