Chapter 48: Late Night
Zhang Hui walked out of the internet café, pulling his suitcase behind him.
He had planned to spend the night there, but even though it was already late, the place was still too noisy, and he just couldn’t fall asleep.
With no other choice, he left and started looking for somewhere else to stay the night.
Hotels were out of the question, even the cheapest and worst ones still cost at least a hundred yuan, and the soundproofing was so bad that it didn’t feel much different from the noisy café.
He walked around slowly, thinking about the scary moment he experienced at Li Mu’s house earlier.
How did he even end up running into a ghost?
Maybe it was because the ghost was inside the mirror, so he didn't experience any aftereffects of encountering a ghost. He was just a bit paranoid from the extreme fright.
And Li Mu had purposely acted all creepy that morning, which made Zhang Hui too scared to go back to his place.
Even though deep down he knew that ghosts probably don’t exist, being scared is one thing, and whether or not you believe in them is another.
It’s like horror games, you know they’re fake, all made up, but that doesn’t make them any less scary to play.
Dragging his suitcase, he slowly made his way to the riverside park downtown and sat on a bench just outside the park. He looked up at the stars and started thinking about life.
For some reason, a clear image of his cousin’s delicate face popped into his head.
When they were kids, he and Li Mu got along pretty well. Back then, they were young and didn’t think too much about things, and Li Mu was a good-looking kid.
But when Zhang Hui was around sixteen or seventeen, he went to meet his online girlfriend in real life. After that, he started to dislike guys with gentle, feminine looks.
God knows how shocking it was when he finally met her, reached out to touch her, and found out she was more "manly" than him. The mental damage it caused to his innocent teenage heart was huge.
While people online were celebrating cute boys dressing up as girls, Zhang Hui was shivering in a corner, always reminded of that night.
Lost in thought and wearing his autumn jacket, he lay down on the bench and dozed off.
………………………………………
“Aunt Cai, I really can’t accept this money.”
At that moment, Li Mu was at Lin Xi’s house. He was gently pushing away the red envelope of money Aunt Cai was trying to give him, looking uncomfortable.
For a housewife, her husband and children mean everything. After Lin Xi passed away, Aunt Cai naturally placed all her guilt and longing into Li Mu, who reminded her of her daughter.
Even though he understood her feelings, Li Mu didn’t know how to deal with such warmth. He was a quiet, reserved person by nature, and to him, Aunt Cai was just a sad woman he had only met twice.
He wasn’t even used to how warm and caring his own neighbor’s aunt could be, let alone this.
Noticing that Li Mu seemed a bit uncomfortable, Aunt Cai quickly pulled the money back and asked softly and awkwardly, “What about the clothes? I bought you some fall and winter clothes. The weather’s getting cold, you should wear more so you don’t catch a cold.”
“Aunt Cai…” Li Mu’s face stiffened a little.
He let out a soft sigh and said gently, “You really don’t need to buy me anything. I don’t need money or clothes.”
“But I already bought them…” Aunt Cai looked at the clothes on the sofa, a bit troubled. “And I can’t return them.”
Li Mu glanced at the clothes too. It was clear Aunt Cai saw him as an emotional support. Thankfully, she hadn’t lost her mind and bought him women’s clothing, but they weren’t exactly men’s clothes either. More like soft, pink, and very girly unisex clothes.
Li Mu, who was used to wearing simple black and white outfits, really couldn’t bring himself to like them.
“Then… how about I just buy it?”
“No way, how can I take your money?” Aunt Cai frowned slightly, picked up the clothes from the sofa, and pushed them into Li Mu’s arms. “Take them. I don’t need the money.”
“Just take it,” said Yu Fan, who was standing by the door, trying to help. “If you don’t like the clothes, you can return them to Aunt Cai later.”
“Yes, yes, if you don’t like them, just give them back later. But take them home and try them on,” Aunt Cai nodded quickly.
Seeing her like this, Li Mu couldn’t bring himself to say no again. He took the clothes and gave Aunt Cai a small, apologetic smile.
For a moment, Aunt Cai looked at his smile and seemed to see Lin Xi again.
She reached out and gently touched his cheek. Her nervous expression faded, and she smiled softly. “Go on now. Come visit me when you have time.”
“Mm, I will,” Li Mu waved, turned around, and walked away with the clothes in his arms.
Walking down the stairs next to Yu Fan, Li Mu’s mind was still full of Aunt Cai’s warm smile.
“You know, you have a pretty nice smile,” Yu Fan said with a grin, hands in his jacket pockets. “How did that feel?”
“Nothing special,” Li Mu answered quickly, his face going serious.
To be honest, Aunt Cai’s kindness made his heart ache a little, like there was a heavy stone pressing on his chest, making it hard to breathe.
But it also made him more determined to go through with what he planned to do tonight. A little danger didn’t matter, he just wanted peace in his heart.
It was already 10 PM.
Li Mu recalled that Aunt Cai and Ren Tianyou had met before leaving, and then they had made a special trip to see Aunt Cai. It seemed he didn't have anyone else to worry about.
As for Xiao Jing... he had already placed her in front of the TV and told Auntie to remember to pay the electricity bill every month.
When they reached the entrance of the neighborhood, Chen Yi was leaning against his car, smoking.
He looked up and saw the two walking over. With a grin, he said, “Still popular with the women, huh?”
“Just a special situation,” Li Mu ignored the joke and got into the back seat.
All the gear was ready, and the location was chosen, a crossroad in the city center.
Unfortunately, even though the police were offering protection, they couldn’t block off the whole street because they didn’t want to scare the public. That would also make it easier for the ghost to notice something was wrong.
But since normal people couldn’t see ghosts anyway, even if a fight broke out, all they’d see was Chen Yi waving at thin air. Li Mu could just pretend to film something on his phone and say it was for a school project about photography.
As for the gun, Chen Yi had already gotten approval and received real bullets, unlike last time when he showed Li Mu the gun with no ammo in it.
“Got it?” Chen Yi explained the plan for tonight and looked back at Li Mu.
“Yeah, just hold the phone and film.”
Now they just had to wait until 2 AM.
Chen Yi leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes to rest, and smoked from time to time. He looked a little nervous.
Yu Fan, on the other hand, was super excited. He kept asking Chen Yi about his grandpa’s cool stories, all fired up.
“No wonder I saw some holes in the old building at school, bet my grandpa made those while fighting ghosts!”
“My grandpa used to be so sad when I said I didn’t believe in ghosts.”
But Li Mu only stared out the window, deeply worried.
What if something goes wrong tonight...
He had already seen everyone he needed to. He just hoped no one would blame him for being too selfish.
Whether it was because of the changes in his body, or the anger he felt after meeting Lin Xi’s mother, or the hope of finding his own parents, he wanted to settle everything tonight.
Truthfully, he didn’t have to go. Chen Yi could’ve done it alone.
But people… sometimes we just act on impulse, doing things others won’t understand. If we were always logical, we wouldn’t really be human.